S: Through Time

Mezzo Piano: Note 6

"Remember, don't touch the walls!" S said in a commanding voice. "Stay low, and be ready to run. Now here's what we're going to do."

The group had left the A-ship room, and everyone was almost immediately scared. Except for Max. S glanced over at his unwavering face. There's only one type of person who's not afraid of Ribacians, and that's crazy.

A long clanging sounded bounced along the pipe hallways. Pipe on pipe, and it kept repeating. Then, it slowly faded away . . .

Max's face wavered a bit. S hadn't been light on how scared they should be of these things. All though Max was sure that he could take down 20 in a fire-fight, he was unsure how many were on this ship. And what if he was unable to even dent one? For the first time in Max's life, he was unsure. And that's what made him scared.

"We're going to set hall explosives," S announced his plan proudly. "You see, apparently Susan brought some explosives, and, aren't they only useful if they put them to use? Susan knows how to set them. You'll have to be careful, Susan, because again, Mercury's cousin.

"Now, you'll have to set them about ten meters apart. We're going to slowly make an approach to their Control Room--one of many--and that's where we will shut down the ship. New light rays, super high-tech. Sure to work."

"One question," Max asked. "Are you sure we don't want to go quickly? I mean, this is just a simple get in, get out, blow it up mission."

S looked at him. "No, trust me on this. We're gonna need the explosives at intervals. We have to, I mean. It's vital to the mission. So let's get started!"

Susan was growing wary. She had set many of the bombs, but she was running out. And any minute now, a Ribacian could pop around the corner . . .

That was when she saw the largest and last shadow in her life. It was when she saw the 3 meter tall Ribacian Robot.

It was too late when S saw it.

"Susan! Get out of the way!" he yelled, although moving wouldn't have helped. The Ribacians' light rays use the deadly energy of focused beams of electromagnetic radiation. There are four ways to stop it, but S had no idea of this, and neither did Susan. Not much is known about the Ribacians' technology, or how they produce these rays. It is incredibly difficult to get hands on the weapon, for it is attached to the arm of the Ribacian--and being at arm's length to a Ribacian is not a good idea.

The Ribacians Arm weapon fired an intense beam of light, temporarily blinding everyone around it. S had too many spots in his eyes to see clearly what happened.

Max ran down the hallway, fear overcome. The Ribacian was a huge, gray, metal monster, but Max ran despite the prevailing circumstances. In hindsight, he was lucky. Susan had set the bomb and armed it, but when she had seen the shadow, she set the timer. Ten seconds afterward, back in the present the apparently powerful bomb went of, fire billowing, the explosion echoing into the Ribacian's side. The Ribacian collided into the other side of the hallway, half its armor shredded.

Max would've continued running, had S not stopped him. S grabbed Max's arms, then tripped his legs out from under him, performing a hip toss that slammed Max into the ground.

"Stop running towards the stupid robot," S growled. He slowly helped Max back on his feet. "Are you okay?" He patted him on the back, then started running. "We need to keep moving! There's no telling whether that Ribacian sent out an alarm or not."

Mark rushed from a side hallway that he had hid in to escape the Ribacian. "So that's what they look like." He looked horrified, and correctly so.