Year One

Chapter 6

JAREK

I'll give you a word of advice. Never, ever, jump down a huge hole of certain death. It doesn't do wonders for your stomach.

"ZAAAAAY!" I screamed at the top of my voice.

"Yeah, yeah give me a minute! My genius takes time!" He said calmly. I could hardly hear him over the wind rushing through my ears, calling me ever closer to the hard, steel floor bellow. I was just beginning to mentally sign my will when suddenly I felt a gut-wrenching jerk. I thought that must have been the end, but when I opened my eyes there was no white light, but Zay's smug face which greeted me.

"See! No problem at all." Zay exclaimed. I was about to choke out a "thanks" when something to the right caught my eye. It was the floor of the tunnel, a mere meter away from where we were standing; hanging onto the shining side of the tunnel.

"Mind cutting it so fine?" I said through my teeth.

"Well you'd be the one complaining when we have to walk 10 miles down a tunnel." Zay said. He jumped gracefully onto the ground, tapping off the gravity manipulator - sending me face first onto the ground with a thud.

"Well what are you doing down there?" Zay said with a faked tone. "Thought you wanted a vehicle or something? I mean I'm doing must of the hard work here after all." I knew he was just winding me up. I stifled a remark and followed him along the steel trail, a clang with every step.

The facility was no more majestic inside than outside. Streams of carbon fibre and steel were in patches along the wall where it had been ripped and torn by bloody hands. It seemed a riot had broken out here, too. A lot worse than the one back at our old HQ. Although, the damage looked old. Much older than a few days. The employees must have known about the closures before it was officially announced. It didn't look like they took it lightly.

S/N

-PPU employees were secretly promised salvation to Mars centuries ago if an event such as this should have happened, but even that promise was long forgotten when commercial passengers started taking over the Mars landings and densely over-populated their second planet. The anger behind the broken promise never truly faded.-

Strings of wires and cables were strewn everywhere in the tunnel and hung from the walls like tree vines. Bloody graffiti lined the ceiling; "DOOMED", "CHEATED", "DEAD". The destroyed facility brought back memories. I quickly pushed them back.

We reached the end of the tunnel. In front of us was a giant carbon fibre door. It was defenseless, so battered that it was a few centimeters ajar. I could see the flicker of a small energy sphere through the crack. Zay paused in front of the door and turned to face me. "Okay... this is the part I didn't mention."

I looked at him quizzically. "Right..."

"You know when I said I wasn't sure about the anti-gravity?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I'm really, REALLY, not sure about this."

"Why? Whats behind there?"

Zay wiped his hands on his trousers and took in a deep breath, avoiding my eyes. "The only reason we've gotten so far is because the place's wrecked. I honestly doubted we'd make it this far. Most of the laser sensors were damaged in the riot, or fazed out afterwards." Zay gestured behind him. "The sensors behind that door are active. There's a million lasers, pressure plates, armed robots and who knows what waiting to incinerate us."

My blood turned cold as ice as reality sank in. Of course. The CEO must have ensured the employees were trapped inside the facility, unable to inform the outside world of their discovery. They were heading this way, to the nearest exit; a room full of escape vehicles, tearing themselves apart in the process. The door was their only escape. Except, there were no bodies in the tunnel. The employees were incinerated alive the moment they entered the room. There was no escape.

It was like a punch to the gut. It took a few minutes for me to breath right again. I looked up. Zay was pacing, holding the bridge of his nose in deep thought. "Is there anything we can do?" I asked. My voice was barely a whisper.

It took Zay a few more paces to answer. "Y-yes I think so. There's a twenty second blip in the system. The whole thing's automatic, but someones meant to check up on it every 10 hours, make sure it's all working. In that twenty seconds, the whole system shuts down, but it records everything for immediate action afterwards." Zay pauses. "If we can override a laser-proof car in that twenty seconds we may be able to ride it out of here."

I let it all sink in.

"When's the next blip?"

Zay checked his wristband. "About two minutes."

I ruffled my hair, springing to action. "Alright. twenty seconds, grab a hover-car and get out, preferably alive"

Zay looked at me with a grin, admiring my burst of confidence. "Sounds good to me." We laughed, more to comfort ourselves than for humour.

"10 seconds."

"5 seconds."

I opened the door.

*

IN A DISTANT GALAXY...

UNKNOWN TRANSMISSION

*TRANSLATED*

"You pathetic idiots. I gave you one, simple, task. Return to me with a technology that can give us the ultimate advantage over our enemies, and stop this carnage placed upon our people. The entirety of the universe is at your disposal, but even that wasn't enough. The future of our species is on your heads, yet you offer me nuts and bolts even the puniest of infants could find. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't instate a universal execution order of you all right now."

"C-commander, sir. This is fleet 762. We have several... leads... one will most certainly be what we require-"

"YOU THINK I'M INTERESTED IN YOUR PITIFUL CHASE?! YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO YOUR PEOPLE!"

"Commander. This is fleet 2000. I believe we have successfully completed our mission. We have acquired several Earth technologies and minerals unheard of in our galaxy. Enough to produce weapons our enemies will have never seen before."

"Aah...Excellent. You will return immediately, and your produce will be cloned immediately."

"I'm afraid our ship still needs repairing. We are not yet prepared for inter-galactic transport. We also have the matter of a few Earth-beings on our hands."

"Do not disappoint me. Nothing must get in your way."

TRANSMISSION END