Solar Limits
Author: Nathan John Freiberg
Copyright Date: January 20, 2003
The Felony
Lawrence had it all, a beautiful wife, two smart children, one a girl, the other a boy, and money by the truckload. Lawrence was an architect that designed a couple of the great buildings on a neighboring planet; Ion. Lawrence had grown up on the planet Selik for all his life and had met Julie when he was in college. Lawrence is twenty-four and he sis still going through college. But one particular morning the sun didn't shine as bright as it had on Lawrence.
The sun had just exposed itself over the window and it glared in Lawrence's glasses as he read the newspaper. Lawrence flicked the paper and walked over casually to the blinds to pull them down. A few minutes after he had sat down in his purple cushioned chair he heard the yells of children running down the stairs.
"Charlie stop it!" yelled the older girl as she ran down toward Lawrence as he rolled his eyes and flicked the paper again. The blonde haired girl stood right in front of Lawrence said, "Dad! Charlie is pulling my hair!"
"Well, it seems to me that your hair is still in tact," said Lawrence raising one eyebrow looking at the girl.
"Of course my hair is still in tact, but he's ruining my straight hair for the dance next week!" exclaimed the girl right in front of Lawrence's face.
"Loren, you have half my name. Don't make me regret it," said Lawrence as he flicked the paper open reading down the articles staring at some of the architectural improvements on the biggest building on Ion.
"Dad!" yelled Loren, but he just kept on looking at the paper staring at the improvements.
"You know you're fifteen, act like one, or maybe you'll need improvements," he said as he looked down the paper.
Loren just stood there and then ran toward the kitchen yelling, "Mom!"
Lawrence gave a sigh and returned to looking at the paper. He ran through the articles occasionally looking at sports page. But then Lawrence saw something in the paper that made him look a bit closer at the paper. "What! The Great Opera Theatre is being leveled! I made that building! They need not only the governments consent, but also mine!" he said to himself loudly as he flicked the paper closed and got up out of seat and walked over to the kitchen ready for some beacon and eggs.
"Hi honey! No work today?" asked Julie with a smile. Julie was the type that occasionally got angry, but other than that had a smile on.
"No, no work today," said Lawrence with a slight frown on his face that made Julie frown a bit too. Lawrence had a thought on his mind that there was an imposter running about on Ion, but that place was so big that he could be anywhere. But whenever a building gets torn down there is a ceremony involving the government officials and the architect. The imposter would be there. Lawrence had to go to Ion to stop the building from being destroyed, but how could he get there in time? Ion was a two day trip by shuttle, plus Julie would never let him go because she grew up there in a bad part of town. "Honey, I looked up on my e-mails and found out that I have to go to Ion for a week to bring the plans for another building," said Lawrence. He would disguise the trip as a work trip to Ion.
"Sure, but remember to be very careful when your in Ion," said Julie as she placed a plate in front of Charlie, Loren, Lawrence, and herself.
"Dad, can we come?" asked Charlie. There it was, the biggest problem of his plan. According to Julie it was just some work he had to do, nothing huge. If he said yes then they would find out about his real plans in Ion.
"Uh sorry Charlie, but I should go solo on this one. Thanks for asking though that shows me that you care," said Lawrence as he wiped his forehead of his sweat. The family kept on eating their meals and set the dishes on the kitchen counter that sparkled with cleanliness. Then it was in the middle of the day and Lawrence was packing his suitcase when Julie walked in and said, "This is no business trip is it?"
Lawrence couldn't lie to his own wife, but he had to. "Yes, I have get the plans to the boss so this new building can be put up," Lawrence said as guilt ran all over him.
Julie walked over to him and stopped him packing and wrapped her arms around him. "Lawrence be careful, I want you back in one piece," said Julie as she sat Lawrence down on the bed and she kissed him. Her blonde hair sparkled in the beam of light and her blue eyes glowed with love.
"Don't worry I'll be back," said Lawrence as he sat up and stroked his hand through her silky blonde hair. Then Julie tapped him on the nose and said, "I love you," and then walked out of the room walking backwards looking at Lawrence. He went back to folding his clothes and locked up his suitcase. He walked downstairs gave his children kisses and hugs and then gave Julie a kiss and a tear ran down her eye. Lawrence got in the car and drove off to the shuttle station. Lawrence arrived at the station and bought a ticket for a first-class seat to Ion. He had his bag checked and walked through all the security procedures. Lawrence's flight wasn't until 10 p.m. so he had a couple of minutes to spare. He sat down thinking about what he had done. He had lied to his wife and children. The guilt passed through him like a snake's poison. Lawrence opened up his briefcase and pulled out a newspaper and flicked it open. He read the articles he had no read before and soon enough he heard on the loud speaker, "Flight to Ion is ready for first-class passengers." Lawrence put back the newspaper and locked his briefcase. He handed the woman at the check stand his passport and she responded, "Thanks you sir, and have a good flight." Lawrence then walked through the gloomy passageway to the seating. At the end of the tunnel, there was yet another passageway to the room where he had to stay. Lawrence checked his passport and looked for room twenty-six. He found the fist-class room and opened the door. It was a square room with a bed in the left corner, a table in the off to the right, and a bathroom door in the back. Lawrence set himself on the bed and fell back spreading his arms thinking about what the imposter would say. He then got up after some deep thoughts and got ready for dinner. He ordered a roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes on the side topped with gravy. He ate by himself with no family. Then he thought to himself as he took the first bite of the sandwich I never realized how quiet things were without the kids. Boy, I sure miss Julie and the kids. I wonder what they're doing right now. After he had finished his meal the waitress came and took the plate away. He put on his pajamas and lay in the bed looking out the window to space. And around ten o'clock he slipped away in a sleep. Two days passed by with no family, but he had brought his laptop so he could communicate with the family by e-mail. Then the sign came on again to buckle up, they were entering the atmosphere of Ion. He got in the seat and the shuttle began to shake once more, he looked out the window and saw red sparks. The rumbling went on for at least five minutes, and then it stopped. He looked out the window again and saw giant building towering over highways and houses. Then the shuttle hit the landing strip and bounced once or twice and the brakes went on creating a loud screeching noise. Lawrence picked up his things and walked out of the shuttle into the dock where there were tons of people. He was able to get out of the crowd and onto the streets of Ion were building just towered each other and even houses had at least two stories. People crowded the streets causing another problem for Lawrence to get around. People on the streets flow like currents. All the people on the sidewalk flow in the direction of the cars passing by them. Lawrence was in a bad position because he wanted to go the opposite way of the flow. On Ion there is a variety of people, tall, small, wide, skinny, and even some non-humans. Lawrence had a hard time getting to the hotel, but he ended up getting there in time. Lawrence had checked out a room and ordered the bellboy to take all his belongings to his room. Lawrence had a day before the ceremony occurred. He settled in his room and walked out casually onto the streets of Ion. He flowed with his current of the street and spotted a bar, which pleased his soul. Lawrence hadn't gotten to a bar in at least fourteen years because of Julie, who wanted a clean husband. He walked into the bar a stranger to most of the people, but others saw him as a great mind and he was greeted by those that knew him. He walked over to the table and ordered a cheap beer for only a few bucks. Another man with a black hood covering his identity sat beside Lawrence at the bar. The man didn't talk much until he swung his unbeknownst face to Lawrence and began a very informal conversation. "You are the man whom they call Lawrence?" said the hooded man with a cold voice. The man seemed to be old because occasionally you could see his short white beard. "Yes, I am Lawrence, but what does my identity have to do with anything?" asked Lawrence as his suspicion grew. "Identity is everything that has to do with your personality. Just remember, most people see what is on the outside of you, not the inside. But if they could see the inside, then what fun would life be?" said the old man as he took a final swig to the beer he ordered. Then the man got up and said these final words before walking out, "Watch yourself Lawrence Wyvern," he said as a smile grew on his wrinkled face. Then Lawrence thought for a moment about how the old man knew his last name, but before he could come to a conclusion the man had left and Lawrence was there drinking his beer when all of a sudden people started yelling and throwing beer glasses onto a truck that carried violators of the law. Lawrence ran out to the street and asked a heavily tattooed man why everyone was throwing bottles. "Haven't you read the papers lately? They caught a high power sleeping in bed with one of the aliens!" exclaimed the big man and gave me a pat on the back. "Hey, you're that Lawrence guy, aren't you?" said the man continuous to his statement before. I replied with no answer and stared at the drifting armored vehicle. On the planet Pinli it is illegal to get down with an alien, period. "Hey, what type of brood was it?" Lawrence asked the man as he chucked a glass bottle at the hovercraft. "It was an illegal brood, Nemical," said the man as he yelled with glee when the bottle hit. Nemical was one of the hardest broods around. They have a history of countless attacks on the human planets. Illegal aliens are usually those that have bad pasts with humanity. Lawrence was in 'The Counter Attack of Darians', which was a battle between who had the stronger chemicals. Lawrence still remembers that day when the skies colored green and rained acid. Once the hovercraft had sped up and went straight up toward the planet Ail, which was the jail planet, Lawrence walked back to his hotel and read a pamphlet that had most of the amusements on Ion. When black covered the sky Lawrence checked in with his pillow and blankets and fell asleep.
Lawrence woke up and looked at the clock, which read only an hour before the ceremony! He had to still get the proper clothing for the ceremony! Lawrence rushed through the "Blue Pages" to find a tuxedo rent shop near his hotel. He rushed out and was able to get at the shop right when they opened. The owner had said Lawrence was the only customer he had gotten in a few months. He dressed himself and left the $400 dollars on the counter and rushed off toward the theatre. Once he got to the theatre, he was escorted to the stage where the governor was waiting for him. "Here is the architect that gave the building life! He is a god to this building. He has decided to give this building death!" yelled the governor as the crowd yelled back in the theatre. "Wait! I have changed my mind in destroying this building. I think it should be kept up for the children," said Lawrence and there was a gasp in the crowd. Then all went silent and the governor spoke again, "We have a change in." Then the doors to the Opera Theatre burst open with a man with ragged shirt and pants with a black eye. "HE'S THE ONE! HE'S THE ONE THAT PUNCHED ME OUT AND TOOK MY POSITION TO SAVE MY OWN STRUCTURE! HE'S AN IMPOSTER!" yelled the man with the black eye. Another gasp went through the crowd and Lawrence had the spotlight on him. Lawrence was busted even though he was the real architect! "I swear! I'm the real Lawrence!" he yelled as two guards picked him up and escorted him out, but Lawrence was still yelling, "I'm the real architect!" The guards didn't listen, but then again who would? They brought him to a jail and threw him in. Lawrence scrambled to his feet and kept on yelling. And then a glass door was shut around his cell and a gas was exposed in the cell. And then sure enough Lawrence was out cold on the ground. "Get up you imposter," said a guard with an assault rifle motioning Lawrence to get up. "Your trial is about to begin," he said again. "What am I wanted for?" asked Lawrence as he got up rubbing his head. "You'll find out," said the guard as he escorted Lawrence to the trail room. "Lawrence Wyvern, or are you?" said the judge as Lawrence was escorted to his seat. It was a warm morning with the light shining on someone else in Lawrence's spot. The glass seemed half empty in Lawrence's eyes right now, and he was wondering what his wife and children were doing. Lawrence looked over at imposter and wondered whom it was; it didn't even look like him. Then the trial began. It lasted for at least one hour of arguing and then ended with these word from the judge, "Lawrence Wyvern imposter, we find you. guilty of impersonating a famous person and are to be put in the Ail prison planet for life." "What! Ail prison? I can't!" yelled Lawrence as he was pulled to his feet by the guards and thrown into a shuttle and chained to the sides by laser operated chains. Then Lawrence looked over at the imposter and the imposter just stared and smiled at him. Time slowed down that day for Lawrence because his chains that tied him to the shuttle weren't for him, but the imposter that took his place. But at the home Julie, Charlie, and Loren were surrounding the TV watching all of this happen. Julie, Loren, and Charlie were all yelling for joy because the imposter had been caught, but what they didn't know was that the imposter was coming to them to cause massive destruction and death.
Hell's Ship
The lasers were tight on his wrists and he wasn't alone on the shuttle to Ail.
"So what happened to you?" asked a young black man that seemed friendly, but what he had done was so unspeakably horrifying that I cannot tell you in this book.
"I didn't do anything bad, I was put here by an imposter that is still out there," replied Lawrence staring at the mass murder.
"Really? An imposter? Hmm. sounds like LA did this to you," said the man with his eyelids covering half his eyes. He seemed drowsy because of all the bloodshed he caused; he had to keep his eyes like that keep himself from getting AIDS of his victims.
"LA? You mean that old ancient city on Earth?" asked Lawrence in amazement. Earth was extremely far away in this galaxy. The Ionic System was near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, while the Solar System is on one of the arms of the same galaxy.
"Lost Angels is what I mean. They are a scattered army under one corporation that take destroy families, armies, and even planets," said the black man as he began to rest.
"Lost Angels!" said Lawrence as he stood up and then fell right back in his seat because the laser chains are affected with fast actions.
"You sound surprised, usually all people get killed with the Lost Angels, what's with you?" asked the man staring his deadly gaze.
"Well, ." Lawrence began, but was interrupted by the man.
"You're one of the lucky ones, you know that right?" said the man as he looked up at the top of the shuttle.
"Yes, I realize that," replied Lawrence with a questioning tone.
"Do you have a family or relatives?" asked the man as he came back to Lawrence from the ceiling.
"Yes, I have a family, but why do you ask?" said Lawrence and then realized something. If the imposter was still out there coming back to his home, then. "He's going to destroy my family and leaving me here to die on the planet Ail!"
"You guessed it," said the man as he now began to find the floor interesting enough to stare at. Then there was a long moment of silence with slight bumps of turbulence. Lawrence looked down the small area of the shuttle and found that there were two small people, three tall people, and one alien. Yes, he was that bored. There were no windows so they couldn't counterstrike the planet. No one knew where planet Ail was, or so he thought. Then, one woman looked up at him with a small frown on her face. She was covered in gunpowder and some dirt was visible on her face. The alien was one of the illegal aliens, Darian. Lawrence still remembers the war with them. The aliens was human sized, a transparent blue so you could see right through them, and fiery yellow eyes that looked as if they were burning, but no mouth and still they could speak clear English. They had big claws with four fingers on each of the two hands, but their real power wasn't in guns, lasers, or energy. It was their ability to form into anything they wished or desired. The alien turned its head and glanced at Lawrence for two seconds. Then it went into a deep meditation. It was getting ready to transform into something! Suddenly, the alien made a giant screeching noise. There were meditating blocks on the shuttle, so just incase the alien were to do something drastic. After the screech Lawrence heard a voice in the front of the shuttle and the doorknob began to turn. Then a man with black sunglasses bust open the door and walked in and said, "So who was trying to bust out?" The alien still had its hand on its head trying to recover from the block. The man walked over and pulled out a hybrid pistol, laser or bullet, and pointed it right at the aliens neck and said, "If we weren't out of Ion's atmosphere I'd kill you right on the spot," and spit at the aliens feet, and then walked back, but stopped at me. "Well, what do we have here? Lawrence Wyvern? Did you catch the wrong shuttle to hell!" yelled the man with a booming laugh at the end. He was a bounty hunter. Even if he were the real Lawrence Wyvern, which he was, the hunter wouldn't care, as long as he got money for my blood. He walked back in the front room and locked the door.
"See what I mean, these bounty hunters don't really care. This is the last place where you would want to be," said the man back to Lawrence staring at the alien. There was no talking after the shuttle exited Ion's atmosphere because who knows what could happen with these bounty hunters with guns, which was extremely dangerous. The government couldn't control the bounty hunters because they're too many of them around the galaxy, and the Republicans couldn't control them for beans. The Republicans and Imperials had made a treaty to never fight as long as the treaty was in tact, and that's was started the bounty hunters. They are usually Republicans with an ego to kill, after the treaty was signed with the Imperials and the Republicans the DU started, Death Union. The planet Ail is now the jail house, but has been filed many times for being breakers of the cruel and unusual punishment amendment. Some people get out. Well, only one person has gotten out alive that is, and with only one arm. People call it a slaughterhouse for the innocent and guilty. And they press on a slow and painful execution. Every time the government is sent over to that planet they are always satisfied by their policies and executions! Now the people say that the government is corrupted by the bounty hunters and will never allow them to do anything anymore. The people rule themselves, not the government. Republicans have more power than the Imperials, which isn't good according to Lawrence. The Death Union has had a ripple affect on all the planets in this solar system that Lawrence will not tolerate. If the government were a little stronger and the people could finally team up and destroy the Death Union then all would be perfect, but a perfect world isn't always the best one.
It seemed as though he was at the end of his line and the end was near. Then right when he thought he was in for it the shuttle came to a stop. The locked door burst open with the bounty hunter walking around with full armor for both bullet and laser. "Ok you saps. Now is your time to shine or fade away, we need you because we're under attack by the stupid LA so guns will be applied to each prisoner, but if you even try to fire at one of us! I'll kill you! Now move and lets get 'em!" exclaimed the bounty hunter as he freed everyone from the chains and handed a gun to each person.
"Ever used one of these before?" asked the black youth as he loaded the gun and locked it. Lawrence knew what it was. It was a K59 Rapid; Lawrence had used one in the war. It was a small, light, rapid-fire bullet gun. Lawrence had been given two laser pistols with additional ammunition.
The ammo for the laser type guns were little cylinders filled with a blue gelatin-type substance.
Everyone was ordered to the front deck of the ship. The ship was much bigger on the outside because of all the turrets. Lawrence and the black male were positioned in a bunker on the side of the ship where a laser had almost hit Lawrence going right through the space where they fired. "You ready for this?" asked the black male as he loaded the gun once more for good luck. Lawrence and the male turned and fired out of the window and lasers were thrown everywhere and bullets impaled the ship and bunker. A laser flew by Lawrence's head again and the black man pulled back same as Lawrence. He loaded the gun and looked at Lawrence.
"So what's your name?" asked Lawrence as he checked the gelatin in the gun.
"Carter, so you ready to go out again?" asked Carter as he locked the gun ready to turn out. Both of the men turned out and fired, but already the infantry had got on the ship and began to infiltrate the ship. "Aim for the head, that's where their armor is weak," said Carter as he fired for a kill shot right at the head of a man charging the bunker. Men fell and the ship was taking an onslaught of lasers from the oncoming warships of the LA. Carter and Lawrence repeated the process of turning and firing a few times, but then the top of the ship had begun to get overrun with infantry and they had to fall back into the depths of the ship. The turrets became jammed, and then eventually turned over to the LA by hackers. The metal doors had been protected with hacking blocks and extremely strong locks.
"Hey Carter, how long do you suppose we can stay down here without being overrun?" Lawrence asked Carter as he loaded another magazine into the gun.
"An hour or two if everyone fights well," said Carter as he locked the magazine in and shook the gun to make sure the magazine wouldn't fall out. "Stay with me and we won't die," said Carter. The main hunters on the ship began to load themselves with grenades, ammunition, and more powerful armor. The alien then began its transformation into something, but Lawrence couldn't tell what it was. The alien went into a ball and it looked like water in zero gravity. Then two human sized arms came out, but since the alien can't transform entirely into its form the arms were like the gelatin the alien was made from. Then two legs emerged from the bottom of the blob. And then the most revealing feature came next. The head appeared with no mouth, long thick hairs, and glowing eyes. It had transformed into a warrior of its own kind, which was unusual for it to transform into something of its own race.
"Get ready you saps!" yelled a hunter that pointed to the door, which was being beaten down. Lawrence and Carter raced over to a metal box and watched the door as impalements appeared on it. Then the door burst open and infantry ran in but they were falling fast. Lawrence and Carter were firing at the door not caring what they hit. More and more infantry came in and the room became filled with LA infantry. The alien came out of hiding and began to fight with all its might and speed. The room was being overrun, so they thought, but was really just being exposed to an excess number of people in the room. The bounty hunters fought to the very last bullet, laser, or bone. The bounty hunters caught a grasp in the end of the battle and unexpectedly fought off the LA while they had the chance. Since the infantry was fought off, the ships were still out there ready to counterstrike. The bounty hunters took control of the turrets and began firing. The hunter ship was taking large amounts of damage. Missiles, lasers, and gattling bullets were thrown back and forth between the LA force and the bounty ship. There was still one last force that the LA had no clue existed. It was a pulse ray that had a surround jam for all electronics. Once all the energy had been collected, the ray fired its disruptor and all the LA ships were frozen in their paths. The bounty hunter ship began firing all out and eventually after a few minutes all the LA ships either retreated or were destroyed. After the last ship had been blown up a bounty hunter walked up to the prisoners and said.
"You fought well today and we would like to grant you thanks for your help, but this the only time we will allow you to run freely among the ship. If I see any monkey business at all, you'll be put back into your chains!" exclaimed the bounty hunter as he collected the guns from each person and threw them back into a cabinet. Carter and Lawrence walked over to a corner and sat there starting a new conversation.
"Good fighting back there, but you looked down at your ammunition too much, you could've been shot," said Carter as he twiddled his thumbs, put his head against a wall, and sighed. Until Carter said something, everyone just stared at each other as time past and distance. "Hey, look at us!" Carter yelled as he stood up on a box.
"Yea? So what about us?" asked the woman with the long dark hair looking at him as if he were a mad man. Lawrence had his doubts about Carter, but he never would have guessed what he was about to suggest next.
"We can stand up to these guys! We are stronger! Of course they have better armor, weapons, and skills, but we have a Darian and a few infantry!" yelled Carter as he stomped his foot and made a fist with his right hand. Lawrence at this point was backing up behind a box. Looking around and shaking their heads, the group pinned Carter to the floor and then Lawrence came out of hiding and got Carter back to his senses by murmuring a few words to him that would calm him down. Most of the people in the group were gambling on dice and testing their strengths on each other. Lawrence was making use of his free time wisely by trying to figure out how the laser chains worked and what would cancel their bonds. Sure enough Lawrence broke through right when the bounty hunters came in to throw them back into their cells. The ship continued to run through space and finally Lawrence gathered up enough guts to tell Carter how to cancel the chains.
"Hey Carter, these chains are made from positive particles," Lawrence said to Carter, but he didn't seem to listen because he just stared at floor. "Got any salt?" asked Lawrence, but Carter shook his head no. Lawrence restrained himself from talking until dinner was served and then the prisoners would get to like Lawrence a bit more. Time past and Lawrence decided to rest his head against another man's shoulder, which was a mistake. Then dinner was served, which was Lawrence's move to prove himself of their respect. Lawrence took some salt off the side of his plate and sprinkled it on his chains and the chains gave off electric pulses and then they broke. The wrist placements split in half and Lawrence was free of his chains! This gathered all the prisoners toward Lawrence and he made a few new friends that day. "It only lasts for two hours so you have to make sure the chains are on at the end of that two hours," said Lawrence as the prisoners nodded their heads.
"Hey Lawrence I was wrong about you, you are truly worthy of my respect and deserve more of these prisoners," said Carter as he lifted his hand to shake hands with Lawrence. Now Lawrence had a choice to choose the way to darkness and help a bunch of fugitives escape from a slaughter ship, or choose the way to light and turn down Carter's offer and go to the slaughter planet. After thinking about his decisions and what would result, Lawrence shook Carter's hand and an alliance was formed between the two of them. "But before we can attack the ship we must find one of my partners that is on this ship too. He's very big, you can't miss him, and he's too strong to put with us," Carter said as he withdrew his hand and sat back down to eat. Dinner was roast beef with mashed potatoes, which was exceptional for dinner on the ship. Then the prisoners were sent back into the cell. Carter gave a nod and they took out salt and slipped off their chains. "He's somewhere on this ship, probably were we wouldn't look," said Carter as he opened the door to the giant room where there were boxes, crates, and cranes to carry the boxes. There were many secret passages on the ship to hide certain parts of it. Carter opened one of the boxes with a crowbar and there were illegal drugs that were being smuggled into the planet. Carter took some, but just enough for himself. Lawrence didn't take any because Julie had asked him not to do drugs. Carter opened another box and there were guns, all different types. Carter took a J79 Firefly; telling from the name Lawrence had guessed it was a fire gun. Lawrence reached in and took out a V77 Shotgun; Lawrence hadn't seen one before, but he knew this was powerful. The only problem with the guns was, they weren't loaded! Carter got so mad that Lawrence could see the veins and arteries pulse through his forehead. Carter smashed his fist against a wooden crate and broke though the wood! He felt around and pulled out a shell. He checked out and threw it Lawrence. He struggled to catch it and loaded the gun.
"Hey are there anymore in that crate?" asked Lawrence as he looked along the top of the barrel pretending to aim it. Carter opened the top of the crate and both of them looked in. There were bullets and laser cartridges in the crate. They grabbed at the ammunition as if it were a savior. They loaded their weapons and felt an adrenaline rush as they heard the locks of the ammunition into the gun. They felt power. The best kind of power there is, they had the power to take a life. The adrenaline rushed faster and faster as they searched through hallways for Carter's partner. Then both of them stepped once too far beyond their limits. Lawrence had crossed a security beam. The red alert lights dispatched from the ceiling and the sound began ringing throughout the whole ship. "We'd best get back now, before we're the hunted," said Lawrence as he heard footsteps that made him sweat. They began running back hiding behind boxes, crates and corners along the way back to avoid being shot. Lawrence got a huge adrenaline rush now and accidentally tripped the trigger. A boom was heard, but it wasn't loud because of the alert sound. There were two guards watching the vault where the prisoners were.
"Looks like we have no choice but to kill them," said Carter as he checked the corner. Lawrence was feeling uneasy by now and began to see double. The adrenaline was messing with his mind. He couldn't take it anymore. Lawrence shot up and began firing on the two guards. "What are you doing!" yelled Carter in question. Lawrence just kept on firing and reloading. Every time a used bullet hit the ground Lawrence felt more powerful. Every man that fell he felt like a god. Taking lives was more than just aiming and shooting, it was cutting off the stream of life that flowed into every person! Lawrence began to yell as he reloaded and fired. There were at least twenty bullets at his feet. Carter pulled out a communicator and said something into it. Carter rushed forward and began firing long shots of fireballs. The vault door burst open with a huge BOOM, and the Darian came to attack with everyone else in the vault. The revolt had begun. Lawrence and Carter ran down a hallway to take over more space. They killed everyone in every room. Then they came to a door and blasted it open. The adrenaline rush had overcome Lawrence as he searched the room for people. "Don't shoot!" Carter yelled as he pushed Lawrence's gun down in time. Lawrence made a hole in the ground and asked why Carter had pushed his barrel down. Little did Lawrence know, but the person he was aiming at was Carter's partner. He was big, very big. He wasn't fat big, but most of his space was muscle.
"YOU!" he yelled as he grabbed for Carter's neck, but was stopped by the bars that held him in. "Come here and fight me! You left me alone in that hellhole! And now I'm getting my payback!" yelled the huge guy as he reached for Carter.
"Hey, when the going gets tough, you leave," said Carter as he brushed his gun off. The man withdrew his hands and punched the walls of his chamber. Impounding it to dents. The man wore silver armor protecting his gut; his arms were protected with silver armor up to the elbow, silver bracelets that were at least five inches long, and a slab of silver on his back. The man then looked at the bars and gave them a punch that broke one. He pushed two others apart and climbed out.
"Thought you were safe Carter?" asked the man as he started making two fists.
"Hey Gino, lets no do anything drastic now!" as Carter backed up and Gino walked slowly toward him. The suspense was killing Lawrence; he didn't know what to do.
"Don't call me Gino anymore! Call me by my real name Carter! You do remember don't you?" said Gino as he had Carter up against a wall.
"Ok Giovanni, just please don't hurt me, I swear I'll do anything! I won't ever leave you again!" yelled Carter as he covered his head.
"Alright, I'll let you off the hook. I was never going to hurt you buddy!" said Giovanni as he brought Carter around with his arm and gave him a nookie.
"Ha I knew that, I was just wondering if you were still you," said Carter acting smart as he was lifted off the ground. These two were criminals that actually liked each other. Lawrence was surprised at the way they never disliked what the other did. It was a friendship that could not be broken by money! That was powerful. Carter was set back down with his hair messed up because of the nookie. Giovanni walked over to a box that was protected by lasers. He looked at the lasers, then at the little pad where the numbers were. He made a fist and punched the pad, which shattered and the lasers disappeared. He reached in and grabbed a huge bazooka type of gun that he held over his shoulder.
"This is my mass destruction gun," said Giovanni and then he reached into his legging armor and grabbed out a pistol, "this is my secondary for close range so I don't blow myself to pieces." The bazooka was a laser type of gun. It could also be passed as a beam rifle, but it was too heavy to be a rifle. "This baby can shoot through a foot of laser proof glass," said Giovanni as he checked out the extremely long barrel that passed his shoulder. The bazooka was basically a long barrel with cool designs on it, and a trigger. The whole thing as at least five feet long! And Giovanni could still hold it over his shoulder! Well, for his size I really expected him to. "Lets get out of here and back onto free land," said Giovanni as he latched the safety button off. The bazooka gave off a noise that sounded like it was booting up. The end of the barrel that the laser was shot from turned a bright red. Carter led the way through the whole ship until we came across trouble. "Stop here," said Giovanni as he put on a helmet that had a plastic covering for the eyes. It was a detector! Lawrence hadn't seen one of those for ages! Lawrence and Carter could see the little green lines that showed everything. With one of those you could see invisibility and through walls. "Yep, two guys with heavy armor, K59, and laser blades for a secondary," said Giovanni as he observed the motion of the two guards. "Watch this," said Giovanni as he lifted the barrel of his gun and aimed. He was going to do something really cool.
In the other room where Giovanni was aiming the two guards looked around. "Hey Rick did you see the game last night?" asked one of the guards.
"No I was on duty who won?" asked Rick as he looked around. Rick had his back faced to the wall where Giovanni was aiming.
"South Bay got killed by the Northern Front," said the other guard. "Four hundred to twenty," said the guard. "They actually have a chance at the finals," said the guard as he looked at Rick, but kept walking.
"What has become of South-," and Rick paused for a moment. The silence was death. "Do you hear that?" asked Rick as the other guard shook his head. "I think it's coming from the wall," said Rick as he slowly turned toward the wall. There was a red glow on the wall, and Rick's eyes suddenly shrunk. A red beam blasted through the wall and nailed Rick's right shoulder. "AH!" yelled Rick as the laser exploded, but the armor was strong enough to take another blast. Then a second laser shot through and gave a fatal headshot to Rick. The other guard began firing at the wall.
"Stay back!" he yelled as he kept firing backing up toward the wall. The red glow grew bigger and shot a laser at his left shoulder, and knee. Then at the head and the other guard was down. Giovanni opened the door and walked over to the corpses.
"Too bad," he said as looked at the guards. "South Bay lost, what a shame," he said as they walked into the next room.
The next room was the top level of the ship where the turrets were to fight off enemy ships. "Get ready to run," said Carter as he looked both ways and ran as fast as he could to the other side. The turrets turned and fired on him, but Carter was too quick to be shot. Giovanni left the helmet on and walked right through the turret area. The helmet had scrambled the turret computers so they didn't detect him. Lawrence was now forced to run to the control room. Lawrence ran as fast as he could and the turrets fired at him. A laser got really close to hitting him, but Lawrence was able to dodge the laser. Lawrence kept on running, and dodging the lasers as he ran. Then a laser hit right at Lawrence's feet and exploded. Lawrence went flying toward Giovanni and Carter, and then he was out of the turret's range. "Scared us there Lawrence," said Carter as he dragged Lawrence through the door. Lawrence was all right, but the blow was too much for Lawrence to take, he had never been that close to an explosion. Lawrence was basically in shock. Lawrence was still for a moment or two, and then pulled out of the shock. He was back up and reached for his shotgun, which was on his back. They got Lawrence on his feet and they walked up the staircase to the control room.
"There are tons of guards and computers," said Giovanni as he scanned through the room. Giovanni was right, there were millions of guards in the room. Carter bust open the door and began firing. Lawrence rolled in and fired. Giovanni walked in and blasted the computers and guards. Lawrence was getting a feeling he had before. He was getting adrenaline. It pumped trough his veins like a poison that caused him to get "trigger-happy". The battle was going on for a long time. Then Giovanni turned his head and said, "Hey Lawrence stay-," and he was interrupted, by the computer he was hiding behind, being thrust aside. It was a human, but he was in a type of metal suit that protected every part of his body with bulletproof glass for a head shield. He hit Giovanni aside and his hands began to surge like lightening. He acted like he pushed something that wasn't next to him and everything in the room was thrust aside, even Giovanni and Carter, he had singled Lawrence out for a fight.
"Lawrence Wyvern. So you're the famous architect. I'd been planning this for ages," said the man in the suit and his hands began to surge again. He put them together and he pointed them at Lawrence. A lightening bolt was sent toward Lawrence. Lawrence had to act quickly. He ducked and avoided the shot. The bolt hit a computer behind him and it shook all about then blew up. "So you got some skills, but remember you won't be any good against me," said the man as he reached for a metal pole. He broke it off and swung it around. "This suit makes me ten times stronger than I really am!" said the man as he bent the piece of metal. He then dropped it and started walking toward Lawrence. Lawrence held up his gun and started to fire right at the gut. "Bullets won't do any good Lawrence against my bulletproof suit," said the man as he walked toward Lawrence slowly. Lawrence turned the gun on its side and he read the type of gun. He was in luck! It was a hybrid! Lawrence ran from the man and looked around for a laser cartridge. The man began to surge again and fired a bolt at Lawrence. Lawrence ducked avoiding the bolt again, but barely. "Ok enough of playing around," said the man as he reach in his back and pulled out an O19 and began firing. An O19 is a machine gun with multiple long, but small barrels that are all in a circle. Every time the man fired the circle of barrels rotated extremely fast. It was an extremely strong gun. Lawrence ran in circles around the man trying to avoid the bullets. "Stand still so I can fill you with lead!" yelled the man as he began to get mad. Then the gun kept turning, but no bullets were coming out. Lawrence's adrenaline was extremely high at this point. There was a nice view of space in the front of the control room. The man gave a questioning eye and looked at the gun. It had to be reloaded. He opened the back and pulled out a long strip of empty bullet ends. Lawrence took this chance to find a laser cartridge. He saw a cartridge right behind the man. Lawrence ran toward the man, and right when he got to the man the gun was reloaded. Lawrence jumped, the man fired. Time froze right then and there. A bullet was fired and was half and inch away from Lawrence's foot. He was behind the man and bullets were in the ceiling. The man whipped around and kicked Lawrence in the back. He fell over and was right next to the cartridge. Lawrence struggled to reach the cartridge. It was at his fingertips, the man was close now and held the gun right at Lawrence's head. "Any last words?" asked the man with a grin on his face. Lawrence said nothing. "All right then!" he said right when Lawrence reached the cartridge. Lawrence whipped his lag around and hit the barrel of the gun. The gun was off fire and hit the ground right next to Lawrence. Lawrence loaded the gun and fired right at the man gut. The white laser penetrated the armor and sent the man flying out the window into space. Lawrence ran out of the room before the pressure gave way and was sucked out into space. Giovanni and Carter were down in the turret area. There was a shuttle in the air that let down a ladder to have them climb up. Giovanni was half way up when guards burst through the doors. Carter and Lawrence were still waiting for the ladder to come back down; Giovanni was too big to lift his own weight so the machine pulled him up.
"You go up, you have a future to live," said Carter as he looked up at the ladder.
"No, you can restart your life into something awesome, you go," said Lawrence as the wind of the engines pushed Lawrence's hair all around. The guards were extremely close to them and began firing at the ship, but it had a shield to protect itself from bullets and lasers. The ladder was almost down now and the guards were at least ten meters away. "Go Carter," said Lawrence. Carter stuck out his hand for a handshake. Lawrence held out his hand and Carter pulled him in and gave him a hug.
"You're the best friend I've ever had," said Carter as a tear ran down his eye. Carter grabbed the ladder and was pulled up, but before we was out of reach he extended his arm out to Lawrence. Lawrence reached for his hand, but he was short by one inch. The guards grabbed at Lawrence's shirt and pulled him down and beat him.
Various Warriors, Same Destiny
Lawrence awoke in a cell with five walls surrounding him. There were two beds in the corner of the cell. The walls were made of cement. He was dizzy from the hard hit to the head by a guard's foot. Lawrence gave a moan as he sat up. The sat on the bed and rubbed his head. He shook it a few times to clear his vision. The gravel in the cement was coming into picture. Lawrence rose from the bed to his feet and stood up. Then a voice spoke out from the dark corner of the cell.
"You're a lot taller in person," said a mysterious voice. Lawrence couldn't tell who it was; he had never heard it before. "Those buildings you created, all for nothing. To die here with a bunch of thugs," said the voice again, but this time with a different tone. Lawrence could see the outline of the figure; he was sitting down in a cross-legged position. There were glasses covering his eyes, and he wore an overcoat. His hair seemed to be spiked up. He was white also, so it wasn't Carter.
"What's your name? Identify yourself!" exclaimed Lawrence, but he held onto his shoulder because of the blow from a nightstick. Lawrence didn't really expect him to tell him without a threat.
"What's in a name anyway? It's just a name. It's who's living underneath your skin," said the figure as he stood up. The figure was at least 5'10". "Who's living under that cover Lawrence? Huh? I'll tell you who's living under mine!" as the figure rushed from the corner and right up to Lawrence. He held a mini machine gun called a MA-8. Those kinds were light enough to hold in one hand. They were at the most five pounds with full ammunition. If you take away the long magazine cartridge that pointed down from the gun right after the trigger on the barrel side, it looked just like a pistol. The small barrel was almost touching Lawrence's skin. His pulse increased and he began to sweat excess amounts. Lawrence wouldn't even know who killed him because he wore dark glasses and a black overcoat. Then he pulled the trigger, but no bullets came out. Lawrence was relieved to see the gun empty, but the problem was, it was really full of ammunition, but Lawrence learned of that a few minutes later. The man pulled the gun back and threw a punch with the gun in his hand, but he stopped in the act.
"Blance, what did I tell you about killing?" said a voice from the cell across from them. The gun then began to float in mid air! Lawrence had never seen anything like it before. The only excuse was the use of magic, but magic hadn't been used for ages and ages ago. The gun floated over to the cell where the voice came from. A hand stuck out of the cell and grabbed the gun. The person over there opened the magazine and unloaded the bullets from it. "I'll keep this here for a while until you can control yourself," said the voice again. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but Blance has a berserker side of him," said the voice.
"Won't he ever learn?" said another voice from the cell. There were two people over there, but the only thing Lawrence knew about them was that they were women in their early twenties.
"Blance will eventually learn to not kill or else he will be punished like all the other times," said the high-pitched voice, but Lawrence recognized it. He had heard the same voice when Loren listened to music. There was a connection of some sort. He also remembered that Charlie, his son, had posters all over his walls of the same star, but what he couldn't remember was her name.
Lawrence couldn't go to bed with a berserker at his side, who knows what would happen as soon as he went to bed? He stayed up all night just staring at Blance.
"So what's your name?" asked Blance with a look in his eyes.
"Lawrence Wyvern, what's yours?" asked Lawrence with the same look.
"Blance Hiven, ever heard of it?" asked Blance as he stood up and walked to the dirty sink that had a bad plumbing system, and washed his hands.
"No, but are you part of some secret society?" asked Lawrence, he had to know if was part of LA. If he was he was going start a fight.
"Actually you might not believe this, but I'm the star player of the Ion Flares," said Blance, and suddenly he realized who Blance was! Charlie was a soccer player and had an idol named Blance Hiven. This was the same guy.
"You mean planet Ion's traveling team? Yea I remember you; you scored the last goal for the win in 4902. That was two years ago and you're still big today," said Lawrence as he patted the bed he was sitting on.
"Yes I remember that day well, but now I'm a convict for doing an illegal drug," said Blance as he lowered his head.
"Did you do it?" asked Lawrence, because maybe they are in the same position.
"No! Some idiot dressed up like me and smoked some illegal weed! That idiot!" yelled Blance as he hit the wall with his fist in anger. "What happened to you?" asked Blance as he began to clam himself down. Lawrence told the whole story of him going to Ion and getting caught in a trap. "Looks like LA got you too," said Blance as he jumped on the bed and stuffed his pillow. "So we're kind of like the same, only different in fates," said Blance as he turned over trying to go to bed.
"Yea I guess so," said Lawrence as he laid down for bed, but he was still nervous about being attacked.
"Oh yea, and if you're worried about me attacking you during the middle of the night, consider we're allies now," said Blance as he pulled the covers over himself. Lawrence ran a grin upon his face and went to sleep.
The morning gave an early surprise to Lawrence, because today he finds out who the two women are. The women in the cell across from them were already at the breakfast tables. A guard came by and opened up Lawrence and Blance's cell. They were escorted to breakfast past a few things that Blance had to explain. Most of the things were giant torture machines. One of them was a pod that was shot into space and then ten minutes into the launch a window opens to carry out all the oxygen and you suffocate. There were many different machines. These people knew how to be evil and cruel. Some of these machines broke the law of cruel and unusual punishment. Then they finally made it to the tables where they were served either cold cereal or pork and beans. Blance told Lawrence not to eat the pork and beans, but he gave no reason why, so Lawrence took some beans and a slice of pork. Blance sat down next to a really big rough man that looked like Giovanni, but he wasn't. Giovanni wasn't fat around the legs. Lawrence sat down next to Blance at the end of the table.
Blance looked at the food that Lawrence had taken and said, "You really going to eat that?"
"I grabbed it didn't I," said Lawrence as he looked down at his food and swiped some beans on a spoon. He put it up to his mouth and took a bite. Lawrence squinted and spat them out.
"Told you they were bad," said Blance as he ate his cereal. Lawrence pushed his plate forward and looked around for people. There were a lot of different people in this facility. Women, men, even aliens, but they weren't powerful ones. "Hey Lawrence I just wanted to say sorry for almost killing you last night," said Blance as he ate another bite of cereal. Lawrence forgave him and just sat there waiting for Blance to finish. After all the fugitives were done eating they were escorted back into their cells. It was a giant group of people that were walking through a small hallway. As people were put back into their cells less and less people were in the group. Lawrence and Blance's cell was in the far back, the last cell. Finally the last six people remained and the two were put into one cell and Lawrence looked at the two women that were across from them. He was astonished to see. Courtney and Brittany! The two women that were very popular around the people of Ion. Courtney was caught in bed with a Nemical alien, which was illegal on her planet. She was a high power that could control things with her mind, which wasn't very common among the people of Ion. Courtney had blue hair, which again wasn't common, and she wore white pants and a white stripe of upper clothing, and a blue sleeveless jacket that reached right above her navel. Brittany was a star that had a good voice in the category of music. She had sung at a major concert that Lawrence took Loren to see. Brittany was a brunette that wore a black coat that had sleeves that were spiked back, and buttoned the coat between her breasts. The coat reached her ankles. She had black pants that were held up by a diamond belt, you could tell she only wore designer clothing. And a black swimsuit top that had diamonds outlining it. She was totally rich. But both of them looked better than Blance or Lawrence. All four of them were thrown into their cells.
"Hey you're that famous singer aren't you?" asked Lawrence just to make sure that he had the right person.
"Yea, was it the clothes? Or was it my looks?" asked Brittany as she struck a pose.
"Actually my daughter listens to your music," said Lawrence as he walked up to the bars of his cell.
"Really? To bad I won't be able to sing anymore because I'm behind bars," said Brittany as she gave a moan to go with what she was saying.
"Oh stop moaning. You were framed as we all were," said Courtney in the back. "We were all framed by the LA, but in different ways," she said as she walked toward the bars.
"You're absolutely right, but we can't do anything about it!" exclaimed Blance as he punched the wall.
"Gee don't get so mad," said Brittany as she sat on her bed.
"Don't tell me what to do!" exclaimed Blance as he to walked toward the bars of the cell.
"I wish I could see my daughter and son again," said Lawrence as he slowly slid down the bars to his knees.
"You know." said Courtney as she began to go into a meditation. She closed her eyes and a few minutes later said, "It is possible to get out of here."
"Tell me!" exclaimed Blance as he got excited. Brittany got up and grabbed onto the bars.
"Blance you do have a valid application to Red Shift," said Courtney as she rubbed her chin.
"How did you know about that!" exclaimed Blance in a questioning voice.
"That doesn't matter right now, but we could use that to get out of here," said Courtney. Everyone began to rub their chins and think of ways to get out.
Author: Nathan John Freiberg
Copyright Date: January 20, 2003
The Felony
Lawrence had it all, a beautiful wife, two smart children, one a girl, the other a boy, and money by the truckload. Lawrence was an architect that designed a couple of the great buildings on a neighboring planet; Ion. Lawrence had grown up on the planet Selik for all his life and had met Julie when he was in college. Lawrence is twenty-four and he sis still going through college. But one particular morning the sun didn't shine as bright as it had on Lawrence.
The sun had just exposed itself over the window and it glared in Lawrence's glasses as he read the newspaper. Lawrence flicked the paper and walked over casually to the blinds to pull them down. A few minutes after he had sat down in his purple cushioned chair he heard the yells of children running down the stairs.
"Charlie stop it!" yelled the older girl as she ran down toward Lawrence as he rolled his eyes and flicked the paper again. The blonde haired girl stood right in front of Lawrence said, "Dad! Charlie is pulling my hair!"
"Well, it seems to me that your hair is still in tact," said Lawrence raising one eyebrow looking at the girl.
"Of course my hair is still in tact, but he's ruining my straight hair for the dance next week!" exclaimed the girl right in front of Lawrence's face.
"Loren, you have half my name. Don't make me regret it," said Lawrence as he flicked the paper open reading down the articles staring at some of the architectural improvements on the biggest building on Ion.
"Dad!" yelled Loren, but he just kept on looking at the paper staring at the improvements.
"You know you're fifteen, act like one, or maybe you'll need improvements," he said as he looked down the paper.
Loren just stood there and then ran toward the kitchen yelling, "Mom!"
Lawrence gave a sigh and returned to looking at the paper. He ran through the articles occasionally looking at sports page. But then Lawrence saw something in the paper that made him look a bit closer at the paper. "What! The Great Opera Theatre is being leveled! I made that building! They need not only the governments consent, but also mine!" he said to himself loudly as he flicked the paper closed and got up out of seat and walked over to the kitchen ready for some beacon and eggs.
"Hi honey! No work today?" asked Julie with a smile. Julie was the type that occasionally got angry, but other than that had a smile on.
"No, no work today," said Lawrence with a slight frown on his face that made Julie frown a bit too. Lawrence had a thought on his mind that there was an imposter running about on Ion, but that place was so big that he could be anywhere. But whenever a building gets torn down there is a ceremony involving the government officials and the architect. The imposter would be there. Lawrence had to go to Ion to stop the building from being destroyed, but how could he get there in time? Ion was a two day trip by shuttle, plus Julie would never let him go because she grew up there in a bad part of town. "Honey, I looked up on my e-mails and found out that I have to go to Ion for a week to bring the plans for another building," said Lawrence. He would disguise the trip as a work trip to Ion.
"Sure, but remember to be very careful when your in Ion," said Julie as she placed a plate in front of Charlie, Loren, Lawrence, and herself.
"Dad, can we come?" asked Charlie. There it was, the biggest problem of his plan. According to Julie it was just some work he had to do, nothing huge. If he said yes then they would find out about his real plans in Ion.
"Uh sorry Charlie, but I should go solo on this one. Thanks for asking though that shows me that you care," said Lawrence as he wiped his forehead of his sweat. The family kept on eating their meals and set the dishes on the kitchen counter that sparkled with cleanliness. Then it was in the middle of the day and Lawrence was packing his suitcase when Julie walked in and said, "This is no business trip is it?"
Lawrence couldn't lie to his own wife, but he had to. "Yes, I have get the plans to the boss so this new building can be put up," Lawrence said as guilt ran all over him.
Julie walked over to him and stopped him packing and wrapped her arms around him. "Lawrence be careful, I want you back in one piece," said Julie as she sat Lawrence down on the bed and she kissed him. Her blonde hair sparkled in the beam of light and her blue eyes glowed with love.
"Don't worry I'll be back," said Lawrence as he sat up and stroked his hand through her silky blonde hair. Then Julie tapped him on the nose and said, "I love you," and then walked out of the room walking backwards looking at Lawrence. He went back to folding his clothes and locked up his suitcase. He walked downstairs gave his children kisses and hugs and then gave Julie a kiss and a tear ran down her eye. Lawrence got in the car and drove off to the shuttle station. Lawrence arrived at the station and bought a ticket for a first-class seat to Ion. He had his bag checked and walked through all the security procedures. Lawrence's flight wasn't until 10 p.m. so he had a couple of minutes to spare. He sat down thinking about what he had done. He had lied to his wife and children. The guilt passed through him like a snake's poison. Lawrence opened up his briefcase and pulled out a newspaper and flicked it open. He read the articles he had no read before and soon enough he heard on the loud speaker, "Flight to Ion is ready for first-class passengers." Lawrence put back the newspaper and locked his briefcase. He handed the woman at the check stand his passport and she responded, "Thanks you sir, and have a good flight." Lawrence then walked through the gloomy passageway to the seating. At the end of the tunnel, there was yet another passageway to the room where he had to stay. Lawrence checked his passport and looked for room twenty-six. He found the fist-class room and opened the door. It was a square room with a bed in the left corner, a table in the off to the right, and a bathroom door in the back. Lawrence set himself on the bed and fell back spreading his arms thinking about what the imposter would say. He then got up after some deep thoughts and got ready for dinner. He ordered a roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes on the side topped with gravy. He ate by himself with no family. Then he thought to himself as he took the first bite of the sandwich I never realized how quiet things were without the kids. Boy, I sure miss Julie and the kids. I wonder what they're doing right now. After he had finished his meal the waitress came and took the plate away. He put on his pajamas and lay in the bed looking out the window to space. And around ten o'clock he slipped away in a sleep. Two days passed by with no family, but he had brought his laptop so he could communicate with the family by e-mail. Then the sign came on again to buckle up, they were entering the atmosphere of Ion. He got in the seat and the shuttle began to shake once more, he looked out the window and saw red sparks. The rumbling went on for at least five minutes, and then it stopped. He looked out the window again and saw giant building towering over highways and houses. Then the shuttle hit the landing strip and bounced once or twice and the brakes went on creating a loud screeching noise. Lawrence picked up his things and walked out of the shuttle into the dock where there were tons of people. He was able to get out of the crowd and onto the streets of Ion were building just towered each other and even houses had at least two stories. People crowded the streets causing another problem for Lawrence to get around. People on the streets flow like currents. All the people on the sidewalk flow in the direction of the cars passing by them. Lawrence was in a bad position because he wanted to go the opposite way of the flow. On Ion there is a variety of people, tall, small, wide, skinny, and even some non-humans. Lawrence had a hard time getting to the hotel, but he ended up getting there in time. Lawrence had checked out a room and ordered the bellboy to take all his belongings to his room. Lawrence had a day before the ceremony occurred. He settled in his room and walked out casually onto the streets of Ion. He flowed with his current of the street and spotted a bar, which pleased his soul. Lawrence hadn't gotten to a bar in at least fourteen years because of Julie, who wanted a clean husband. He walked into the bar a stranger to most of the people, but others saw him as a great mind and he was greeted by those that knew him. He walked over to the table and ordered a cheap beer for only a few bucks. Another man with a black hood covering his identity sat beside Lawrence at the bar. The man didn't talk much until he swung his unbeknownst face to Lawrence and began a very informal conversation. "You are the man whom they call Lawrence?" said the hooded man with a cold voice. The man seemed to be old because occasionally you could see his short white beard. "Yes, I am Lawrence, but what does my identity have to do with anything?" asked Lawrence as his suspicion grew. "Identity is everything that has to do with your personality. Just remember, most people see what is on the outside of you, not the inside. But if they could see the inside, then what fun would life be?" said the old man as he took a final swig to the beer he ordered. Then the man got up and said these final words before walking out, "Watch yourself Lawrence Wyvern," he said as a smile grew on his wrinkled face. Then Lawrence thought for a moment about how the old man knew his last name, but before he could come to a conclusion the man had left and Lawrence was there drinking his beer when all of a sudden people started yelling and throwing beer glasses onto a truck that carried violators of the law. Lawrence ran out to the street and asked a heavily tattooed man why everyone was throwing bottles. "Haven't you read the papers lately? They caught a high power sleeping in bed with one of the aliens!" exclaimed the big man and gave me a pat on the back. "Hey, you're that Lawrence guy, aren't you?" said the man continuous to his statement before. I replied with no answer and stared at the drifting armored vehicle. On the planet Pinli it is illegal to get down with an alien, period. "Hey, what type of brood was it?" Lawrence asked the man as he chucked a glass bottle at the hovercraft. "It was an illegal brood, Nemical," said the man as he yelled with glee when the bottle hit. Nemical was one of the hardest broods around. They have a history of countless attacks on the human planets. Illegal aliens are usually those that have bad pasts with humanity. Lawrence was in 'The Counter Attack of Darians', which was a battle between who had the stronger chemicals. Lawrence still remembers that day when the skies colored green and rained acid. Once the hovercraft had sped up and went straight up toward the planet Ail, which was the jail planet, Lawrence walked back to his hotel and read a pamphlet that had most of the amusements on Ion. When black covered the sky Lawrence checked in with his pillow and blankets and fell asleep.
Lawrence woke up and looked at the clock, which read only an hour before the ceremony! He had to still get the proper clothing for the ceremony! Lawrence rushed through the "Blue Pages" to find a tuxedo rent shop near his hotel. He rushed out and was able to get at the shop right when they opened. The owner had said Lawrence was the only customer he had gotten in a few months. He dressed himself and left the $400 dollars on the counter and rushed off toward the theatre. Once he got to the theatre, he was escorted to the stage where the governor was waiting for him. "Here is the architect that gave the building life! He is a god to this building. He has decided to give this building death!" yelled the governor as the crowd yelled back in the theatre. "Wait! I have changed my mind in destroying this building. I think it should be kept up for the children," said Lawrence and there was a gasp in the crowd. Then all went silent and the governor spoke again, "We have a change in." Then the doors to the Opera Theatre burst open with a man with ragged shirt and pants with a black eye. "HE'S THE ONE! HE'S THE ONE THAT PUNCHED ME OUT AND TOOK MY POSITION TO SAVE MY OWN STRUCTURE! HE'S AN IMPOSTER!" yelled the man with the black eye. Another gasp went through the crowd and Lawrence had the spotlight on him. Lawrence was busted even though he was the real architect! "I swear! I'm the real Lawrence!" he yelled as two guards picked him up and escorted him out, but Lawrence was still yelling, "I'm the real architect!" The guards didn't listen, but then again who would? They brought him to a jail and threw him in. Lawrence scrambled to his feet and kept on yelling. And then a glass door was shut around his cell and a gas was exposed in the cell. And then sure enough Lawrence was out cold on the ground. "Get up you imposter," said a guard with an assault rifle motioning Lawrence to get up. "Your trial is about to begin," he said again. "What am I wanted for?" asked Lawrence as he got up rubbing his head. "You'll find out," said the guard as he escorted Lawrence to the trail room. "Lawrence Wyvern, or are you?" said the judge as Lawrence was escorted to his seat. It was a warm morning with the light shining on someone else in Lawrence's spot. The glass seemed half empty in Lawrence's eyes right now, and he was wondering what his wife and children were doing. Lawrence looked over at imposter and wondered whom it was; it didn't even look like him. Then the trial began. It lasted for at least one hour of arguing and then ended with these word from the judge, "Lawrence Wyvern imposter, we find you. guilty of impersonating a famous person and are to be put in the Ail prison planet for life." "What! Ail prison? I can't!" yelled Lawrence as he was pulled to his feet by the guards and thrown into a shuttle and chained to the sides by laser operated chains. Then Lawrence looked over at the imposter and the imposter just stared and smiled at him. Time slowed down that day for Lawrence because his chains that tied him to the shuttle weren't for him, but the imposter that took his place. But at the home Julie, Charlie, and Loren were surrounding the TV watching all of this happen. Julie, Loren, and Charlie were all yelling for joy because the imposter had been caught, but what they didn't know was that the imposter was coming to them to cause massive destruction and death.
Hell's Ship
The lasers were tight on his wrists and he wasn't alone on the shuttle to Ail.
"So what happened to you?" asked a young black man that seemed friendly, but what he had done was so unspeakably horrifying that I cannot tell you in this book.
"I didn't do anything bad, I was put here by an imposter that is still out there," replied Lawrence staring at the mass murder.
"Really? An imposter? Hmm. sounds like LA did this to you," said the man with his eyelids covering half his eyes. He seemed drowsy because of all the bloodshed he caused; he had to keep his eyes like that keep himself from getting AIDS of his victims.
"LA? You mean that old ancient city on Earth?" asked Lawrence in amazement. Earth was extremely far away in this galaxy. The Ionic System was near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, while the Solar System is on one of the arms of the same galaxy.
"Lost Angels is what I mean. They are a scattered army under one corporation that take destroy families, armies, and even planets," said the black man as he began to rest.
"Lost Angels!" said Lawrence as he stood up and then fell right back in his seat because the laser chains are affected with fast actions.
"You sound surprised, usually all people get killed with the Lost Angels, what's with you?" asked the man staring his deadly gaze.
"Well, ." Lawrence began, but was interrupted by the man.
"You're one of the lucky ones, you know that right?" said the man as he looked up at the top of the shuttle.
"Yes, I realize that," replied Lawrence with a questioning tone.
"Do you have a family or relatives?" asked the man as he came back to Lawrence from the ceiling.
"Yes, I have a family, but why do you ask?" said Lawrence and then realized something. If the imposter was still out there coming back to his home, then. "He's going to destroy my family and leaving me here to die on the planet Ail!"
"You guessed it," said the man as he now began to find the floor interesting enough to stare at. Then there was a long moment of silence with slight bumps of turbulence. Lawrence looked down the small area of the shuttle and found that there were two small people, three tall people, and one alien. Yes, he was that bored. There were no windows so they couldn't counterstrike the planet. No one knew where planet Ail was, or so he thought. Then, one woman looked up at him with a small frown on her face. She was covered in gunpowder and some dirt was visible on her face. The alien was one of the illegal aliens, Darian. Lawrence still remembers the war with them. The aliens was human sized, a transparent blue so you could see right through them, and fiery yellow eyes that looked as if they were burning, but no mouth and still they could speak clear English. They had big claws with four fingers on each of the two hands, but their real power wasn't in guns, lasers, or energy. It was their ability to form into anything they wished or desired. The alien turned its head and glanced at Lawrence for two seconds. Then it went into a deep meditation. It was getting ready to transform into something! Suddenly, the alien made a giant screeching noise. There were meditating blocks on the shuttle, so just incase the alien were to do something drastic. After the screech Lawrence heard a voice in the front of the shuttle and the doorknob began to turn. Then a man with black sunglasses bust open the door and walked in and said, "So who was trying to bust out?" The alien still had its hand on its head trying to recover from the block. The man walked over and pulled out a hybrid pistol, laser or bullet, and pointed it right at the aliens neck and said, "If we weren't out of Ion's atmosphere I'd kill you right on the spot," and spit at the aliens feet, and then walked back, but stopped at me. "Well, what do we have here? Lawrence Wyvern? Did you catch the wrong shuttle to hell!" yelled the man with a booming laugh at the end. He was a bounty hunter. Even if he were the real Lawrence Wyvern, which he was, the hunter wouldn't care, as long as he got money for my blood. He walked back in the front room and locked the door.
"See what I mean, these bounty hunters don't really care. This is the last place where you would want to be," said the man back to Lawrence staring at the alien. There was no talking after the shuttle exited Ion's atmosphere because who knows what could happen with these bounty hunters with guns, which was extremely dangerous. The government couldn't control the bounty hunters because they're too many of them around the galaxy, and the Republicans couldn't control them for beans. The Republicans and Imperials had made a treaty to never fight as long as the treaty was in tact, and that's was started the bounty hunters. They are usually Republicans with an ego to kill, after the treaty was signed with the Imperials and the Republicans the DU started, Death Union. The planet Ail is now the jail house, but has been filed many times for being breakers of the cruel and unusual punishment amendment. Some people get out. Well, only one person has gotten out alive that is, and with only one arm. People call it a slaughterhouse for the innocent and guilty. And they press on a slow and painful execution. Every time the government is sent over to that planet they are always satisfied by their policies and executions! Now the people say that the government is corrupted by the bounty hunters and will never allow them to do anything anymore. The people rule themselves, not the government. Republicans have more power than the Imperials, which isn't good according to Lawrence. The Death Union has had a ripple affect on all the planets in this solar system that Lawrence will not tolerate. If the government were a little stronger and the people could finally team up and destroy the Death Union then all would be perfect, but a perfect world isn't always the best one.
It seemed as though he was at the end of his line and the end was near. Then right when he thought he was in for it the shuttle came to a stop. The locked door burst open with the bounty hunter walking around with full armor for both bullet and laser. "Ok you saps. Now is your time to shine or fade away, we need you because we're under attack by the stupid LA so guns will be applied to each prisoner, but if you even try to fire at one of us! I'll kill you! Now move and lets get 'em!" exclaimed the bounty hunter as he freed everyone from the chains and handed a gun to each person.
"Ever used one of these before?" asked the black youth as he loaded the gun and locked it. Lawrence knew what it was. It was a K59 Rapid; Lawrence had used one in the war. It was a small, light, rapid-fire bullet gun. Lawrence had been given two laser pistols with additional ammunition.
The ammo for the laser type guns were little cylinders filled with a blue gelatin-type substance.
Everyone was ordered to the front deck of the ship. The ship was much bigger on the outside because of all the turrets. Lawrence and the black male were positioned in a bunker on the side of the ship where a laser had almost hit Lawrence going right through the space where they fired. "You ready for this?" asked the black male as he loaded the gun once more for good luck. Lawrence and the male turned and fired out of the window and lasers were thrown everywhere and bullets impaled the ship and bunker. A laser flew by Lawrence's head again and the black man pulled back same as Lawrence. He loaded the gun and looked at Lawrence.
"So what's your name?" asked Lawrence as he checked the gelatin in the gun.
"Carter, so you ready to go out again?" asked Carter as he locked the gun ready to turn out. Both of the men turned out and fired, but already the infantry had got on the ship and began to infiltrate the ship. "Aim for the head, that's where their armor is weak," said Carter as he fired for a kill shot right at the head of a man charging the bunker. Men fell and the ship was taking an onslaught of lasers from the oncoming warships of the LA. Carter and Lawrence repeated the process of turning and firing a few times, but then the top of the ship had begun to get overrun with infantry and they had to fall back into the depths of the ship. The turrets became jammed, and then eventually turned over to the LA by hackers. The metal doors had been protected with hacking blocks and extremely strong locks.
"Hey Carter, how long do you suppose we can stay down here without being overrun?" Lawrence asked Carter as he loaded another magazine into the gun.
"An hour or two if everyone fights well," said Carter as he locked the magazine in and shook the gun to make sure the magazine wouldn't fall out. "Stay with me and we won't die," said Carter. The main hunters on the ship began to load themselves with grenades, ammunition, and more powerful armor. The alien then began its transformation into something, but Lawrence couldn't tell what it was. The alien went into a ball and it looked like water in zero gravity. Then two human sized arms came out, but since the alien can't transform entirely into its form the arms were like the gelatin the alien was made from. Then two legs emerged from the bottom of the blob. And then the most revealing feature came next. The head appeared with no mouth, long thick hairs, and glowing eyes. It had transformed into a warrior of its own kind, which was unusual for it to transform into something of its own race.
"Get ready you saps!" yelled a hunter that pointed to the door, which was being beaten down. Lawrence and Carter raced over to a metal box and watched the door as impalements appeared on it. Then the door burst open and infantry ran in but they were falling fast. Lawrence and Carter were firing at the door not caring what they hit. More and more infantry came in and the room became filled with LA infantry. The alien came out of hiding and began to fight with all its might and speed. The room was being overrun, so they thought, but was really just being exposed to an excess number of people in the room. The bounty hunters fought to the very last bullet, laser, or bone. The bounty hunters caught a grasp in the end of the battle and unexpectedly fought off the LA while they had the chance. Since the infantry was fought off, the ships were still out there ready to counterstrike. The bounty hunters took control of the turrets and began firing. The hunter ship was taking large amounts of damage. Missiles, lasers, and gattling bullets were thrown back and forth between the LA force and the bounty ship. There was still one last force that the LA had no clue existed. It was a pulse ray that had a surround jam for all electronics. Once all the energy had been collected, the ray fired its disruptor and all the LA ships were frozen in their paths. The bounty hunter ship began firing all out and eventually after a few minutes all the LA ships either retreated or were destroyed. After the last ship had been blown up a bounty hunter walked up to the prisoners and said.
"You fought well today and we would like to grant you thanks for your help, but this the only time we will allow you to run freely among the ship. If I see any monkey business at all, you'll be put back into your chains!" exclaimed the bounty hunter as he collected the guns from each person and threw them back into a cabinet. Carter and Lawrence walked over to a corner and sat there starting a new conversation.
"Good fighting back there, but you looked down at your ammunition too much, you could've been shot," said Carter as he twiddled his thumbs, put his head against a wall, and sighed. Until Carter said something, everyone just stared at each other as time past and distance. "Hey, look at us!" Carter yelled as he stood up on a box.
"Yea? So what about us?" asked the woman with the long dark hair looking at him as if he were a mad man. Lawrence had his doubts about Carter, but he never would have guessed what he was about to suggest next.
"We can stand up to these guys! We are stronger! Of course they have better armor, weapons, and skills, but we have a Darian and a few infantry!" yelled Carter as he stomped his foot and made a fist with his right hand. Lawrence at this point was backing up behind a box. Looking around and shaking their heads, the group pinned Carter to the floor and then Lawrence came out of hiding and got Carter back to his senses by murmuring a few words to him that would calm him down. Most of the people in the group were gambling on dice and testing their strengths on each other. Lawrence was making use of his free time wisely by trying to figure out how the laser chains worked and what would cancel their bonds. Sure enough Lawrence broke through right when the bounty hunters came in to throw them back into their cells. The ship continued to run through space and finally Lawrence gathered up enough guts to tell Carter how to cancel the chains.
"Hey Carter, these chains are made from positive particles," Lawrence said to Carter, but he didn't seem to listen because he just stared at floor. "Got any salt?" asked Lawrence, but Carter shook his head no. Lawrence restrained himself from talking until dinner was served and then the prisoners would get to like Lawrence a bit more. Time past and Lawrence decided to rest his head against another man's shoulder, which was a mistake. Then dinner was served, which was Lawrence's move to prove himself of their respect. Lawrence took some salt off the side of his plate and sprinkled it on his chains and the chains gave off electric pulses and then they broke. The wrist placements split in half and Lawrence was free of his chains! This gathered all the prisoners toward Lawrence and he made a few new friends that day. "It only lasts for two hours so you have to make sure the chains are on at the end of that two hours," said Lawrence as the prisoners nodded their heads.
"Hey Lawrence I was wrong about you, you are truly worthy of my respect and deserve more of these prisoners," said Carter as he lifted his hand to shake hands with Lawrence. Now Lawrence had a choice to choose the way to darkness and help a bunch of fugitives escape from a slaughter ship, or choose the way to light and turn down Carter's offer and go to the slaughter planet. After thinking about his decisions and what would result, Lawrence shook Carter's hand and an alliance was formed between the two of them. "But before we can attack the ship we must find one of my partners that is on this ship too. He's very big, you can't miss him, and he's too strong to put with us," Carter said as he withdrew his hand and sat back down to eat. Dinner was roast beef with mashed potatoes, which was exceptional for dinner on the ship. Then the prisoners were sent back into the cell. Carter gave a nod and they took out salt and slipped off their chains. "He's somewhere on this ship, probably were we wouldn't look," said Carter as he opened the door to the giant room where there were boxes, crates, and cranes to carry the boxes. There were many secret passages on the ship to hide certain parts of it. Carter opened one of the boxes with a crowbar and there were illegal drugs that were being smuggled into the planet. Carter took some, but just enough for himself. Lawrence didn't take any because Julie had asked him not to do drugs. Carter opened another box and there were guns, all different types. Carter took a J79 Firefly; telling from the name Lawrence had guessed it was a fire gun. Lawrence reached in and took out a V77 Shotgun; Lawrence hadn't seen one before, but he knew this was powerful. The only problem with the guns was, they weren't loaded! Carter got so mad that Lawrence could see the veins and arteries pulse through his forehead. Carter smashed his fist against a wooden crate and broke though the wood! He felt around and pulled out a shell. He checked out and threw it Lawrence. He struggled to catch it and loaded the gun.
"Hey are there anymore in that crate?" asked Lawrence as he looked along the top of the barrel pretending to aim it. Carter opened the top of the crate and both of them looked in. There were bullets and laser cartridges in the crate. They grabbed at the ammunition as if it were a savior. They loaded their weapons and felt an adrenaline rush as they heard the locks of the ammunition into the gun. They felt power. The best kind of power there is, they had the power to take a life. The adrenaline rushed faster and faster as they searched through hallways for Carter's partner. Then both of them stepped once too far beyond their limits. Lawrence had crossed a security beam. The red alert lights dispatched from the ceiling and the sound began ringing throughout the whole ship. "We'd best get back now, before we're the hunted," said Lawrence as he heard footsteps that made him sweat. They began running back hiding behind boxes, crates and corners along the way back to avoid being shot. Lawrence got a huge adrenaline rush now and accidentally tripped the trigger. A boom was heard, but it wasn't loud because of the alert sound. There were two guards watching the vault where the prisoners were.
"Looks like we have no choice but to kill them," said Carter as he checked the corner. Lawrence was feeling uneasy by now and began to see double. The adrenaline was messing with his mind. He couldn't take it anymore. Lawrence shot up and began firing on the two guards. "What are you doing!" yelled Carter in question. Lawrence just kept on firing and reloading. Every time a used bullet hit the ground Lawrence felt more powerful. Every man that fell he felt like a god. Taking lives was more than just aiming and shooting, it was cutting off the stream of life that flowed into every person! Lawrence began to yell as he reloaded and fired. There were at least twenty bullets at his feet. Carter pulled out a communicator and said something into it. Carter rushed forward and began firing long shots of fireballs. The vault door burst open with a huge BOOM, and the Darian came to attack with everyone else in the vault. The revolt had begun. Lawrence and Carter ran down a hallway to take over more space. They killed everyone in every room. Then they came to a door and blasted it open. The adrenaline rush had overcome Lawrence as he searched the room for people. "Don't shoot!" Carter yelled as he pushed Lawrence's gun down in time. Lawrence made a hole in the ground and asked why Carter had pushed his barrel down. Little did Lawrence know, but the person he was aiming at was Carter's partner. He was big, very big. He wasn't fat big, but most of his space was muscle.
"YOU!" he yelled as he grabbed for Carter's neck, but was stopped by the bars that held him in. "Come here and fight me! You left me alone in that hellhole! And now I'm getting my payback!" yelled the huge guy as he reached for Carter.
"Hey, when the going gets tough, you leave," said Carter as he brushed his gun off. The man withdrew his hands and punched the walls of his chamber. Impounding it to dents. The man wore silver armor protecting his gut; his arms were protected with silver armor up to the elbow, silver bracelets that were at least five inches long, and a slab of silver on his back. The man then looked at the bars and gave them a punch that broke one. He pushed two others apart and climbed out.
"Thought you were safe Carter?" asked the man as he started making two fists.
"Hey Gino, lets no do anything drastic now!" as Carter backed up and Gino walked slowly toward him. The suspense was killing Lawrence; he didn't know what to do.
"Don't call me Gino anymore! Call me by my real name Carter! You do remember don't you?" said Gino as he had Carter up against a wall.
"Ok Giovanni, just please don't hurt me, I swear I'll do anything! I won't ever leave you again!" yelled Carter as he covered his head.
"Alright, I'll let you off the hook. I was never going to hurt you buddy!" said Giovanni as he brought Carter around with his arm and gave him a nookie.
"Ha I knew that, I was just wondering if you were still you," said Carter acting smart as he was lifted off the ground. These two were criminals that actually liked each other. Lawrence was surprised at the way they never disliked what the other did. It was a friendship that could not be broken by money! That was powerful. Carter was set back down with his hair messed up because of the nookie. Giovanni walked over to a box that was protected by lasers. He looked at the lasers, then at the little pad where the numbers were. He made a fist and punched the pad, which shattered and the lasers disappeared. He reached in and grabbed a huge bazooka type of gun that he held over his shoulder.
"This is my mass destruction gun," said Giovanni and then he reached into his legging armor and grabbed out a pistol, "this is my secondary for close range so I don't blow myself to pieces." The bazooka was a laser type of gun. It could also be passed as a beam rifle, but it was too heavy to be a rifle. "This baby can shoot through a foot of laser proof glass," said Giovanni as he checked out the extremely long barrel that passed his shoulder. The bazooka was basically a long barrel with cool designs on it, and a trigger. The whole thing as at least five feet long! And Giovanni could still hold it over his shoulder! Well, for his size I really expected him to. "Lets get out of here and back onto free land," said Giovanni as he latched the safety button off. The bazooka gave off a noise that sounded like it was booting up. The end of the barrel that the laser was shot from turned a bright red. Carter led the way through the whole ship until we came across trouble. "Stop here," said Giovanni as he put on a helmet that had a plastic covering for the eyes. It was a detector! Lawrence hadn't seen one of those for ages! Lawrence and Carter could see the little green lines that showed everything. With one of those you could see invisibility and through walls. "Yep, two guys with heavy armor, K59, and laser blades for a secondary," said Giovanni as he observed the motion of the two guards. "Watch this," said Giovanni as he lifted the barrel of his gun and aimed. He was going to do something really cool.
In the other room where Giovanni was aiming the two guards looked around. "Hey Rick did you see the game last night?" asked one of the guards.
"No I was on duty who won?" asked Rick as he looked around. Rick had his back faced to the wall where Giovanni was aiming.
"South Bay got killed by the Northern Front," said the other guard. "Four hundred to twenty," said the guard. "They actually have a chance at the finals," said the guard as he looked at Rick, but kept walking.
"What has become of South-," and Rick paused for a moment. The silence was death. "Do you hear that?" asked Rick as the other guard shook his head. "I think it's coming from the wall," said Rick as he slowly turned toward the wall. There was a red glow on the wall, and Rick's eyes suddenly shrunk. A red beam blasted through the wall and nailed Rick's right shoulder. "AH!" yelled Rick as the laser exploded, but the armor was strong enough to take another blast. Then a second laser shot through and gave a fatal headshot to Rick. The other guard began firing at the wall.
"Stay back!" he yelled as he kept firing backing up toward the wall. The red glow grew bigger and shot a laser at his left shoulder, and knee. Then at the head and the other guard was down. Giovanni opened the door and walked over to the corpses.
"Too bad," he said as looked at the guards. "South Bay lost, what a shame," he said as they walked into the next room.
The next room was the top level of the ship where the turrets were to fight off enemy ships. "Get ready to run," said Carter as he looked both ways and ran as fast as he could to the other side. The turrets turned and fired on him, but Carter was too quick to be shot. Giovanni left the helmet on and walked right through the turret area. The helmet had scrambled the turret computers so they didn't detect him. Lawrence was now forced to run to the control room. Lawrence ran as fast as he could and the turrets fired at him. A laser got really close to hitting him, but Lawrence was able to dodge the laser. Lawrence kept on running, and dodging the lasers as he ran. Then a laser hit right at Lawrence's feet and exploded. Lawrence went flying toward Giovanni and Carter, and then he was out of the turret's range. "Scared us there Lawrence," said Carter as he dragged Lawrence through the door. Lawrence was all right, but the blow was too much for Lawrence to take, he had never been that close to an explosion. Lawrence was basically in shock. Lawrence was still for a moment or two, and then pulled out of the shock. He was back up and reached for his shotgun, which was on his back. They got Lawrence on his feet and they walked up the staircase to the control room.
"There are tons of guards and computers," said Giovanni as he scanned through the room. Giovanni was right, there were millions of guards in the room. Carter bust open the door and began firing. Lawrence rolled in and fired. Giovanni walked in and blasted the computers and guards. Lawrence was getting a feeling he had before. He was getting adrenaline. It pumped trough his veins like a poison that caused him to get "trigger-happy". The battle was going on for a long time. Then Giovanni turned his head and said, "Hey Lawrence stay-," and he was interrupted, by the computer he was hiding behind, being thrust aside. It was a human, but he was in a type of metal suit that protected every part of his body with bulletproof glass for a head shield. He hit Giovanni aside and his hands began to surge like lightening. He acted like he pushed something that wasn't next to him and everything in the room was thrust aside, even Giovanni and Carter, he had singled Lawrence out for a fight.
"Lawrence Wyvern. So you're the famous architect. I'd been planning this for ages," said the man in the suit and his hands began to surge again. He put them together and he pointed them at Lawrence. A lightening bolt was sent toward Lawrence. Lawrence had to act quickly. He ducked and avoided the shot. The bolt hit a computer behind him and it shook all about then blew up. "So you got some skills, but remember you won't be any good against me," said the man as he reached for a metal pole. He broke it off and swung it around. "This suit makes me ten times stronger than I really am!" said the man as he bent the piece of metal. He then dropped it and started walking toward Lawrence. Lawrence held up his gun and started to fire right at the gut. "Bullets won't do any good Lawrence against my bulletproof suit," said the man as he walked toward Lawrence slowly. Lawrence turned the gun on its side and he read the type of gun. He was in luck! It was a hybrid! Lawrence ran from the man and looked around for a laser cartridge. The man began to surge again and fired a bolt at Lawrence. Lawrence ducked avoiding the bolt again, but barely. "Ok enough of playing around," said the man as he reach in his back and pulled out an O19 and began firing. An O19 is a machine gun with multiple long, but small barrels that are all in a circle. Every time the man fired the circle of barrels rotated extremely fast. It was an extremely strong gun. Lawrence ran in circles around the man trying to avoid the bullets. "Stand still so I can fill you with lead!" yelled the man as he began to get mad. Then the gun kept turning, but no bullets were coming out. Lawrence's adrenaline was extremely high at this point. There was a nice view of space in the front of the control room. The man gave a questioning eye and looked at the gun. It had to be reloaded. He opened the back and pulled out a long strip of empty bullet ends. Lawrence took this chance to find a laser cartridge. He saw a cartridge right behind the man. Lawrence ran toward the man, and right when he got to the man the gun was reloaded. Lawrence jumped, the man fired. Time froze right then and there. A bullet was fired and was half and inch away from Lawrence's foot. He was behind the man and bullets were in the ceiling. The man whipped around and kicked Lawrence in the back. He fell over and was right next to the cartridge. Lawrence struggled to reach the cartridge. It was at his fingertips, the man was close now and held the gun right at Lawrence's head. "Any last words?" asked the man with a grin on his face. Lawrence said nothing. "All right then!" he said right when Lawrence reached the cartridge. Lawrence whipped his lag around and hit the barrel of the gun. The gun was off fire and hit the ground right next to Lawrence. Lawrence loaded the gun and fired right at the man gut. The white laser penetrated the armor and sent the man flying out the window into space. Lawrence ran out of the room before the pressure gave way and was sucked out into space. Giovanni and Carter were down in the turret area. There was a shuttle in the air that let down a ladder to have them climb up. Giovanni was half way up when guards burst through the doors. Carter and Lawrence were still waiting for the ladder to come back down; Giovanni was too big to lift his own weight so the machine pulled him up.
"You go up, you have a future to live," said Carter as he looked up at the ladder.
"No, you can restart your life into something awesome, you go," said Lawrence as the wind of the engines pushed Lawrence's hair all around. The guards were extremely close to them and began firing at the ship, but it had a shield to protect itself from bullets and lasers. The ladder was almost down now and the guards were at least ten meters away. "Go Carter," said Lawrence. Carter stuck out his hand for a handshake. Lawrence held out his hand and Carter pulled him in and gave him a hug.
"You're the best friend I've ever had," said Carter as a tear ran down his eye. Carter grabbed the ladder and was pulled up, but before we was out of reach he extended his arm out to Lawrence. Lawrence reached for his hand, but he was short by one inch. The guards grabbed at Lawrence's shirt and pulled him down and beat him.
Various Warriors, Same Destiny
Lawrence awoke in a cell with five walls surrounding him. There were two beds in the corner of the cell. The walls were made of cement. He was dizzy from the hard hit to the head by a guard's foot. Lawrence gave a moan as he sat up. The sat on the bed and rubbed his head. He shook it a few times to clear his vision. The gravel in the cement was coming into picture. Lawrence rose from the bed to his feet and stood up. Then a voice spoke out from the dark corner of the cell.
"You're a lot taller in person," said a mysterious voice. Lawrence couldn't tell who it was; he had never heard it before. "Those buildings you created, all for nothing. To die here with a bunch of thugs," said the voice again, but this time with a different tone. Lawrence could see the outline of the figure; he was sitting down in a cross-legged position. There were glasses covering his eyes, and he wore an overcoat. His hair seemed to be spiked up. He was white also, so it wasn't Carter.
"What's your name? Identify yourself!" exclaimed Lawrence, but he held onto his shoulder because of the blow from a nightstick. Lawrence didn't really expect him to tell him without a threat.
"What's in a name anyway? It's just a name. It's who's living underneath your skin," said the figure as he stood up. The figure was at least 5'10". "Who's living under that cover Lawrence? Huh? I'll tell you who's living under mine!" as the figure rushed from the corner and right up to Lawrence. He held a mini machine gun called a MA-8. Those kinds were light enough to hold in one hand. They were at the most five pounds with full ammunition. If you take away the long magazine cartridge that pointed down from the gun right after the trigger on the barrel side, it looked just like a pistol. The small barrel was almost touching Lawrence's skin. His pulse increased and he began to sweat excess amounts. Lawrence wouldn't even know who killed him because he wore dark glasses and a black overcoat. Then he pulled the trigger, but no bullets came out. Lawrence was relieved to see the gun empty, but the problem was, it was really full of ammunition, but Lawrence learned of that a few minutes later. The man pulled the gun back and threw a punch with the gun in his hand, but he stopped in the act.
"Blance, what did I tell you about killing?" said a voice from the cell across from them. The gun then began to float in mid air! Lawrence had never seen anything like it before. The only excuse was the use of magic, but magic hadn't been used for ages and ages ago. The gun floated over to the cell where the voice came from. A hand stuck out of the cell and grabbed the gun. The person over there opened the magazine and unloaded the bullets from it. "I'll keep this here for a while until you can control yourself," said the voice again. "Sorry for the inconvenience, but Blance has a berserker side of him," said the voice.
"Won't he ever learn?" said another voice from the cell. There were two people over there, but the only thing Lawrence knew about them was that they were women in their early twenties.
"Blance will eventually learn to not kill or else he will be punished like all the other times," said the high-pitched voice, but Lawrence recognized it. He had heard the same voice when Loren listened to music. There was a connection of some sort. He also remembered that Charlie, his son, had posters all over his walls of the same star, but what he couldn't remember was her name.
Lawrence couldn't go to bed with a berserker at his side, who knows what would happen as soon as he went to bed? He stayed up all night just staring at Blance.
"So what's your name?" asked Blance with a look in his eyes.
"Lawrence Wyvern, what's yours?" asked Lawrence with the same look.
"Blance Hiven, ever heard of it?" asked Blance as he stood up and walked to the dirty sink that had a bad plumbing system, and washed his hands.
"No, but are you part of some secret society?" asked Lawrence, he had to know if was part of LA. If he was he was going start a fight.
"Actually you might not believe this, but I'm the star player of the Ion Flares," said Blance, and suddenly he realized who Blance was! Charlie was a soccer player and had an idol named Blance Hiven. This was the same guy.
"You mean planet Ion's traveling team? Yea I remember you; you scored the last goal for the win in 4902. That was two years ago and you're still big today," said Lawrence as he patted the bed he was sitting on.
"Yes I remember that day well, but now I'm a convict for doing an illegal drug," said Blance as he lowered his head.
"Did you do it?" asked Lawrence, because maybe they are in the same position.
"No! Some idiot dressed up like me and smoked some illegal weed! That idiot!" yelled Blance as he hit the wall with his fist in anger. "What happened to you?" asked Blance as he began to clam himself down. Lawrence told the whole story of him going to Ion and getting caught in a trap. "Looks like LA got you too," said Blance as he jumped on the bed and stuffed his pillow. "So we're kind of like the same, only different in fates," said Blance as he turned over trying to go to bed.
"Yea I guess so," said Lawrence as he laid down for bed, but he was still nervous about being attacked.
"Oh yea, and if you're worried about me attacking you during the middle of the night, consider we're allies now," said Blance as he pulled the covers over himself. Lawrence ran a grin upon his face and went to sleep.
The morning gave an early surprise to Lawrence, because today he finds out who the two women are. The women in the cell across from them were already at the breakfast tables. A guard came by and opened up Lawrence and Blance's cell. They were escorted to breakfast past a few things that Blance had to explain. Most of the things were giant torture machines. One of them was a pod that was shot into space and then ten minutes into the launch a window opens to carry out all the oxygen and you suffocate. There were many different machines. These people knew how to be evil and cruel. Some of these machines broke the law of cruel and unusual punishment. Then they finally made it to the tables where they were served either cold cereal or pork and beans. Blance told Lawrence not to eat the pork and beans, but he gave no reason why, so Lawrence took some beans and a slice of pork. Blance sat down next to a really big rough man that looked like Giovanni, but he wasn't. Giovanni wasn't fat around the legs. Lawrence sat down next to Blance at the end of the table.
Blance looked at the food that Lawrence had taken and said, "You really going to eat that?"
"I grabbed it didn't I," said Lawrence as he looked down at his food and swiped some beans on a spoon. He put it up to his mouth and took a bite. Lawrence squinted and spat them out.
"Told you they were bad," said Blance as he ate his cereal. Lawrence pushed his plate forward and looked around for people. There were a lot of different people in this facility. Women, men, even aliens, but they weren't powerful ones. "Hey Lawrence I just wanted to say sorry for almost killing you last night," said Blance as he ate another bite of cereal. Lawrence forgave him and just sat there waiting for Blance to finish. After all the fugitives were done eating they were escorted back into their cells. It was a giant group of people that were walking through a small hallway. As people were put back into their cells less and less people were in the group. Lawrence and Blance's cell was in the far back, the last cell. Finally the last six people remained and the two were put into one cell and Lawrence looked at the two women that were across from them. He was astonished to see. Courtney and Brittany! The two women that were very popular around the people of Ion. Courtney was caught in bed with a Nemical alien, which was illegal on her planet. She was a high power that could control things with her mind, which wasn't very common among the people of Ion. Courtney had blue hair, which again wasn't common, and she wore white pants and a white stripe of upper clothing, and a blue sleeveless jacket that reached right above her navel. Brittany was a star that had a good voice in the category of music. She had sung at a major concert that Lawrence took Loren to see. Brittany was a brunette that wore a black coat that had sleeves that were spiked back, and buttoned the coat between her breasts. The coat reached her ankles. She had black pants that were held up by a diamond belt, you could tell she only wore designer clothing. And a black swimsuit top that had diamonds outlining it. She was totally rich. But both of them looked better than Blance or Lawrence. All four of them were thrown into their cells.
"Hey you're that famous singer aren't you?" asked Lawrence just to make sure that he had the right person.
"Yea, was it the clothes? Or was it my looks?" asked Brittany as she struck a pose.
"Actually my daughter listens to your music," said Lawrence as he walked up to the bars of his cell.
"Really? To bad I won't be able to sing anymore because I'm behind bars," said Brittany as she gave a moan to go with what she was saying.
"Oh stop moaning. You were framed as we all were," said Courtney in the back. "We were all framed by the LA, but in different ways," she said as she walked toward the bars.
"You're absolutely right, but we can't do anything about it!" exclaimed Blance as he punched the wall.
"Gee don't get so mad," said Brittany as she sat on her bed.
"Don't tell me what to do!" exclaimed Blance as he to walked toward the bars of the cell.
"I wish I could see my daughter and son again," said Lawrence as he slowly slid down the bars to his knees.
"You know." said Courtney as she began to go into a meditation. She closed her eyes and a few minutes later said, "It is possible to get out of here."
"Tell me!" exclaimed Blance as he got excited. Brittany got up and grabbed onto the bars.
"Blance you do have a valid application to Red Shift," said Courtney as she rubbed her chin.
"How did you know about that!" exclaimed Blance in a questioning voice.
"That doesn't matter right now, but we could use that to get out of here," said Courtney. Everyone began to rub their chins and think of ways to get out.