Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (23 page)

There was still a week till the
game against the first class species.

Jason
planned to take Lisania to Earth this weekend. He knew it was better to do this
before the game.

It was
four in the morning. Jason got up quietly. He quickly put on his casual clothes
and slang a backpack over his shoulder.

“You
sure, you don’t want me to go with you?” Erikon asked sincerely.

“This
time, I will leave you guys out of this. Besides, you guys have done your
parts.” Jason said as he pointed at the backpack.

Erikon
knew Jason was talking about the money.

Jason
headed out and went to picked up Lisania. Then they rushed to the cargo vessel
hangar. He had bribed a pilot and made a deal. The pilot would make a stop at a
public transportation station so that Jason and Lisania could get off. Later he
would came back at the same station to pick up Jason.

After
hiding several hours in the cargo vessel, Jason and Lisania successfully
arrived at the station and went aboard on a vessel heading to the earth. They
sat next to each other in the passenger bay. Lisania was wearing the bandage on
her eyes and a head cover. Including Jason and Gloria, there were only four
passengers.

Three
hours later, Jason saw Earth out of the window. It had been four years since
last time he saw earth. He remembered it was the day he left the earth and went
to the Human preselection institute.

“Why
don’t you just dump me somewhere?” Lisania asked suddenly.

Jason
paused for several seconds and said, “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”

“I
thought you would make up some romantic reason.” Lisania smiled reluctantly.

“Because
you are beautiful especially your body, I couldn’t just dump you somewhere.”
Jason said as he looked at her ample breast.

“Do you
love me?” Lisania asked directly.

Jason
stared at Lisania in surprise and asked, “Why you suddenly ask something like
this?”

“Do you
love me?”

“I like
you, but I don’t love you.” Jason said firmly.

“That is
good enough. When I have my eyes back, you might change your mind.” Lisania
said happily.

Jason
lost his words.

The
vessel was decelerating to enter Earth’s atmosphere. Half an hour later, the
vessel landed on a platform near where used to be the Great Lakes. Now water was
gone and were replaced with mountains of garbage. The wind was bleak and
strong, mixed with sand, dust and the smell of rotten fish. Jason and Lisania
clamped their noses as they stepped out of the vessel. But the smell was still
too strong for Lisania and she threw up. They quickly rushed into a bus
station.

After
four hours, they got on a hover bus and headed north. It was a five hour ride.
Then they finally arrived at the fringe of a slum valley before sunset.
Hundreds of thousands of buildings thronged the valley. They were two to three
floors high with broken walls and roofs. Walking in the narrow alleys, Jason
was happy that Gloria didn’t have to see this. Gloria was holding Jason’s hand
and stumbling right after him. She had gotten used to the smell after threw up
everything.

When it
was close to late night, they finally reached the destination, a battered two
floor house with broken windows and a tilted wall. The place belonged to
Jason’s grandmother-in-law. Jason couldn’t even recall when he visited here
last time.

There
was no light in the house. Jason stepped in front of the door, switched on his
flashlight and peeked inside through the cracks on the door. He didn’t even
know whether his grandmother-in-law was still alive or not. He didn’t call her
beforehand, because he didn’t even knew how to contact her.

“Knock,
knock, knock.” Jason knocked on the door and listened carefully.

“Knock,
knock, knock.”

“Jason,
there are two people walking in this direction.” Lisania whispered into Jason’s
ear.

Jason
turned around and gazed at the alley. All he could see was a beam of light from
a flashlight. He put away his flashlight, grabbed Lisania close to him, stepped
away from the door and took cover behind the tilted wall. Jason couldn’t tell
what they look like until they walked on the porch. One was a 70 year old lady
and the other was a teenage boy.

Jason
emerged from the tilted wall and shouted, “Grandma.”

The boy
was scared but the old lady calmly turned to Jason and shoot her flashlight at
Jason’s face. He gazed at Jason for a second and shouted, “Jason. Jason! It is
you!”

Jason
walked to her and they hugged together.

“Look at
you. You are a man now.” The old lady said emotionally as she fondled Jason’s
head.

“Grandma,
sorry, I didn’t come to see you before.” Jason said in embarrassment.

“My boy.
What are you talking about? Let’s get in. Oh, I almost forgot. Jason, do you
remember Truck? You played with him last time you were here. Truck, this is
Jason.” The old lady said excitedly.

Jason
and Truck acknowledged each other.

“Oh, I
have a friend as well.” Jason brought Lisania to his grandma in law and said,
“This is Lisania. Lisania, this is my grandma Lilen. My friend Truck.”

Lisania
nodded at them.

“Jason’s
friend is my friend. Alright, let’s get in.” Lilen said happily.

Everyone
walked into the house. Lilen turned on the light and walked into the kitchen.
The inside was humble and old. The only furnitures in the room were a round
table and several chairs. Shortly, Lilen returned with four glasses of water
and everyone sat around the small table.

“Jason,
how is your training in Guardian Fleet?” Lilen asked.

“It’s
pretty good. I am the top in the class.” Jason said confidently.

“I am so
proud of you.”

“Your grandma
talks about you all the time. You are a local celebrity.” Truck said nicely.

They all
smiled.

“Grandma.
It is so nice to see you.” Jason said and held Lilen’s hand.

“Me,
too.” Lilen grasped Jason’s hand tightly.

“Oh, you
two must be hungry. I will get some food.”

“I will
help you.”

Both
Jason and Lilen went to the kitchen. Jason opened the fridge and only saw
several potatoes and a few jars.

“Jason,
tell me. Are you in some kind of trouble?” Lilen asked sincerely.

“No,
it’s just I hope you can help me look after that girl for a while. She is
blind.” Jason said reluctantly.

“No
problem. I was worried you got yourself in some kind of life or death stuff.”
Lilen said and patted Jason’s shoulder.

“I know
your life is tough.”

“Well,
life is always tough. Remember that and don’t you give it up.” Lilen said and
smiled at Jason.

“Thanks.”

“Come
on. You make me feel like I am a stranger. Make yourself useful. There were
some potatoes in the fridge. Peer them.”

Jason
and Lilen cooked those potatoes as they talked about Jason’s life in the
training center and old neighbors. Then they had a quick dinner. Jason had to
leave to catch the bus. Before he left, he gave all the money he had with him
to Lilen. Jason knew it could only last several months, so he promised that he
would come back in two months.

General KIizan reviewed all
analysis results of the wreckages they found and it showed that the base on
that planet was only around 10 years old. He realized how serious the problem
was, so he requested a video conference with the leaders of all other eight
species at this weekend. Before the conference, he talked with Kalan about the
Oracle. Kalan reported the fruitless search and his plan about following Jason
to find the Oracle. Klizan wasn’t thrilled about this idea, but given the fact
that Kalan had put the trace in place, he decided to give it a try. He ordered
Ceithu to cease any further operation regarding killing Jason.

Later
the conference started.

“What is
so important to make you call this meeting?” Iteiten, the prime minister of
Estian, asked before Klizan could start.

“We need
to discuss the Hylocan problem.” Klizan said calmly, hiding his anger.

“I hope
you are here to tell us some news about the missing Hylocan girl.” Au Ithei,
the president of Oireitan, said in a provocative tone.

“Like you
just said, the girl was missing.” Klizan said coldly.

“The
emergence of the girl however is the problem.” General R-Isgie, the leader of
Uainanese, said. He was short and fat with a tail as long as his body.

“Hylocan
did get away during the siege of Akenlys or they just plan this years ahead.” 
Au Ithei said slowly.

“I have
found one of their bases or what it left. From the scale of the base and the
analysis of the wreckage, I am pretty sure there are at least a great number of
Hylocans out there.” Klizan said confidently.

“How
exactly did you find that base?” Iteiten asked.

“From
reliable intelligence sources.” Klizan said.

Iteiten
snorted and looked at Au Ithei.

“In
order to eliminate the problem, we have to put all available intelligence
resources together. I hope we all understand this.” Au Ithei said.

“We have
to do it as soon as possible before we are brain-controlled.” R-Isgie said
hastily.

Other
leaders didn’t really raise any concern, because all of them knew the strong
made the rule.

“The
wreckages you found could be very useful. Every species here should have the
access to those wreckages to analyze them.” Iteiten said in a hard voice.

“We have
already fully analyzed those wreckages and I just told you what we found.”
Klizan said coldly.

“Well,
we believe your judgement but we also feel another set of eyes could be very
helpful.” Au Ithei said easily.

Other
leaders nodded their heads.

“I do
agree what President Au Ithei just said.” R-Isgie added.

Klizan
gave R-Isgie an angry stare. He knew this must have something to do with
pulling Glycan vessels away from the disputed planet.

“I
believe collaboration is very important.” Klizan said in an official tone.

“I
believe the same thing and that is the cornerstone for us to deal with this
problem.  We all know how powerful Hylocan used to be.” Au Ithei said happily.

“So, we
are set then. We will make further decision based on the analysis.” Iteiten
gave Klizan a big smile.

“One
more thing, we really need to replace those outdated ships in Guardian Fleet. I
am aware that this has been discussed several times in the operation committee.
This kind of thing shouldn’t take this long. Since we are all leaders of first
class species, we can work something out. What you guys think?” Au Ithei said
impatiently.

“I think
I speak for some of us here, 20 vessels for each species is really a burden.”
Agu teih si, the king of Yaseen, said in embarrassment.

“How
about Oireitan, Estian, Glycan and Uainanese build those ships? But remember,
in this case, we do request more control over the fleet.” Au Ithei said
quickly.

“I don’t
think that is the initial idea of Guardian Fleet.” Klizan said.

“Save
it. General Klizan, you don’t need to educate us. We need to solve the real
problem here.” Iteinen said hastily.

“And I
guess we have to ask, can you join us?” Au Ithei smiled evilly.

Klizan
didn’t say anything.

“Is
there any problem from others?” Au Ithei asked arrogantly as he looked around
at other leaders.

No one
made a sound.

“Then we
are all set here. Oireitan, Estian and Uainanese will construct the new ships
and we will expect more control over the fleet.”

The
meeting was over and Klizan felt like he just lost a battle. It wasn’t always
like this and Klizan knew it would change in three months.

When Jason returned to the
training center, it was close to morning. He crept into the doom and was
surprised to see Erikon and Lucis were up already.

“How is
your trip? Lisania is safe?” Erikon asked.

“Yea,
she will be alright.” Jason said tiredly.

“Gloria
called like 100 times. We didn’t answer the call, because we don’t know how to
explain.” Erikon said seriously.

Jason
immediately took out the badge from his uniform pocket, but he pause for second
and put it back.

“Everything
alright? You look lost.” Lucis said.

“I am
thinking how to explain this.” Jason saidi in a worried tone.

“You
have to lie. Trust me. No other choices.” Lucis said sincerely.

“Jason,
Vampire is right. If she knows you helped a Hylocan, you are dead.” Erikon said
seriously.

“Nah.”
Jason said easily.

“The
hatred between Hylocan and Glycan can be traced back to the first universe war.
It was something in their blood and they were born with it.” Erikon said.

Jason
didn’t say anything. He went to the restroom and made the call.

“Where
have you been all day? Why you didn’t answer my call? You scare me to death. I
thought you were kidnapped. Are you alright?” Gloria said quickly.

“Yea, I
am fine just a little tired.”

“What
did you do?”

Jason
paused for a second and said, “I...I was doing some training in a high magnetic
field, so I didn’t bring the badge. I don’t want to lose my second one.”

“Jason.
Don’t you worry, if you lost it, I will give you another one. You were there
for a whole day and night? It was the weekend!”

“Yea, it
was a long one. Unbelievable.”

“I see.
I will complain to those second class officers. This is ridiculous!” Gloria
said angrily.

“Honey,
you really overreact, but I like it.” Jason said happily.

“That is
so sweet. I love you.”

“I love
you, too.”

“You
know my father visited me yesterday and he brought me some delicious fruit. I
was waiting for you and I didn’t eat any.”

“Then I
will see you tonight.”

“We will
go to the lookout tower. The view is beautiful.” Gloria said excitedly.

“No
problem. See you.”

“See
you.”

Jason
quickly switched off the badge. He had never felt guilt this heavy. He thought
about making it up for Gloria, but he didn’t know what to do. Telling the truth
was definitely not an option. One lie was one lie, no matter what you do.

Later,
Jason, Erikon and Lucis joined others at the breakfast. Jason was still angry
at himself and didn’t have any appetite. Erikon was very helpful in terms of
finishing Jason’s plate. They talked about the upcoming game against the first
class species. None of them had any clue what to do. They trusted that Jason
would come up with a plan on the occasion, but Jason simply didn’t think so.
They finished breakfast and went to the class.