ConQuest (The Quest Saga) Read online

  Jake ran up to a solid metal door cut out in the wall. A small slot opened in the door. He seemed to be speaking into it. Q guessed that it was probably a security procedure.

  “He is such a nice guy,” Taylor observed.

  “There’s something about him……” Q began.

  Jake walked back to them in a flash.

  “Sorry about that; just a safety procedure. They usually don’t let outsiders in, but since I’m the prez I was able to pull a few strings.”

  Seriously? Pull a few strings?, Q thought.

  From his point of view, this Jake guy was throwing his ‘prez’ position in everybody’s face.

  They walked past the door. The whole place was made of metal. The place stayed with the common theme of gray with shades of dark purple. Q had to admit that it was kind of cool though.

  Jake raised his hand. Q didn’t understand what he was doing until a car came their way. At least it seemed like a car at first sight. On closer inspection it turned out to be a hovercraft.

  It was a white vehicle with brush strokes of green and blue for decoration.

  “It’s the president’s edition,” he beamed. “It recognizes its user through bio-metric sensors,” he continued explaining. “So how it works is that.....”

  Q cut him off. “It sucks in the air from the top of the craft to create a vacuum above it so that the air pressure under the hovercraft is more than the pressure above it. So, the air under it lifts it up.”

  “He’s a tech addict,” Taylor offered by way of explanation, though Q got the underlying feeling that she was embarrassed.

  Jake just stared at Q. He didn’t seem pleased that Q cut him off. Though he had to admit Q knew what he was talking about.

  They got into the hovercraft and took off. The buildings appeared blurred as Q rushed past them. He was amazed by the speed the hovercraft was going at. He was starting to get a taste of the tech on this planet.

  He thoroughly enjoyed the ride to the lab, though Taylor couldn’t say the same. She knew she had sea sickness, now she found out that she had hovercraft-sickness as well.

  Q looked up at the lab. It was a large dome-shaped structure. Oddly, it didn’t keep up with the grey metal trend. Instead it was made of a metal pitch black in color.

  “So what do you think?” Jake asked Q.

  “I’ll tell you when we get inside,” Q said, grinning.

  “About that........” Jake started.

  “Yeah?”

  “We’re not exactly allowed in here right now. They’re working on some sort of a project, so I couldn’t get permission for a tour.”

  “You couldn’t pull any strings?” Q asked.

  He wondered why Jake offered to show him the lab, if the lab was actually off limits in the first place.

  He stirs up excitement, and then deflates it as well, Q thought.

  Q wondered if Jake did that just to irritate him, though his face wasn’t showing anything of the sort.

  Suddenly they heard screams coming from inside the lab. Jake and Taylor rushed to the door, leaving Q far behind.

  “I thought the lab was off limits!” Q yelled as he ran behind them.

  He really had a sense of humor, didn’t he?

  Taylor tried opening the door, but it was locked. A number pad hung on the wall next to it.

  “We’re going to have to break it open,” Jake said.

  Q took a few steps back and got ready to break it open. Before he could charge, Jake went down on one knee and randomly pressed buttons on the pad. The door clicked open.

  “Easy pickings,” Jake smiled.

  Q wondered if the door to a stronghold like this could be hacked so easily. To him it seemed like an efficiency problem.

  They stepped inside the building. It was pitch dark. Q wondered if there were any nuclear devices under research over here. The last thing you’d want is to have a nuke in the room and not be able to see it. That would be a disaster waiting to happen.

  “Anyone there?” he called out.

  Taylor and Jake turned back to shush him. Q looked confused. What did he do wrong?

  “There might be some intruder in here. Don’t alert him. We have to catch him,” Jake whispered to him.

  “I’m pretty sure your breaking the door down would’ve given him enough warning,” Q told Jake.

  “Guys, stop. Focus,” Taylor told them. They both listened obediently.

  Jake seemed to know the place by heart.

  “Q, you go upstairs and look around. The main circuit board is up there. Try to turn it on. We have no idea what’s going on here,” he said.

  Q nodded. He waved his hands around, feeling his way towards the stairs. He climbed up slowly, making sure he didn’t create any noise. His heart beat faster and faster, sweat perspired on the palm of his hands.

  True, he was really scared, but he was excited as well. This was exactly like one of the shooter games that he loved playing.

  He could almost feel himself become one of the modern combat characters.

  He reached the top floor of the lab. He knelt down and put his ear to the metal floor. He could hear the soft thud of footsteps but they weren’t his!

  He immediately started running forward. Instantly something pulled him back and pinned him to the wall. He tried getting up but couldn’t. He was stuck. He felt around the wall. His hands gripped around something. His heart immediately stopped.

  A knife had pierced his shirt and dug into the wall all the way up to the hilt. Q felt a bit tensed now.

  “Definitely not one of my games,” Q reminded himself. Plus he remembered that this game didn't have a ‘start over’ button.

  How strong was his opponent if he could push Q back with nothing but a knife throw? Forget that, who can pierce solid metal with just a knife!?

  Q’s mind was racing. His legs tried to race too but they were frozen still. He didn’t know what his plan of action should be. He clearly couldn’t take this guy one on one. Maybe he should go back down to get help.

  Taylor was walking right beside Jake. She had a long knife in her hand. Jake had a revolver with him and no, it didn’t shoot bullets. Taylor recognized that it shot lasers. The retro design was just to make it cool.

  “What’s taking Q so long?” Jake was irritated. “We really need those lights back on.”

  Taylor was looking worried. She was having second thoughts about sending Q alone. What if something had happened to him?

  “Maybe we should check on him,” she suggested.

  No answer.

  “Jake? Jake?!” She called out. She heard someone running on the top floor.

  “Oh, my God. Q!”

  She charged up the stairs, her heart in her mouth. Why had she let Q go alone? She wouldn’t forgive herself if anything happened to him.

  As she was going up the stairs, Taylor could sense her surroundings becoming colder and colder. It became so cold she could see her own breath. Her movements slowed down. She could feel her body temperature going down. The cold was getting to her.

  “Welcome, young one,” a mysterious voice said.

  Intruder

  Q managed to pull the knife out of his shirt. He held it firmly in one hand. He inched his way forward trying to be as silent as possible. He had to turn on the light somehow.

  “Hello Q...,” a voice said.

  The lights got turned on. When Q’s eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a figure in a black body suit standing near the power supply controls. That was when Q realized something. The intruder wasn’t a guy, it was a girl!

  “This is yours,” he said, throwing the knife at her.

  Though he hoped it’d cut her somewhere, she just caught it by its blade in midair. Q was left to stand gaping. She caught it in midair! By its blade!

  Q realized that this girl couldn’t be a Gaia. She had to be a Zyxian! But what exactly was she?

  Suddenly he heard a beeping noise. He looked around.

  “Oh man,” Q gulped.r />
  There were a bunch of people in white coats tied together, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was next to them.

  A fairly large black box with a pulsating red light.

  “Bomb voyage,” said the intruder and ran towards the window.

  Q ran after her. He was able to get a hold on her suit. He pulled hard. The intruder’s mask came off. Unfortunately for him the girl didn’t turn; so all he could see was her coffee brown hair. She was at the window in a flash.

  “Bye, Q,” she said and jumped.

  Q’s face changed. “How do you know my name?” he called after her as he ran to the window.

  He looked outside. He couldn’t see her anywhere on the ground. It was a good thirty feet drop. It would’ve killed anyone who landed flat on it.

  The beeping became louder.

  “Oh, man! The bomb!” Q remembered. He didn’t have time to worry about the intruder.

  He ran to the big black box. He couldn’t make head or tail of the box. He looked at the scientists. All of them were knocked out cold.

  “Taylor.” She’d know what to do. He ran to the stairs. He was halfway down when he suddenly flew to the ground.

  He actually fell.

  He got up rubbing his head.

  “Ouch,” he said. He turned over and looked at what had tripped him. The color drained from his face.

  It was Taylor!

  “Taylor! Taylor!” He lifted her up. It was no use. She was knocked out cold.

  Q wondered where Jake was. “He probably ran out of the lab, scared,” he smirked.

  He put Taylor on his back and climbed to the top floor. He laid her down next to the scientists. This way, if she came to, she could help him diffuse the bomb, but as of now, the whole thing lay in his hand.

  He searched about frantically to find something with which to open the box. He found a metal cylinder lying on the ground. He picked it up and pressed a button on the side. Immediately a stick of glowing light emerged. It was a laser saber!

  He carefully opened the lid using the saber, making sure he didn’t disturb the contents inside.

  He took off the cover and looked inside. He was looking at a complex system of wires and dials. There was one digital dial that was bigger than the rest. Q guessed it was the timer but hoped it wasn’t because that would mean they had only two minutes left.

  Q stared at the timer. 120…..119……118…..

  He was running out of time. He tried to look at the wiring and figure something out. Nothing. It was as if a monkey had built the thing. The timer meanwhile kept going. One minute left.

  Q stared at a thick red wire. He decided to take a guess. They were going to get blown up anyway so he might as well take a chance. Plus the red wire was usually the one they cut in all those action movies.

  He took a pair of pliers in his hand and brought it close to the red wire. His hand trembled with fear. A countdown ran through his head. 3…..2…..1….

  “Whatever you do, don’t cut that wire.”

  Q’s heart skipped a beat. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He slowly turned his head. It was Taylor.

  Q wondered what would’ve happened if Taylor hadn’t woken up.

  “It would’ve blasted us to bits,” she said as if reading his thoughts.

  “Remove the insulation and connect the red wire to the black one.” Taylor guided Q through the process.

  She explained everything slowly and carefully. Making sure Q got every tiny detail.

  Q carefully removed the plastic that covered the red and black wires. He picked up an extra length of wire lying on a table and connected the red to the black. The beeping immediately stopped. The timer was dead on seven seconds. That was close!

  “We did it!” Q hugged Taylor. She managed a smile but instantly slumped to the floor.

  Q held her. “Taylor? You okay?” He shook her.

  She had fainted again. Q knew he had to take her to hospital but first there was something else that he had to do. He took a knife and cut the scientists free.

  Q picked Taylor up and ran out of the building. The hovercraft was still where they’d left it.

  He wondered where the hospital was. He looked up at the sky and there was his answer. Up there was a long pole with a first aid sign on it. Q figured it was about a mile away. He sat Taylor in front of him in the hovercraft and stepped on it.

  In a few minutes he pulled up in front of the hospital. He stopped so rashly that the hovercraft almost overturned.

  He carried Taylor and ran through the doors.

  “I need help!” he yelled. Immediately a few people came and took Taylor.

  After a few minutes a man in a white coat came up to Q. He figured that the man was probably a doctor.

  “Are you the boyfriend?” he asked Q.

  “No!” Q said “I mean no,” he said, this time a little softer.

  The doctor just smiled. “Well, she’s fine. She just suffered a mild concussion.”

  “Concussion?” Q asked, suspiciously. He was formulating a plot in his mind.

  “Don't worry, there isn’t any brain damage.”

  “Is she conscious?”

  “Yes. You can go visit her if you like. She’s in room 32a.”

  “Thanks, doc,” he said and ran to the end. He opened the door.

  “Taylor? You there?”

  “Yeah. Come on in.”

  She was sitting upright on a white cot. Her hands toyed around with a dagger.

  Q went and sat next to her on the bed.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m better now.”

  She came a bit closer to him. Her voice became more serious. “I need to know everything that happened.”

  So Q told her all about the coffee brown haired cat prowler.

  “Anyway, what happened to you?” It was Q’s turn to ask the questions.

  “I was walking around with Jake. I told him that we should check on you but I didn’t get any reply. He just went missing. Then I heard you running so I ran up the stairs. Then…..”

  Her face changed. Q figured that she had just remembered something very important.

  “I was climbing the stairs to help you when I felt everything around me becoming colder. Suddenly this dark form came out of the shadows. It welcomed me and called me a young one.”

  A memory struck Q’s mind. Was this dark form the same one in his games? Was it the same one he’d seen in his dreams? So many questions ran through his mind. He decided to focus on them later.

  “Well, let’s forget about it for now. Doctor says you’re fine so we can go back to Demon Riser now.”

  “How are we going to get there? I can’t walk that far. Not in this condition.”

  Q grinned. “I kind of borrowed a hovercraft from a certain friend of ours.”

  Taylor laughed. “A certain friend whose gonna have to explain to me why he disappeared.”

  They both laughed. Though Q had a feeling Jake’s disappearance had something more to it than it seemed.

  He helped Taylor up and walked her out.

  Q could swear that the doctor winked at him. What was that all about?

  They rode on the hovercraft towards the beautiful sunset on the horizon. Their adventure had just begun and they were already knee deep in trouble.

  School Again

  Taylor woke up to a ray of light shining on her face. It was morning already. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. Q lay fast asleep in a chair right next to her.

  She smiled at him. She vaguely remembered Q carrying her from the hovercraft. Then she recalled the incident at the lab.

  Her face turned serious. She needed to know who the intruder was and what she wanted. She had to be a person from the academy. She had to be a traitor.

  Speaking of traitor, she wondered where Jake had disappeared last night.

  She looked for Carlos but instead saw a piece of paper on his bunk. She picked it up and read it.

  “Dear Taylor, I’
ve enrolled both you and Q at the academy. I managed to get you two in the same class. I’m away with Kai right now. I have no idea how long it’ll take. The directions are on the other side of the note - Carlos”

  She looked at the clock. They’d better get up or else they’d be late for their first day of school.

  “Wake up, sleepy head. It’s time for school,” she said.

  “Just five more minutes, Taylor.”

  “C’mon. We’ve got to go to school.”

  Q sat up immediately. He realized that Taylor was using the word ‘school’. Not good.

  “We have to go where?”

  “Carlos has enrolled us at Aliea Academy; he’s gone somewhere with Kai. We probably won't see him for the entire day.”

  Q gaped at her.

  “C’mon. We’ve got to get ready or we’ll be late.”

  ‘Guess it can’t hurt’ Q thought.

  He realized he didn’t have clothes to wear to school. He was still in his football uniform. He’d been dragged directly from a football match into a portal, into a battle and into an academy.

  “What do I wear?” he asked Taylor.

  “Here,” she gave him a black shirt and blue jeans.

  “The academy has a color code,” Taylor said. She was in a black T-shirt and blue jeans as well.

  They rushed out of the building. The school seemed quite close by, probably a 10-minute walk. It was navigating inside the school that would take even more time. The place was huge!

  “Wow. This place is huge...” Q stumbled down.

  He picked himself up and wondered what was happening.

  He looked around him. Everything was moving. He looked at his feet and realized what the problem was.

  He was on some sort of a transportation device. A moving platform probably.

  “The campus is too big to navigate solely on foot; we have to use these platforms to get around,” explained Taylor walking up to him on the platform and helping him get up.

  “Would’ve helped if you’d told me earlier,” Q complained.

  “But then, I wouldn't have seen you fall, would I?” she smiled devilishly.

  Q punched her hand playfully.

  They zoomed past the scenery, thanks to the platforms.