Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (44 page)

After dinner prisoners had one
hour free time on the playground. There was nothing except several worn-out
tables and dozens of rusty chairs. After 12 hours of swinging sledgehammer,
most prisoners sat on the floor, too tired to speak. Some of them even fell
asleep.  The prison guards were watching them from small airborne platforms.

Jason
was sitting on the edge of the playground. For Jason, the hard labor was just a
piece of cake. What bothered him most was his unstoppable thinking of Gloria.
He missed her so much that it hurt in the heart. Every time he closed his eyes,
he saw Gloria’s face and her beautiful body. This helped him forget the
reality, but only for a second.

Alone
and bored, Jason glanced around at other prisoners. Originally Jason thought
some species would come to pick on him. But it seemed nobody gave a damn about
him. While he was thinking about this, he notice an Ajiese walking around,
asking something and taking notes. Soon the Ajiese came to Jason and said, “Hey
man, you play? Who is your horse this time?”

“Play
what? I don’t understand.” Jason said.

“Oh,
man, you are new here. Every week we have a fight in the prison and that is
your chance to make money. You know what I’m saying?” The Ajiese said
excitedly.

“I see.
If I have money, I will play for sure.” Jason said easily.

“Dude,
nobody has money here. We play gem.” The Ajiese whispered into Jason’s ear.

Just at
this moment, Luee patted the Ajiese’s shoulder and muttered, “Hey, Eiteuoo,
what is the odd this time?”

“Three
to one. The Faty is three. He is on fire these days.”

“Put me
on the Faty.” Luee said in a low tone as he shook hands with Eiteuoo.

Eiteuoo
winked at Luee and quickly put the hand in his pocket. They smiled at each
other. Then Eiteuoo left them to approach next one.

“If you
win, how are you going to spend it? I don’t see a supermarket here.” Jason said
ironically.

“You
never know.” Luee grinned. 

“Come
on.”

“Alright.
You see the tall guy there?” Luee said as he pointed at a Wurqan sitting near
the watchtower. He had dark red skin and long arms.

“Yea.”

“Here,
we call him shopper. He pretty much can get you anything except your freedom.”
Luee joked.

“That is
the only thing I want.” Jason sighed.

“Hey,
you see that Human over there.” Luee said as he motioned Jason to look at a
crippled Human who was dragging his right feet.

“Yes.”

“He was
a legend. Man, I made a lot of money from him. At his heyday, he finished a
fight in a minute.”

“Then
who defeat him?”

“Ah, not
from our prison. You see, every three month, the best fighter will go to fight
with someone from another prison. We call it doom. You know this kind of game
was arranged by wardens from different prisons. Our warden probably made a
fortune from it.”

“I see,
so what you get from being a fighter?” Jason asked carelessly.

“Huh,
look like you are interested in it. Oh yea, you are from the fucking Guardian
fleet. Man, what you got? You can fight? Tell me.” Luee said excitedly.

“No, not
really. I am just curious what those fighter get.”

“Money,
of course. And if you are good enough and you can make money for the warden.
You will have some pussies. Man, I am telling you. That is something you can’t
buy here.” Luee said seriously.

Jason
smiled at himself. Originally, he thought there was no female prisoners.

Later in the night, Jason was
lying on the bed and thinking about the fight. The bed was so hard that he had
to change his position from time to time.

“Clank!
Clank! Clank!” The tread of footsteps dragged him out of his thoughts and it
was getting louder and closer. Soon four guards stopped in front of Jason’s
cell.

“Jason
Marton, get out!” One guard shouted as the bar slid open.

“What
for?”

“Shut
the fuck up.” Another guard shouted.

Jason
knew there was no point of arguing with those guys. He walked out and headed to
the lower level, followed closely by the guards.

“Good
luck. Man.” A prisoner laughed as Jason walked by his cell.

“I hope
you didn’t eat too much tonight.” Another prisoner shouted.

Jason
and the guards stepped onto an airborne platform and flew out of the prison
block. They passed working zone and arrived at the guards living area. The
surrounding was cleaner and way more spacious than the cramped prison zone.

After
passing several big gates and a long corridor, Jason walked into a ballroom. In
the room dozens of girls from different species were waiting the tables without
any clothing. Some 20 guards were sitting around, enjoying their drinks and
flirting with girls. A few girls were kneeling in front of the guards’
crotches, their heads popping up and down. The four guards pushed Jason through
the ballroom and brought him to captain Hwoei. He was sinking in a big couch
and squeezing a Tizuee girl’s tits.

“On your
knees.” Hwoei said coldly as if he was commanding a dog.

Jason
acted as if he was deaf.

“Bang!”
The guard hit Jason’s back with a baton.

Jason
fell on his knees right in front of Hwoei.

“Now,
you will swallow what I give you to swallow.” Hwoei said proudly. The guards
around Jason broke into laughter.

All of
sudden, Jason leaped into the air and punched Hwoei’s face with a heavy blow.
Hwoei plunged into the couch and Jason landed on Hwoei’s chest. Jason squeezed
Hwoei’s head between knees and jabbed Hwoei’s face.

The
guards was in shock. They froze there for several seconds and then realized
what happened. The four guards came to Jason swinging their batons. Jason
lifted the fainted Hwoei from the couch and used him as a shield. Then he
punched the guard on his right away. Before the guard on his left hit him with
a baton, he kicked him on the belly and grabbed his baton. The ballroom fell
into chaos. The guards from other tables quickly stood up and charged at Jason.
They dashed to Jason from all sides, yelling at top of their lungs. Jason
grabbed Hwoei’s arms and started to rotate. When Hwoei’s feet left the ground,
Jason threw him to the guards and knocked seven of them down. He took this
chance to break the encirclement and ran to the door. Three guards followed
right behind him. Jason threw the baton to the middle one and hit his head. As
the other two caught up with Jason, he suddenly stopped and turned around. The
two guards both swung their batons at Jason’s head, Jason grabbed their batons,
one on each hand. He then threw them over his shoulder.

“Bang!”
The sound of gunshot echoed in the ballroom.

Jason
felt a sharp pain on his right shoulder. When he was about to run, he heard
another gunshot and then he fell into coma.

When he
woke up, he found himself lying on a surgical table, his right shoulder and
chest patched, arms and legs fastened.

“What
you pulled out there was crazy and stupid.” A heavy voice struck him.

Jason
looked around and found an old Oireitan standing in the distance. He had a
small figure, orange skin and a long head stretching to the back.

“What
were you thinking? You wanted to die or something?” The Oireitan said with his
arms crossed.

“What
are you waiting for?” Jason asked coldly. The moment he attacked Hwoei, he had
decided he would rather die instead of living an insulted life like that.

“What
are you in for?” The Oireitan said patiently.

Jason
was surprised that the Oireitan didn’t know. He cleared his throat and said, “I
don’t really know.”

“OK, I
will be as forthcoming as I can. It seems that you can fight. You can choose to
die right now or you can work with us. Of course, that will save you from those
harassments.” The Oireitan said in a hard voice.

“What do
I get?”

“You
know, you will have some limited privileges.”

Jason
fell into silence.

“I take
it as a yes.” The Oireitan said, and then called the guards in. They carried
Jason out of the room.

Hwoei
kicked the door open and ran into the room, his face covered with bruises. He
hurried to the Oireitan and shouted, “Wy itetn, why do you let him leave? We
have fighters for the game.”

“Calm
the fuck down. You dumb ass. Don’t you forget who you are talking to.” Wy itetn
said unhappily.

Hwoei
immediately lowered his head and said, “Sorry, Warden.”

“You see
we don’t have any information about this prisoner. All we know was Guardian
Fleet sent him here. We need to find out what is going on. Besides, all the
fighters we have right now are just as useless as you and your guards. We have
been losing money for the past two games.” Wy itetn said impatiently.

“But…”

“Shut the
fuck up! There is something about this Human and we will find out.” Wy itetn
said firmly and then left the room.

When the 14 fleets commanded by
General Kalan was closing to the atmosphere of Sylareon, Kalan met the three
fleets from defensive department. After a brief conversation with the deputy
chiefs of the three fleets, Kalan’s fleets entered the atmosphere of Sylareon
without any resistance.

The
defense mechanism of the palace contained two shields system. The outer shield
not only held up against the air attack, but also acted as anti-air weaponry.
The inner shield protected the center area of the palace against the ground
attack.

Kalan
didn’t care the possible casualties and all he wanted was to finish Liutein as
soon as possible. To save time he ordered ground attack while the outer shield
was still on. As a result, one of five drop vessels was either shot down or
crashed while landing. Thousands of combat vessels were firing their big guns
at the palace. Numerous missiles from both sides crossed in the sky. Explosions
and gun fires lightened up the night. On the ground, giant tanks, artillery
units, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers in combat armors flooded out of
the drop vessels. They swarmed around the palace and quickly engaged into the
fights against the defensive forces from the palace. It was brutal and bloody.
Within minutes, the soldiers’ blood painted the field purple, with body parts
here and there.

Kalan
saw it clearly from the flag vessel of the Seventh fleet. The moment the
defensive force consumed the first wave of ground force, Kalan immediately
ordered the second wave attack. As time went by, the strength of outer shield
was dwindling down and his fleets slowly turned the tides of the battle. By the
time of middle night, the ground force broke through the palace wall and
quickly destroyed the energy towers supporting the outer shield. Kalan’s fleets
quickly got the upper hand and swiftly occupied most of the palace except the
center area which was protected by the inner shield.

Kalan
smiled quietly as he watched the palace burning below his feet. For him, this
was the most beautiful picture he had ever seen.

Doensen
walked to Kalan and said, “General Kalan, your son Klaycon is here. He called
in early and we picked him up.”

“Good,
bring him in.” Kalan said with a big grin.

Klaycon
stumbled into the bridge and saluted his father.

“My son,
you did a very good job. Unfortunately, we were one step late.” Kalan said
proudly.

If
Klaycon saw his father’s happy face in another situation, he would be thrilled
and jumped in the air, but right now he could only squeeze out a bitter smile.

“So my
grandpa is dead?” Klaycon asked nervously, casting his eyes down.

“Things
didn’t work out as we planned.” Kalan said calmly.

“I see.”
Klaycon sighed as he peeked at Kalan.

They
both fell into silence for several seconds.

“Klaycon,
may I ask you a question?” Doensen asked politely.

“Of
course.” Klaycon said and looked Doensen in his eyes.

“How did
you get out?”

“Oh, I…
When I woke up, I saw a tunnel. So I got into the tunnel and walked out.”
Klaycon said briefly.

“How do
you leave the tunnel?” Doensen asked coldly.

“I
called my friends Zier, Nissen and Carila.” Klaycon said casually. He knew that
was not true at all. He called Gloria and Gloria saved him from that tunnel.

“They
must have to drill a hole to get you, huh?” Doensen said with a grin.

“Yea. I
don’t know why the tunnel was sealed at the other side.” Klaycon said
innocently.

Doensen
and Kalan looked at each other, searching for answers.

“That
was probably done by Liutein’s soldiers.” Kalan said firmly.

“I
agree.” Doensen nodded.

“Did you
find my mom and my sister? We attack the palace like this. Liutein will kill
them.” Klaycon said hastily in a worried tone.

Kalan
didn’t know what to say. He didn’t even think about this when he launched the
attack.

“If they
were dead, they were dead a long time ago.” Doensen said sadly.

“Son,
this is just something we have to live with. We will search the palace and
see.” Kalan said in a low voice.

“I
understand.” Klaycon nodded.

“Klaycon,
you look tired. Get some rest. You have done well today, my son.” Kalan said as
he hugged Klaycon.

Klaycon
hugged back awkwardly.

“Doensen,
why don’t you find Klaycon a cabinet?” Kalan said.

“My
pleasure.” Doensen said happily.

Klaycon
and Doensen left the bridge, headed to the living quarter.