James emerged out of the last door, looking tired and winded out. He made sure he sucked the blood from his lips before he came out.
Rognard had warned them that if the cells found out he was human he’d be killed for sure, and red blood was a sure dead sign.
As soon everybody saw him out of the Test room, there was cheering, and a burst of a megaphone.
“Out comes our last contestant, James Winter! With a point of 10 out of 10, for conquering all levels with success, he is in tie with Ben Diva! But, with his time being two minutes shorter than our dear Diva’s, Ben takes the lead and wins the Test!”
There was more or less more or less cheering. Those supporting James were let down and stopped cheering and the ones vouching for Ben Diva applauded more loudly. Ben himself stood from the front bench and spread out his arms, acknowledging the cheers.
James felt the cold air tingle his skin as he thought about the injustice of all it all. Something had sabotaged his test, so it could have amounted to him being two minutes late than Ben Diva’s record.
Still, no one would believe him anyway, and the man would have passed where he did to get back in, out. A win was a win, and James wasn’t really fussed, it was just, he had let Commander Josh and his friends down…
Night had befallen them and the huge, tall lamplights were on all around the Field-like a great stadium.
James was still making his slow, steady progress to his friends when suddenly, the megaphone burst with the voice again. “Wait a minute, folks, something’s up…”
Suddenly, Guardians in black from head to toe swarmed around him, seizing him by the arms and pulling him from side to side. “What the-“James stammered. “What are you doing?”
“Come with us, Winter,” one of them said in an authoritative voice.
“Hey!’ some one screamed from the crowd of Guardians. James saw Josh shove his way in front of James. “What’s going on here?” he asked, standing between James and the authoritative guy.
“We have reason to believe that this boy here is involved in a Nemo Security Threatening matter. We just saw him fight his way out of the last test with a wanted Germ,” the Guardian said.
All around the stands, people had begun to crane their necks to have a better look at James and the Guardians, whispering between themselves.
The Guardian continued. “The cameras had been sabotaged in an attempt to keep us in the dark side, but there were smaller ones that captured the whole thing.”
“Well what do you want with James here?” Josh asked and James was uplifted to see he was trying to protect him.
“He would not be hurt,” the Guardian said. “We just want to ask him a few questions.”
“Alright. Let’s go, I’m going with you.”
“That would not be necessary…”
“As his leading trainer, I have to know what goes on with him in his time of service. To make a good report…”
The forceful hands let go off James, and the others formed a secure wall around him, like someone was going to snipe him dead at any instant. Josh walked by his side swiftly.
“You should go and see if he’s still there…sir,” James said to the lead Guardian. The Guardian stared at him for about two and ordered five of his men to “Break out of rank and search the whole Brain for the wanted Germ.” The others soon resumed their bodyguard position.
Then suddenly James was being husked into an office, empty except for a single table and chair.
He was offered the chair and the Guardian stood intimidatingly in front of the table.
“My name’s Bigley Benson, Head of the Inside investigation Authority for Nemo. And I want to know if you have or have had any dealings with any of Singar’s Germs or any other Germ operation ever?”
James frowned. “No I-“
His voice trailed off, remembering the Germs who had captured Jones. He considered telling Mr. Bigly for a second, then thought better of it. It could lead to a whole lot of other questions, and eventually uncover that he and his friends were human and they would get shot-killed.
‘I didn’t quite catch that, Mr. Winter…” Bigly Benson urged strictly.
“No,” James replied, maintaining eye contact with Bigly Benson. ‘No I haven’t, met any Germs. I dunno why that one tried to do me in either.”
Bigly Benson stared into James eyes, and the latter did not drop his gaze for one tiny second. People had always told James that they couldn’t stare at his and mother’s deep black eyes for long, because it either scared or intimidated them. He hoped this guy would be put off by his eyes ,too.
It seemed to work. Bigley Benson’s eyes wavered up to Josh and he nodded curtly.
“That’s it, we’re done here,” he said and Josh escorted James out of the room, back into the crowd at the Field.
“You okay?” Josh asked. “You look like bile.”
“I’m fine,” James said. “Just tired…”
“You look like you need some of that Part Oxygen Orange Juice,”
James shook his head. “Not that stuff,” he moaned without thinking and Josh laughed. “Yeah I don’t like it neither. Heard the Kidney makes a tone of money out of it, though.”
Josh stared at James for a while. “Why?” James said.
“Are you sure you haven’t had any recent dealings with Germs?”
James considered the answer he must give to Josh. He couldn’t lie to him, now. Especially not after he had stuck to James during this short, vital moment.
So, sighing heavily, he told Josh about how Jones had been kidnapped at the Teeth.
After about five minutes, the story ended. Josh nodded thoughtfully.
“And why the heck where you in the Teeth? It’s not the most interesting place in Nemo.”
See? Questions upon questions keep piling up, leading to new discoveries that could end up leaving James and the others dead.
He didn’t want to lie anymore. In fact, he didn’t want to talk anymore. “Look, Josh, if it’s okay, I’m very tired and my, er, caretaker should be waiting outside by now. So I’d like to go.”
Josh looked like he was shot. “But, James! I could help you to look for your cousin! Just-“
‘Josh, please, another time,” James pleaded, hitting his forehead comically.
“Ok, James,” Josh said, defeated. “Have a nice night.”
He left through the entrance door, which they had just arrived at. Leo passed by James.
“James, you kay, man?” he asked and James nodded. “Well, you can fill Seli and I in the car. Rognard’s here.”
James had just made to follow Leo when a girl’s voice called him from behind.
It was Cornie. She looked balefully into James’ eyes and said, “Um, James, I was wondering, um, me and my friends are going to the Rotwika Restaurant at six this evening, you know, to hold a party about us all scraping good marks out of the test, and um…”
She looked uneasy. She didn’t look James straight in the eye. James looked at her blankly. He stopped himself from saying, “Get on with it, I’m quite tired right now.
Cornie curled her hair and licked her lips. “I was wondering if you could come with us.”
Girls were officially weird in James’s book. That was what Cornie was almost pooping over? But then again, he had never asked a girl out ever in his life. Should be a piece of cake though, he thought.
“Cool, Cornie, I’ll be there,” he said.
Cornie brightened up, so that the pole lamps seemed dimmer. “Oh, you will? Um, it’s on the U1 Highway Vein leading form the Stomach (the busiest marketplace in the whole of Nemo). Uh, ok, will see you there. So, yeah…”
Talkative Cornie was back, James needed to get out of there before she exploded with endless conversations.
He smiled a little and turned away, following a smirking Leo out of the place.
James thought about what had happened. Why would some random Germ want to kill him? He was a new guy in town, he barely new anyone. And was he going to
find Jones? Then how in heavens above were they going to get out of Nemo? Back into the real, human world.
The Transformat heated, and for a second, James felt elation and inspiration from nowhere.