7 THE BETRAYAL
Three plates suddenly materialized slowly in front of the three prisoners. Each contained a bowl of porridge and a glass of water.
“Look at that!” remarked Rutgers.
Troy and Kru looked at the descending plates and sighed together.
“How long are we gonna be here?” asked Troy, after spending close to forty hours in the cell silently.
The trio had avoided talking to each other and spent the time huddled in the corners.
“We might as well as start liking it here,” Kru said dejectedly, “At least the cell has a proper washroom,” referring to a tiny room within the cell.
“I wonder what they did to the girl?” said Rutgers.
“I am worried too,” said Troy, “What about your sister?”
“There is something you need to know, Troy,” said Kru.
“What?”
“Rutgers is my uncle. Lena should be safe with his family.”
“Right!” said Troy, as it didn’t seem to surprise him at all, after all that had happened to him in a short while.
“He used to be really very scary when we were little and I always used to stammer around him out of fear,” said Kru and smiled at his uncle. “I am sorry I gave you a wrong impression back on the Command Bridge, Troy.”
Troy just nodded his head in reply. He had a more pressing question to ask.
“How do you know my father, sir?” asked Troy.
Rutgers was visibly taken aback by Troy’s question. He avoided Troy’s gaze and took some time before he could answer.
“Dylan was my friend,” he stated at last.
“How could that be?” Troy asked at once, thinking of the distance between Kepler and Albein which would have normally taken several human generations to go forth and come, even at the speed of light.
“It was me,” Rutgers said, “About fifteen years ago, we were testing a newer improvised version of wormhole technology, when I got stranded near Kepler and got attacked by unidentified attackers.
Your father saved my life and that of my crew that day.”
“That’s huge!” exclaimed Troy, “Really?”
“Yes!” said Rutgers. “That attack is very similar to the attacks now. We couldn’t sense anything. We were attacked suddenly out of the blue. I have every doubt that it might have been them just surveying our planets before finally attacking them now!”
Troy let out a long breath.
“Your father was truly a great man. He had great integrity. He could have easily stolen the plans for the wormhole technology since the Keplers were actively working on stabilizing wormholes though unsuccessfully except that he didn’t. If he had, it would have been death back home for us. I reported the entire incident back home, which is why my generation has great respect for your father.”
“I have heard about your father too, I simply had no idea that you were his son,” said Kru Troy hung his head, remembering his father, when suddenly the lights went out.
“What happened?” whispered Kru.
“Wait!” whispered back Troy. “Someone’s coming!”
“Who is it?” asked Rutgers, getting up.
“Sit down!” said Troy.
“What the? How did you?” gasped Rutgers.
“He can see in the dark!” exclaimed Kru.
“QUIET!” hushed Troy, “The circular door in the ceiling has opened. Everybody move to the corners!”
There was a dull thud, as someone landed inside the cell.
Troy instinctively jumped onto the intruder and locked the intruder’s arms.
“WHO ARE YOU?” he breathed onto the intruder’s ears.
“I am here to help you!” said a feminine voice.
Troy took a deep breath from the intruder’s hair. It was such a strong sweet fragrance reminding him of exotic flower oils that he was distracted for a moment, which the girl used to free herself from Troy’s hold. She dashed onto the plates, spilling its contents. Lights turned back on, in the cell and they could all see their newest companion. Long jet black hair, olive complexioned skin, a maroon leather jacket and black attire met their eyes.
The girl’s brown eyes met the dazzled gaze of the trio.
“Holloway?” said Kru, surprised.
“Hello nerd!” replied the girl dryly.
“What’s happening?” asked Troy in a voice that trembled a bit, melting before the girl in front of his eyes.
She’s hot…Unassailably hot, he thought.
“What are you doing here, Holloway?” asked Rutgers.
“Sir, I’ve been ordered to rescue you-”
“By whom?” interrupted Kru.
“Senator Jedias!” said Holloway, giving an annoyed look at Kru.
“What’s Jedias planning?” asked Rutgers.
“An uprising, sir!” replied Holloway.
“How many have we on our side?” asked again Rutgers.
“Not too many, sir, I’m afraid.”
“What about Emilie?” asked Troy, who was burning to ask that question, ever since he knew the new girl had come to rescue them
“The Elveden girl?” asked Holloway quickly.
“YES!” replied Troy loudly.
“She’s safe!” replied Holloway and Troy let out one of the biggest sighs of relief ever in his life.
“What is-” started to question Kru before he was interrupted by Holloway,
“See, I would love to chat with you boys round the clock but we’ve got a schedule to keep, at least I do, so let’s go!”
“Wait up!” said Holloway, as she took off with the built in propellant systems in her boots.
A moment later, Holloway threw a glowing white cube inside the cell that organized into a ladder, while falling and set against the ceiling opening and the floor. The trio climbed out of the cell using the ladder. They had emerged onto a big tunnel that was lighted by yellow lights.
“This is a service tunnel,” said Holloway.
“You do realize that we know it, right?” said Kru.
Holloway simply grimaced at him in return.
“Let’s keep moving,” Rutgers said and lead the party, “Walk me through what happened, Holloway.”
Holloway immediately brushed past the boys and walked alongside Rutgers.
“Around thirty three hours ago, the Kepler Premier approached Senator Jedias with a situation. They seemed to know that one of their own, a Kepler boy was imprisoned aboard the Orion Swift and that Chancellor Norman was compromised.”
“How did they know?” asked Rutgers curiously.
“Troy’s AI had notified his mom about the situation and also provided the evidence and the intel that Senator Jedias was the only unbiased person in authority to go to. It’s quite impressive the way Troy’s AI dealt with the situation, with the limited amount of data, it had access to!”
Troy gave a sigh of relief. He felt proud of Max and himself. Holloway had herself said that she was impressed! Troy floated for a few moments before he touched ground again. He couldn’t control himself anymore, he had to know more about this girl. He poked Kru, who replied with a low roar.
He seemed to be irritated.
“Who is this girl?” whispered Troy excitedly.
“My girlfriend,” replied Kru flatly.
Troy felt all the excitement die away as soon as it had come, “Oh!” he said sadly.
“Why do you ask?” asked Kru.
“Nothing!” Troy dismissed. “Is she really your girlfriend?”
“Yes!” replied Kru, irritated.
“Tsokay!” said Troy sadly but Kru seemed uninterested as to continue asking why.
“Where’s Emilie?” promptly asked Rutgers.
“She’s in the Arkylum with Jedias,” replied Holloway. “I barely rescued her! The droids were seconds away from killing her in her cell, when I broke through!”
“That’s one lucky girl!” remarked Troy.
“Sure is!” said Holloway smiling at him, and Troy couldn’t help but notice her sensual lips.
Dirty Mermaids! Troy thought to himself.
“We’re almost there!” announced Rutgers, as he opened a circular door on the wall to their left. He looked out through the door, it opened up ten feet above the floor.
“We’ve got to jump!” said Rutgers. “Holloway, weapons at the ready! Lead the way!”
Holloway nodded and jumped out the opening without hesitation. They heard shots being fired as soon as Holloway had jumped.
“CLEAR!” she cried.
“NOW!” commanded Rutgers and pushed Troy and Kru towards the opening.
Kru landed perfectly while Troy looked as if he had sprained his ankle.
“You alright?” asked Kru.
“Yeah!” replied Troy and there was a dull thud as Rutgers joined them too.
“Wait!” said Holloway. “Let me scan the area!” and she scanned the area with her eye lenses.
“Damn it!” she said, “There are about fifty droids employed at the elevator ahead along with fifteen security personnel.”
“Can you teleport us?” asked Troy.
“Negative!” replied Holloway. “They are scanning for teleportation signatures, so if we do they’ll teleport us midway just where they want us!”
“Great!” said Troy sarcastically.
“There’s no way except ahead!” said Kru.
“Right!” agreed Rutgers.
“Alright!” said Holloway. “Here are your weapons!” and handed a small black cube to each of them.
“I am sorry!” she continued. “These form only low powered weapons!”
“What’s this?” Troy asked Kru, as the black cube transformed into a small handgun.
“Don’t be fooled thinking that it shoots antimatter, it’s just as same as a Bummer, less powerful, but stuns enough for a few seconds, it’s called a Stunner.”
“Right!” said Troy.
“Just max the dial for delivery voltage,” said Kru. “And aim at the head of those droids, it should buy us around five seconds!”
“I don’t think that’s going to be enough!” replied Troy, “I’ll run ahead and take out the droids!”
“Can you?” asked Kru dubiously.
“Tsokay guys!” announced Holloway. “They know that we’re here! Run for it!”
The four started running towards the elevator, “They won’t kill us right?” asked Troy as he passed Holloway.
“I hope so!” said Holloway.
“What!” cried Troy, “Give me your two Bummers! I am faster! I’ll cover you all!”
Holloway handed away her two Bummers in exchange for Troy’s Stunner. Troy took off at full speed and sprinted as he fast as he could, he could feel the floor vibrating minutely indicating an army marching towards them.
Troy stretched out his two Bummers and realized he had no Max with him to guide all of his potential twenty targets,
“Nasty Mermaids!” he shouted as he looked behind, the trio seemed a long way off, by at least a hundred meters. He looked ahead then, the elevator still seemed a long way off,
How long? What am I gonna do?...
Then suddenly, he saw them as he came around a turning and backed off again hiding behind a sharp curve. Shots blasted beside him as he barely escaped them and jumped behind the shelter of the corner. He could hear the droids flying towards him. Troy started to panic and his heart started to beat irregularly fast. As he was trying to overcome his anxiety, five droids closed on him at the turning.
“Fugitive!-” shouted one of the droids, when Troy blasted his two Bummers at maximum charge, damaging all the five droids as they were left hovering in the air.
Troy quickly jumped onto two of them and pushed them towards the rest of the droid forces around the corner. The rest of the droids started shooting at Troy hiding behind the two knackered droids.
Unfortunately the droids were also using Bummers, so upon jolting the droids Troy was given a massive shock and was thrown behind. However, Troy picked himself up, as if he had just been brushed back and ran towards his two battered droids, that were still hovering and providing cover for him.
“Stay back!” cried Troy as the trio arrived at the site of action and blasted his Bummers again at the droids ahead of him, severely damaging seven of them. Troy then ditched his former droids and took cover behind the newly damaged droids and shot from there, damaging another set of droids. This he continued till he had damaged all of the droids till he came face to face, with only six clobbered droids between him and the Albein security personnel. He blasted his Bummers at them but nothing shot out of it.
“Uh oh!” uttered Troy as he turned behind and ran. “Take them out! Take them out!” and in response, Kru and Holloway darted together towards the personnel.
“I don’t think Kru can shoot!” remarked Troy as he passed them
“That’s right!” grinned back Holloway as she ran.
“Holly!” cried Kru, his cheeks flushing pink.
“It took you all this time to call me just the way you do?” asked Holloway, in an annoyed tone.
“I just wanted to be formal in front of them!” replied Kru, pleading his innocence.
“Screw formal!” said Holloway, as she jumped and pumped her Stunners several times at the personnel before landing on two Albeins before landing on them with her knees and punching them hard till they passed out. Kru on the other hand, stayed his ground and shot at the personnel, slowly before one short Albein jumped and grabbed him by his neck. He struggled as another personnel grabbed him by his legs, at this point Kru found his Stunner on the floor and inserted the muzzle inside the nose of the short Albein grabbing him by the neck and stunned him.
“And you didn’t tell me anything when you went through that wormhole! How did you expect me to deal with something like that?” complained Holloway
“Just like that?” said Kru, stunning another Albein and infuriating Holloway.
“You know what?” said Holloway, as he knocked out the last of the Albeins. “You are no better than anyone else!” and blasted at Kru with her Stunner and Kru crashed to the ground, crying, “WHY?”
“What happened?” asked Rutgers as he joined them panting.
“Nothing!” said Holloway. “Kru just got stunned by them, he should be up within a minute!”
Kru grunted his teeth and struggled to get up.
“That was fun!” exclaimed Troy, as he joined them. “Oh! Kru! You got yourself stunned!” then looking at Holloway, he remarked. “As expected!” and laughed. Kru just grunted more and got up by himself, in a fit of rage.
“Tsokay! Let’s keep moving!” said Rutgers, not understanding what these young people were up to.
“We’ve got more droids headed this way,” said Holloway, after an alert sprang up on her eye lens.
“Let’s make it to the elevator!” said Troy, “And Kru will make sure we reach the Arkylum without any stopping in between!”
“How do you expect me to hack into the system without any computer!” asked Kru in a mocking tone.
“I thought you Albeins had bigger heads!” Troy shot back, “Use Holloway’s!”
“No way! That’s unhygienic!” replied Kru, referring to wearing Holloway’s lens.
Troy turned to Holloway and said, “I feel sorry for you!” to which Holloway returned a pitiful look as if in agreeing with him.
“Alright! Let’s move!” roared Rutgers, as he was getting already enough of the craze.
The four rushed towards the elevators and waited for one to turn up.
“Come on Holloway, do you have any other wearable tech?” asked Troy.
“No, I don’t, except a nanobot cube-” replied Holloway.
“That’s enough, give me that!” cut in Kru furiously.
“Alright!” said Holloway and she reached inside her jacket, pulled out a tiny black cube and gave it to Kru.
“Turn it into a Holotab!” commanded Kru.
“How will she turn it?” asked Troy at once, thinking for a moment that Kru was asking Holloway to perform some sort of origami.
“She just connects to the nanobot cube and commands it via her computer!” spat out Kru.
As Kru was speaking, the tiny cube transformed into an eleven inch transparent stick, that projected a holographic user interface. Kru started jabbing the Holotab as if he were possessed and finished with a mighty jab. The elevator in front of them opened and all of them hopped inside it. Once inside, Kru again hit the Holotab a few times and then declared, “I have made sure that the Arkylum are unreachable by elevators once we reach there!”
“EXCELLENT!” rejoiced Rutgers and the doors opened on to the Arkylum.
They entered the Arkylum and found most of the Keplers and a few Albeins inside. The Cruiser was still there where they had left it. Troy’s mother suddenly emerged out of the crowd, rushed towards the incoming party and hugged Troy tightly.
“You’ve got to stop doing that, mom! It’s embarrassing!” said Troy.
“You lied to me!” wept Amanda, hugging her son even more tightly.
“I am alright, mom!”
“You better be!”
“Are we cool then?”
“No!” replied Amanda. “I’m not letting you out of my sight ever again!”
“You know that’s impossible!” laughed Troy.
“But I’ll try!” said Amanda.
“I would like to see you try!” joked Troy, to which Amanda playfully hit him on his arm.
“Now, Mr. Troy, how are you?” asked a voice breaking their conversation.
Troy looked at who it was. It was Senator Jedias, a tall man with a grey French beard, in his early seventies.
“I am fine, sir. Thank you for rescuing us.”
“Well, I knew this day was coming. The time to overthrow Norman and it’s finally here.”
Troy had no idea as to what to reply him, so he just nodded his head once. Then he noticed two figures near him,
“Mr. Troy!” said a rough voice.
Troy saw it was the Kepler Premier, Bantam Hall, an obese man with orange hair and a big orange mustache, but it was the person standing near him, who excited him the most and Troy could hardly contain his excitement.
“It’s happening again!” the Premier said, “You’re getting more attention than me, Mr. Falcon.”
Hugo Falcon dismissed the Premier with a wave of his hand and a handsome laugh.
“Greatest fan, sir!” said Troy, with all his twenty eight teeth showing.
“Thank you, kid!” said Hugo, brushing his short blonde hair.
“Stop it, Hugo!” said the Premier in a light-mannered tone, then turning to the rest of the gathering, he said, “You all do realize as to why we are here! Everyone is aware of the facts, I believe! Tonight we take the Orion Swift from Norman and whatever nasty plan she is up to-”
“Sir, the girl’s up!” said an Albein woman, who appeared to be a nurse. Immediately, Bantam, Hugo and Jedias went in the direction, the nurse was pointing. Troy and his gang followed behind them into the Cruiser.
“Child!” Bantam said upon seeing Emilie lying on a bunk, in the refugee quarters. “How do you feel now?”
“Better!” replied Emilie, sitting up, still dressed in the plain orange shirt and pants.
Troy rushed through the crowd, “Emilie!” he said.
Emilie instantly smiled on seeing him. “Good to see you again alive, Troy!” she said.
“I am too!” replied Troy, grinning.
Then Rutgers pulled Jedias, Bantam away for a small meeting outside the quarters and they came back after a few minutes. Troy knew what they were going to ask her,
“What is Norman up to, Emilie?” asked Bantam.
Emilie looked for a moment at Troy, who gave a reassuring nod and then she turned to Bantam and said, “She has betrayed us.”