A/N: Okay well, obviously I started this story before Rivers of Zadaa came out. But now that it has, a lot of things have changed in the Pendragon series. So in order for this story to make more sense, let's just say that this takes place after the events on Eelong.

I was freaking out. Actually, that's an understatement. I was terrified! A lot of crazy things have happened to me in my Traveler life but I can tell you, I have never been on a territories most wanted list.

Kiah was right. If we were going to try to escape from Okil, now would be the time. People were confused and Okil security had told all citizens to remain in their homes until further notice. It had been about half an hour since we had gotten back to Kiah's apartment. I was pacing back and forth while she was sitting on her couch, doing some quick planning.

"So remind me again, why can't we take the flume out of here?" I asked.

"Because," Kiah said, though I could tell her thoughts were elsewhere. "Okil security will be patrolling the whole station. That giant room that we always pass to get to the flume will be one of the most heavily guarded places. And besides, even if we did use the flume, we would still need to come back here."

"And we would wind up right back in Okil," I concluded. "Okay, I understand about the flume, but what about that giant room that pretty much is the center of the station. Won't we need to get through there anyway to get to…wherever we're going to go?"

Kiah then stood up and I saw in her eyes that she looked ready to go. "I know some shortcuts."

I smiled weakly and followed her out the door. It was probably the last time I would see her apartment in a long time. We stepped outside into the familiar hallway and immediately went on full alert for any guards. If we got caught, it would be the end of us trying to save Aploshion from Saint Dane. I would probably get locked up for life, assuming that they don't have the death penalty on Aploshion. Kiah would also be labeled as an accomplice and would probably get the same fate as me.

There would be nothing left to keep Saint Dane from taking Aploshion. The other Travelers wouldn't know we were in trouble because Okil security would probably take all our belongings away. That would include our Traveler rings, which were crucial for communication. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how perfect this all was for Saint Dane.

Kiah and I started walking quickly, but cautiously down the hallway. I had no clue as to where we were going and I figured I had a right to know, so I asked Kiah "So what are we going to do?"

Kiah answered "Well, it's a very risky plan but it's the best I can think of. It's actually a fairly simple plan really. What we are pretty much going to do is sneak into the docking area, steal a spaceship, and fly to Aploshion's moon, where I don't think they will be able to trace you. Plus, I have a friend there and if we explain to him your story, I think he will let us stay with him."

Wow. That really was a risky plan! But as Kiah said, it seemed like the best we had. I just hoped that Kiah knew how to fly a spaceship.

We continued walking for another fifteen minutes I'd say, when we then came to a giant set of steel doors that stood probably about 10 feet. A sign clearly said APLOSHION DOCKING AREA.

"How are we going to get in?" I asked.

Kiah opened up a side panel next to the door and I saw she was pushing in buttons to which I assumed was a password to open the doors. The whole password was really long and it probably took her about a minute to complete.

But then the giant doors slid slowly into the wall. I then saw a large hallway and I followed Kiah down it. The hallway opened up into different spaceship docks, which were huge rooms that looked out into space. The rooms were all numbered with A1, A2, A3, and so on.

As we kept on walking I asked Kiah "How did you know the password to get into the docks?"

"I was prepared Bobby. Before I rescued you from the cell, I mapped out our whole escape plan. It turns out that Birt used to be an Okil Docking guard. When I explained the situation to him, he believed me and was more than willing to supply us with the password to get in."

Wow, Birt sure was a great guy. I wondered if I would ever see him or Dr. Shewin again. It didn't look too likely right now, but anything was possible.

After we passed dock A9 we started getting into the B's. Kiah told me "We're looking for dock B8. I think that is where they keep the extra spaceships, just in case."

I nodded and with each step I was gaining confidence. We were actually going to pull this off! It seemed strange though, that we hadn't run into any guards yet. I assumed that they were all probably watching over the citizens. But they must have realized that I had escaped from my cell. So wouldn't they figure that I would try to escape through the docks?

We finally came to dock B8. I peered in and sure enough, there were about twenty empty spaceships all lined up facing a giant glass wall which separated the dock from space. We cautiously took our first steps into dock B8…..and fell into a trap.

Immediately, four Okil security guards grabbed us and another ten had their electro-guns pointed at our heads. Standing in the middle of the ten guards was a lady with her hands on her hips and a smug, yet serious expression on her face. She had typical Aploshion features and I would guess she was in her thirties. Her gray hair was short and just barely touched her neck.

The four guards that held me and Kiah tightened their grip on us to make sure we didn't try any crazy escape moves. Yeah right, like we would really do that while there were ten guys with guns pointed at our heads.

The lady then spoke to us. "Well, we've caught the two mass murderers trying to escape. Please, do you really think we didn't see this coming? You chose the most obvious and predictable path of escape. Did you really think you would get away with it?

"Anyways, my name is Ferha Gorin, junior captain of the Okil security forces. Although, after I turn in you two I just might become senior captain!"

I tried to speak. "Ferha, please…you don't understand. I'm innocent!"

Ferha sighed and looked at me with pity like I had the intelligence of someone much less than her standard. "I'm afraid the evidence points against you, little boy. I doubt the judges on the trial will share much sympathy for you either, especially now since you've tried to escape."

As I looked at the ground in despair, I knew we had lost. I tried to look at Kiah and saw that she actually had tears in her eyes. A day ago she was the prided assistant of a very famous scientist, now she was reduced to no more than a petty criminal. I felt sorry for her and couldn't help feeling that this was partly my fault.

"Well, take this scum away," Ferha said with a tiny smile on her face. "They will pay for what they did to Nexelake."

It was then that it happened. It happened so suddenly, at first I was completely clueless to what was going on. Right after, Ferha said her last words to us the guards moved to take me and Kiah away. But then, a big explosion rang out! The guards who were holding us let go and ducked for cover. I grabbed Kiah and ducked down as well. Were we under another attack just like the one that had happened on Nexelake!

Then after a few moments, it stopped. I raised my head a little to see what exactly had happened. One whole side of dock B8 was destroyed. Pieces of the wall had fallen and hit some of the guards and it looked like a few small pieces had pelted Ferha. As I watched, it didn't look as if any of the guards had died, just been knocked unconscious.

Who had done this? I got to my feet and helped Kiah to hers. She looked terrified at what had just happened. We were both covered with bits from the wall and I brushed us both off.

But then I saw the culprit of the explosion. I was looking at the huge section of wall that had been blown up and I saw a hunched over form of a person move quickly from it. I ran up to them determined to catch them. I ran until I was almost close enough to tackle them…and stopped.

It was Birt! I was stunned and as I opened my mouth for words, nothing came out. Kiah, who wasn't as fast of a runner as I was, trailed from behind and came ran up to us, out of breath.

"Birt?" she exclaimed confused.

Birt gave a weak smile and said "I'm sorry Kiah, but I had to do it. It's your only chance to escape. So go now, for you two are the only ones who can save Aploshion from Saint Dane!"

What? How did Birt know about Saint Dane? Kiah looked as if she had the same question and Birt explained.

"I'm sorry that I never told you sooner but…I was your Uncle Pends' acolyte. I know all about what has been going on and how our friend here-"he motioned at me "isn't exactly from around here."

I smiled. "Yeah, I'm from Second Earth."

Birt smiled and nodded "Then it is even more important that you escape. So go now!"

I looked over at the guards. A few of them were starting to stand up, including Ferha! Birt was right, Kiah and I had to leave!

I started to take Kiah and run to one of the spaceships when Birt said "Oh and Bobby,"

I turned around. "Yeah Birt?" I asked.

"Watch over Kiah for me. I know her uncle would say the same thing. And Kiah, help Bobby. Both of you must take care of each other!"

I smiled at him and said "Thanks Birt, for everything. Goodbye."

Kiah and I started to run to the spaceship. By now, almost all the guards were standing up again and beginning to realize what was going on. We were halfway to the spaceship when I heard Ferha shout "Stop him!"

At first I thought she was talking about me but as I turned my head around I saw she was pointing at Birt. I stopped for a second and was about to yell "Birt run!" when one of the guards took out his electro-gun and shot Birt right in the chest. Immediately, Birt fell down. It looked to me as if he was surely dead.

Kiah screamed "No!"

As sad as this was, we couldn't stop. Now was our chance! I grabbed Kiah's hand and we sprinted to the spaceship.

The spaceship was bright, shiny silver. I'd say it was as big as maybe a Volkswagen Beetle. It kind of had the shape of a rounded diamond. There was a cockpit big enough for two people at the front of the ship. Then it had two points at the sides that stuck out a little and each held what I figured worked like turbo boosters and would make us go faster. Then at the back of the ship there was a massive engine which I could see would hold a giant flame, just like a rocket. On the side of the ship it had a little insignia of a circle with a triangle in it and words that said OKIL STATION.

The ship had two side doors like a car. I tried to open the one on the left and thankfully saw that it was unlocked. I got in quickly and slid into the seat on the right. Kiah got in the seat on the left and shut the door. Also like a car, I saw that all the controls to pilot it were on the left side. That was good because I didn't know the first thing about flying an Aploshion spacecraft. Heck, I didn't even know how to pilot an Earth spacecraft!

But Kiah knew what she was doing and immediately powered it on. I heard the engine starting to roar up already. Kiah then grabbed a steering wheel and pushed a few buttons. It looked like we were ready for takeoff!

Kiah told me as she pressed a big green, button "This button will send a signal to the computers operating the glass sealing wall to open it so we can get out into space. If the sealing wall is open for a few moments, there will still be enough gravity on the station to make sure things don't go haywire. But if the sealing wall is open for long periods of time, well things could get a little messy."

The sealing wall was, of course, the giant glass wall that separated this dock from the vast, space beyond. But I saw it was starting to open. Kiah moved the spaceship forward and we were almost out into space when the guards started shooting at us!

I felt the lightning bolts hit our ship and I saw a few fly past us outside. I'll bet Ferha wasn't too happy about us leaving but I doubt she was going to get this close us when we were about to blast into space.

But I wasn't foolish enough to believe that she would just let us get away. Nope, as I looked behind us in a little reflector mirror I saw that her and all her guards were hopping into their own spaceships and starting to follow us.

And as we finally got into space and Kiah hit full throttle I knew that things weren't going to get easier yet. Nope, on the contrary, they were about to get harder.