Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (2 page)

As Jason, Erikon and Lucis
continued with their breakfast, more and more trainees flooded into the dining
zone. The lines had extended to the doorway.

When
Idi, Sayilin and Orizy walked in, Jason stood up and waved to them. These three
headed right to Jason. They were in the same study group as Jason was. In the
class of 84, there were 125 trainees from second class species and they were
grouped into 18 units for training purposes.

“Well,
let’s have the meeting first.” Orizy said as glanced over at the long line. He
was a Sulan who had brown skin without hair or eyebrows. All Sulan only have
one gender: male.

Idi and
Sayilin pulled chairs out from a nearby table and sat down. Idi was a Dolanz.
She had a small figure, a grey cute face with yellow eyes and light blue short
hair. Sayilin didn’t have eyes. Like other Jyneses, he used sound wave to map
the surrounding area. He had a muscular body and a round head with four big
ears, two facing the front and two facing the back.

“You
guys did well on yesterday’s flight tests?” Idi asked curiously.

“My
stomach is still in my head.” Orizy said painfully.

“I threw
up whatever I had on the dashboard.” Erikon said.

“And you
ate a lot. Man, I was surprised! I am all right. See when you have eyes, you
can feel all those rotation and cycling.” Sayilin said happily as he extended
his arms like he was going to fly.

“Jason
has eyes and he did much better than you.” Lucis smiled.

“Beginner’s
luck.” Sayilin said and turned to Jason. Even though Sayilin didn’t have eyes,
he could detect the smallest change on one’s face.

“All
right. Let’s see who throw up first next time.” Jason chuckled.

“You
don’t see what I see.” Sayilin grinned as Titainein suddenly emerged behind
Jason. She was firing her fist at Jason’s shoulder. Just before the contact,
Jason reached back and caught her fist.

“Well,
you are good.” Sayilin said with a grin.

“I will
get him next time.” Titainen said easily as she sat next to Jason. She was a
Tizuee who were famous for their beautiful figures. Titainein had a sexy body
and a diamond-shape face with red eyes, pink lips and long red hair. Tizuee had
no ears.

“Well,
let’s get started. Two things. The paper for dark energy and the upcoming game.
For the paper, we will break it into different parts and each of us takes one
part. Like discovery, usage, application, advantages and so on. What you guys
think?” Jason said.

“We
should also add the history of the dark energy.” Lucis said.

“Also
basic theory and future potential.” Idi added

“What
about the species using dark energy?” Orizy asked.

“There
are only two species: Glycan and Hylocan. I don’t know whether the teacher will
like it if we write Hylocan? Sayilin said.

“It is
scientific paper. If we just write several sentences, should be all right.”
Jason said.

“I don’t
know about that.” Sayilin said.

“The
application part should be our main focus. It should contain both civilian
application and military application.” Jason said.

Everyone
nodded their heads.

“We need
discussion and summary parts at the end as well.” Erikon said.

“I
wonder if we can find some information from first class libarary.” Titainein
said quietly.

“That is
a good call, especially Glycan’s library.” Idi said.

“If you
get caught, you are dead.” Lucis said.

“We
don’t have those crystals anyway.” Orizy said.

“Yea, I
forgot that.” Titainein said.

“Well, I
will see what I can do.” Jason said confidently.

“Man,
don’t do anything special. We know you like to try stuff.” Sayilin said in a
worried tone and everyone grinned.

“Maybe.
So how about three people handle the application part? Orizy, Sayilin and me.
Vampire, you do the history part. Erikon you do the future potential. Idi, the
introduction including basic theory. Titainein, can you put them all together
and write a discussion and summary?” Jason said.

Titainein
nodded and everyone was fine with the assignments.

Then
they talked about the upcoming game. It was a big thing in the training center
and had been around since the training center was founded. It was a ball game.
In each match, every team were allowed to use anything to get their hands on
the ball. That included all kinds of weapons such as rifles, grenade launchers
and laser guns. Players in the game wore heavy armor suits. The team held the
ball most time would be the winner. Jason and others were all excited about the
game. Since they never played this kind of game before, they decided to consult
senior trainees and then made their plan.

“Well,
if there is nothing else, I will go to meet my parents. See you guys later.”
Titainein said hastily and left the table. Jason, Erikon and Lucis stared at
Titinainein’s s-shaped figure. Trainees on other tables were also checking her
out.

“Guys,
Guys, watch yourself!” Idi whispered. But the three acted like they didn’t hear
her.

“I don’t
think she is that beautiful.” Sayilin said.

“You
don’t see what we see.” Lucis said.

Everyone
sensed the irony and laughed.

“I am
going to see my father. What about you guys?” Jason asked.

“It is
the visiting day. Once a month. Of course.” Orizy said.

Everyone
nodded except Lucis.

“Have a
nice day!” Jason said and headed out.

The radio broadcast waked Mark
up. It said they would arrive in 10 minutes. He looked out of the window and
saw planet Evena, the blue eye. The name derived from the fact that 95% of its
surface was covered by water. Evena was the diplomatic center of the universe.
Both first and second class species had their embassies set up on Evena. It
also hosted UG headquarter and it was the checking point for Eva-1. No civilian
transport vessels was allowed to land on Eva-1 directly. Those attempting
visiting Eva-1 must go through security and biosafety scan on planet Evena.
From there, they would take another transport vessel to Eva-1.

After
about an hour, Mark finally sat in the visitor room, waiting for his son Jason.
The room was about the size of a tennis field with 40 tables packed close to
each other. All tables were occupied by different species. They were talking,
joking, laughing and crying. Even though Mark couldn’t understand all those
different languages. He could feel the warm and happiness. Some were crying in
others’ arms; some were whispering into others’ ears; some were playing games
and some were just like Mark, sitting there and waiting.

Jason
stepped into the room and spotted his father right away. He ran to Mark and
gave him a big hug.

“You are
taller than last time.” Mark said happily.

“I miss
you! Dad.”

“I miss
you, too. Come on. Let’s sit down.”

They sat
next to each other.

“So how
is everything? Getting along with others?”

“Well,
they are not that different.”

“Really,
you see that Sulan over there? Was he born in chocolate?”

“That is
Orizy. He is in my study group.” Jason laughed.

“What
about that one, you see?” Mark said as he pointed at the girl whose skin color
is exactly same as the color of the wall.

“They
are Lozisusis. Their skin can change colors. She is actually my classmate. Her
name is Leseu”

“You
like her? It seems that you know a lot about her.”

“Come
on. Dad.”

They
both laughed.

“So
you’ve been snooping around?” Mark lowered his voice.

“Not
really, except the library. I checked some information.”

“Tell
me, man.”

“Well, I
read a lot and also found some information about the vessel mom took.” Jason
said and tried to hide his sadness, but Mark could tell.

“I know
that is the reason why you want to sneak into Glycan’s library. But Jason, your
mom is gone, she is not with us anymore.” Mark said sadly.

“I know.
I know. I just want to...you know. How mom got on that ship? We can’t just get
on Glycan’s ship. How the ship went missing? I want to know more.”

“Nobody
knows what happened.” Mark said calmly.

“There
is still hope. Every Glycan ship has lifeboat. She might be alright.” Jason
said emotionally.

“Jason,
we talked about this. I miss her as much as you do. But when you think what we
can do...” Mark sighed.

“If we
can find more information about the ship, there is still hope.” Jason said
firmly.

Mark
knew this was not going anywhere.

“Hey,
there is something for you.” Mark said quietly as he handed Jason two crystals
under the table.

“Just in
time. I finished the last one two days ago.” Jason murmured as he looked around
and took the crystals.

“Oh,
John wanted to say thank you for your gift.” Mark grinned. John was Jason’s
older brother. He had a health situation requiring medical attention all the
time. He was in coma for most of the time and only woke up occasionally.

“You
talked with him?” Jason asked excitedly.

“No,
it’s hard to catch that moment. But he is good. He left me a message that he
likes the gift.” Mark said happily.

“Dad,
don’t you worry. After I graduated from here, we will have money to cure John.
He will be all right.” Jason said confidently.

“Man, I
am counting on you. You keep that in mind!” Mark said and patted Jason’s
shoulder.

“I am
the man! You remember that as well.” Jason said in a hard tone and punched on
Mark’s chest. Later they talked about other stuff such as new movies,
footballs, the upcoming games and so on. Before they realized it, one hour flew
by and their time was up.

“It is
the time.” Mark said slowly.

“Yea, it
is.” Jason said sadly, casting his eyes down.

“Listen,
you be good and don’t get caught using those crystals.”

“Man,
you need to trust me more than that.”

“I know.
But just be careful. Learn more stuff with them. OK?”

“All
right.” Jason said as he gave Mark a big hug. They walked together to the
doorway and said goodbye. Jason stood there until he couldn’t see his father
any more.

Mark took another transport
vessel and headed to planet M13. Orbiting around a red dwarf, M13 was a small
planet that was known as the black market. Due to the tidal forces, it did not
rotate and had the same side facing the star all the time. Small business
owners from second class species turned the dayside of the planet into a huge
marketplace with all kinds of companies and markets. Sharp eyes and a fat
wallet could get you goods ranging from spacecraft to deadly poisons. The night
side planet was colder and quieter. Brothels, bars, hotels and mysterious
buildings clustered like molds and spread all over the area. There was no
regulation on M13. Robberies and murders happened all the time. All species did
businesses on their own risks.

Mark got
off the vessel on the night side of the planet. He headed to the sailor bar,
one of the oldest bars on M13. The bar was actually an abandoned spacecraft. It
looked like a dagger sticking on the ground. Mark checked around as he walked
to the entrance. There was no streetlight and the only dim lights came from
billboards on each building. Few were walking cautiously on the street. Mark
took a deep breath and entered the bar.

The bar
was well lightened with beams of yellow lights. In the middle of the room, a
big robot with more than thirty arms was busy with filling glasses. Some 30
tables scattered around, occupied by different species.

“Still
too early.” Mark said to himself. He wandered among those tables, looking for a
familiar face.

“Want a
drink?” A robot waiter asked as it passed by.

“No
money.” Mark said coldly. He suddenly recalled what Jason said today. Mark knew
he was doing everything he could to make money. But that was still not enough.
He reminisced about his past. Before snagging a job in Latianium as a mine
worker, He worked in intelligence agency which was shut down later due to the
tight budget. Then he served in the special force in Human Infantry 23rd
division. If he wasn’t injured and lost his left kidney in the last mission, he
could still stay in the special force and might even be promoted to the captain
rank. But now he had been working on the mine site for two years. Thinking
about this, he felt depressed and heavy.

A Human
stepped into the bar. Mark recognized the guy right away even though he was
wearing some kind of shield over his eyes. He walked to Mark and said, “Wait
for the game?”

“The
game number is 30304987299. What is yours?” Mark said.

“Mine is
20293884721.” The guy said patiently as he sat down.

“Have a
good one.”

“You
too.” The guy said and stood up. He found another table about five meters away.

Marked
glided his hand over the bottom of the table and picked up a penny size
sticker. He stuck it on his forehead. It was a neurotransmitter designed for
people to carry out conversions without speaking. The process of generating
sentences in the brain was related with neutral tissue oscillatory activity
which could be converted to electronic signal. However, the operational range
of such neurotransmitter was about five meter.

“What’s
up, Mark.”

Mark
could see the sentence in his brain.

“Hi
Aron. How are you doing?” Mark replied.

“Very
well. How are your sons?” Aron asked.

“I saw
Jason today. I will go to see John later.”

“How is
Jason? He is doing all right in the training center?”

“He is
doing fine. More ambitious that is. He still keeps asking about his mother. It
is hard for him to let it go.”

“Maybe
you should tell him the truth one day.”

“Well,
when he gets older. I will. Right now, I am worried that he will do something
crazy.” Mark didn’t tell Jason that Glycan killed his mother.

“I feel
you, Man.”

“How
about you?” Jason asked.

“You
know, a single man like me doesn’t have much going on. These days I can’t
afford to have a family. No money for a room.” Aron said easily.

“You are
still young. Don’t worry.”

“Alright.
Back to the business. The intel you got last time might have something to do
with Hylocan eyeballs. We also found other cases just like the one you got.”
Aron said seriously.

“I see.”
Mark nodded. Mark’s last mission was to verify the death of a Hylocan scientist
who was killed in an accident right after UWII. Mark found out that the autopsy
results of the scientist contained a very fuzzy brain scan picture. He further
dug out that the crash was staged and the brain was removed when the scientist
was alive.

“I think
some guys want others believe those scientists are dead.” Mark said.

“Well,
in your case, the scientist in question was one of the chief scientists in
charge of Hylocan neurology research center before UWII.” Aron said.

“Well, I
am quite sure every species wants that.” Mark said.

Before
UWII, Hylocan was the lead in the research of central nerve system, far ahead
of other species in the universe. They were able to make a device to extract
information from brains. In other words, they could read minds. At the
beginning, the device was as big as a helmet. As Hylocans advanced related
technology and science, they made the device so small that it could be fitted
into an eyeball, so they began to plant the devices into the eyeballs of some
Hylocans. But they did not stop there. Combining with atomic infusion, cell
mutation and tissue regeneration, they revolutionized the device to an organ
and made it grow inside of the eyeball. Then they embedded the organ’s genetic
sequence into the genes of Hylocans. Years after years, generations after
generations, mind-reading organ hiding in their eyes evolved more and more
powerful. However, their loss in UWII terminated the future of the organ. The
senior council of UG had all Hylocans’ eyeballs removed and replaced with
electronic eyes. This included every new born Hylocans.

“That
brings us the whereabouts of those eyeballs. After eyeballs are removed from
Hylocans, they should be sent to a planet to be destroyed. It seems that not
all of them were done this way.” Aron said.

“We just
found out this? I mean, it has been 84 years since Hylocan was defeated.”
Marked asked in surprise.

“Recently,
one Hylocan girl went missing. We dug into it and found that some eyeballs were
transported to somewhere else.”

“Where
then?”

“That is
your new assignment. We managed to place a tracer on one eyeball, but we don’t
know where it went. It might because the destination was beyond the tracer’s
transmission range. All we know is the location of the last transmission.” Aron
said.

“I see.
No problem. Aron, I know the rule, but can I get some money now?”

“The
money is tight. I can’t prepay you with their money. But I can pay you with my
money.”

“Thanks,
Man. I appreciate it.”

“For
John?”

“Right.”

“How is
he?”

“He is
all right. Not getting worse. Right now, I can only keep it this way. Need to
win a lottery to start the actual treatment.”

“Man, I
wish I can do more.”

“You
have done a lot and I appreciate that and this job. I know you can find other
guys for this job.”

“Come
on, Man. You saved me twice.”

“You
saved me once, so it made me save you only one time.”

“OK. I
gotta go. I will put the detail information and money in the old place.” Aron
said and headed out.

Mark
took the sticker off his forehead and let out a long sigh.