Chapter 2

(Sam POV)

When I regained consciousness, I picked up my gun and searched for my teammates. I saw that John was stuck to the wall of the clubhouse by some sticky stuff but there was no sign of Chris or Danny. Some Pincher Bots surrounded John and I aimed my weapon at them.

"Don't you touch him!" I shouted.

I fired my weapon and blasted one of them away, but the others were all heading towards me and one of them swung its clamp and knocked my gun out of my hand. I threw myself in the air and kicked hard on the upper body of a bot. It hit the wall of the clubhouse and was crushed into pieces. I tried to kick another bot but before I could, its clamp swung towards me quickly I was sent flying across the lawn. My back hit the ground hard and I cried out.

Several Pincher Bots were flying towards me before I noticed I was lying in front of a black vehicle. It was the MBV!

"What's it doing in front of the clubhouse?' I thought. 'Anyway, its gun is what I need in this moment.'

I quickly jumped onto the MBV and activated its gun. Then I pulled the trigger and lots of blue laser bolts went shooting out of the machine gun. The Pincher Bots were hit many times before they were torn into pieces. Once the last bot was down, I got out of the MBV and ran to John. I pressed a button on my v-com to emit a mild electric spark, which cut open the sticky stuff.

"What happened here?" I asked. "And where are Chris and Danny?"

"Danny was aboard Gluten's ship when it flew away," said John. "And the Pincher Bots took Chris with them just before you woke up."

"The bots probably took Chris to the power station," I said.

"Shouldn't we report to the Commander first?" asked John.

"There's no time," I said. "The Commander has already said that he can't intercept Gluten's ship, so we'll just wish Danny good luck. The sooner we arrive at the power station, the sooner we'll be able to find Chris, and hopefully we can find out more about Gluten's plan as well."

I jumped onto the MBV and sat in the driver seat. John sat next to me and controlled the machine gun.

"Yee-ha," said John. "I finally have a chance to control the guns of the MBV."

"Don't get too excited," I said. "The journey has just begun."

(Danny POV)

I walked through the corridors and came in front of the door. Two words were printed on the door – 'Engine Room'.

'If I could somehow damage the engines,' I thought. 'The ship will stay still in the Earth atmosphere instead of going towards Gluten's destination.'

I opened the door and went in. I was surprised that no bots were guarding the room. I placed a few charges on the main engine and quickly got out of the room. When I saw some Pincher Bots patrolling in the corridors, I hid behind a door. Once the bots went into the engine room, I remotely detonated the explosives and the engine blew up with a loud bang.

'Gluten probably knows that I'm on this ship,' I thought. 'I'd better start looking for Cathy as I could use her help right now.'

(Narrator POV)

The spaceship suddenly stopped moving as Gluten heard a loud bang.

"What happened?" he asked the Pincher Bots next to him.

The Pincher Bots signaled to him that the engine didn't work.

"How did we lose control of the engines?" asked Gluten. "If the Rhapsodians did not escape, someone must have infiltrated this ship. Send a squad down to the engine room to investigate."

(Cathy POV)

Gluten came in and sat down next to my container.

"We lost control of the engines," said Gluten. "What have you or one of your friends done?"

"Oh that's great," I said. "We'd better go back to Earth so that …"

"Go back? Impossible," said Gluten. "We're going to our planned destination one way or another! You'd better warn your friend not to try anything foolish. I have three hostages now."

'It's really good news that someone has come to rescue me,' I thought. 'Another great news is that this ship's engines are no longer functioning, so we have better chances of returning to Earth. But there are Pincher Bots everywhere and Gluten is holding us as hostages. No matter who that is, good luck to you! I really want to get out of this place as soon as possible.'

(Sam POV)

I drove the MBV to the power station and caught a glimpse that a Pincher Bot was just carrying Chris into it. John fired the machine gun but the bolts didn't hit the bot.

"Be careful, John," I said. "We don't want to cut the electricity supply to the whole town. From now on, we'll go in with our blasters and find Chris."

We quickly jumped out of the MBV and went into the power station. As I opened the door to the main hall, I could already see Chris being held in the clamp of the bot. There were at least twenty of them.

"Let him go!" I shouted.

I aimed carefully at the bot holding Chris and fired to blast it away. Chris fell onto the floor. John had me under cover as I ran over to Chris.

"Chris, are you okay?" I asked quickly.

"Yeah, I think so," he replied. "Thanks for coming so quickly."

We looked at each other for a long time before Chris broke the silence.

"Sam, I just want to thank you for saving me for so many times," he said.

"No problem, Chris," I said. "In fact …"

"If you two have finished you chat," said John. "I could use your help right over here!"

I handed a blaster to Chris and the three of us started blasting the Pincher Bots like mad. We avoided their clamps many times before John finally got caught in one of them.

"Help!" shouted John.

"Hang on brother," said Chris.

A huge door on the other side of the hall suddenly opened and out came the thing that frightened us the most.

"Oh no!" I shouted. "It's the red Pincher Bot."

Chris destroyed the bot that was holding John but its clamp didn't let go of him. John was still stuck in the clamp when Chris ran to me.

"It comes again," he said. "Have you thought of a plan?"

"Well, not exactly," I said.

Just after I finished that sentence, a strong electric beam blasted towards us and we jumped in opposite directions to avoid it. Then we fired our guns at it but its energy shield blocked the laser beams again.

"That just isn't going to work!" shouted Chris.

"Do you have any better ideas?" I asked.

"I'll think of something," said Chris.

I realised that there was no more blue Pincher Bots left in this hall and that the red bot was our only enemy in this hall. It fired its weapon again and the electric beam just missed Chris as he jumped in the air to avoid it.

'There has to be a way to destroy it, but how?' I thought. 'If we don't destroy it first, all of our lives are in danger.'

(Danny POV)

I sneaked through the corridors as I noticed that many Pincher Bots were going towards the engine room.

'All bots on this ship are looking for me,' I thought.

I took out my a-scanner but there was no sign of aliens.

'Strange,' I thought. 'Gluten probably disabled all the scanners on board.'

I looked up again to see that two Pincher Bots have already spotted me.

'This is no longer a stealthy mission,' I thought.

I fired my big gun and blasted both of them to the end of the corridor, but that only caused more trouble as more bots came to investigate. I fired my weapon again to destroy two more before I started running to the other side of the corridor.

'Things are getting crazier,' I thought. 'Now I must find Cathy.'

I saw a ladder at the end of the corridor and climbed up quickly. Once Pincher Bot managed to catch my clothes with its clamp but I quickly fired and blasted it down to the bottom of the ladder, destroying a few more bots.

"That was cool," I said to myself.

I pushed through a door and went into a room. Then I noticed that a small green container was place right in the centre of a table.

'Finally, I've found Cathy,' I thought.

But it was Elton I found who was stuck in the container. I released him from it and then I watched as he grew to his normal height.

"Thanks, Danny," said Elton. "I thought I'm going to stuck here forever."

"Elton, where's Cathy?" I asked.

"I see that you're really worried about her, but I don't really know," replied Elton. "At first, the three of us were all put in one room. But after Gluten found out that I'm a mindreader, he decided to put my container here."

"Can't you remember the way back?" I asked.

"Well, not exactly," he replied. "But I'll try my best."

We were just about to leave that room when suddenly all the doors opened and many Pincher Bots came in and surrounded us. Gluten also came in from one of the doors.

"You fell right into my trap," said Gluten. "And you won't escape this time."

"I don't think so," I said. "You underestimated my powers."

"We have you outnumbered," said Gluten. "Surrender now!"

There were about ten to twenty bots surrounding us and I knew that escape was not an option.

"Numbers mean nothing," I said. "Especially when all of your Pincher Bots are pitifully stupid."

Gluten laughed and said, "We shall see."

"I read Gluten's mind," whispered Elton. "He's planning to destroy you and then vacuvate me again."

"Take this," I whispered to Elton and gave him a blaster. "You're going to need it."

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