Chapter 47: Reunion
Sheen suddenly opened his eyes and let out a large yawn while sitting up in his seat. "What time is it?" he mumbled while yawning once more and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He stared at the monitor in front of him and saw a timer ticking down to zero. "Two and a half hours away from the Yolkian planet. Can't wait," he mumbled while jumping out of the pilot's chair.
He immediately cursed that decision as soon as he landed on his feet. His side still hurt, and his leg screamed in pain. Sheen stifled his scream, but then realized that was pointless as there was nobody around to hear him. "Ahhhhh!" he shouted as loud as he could.
In the twenty hours since Sheen had killed Dopsil and found the strange bottles of liquid, he had gotten a lot accomplished. After patching up his injuries as best he could he had gathered up all of the guns he had dropped and all the spears he could find. All of his weapons were in a large metal box that he had dragged into the pilot's room.
Sheen had also taken care of all of the remaining Yolkians that he had immobilized earlier. He had found several soldiers slithering across the floor at a snail's pace and stared at them with amusement. He interrogated all of the Yolkians he found. None of the soldiers would cooperate, so he had ripped their brains out. The few crewmen left alive had hesitantly answered his questions, and Sheen had them locked up in a metal crate next to the weapons. They had insisted that they knew nothing of his parents' abduction, and Sheen had come to the conclusion that it was a secret operation known only to Goobot and a select few. He made sure to check in on them every so often. After touring his new ship, he had lay down and taken a well-deserved break.
Despite his amazing victory over the Yolkians and the quenching of his thirst, he was still far from healed. His right leg had already been roughed up in his crash on the asteroid, and the knife that the Yolkian had thrown at him had nearly made it useless. The side of his stomach wasn't bleeding, but it still hurt from the stabbing and electrical shock. Plus, he hadn't found any food on the ship. It had been nearly four days since he had had anything to eat.
"Still," Sheen happily said while pondering all of that over, "I'm still alive."
Sheen was right. While painful, his wounds weren't fatal. He was worried that he wouldn't wake up when he had fallen asleep for his nap, but now he knew that he was going to survive.
Sheen crawled back into his seat and stared through the giant windshield that lay before him. He could see a small dot at the very edge of his field of view, and knew that it was the Yolkian's home world. "Only two more hours and twenty minutes," he eagerly told himself. "Then I'm back with the rest of the gang and getting our parents back."
Sheen drummed his fingers against the dashboard and sighed. I hope Jimmy and the others haven't fought them yet. I want to help. Besides Sheen's battle experience and superior marksmanship, he had several other reasons for needing to fight alongside his friends. He still had the majority of their guns, and he had seen how effective they were. He wanted to deliver them back to Jimmy before the fight. He also had found dozens of spears on the ship, which he was certain could come in handy. Plus, he thought that the information he had learned about their caste system and fighting styles could also be useful.
"Enough thinking," Sheen cheerily said while leaning back and putting his feet up on the control panel. "Two hours and I'm back with my friends and family. Then a short trip back to Earth and, drum roll please, Ultralord!" He raised his fist and let out a shout of joy at the thought of watching his favorite TV show for the first time in over two weeks.
Ever since the threat of immediate death either from dehydration or Yolkians had been removed, Sheen's new serious side had faded somewhat. He was rapidly transforming back to his old, wild self once more.
Sheen spun his seat around and then placed his legs back up on the control panel. He was rather enjoying having the run of a rocket ship to himself. "Two hours to kill," he murmured. "Should I explore the lower part of the ship some more or twenty questions with the Yolkians?" He tapped his finger against his chin for a few seconds before deciding on exploring. He was just about to get out of his seat when a quick beep came from the control panel.
Sheen glanced down at the computer screen beneath him. Written on it were four words. Human life forms detected. Sheen immediately looked through the glass screen in front of him out into space. The Yolkian planet was still little more than a date.
Sheen heard another beep and stared back down at the monitor. Human life forms five minutes away. "What the heck?" Sheen said aloud while trying to remember what Dopsil had taught him about piloting the ship. He finally rested his hand on a lever and pulled it towards himself. The ship immediately slowed down.
Sheen leaned forward in his seat and looked around. He saw only stars, planets, and black space. He was about to chalk the computer's notes up to error when he saw what looked like another Yolkian ship in the distance.
"Um, zoom in, zoom in," Sheen mumbled while staring at the hundreds of buttons in front of him. He pressed a red button, and the ship lurched forward. He flicked a green switch, and the ship fired some sort of laser cannon. He pressed several more buttons, but none gave the response that Sheen was looking for. He finally pressed down on device that resembled a joystick, and the monitor that showed a view of space zoomed in on the ship.
"Bingo," Sheen thoughtfully whispered while maneuvering the camera with the joystick clutched in his right hand. "What the heck are you?"
Sheen continued zooming in, and he soon realized that the object he was looking at was another Yolkian ship. This one seemed much larger than his own. He zoomed in as far as he could, and he recognized Jimmy's fleet of ships. The three rockets were either resting on the top of the alien craft's hull or floating just above it.
"What the heck are they doing on that thing?" Sheen asked while firing up his own ship's engines and flying towards the mother ship. Jimmy said that he was going to hijack a Yolkian ship after saving his parents. Could he already have rescued them? No, that can't be it. He would have taken a ship on the ground. He's either stealing the ship first … or the parents are on it.
Sheen didn't know which one it was, and he didn't really care. His eyes lit up and the pain encompassing his body dissipated at the prospect of seeing his friends again. "Time to suit up," he said while decreasing the rocket's speed. He looked down at the monitor that his right hand was resting on. Human life forms twenty minutes away. Sheen nodded. That should be enough time.
He quickly climbed out of his seat and hobbled across the floor to the crate of Yolkians. He bent over and began pushing it across the floor. "You guys are going on a little trip," he shouted into the box. He pushed it out of the pilot's room, through the maze of hallways, and down the stairs. He ignored the Yolkian's frightened cries and shouts of pain as they fell down the stairs.
It took a few minutes, but he finally reached the room that held the escape pods. He followed the sequence that Dopsil had taught him and prepared one of the pods to disengage from the ship. He set the autopilot to navigate the pod deep towards a random planet far away, in the opposite direction from the Yolkian home world.
"In you go," Sheen said while pushing the crate inside the small rocket. He made sure that the lid was sealed shut and stepped out of the escape pod. "I don't know where you're going, but have fun," he told the occupants of the crate while slamming the door shut and launching it off into space.
Having taken care of the last Yolkians onboard, he hustled back topside and went back into the piloting room. He stared at the array of guns and Yolkian weaponry, and he was once again struck with the problem of how to transport it all.
Sheen sighed and went back through the maze of hallways. He went into every room he could find and grabbed anything that could serve as rope. Unfortunately, he found no bags that he could put the weapons, only heavy metal boxes that he could never carry onto the ship.
He quickly limped back inside the piloting room and threw down the
array of ropelike material he could find. He knelt down and got to work. He shoved six pistols into his waistband and tied two to each of his legs. He shoved as many retracted spears as he could into his deep pockets. He reattached the shotgun to his old backpack's shoulder strap. He tied two pistols and a bundle of the spears to the butt of the shotgun and slung the cumbersome weapon over his shoulder. He then laid a long strip of wire that he had taken from the ship straight across the ground. He found then tied a different piece of wire to each box of ammunition and loaded magazine that he had. He tied the wires that held the ammo to the long piece of wire on the ground. He then took the long wire and wrapped it three times around his waist and tied it into a knot. He now wore a belt that had boxes of ammo and loaded magazines hanging from it.
There were still several pistols lying on the ground, but he didn't want to wait any longer, and he was running out of room on his body. He reluctantly left them on the floor and stood back up. He felt weighted down and flinched as the shotgun continued to smack into his back, but he limped over to the dashboard.
He was only a few hundred kilometers from Goobot's vessel. He slowly maneuvered his ship above the larger craft and touched down on it. He made his way down to the bottom level of his ship, opened the front hatch, and stepped onto the top of the vessel that the other children were on.
"Time to play the hero," he happily told himself while walking along the top of the mother ship's hull, looking for a way inside. "Or at least the delivery boy," he said while looking at all of the guns hanging from his body.
It took a few minutes for Sheen to reach and find the hatch where Cindy and Jimmy had first boarded the alien craft. He peered down the hole and realized that it was at least a five foot fall. He sadly looked down at his injured leg and sighed. "Jimmy, you owe me one," he whispered while stepping over the edge.
He landed on the floor below with a sickening crack. "Ow," he moaned while struggling to lift his head up. "Stupid gravity! I thought this was space!" he muttered to himself. Focus. Remember, everyone's counting on you. Even if they don't know it.
Sheen pushed himself up off the floor, braced himself against a wall as a bout of dizziness overcame in, and then adjusted his grip on the rifle in his hands. He held it out in front of him while walking down the hallway.
"Jimmy! Cindy!" He shouted while cautiously walking down the halls, swinging his gun around every corner. "Goobot?" he asked with a shrug.
He suddenly paused and took a few steps back. A dead, grey Yolkian was lying on the ground to his left. "What the heck is going on?" he wondered while straining his ears to hear any sign of a fight between his friends and the Yolkians. He raised his eyebrows in curiosity as he heard no sounds. The place was eerily silent.
Just as he was about to stand up, he noticed several drops of dried blood on the floor. "Jimmy and the guys were here, alright," he whispered while looking at the crimson red drops that stained the floor. He stood back up, tightened his grip on the rifle's trigger, and went down the first stairway.
He lowered his gun and cocked his head while staring at the strange room in front of him. That's the weird thing. It's not a room. It's just a, a, field, he thought, struggling to find the right words. The entire floor was one giant room that must have extended a kilometer in each direction. There was no furniture or doors, only an array of machinery and computers.
Dried blood and grey slime was strewn across the room. He shuddered as he walked past a stray Yolkian eyeball that seemed to stare up at him. He suddenly paused as a live Yolkian lay right in front of him.
Sheen instinctively raised his gun and made sure that his finger was on the trigger. The Yolkian remained still. He took a few steps forward, and saw that the creature was definitely breathing. It's…sleeping? He thought in amazement. He bent down to get a closer look, and shook his head in amazement as the creature did appear to be sleeping. He pondered shooting it, but decided not to permeate the silence with a gunshot. He coughed quietly as he realized that the air was tinged pick and had a strange taste, but he continued down the next flight of stairs.
"Jimmy? Cindy?" he asked in a whisper while navigating his way through the maze of hallways that was the third floor. He wanted to shout out their names and find them, but he could tell that something was wrong on this ship. The silence, the dead bodies, the clear evidence of a fight, all of it disturbed him. Yet what frightened him most was that the battle was obviously over, yet his friends' rockets were still resting on top of the hull. They were still on this ship, being completely silent. He wanted to know why.
"Nick!" he whispered. "Cindy! Jimmy! Ike!" He continued to seethe. He continued to get no response. Suddenly, he came across a door. He opened it, and light automatically turned on. He peeked his head inside, but saw nothing. He shrugged, closed the door, and continued on his way.
As he rounded another corner, he came across two doors, one on each side of him. He opened the one on the left, peeked inside, and saw that it was empty as well. He then twisted the other door's doorknob, but the door wouldn't open. He slammed his body against it, but the door remained in place. It was locked. Sheen silently debated whether to smash it open or not. He was curious as to why it was locked, but he didn't want to make a lot of noise. Finally, he backed up against the wall behind him, lowered his rifle like a battering ram, and charged forward.
Cindy, like Jimmy, was sleeping a dreamless sleep. Her fragile body was fervently repairing the damage that the Yolkians had inflicted upon her. The knockout gas would keep her weaker classmates unconscious for several more hours, but she was subconsciously fighting its effects. As Sheen made his way across the fourth floor of the ship, she slowly woke up.
"Huh?" she weakly asked while opening her eyes. "Jimmy? Nick?" She struggled to say, but she realized that a band of duct tape was covering her mouth… She had a splitting headache, and her body felt numb. What…what's going on? She tried to stand up, but found that she couldn't. Suddenly, she realized that, wherever she was, she was in near-complete darkness. Only a small sliver of white light came in from under what she assumed to be a door.
"Yolkians. Pink gas," she mumbled through the tape, trying to remember what had happened to her. She tried once more to get up, but felt some sort of rope dig into her wrists. She moved her fingers, and felt some sort of pole or pillar. She also felt it press against her back. Wake up, Vortex. Fight this.
She yawned, but shook her head. She immediately regretted that act as her splitting headache threatened to make her pass out. She fought off the bout of dizziness and pain. After a moment she took a deep breath and sighed. Wherever I am, I'm not going anywhere for a while.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps was followed by a door opening nearby. Yolkians. She then immediately realized the flaw in her logic. Wait, Yolkians don't have feet. It's human! I bet it's Jimmy! She started to shout as loud as she could, but then immediately stopped.
Wait, I think there's duct tape on my mouth. Yolkians don't use duct tape. And we killed Goobot. Who tied my up? The frantic sound of someone trying to open the door began to frighten her. It must be Jimmy, or someone else that helped us kill Goobot. It has to be.
But as the creature outside the door slammed itself into the door without speaking, she began to doubt that it was one of her friends. Besides, how lucky have I really been on this trip?
Suddenly, she narrowed her eyes. Screw fear. I'm not going down without a fight. She struggled to stand up once more, but she realized that that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. She realized that she could move her legs, and she got ready to kick her attacker. Sweat poured down her forehead as she struggled to position herself.
Then, the door cracked and swung open. Her eyes blurred as the darkness instantly gave way and the room was flooded with bright white light. She clenched her fists and tightened her legs, preparing to lash out at her attacker.
But as she was still blinded by the sudden flash of light, the figure in front of her asked, "Cindy?" Cindy immed
iately unclenched her fists as she recognized the voice.
"Sheen?" she asked in disbelief, but could only mumble through the tape over her mouth. Her vision began to clear, and she saw that Sheen was indeed standing right in front of her.
"Oh my god, Cindy!" He quietly exclaimed while running over to her and putting his rifle on the ground. "This will hurt a little," he sincerely apologized while quickly ripping the tape off her mouth.
"Ah! Damn it!" she mumbled as the adhesive tape tore off some of her lip's skin. She quickly shook off the pain and continued to stare in amazement as Sheen untied the jumble of ropes that tied her in place. Judging by the length of time it was taking him, she guessed that Eustace had used a dozen pieces of rope.
"You alright?" Sheen asked while bending down in front of her and looking her over.
Cindy continued to stare in amazement at the boy in front of her. His buzz cut had gone bald in the center from where he had been hit by the bolt of plasma. He was shirtless and had a noticeable wound on his side. He was covered in cuts and scrapes, and dried blood coated a good deal of his body. Cindy gulped and finally tried to ask the obvious question. "How? You … you were dead," she mumbled.
Sheen tilted his head and gave her a confused look. "I was?"
Sheen took his outstretched hand and watched him hoist her up. "You crashed, or something. You got separated from us. What happened to you?"
Sheen glanced over his shoulder as he thought that he heard footsteps, but saw nothing. He turned back to Cindy ran a hand through his hair. "Cindy, maybe we should talk later. I get the feeling that something's wrong on this ship. What happened to you?"
Cindy slowly nodded and rubbed her wrists. He's right. Focus on what's at hand. "We killed Goobot, so I went into the cockpit to get ready to fly the ship. Then," she paused while trying to remember, "It's kind of fuzzy," she admitted. "Jimmy and Nick were arguing about something on the headset, and something was wrong with the air. I … I don't remember. But somebody tied me up."
Sheen anxiously looked behind him once more. Cindy's words were feeding his paranoia. He was about to speak, but Cindy beat him to it.
"We have to find Jimmy and the others," she told him, her harsh and commanding tone returning. "We'll split up. Did you check the upper levels?" she asked him.
"Pretty much. I don't think anyone's there," Sheen answered.
Cindy nodded. "Alright. You check the remainder of this floor and I'll move on to the lower levels. We've got to find the Yolkians that did this. Do you have a gun?"
Sheen smiled slightly as he eyed the rifle that he had put on the ground. He pulled a pistol out of his waistband and handed it to her. "Need anything else?"
Cindy shook her head as she pulled the gun's slide and aimed it to her right. "I'm good. Let's move out." She was about to run out of the room as Sheen picked up his rifle, but she stopped and gave him an approving nod. "Thanks for saving me," she awkwardly mumbled while running out of the room.
Sheen gripped his rifle and stared after her. She's never done that before. She's going soft on us. He gave an amused smile and exited the room. He continued navigating the maze of hallways that was the third floor, opening every door that he saw. He became excited when several of the doors were locked, thinking that more kids must be behind them. But each time his hopes were dashed when he saw that the room was empty.
"Come on, guys, where are you?" he mumbled while twisting another door's handle. He found that it was locked, groaned, backed up, and slammed his rifle into it. Just like all the others, it swung open as the front of it cracked.
As Sheen entered the room, the lights automatically turned one once more. What lay in front of him was so shocking that he couldn't believe it. This room was huge, nearly four times as large as the others. Over a hundred of his classmates and fellow soldiers were strewn across the ground, tied up and gagged. Sheen ran up to Nick, who was the closest to him.
"General!" Sheen shouted while tearing off the tape that covered his mouth. Nick didn't respond, but his chest was steadily rising up and down. He was alive. Sheen dropped his rifle and began to untie his legs wrists when he began to cough.
The world began to swirl around Sheen's eyes, a sensation that he had long gotten used to. Only as he doubled over and began to cough did he realize that the air in this room had a pink tinge and a strange quality, like on the fourth floor. This is worse, he thought while crawling towards the room's exit. He continued to cough and fought off unconsciousness as he made his way back out to the hallway.
As soon as he had left the room and taken a deep breath, his vision began to clear up. His head was screaming in pain, he was still coughing, but he didn't feel like he was going to pass out. "Ok," he whispered while coughing, "hold my breath this time. Stupid Yolkians."
He took a few more deep breaths and then stood up. He walked towards the entrance and was about to walk back into the gas chamber when the unmistakable sound of a gunshot came from the floor below him. He immediately spun around and pulled a fully loaded pistol out of his waistband. He swiveled around, but saw no enemy. He dropped down to the ground and placed his ear to the floor. He could barely make out the sound of sobbing and shouting.
He immediately jumped up and ran through the maze of hallways. He slid to a stop in front of the stairwell, grabbed the banister, and limped down the stairs. He paused at the bottom of the stairs, pulled out another pistol, and hobbled down the hallway.