Complicated Machinery III

            “It was a dark and stormy night. . .” he said out loud as he typed. He stared at the words on his monitor for a moment and sighed. “Too cliché,” he said, as he held down the backspace key and was once again left with a blank page staring back at him. He leaned back in his chair and looked around for some inspiration. “I wonder when Swen is going to get home.”

            Almost as an answer to him, the door opened and closed and in walked a fairly young man wearing a brown cloak over his tabard and simple drawstring pants. “Here, Never.” He tossed his dice bag across the room and Never caught it. “I bought some new d6’s.”

            “How was the meet?” he asked.

            “You have no idea what you were missing. The new guy is awesome. You should have seen his costume. We could barely recognize him when he answered the door. A natural 20 on a disguise check, if I’ve ever seen one.”

            “Was his house a good place to meet?”

            “I knew there was something funny about that house the moment I set foot into it.”

            “Oh?” inquired Never.

            “Yeah,” said Swen, “You know how he kept bragging about how perfect his house would be for a meet?”

            “Yup, what was it like?”

            “Well,” said Swen in an excited voice, “It was a big white house in the middle of an upper class neighborhood.” Never nodded as he continued. “Well, he answered the door in his costume. He was an overlord or a lich or something, I forgot what he called it exactly. But, anyway, He led us through what looked like a mansion of some sorts. The kind of thing Martha Stewert would be proud of.”

            “Who?”

            “That American lady they cloned. . . Oh, never mind. Let’s just say it was a very neat and tidy place that didn’t reflect what we were expecting at all. No random pizza boxes stacked all over the place, no d4’s to watch out for on the carpet. No imprint on the carpet from a Dance 360 pad being repeatedly used.”

            “So, just not a typical nerd pad?”

            “Right. But, it turned out that the first floor of the house was entirely his wife’s domain. Once he led us down to the basement, we descended into heaven.”

            “Descended into heaven?”

            “Look, I don’t care if it makes much sense, but it’s true. There was an eight computer LAN, an arcade style Dance 360 setup, and even a three by eight dry-erase table with a one inch grid of dots on it!”

            “Wow, that is nerd heaven. How was his campaign? What was the story like?”

            “It was okay. We were all in an academy of magic under the study of some old lady. She seemed like such a sweet old lady. Who would have ever guessed that she was really. . .”

            “A level 20 necromancer slash lord of the lich?”

            Swen’s excitement of retelling his say screeched to a halt. “How did you know that?”

            “He got it from a book. A bad book, too.”

            “Well, anyway. It was odd. One day our teacher just. . .”

            “Disappeared?”

            “Quit spoiling my story.”

            Never sighed. “It’s not your story. It’s not even the new guy’s story.”

            “Fine, be that way,” said Swen, sounding rather discouraged. He went to the kitchen to look for a nice snack. Never turned back to the computer monitor to continue chipping away at the writers’ block.

            There was a moment of silence where everything was still and nothing of importance happened that either Swen or Never new about at the time. Oddly enough, world peace was declared at the precise moment of silence being held in the household. The two of them, however, would not find out until later.

            “Nooooooooooooooooo!” screamed Swen from the kitchen, abruptly breaking the silence.

            “What is it?”

            “You drank my milkshake! My special milkshake!”

            “What are you rambling about?”

            “I was supposed to drink that before my doctor’s appointment tomorrow. They were going to do some very important tests that I don’t entirely understand, but he assured me they are very important.”

            “It looked like a plain old milkshake to me. . .”

            “Plain old milkshake? Plain old milkshake! Is that why it had a prescription label on it with my name on it?” squeaked Swen.

            Years later when reminiscing on old memories, they discussed this particular argument. Never said, “Once your voice gets squeaky, trying to calm you down is like suddenly realizing you’ve turned into a dead end. It was the road to nowhere.”

            Swen stormed off to his room and decided to call his friend, Jon. Jon was going to college to become a theoretical mathematician. He was always coming up with theories and equations and constants and other gibberish. He was quite clearly insane to most people.

            “Hello?”

            “Hi, Jon. It’s Swen. You wouldn’t believe what Never did. He blah blah blah blah blah. Then he blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah and blah blah. Blah blah and blah the blah blah.”

            Jon zoned out and started counting words per minute. He simultaneously counted how often the used the words ‘and’ and ‘the’. After a few minutes of Swen rambling, Jon used a formula he came up with to decide that Swen was an eight point two on the pissed off scale.

            “If they weren’t in such a hurry, they wouldn’t have taken that short cut through the cemetery. . . Hmm, no, that’s also cliché.” Once again, a blank screen. He tossed the dice bag up into the air and caught it again. He shook it a few times and listened to them rattle. An idea sparked. His eyes lit up. He put his fingers to his keyboard. Then he lost it. He got disgruntled and sighed. Then he remembered again and started typing before he forgot it. He spoke as he typed. “No one was ever really sure what was going on down in the new kid’s basement. . . I love it! Just another few hundred pages and I’ll be all set.”

            “Blah blah blah blah blah. Then he said to always forgive your friends, even when they take your food out of the refrigerator without asking. It was the strangest thing I ever heard. But, I guess it was good advice for someone who just graduated. Blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah, blah blah.”

            Jon tossed some more numbers and pronouns through his head and found out that Swen had dropped to a three on the pissed off scale.

            “Blah blah blah. So how was your day?”

            “Oh. Well. Uhh. . . I was having trouble with a program I made earlier. I thought it was just a glitch in my computer. But that was yesterday, before I discovered that my processor was incompatible with my blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah then blah blah in my blah blah hard drive blah blah blah RAM blah blah blah blah. But, blah blah blah tech support blah blah. . .”

            ‘Wow, this guy can really ramble on without any point,’ thought Swen to himself.

Complicated Machinery IV

“Swift and painless!” Jon shouted, swirling around his left thumb while making some indescribable motion with the other. He crawled under his bunk and attempted to kift it against the wall. “Free radicals?! Radicals should be imprisoned!”

Never groaned and rolled over to the edge of his bunk. “Don’t you ever stop, Jon?” Jon let out a squeal of joy. “I don’t think I’ve seen you sleep at all since we found you in that freezer. I don’t know how you can even manage being awake, especially with all that energy.”

“Confucius has many allies,” said Jon, as he sat, slowly spinning around on his bottom.

A silence followed that was filled with occasional chipmunk noises. The door to their cell opened and in walked Swen wearing a full Eastern Alliance uniform, complete with two stars and a circle on his collar.

“I have authority!”

Never stared at him blankly while Jon grinned mischievously, eyes darting.

“You guys are in on the deal, too. We go around, kick some Western Alliance ass, and we’re set for life. Never, you blow up some stuff, Jon, you pilot the Yggdrasil, and I will deal with the ambrite.”

“And I,” said a female voice, “Will be watching you every step of the way.”

“This,” said Swen with a grin, “is Maria.”

She stepped into the cell and was wearing the same uniform as Swen, but with a whole different effect. He, with his glasses, baggy pants, and two stars and a circle, managed to make the uniform look very nerdy.

Her uniform, complete with four stars and two circles, was tailored much more precisely to the exact shape and size of her anatomy. She was so incredibly lethally striking, that for the first time in days, Jon was both still and silent. Never was impressed, too. To him, she looked very beautiful and oddly familiar. Although, to him, most people and things looked oddly familiar.

“You will be under strict surveillance until we know you can be trusted.”

“Lonely integers hold no precedence here.”

Maria snarled at Jon who whimpered and slowly tilted his head until he had a clear view of the light fixture. He then began to slowly spin around in circles again until Maria slammed her fist into the wall. She let out a frustrated cry and then there was a moment of silence before she stormed off, muttering profanity.

“I don’t think she likes us very much,” said Never, who stopped pressing is body against the wall in a feeble attempt to hide in plain sight.

Jon pointed to where she was standing and muttered something incoherent involving colors.

Swen examined the new dent in the stainless steel wall. “Oh, she likes you and me well enough. She was actually very excited to meet you, Never.”

“Are you trying to say she was mad at Jon?”

“She used to be the pilot of the Yggdrasil, and now she feels like she’s just a babysitter.”

Sounds like she and you talked a lot.”

“She gave me a tour of the ship. It took several hours. We stopped for lunch about halfway through the tour. She had a lot to vent about.”

“She’s a tad young for you, Swen.”

“Hey, she’s only six years younger than I am. My parents were further apart in age.”

“Yeah, but your parents met when they were almost forty.”

Swen and Jon looked at Never with astonished faces. He looked very annoyed when he realized what he had said. His face twitched as he spoke very slowly and loudly. “Why is it that I can remember something as trivial as that, but I can’t remember things that really matter, like who my parents were!”

“No, no. No, this is a good thing, Never. You are starting to remember more and more as time goes on. Soon enough you will remember everything you knew before the surgery.”

“Will I remember why I was dumb enough to let them do that stupid surgery?”

Jon yelled “Sodomy” loud enough to settle down everyone except Maria, who managed to hear him from down the hallway and decided now was a good time to go drink.

Never only actually calmed down in that moment because he had a deja vu. He decided against advertising it, though.

“So, are we going to get tours of the ship, too?”

“Actually, no. You and Jon have very restricted and limited access to the ship. You’re obviously a security threat and no one in the crew really trusts you or Jon yet.”

“So, how is it that you set up this deal for us? We weren’t exactly there to decide the details.”

“It was decided that I was the only one of the three of us who would be able to make major decisions. Besides all that, the alternative was execution. I figured that you and Jon would rather blow stuff up than die.

Jon let out a sound of approval at the thought.

“Well, you may have been right there, but it still feels like Jon and I are getting much less out of this than you are.”

Swen made a comment about having the best grip on reality in the room. After a cold moment shared by all three, Swen decided now was a good time to go drink.

 .

“I make them a deal that saves their lives and all they do is criticize me.”

“Look,” said Maria’s voice, which was now much slower, yet less pronounced, “the past few days have been hard on everyone. The biggest war in history has just been started over you three. You guys are just stressed out. Look on the bright side, the three of you will probably be war heroes when all of this is over.”

“I don’t think that’s a good thing for Jon or Never, though. They belong in a lab, not on the field. I don’t know if they can handle all that stress and pressure.”

“They did well yesterday,” said Maria in a drink, annoyed voice.

“Maria,” said Swen, “You are one of the best pilots in the world. That combined with the idea that you can actually communicate with others leads me to believe that you will be piloting the Yggdrasil soon enough.”

“But-”

“No buts. If they don’t put you back in charge of the Yggdrasil, I’ll build you a new one.”

“Oh, Swen,” she gave him a poorly coordinated, drunken hug, “You’re the best.”

Complicated Machinery I

He could not tell any more if he was sleeping or not. He had been in the room so long that he even dreamed about sitting there, waiting for something to happen. The tiny air vent was placed just above the single hanging light bulb. It swayed back and forth, counting irregular intervals.

            He had just finished another fit of shouting and hitting the door and was tired. He closed his eyes and opened them. He tapped the metal wall next to his head and listened to the sound echo in the distance.

            He stared directly through his hand as he flexed it and relaxed it. He could hear a wheeled cart make its way through whatever it was making its way through. He sat up began to focus on the small sliding metal door built into the much larger one holding him in his four by four by eight room. The squealing wheels slowed to a halt and after a moment of silence, the small door opened and a bowl of vegetable soup was suddenly grabbed from unknown hands.

            He finished the bowl very quickly and ritualistically put the bowl back near the door. After a few minutes of silence, the door opened and the bowl was taken away. After the squealing of wheels faded in the distance, he noticed that he was humming the note of G. He began patting his legs through his blue hospital gown and making up a song. After a few minutes he finished off with a drum solo and began to sob.

            He had awakened in there almost two days ago and could not remember anything. No matter how much he thought about it, he could not remember where he used to live, his name, or anything worth remembering. He could however, remember that he spoke fluent English, enjoyed Shakespeare, and could do trigonometry ratios in his head. He understood the concept of amnesia and decided that it was a very depressing thing to go through.

            After another immeasurable amount of time spent regretting whatever it was he had done to get in there, he heard footsteps again. He began to pound at the door and shout. He begged and asked questions. Without saying anything, a man with a long white coat walked into his room and put an unpleasantly long needle into his upper arm.

            He immediately woke up and decided that he probably read a lot of science fiction before he ended up in there. He tapped the wall next to his head and listened to the muffled sound of his bandaged hand tapping the steel wall. He stood and leaned against the wall next to him. He was very temped to slam his head against the wall, but decided it was a bad idea. He had several chaotic emotions flying through his head at the same time. He stared at the motionless light bulb several feet above his head. He thought for a few moments about asphyxiation in the room with no ventilation, but decided it was very unlikely, considering how long he had been in there. He thought that if he could manage to reach the light bulb, that he could probably electrocute himself.

            He stood as though he were about to try to jump, but lost enthusiasm and gave up. He curled into a ball and laid on his side. Mildly squeaky wheels became louder and louder and stopped next to the door. A small latch gave and a tiny door swung open on the much larger one holding him in his five by five by ten room. He started to hum Fir Elise.

            A small bowl of vegetable soup slid into his room and the door closed behind it. The lightly squeaking wheels started their way back to wherever it is they came from and he slowly began to sip the soup. He was very hungry, but didn’t really feel like eating. He eventually finished the salty soup and used an upside-down metal bowl to support his head as he tried to sleep.

            He woke up in there the day before and could not remember much. He couldn’t even remember his name. He could, however, remember that he was not very athletic, but he appreciated fine arts.

            A set of footsteps made their way to his door and quickly opened it. Before he could react, a very tall man wearing a long white coat with many pockets pushed the syringe into his leg.

            He immediately woke up and decided that he read too much science fiction before he ended up in there. He lifted his hand and tapped the wall next to his head. The cast on his hand made little noise on the tile wall. He stood and stretched out his arms, barely grazing the ceiling with his barely exposed fingertips on his right hand. He sat up on his lightly padded cot and started singing a song by Frank Sinatra that he didn’t know the words to. He tried to wedge a couple of fingers into the cast to scratch, but it didn’t help much.

            A familiar high pitched squealing noise filled the hallway and he grinned. The noise from the rusty wheel made a slight pattern that he now had stuck in his head and he nodded to it. He assigned a different note to each beat and made a small melody. He almost forgot what was going on as the small plastic door opened and a bowl of vegetable soup slid in.

            “Good morning. Thank you very much. I was getting hungry. Send my compliments to the chef. I like the way that the spices complements the boiled cabbage. I’d swear it was from scratch if I didn’t know better. You talk too much, did you know that? Hey, where are you going? Well, it was nice talking to you. I’ll see you at lunch time. You know, you’re making it very hard to keep this relationship going.”

            He smiled at whatever the person was thinking about him and stretched again. He tapped the lamp above his head and then went into a martial arts stance. He wildly swung his arms around for a few minutes and then flexed his legs. He burst into a fit of Pavarotti so loud that he barely heard the very tall men wearing lab coats burst into his room and pin him down.

            “Hello gentlemen! It’s a nice day in here, isn’t it? Have a seat, we’ll discuss politics. Hey, that looks painful. Ouch!”

            He immediately woke up and started to breathe heavily. He looked around frantically and grabbed at his hospital gown, confused. He started knocking on the door and whispering to himself. He slowly started hitting it harder and shouting louder and louder. He knew his name. He could remember it and wanted everyone within earshot to know it. He shouted things about not being able to do this to a human being. He cried frantically and his already swollen right hand began to throb and bend at an awkward angle. He grasped it painfully and cried out. He kicked the chair next to him until it broke into small pieces of splintered wood. He then continued to kick the splintered wood until he fell down and instinctively tried to fall on his right hand. It quickly gave under his weight and was very obviously broken.

            He had just woken up and there and had absolutely no idea what is going on. He did not actually know his name. He had said the first word that came to mind out loud and decided that it was his name.

            His name was Never.

            He turned and started pounding the two-way mirror that took up an entire wall of his room. He could barely hear the voices from behind the mirror, talking. He knew they were talking about him, analyzing him. He didn’t know where he was or why he was there, but it bothered him very much that he was there.

            He had just woken up from very vivid dreams about being locked in a room, alone, for strange amounts of time eating vegetable soup, and was having a very hard time with it. It was very unnerving that the room was different every time he woke up.

            He fell into the fetal position and wept. He was tired. He did not know why he was tired, or why he should or should not be tired. But, none of this stopped him from falling asleep, clutching his broken right hand.

            That morning he had a very strange dream involving both very large numbers and very small numbers. The exponents collided with constants and woke him up. He could hear sirens and see flashing lights. He slowly stepped through the doorway and most of his bandages fell off. He looked around and started to become fully aware of his surroundings. The room he was just in looked like a hurricane had just past through. The blood on the walls was not his own, and the flashing lights gave him a headache. He clutched his freshly shaved head and looked at the panel above the doorway.

            “Darkhood – 001”

            He started to feel very dizzy and very cold. The rest of his bandages and his hospital gown fell off. Angry shouting and footsteps made their way down the hallway and several security guards walked past him and looked into the room. After some more shouting, they passed him and kept going down the hallway until they went around a corner.

            The alarms stopped and he collected himself. He also collected his hospital gown and noticed his right hand. He stopped feeling cold and managed to remember how to walk. One foot after the other, he made his way after the guards and squinted at the bright light from the windows.

            He left the hallway he was in and entered a large room with lots of medical equipment. He found a closet with lab clothes in it and dressed himself. He finished buttoning himself up and tried to find a light switch. He found one that had several switches labeled for the type of lighting they offered. He turned on the one labeled “fluorescent”, even though he was temped to turn on the black light for entertainment purposes.

            He looked around and started to remember what each piece of equipment did. He started looking for some sort of lab records but got distracted by a large board with lots of notes and poorly sketched pictures on it. He noticed that it mentioned some experimental chemical that seemed familiar. He remembered hearing about it on the news. It was discovered in a meteor and was considered to be frictionless.

            “The news!” he said rather loudly. He remembered the short news anchor with light hair that he considered attractive. He tried to remember more but hit a wall. It was like some sort of dream. He got very angry with himself and started to get very tense. He thought he was about to scream but then he noticed a strange humming noise. The lights started to dim and then became bright again.

            He calmed down and started to fish through drawers. He looked through piles of paperwork. None of it seemed relevant. He couldn’t find anything that might have been about him. He pocketed a couple of surgical knives and a flask of hydrochloric acid.

            He went back into the hallway much more awake than he had been before and started walking. Most of the hallways were very linear and looked the same. Almost all of the doors were locked with a security card system. He found an elevator and pressed the button to go down. He leaned against a no smoking sign and sighed.

            The door eventually opened and he was suddenly face to face with two security guards. He stared at them as they lifted their handguns and started to shout at him. He lifted his arms in the air and the one on his left used his radio to tell someone which floor they were on.

            “Just calm down and everything will be okay. We don’t want to hurt you. We’re here to help.”

            The barrel of the gun was well oiled and polished and seemed to be staring at him. He stared back and wondered why they tried to sound so friendly when they obviously weren’t.

            “Hey! I said don’t move!” The guard shouted at him as he finished scratching his head. He continued to wonder what was going on and tried to think of a way to get out of the current situation. He didn’t really have anything better to do, but he didn’t like being in front of someone who is holding a gun and shaking furiously.

            “Have you enjoyed the food here yet?” The guards looked at each other and then looked back at him. “The vegetable soup is pretty good. It’s my favorite thing I’ve had here.”

            The guard on the right opened his mouth then closed it. “The doctor is on his way. Everything is going to be okay.”

            “I like your uniform. Is it dry clean only? I hate it when they give you a nice uniform but you have to pay to clean it yourself. The union should really do something about it.” Both of the guards became tenser at the sound of these seemingly insane words. He continued to find more things to babble about.

            “The weather is lovely today. It’s a nice day to go out for a stroll. You never know how good city air smells until you get locked away from it for a few days. How’s the temperature outside?”

            One of the elevator’s bells rang as the door opened and both of the guards looked in that direction for a moment. He threw the acid at the guard on the left and jumped on the guard on the right. He bit the guard’s hand and the gun fired. He poked him in the eye and started punching at his groin. The guard eventually gave up and started running away, leaving his gun behind.

            The guard with the acid stopped moving as the Janitor got off of the elevator and looked at the current scene. Never took both guns and anything else that might prove useful in violent situations. He took one last look at where the face of the guard used to be before he got into the elevator with his new Kevlar vest and security card.

            “They’re waiting for you on the ground floor. I’m not sure what you can do about it.”

            “Oh, thank you,” he read the janitor’s name tag, “Gerald. Say, can you tell me where the nearest restrooms are?”
            “They’re on every even floor, plus the ground floor.”

            “Thank you very much. Sorry for the mess.”

            He got onto the elevator and tried to think. He took a moment to breathe and then tried to think again. That time it worked and he pressed every single button on the elevator. He got off on the fourth floor and started to follow signs to the nearest rest room. He relieved himself and washed his hands thoroughly.

            He started eating a candy bar he had found on the guard and sat down for a few minutes. He was very tired. He started to feel very bad about killing the guard and tried not to think about it. The guard was willing to shoot him and probably would have if something startling had happened.

            He thought about what had happened in the room and the blood on the walls, but it was all foggy. He shifted in his heavy vest. He wore the bulky vest underneath his lab coat and started to wish he had some sort of shirt that would fit comfortably under it.

            He hummed something by Bach and looked at his right hand. He knew it had some sort of significance, but still had no idea what was going on.

            He heard someone running and panting and stood up and took out one of his shiny new handguns. One was a revolver and the other was semiautomatic. He pointed the former at the person who ran around a corner and stopped as soon as he saw Never.

            “Never! I’ve found you!” he said as he put his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. “You have to come with me before they find us.”
            “Take off your shirt.”

            “What? We don’t have time for this. I found a way to disable the tracking device in your head. We have to get rid of it and get back to the States.”

            “Look, I don’t know you. All I know is that you have a shirt that looks like it fits me and I have a gun. You do the math.”

            “Fine, here, take it. Don’t you remember me? It’s me, Swen. We went to college together. We worked in the lab together for years.”
            “I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything.” His eyes started to water up as he spoke. “All I remember is waking up in – - in that room. And the soup! And . . . my hand. What did they do to me?”

            “Your name is Never Darkhood. You’re a scientist for the company Com Co. You’ve been working with experimental chemicals and volunteered for the first human test subject in a new line of drugs that were supposed to enhance reaction times. Now put away that gun and hurry!” Swen stopped breathing so heavily and looked Never in the eyes. Never decided that he was the best person to trust so far besides the janitor.

            “Okay.” He said.

            “Fine, now hurry and follow me.” They started running down a hallway and around a corner. “They’re scanning the building for both heat and your neural implants. If we disable the signal sent from your brain, then it will be slightly harder to find you.”
            “Why are they chasing me in the first place?”

            “You don’t remember killing that man?” Never didn’t say anything. “I’ll explain once I catch my breath.” He sat down and started panting. He motioned at a door with a security card device next to the door. “We have to find a way to open that door.”

            “”I have a security guard’s card. Will that work?”

            “No, the security guards have limited clearance to R and D labs. We have to find a way to override the lock. What are you doing? No!” Never shot the lock with the revolver and there was silence. The door did not open.

            “Did you really think that that was going to work? This isn’t a movie. You can’t solve everything with guns and bullets.”

            “Should I shoot it again?”

            “No! Don’t shoot it again. In fact, give me the gun. Apparently common sense goes with your long term memory. Help me pry off what is left of the panel. Maybe we can wire it to open.”

            Swen took the revolver and they pulled on the panel until the plastic cover eventually came off, exposing a computer chip and a mass of tangled wires. Swen started to examine separate wires.

            “So what did these experimental drugs do to me?”

            “They wiped your memory clean and did something weird to your nerve system. It was supposed to make the bridge between nerve cells move so quickly, that messages would be sent at near light speeds. We have no idea what is going on inside you. All we know is that you can make things explode when you’re angry.”

            “That sounds like something out of science fiction.”

            “Well, it is, really. All of our research was based on that book you wrote during college. Then we found out how to manufacture ambrite.”

            “Isn’t that the frictionless material found on that meteor?”

            “Yes. We had our chemical theorists analyze it and they said a lot of stuff about storing kinetic energy. After a lot of refining and dead lab rats, we decided to test it on a human. You donated your own body to test the process and lost your mind. After that, strange things started happening. You were under a lot of surveillance for a few days, and then you blew up a scientist that was trying to give you drugs to suppress your brainwaves.”

            “That was this morning. I remember that. Or at least what was left of it.”

            “The security guards have been told to shoot on sight. The entire military is going to be after you. There! I got the door to open. Come in here. Stand on that spot on the ground. Close your eyes and cover your ears. Try to keep your mouth shut while it’s running.”

            Swen worked at a computer behind a shielded room while Never stood in front of something that looked remarkably like a very old fashioned camera. The camera-looking device started to hum and he closed his eyes and covered his ears with his hands. The machine made a loud snapping noise and Never fell to the ground.

            “Oh, good. I think it worked on the first try. Ooh, he’s still breathing, this will save us time. Never! Never, wake up! Oh, he’s really out of it. I’ll have to carry him.” Swen finally stopped talking to himself and placed Never’s limp body awkwardly on a table with wheels. They squeaked with a high pitch as he hurried to an elevator. They went to the fifth floor and went to the kitchen. Never mumbled a couple of things about being cold and tried to roll over. He landed on the floor and woke up.

            “My nose!”

            “Oh, it looks broken. There are some tissues over here. We’re going to lock ourselves in the freezer.”

            “Why?”

            “They’re scanning the building for heat signatures. If we stay in there long enough, they’ll think we escaped the building. I’m not sure how long it will take.”

            “Why are you helping me? They’re going to think you’re with me.”

            “I am with you. I want to help you. We’ve known each other for years.”

            “Aren’t you afraid I’ll blow you up or something?”

            “Yes.”

            They pulled open the heavy freezer door together and looked inside at the person lying on the floor naked, covered with ice cream.

            Officer Brandford worked as a security guard for years. He joined the military when he was in his twenties and when he finished his service, he rejoined as a security guard. He had just been sent to an island that was somewhere near
New York. He shared one of three suites with a couple dozen other guards. It was small, as far as islands go, but had a residential facility, a recreational facility, a research building, and even a dock with fairly extensive equipment.

            He had the previous three days off and used them to completely throw off his sleeping schedule. He woke up at almost four in the morning, several hours before he usually got up for work. He bathed and put on his uniform. He walked into the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal.

            “Brandford, are you up already?”

            “Hello, sir. Did I wake you up?”

            The head of security, Sergeant Mocowski, walked into the kitchen clad in only his boxers and poorly shaved face. He had only been in the military for three years, but was rather popular among those he ordered.

            “No, I always get up this early. It’s your first real day of work here on the island. I want you to pay attention to the other guards and try to get an understanding of how things work around here.”

            “Yes, sir. I think I’m going to spend a little time in the firing range before my shift starts.”

            “Sure thing. Just be careful and make sure you get to your post on time.”

            “Yes, sir. I’ll see you later, sir.”

            He put his bowl and spoon in the sink and went outside. It was spring time and the sun was not quite beginning to rise, but looked like it was considering it. He walked past the other two suites that security were staying in and past one of the suites that the scientists were staying in.

            He turned onto one of the paths going through the recreational section of the island, and made his way through the small garden. He went into the indoor firing range and took out his only child.

            He was very proud of his firearm. He had it for years and looked brand new. Most of the guards there used the standard issue semiautomatic hand gun that they received when they became security guards. He, however, had a magnum revolver that his father used to own. He removed the separate parts and polished them. He oiled the chamber and also the leather grip. He slid six bullets into their separate chambers and let them loose at the paper target across the large room.

            One of the reasons he joined the military is because he loved to shoot things. He had never shot at a living being, except for one time he went hunting.  He hated the idea of killing, and was glad that there was no war while he was in the army. He reloaded and took another few shots at the humanoid target.

            He had always found this to be a soothing hobby, for some reason. Half an hour went by before he noticed. He threw away the used target and started his way toward the armory to get ready for work.

            You had to walk to get anywhere on the island. There was only one paved road that circled the island, but no actual motored vehicles. But, the weather was nice and he enjoyed the fresh air. It was something he didn’t get much of in the city.

            He reached the armory in the back of the research building and meet with the others. They were already getting ready for a change of shift and the few guards that were working the night shift were taking it easy. He had some coffee before he put on the rest of his uniform, including the standard Kevlar vest. The entire island was a very potential war target.  There was a lot of tension between the Eastern and Western Alliances, so they increased the security and added a few new guards and gave them better equipment. Brandford was one of the new guards.

            He checked the assignment board and found out that he was supposed to escort a few scientists to give a patient his meds. He thought this was a little strange, but decided against asking about it. The guards were expected to be the grunts and meat shields for the scientists. There was always a little bit of rivalry between the two groups. They would play pool against each other a lot.

            He finished his coffee and meet up with the rest of his shift. He introduced himself and went on his way to go help the scientists. On the way, he met one of the janitors.

            “Hey, you must be one of the new guards.”

            “Hello. My name is Dan.”

            “I’m Gerald. I fix everything too simple for the researchers to fix. I also clean up a lot of their messes. If you see any mental patients get out of their rooms, make sure you call and tell someone.”

            “Yes, I’ve already been told about the facility and what I’ll be doing here. Thank you. I really have to get going now.”

            “Goodbye. It was nice to meet you.”

            He got onto the elevator and pressed the button for the ninth floor. It was a fairly tall, skinny building. He got off and walked down the hallway and found the office he was supposed to go to.

            “Oh, hi, Brandford. You did well in pool the other day. How do you like work so far?”

            He nodded at the scientist he barely knew. “It’s pretty nice here. I hear you need some help administering meds to a patient.”

            “Well, we expect he might become violent any minute. We just need you there in case he resists. We don’t expect any problems. Just the usual protocol.”

            “Alright. Let’s get this done with.”

            “His name is never. He used to be part of the staff. He volunteered for human testing for a drug we were manufacturing. He had a lot of brain damage and has had several surgeries. He has a lot of memory problems. Every once in a while he becomes violent and starts smashing things. We’ve had to move him to different rooms because he keeps scaring the other patients in each ward. Here, he’s at the end of this hallway.”

            Brandford knew the scientist was just being friendly, but he still didn’t have anything to talk about. He was completely new to everyone on the island and had really only become friendly with Sergeant Mocowski.

            As they got close to the room labeled Darkhood – 001, the man inside started to pound on the door. He was shouting and asking a lot of strange questions. Brandford had worked in facilities with mental patients before, but the questions still made him a little uneasy. He felt very bad for Never and hoped he would feel better soon.

            Without saying anything, the scientist wearing a long white coat walked into the room and put an unpleasantly long needle into his upper arm.

            “There, that should help keep you calm. Your hand looks a lot better.”

            Never fell to the floor and started drooling. Everything was very blurry and confusing. He was drooling a lot.

            Brandford looked into the room and looked at the bald man on the floor, writhing and drooling with his eyes rolled back. He watched as the scientist took out a whole other set of needles. He didn’t really want to watch this display of something not entirely unlike violence, so he walked a bit away from the room and leaned against the wall. He heard Never cry out in pain.

            The lights dimmed and the scientist screamed for a moment then suddenly stopped. Brandford took out his revolver and ran to the room. It looked like a hurricane had passed through the room. Never’s cot was completely smashed and the walls looked like they were about to cave in. Never was lying on the floor and the scientist covered the walls. Brandford stared for a few moments then ran as fast as he could. He took the stairs, not the elevator. He leapt entire flights at a time. He radioed for help as he ran. The guards at the security station could barely understand him as he jumped, landed, turned, and jumped again. He finally reached the ground floor and continued to run to the armory. All that physical training had finally paid off.

            He took a moment to breathe and told the others that a patient had just killed a scientist on the ninth floor. He wasn’t sure how else to put it because he was still not completely sure what he saw. Everyone followed protocol and took safety restraints and turned on the alarms. Several guards filed into one of the elevators and started their way to the ninth floor.

            Brandford sat on one of the benches and tried to catch his breath. Swen and Mocowski walked frantically into the room.

            “What’s going on?” asked Mocowski.

            “A patient on the ninth floor just killed a scientist.”

            “Why didn’t you take him in?”

            “I don’t know.”

            “Well, what happened?”
            “I don’t know!”

            Before the sergeant could ask another useless question, Swen interrupted. “What was the patient’s name?”

            “He was Darkhood.”

            Swen looked very startled and scared. Mocowski’s and Brandford’s walkie-talkies said chorally that the patient was not in his room and they were going to keep looking. Then a disgruntled scientist said over the radio that the alarms were scaring the patients and to turn them off. They turned off, then another voice on the radio mentioned something about a tracking device and heat sensors. Swen quickly walked out of the room and began running as soon as he was out of sight from the guards.

            “Come with me,” said Mocowski. They walked to the elevator and Mocowski pressed the button for the ninth floor. “There is one patient here that is different than the rest.” Brandford saw his share of movies and had already guessed exactly what was going on, even though he already passed that idea as untrue. “After some medical treatment and several surgeries, he has gotten several strange powers. He can manipulate the world around him with his mind. The only problem is he can only remember one day at a time and he can’t really control his powers. Whatever you saw on the ninth floor really happened. The world is starting to go through a second renaissance. Ambrite is going to change the world.”

            Brandford thought about all this as the door opened. There was a man with a shaved head wearing a lab coat leaning against the wall. Every one looked very confused for a moment. They took out their guns and pointed them at him.

            “Just calm down and everything will be okay. We don’t want to hurt you. We’re here to help.”

            The bald man stared at the end of the revolver in Brandford’s hands. He was shaking a little. Then he reached up to scratch his head.

            “Hey! I said don’t move!” yelled Brandford. He was very scared with everything that was going on.

            “Have you enjoyed the food here yet?” Brandford looked at Mocowski, then back at Never. “The vegetable soup is pretty good. It’s my favorite thing I’ve had here.”

            Brandford opened his mouth then closed it. “The doctor is on his way. Everything is going to be okay.”

            “I like your uniform. Is it dry clean only? I hate it when they give you a nice uniform but you have to pay to clean it yourself. The union should really do something about it.” Brandford started to get tenser and tenser the more Never spoke. He would still not stop, though.

            “The weather is lovely today. It’s a nice day to go out for a stroll. You never know how good city air smells until you get locked away from it for a few days. How’s the temperature outside?”

            The elevator made a noise and the door opened. They turned a moment to see what was going on. The janitor was standing there, looking rather confused about the situation. When they turned back, a moment later, a flask of acid was flying towards Mocowski and a screaming mental patient was flying towards Brandford. The flask smashed hard against his face and Mocowski fell to the floor.

            Never’s teeth dug into Brandford’s hand and he dropped the gun. He poked his eyes rather hard and then started punching him in the groin until he gave up and ran away. He ran around a corner and remembered that he left his revolver behind. He decided against going after it and said on the radio that Sergeant Mocowski was injured on the ninth floor. Then he took a few minutes to recover from his recent fight.

            “Jonathon Robertson! What are you doing here?” Jon woke up and wiped some ice cream off of his face. “This is Jon. He is helping us test out some new meds.”

            “Ice cream I have found.”

            “He has an interesting way of speaking, but is actually rather smart.” Never thought about that statement and had a hard time not laughing. He was naked, covered with ice cream, and had curly blonde hair that went in every direction.

            “Smooth your head it is.”

            “Thank you,” said Never sarcastically. They helped him up and gave him a fire blanket to cover himself with.

            “Going around is not a good idea. You must take the blue card to make it through.”

            “What is he talking about?”

            “He has been like this for a while. He says a lot of things that are unrelated to what is going on around him. He has some sort of memory problem. We have to get his body temperature up.” Swen went to a sink and started running hot water. He ran around looking for a pot then put it in the sink to fill. Then he took the fire blanket and put it in the pot. He took the hot towel and draped it over Jon. Then he put the pot on the floor and coaxed him to put his hands and feet in it. He awkwardly stood with his hind end in the air.

            “So much for hiding in the freezer. What are we going to do?”

            “We have to get off the island, but we don’t have a chance with the heat sensors. We have to find a way to disable them.”

            “Come with you I must!” shouted Jon, who had an excellent view of the others through his legs. “The current is instant!”

            “Is it a good idea to bring him with us?” said Never. “I think he’ll be safer staying here.”

            “Ice cream!”

            “Don’t they have cameras here?”

            “No they got rid of the cameras,” He grinned for a moment, “For security reasons.”

            “You call that a sine graph? Twenty lashes!”

            They dried off Jon and found him an apron from the kitchen. Neither of them bothered to ask where his clothes went.

            “The day of wrath is upon us. Make way for the Viking king.” Jon started prancing around in his new apron, showing off his ballet moves.

“I think we can disable the heat sensors with an emp charge. There’s a powerful battery on the third floor used to charge a laser. I can probably rig the laser to send out an emp charge. We should take the stairs.”

“Lose thirty pounds in thirty days! Take no survivors.”

They walked down several flights of stairs and through a couple of hallways. Jon followed them, still talking nonsense. “One plus one over phi equals phi? That’s so sexist!” They came to a door labeled ‘

Light
Amplification
Center’ and Jon made a noise like a pirate.

“There’s a padlock on the door.”

“Oh, I forgot. They closed this lab a couple of months ago.”

“Sizzle bingo flog-rat,” said Jon as he reached into his mouth and pulled out two paperclips. He bent each of them and jammed them into the lock. He wiggled them around for a couple of seconds. Then, the lock opened and he put the paperclips back in his mouth.

Never took the lock and put it in one of his pockets. “Nifty, this one is.”

They entered the room and the lights automatically turned on. “The rain is too much.” There was something in the middle of the room that was very obviously a laser. It was long, round, and had lots of shiny things attached to it. There was one wide cable leading from what seemed to be the back to another large machine across the room, behind a very thick windowed wall. “While supplies last. Not available to citizens of
Massachusetts or
Texas.”

Swen went over to the laser and pulled off part of the siding. He pulled out a lot of cables and a few computer chips. Then he reapplied a couple of wires and a paper clip that Jon reluctantly gave up.

“Coming are the guards,” said Jon, as he was doing jumping jacks. A short while later a few guards, including Brandford walked in, heavily armed.

“Hold your fire,” yelled Brandford. “It’s not him.” Jon was running around using his apron as a cape. ”We don’t have time for him. Let’s keep looking.” The guards left and Swen crawled out of the part of the laser he had just hollowed out. Never had taken an empty box and covered himself. He stood up and kicked the box gently.

“Sunday Sunday Sunday!”

Swen went back to work.

“He runs upstairs to talk to a girl off screen. Yell at the door in a fatal attempt at time travel.”

“He seems very hyped up for some reason.”

“This is a lot more excitement than he usually gets. I think I’m done. This should logically work. There’s a chance it might explode, but it should work even if that happens. That lever there. Yes, that one. Pull it and we’ll look for a fire escape. We have a couple of minutes before the battery fully charges.”

“It did not go as expected. All of the opportunities were some word for that can not be thought of.”

They ran into a hallway and to a series of windows that overlooked a small part of the island. They could see the dock and way in the distance they could see land on the horizon. Jon took out the lighter he was hiding in his mouth and used it to set off a fire alarm. Sirens started going off and water poured from the ceiling. A long inflatable slide suddenly led from the window to the ground. They slid down and Jon seemed to really be enjoying himself.

They ran to the dock and started up a hovercraft. It blew dust and dirt in every direction as they pushed it to the water. The explosion from the research building nearly knocked each of them over. They could barely see what was left of the building through the heavy dust.

They finished loading the boat into the water and decided to head to the
Eastern Alliance, where refugees and even some criminals are welcomed. They decided that two scientists and a mental patient should be able to make it. They went as quickly as the hovercraft could go, and met no resistance until they made it to the border in the ocean. There they were picked up by the Navy of the
Eastern Alliance as spies.

“We’re not spies!”

“Then tell me where you’re from.”

“I’m telling you, I don’t know.”

“Do you really expect us to believe that you have amnesia?”

They questioned each of them individually.

“What is your name?”

“You can’t expect to get anywhere unless the fins are bigger.”

“Who gave you your commands?”

“But, there’s no such thing as a polar cascade.”

“Answer my questions!”

“Act or act not upon the pride of my blood!”

Swen was the only one who got a chance to explain what was going on.

“What is your name?” They were each questioned one at a time by Captain Rhael on the ship The Behemoth. He had a short temper that matched his own height, but not his ego. He did calm down a lot when he started getting good answers and was even rather quiet.

“I am Swen Rhiol.” He kept his answers simple and short.

“Where are you from?”

“I’m from
Sweden of the
Eastern Alliance.”

“Then what were you doing on a ship from the
Western Alliance?”

“I started working at a research center there before war was declared.”

“And your friends?”

“They are also from there. Never went to the same college as I did in
Sweden, and worked at the same company, but recently suffered from amnesia. And the other one is Jonathon, who was a patient at the facility.”

“What kind of research did you do?”

“We did a lot with nanotechnology and biomeds, but recently started working with Ambrite a lot.”

“How far did you get in your research?”

“We were able to shape it and reproduce it in large amounts. We were unsuccessful in anything else.”

“Why were you leaving the
Western Alliance on a simple four man hovercraft?”

“Something went drastically wrong with one of the experiments. Never ended up losing his memory and the facility was destroyed. The military ended up coming after us.”

“A scientist and two people that have lost their minds?”

“Yes.”

“You will undergo more questioning after I have talked to my superiors. Until then, you will return to your room with your friends.”

Swen left the room and followed a guard to a room with Jon and Never in it. He ended up locked inside with each of them.

“How did you get those black eyes?”

“How didn’t you get one? That Rhael guy is crazy. He even hit Jon.”

“All hail the god of rain!”

The room around them started shaking violently, making it hard to stand up. An alarm started to sound and the security doors unlocked. A message sounded, telling everyone to report to their battle posts. Jon started screaming maniacally and ran out of the room and out of sight. Swen and Never looked at each other then fell down as another missile hit the ship.

The Behemoth was the pride and joy of the Eastern Alliance Navy. It was the size of a small village and very intimidating to look at. It used laser propulsion, and had the ability to launch smaller ships and aircraft. It hovered with a deep roar above the water. Its huge main cannon shined in the sun.

The defense system kicked in and flack flew out of one side of the ship and met with incoming missiles. Many guns mounted all over the ship were manned and ready for anything. The energy and material shields braced for an attack. Everyone with a view of the water looked out onto the horizon and saw absolutely nothing. It was a perfectly clear day, and no enemy was seen.

“Cloaking,” said Captain Rhael, who sat in his chair on the bridge, overlooking the huge deck covered with people preparing to launch jets to counterattack. He scratched his chin. Cloaking was still new technology and there really wasn’t any efficient way to deal with it. They just sat and waited for another attack.

Jon snuck by the entrance to the bridge giggling. He walked up to a door that said ‘authorized personnel only’. He pressed a few random buttons on the keypad next to it then punched it. The door opened and he stepped into the elevator. He pressed another button and it started descending. “Quote the VGA and reverse the intent.” The door opened and he was in a very large room with a giant humanoid robot.

Swen and Never walked aimlessly through the halls. They found nothing useful after looking for several minutes. There were no obvious signs of escape. Eventually they came to a cargo lift.

“No, don’t go in there,” said never suddenly and frantically.

“Why not?”

“There are guards in there. Three of them. Quickly, hide!”

They ran and hid behind a stack of boxes and watched as the wide doors opened and three guards walked out. The guards then ran down the hall and into a room.

“We have to follow them.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, just come with me.”

They ran after the guards and into the room. The three guards turned around and looked very surprised for a moment. They were putting on equipment to get ready for battle. Each one took out their guns and loaded them. Never threw his arm forward and yelled “No!” very loudly. The guards flew back into the wall behind them and fell unconscious. Swen looked at Never.

“How did you do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did we have to follow them?”

“I don’t know. I just felt like I had to.”

The robot was sitting up in the fetal position.  It was colored purple and white to match all of the ships of the
Eastern Alliance’s ships. A large portion of its chest was open, exposing a cockpit. Jon walked across a catwalk and crawled inside as it closed behind him. The console lit up and Several screens showed him diagnostics of the robot and a few showed visuals of its surroundings. A computerized voice started to tell him that “All systems are functioning and Yggdrasil is ready for launch.”

He clapped happily and grabbed the controls. “Fury is centered in the tongue root.”

“Your orders, sir?”

Captain Rhael thought for a few more moments and shook his head. “Is the radar picking up anything?”

“No, sir.”

“How about sonar?”

“Negative.”

“Do we have any idea where it is?”

“No contact as of yet, sir.”

Swen and Never dressed in their new uniforms and loaded their new guns. “That book I wrote,” asked Never, “What was it about?”

Swen smiled. “A guy who got psychokinetic powers from medical experiments.”

Never laughed, but was rather unhappy with his current lifestyle. “How did it end?”

“I don’t know, you never finished the book. You were a much better scientist than you were an author.”

Never’s book actually ended with the destruction of the universe, but Swen decided that it was a bad idea to mention that. The irony settled and they took their new disguises and started looking for a means of escape.

They decided to take the lift up to wherever the guards were taking it from. It turned out that that lift went directly to the deck. They reached the top and saw the vast tar landscape before them. A huge part of the deck started to open up and a giant humanoid robot flew up in the air and did a few somersaults.

“What the heck is that?”

“It’s Yggdrasil!” shouted the Captain. “Who gave the order to launch it? Connect us to the cockpit!”

A screen near the captain turned on and it showed Jon screaming playfully. Yggdrasil did a few more flips before the computerized voice warned him about the incoming missile. He hovered for a moment before trying to catch the missile. It blew up when it impacted the hands of the robot. He was knocked back by the blast, but seemed ultimately unaffected.

The Western Alliances battle cruiser was visible for a moment after it launched the missile. This was long enough for the entire crew of the behemoth to fire their weapon of choice at it.

Swen and Never watched as Yggdrasil did a cartwheel through the air, dodging a series of missiles. The missiles circled around and started towards him again. Yggdrasil reached to its back and grabbed the large gun that was mounted there. He fired a few laser shots, detonating the missiles in mid air.

The first battle of a world changing war had just begun between the
Eastern Alliance and the
Western Alliance. Carriers from both fleets launched jets and helicopters. Bullets and flack filled the air. Never and Swen found cover behind an unmanned jet. Jon found a device that lets him speak very loudly using Yggdrasil’s speakers.

“Lo, I have become death, destroyer of worlds.”

Someone wearing a Eastern uniform saw Never and Swen hiding and started yelling at them. He called them cowards and told them to get on that plane before he had them executed. Never tried to throw him with his mind but nothing happened. The odd hand motion just seemed to make him madder. They climbed into the cockpit, not sure what else to do. Never was in the front while Swen climbed into the back.

“We don’t know how to fly a jet!”

“Don’t worry,” said Never, “These things practically fly themselves.” The jet’s guidance systems booted up and it started down a runway to lift off. Never grabbed two joysticks and stated moving them around. Swen started pressing buttons on the console in front of him. The jet flew around, doing insane maneuvers while shooting randomly. Eventually, they leveled out and were heading towards the enemy fleet.

“I think we’re getting the hang of this,” said Never, a moment before they were shot down. The jet spiraled down towards the enemy cruiser. They ejected and landed on the deck. A few Western soldiers ran to them and held up guns. Never screamed and they all burst into flames. Never and Swen ran towards the bridge as the Soldiers rolled around on the ground, putting out the flames.

Jon was having the time of his life. His chaotic giggling could be heard half a mile away from Yggdrasil. He was fast and agile. He held nothing back as Yggdrasil’s computers helped him take down as many Western ships as possible. At the peak of his adrenaline rush, large doors opened on the Western cruiser and their secret weapon came out. It looked remarkably like a giant flying steel eyeball. It was nearly as large as Yggdrasil, and it flew very quickly and could change direction almost instantly. It paused for a moment as its iris opened and a very powerful laser came out, destroying a group of three Eastern Helicopters. It then turned to Yggdrasil. Jon clapped a few times laughed menacingly.

Captain Rhael had all the stress of dealing with a huge battle that marked the start of a war, but also had to deal with the idea that a mental patient had stolen the one thing that gave the
Eastern Alliance any advantage whatsoever against the
Western Alliance. They
Western Alliance’s army was much larger and a lot more technologically advanced. The
Western Alliance had fully developed shield technology that could repel lasers and missiles. They also recently found a way to mass produce Ambrite while the
Eastern Alliance had a hard time making any at all. They also had cloaking technology and probably a lot of other things that no one knew about.

“Where is the pilot for Yggdrasil!”

“He’s currently piloting a jet, defending the Behemoth.”

“Who put him on a plane? He’s spent months training for piloting the Yggdrasil. We can’t risk losing him.”

“Sir.”

“Contact him and tell him to come back and report to me.”

“Sir!”

“What do you want?”

“The current pilot for Yggdrasil had destroyed over fifty enemy craft already.”

The Captain was feeling very conflicted and knew that his superiors would either give him a medal or have his head. He sighed very loudly and fell into his chair.

“Just proceed with what battle plans we have left. Charge the main cannon and fire when ready.”

Jon fired several times at the metal sphere, but it quickly flew out of the way each time. Eventually, his laser stopped firing and just made an annoying whining noise. The metal sphere took this opportunity to attack. The iris opened and Jon quickly flew out of the way as it fired. The giant sphere shot at him a few more times fruitlessly. It then flew at him full speed and rammed him. Yggdrasil spun through the air a few times and then regained its balance. The sphere then tried to ram him again.

Never and Swen ran towards the bridge of the Western carrier simply because they did not know what else to do. They both stopped when they noticed an extremely high pitched noise. They covered their ears and fell to their knees. They looked across the waters and saw that the Behemoth’s main cannon was nearly ready to fire. The mind bogglingly huge laser cannon started to glow an intimidating shade of red. It was pointing directly at them. The high pitched ringing suddenly stopped and absolutely everything was completely silent. Never shouted at Swen, but he could not hear him.

A huge beam of light went from the cannon and seemed to go straight at Never and Swen. The carrier’s shields kicked in and the laser seemed to bend around the ship and go past it. It continued past the ship and went a couple of miles past both ships and made an awe inspiring explosion as the captain muttered something under his breath.

Swen and Never started to catch their breath and regain their hearing.

“That was really cool.”

“What?”

“I said that was really cool!”

“We should get out of here.”

“I can’t hear you.”

“We should get out of here!”

“Okay!”

They got up and continued their way across the deck and towards the bridge.