R.O.N.A.

Chapter 8

I fell asleep almost instantly the night before, so when I woke up it felt like I had only been asleep for seconds. The darkness here is throwing off my biological clock! I thought. I stretched and stood up, realizing my legs were sore from dancing the night before.

           After Aris woke, we showered, dressed, and headed down to the cafeteria. I hope this goes okay… I thought just before I opened the door and stepped into the room.

The cafeteria was busy as always. People were sitting and standing, talking, and waiting in line for food.

Aris, who I could tell was still nervous, walked in behind me. Aris and I got in line, and once we had our food, we sat down at an empty table. Just as we got comfortable, a figure approached us. Oh no… not a good idea, I thought.

“Aris please, will you let me explain?” Rexan asked Aris with pleading eyes.

“No! You’ve done enough ‘explaining,’” she fought back rather loudly. Eyes turned to look her direction, but she ignored them.

Suddenly a loud humming nose filled the air, quickly growing louder and louder.

“What is that?!” Rexan yelled over the noise. We all turned to see where the sound was coming from.

The next few seconds seemed to pass in slow motion; a loud crash pierced the chatter and everyone ducked, hitting the floor as shards of tinted glass hurtled through the air. I watched Rexan shove Aris to the ground and I ducked down as well. As the commotion stopped, eyes turned to the one wall in the cafeteria with windows.

Standing on a floating platform, just outside the shattered window, was an ugly man, or at least that’s what I guessed ‘it’ was. The figure had scaly green skin and large round eyes. His large arms had flaps of smooth skin that jutted out like fins. He wore a thick black vest, like policeman sometimes wore, and cargo pants with a long flap of fabric covering that back of his legs.

“Well, well, look what we have here. A little group of rebels perhaps?” he said mockingly in a low scratchy voice. His skin then appeared to peel back as he morphed into a human form. “A bit unorganized here are we?” he said his voice clearer; it was more like an actual human voice. “Oh, how I do love destruction!” he said with a malevolent smirk. His hideously evil laugh shook the entire room. He stepped off of his floating platform and pieces of glass crunched beneath his boots as he did so. “Robots, say hello to your new ‘friends.’”

At his command, at least 50 robots rocketed into the room, and descended slowly before touching the ground with a dull thud. The robots stood at least seven to eight feet tall. They had human-like body shapes with round heads and a sharp jaw. They only thing they visibly carried a weapon was a gun attached to their hip.

“Attack!” he commanded the small army.

My eyes widened in alarm. Nearly every member of R.O.N.A. was there, and none of them were armed since they were at breakfast.

Each robot quickly whipped out some sort of gun and started shooting. Cries of panic instantly arose as members scrambled to get under tables and behind them. Chaos erupted, especially near the windows.

“What to do, what to do?” I thought frantically. My brain was in a panic. “I’ve got it!” Carefully I peered out from behind the table, and when I saw an opening, I started sprinting toward the door, and barely made it out unscathed.

“Sephora!” I heard Aris cry, but I pressed on.

*Rexan*

Aris was about to run after Sephora, but I grabbed her waist and pulled her back with all my might. She fought me at first, but then she finally gave up. “She’ll be fine, she made it safely,” I reassured her, once Aris was safely on the ground again.

“No…” she cried hopelessly. All around us, I could tell people were trying to figure out what to do. I saw a young man, who obviously had some sort of plan, boldly stand up and run towards one of the robots, but he was shot down. I watched as he fell; his eyes stayed open, but after several seconds, the man’s eyes closed. I grimaced at the sight.

“Wait a second! Those aren’t bullets!” Aris suddenly exclaimed, “Those are tranquilizer darts!”

“Really?” I replied incredulously. I was just about to ask her how she knew this when a voice cut me off.

“Show me you leader!” the alien man suddenly shouted.

I turned to see Tyzon stand and bravely face his enemy.

“What do you want Thaeoul?” my brother said with composed anger.

“Oh I’m just here to stir things up a bit,” the Thaeoul said with a smirk. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”

“I refuse!” Tyzon declared courageously.

“Either you come with me peaceably,” he said annoyed, “…or I will force you to come and destroy all of these worthless beings.” He gestured to all of the R.O.N.A. members who were watching this unfold in front of them; I wanted to stop him, but I knew I could end up making things worse.

I could see conflict in Tyzon’s face. I knew what he would do; he would sacrifice himself, but just as he was about to step forward and hand himself in, the doors flew open with a bang.

*Sephora*

“This will work, this will work, this will work!” I thought, trying to convince myself. My heart was beating wildly; I was scared to death, but I took a deep breath, trying to slow my pulse. Without giving myself anymore time to think, I burst through the doors, holding up the weapon I had raced to retrieve.

I quickly surveyed the room, realizing that the fighting had stopped. Tyzon was standing in the middle of the room, less than 10 feet away from the “man.” I must have missed something important, I thought.

Tyzon turned to face me, and I could see the complete surprise on his face, but also worry. “Leave him be Thaeoul!” I shouted, pointing the gun at the alien man’s chest. I had already deduced that the man was Thaeoul, the planet’s evil alien leader.

“You know my name, but I do not know yours. Who might this beautiful girl be? Thaeoul replied smartly and took a step towards me.

I gripped the gun tighter, my hands starting to feel clammy on the weapon’s grip. “Don’t take another step!” I yelled, trying as hard as possible to keep my voice from shaking. I couldn’t let him see my fear.  

“What do you think you could possibly do to me?” he taunted.

My anger flashed; Instantly, I aimed the gun to the right and shot it at one of the robots. A blue beam streaked out of it and hit the body of the robot. At first it appeared as if nothing had happened, but then electrical shocks enveloped the metal frame, until the robot short-circuited and fell to the floor.

Everyone turned to me in surprise, but I was just as astonished that it had actually worked. It was a new project I was working on and I hadn’t even gotten to do the final testing on it yet.

“Impressive young lady. I declare this your victory. We will leave for now, but I assure you; we will be back,” Thaeoul said smugly. “We will see you and your friend again. Withdraw!” he commanded his robots. He ordered two of them to pick up the downed robot, but as they turned to leave, Sephora shot one of the two. It fell and the other robot abandoned its mission, leaving the two deactivated robots on the ground.

As soon as I saw that they had left for sure, I shakily lowered my weapon. I suddenly felt nauseous and lightheaded. I held my hand out, searching for something to support myself with, but I found nothing. My knees gave out, and I heard Tyzon shout my name before everything was black.