"Here are your quarters, sir," the cadet said to me.
The room was fairly large, about half the size of my room back on Earth. It had white-gray metallic walls and ceiling. There were no windows and a twin-sized bed in the corner with a lamp next to it and a small closet on the other side.
"Are all the cabins like this?" I asked him.
"Sir, no, sir. Your Assistant, Larry had his made out with built-in video game consoles and a ping-pong table. And he also has a flat-screen plasma TV."
Typical Larry.
Well, I had to make the best of it. This wasn't exactly journey to explore and voyage. This was traveling to the battlefield kind of stuff, you know? I'm not one to complain. At least not that often. I don't usually get bothered by stuff like this.
Oh, sure I'm used to being surrounded by all kinds of luxury and high-tech stuff and all, but over the years I've learned to like simple stuff, you know? A lot of people on Earth, especially rich people like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or all those other billionaires say that I do not fully enjoy my "privileged" life.
Heaven knows how many times I've been criticized for things like not having any servants, for sending my siblings to regular school instead of those special schools that Royal Families had in the old days.
Besides, we know that power and wealth is not just a privilege, but also a responsibility. You can't just go around throwing your education or your up-bringing in other people's faces. I sure never did that, at least not on purpose.
But I guess those are some disadvantages of having a net worth of $98.7 trillion. And that's just in money, you know. Actual money. We have about 145 million tons of gold coins, diamonds, jewels, and precious metals stored away.
Of course, our most valuable possession now is the Terra-Track.
As I was unpacking my stuff in the cabin my mind kept going over the discovery we had made on the camping trip just weeks earlier. That little cube had caused so much trouble.
And yet, I had the feeling that there was much more than met the eye, you know what I mean?
I mean sure, the Red Eyes and all our other enemies hated us and were doing everything to get the Terra-Track, but…I don't know why, but I just get that sensation.
Remember, I may be in human form, but I'm still a dinosaur at heart. And even though Amarkian dinosaurs have always been much more intelligent and advanced in hundreds of ways, we still carry dinosaur genes.
And despite what scientists say, animals can sense oncoming disasters. The only reason they say that it isn't true is because they're watching out for their own interests. They know that people will stop believing them and they'll lose money.
That's all what people today care about. Money and power. They don't care if they hurt other people, even their family.
Just let me finish unpacking and bear with me.
Anyways, take this example. Before we in Amarkia made the cure for cancer a few months ago, anyone who announced it would either disappear, be bribed, or be silenced forever. Doctors today, at least outside of Amarkia, don't care at all for their patients. They just want money. They create diseases and guarantee that the treatments will make people sicker so they'll have to return.
See what I mean?
That's why I had that feeling about the Red Eyes and the reasons why they were attacking us. I may not know about them as much as Larry who's lived among them for thousands of years, but I do know quite a lot.
Red Eyes have technology that is superior to Amarkia's. They could have just teleported into that underground chamber in the cave where we found the Terra-Track, taken it, killed us or taken us captive and it's all doom and gloom from there.
But I kept thinking, why?
Why weren't they taking the easy way out?
Why did they keep on lingering?
Couldn't they do something to figure out where Larry had hidden the Terra-Track?
All those questions troubled me, because I knew that Red Eyes were…well, evil. Sounds obvious, but…modifying their children so that they'll love the evil system?
I mean, even other villainous groups don't do that.
It's all sheer, indescribable horrors that no fiction author could ever portray.
Well, I didn't want to trouble myself too much. That would make me lose focus on the real problems we would soon face.
After I was finished packing I decided that I'd had enough for one day and changed into my pajamas and turned out the lights.
Did you ever have one of those…sudden flashes of intuition? Like right before something happens, you can sort of see what will happen, but only a glimpse of it?
As I was closing my eyes and my body started slipping into dormancy, I caught a brief glimpse of something. I saw…the image of two friends running towards a helicopter…then it was shot by Red Eyes…and it exploded completely.
(NEXT DAY)
"We should be reaching Saturn in about an hour, sir," the ship's commander said to me.
"Okay. Once we land at the base, I want to meet with all the commanders of the Space Armies and the Inter-Dimensional Forces to explain our battle plan. Meanwhile, could you please have Larry come down here?"
"Yes, sir."
I stared down at my breakfast plate. Now keep in mind, like I said yesterday, I am not a picky person. I'm just…selective. But not picky. There's a huge difference, you know.
I mean, I know what the circumstances were. We were traveling across the galaxy to face off with the largest and most feared force in existence. That's no walk in the park. It's a simple way of putting it.
Given those circumstances, I understand that people might be concerned, nervous, scared, or even petrified. And when you're in that frame of mind, you tend to not think straight and you often do things without thinking, right?
It's a common and understandable mistake, right?
But for once in my life, would it kill Larry to stop being such a joker and take things seriously!
Why am I saying all this?
Because when I came to breakfast, you know what happened? Well, besides there being a whoopee cushion on my seat, I was victim of the Sugar/Salt prank. While I was pouring sugar into my coffee, not only did the top fall off—splashing hot coffee on my pants—all the contents spilled out. And yes, it was salt.
"LARRY!"
As usual, he appeared out of nowhere. Where does he come from? How is it possible that someone can be so smart and yet lack good judgement?
"Yes?"
"What's the matter with you?" I shouted.
"What's the matter with you? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, joking around at a time like this."
I just sighed and face-palmed myself. What more could I do?
Anyways, when I finally ate some real food in peace and tranquility, I got up and walked up to the bridge of the ship. The navigator, an Eotyrannus, turned his face toward me and saluted. "Ah, Your Majesty. Good to see you again. Did you sleep well? Have a good breakfast?"
"Well, I've slept better nights and breakfast was a little…eventful," I said, eyeing Larry who was playing with the buttons on the touchscreen dashboard.
"Yes, well. We are now approaching Saturn. We will arrive at the base shortly. We will remain here as scheduled. We depart in two hours along with our friends and allies. Then from there…we set course to our final destination."
I corrected him saying, "No, the Red Eye planet is not our final destination. Earth is our final destination. When we return from completing our mission."
He smiled and nodded. "Yes, sir." The PA system on the ship activated and the commander's voice said, "All personnel please return to your docks and places of assigned seating. We will now dock on the base."
"Well, I guess this is it," I said to the navigator.
"I guess so, sir," he answered.
I grabbed Larry before the pilot shot him out into space and sat him down next to me as we landed.
People say that Saturn's rings are the most beautiful phenomenon in the solar system. While I disagree with that opinion, I can say that they are truly spectacular. That's why we decided to build our space army station here. I mean, you can't always have a military station in a desert, right?
After landing, Larry and I were immediately directed inside the main building, which was surrounded by massive walls and giant plasma/laser cannons and smaller spacecraft that continually buzzed above us.
When we reached the board meeting, there were about twenty or so men, all dressed in military clothing. They were all much older than I, obviously. It felt funny. I mean, I'm only a middle-school age kid and I'm in charge of all of them. Not that I was irresponsible, but you know what I mean.
I'm just so used to making orders instead of receiving them.
Anyways, I took my seat at the head of the table, "Please sit down, gentlemen. Thank you for coming. You all know what has been happening and why we've asked you to travel from the other side of the universe and from other dimensions. We really appreciate it. Now, we must remember that our victory will secure the fate of all existing things. Furthermore, it is vital that we…"
One of the general raised his hand. "Yes, sir?"
He stood up. "Sir, I don't want to be disrespectful, but time is not on our side. May we get to the point?"
"Of course. Larry?"
Larry stood up and started handing out individual sheets to all of them. "Yes, were we have a simple yet well-explained plan of how we will attack. Our Scout Troops have managed to divert 43% of the iridium meteorites around the main planets. We had moderate success in hacking their computers. However, we did send additional troops to find and destroy their giant solar panels."
He sat back down and continued speaking. "We have decided to use their own tactics against them."
"Ah, I see. Sort of giving them a taste of their own medicine?" another general asked.
I nodded. "That's right. And to quote my favorite superhero, Underdog, 'Not the cherry-sweet flavor. But the sour-hard-to-swallow flavor.'"
Larry finished explaining how we would attack the Red Eyes. I needn't tell you because you already know how we had planned to do it, right? Of course you did! That means you pay attention, but if not…then I don't know why you haven't been suspended from school yet.
An hour or so later, all the troops and armies started packing up and loading into their ships, fighters, and all the weapons and supplies were loaded.
I actually asked Larry during takeoff how many of us there were. You'll never guess. In total, we were five billion!
That's right.
Five billion.
Can you imagine how much work we could get done? Of course, numbers don't count. Since the Red Eyes had technology far superior to any of us, we had to find other clinks in their armor, so to speak.
The only question was…what were the Red Eyes' weaknesses?
Did they even have any?