Chapter Seven: The Union.
The four kings took a taxi back to their hideout. A few credits had to depart from their friends on
Jedite's account to pay for the ride. Paying the taxi driver was easy. He simply took the card and
shoved it into a slot in the steering wheel and that was it.
The four got out of the yellow, floating cab and walked down a path with trees on either side to their
lair. Jedite took a good look at the ancient building. It probably used to have a green coating but
that had worn away through the years. Not a single window was intact. The huge holes, the
shattered windows left, looked like bullet holes created by a giant gun. A strange yellow vine had
warped itself around the building as if trying to squeeze the life out of the construction.
Jedite could just make out the name of the shabby building. Written in rusty letters were the words:
"Alcotec Technology Centre."
The four climbed up the many floors to enter the main control room. "Orak, are you here?." Zoycite
asked. His voice bouncing off the walls of the musty room. "Yes, have you brought me my army?"
the squeaky voice asked. Then the ambassador of Orak's voice jumped down from the ceiling. The
little pink ball of fur shook off some dust on his back.
"No, we don't know where to look. We have the money but where are we going to find a gang?"
Jedite asked the cute alien animal. "HHmmm, there is a mighty gang called "The Union". The head
of the gang lives near here. You would have to go directly to him with your request. Just ask a CM
Drone where the boss of the Union is. Oh, and before you depart to meet the president of this
gang, remember you will be leaving the neutral sector, the city, so I suggest you buy an armoured
tank and a few Drones for your protection."
"Ok, We'll leave right away." Jedite nodded at the pet. "Oh, there's one more thing I have to tell you
before I forget again. You would have to buy yourselves some Skin-Coats. You see, the ozone layer
has been destroyed and the Coats prevent you from getting harmed."
"You let us go outside even though you knew it was dangerous!!." Malachite howled.
"I just forgot all about it. Don't worry you're fine. You weren't out too long. Now you have your
orders. Go!" The tiny creature leapt back into the darkness.
The four went to the street, the CM Drone they had met before floated and asked, "Do you know
where we can buy an armoured tank, some Drones to protect us and Skin-Coats? Oh and where
does the President of the Union live?"
"Ah, it's you four again. Lovely day isn't it? You can buy all those thing in "Jack's All-Tool Shop",
Here I'll print you the map to the Shop and to Alpha's lair ." The Drone printed the map and said
"Have a very nice day."
On their way to Jack's Shop, the four walked past another Law-Enforcer-Drone. Beside it were other
floating machines which looked like modern vacuum cleaners. There were three of them. They were
busy sucking up red and grey chunks of muscle. The Police Class Drone was standing next to the
flying vacuum cleaners. It held it's weapon at it's side. Green vapour was dancing out of the gun's
muzzle.
The Law-Enforcer looked at the Clean-Up Drones doing their work. Jedite thought if the Drone had
had lips, it would be smiling.
"I'm tired, my legs hurt, I'm sweating." Neflite moaned. "Stop moaning, it's not that far. We don't
even need a taxi." Jedite said. He also hated walking. He wished he could just close his eyes and
be at his destination. Just like he used to do but that part of his soul will remain dead forever. The
only thing that made him different from the others was not allowed to accompany him in this
forsaken world.
They arrived at the Shop. It was bigger than they had expected. They walked into the main room
which was rather plain, with only one desk occupied by an old man.
Jedite walked over to the man and said "We need a tank, Drones and four Skin-Coats." The old
man grunted with effort as he got up and said "Follow me, my friends."
They all stepped into an elevator which descended silently. The doors opened with a ring. They
were now in a much bigger, darker room. The room was split up into two sections. On the right-
hand side of the room lay shiny armoured vehicles. On the left-hand side were Drones each made
with the human body as inspiration.
"How much are you looking to spend?" the man's aged voice asked.
"Money is not a problem. Just give us the best you have." Zoycite said admiring the immaculate
surface of the tanks. "Ok, first lets take a look at the tanks." The old man walked over to the war
machines. "This...", he patted a black tank the size of a bus, "Is the Black-Wolf 125 W, the best
tank on the market. It's armour consists of a sub-organic metal, almost impenetrable. It has four
SMAK laser cannons, six Rapid-Fire Plasma guns, two rocket launchers, three Ion..."
"We'll take it." Jedite interrupted. "Good, lets go over to the Drones." Jack said rubbing his hands
together.
He walked passed a few Drones standing next to each other and stopped at a mustard coloured
Drone which was a bit taller than Jedite.
"This is the best Bodyguard Class Drone money can buy. The Raptor Q147. It has two Ion-
Launchers, it's amour is-"
"We'll take six." Malachite said. "Ok, I have the Skin-Coats in my office." They took the elevator
back up to the main room. "So, what colour do you guys want?"
"Red." Jedite said.
"Blue" Neflite said.
"Green" Zoycite said.
"Can I have those three colours mixed together?" Malachite asked.
"Of course, let's see..." Jack pulled out a drawer from underneath his desk. He fished in it for a few
seconds then looked up and said, "Here, red, blue, green and a mixture of all."
"Fine, that would be all." Jedite handed the old man his credit card. The man took the card and
shoved it into a small black box which was laying on his desk. "Thank you for visiting me. Please
come back soon. Your tank and Drones are waiting outside. The Drones already have been given
the instruction to follow your orders only. Have a very nice day."
Jedite took his Skin-Coat. It looked like a small gun with a needle sticking out of it's barrel. "I'll try it
first." He said. He picked the small gun up and held the needle over the surface of his skin. He
pulled the trigger. The tiny needle jabbed into his flesh. His skin began to itch all over. It was
unbearable. Then he saw his hand turning from white slowly red. The itch got worse. He thought he
was going to explode. He wanted to scream. Then it was over. He was bright red.
The others looked shocked. "This is going to take some getting used to." Zoycite said. The rest
injected themselves and went outside. There the six Bodyguard Class Drones and the tank waited.
The four got into the tank with the Drones. There was plenty of room inside. Driving the tank was
easy. All they had to do was tell the tank where they wanted to go. There was only one incident on
their way to Alpha, the President of the Union. They had left the city and were in the Union's
territory. A group of punks opened fire on the black tank. They were throwing grenades, firing off
rockets, sprinkling the still gleaming surface with projectiles of all sorts. Inside the war machine the
deafening blasts of the explosions sounded like rain falling on a window and felt like it too.
"Attackers have opened fire on me. Am I allowed to fire back?" the computer of the tank asked.
"Of coarse you may!! Show these guys who's boss."
"With pleasure..." the tank aimed it's massive cannons at the group of punks and fired. The shots
tore the gangster's bodies apart. They were being mutilated. Body parts flew against walls, blood
splattered on the tank's sleek surface. The four kings watched the massacre through screens set in
the vehicle's interior.
They were not attacked again after that.
The tank pulled up to a great white mansion. "We need to talk to Alpha." Jedite told the guard
standing at the entrance to the mansion. The guard touched his right ear and said, "Sir, there are
four men here who would like to meet you. Should I get rid of them?" The guard looked shocked as
he heard the answer. "Ok, Alpha will see you." the guard said as the gates were opened.
"What? Just like that?" Jedite said to the others. The four had to leave the Drones in the tank.
Jedite didn't like the idea of that but knew he didn't have any choice. A Drone escorted the four
kings through the magnificent palace. Jedite had the feeling they were being watched. They were
taken to a room in which five people were in. The Drone left the room.
"I am Alpha. You must be very rich if you can afford such a tank and six Raptors." Alpha was a
rather fat man. He wore a white expensive looking suite. He was sitting behind a large table. One
man was looking out of the window. Two other men and a woman were standing beside Alpha.
They were looking at the four kings.
"We are willing to pay you a great deal of money if you kill five girls." Jedite told the President of the
Union.
Alpha looked puzzled and amused at once. "You have come to the greatest gang in the world
because you want five girls dead?"
"We underestimated them before, that was a mistake. They are more powerful then you can
imagine." Zoycite said looking at the three figures next to Alpha.
"Whatever, how much are you going to pay?" Alpha asked. "I shall give you all the credits on this
account." Jedite said taking out his credit card. The man who was looking out of the window came
closer to Jedite and took his card. As the man came closer Jedite noticed it wasn't a man it was
another Drone. The Drone looked at the card and said, looking at Alpha "There is approximately
12.534.000.000 credits left on this account"
Alpha looked pleased, took the card from his assistant and inserted it into a black box. The box
beeped and said "The rightful owner of this card is out of range!!"
Alpha looked a little embarrassed and said "Oops, you have to come closer for me to transfer the
money into our account." Jedite took a few steps towards the table.
A green light in the box blinked.
"Good!!, Mr... um..."
"Call me Jedite."
"Good, Jedite. All we need now is the address of those girls."
Jedite only realised now, that he didn't know where the Scouts actually were. He would have to
ask Orak about that.
"I'll be back tomorrow with all the information you need." Jedite said.
Alpha sat back in his massive chair, smiled and said, "My friend, those girls are as good as dead."
The four kings took a taxi back to their hideout. A few credits had to depart from their friends on
Jedite's account to pay for the ride. Paying the taxi driver was easy. He simply took the card and
shoved it into a slot in the steering wheel and that was it.
The four got out of the yellow, floating cab and walked down a path with trees on either side to their
lair. Jedite took a good look at the ancient building. It probably used to have a green coating but
that had worn away through the years. Not a single window was intact. The huge holes, the
shattered windows left, looked like bullet holes created by a giant gun. A strange yellow vine had
warped itself around the building as if trying to squeeze the life out of the construction.
Jedite could just make out the name of the shabby building. Written in rusty letters were the words:
"Alcotec Technology Centre."
The four climbed up the many floors to enter the main control room. "Orak, are you here?." Zoycite
asked. His voice bouncing off the walls of the musty room. "Yes, have you brought me my army?"
the squeaky voice asked. Then the ambassador of Orak's voice jumped down from the ceiling. The
little pink ball of fur shook off some dust on his back.
"No, we don't know where to look. We have the money but where are we going to find a gang?"
Jedite asked the cute alien animal. "HHmmm, there is a mighty gang called "The Union". The head
of the gang lives near here. You would have to go directly to him with your request. Just ask a CM
Drone where the boss of the Union is. Oh, and before you depart to meet the president of this
gang, remember you will be leaving the neutral sector, the city, so I suggest you buy an armoured
tank and a few Drones for your protection."
"Ok, We'll leave right away." Jedite nodded at the pet. "Oh, there's one more thing I have to tell you
before I forget again. You would have to buy yourselves some Skin-Coats. You see, the ozone layer
has been destroyed and the Coats prevent you from getting harmed."
"You let us go outside even though you knew it was dangerous!!." Malachite howled.
"I just forgot all about it. Don't worry you're fine. You weren't out too long. Now you have your
orders. Go!" The tiny creature leapt back into the darkness.
The four went to the street, the CM Drone they had met before floated and asked, "Do you know
where we can buy an armoured tank, some Drones to protect us and Skin-Coats? Oh and where
does the President of the Union live?"
"Ah, it's you four again. Lovely day isn't it? You can buy all those thing in "Jack's All-Tool Shop",
Here I'll print you the map to the Shop and to Alpha's lair ." The Drone printed the map and said
"Have a very nice day."
On their way to Jack's Shop, the four walked past another Law-Enforcer-Drone. Beside it were other
floating machines which looked like modern vacuum cleaners. There were three of them. They were
busy sucking up red and grey chunks of muscle. The Police Class Drone was standing next to the
flying vacuum cleaners. It held it's weapon at it's side. Green vapour was dancing out of the gun's
muzzle.
The Law-Enforcer looked at the Clean-Up Drones doing their work. Jedite thought if the Drone had
had lips, it would be smiling.
"I'm tired, my legs hurt, I'm sweating." Neflite moaned. "Stop moaning, it's not that far. We don't
even need a taxi." Jedite said. He also hated walking. He wished he could just close his eyes and
be at his destination. Just like he used to do but that part of his soul will remain dead forever. The
only thing that made him different from the others was not allowed to accompany him in this
forsaken world.
They arrived at the Shop. It was bigger than they had expected. They walked into the main room
which was rather plain, with only one desk occupied by an old man.
Jedite walked over to the man and said "We need a tank, Drones and four Skin-Coats." The old
man grunted with effort as he got up and said "Follow me, my friends."
They all stepped into an elevator which descended silently. The doors opened with a ring. They
were now in a much bigger, darker room. The room was split up into two sections. On the right-
hand side of the room lay shiny armoured vehicles. On the left-hand side were Drones each made
with the human body as inspiration.
"How much are you looking to spend?" the man's aged voice asked.
"Money is not a problem. Just give us the best you have." Zoycite said admiring the immaculate
surface of the tanks. "Ok, first lets take a look at the tanks." The old man walked over to the war
machines. "This...", he patted a black tank the size of a bus, "Is the Black-Wolf 125 W, the best
tank on the market. It's armour consists of a sub-organic metal, almost impenetrable. It has four
SMAK laser cannons, six Rapid-Fire Plasma guns, two rocket launchers, three Ion..."
"We'll take it." Jedite interrupted. "Good, lets go over to the Drones." Jack said rubbing his hands
together.
He walked passed a few Drones standing next to each other and stopped at a mustard coloured
Drone which was a bit taller than Jedite.
"This is the best Bodyguard Class Drone money can buy. The Raptor Q147. It has two Ion-
Launchers, it's amour is-"
"We'll take six." Malachite said. "Ok, I have the Skin-Coats in my office." They took the elevator
back up to the main room. "So, what colour do you guys want?"
"Red." Jedite said.
"Blue" Neflite said.
"Green" Zoycite said.
"Can I have those three colours mixed together?" Malachite asked.
"Of course, let's see..." Jack pulled out a drawer from underneath his desk. He fished in it for a few
seconds then looked up and said, "Here, red, blue, green and a mixture of all."
"Fine, that would be all." Jedite handed the old man his credit card. The man took the card and
shoved it into a small black box which was laying on his desk. "Thank you for visiting me. Please
come back soon. Your tank and Drones are waiting outside. The Drones already have been given
the instruction to follow your orders only. Have a very nice day."
Jedite took his Skin-Coat. It looked like a small gun with a needle sticking out of it's barrel. "I'll try it
first." He said. He picked the small gun up and held the needle over the surface of his skin. He
pulled the trigger. The tiny needle jabbed into his flesh. His skin began to itch all over. It was
unbearable. Then he saw his hand turning from white slowly red. The itch got worse. He thought he
was going to explode. He wanted to scream. Then it was over. He was bright red.
The others looked shocked. "This is going to take some getting used to." Zoycite said. The rest
injected themselves and went outside. There the six Bodyguard Class Drones and the tank waited.
The four got into the tank with the Drones. There was plenty of room inside. Driving the tank was
easy. All they had to do was tell the tank where they wanted to go. There was only one incident on
their way to Alpha, the President of the Union. They had left the city and were in the Union's
territory. A group of punks opened fire on the black tank. They were throwing grenades, firing off
rockets, sprinkling the still gleaming surface with projectiles of all sorts. Inside the war machine the
deafening blasts of the explosions sounded like rain falling on a window and felt like it too.
"Attackers have opened fire on me. Am I allowed to fire back?" the computer of the tank asked.
"Of coarse you may!! Show these guys who's boss."
"With pleasure..." the tank aimed it's massive cannons at the group of punks and fired. The shots
tore the gangster's bodies apart. They were being mutilated. Body parts flew against walls, blood
splattered on the tank's sleek surface. The four kings watched the massacre through screens set in
the vehicle's interior.
They were not attacked again after that.
The tank pulled up to a great white mansion. "We need to talk to Alpha." Jedite told the guard
standing at the entrance to the mansion. The guard touched his right ear and said, "Sir, there are
four men here who would like to meet you. Should I get rid of them?" The guard looked shocked as
he heard the answer. "Ok, Alpha will see you." the guard said as the gates were opened.
"What? Just like that?" Jedite said to the others. The four had to leave the Drones in the tank.
Jedite didn't like the idea of that but knew he didn't have any choice. A Drone escorted the four
kings through the magnificent palace. Jedite had the feeling they were being watched. They were
taken to a room in which five people were in. The Drone left the room.
"I am Alpha. You must be very rich if you can afford such a tank and six Raptors." Alpha was a
rather fat man. He wore a white expensive looking suite. He was sitting behind a large table. One
man was looking out of the window. Two other men and a woman were standing beside Alpha.
They were looking at the four kings.
"We are willing to pay you a great deal of money if you kill five girls." Jedite told the President of the
Union.
Alpha looked puzzled and amused at once. "You have come to the greatest gang in the world
because you want five girls dead?"
"We underestimated them before, that was a mistake. They are more powerful then you can
imagine." Zoycite said looking at the three figures next to Alpha.
"Whatever, how much are you going to pay?" Alpha asked. "I shall give you all the credits on this
account." Jedite said taking out his credit card. The man who was looking out of the window came
closer to Jedite and took his card. As the man came closer Jedite noticed it wasn't a man it was
another Drone. The Drone looked at the card and said, looking at Alpha "There is approximately
12.534.000.000 credits left on this account"
Alpha looked pleased, took the card from his assistant and inserted it into a black box. The box
beeped and said "The rightful owner of this card is out of range!!"
Alpha looked a little embarrassed and said "Oops, you have to come closer for me to transfer the
money into our account." Jedite took a few steps towards the table.
A green light in the box blinked.
"Good!!, Mr... um..."
"Call me Jedite."
"Good, Jedite. All we need now is the address of those girls."
Jedite only realised now, that he didn't know where the Scouts actually were. He would have to
ask Orak about that.
"I'll be back tomorrow with all the information you need." Jedite said.
Alpha sat back in his massive chair, smiled and said, "My friend, those girls are as good as dead."