‘Please, Dan, be very careful and believe you will succeed, please sit down.’
He looked into my eyes. Then, holding my head with his two hands he then closed his eyes. I know he is trying to give me some sort of protection. Over the last few days, and I suppose it has only been a few days, although with travelling to the Andromeda Galaxy who knows what time it is? All I know is I have grown very fond of these ‘Defenders of the Universe.’
You will be taken to a holding place while they access your crime and punishment,’
‘What did you say, my punishment?’
‘It will only be a flogging or something minor like being left chained to a scaffold while the locals throw stuff at you.
‘What stuff?’
‘It is usually excrement or rubbish. Please don’t resist or you will be given a harsher punishment.’
‘Will I be wearing my protective suit?’
‘No, you will be naked,’
‘Thanks a lot.’
‘You will be perfectly alright as long as they don`t throw anything harmful.’
‘What about the Ancrons?’
‘Don`t worry, they won’t be allowed to come near. Don’t forget to act animalistic and stupid. We have monitored the area, as best we can, through our agents and no one suspects anything. We believe Kallo is near but we don`t know where, he must have technology that is highly prized or a very good cloaking system.’
‘What if Kallo has, like you say, higher technology, surely he would catch on to this scam of ours!’
‘No, I told you, he has gone beyond the lower states of consciousness, he won’t know.’
‘I hope you are right.’
‘There is a hotel near to the place where you will be punished; it is called ‘The Dead Tourgen.’
‘What?’
‘Yes, one of the ancestors of the body you are in went berserk and killed many people some decades ago. He was killed by the Bourin, so they thought, but he wasn`t dead. He got up and slew many more.’
‘So, the locals might be a little against Tourgens’ I said.
‘One more thing, be sure you don`t over stretch yourself physically, as your strength is more than your body can take; you might pull your arms out of their sockets.’
‘Why didn`t you just let me go in there as a human-being?’
‘You wouldn`t have lasted more than a day. The Bourin are vicious, they won`t give you any chance to negotiate or any form of agreement.’
‘What about a weapon, surely I need something to protect myself.’
‘Reeas will have some; there will be many such things available there,’
‘One more thing,’ I said, ‘how do I get to area 96?’
‘You will have to go by the road; it is not very good as the whole system isn`t repaired very often, also the population like to stage death games. They ride up to other road users and try to smash them with anything they can use as a weapon apart from guns, that is thought to be cowardly.’
‘Oh, no, not more lunacy,’
‘Just be aware of it. You will also have to acquire transport. Motor tricycles are large and powerful and built to withstand a lot of hard use, you won’t need any sort of licence for the transport, things like that are not needed as people don`t matter, they are left to get rid of each other in any way they can. Area 96 is some three-hundred miles from the hotel, when you get there make your way to the local park where you will meet Reeas at 1,300 hours on the seven-hundred and fourth day. Today is the seven-hundred and second day.’
‘What month would that be?’
‘There are no months at Far-Station, the days are just days. There are one thousand days in a time span, so they just say seven-o-four or seven-o-five.’
‘What about the seasons?’
‘There are no seasons.’
My God, I thought, let me get away from this place as soon as I can.
I know I am going to be in for a very rough time. I just hope I can stand up to it. No wonder Kallo picked this place to hide out. No one in their right minds would come anywhere near it. I know Grenwer hasn`t told me everything about the evils in this place as it might over load my mind with panic. All I can do is trust in Grenwer and Sionn. I know he is still in existence and waiting to unlock the secret of my mind. I just had to go through Hell to get to him.
From now on Grenwer had to stay behind. I am led by more than thirty guards who are requested by radio. We leave the holding area. The security people are dressed in some sort of protective-suit and are very muscular, maybe they are clones, in fact, I’m sure they are. They can, I’m sure, beat the tar out of most people, but I know I can kill the lot of them quite easily. I am wearing restraints around my wrists and ankles, I know I can break these if I wanted to, but, as Grenwer said, I might injure myself. Just take it easy, Dan, or Cloft, buddy. I thought, use the yoga technique you used years ago, deep breathing, and mental contemplation. So, they are going to lash you, and throw some crap at you, so what, I know I can break free, but I know that would ruin everything.
We reach the boarding place for the shuttle to Far-Station. There is an assortment of people or beings, who, I would be hard pressed to even dream of. There is such a difference in body type. There are many human type people with differences in facial appearance and in size but I am the only Tourgen. I am also the largest although not the tallest and I know, as they did, that I am the most feared. As you students know by now, my face is enough to put anybody off, with my red and yellow streaked eyeballs which can turn to gold when I get angry, and my two-inch fangs,
anyone would be put off.
We had our own shuttle. I don’t suppose people want to travel with a large beast type man who looked like a cross between an eight feet Tiger-Werewolf. I notice a lot of the people waiting were also in custody with security guards; maybe some had hired security to guard them. One thing is sure; the job of security guard will always be needed here.
We enter the shuttle. I am told to sit down on a seat which isn`t big enough for me, the head guard with his arm band which reads Captain seemed to take a liking to my discomfort but would not make eye contact with me. In fact, not one of the guards will. I can sense their fear, their hands are near their blasters, and some are already holding them. We lifted off and slotted into the air route to Junction-43. The trip will only take a short time as Terick-3 is in the same solar system as Far-Station.
Now I know what you students out there are saying:
‘What are you doing? How can you hope to find someone who is in a maximum-security fortress, and you don’t even know what he looks like? You are in the body of a large beast type man, and you are going to get flogged into the bargain. Oh, and there are thirty-five armed guards restraining you.
All I can say is, I trust Sionn and Grenwer and I have to do my best. I am a Trainee-Guardian, and as such, I work for the universal good, like you do, my friends.