The Truth of Past and Present

Chapter 16: I go crazy and feel confused

I knew who the person was. Her name thudded through my brain, with every beat of my heart. 

Marissa, my best friend. 

And my father, the liar, the slave trader, had her.

Daniel watched my face with some alarm and confusion. "You know who it is? Wait, is it a friend of yours?" The pieces connected, and I felt his head jerk in my direction. "Oh my Andromeda, it's that girl who visited you a week ago!"

I turned to him. "You saw?"

"You can see a lot through the ventilating system," he answered.

I sighed. Of course he had been spying on me through the vents. He didn't exactly have anything else to do.

"The governor has kidnapped her. He knows how close I am to her, how well she knows me, and that I would tell her anything. To find you, he has to find me, and the only way to do that is to get Marissa to talk." My insides were quivering. I was now in a cold sweat. 

What would he do to Marissa, my best friend, the only person who had ever been honest with me? My imagination went to what we had learned about in Earth Alpha History class. Primitive, stone-cold, underground torture chambers, filled with bugs, mold, and various horrific objects like clubs, knives, and hot coals, used by an evil man, dressed in black with a hood covering his face.

The evil man now had my father's face.

"Asteroids, Neri, are you sure you're okay? You look like you got run over by a Zorkant." Daniel reached over and touched my face.

I don't know why my stomach felt all the more strange when he touched me, but I was too upset and on edge to care. I knocked his hand away. "I'm fine." I snapped. "Both my friend and your friends have been locked up by my psycho-evil father who may be torturing them for information, and we are about to plan to bust them out of the most secure building in the Glaupac galaxy. Couldn't be better." My voice dripped with sarcasm.

Daniel brightened. "Wait, we're gonna do it? Bust them out?"

"What kind of friend would I be if I let you get caught again?" I replied, regaining some of my shattered bravado. In truth, the smack-talk was the only thing besides Daniel's presence that was holding me together. "Besides, I have to kick some serious butt to let off all this steam."

"There's the Neri I know." Daniel smiled at me. "Now, what's the plan?"

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We spent the rest of the night looking through data and pirating blueprints of the government building complex. Before we could make any plans for that, though, there was something I needed to do. When I told him, Daniel thought I had lost it.

"I have to go back to my house, Daniel." I kept telling him. "I have to make sure that we are breaking into the right place. He could be keeping them in the basement, for all I know!"

"I thought I didn't like your last plan, but this one takes the cake. You seriously want to go into the house of the dude you are fighting against, the dude who happens to be the governor of the capitol planet of the EG?!?!"

"It's the only way!" I yelled at him. In all honesty, I hated my plan too, but I couldn't leave any place unchecked. "Plus, I know my way around my own house. It'll be an in-and-out operation, no fuss, no mess."

"No way." he insisted. 

"Don't worry. I need someone working comms from outside, in case the security was updated."

"Wait a second, wait one Boobla-skinning second!" I saw realization appear on his face. "You are going in alone?!"

"The security is all based on facial recognition and retinal scans," I told him. "But if I get caught, that doesn't mean you have to get caught with me."

"Are you out of your mind?! Besides, what if he's changed the security after you went rogue?" He looked at me pointedly.

As much as I hated to admit it, it was a valid concern. Not that I was going to tell him that. So many doubts were running through my own head, but I pushed them aside. I looked back at him, then looked down at my feet.

"I'm willing to take that chance." 

He stepped towards me. "But I am not willing for you to take that chance!"

The sudden feeling I heard in his voice startled me, sending shivers up and down my spine. I looked up. "What?"

Daniel was looking down at me from his great height with an unreadable expression. I had resigned myself to the fact that he would always be at least 6 inches taller than me, but he seemed so much taller at close range...like now.

Suddenly, I was scared, but not of the mission.

We just stood there, frozen in time. I felt my heart rate increase, and I didn't know why. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I took a deep breath and looked up at Daniel.

"I'm scared too, but I'm more afraid of us both losing people we care about."

He still looked at me.

"What?" I asked him softly, feeling strange under his gaze.

"You are the craziest person I've ever met, Neri...and the bravest." That was all he said before he turned around and walked out of the room, leaving me to regain my composure and wonder what the Durax had just happened.

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Here it is, folks! I have (finally) published Chapter 16 of The Truth of Past and Present, and thusly conquered my Writer's Block! Huzzah!!!

Thank you so much for being patient with me, and for continuing to read my story, however horrible the plot and/or the timing might be. I now have more than 350 reads on this book! I'm so happy!

Even though the second school semester has begun, I will do my very best to update, now that I have overcome my Writer's Block and figured out what I want to occur next in the adventures of Daniel and Neri. 

If I don't update at least once a month, feel free to nag me all you want in order to get me back on track. I will deserve it.

Chapter 17 is already in the works. Can't wait to share it with you all!

-Firemoon

Keep Calm and Write On