Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (20 page)

In the night following the
second round game, Jason and Gloria met in the library.

“Are you
alright?” Gloria asked as they hugged each other.

“Yea, I
am fine. Look.” Jason said and put up a gun show, flashing his arms.

Gloria
laughed.

“You
watched the game?”

“Yes, of
course. That was a smart move.” Gloria said in an admiring tone.

“Well,
only works one time.” Jason chuckled.

“Jason,
I am quite sure General Klizan is after you. He wouldn’t stop until you are
dead.” Gloria said seriously.

“I know.
But there is nothing I can do. But let’s see the good side. The way he tried to
kill me in the game proved that he didn’t plan to kill me in plain sight.”
Jason said happily.

“You can
always see the good side, can’t you?” Gloria grinned.

“From
time to time.” Jason smiled.

They
held each other’s hand and sat side by side near a table.

“Maybe I
can hide in one of planets.” Jason said slowly.

“I will
go with you.” Gloria said without hesitation.

“What
about your family?” Jason asked.

“I have
found someone more important.” Gloria said slowly as she put her head on
Jason’s shoulder.

Jason
looked at Gloria into her eyes. Then he lowered his head and kissed Gloria on
her lips. It was soft and smooth. Jason felt a warm current running through his
body. Gloria quickly kissed him back passionately. She felt her whole body was
electrified. Time stood still. After a long while, they stopped to catch their
breath. 

“That
was great!” Gloria said excitedly, her face still flushing red.

“I love
it!” Jason said happily.

“I love
it, too.” Gloria smiled.

They
kissed again. This time was even longer. They stopped when they were both
tired.

“Have
you ever thought about the future?” Gloria asked.

Jason
knew what she meant. He tried not to think about this kind of thing, but it was
like a splinter in his mind. He sighed and said, “I don’t know.”

“We can
leave this place. There are so many planets out there. We can pick one and live
there forever.” Gloria said hastily.

“Do you
know the story of Logan and Lilisa?”

Gloria
nodded and said, “She was from family L. If she couldn’t make it work, nobody
could.”

“I see.
It pretty much means we don’t even stand a chance.” Jason said in a low tone.

Gloria
felt bad about bringing this up. She looked at Jason and asked, “What are you
going to do with your life?”

“Before
I met you, I planned to graduate from the training center and get an officer
job in Guardian Fleet. I always thought I was up to something big, something
important to Human or even to the whole universe.”

“And
after you met me?”

“Now I
want to fulfill my girl’s dream. That is my life.” Jason said firmly.

“Am I
the girl?”

“No, you
are not.” Jason tried to sound serious, but it didn’t work.

“Oh,
really?” Gloria knew Jason was teasing her. She sat on his laps and gave him a
big kiss.

“I can
kiss you all day.” Jason said.

“I guess
we just need to find a day. Oh, you know what, the semester break is coming.”
Gloria said excitedly.

“Ah,
yes.”

“We can
go somewhere.”

“Ah...”

“What?”

“I am
thinking where we can go. A Human and a Glycan.” Jason said hesitatingly.

“I can
use some disguise then nobody could tell I am a Glycan.” Gloria said easily.

“Sure,
that will work and we can have sex, I suppose.” Jason said carefully.

“What is
sex? Like what they did in the movie?” Gloria asked innocently.

“Ah…It
was the reproduction of Human being.” Jason finally came to this answer after
searching every corner of his brain.

“Oh, I
see. So if we tried that, I will be pregnant?”

“I
actually don’t know. I...I...really don’t know.” Jason said nervously.

“Alright.
Why not?”

“How
Glycans have sex?” Jason asked shyly.

“It was
the fusion of crystals.”

“How it
works?”

Gloria
thought for several seconds and asked, “Are you sure you want to know?”

“No.”
Jason shook his head.

Later,
they decided to go to planet Tjeit, a resort planet that was opened to both
first and second class species. Needless to say, Tjeit was not on the list of
beautiful planets and it was a far cry from those fantastic planets available
only to the first class species, but they had to find a place where Jason could
go.

The operation committee of
Guardian Fleet had routine meetings every two weeks. The main topic of several
recent meetings had been surrounding the construction of new combat vessels for
Guardian Fleet. The UG senior council would decide whether to build new vessels
or not. But the operation committee did need to come up with a proposal.  So
there they were, all nine generals sat near a round table in a conference room.

“Given
the fact that the newest ships in the fleet is two decades old, we really need
to build new ships.” Estian General Geijoa said seriously.

“I
absolutely agree.” Oireitan General Ru aihotr said as he pulled up a diagram
which showed the current vessels in the fleet.

“As you
can see, half of the vessels were out of date and a fourth of them was due for
main overhaul. The weapon systems on all vessels needs to be updated as well.”
General Ru aihotr said.

“It
seemed they still can carry their duties!” Yaseen General Ihiet said in a
relaxed tone.

“There
is a difference between doing the job and performing well.” Uainanese General
T-Regae said.

“I
didn’t really see a big difference.” Ajiese general Tieutin said easily.

“Because
we didn’t send out our ships. For the past nine months, we only did 12 missions
and that included some token ones.” General Ru aihotr said.

“You are
the one who always vote against sending out ships.” Lysisese General
Maitheiteitine chuckled.

“Because
I don’t want to embarrass ourselves. Look at our ships, some of them are worse
than those used by second class species.” General Ru aihotr said angrily.

“I don’t
see any embarrassment. As we all know the vessels are more like a symbol,
right?” Itinese General Aeit said.

“Absolutely!”
General Maitheiteitine said firmly.

“General
A R Ire, what do you think?” General Aeit turned to Diilre General A R Ire.

General
A R Ire was polishing his long nails. He didn’t even look up and said, “Well,
you guys know me.” It was Diilre’s policies to show no preference.

The
discussion continued and Generals from Estian, Oireitan and Uainanese were
still trying to convince others. Kalan knew this meeting would end up with the
same result just like the last one. General Klizan had told him to vote against
building new vessels. Kalan knew it was all about money. Estian, Oireitan and
Uainanese were vigorously supporting building new ships because of their robust
economies. But other species had been struggling to make ends meet.

Later,
the meeting ended up with the result Kalan expected. He was upset that he
couldn’t have more say in the meeting. No money, no talk. That was the rule.

Right
now, he was heading to the medical complex in the Glycan living zone. He heard
from Neiteo, the deputy chief of Seventh fleet, that his son Nissen was injured
in the training center, so he decided to take a look.

When
Kalan walked into the ward, Nissen was asleep and Kalan saw Klaycon was sitting
next to Nissen. He walked to Klaycon and asked, “How Nissen got injured?”

Klaycon
saluted Kalan and said, “He had an accident.”

“Klaycon,
I can tell you are hiding something. Don’t waste my time.” Kalan said
unhappily.

“Alright.”
Klaycon told his father how they fought with Jason and what happened to Nissen.

Kalan
completely forgot about Jason. He remembered when Jason was delivered to planet
Agirue, he lost a lot of blood and was nearly dead. But after all these, he was
still alive. Then he realized that Jason might have something to do with the
Oracle, because he and the oracle was on the same vessel Mark drove away.

“Four of
you didn’t kill him?” Kalan asked in surprise.

“Yea,
but next time, we will.” Klaycon said confidently.

“There
is no next time for your guys. You understand?” Kalan said impatiently.

“Why?”

“There
is no why. It is an order!” Kalan said firmly. He didn’t want Klaycon to
destroy a potential lead to the Oracle.

“Do you
understand?” Kalan asked with a straight face.

“Yes,
General.” Klaycon sounded like a lamb, lowering his head on the chest.

“Why do
you want to kill him?”

“I just
want to finish the job I started.” Klaycon said. He knew he couldn’t tell his
father the emotional drive he had.

“I see.
You did bring that Human to Sylareon. Now let me worry about this. You
understand?”

“Yes.”

Kalan
left Klaycon and rushed to his office in the guardian fleet. He had a gut
feeling that this Human boy Jason would lead him to the oracle.

Normally trainees were free
after seven and they had one day off every week. But Jason didn’t have that
much free time. He had to clean toilets everyday. After he finished the dinner,
he came to restroom and picked up his tools like usual. Just at this moment,
two Wurqans stepped in the restroom. They had dark red skin and long arms.
Jason couldn’t recall their names but he remembered seeing them in the classes
from time to time. One of them walked around as if he was picking the best
toilet to use. He whispered something to his watch. Then two Sityeuens rushed
into the restroom.

“In a
hurry, huh?” Jason joked. He knew one of the Sityeuens. Dreon was the leader of
a team Jason defeated in the second round. All Sityeuens didn’t have nose but
only two small button like holes and they didn’t have eyelids.

“This is
not personal.” Dreon said calmly.

They
slowly surrounded Jason. Dreon was facing Jason’s front. Another Sityeuen went
behind Jason’s back and one Wurqan was standing on Jason’s each side.

Jason
dashed forward and kicked Dreon on his chest. Dreon slumped on the floor.
Before Jason could kick him again, two Wurqans grasped his shoulders from each
side and the Sityeuen grabbed his waist. But the two Wurqans couldn’t match
Jason’s strength and Jason grabbed their hair.

“Ah,
aaaaaah.”

“Aaaaaaaah”
Two Wurqans screamed as Jason pulled their hair. One of them lost the grab and
Jason knocked him down with his knee. He then punched the other Wurqan to
unconscious.

Dreon
just stood up and he saw Jason throwing the Sityeuen at a wall. He had no idea
Jason was this strong. Jason came to Dreon, caught his neck and lifted his body
from the floor. Even though Dreon was punching Jason’s face, Jason didn’t let
it go. Very soon, Dreon lost steam, his arms dangling aside. Jason watched
others running toward him and shouted, “One more step, I will kill him!”

The
other three guys stopped immediately.

Jason
put Dreon on the ground, but still clenched his neck. He grasped Dreon’s right
forearm with his right hand and stretched it far from Dreon’s body.

“This is
what you will get, if you mess with me!” Jason said angrily as he squeezed it
hard.

“Clank.”
Dreon right forearm broke in half. A piece of bone stuck out of the bloody
skin.

“Aaaaaaaah.
Aaaaaah” Dreon screamed desperately.

The
other three was shocked, their eyes bulging out, their face twisted.

Jason
moved his hand to Dreon’s other arm and said, “Well, Dreon, I want you listen
to me carefully.”

“Yes,
yes, yes. I am listening.” Dreon shouted, his eyes filled with tears.

“If you
bother me again, you will lose this one as well.” Jason said calmly.

“Yes.
Yes. I...I...I...I understand.” Dreon stammered.

“Anyone
else?” Jason shouted as he looked around at others.

No one
made a sound. They all casted their eyes on the floor.

“Very
well.” Jason said easily as he dropped Dreon.

The
other three guys slowly moved to Dreon and picked him up from the ground. They
carried Dreon on their shoulders, heading to the door.

Jason
watched them leaving the restroom with a big smile on his face.