Chapter 4

TWO sets of dual thrusters had roared as Solstice Seven shuddered violently. It was screaming with an incredible amount of force and attempting to pull free of the Earth's immense gravity with its raw power. With the launch port sealed due to the security protocols responding to the invasion, the air temperature and the pressure were pushed to the limit. Concrete walls and steel overhanging beams were cracking and groaning with rigorous heat. Objects nearby had seemed to be wavering and melting under the gigantic blazes of the Light Engines.

The crews held onto their seats. Thoughts were racing through their minds as their heartbeats were speeding up with an ever-increasing rate. Monitors around them were outputting new information every second. The ship's engines were shifting into a ninety-degree angle and were gradually leaving the safety of solid ground.

Roy muttered to himself while flipping switches and entering commands on the keyboards before him. He was trying to stabilize the spacecraft. Looking up, Payton watched the overview screen above them.

Dark orange sky with a taint of ash-colored clouds greeted them as an unnatural haze composed of toxic gases had slowly smothered the base below. The sun was gleaming upon them, though it never truly showed the nature of its intense light since the polluted atmosphere had filtered out most of the energy waves that were emitting from the molten orb.

“Payton!” Steve shouted over the rumbling ambient noise that was roaring freely in the background. “Long-range sensors indicate there are three large ships orbiting near us. I guess they are the Freedom Party's military forces.”

Hearing the news, Lina Huegard turned around and asked: “How come they have so much authority and military power? Where's the World Alliance? They should be backing us up right now!”

“They cannot use force without a good reason. People won't agree to that!” Tracy added.

“They can do whatever they want now,” Payton muttered under his breath. Looking at his crew members, he continued: “A space blockade being set up so fast and so effortlessly, it’s clear that the World Alliance had been disbanded. Their power had been ripped away from them. Although I do not know how, Fekonson might have done it. He might have won. With the Freedom Party dominating the political power on Earth right now our free way of thinking has been destroyed.” Payton sighed a deep breath. “It's amazing. I could never understand the rationality of human mind. One minute you'd think people support your cause and the next they'd be fighting against you as your enemy. It is as if the human race is destined for self-destruction.”

Lina and Jake both shared a look with each other.

Clearing his throat once, Jake proposed: “How about we use the cloaking technology? This will be a good time for us to test out the system to see if it's really effective or not.”

“Too late for that now,” Roy looked back over his shoulder. He then checked their elevation status and said: “We are now at a hundred and sixty four kilometers into the ionosphere. With around three hundred or so kilometers to go we'll be in the exosphere, a.k.a space. Even with us hiding behind a curtain of photo lenses, these assholes would have bio-scanned us multiple times and pinpointed our exact location long before we hit the troposphere of the Earth.”

“We'll just have to brave the oncoming storm,” Payton commented from his chair and gazed at the giant view screen in front of him. “Ready the cannons and prepare to raise the shields to maximum.”

Solstice Seven bounced within the turbulence. Searing atmospheric heat was brushing against the sides of the dense and powerful armor. Normal spaceships could not handle such a drastic push through the layers of gases that had enveloped the entire planet. At high velocity the ships would buckle instantly and crush by the colossal air mass.

But the exploration ship that Payton and his team were in was not made up of enhanced polyester fabric and other combined materials. The metal hull of the vessel was composed of a rare mineral dug up three hundred kilometers beneath the Earth's crust. The natural makeup of the chemical compounds used for the hull of Solstice Seven could withstand fifty times the Earth's normal gravity.

The internal structure of such mineral was arranged in a way that stress energy could be scattered in less than one-fourth of a second. It was so tough that the miners had to use diamond cutters to extract the material. Even with the hardest substance doing the cutting they had to replace ten dozens of million-credit machines in the time span of a month. Scientists named the newly dug up mineral: Diamonium.

After what had seemed to be a lengthy journey toward the sky, the Descent Team’s ship was finally free of the Earth's atmosphere. A black blanket of space was wrapping around them mutely with countless stars surrounding them. A strong burst of luminosity had bathed the ship's side as the sun bubbled and flared with scorching flames in the distance. Large, jet-colored words of Solstice Seven could be seen clearly on the surface of the hull. Dozens of antennas were protruding from the thick armor, gathering radio and microwave signals from the satellites that were orbiting around the Earth beneath them.

The Light Engines had compressed the molecules within space and heated them up to a point where intense explosions occurred, providing the necessary thrust to propel the ship to its destination. The vessel's slick body had slithered into the airless region with the scanners warning the crew of the upcoming threat.

“Returning the engines to their flight position,” said the pilot. Gripping the control sticks tightly in his hands, Roy Sen turned his head around and said: “Payton, the computer calculates that the No Land Sector is around ninety million and seventy-eight thousand miles away. With our current speed we can reach it in around a week or two. Of course, that's assuming if these morons in our flight path haven't blown us up first.”

Steve placed a hand on Payton’s left shoulder. “We have visuals on the battle cruisers. After assessing their weapons, level of shields and the amount of people on board, it's not good. We may have to increase our engines to full power to escape. This is a fight that we can’t win.”

“I wouldn't recommend going to full power so soon. It's just too dangerous. Our bodies haven't adapted to the new environment going into the Evolutionary Stage is inadvisable,” Lina Huegard had commented. Shaking her head, she continued: “It's too perilous to put our cells through such a concentrated shift of molecule metabolism. At worst case scenario our internal organs could explode.”

Sighing, Jake side-glanced his buddy. “It's up to you, man.”

Payton asked: “Is the gravitational system working?”

Lina lifted her thin eyebrows and replied: “I've activated it a long time ago.”

Leaving the comfort of his chair, Payton stretched and hopped around the command center a bit to loosen up his rigid muscles. It was a tough call for him. If he did not act soon and try to escape the pursuers all of them could die. But if he gave out the order to enter the Evolutionary Stage they might suffer serious injuries as well. Either way both choices had staid cons and very little benefits.

Nodding at Lina, Payton ordered: “Open a channel to one of the cameras outside. Show me where they are right now.”

A large screen had floated down slowly from the ceiling, unfolding itself into a large crystal panel with silver edges. Instantly, an image had materialized, displaying three massive war ships tailing after the explorers in the wake of their engine disturbances.

Payton did not know that Fekonson would be onto him so fast. He was also surprised that Fekonson would be sending three ships to block them instead of one. He had never expected that their endeavor would be so devastating to the Freedom Party's beliefs. Then again, stealing the old man’s money was probably the root cause of it all. Fekonson had wanted revenge and he would do anything to get it.

With only a small amount of time left, Payton really did not have any choices left.

“Roy, get ready to go full power on the engines. Warm up the cloaking device as well.”

The ship's main navigator had pulled a profound breath as he nodded without looking back. Roy already knew that going into E-Stage was only a matter of time. In fact, he had already gone over the basic checkups of the boosting sequence the minute that he saw their enemy in the scanners.

“It's funny how a normal scientist such as yourself can become a captain, isn't it?” Tracy Huegard said with slight amusement.

Payton grinned sadly when he realized their counselor was trying to loosen the suffocating mood in the vessel. Payton had become the central support for the team. All the judgments were up to him. He felt that he was only thinking rationally with a good initiative. As time went on, he had contributed his own efforts to the crewmembers by becoming the team leader and captain. But important roles often came with difficult choices and Payton had begun to feel the stress.

“Heads up!” With a shout of warning Steve's fingers flew across the keyboard and activated the shields.

Before the rest of people could react Solstice Seven shuddered violently as a thunderous explosion had occurred on the outer hull. Several computers were knocked offline when the electric generators fluttered for a few seconds. A shower of light orange sparks was dancing upon the metal grating of the bridge.

Invisible shields around the vessel had radiated a swarming color of red, blue, and green where the energy bomb had detonated. Another one had exploded near the side of the ship, sending searing heat and intense reddish light across the area.

“They are shooting at us!” Roy yelled as he fought for control of the spacecraft.

“No shit!” Jake said as he held onto his chair.

Roy ignored the comment as he said: “I'm going to increase the speed and try to avoid the attacks!”

Tracy wheeled around in her chair and said: “I've tried to open a direct communication channel to them but they are not answering.”

“Then forget about talking to them!” Lina Huegard bellowed. Her eyes were scanning the star chart that was rotating on the screen. She plotted the best possible route to the No Land Sector. “These morons are crazy!” Lina scolded to no one in particular. “Didn't they know that we are within five hundred kilometers away from the Titan Strike Missile Station? If they hit the station all of us including the people on Earth will die!”

“The force of multiple explosions from the TSMS would be strong enough to deteriorate Earth's atmosphere. Neutron level would be lethal for the people on the surface.” Steve En added solemnly. “Not to mention the EMP waves would be potent enough to knock every electronic on the planet offline.”

“Hold on. The lead ship has just requested a direct communication,” the counselor interrupted as she tried to filter out the disruptions caused by the sun's magnetic storms. “It's not clear but it should be audible. I'm patching the radio feed right now.”

Payton stood behind Roy. Frustration could be seen on his face. He suddenly looked old and tired despite his age. The stress with this entire expedition had gone beyond his control and right now everyone was depending on him. It was a responsibility that had grown to a magnitude where he was not sure if he could handle it. Payton looked up for a second and sighed, knowing that this negotiation might determine whether or not they could escape alive. It was possible that they might even make some sort of compensations with the Freedom Party. But it was also possible that Nelson Fekonson would rather dispose of them quickly to rid himself of potential problems later on.

The speakers around the bridge had buzzed for a few long minutes before a distorted voice came through. Although not quite clear, everyone had immediately recognized that it was Nelson Fekonson on the other side of the line.

Jake gave a weird look to Payton, whom took no notice of, as he excused himself and retreated into the hallway for an emergency maintenance check. Lina gave a disgusted expression when she heard the Freedom Party's leader over the intercom.

“Good day to you all.”

“What do you want, Fekonson?” Payton gritted his teeth. “Are you here to try to tell us that you are going to stop the team at any cost? Are you going to preach to us about your ideologies? Maybe even tell us a folklore of the ancient past?”

Silence rolled through the room for a second and then Fekonson’s voice appeared again: “Mr. Lane. There’s no need for that kind of attitude. After all, you and I are both grown men that are capable of a civilized conversation, no?”

“There’s nothing between you and I that can be talked about. What the hell do you want, you murderous prick?”

“Still with the sour attitude, Mr. Lane. I'm surprised at how you have managed to complete building this magnificent spacecraft from the money that you have stolen from me. You are a very persistent man.”

“Well, that's what my bosses back on Earth always told me. Maybe I can show you just how determined I am.” Payton's mouth was in a straight line for a minute. “I don't know how you broke apart the World Alliance, old man, but I want you to realize that this is an important scientific research that can benefit the human society, including you and I. I don't know why you insist on believing that this is a precarious exploit of nature. We can advance vastly in human knowledge should our mission be successful. We can also obtain new resources for our people.”

Nelson laughed out loud as a wheezing sound could be heard from his throat. The amplifiers crackled a little by the sudden increase of volume. “You don't see it, do you, my boy? God has never agreed that we humans are to go beyond our homeland and search for other species or wild alien life forms. If He wants us to, He would have allowed humans to have superior technologies a long time ago. Alas, He didn't. That is why we have to disobey His wishes and invent machines that are literally tearing our ethics down to nothing but blasphemy!

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“Our ancestors had ignored the divine teachings. They rejected salvation and embraced destruction. Mankind was nearly wiped out because of technologies. Mankind was nearly extinct because of their ignorance. I will not allow this to happen again. History from the dark ages will not repeat itself. I will see to it that the people of the Earth can ascend to a higher level.”

“You don’t know what you are talking about.” Payton paced around the bridge. “This has nothing to do with religion or spiritual guidance! This is also not just about finding extraterrestrial species! You cannot force people who want a better lifestyle by telling them how scientific knowledge is hazardous and how it will degrade our state of minds.

“You know nothing, Nelson Fekonson, nothing at all. You don't know how to improve our world and our environment. You don't know how to encourage people to advance into something that are better than what they are now. You don't know anything. Anything at all! Yet, here you are standing in that Orbital Class battleship, insulting us scientists who have sworn to bring wisdom to our people regarding to what has existed for billions of years!”

“History has shown that technologies are devil's contraptions. Had it not been for technologies’ devious effects that corrupt nature, countless of lives wouldn’t have been lost,” Nelson countered angrily. His voice rumbled through the speakers throughout the Solstice Seven. “Or are you saying that the War of 2197 didn’t exist? Forty-five billion lives, gone, poof! Just like that.”

Payton shook his head. “And ironically enough, you are standing in a technologically advanced warship. Isn't that contradicting? Were it not for the war we wouldn't have advanced to today's level. The poor decisions of the people from the past had resulted in a better lifestyle that we have today. We wouldn't have gained as much knowledge had it not been for the mistakes of the past. Don't you see? Through mistakes we learn; without mistakes we would remain in the same place with poverty threatening everyone.”

“Mistakes are what we should avoid, Mr. Lane.”

“Without mistakes; without doing the wrong things, there wouldn't be a clear perspective of what is right and what is wrong. We need the darkness to see the light,” Payton said. “Look. We can discuss about moral philosophy all we want at another time. Right now you haven't proved a single thing. You can't prove that what we are doing is wrong. All you have done is referring to the past without looking at the future. You just won't admit that the future is brighter if we have the courage and the knowledge to walk its path.”

“What do you know about the future, Mr. Lane?”

“I know enough to walk the path, Fekonson. The question is: Do you know enough to understand the gravity of things and the circumstances that we are in right now? Do you know enough about what our people need and what God really wants?”

“Don't you dare speak of the Lord without comprehending and admitting your own sins, Payton Lane,” Nelson muttered with silent rage.

It was because of the previous hatred that had fueled Fekonson’s ignorance and irritation, which had promoted him to use extreme force to try and stop the Descent Team. The hatred that was created through the theft of his money; the hatred of unable to weed out criminals that seemed to believe they had the logic, the reasoning to commit unspeakable depravity; these were the factors that contributed to the loathing that he had which clouded his judgement.

“You and I both know this is going nowhere,” the Descent Team leader said sternly.

“You think you can get away with this, Payton Lane? You think that you and your wicked associates can get away and bring an end to our civilization? You are wrong! As long as I still have a breath in my body don't even think about winning!”

Tracy had met with people that were similar to Nelson Fekonson's attitude in the past; such people would never take heed of other people's words. They had developed a sense of alter ego where they assumed that the world around them was filled with wrongdoing. They felt that the world was not perfect and would need a drastic reformation. They saw themselves as justice, as a knight. They wanted to change the world into a better place to live in regardless of the sacrifice and the bloodshed required.

The central air control inside Solstice Seven slowly turned the fans to full blast, drawing cooler air into the corridors and the bridge as the temperature gradually had increased. Computers had analyzed the distance to the target in the background and provided proper information to the Light Engines. There was an increase of the vessel's overall average speed without anyone noticing it. Gradually, the ship was moving away from the three battle cruisers.

Payton closed his eyes temporarily and rubbed them. “Fekonson,” he started out little by little, “You are insane. Before I took you as a person who just has a strong belief in spiritual conducts. But today, I have finally understood at how fanatical, or how should I put it, ridiculous, you are at whatever you believe in. You think that you are the leader of a crusade. You think that you alone can change the world without the need for space exploration, without the need to search for new resources, and without the need for technologies. You believe that mankind can be controlled by sheer faith and idle beliefs that don't provide any sense of realistic resolution.

“A mind cannot simply be led by something as farfetched as imaginations. It can only go so far with dreams. It needs physical support as well; the need to touch; the need to see, to feel, to develop and use; actual interaction of objects is important to enable a balanced lifestyle. You think that a spiritual being that is responsible for our existence can save us.” Payton scoffed. “I honestly don't know how to respond to that. And even if I can come up with something brilliant you'll just brush it away as blasphemy. You will never admit defeat.”

Throughout the long exchange between Payton and Fekonson, Roy knew their captain was buying time, enough time for him to prepare to go into the Evolutionary Stage. Quietly, he was going through another series of checklist and preparing the ship for full power.

Looking up, Payton spoke into the speakers: “Here's the thing, Fekonson. We are going to proceed with our plan and you can do whatever you want. However, know this: We are five hundred kilometers away from the TSMS. If you were to shoot us and somehow missed, all of us including the people on Earth will die. There's at least two million Pulse-Thermal Nuclear Tactical Missiles stored in there. Believe me, when all of them explode at the same time you'll wish you weren't nearby.

“Ask yourself this, old man: Would you be willing to risk billions of lives for your own endeavor of getting rid of us? Would you be willing to go against everything you believed in self-preservation and the salvation of humanity by destroying us along with the TSMS?” With that said, Payton gestured to have the connection cut off.

Steve En quickly raised the shield strength to maximum and brought the newly invented plasma cannons around, locking onto the enemy.

Back in his battle ship with humiliation invigorating his rage, Nelson had fended off all coherent reasoning and gave the order to fire. The officers were somewhat reluctant because they knew Payton Lane was right. If any one of those shots hit the TSMS the result would be devastating. But after seeing Fekonson pulling out his gun and waving it around in a threatening motion, the soldiers had no choice but to obey their leader’s order.

Before the Descent Team could respond, hundreds of energy bullets had slung across the shields of Solstice Seven. Each powerful shot tore away a small chunk of the imperceptible buffer that had wrapped around the whole ship silently. A wide array of colors had dispersed as red-hot explosions licked the inner hull furiously. With a rain of projectiles impacting, even the world's most advanced armor technology could not withstand much longer.

Inside, the Descent Team's crew was knocked all over the place. The mainframes had beeped with incredibly loud noises, which were mixing with metals groaning and wall plating snapping. Roy had tried to steady the ship but they were getting knocked off course. Steve coded in the attacking sequences as fast as he could while Lina was attempting to restore oxygen level from deck two to deck twelve.

“Payton! She is breaking apart! We got to do something fast!” Roy yelled over the commotion. A massive shower of electrical sparks had landed near him and the pilot screamed: “Those stupid, self-centered fuckers! They are shattering this vessel!”

Knowing that their lives were at stake the team leader had to think fast. Without any other options, Payton hollered: “Take us around! Go behind the TSMS and use it as a shield!”

Everyone froze in their seats when they had heard the absurd order. If they were to hide behind the Titan Strike Missile Station with millions of Pulse-Thermal nuclear warheads there was an even greater chance of having a major disaster befalling upon the planet Earth. Who knew what kind of impact it would have, if the thermal shock waves combined with lethal radiations combed through the world below?

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Tracy exclaimed with bewilderment.

Noticing the baffled expressions on his colleagues, Payton grinded his teeth and said: “Don't worry about it! Fekonson wouldn't be stupid enough to blow up the entire station! Do it!”

“You can't be serious, Payton!” Lina exclaimed with a shocked look on her face. Pushing her dark hair away, she continued: “You are willing to risk the lives of everyone? Where's the rationality?”

The young male scientist wheeled around and frowned. “I gave you guy an order and I expect you to follow it! Unless you want to have a mutiny against me and choose another captain; if so, you'd better do it fast because our shields and hull plating will not last any longer!”

“But, Payton-”

“Carry out my order, now!” The man angrily yelled.

The team members gazed at each other for a long minute. They then started entering commands to maneuver the ship around the TSMS when another shot had exploded upon the hull. A loud metallic snapping sound could be heard as one of the support bars along the hull had fractured and fell off. More sparks had danced across the floor tiles.

With the Light Engines roaring and scorching white flames exiting from the massive exhaust vents that were attached to the end of the ship, panorama and shadows twisted and spiraled in the heating wake, as flaring particles of the engine debris had shot out from the exhaust ports with astonishing speed and vigor. A blurry effect had smothered Solstice Seven when its velocity was shifting from low to high under a short amount of time. Before the pursuers could act in response to Payton and his crew's feat, the entire Descent Team was already behind the TSMS, which had contained millions of the devastating warheads.

“Damn them!” Nelson Fekonson screamed when he saw what was going on in the visual screen. He was mad. “Damn them, damn them, damn them!”

While there were still many people willing to follow in Nelson's footsteps, all of them knew that sooner or later they would have to leave and pursue a different path. With most of the money gone from the Freedom Party's accounts, it was only a matter of time before the organization entered into a deficit. In a nutshell, even though the FP was looking strong, internally it was hurting bad. Adding salt to the wound was the fact that more than one third of his followers had left after that theft pulled by Payton Lane.

“We can always wait them out, sir,” one of the soldiers suggested from his station.

Nelson was not even paying attention as he stood up and glared at the view screen. “How could they defy me so? I'm the head of the Freedom Party! I represent all mankind! I am God's servant! No. I am God! No one is supposed to challenge my will!” Fekonson’s face was an angry red with thin blue veins materializing to the surface of his bony neck.

Pacing around the bridge Fekonson frantically tried to figure out something to draw the rats out of their little hole. If he returned with the news of the sinners escaping his wrath, there would be an all-out riot as people lost their trust in him. The defectors would also blame him for the decimation of the World Alliance since not everyone was convinced and willing to fully join the FP.

Nelson had nothing to lose anymore. Even the officers around him knew that the infuriated FP leader might do something foolhardy and would result in everybody’s painful death. They were giving each other a look of distrust as they slowly got up from their chairs.

“Where do you guys think you’re going?” The old man glared at each and every single one of the officers on the bridge. Pointing his gun at one of them, he said: “You! Sit down!”

The young officer anxiously looked left and right for a second before sitting back down.

“Sir, I think we should retreat to a safer distance and formulate a plan.” One of the senior officers had summed up his courage and offered his advice.

“What’s that?” Nelson Fekonson frowned as he walked up to face the man, nose-to-nose. “I didn’t hear what you just said. Would you be so kind as to repeat what was it that you just said?”

The poor man lowered his eyes and looked at the pistol in Fekonson’s right hand for a moment and decided to remain silent. The ship’s captain was also going to suggest something to Fekonson but when he saw the crazy pair of eyes that were glaring back at him the man could not move his lips or even utter a sound. It was especially frightening when Fekonson had a blaster gun in his old and wrinkled hand with his finger on the trigger, lightly tapping at it.

Everyone had relinquished their sidearms when they entered the bridge as part of the ship’s safety regulation. Unfortunately, it was this particular policy that had made everyone regretted partaking on this mission with a crazed maniac slowly losing his sanity with every passing minute. To make matters worse, this zealot got the only weapon on the bridge at the moment by ignoring the safety protocol.

Behind the TSMS, Payton and the others had sighed a relief when they knew that they were temporarily safe. It looked as if the enemy didn’t have the guts to risk shooting at the storage tanks of the TSMS. Although he knew that it was still unsafe for being so near to the station, Payton could not think of anything else to stall their hunters that were hungry for their innocent blood.

Roy still had the engines charged with one hundred and twenty percent power just in case they needed to get into the E-Stage should things suddenly became perilous.

Clearing his throat, Steve glanced in a general direction as he wiped his hand through his sweat-soaked, lengthy golden hair. “Well, what do we do now? Even if we have thrusters that are faster than theirs, they still have a chance of hitting us with those gigantic plasma cannons and concussion missiles.” Steve lifted a finger slightly while frowning, contemplating the situation. “Although given the current circumstances it really won't make a difference anyway if we make a run for it now. They've pretty much caught us like a mouse in a trap.”

“Payton, regarding to Nelson's behavior it doesn’t look good,” Tracy stated quietly, mostly to herself as she was trying to organize her thoughts. She brushed aside her long, braided hair, which shone like a thousand sun under the soothing light coming down from above. “His attitude cannot be anticipated. It's too dark. It's too unpredictable. I think this is resulted from the callous blow that you have done to him and his faction.”

“What are you trying to say?” Payton was weary. His voice was small. He blinked his eyes slowly and gazed at her with his deep azure-colored eyes.

Letting out a nervous breath, she answered: “He'll blow this place up. He'll destroy Earth.”

“No, that’s not possible, no one’s stupid enough to do that.”

“Tracy, Nelson may be fanatic in his beliefs, but he wouldn’t do such a thing.”

Lina and Roy mocked and muttered at the idea of an insane mad man having the capability to mass-murder billions of people.

Payton was also going to counter that notion when Tracy said louder: “I'm only saying that it is a possibility that Fekonson would do something like this. He has nothing to lose now. I’ve checked a few minutes ago. He has breached the Military Regulation that was created through the consensus of the people of Earth. His use of excessive force without a good cause has broken the law. People will not be happy toward him for wasting precious resources on something as fruitless as a personal vendetta.”

“He still placed a wager on us, Tracy,” Payton said softly. Looking into the eyes of everyone in front of him, he continued: “That means he still thinks that he can win against us. He might still have the power to stop us from completing our journey to the No Land Sector.”

Tracy nodded. “This is why we must figure out a plan to escape before he goes berserk. For all we know, he could be arming the missiles on his ship right now and getting ready to fire at the station itself to get to us.”

“I understand. If any of you has any suggestions, I'll be more than happy to listen.”

Lina searched around the bridge with perplexity. “Hey, has anyone seen Jake? He's gone for an awfully long time.”

“Well,” Tracy replied as she turned her head around to look at her sister, “he said he is going to check out the ship just in case those shots have damaged the hull that might affect us greatly-”

“Do you really think that I would waste my time doing that?” Before Tracy could finish, a loud voice had appeared behind them as a figure was slowly walking into view.

Jake smirked and nodded to his companions.

Steve immediately got up but stopped short when a large rifle muzzle was pointing in his direction. “Jake! What is the meaning of this?” Bewildered, the ship's weapon specialist demanded an answer while he had his hands raised up into the air.

“Jake!” Payton gaped in disbelief as he was frozen to his spot. “What the hell are you doing by bringing a rifle onto the ship?”

The others could not do anything. All they could do was stay in their chairs watching the drama unfolds itself before their eyes.

Laughing with a hint of bitterness embedded in his tone, Jake Roman said: “It's over. This whole voyage is over. It's over, man.” With that, he armed the weapon and took aim at Payton’s forehead. “I am sick and tired of playing games with you. I'm here to pick up my prize and my money.”

End Chapter 4