When Forever Ends (Part 2: The Place with No Name)

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T h i r t y

I was standing in a narrow corridor lined with grey panels, alarms blaring all around me. Red lights pulsed on the walls, turning everything red every few seconds. Men in black uniforms bustled up and down the hallway, passing right through me in their hurry. I could tell that something was very wrong.

An explosion shook the passage, sending me crashing into a door in the wall and scattering people about the floor. A clipboard slid past my feet, the pen attached drawing a line along the bottom of the wall. My eyes followed it to the intersection where white vapor was hissing into the air from a pipe running along the ceiling. A group of people in uniform appeared from the cloud, coughing and spluttering. The clipboard was trampled underfoot and the pen cracked, spilling ink all over the floor in a black puddle. The group leaned against the wall for support while they caught their breath. Another explosion and flames licked briefly around the corner, turning the vapor momentarily orange.

The men continued on towards me at a brisk pace. I guessed the person leading the group was the guy in charge from the arrow insignia emblazoned on his uniform. He had a thin, black beard and short hair, and a stern face. He was definitely a guy to look up to. But he was also my dad.

"Give me the details," he was saying as they passed the door I stood by.

"We've been hijacked, Commander," the man to his left replied. "The ship is no longer under our control."

So this was where my dad had worked! He was a commander on some sort of vessel! I decided that I needed to hear this conversation and I hurried to keep up.

"How could this happen?" my dad inquired. "I put you in charge of security and I know you wouldn't let anyone outside the project onboard this ship. And this project is still top secret, so how could anyone have found out about it?"

"The threat wasn't from outside, sir," the security officer told him. "It was the mole."

"'The mole'?" the commander was incredulous. "You say that like you knew there was a mole in our ranks for a time. How have I not been informed of this?"

"We thought it was a minor problem and that we could handle it."

My dad stopped and looked at him. "Does it look like a minor problem? Does it look like you've handled it?"

"No," the security officer admitted. "But I see now why we haven't fixed it," he went on as they continued walking. "It would have been very difficult to put anything against him."

"The mole, you mean?"

"Yes. Because the one who is behind the hijacking, the one who leaked our secrets to his shady friends is none other than-" he broke off at a nearby shout.

"Dad!" A blond kid ran out from the room in which he had been hiding and hugged the commander tightly.

"What is this?" the security officer stopped in his tracks.

"My son," the commander said. "I wanted to show him where I work."

"And you're lecturing me about security issues!" the officer chuckled in amusement.

"What's happening, Dad?" The boy stood back and looked up at his father and I realized it was me.

The commander's face softened. "Oh, it's a... um..." my dad looked to the security officer for help and got a look that said, "You got yourself into this, you're getting yourself out."

"It's a training exercise," he decided. "And you have to keep quiet in my office and let the officers do their work, okay?"

"Okay," the younger me reluctantly agreed. He ran off around a corner to do as his father asked.

My dad let out a sigh of relief, then put his commander face back on. "Let's get this mole."

When they arrived at the bridge, the group paused for a moment to prepare themselves. The men that hadn't spoken pulled pistols out of their holsters and loaded them.

"You sure you want to come with us?" the security officer asked, readying his own gun. "You know we can't afford to lose our commander. Not now, after we've come so far."

"Yes, I'm sure," my dad had already made up his mind. "If someone messes with my ship, I take it upon myself to deal with them." He stood up and I realized that he was the only one in the group without a weapon. He turned the corner onto the bridge and stopped dead at what he saw.

A familiar silhouette stood at the controls in front of a large glass window with a sweeping view of the desert. The figure turned to face the commander.

"Hello, Jack." It was Tarron.