Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (34 page)

Bored and tired, Jason was lying
on his bed. Lucis and Erikon were talking to their friends. Zoetian, a tall boy
with freckles, was one year senior than Jason. Patisazon and Ilion were the
other two Human trainees in the class of 84. Jason knew Patisazon and Ilion
since they were in the Human preselection institution. But they never got any
closer other than talking about weather. Jason knew he just couldn’t fit in.
Patisazon’s family was running Human’s largest weapon manufacturer. Ilion was
the son of the entertainment business mogul. Zoetian was the son of Treton
London, the chairman of Human defense department. Among all of them, Jason was
the only one that didn’t have any family background. Sometimes, he actually
felt he was unique.

Jason
had a date with Gloria tonight and he hated to be late. He checked his watch
again and got up from the bed, heading to the restroom. Before others in the
room noticed, he crept out.

Five
minutes later, Jason entered the movie theater. He kind of regretted that he
didn’t get out of the dorm earlier. It was quiet and peaceful here, even though
the battered chairs and faded wall paper couldn’t be more aged.

“I guess
you two change the date location.” Klaycon said as he emerged from a dark
corner.

“I
thought I smelled something rotten.” Jason said easily.

“Very
funny.” Klaycon snarled.

“Thank
you. You know, I always want to do this again. To return the last favor in Glycan
library.” Jason said carelessly as he walked to Klaycon.

“Speaking
of that, you should thank me for making you famous.” Klaycon said ironically.

“Oh,
thank you!” Jason shouted and dashed to Klaycon. He hauled out one knife on
each hand and leaped in the air, swinging the left knife at Klaycon’s head.
Klaycon’s uniform transformed into an armor suit in a blink. He blocked the
attack with his dagger. They both kicked each other on the belly and backed off
several steps. Klaycon quickly regained balance and darted forward, pointing
the dagger at Jason’s neck. Jason locked the dagger with two knives, pushing it
against Klaycon. Klaycon didn’t back off, using all his strength to hold his
position.

“You
don’t know how lucky you are.” Klaycon said seriously.

“When I
stick this blade in your mouth, I will listen to your explanation.” Jason said
confidently.

Klaycon
flashed an evil grin. His dagger started to glow in red. Jason could feel the
heat coming out of the dagger. He kicked on the ground and backed off.

Klaycon
smiled silently, his armor suit transforming back to the uniform. He took off
his uniform and said, “Let’s play it fair.”

“Why
not?” Jason said angrily as he threw the knives away.

They
punched and kicked each other on anywhere they could find a chance. It was
boxing, wrestling or whatever. Even though Jason had more strength, it didn’t
really give him the upper hand this time. He didn’t have the chance to corner
Klaycon like last time. Soon they faces were bruised and their noses were bleeding.
But none of them gave up. They were both seeking the very moment to deliver the
final blow.

“That is
enough!” Gloria’s voice struck them.

Distracted
by her voice, Klaycon looked around for Gloria. Just at this moment, Jason
darted forward and kicked Klaycon on the chest. Klaycon fell over and Jason got
behind him. He locked Klaycon in a choke hold. Klaycon was trying to break
free, but Jason held him tight.

“Do you
have any last word?” Jason wheezed into Klaycon’s ear.

Just at
this moment, Jason felt something stuck into his neck. It was something sharp.
Suddenly, Jason lost his steam and collapsed.

Gloria
held Jason’s head and put him on the ground slowly. She smiled at Klaycon and
said, “Thank you.”

Klaycon
slowly stood on his feet, holding his neck and coughing like an old man. He
sighed and said, “Thank you.”

“The
blood will knock you out like this?” Gloria asked in a worried tone, fondling
Jason’s face.

Klaycon
didn’t say anything. He turned his head away and stumbled to the exit, leaving
Gloria with Jason.

The next
day morning Jason learned from Erikon and Lucis that Gloria took him back to
the dorm last night. He remembered everything until he was stabbed on the neck.
He didn’t understand why Klaycon didn’t take that chance to kill him. He asked
Gloria about that night and Gloria told him that he was lying on the floor when
she got into the theater. Jason left it be. Since he didn’t feel any
uncomfortable, he soon forgot this thing.

General Klizan was a little
surprised when he learned that Liutein entered the building of Glycan selection
committee. 

Liutein
was the leader of Glycan, the head of royal family, but he didn’t really have
the actual power. It wasn’t always like this for the leaders of Glycan. His
predecessors all shared the reign with the 17 families. However, things changed
after his father Lewak, the previous leader of Glycan, passed away 33 years
ago. General Klizan cultivated other families and gradually consolidated powers
under his roof. Klizan never took a big bite but eroded Liutein’s influence
little by little. By the time Liutein realized it, he couldn’t even find a
general he trust. As a result, he turned to his people and started campaigns
and protests. Such things had been going on for several years. However, it
didn’t really shake Klizan’s position. He always dissolved those protests by
offering some seemingly important positions to the members of the royal family.

Klizan
didn’t like Liutein at all and he knew for sure that Liutein hated him. They
had been fighting, if not physically, since the beginning of UWII. Klizan
believed that Liutein set him up several times in UWII. He didn’t really do
anything when Lewak was alive, because Lewak was so smart and had the influence
over all 17 families. Klizan waited and waited. After the death of Lewak,
Klizan carried out his plan just as he wanted.

The
sudden visit from Liutein made Klizan a little nervous. Because they tried to
avoid each other as much as possible and everyone knew that. General Klizan was
wondering the nature of his visit. Just at this moment, his secretary told him
that Liutein was here.

“Let him
in.” Klizan said coldly.

Liutein
walked into the room leisurely. He was only half the age of Klizan and had a
large built, a heart-shaped face with bright almond eyes, thin lips and a
straight nose.

Whenever
Klizan saw Liutein, he always wondered why the hell Lewak picked this flower
boy as his successor.

They
briefly acknowledged each other. Then Liutein said, “I heard something
regarding one of our fleets. You are interested?”

“I am
not sure.” Klizan said calmly.

“Well,
it seems that our armed forces were doing something on a remote planet.”

“As you
know, there are so many remote planets in the universe, I can’t really tell
which one you was referring to.” Klizan said in an official tone. Now he knew
that Iteiten did tip off Liutein.

“There
was one protected by an entire Glycan fleet.” Liutein said firmly.

“Really?
You have more details such as the location of the planet.”

“I don’t
know. But the Fourth fleet was far away from home. Some soldiers’ families are
concerned. Since I don’t have other things to do, I spent a lot of time talking
with them.” Liutein said ironically.

“I see.
I will look into this matter. Right now, I have no idea where the Fourth fleet
is.” Klizan said with a stiff smile.

“I
understand.”

“Anything
else?”

“Oh, I
like to invite you and your family to the ceremony next week. I know we will
send out the official invitation this week. I feel this just make this trip
worthy.” Liutein said.

The
ceremony Liutein talked about was held every year to honor the fallen soldiers
in UWI and UWII. As the military leader, he always attended that ceremony but
not with his family.

Klaycon
thought for a second and said, “I am not aware we are going to bring our
families.”

“As the
leader of Glycan, I can’t even make a decision like this?”Liutein said
unhappily.

Klizan
paused for several seconds and said, “If you say so.”

“Thank
you for your compliance. And your time, of course. I will see you then.”
Liutein said happily and headed out of Klizan’s office.

Klizan
didn’t care about the ceremony. He decided to slow down the project on Agirue
just to be on the safe side.

As for his new assignment, Mark
knew there was no way he could go to planet Agirue. According to Aron’s intel,
an entire Glycan fleet was guarding the surrounding area of the planet.
Besides, Glycans might move the eyeball to other places. Mark was more
interested in the Cruiser General Klizan. He went to planet Eirhti, the mother
planet of Diilre. Even though Diilre was one of the nine species, they couldn’t
care less about those regulations segregating first and second class species.
In their minds, as long as buyers had the things they were interested in, they
were all the same. Mark traded the black stone he got from the cave for some
information about Cruiser General Klizan.

It
turned out that cruiser was the last super vessel constructed by Diilre. When
the cruiser was almost done, Glycan made a special request which would gave the
cruiser the possibility to accommodate Hylocan’s ultimate weapon, the Oracle.
Diilre had to cut the cruiser in half to put in a special section. Mark also
learned that Diilre constructed an accessory for the 24 super vessels on planet
Yuwtoow. When he was on the way to Yuwtoow, Salmon called him and asked him to
join them for a side job given by Lreque.

Right
now Mark, Salmon and Aron was on a cargo vessel on the way to planet Satulous.
It used to be Glycan’s livestock farm, but centuries ago an epidemic hit the
planet and swept out millions of livestocks. Glycan tried to contain the
epidemic, but later they abandoned the planet because of the fear that the
epidemic could transfer from animal to Glycans.

The
cargo vessel landed near one of the slaughterhouses on Satulous. It was dead
quiet. The endless green field, white clouds and blue sky painted a serene
picture.

Just
when Mark and Salmon carefully stepped out of the vessel, Aron called them from
the bridge, saying that a Glycan vessel is closing to them fast. After several
seconds, Mark and Salmon watched the Glycan vessel landing nearby. A Glycan
walked out of the vessel and waved at them. Both Mark and Salmon recognized the
Glycan. He was Lreque, the one they met at the Human colony.

They
acknowledged Lreque and followed him into a slaughterhouse. Instead of dead
animals, they saw rows of Glycan combat robots covered in dust. They were 10
meters high, armed to teeth.

“This is
why you are here.” Lreque said happily.

“Why are
they here?” Mark asked as he looked around at those robots.

“Long
time ago, there was an epidemic. It made animals violent and attack anything
they saw. Those robots were sent here so that workers could protect
themselves.”

“Are
they still working?” Salmon said as he touched a robot.

“They
should be.”

“So we
need those robots for what?” Mark asked.

“You
will know soon.” Lreque said coldly.

“There
are more than 400 here.” Mark said

“And
this is only part of the stock. There is another building. Together, there are
about 1000.”

“So you
just want to keep us in the dark until the last minute.” Mark said in a hard
tone.

“We are
all sent here to do a job. You keep that in mind. Now get your asses moving!”
Lreque said unhappily.

Salmon
and Mark both smiled coldly. Lreque gave them the crystals to activate the
suits. Even though those suits were antiques, they worked like a charm. When
Mark was piloting one suit, he could program others robots to follow him. He
and Salmon were able to move 50 robots at one time, so it didn’t take them very
long time to load all 1000 units on the cargo ship.

Lreque
left as soon as they finished loading. Aron also received the coordinate of the
next destination from Treton London. They were all surprised to learn that it
was a planet very close to Eva-1.

General Kalan was preparing for
tonight’s ceremony, the memorial for fallen heroes in UWI and UWII. All high
rank military and government officers would be there and the royal family even
asked them to bring their families this year, so it wouldn’t be as boring as
the ones in previous years.

Kalan
had nine wives and they were all young and beautiful. Looking at his family,
Kalan felt everything was perfect. They headed to the convoy floating right
outside of their house.

Early in
the night, flows of transporters were converging at the Hall of Heroes, forming
an enormous shining net. Hall of Heroes was a fortified military assembly point
during UWI. After it was decommissioned, it served as the venue holding all
kinds of celebrations. Unlike other buildings floating in the sky, the hall was
on the ground and it was 20 floor high with the size of 30 football fields.
Surrounded by infinite forests, it illuminated the night like a huge lighthouse.
It also had a square where thousands of transporters landed and unloaded
passengers.

General
Kalan and his family soon joined flows of Glycans entering the hall. There were
five entrances and numerous soldiers and robots were guarding each entrance. While
Kalan was chatting with Fieope, the commander of Fifth fleet, and walking close
to the entrance, he noticed none of the guards were wearing family badges. He
raised this problem to Fieope, but Fieope only laughed at him for being
paranoid.

The view
in the hall was magnificent and sumptuous. A miniature galaxy with thousands of
stars was floating in the dome, illuminating the entire hall as if it stood
under daylight.

General
Klizan was sitting near a table at the front of the hall, accompanied by the
generals from Joint Commanders of Stuff. He looked around and thought that
there must be around 10,000 Glycans here. As the chairman of the offensive
department, he was supposed to give a speech today. While he was going through
the speech in the brain, his son Kalan came to him and whispered, “General
Klizan, I think there is something wrong.”

“I am
listening.” Klizan said quietly as he noticed other generals around the table
looked at him.

“I have
some bad feeling.” Kalan said nervously.

“What do
you mean?”

“There
is something wrong with guards. None of them is wearing family badges. We
always wear family badges.” Kalan said in a worried tone.

Klizan
let out a sigh, but hid his disappointment. He looked around at other generals
and said, “It is just family stuff.”

Other
generals smiled politely.

“I…”
Kalan stopped as he noticed the sharp stare from Klizan. He smiled at other
generals and backed off.

Twenty
minutes later, the memorial started with Glycan leader Liutein’s speech. All
girls and women screamed on top of their lungs to welcome him. Unlike previous
years, Liutein’s speech was rather brief and simple this time. He addressed the
importance of a balanced society which implied the share of power. 

Now it
was Klizan’s turn and everyone was focusing their attention on him. While he
was giving the speech, he noticed that guards were shutting all the entrances.
This alerted Klizan, because they always kept entrance open in case of
emergency. Klizan was worried, but he didn’t show anything on his face. He
recalled what Kalan said about those guards. Now when he looked at them, they
looked way too young. Klizan didn’t lose his post and continued with his
speech. Suddenly, all lights went out and girls screamed in panic. Klizan
couldn’t see anything, but he heard hissing besides screams and then he smelled
an aroma, the scent of lavender. While he was thinking where the scent came
from, he felt his head was getting heavy. Now he knew what it was. His uniform
quickly transformed into an armor suit. But it was too late. He slumped on the
floor like a stone and so did others. 

Kalan
was hiding in the restroom since the beginning of Liutein’s speech. He was
hesitated about whether to leave or not. When he heard the screams, he squeezed
in a corner, his uniform transforming into an armor suit. After a long while,
he finally crept out of the restroom. When he saw soldiers carrying unconscious
Glycans out of the hall, he quickly shrunk back to the restroom. It was exactly
what he worried. He took a deep breath, but only found himself trembling like a
leaf in the wind.

After
several minutes, he heard some Glycans talking outside. He swiftly removed a
vent cover and climbed into the vent shaft. He couldn’t go any further into it,
because the sensors were right in front of him. He curled up to fit in and put
the cover back.

Six
Glycan soldiers entered the restroom and scoured every corner. Kalan recognized
one of them. It was Lreque, an aide to Liutein.

“They
finally made the move.” Kalan murmured to himself.

After
they left, Kalan suddenly realized that the royal family wouldn’t stopped until
they got everyone of the family K. He called Klaycon using his badge.

“Hi
Dad.”

“Klaycon,
listen to me carefully. We have a grave situation here. The royal family
attacked us in the hall and they captured everyone. I barely escaped. Now, they
will come after you. You understand what I am saying.”

“My
grandpa?”

“Yes and
others. Your mom, brothers and sisters. You don’t need to worry about this. I
will save them. You need to take care of yourself. They will attack training
center. You get out of there.”

Klaycon
paused for a second and asked, “How are you going to save them?”

“You get
out of training center first. I will call you later to tell you what to do
next. Do not call me. They are looking for me right now!”

“Dad,
you be careful. Be careful.”

“I will
be fine. You be careful, too.” Kalan said emotionally and hung up. Then he
called Neiteo, the deputy chief of the Seventh fleet, who didn’t attend the
ceremony because of a medical condition. But Klaycon couldn’t get the line
through. He also tried the command center of the Seventh fleet, but couldn’t
get connected either. Now he really didn’t know what to do next.