Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet (35 page)

Jack smiled.  Could it be his ship had found the Professor
and told him where to go?

Spaceship, you totally rule
, thought Jack.

Green glanced up at the robed robot on the throne, and
looked around the room curiously before settling back on the rag tag group
before him.

“I say, this is all rather… new,” said the Professor.  “Have
I missed anything important?”

Anna’s eyes fluttered open, her
vision eventually focusing on the dull grey ceiling of her cell, one solitary
light shining brightly, illuminating the whole room.  Her head throbbed
painfully and her entire body was stiff.

What happened?
she wondered. 
What did they do to
me?

She sat up on her hard metal bed and grabbed her temples,
sucking air between her teeth sharply as her head protested the movement.  She
massaged the sides of her forehead slowly to try to drive away the unrelenting
throbbing.  She swung her legs over the side of her resting place, but they
hung numb and useless until she began to knead them with her fingers.  Sensation
returned in a flurry of pins-and-needles that made her grit her teeth.

She tried to remember what happened but the memories were
elusive and hazy.  She remembered the fearsome Deathlord that had entered the
room, but the details of their conversation and what happened after that were a
blur.

One thing did spring to her mind, however.  She seemed to
remember a sharp pain in the back of her head, right before passing out.  She
reached back and felt around, but there was no wound as far as she could tell.
She felt for something – anything that might give her a clue as to what had
happened.  She pulled her hand back, half expecting to see traces of blood, but
her fingers were clean.  Other than feeling as though she had drunk an entire
case of Raxxagon Ale on her own, she seemed to be perfectly fine.

No, they had to have done something to me,
Anna
thought. 
They wouldn’t have just knocked me out for no reason
. 
They
must have a plan
.

Anna pushed herself to her feet.  Her brain buzzed in
response, and the room tilted at odd angles for a moment before she shook her
head and was able to re-establish her sense of balance.  Once the cobwebs had
cleared, she started to check her arms to look for any strange marks -- any
sign that the Deathlords may have done something to her while she was
unconscious.  She looked down her shirt, rolled up her pant legs, and felt
along her back as far as she could reach.  Still, there was nothing out of the
ordinary.

In a way, not finding something wrong worried her more than
if she had found an incision, a mark, or anything that might have confirmed her
suspicions.  Anna’s mind reeled with numerous possibilities of what could have
happened while she was unconscious, and each was worse than the one before it.

There was still so much that wasn’t known about the
Deathlords.  The extent of their powers, the scope of their technology, the
depths of their depravity – none of it had been investigated or recorded with
any semblance of accuracy.  The Empire’s alien foes remained as much a mystery
as they had been when they had first attacked.  As far as Anna was aware, she
was the only person alive who’d actually carried on some form of conversation
with a Deathlord.

And not just any Deathlord… just thinking of the one who had
visited her made her skin crawl and her spine shiver.  The power and fury that
raged behind those horrible red eyes set off alarm bells deep within her
blood.  She had been able to sense his power, almost like she did when she was
operating an Ancient device.  But this power was unlike anything she’d ever
experienced.  In some respects, it seemed of greater intensity than she had ever
encountered before from the Ancients.  However, that may have just been her
fear amplifying what she had felt.  Regardless, she was sure the Deathlord had
used his power on her, somehow.

Something was wrong, and she needed to figure out what.

Anna lowered herself to the ground, sitting on her knees and
folding her arms across her chest like the Luminadric Monks had taught her. 
She was going to have to meditate, to allow herself to get in touch with her trinity.

The monks had always said that understanding her trinity would
give Anna insight into her very being.  Control over it would allow her to heal
any sickness or wound she had suffered, be it physical, emotional, or
spiritual.  Unfortunately, Anna had not spent as much time at her lessons as
her tutors would have liked – and now that she needed to employ the discipline,
she felt even guiltier for not having been more diligent in her studies.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to access
the separate parts of her trinity – the mind, body, and spirit – and bring them
together, but it was difficult to focus.  She felt a warm sensation at the
bottom of her chest where her ribcage ended, and tried to grab onto that with
her mind, using it as the focal point of her meditation.  She had not reached
out for her trinity in a long time, and it was proving difficult to assemble,
like trying to put together a puzzle in the dark.

She focused harder, attempting to bring the three forces of
her being together.  Once she made contact with her trinity, she’d be able to
tune into her body and figure out if the Deathlords had done something to her. 
But before she could achieve that, she heard a noise.

She opened her eyes and looked at the door to her cell.  It
had come from the other side – some type of commotion.  The sounds were dull,
and it was hard to make out what they were, but they didn’t last long.

Anna got to her feet and stared at the entrance to her
captivity suddenly worried that the Deathlord Supreme may have returned. 
Maybe
whatever he’s doing to me, he’s not finished
, Anna thought. 
Maybe he’s
returned to complete the job.

Anna readied herself for another showdown.  She was heir to
the largest and greatest Empire the universe had ever known.  No matter how
scared she felt, no matter how much pain was inflicted on her, she was
determined to endure.  She was the final Princess of Regalus Prime, and she
would not allow herself to go down meekly.

The locks on the door disengaged with an ominous “clunk.”

Anna’s eyes narrowed.  Her gut tightening, she readied
herself.

The door slid open with a hiss.

Anna’s eyes widened with surprise.  Standing in the doorway
was not the Deathlord Supreme.  There, clad in his glorious blue and white
armor, stood Shepherd – her shining knight.  Her savior.

“Shepherd!” Anna squealed, her heart thumping in her chest.

“Princess—” Shepherd started.  Anna did not give him time to
finish talking.  She rushed toward him, wrapping her arms around him and
hugging his cold, armored body as tightly as she could.  She could feel salty
tears of happiness stream down her cheeks, and the steely resolve she had
mustered to meet her fate mere moments before melted away into a tidal wave of
relief that washed over her.

“You came!” she said, trying not to cry like a child. 
“You’re here!”

She felt his arms gently return her embrace.  She looked up
at him as his helmet withdrew, revealing a face lined with both worry and
relief.

“Are you okay?” Shepherd asked.  “Did they do anything to
you?”

“I don’t know,” Anna responded.  “I’m not hurt, but… I think
they did do something.”

Shepherd scowled.  “We’ll need to deal with it later,” he
said.  “I just took out two of their guards.  I don’t know how long we have
until they’re alerted to my presence.”

Anna nodded, trying to reel in her gushing happiness.  She could
thank Shepherd later.  Right now, they were both still in a great deal of
danger – though with her Paragon back at her side, Anna felt much safer than
she had in a long while.

“Lead the way,” she said.

Shepherd nodded, his helmet re-enveloping his face.  “Stay
close,” he ordered.

Shepherd began moving back down the long corridor with Anna
not far behind.  He moved his head back and forth as he walked, slightly crouched,
like a beast stalking its prey.  Anna could tell he was scanning the area with
his armor, looking for any sign of trouble.

“Where’s the Professor?” she asked, trying to keep up with
his brisk pace.  “Is he with you?”

“We split up,” said Shepherd.  “He was guiding me to you but
had to break off to keep from being detected.  We’re going to head to a
rendezvous point he set and meet with him.”

“And Jack?” Anna asked.

Shepherd turned and looked at her.  “If he’s alive, we’ll
find him,” he said.

“They promised me they wouldn’t kill him,” Anna said.

Anna could tell how stupid that sounded as soon as she had said
it.  She was almost glad she couldn’t see Shepherd’s face behind his helmet just
then.  But she had to hold onto hope her friend was still alive.

“Don’t worry,” said Shepherd, trying to sound reassuring. 
“We’re going to get out of here.  All of us.”

With a loud
WHOOSH,
purple light flashed all around
them.  Anna blinked, and felt her breath catch in her throat as she realized they
were now surrounded on all sides by Deathlords, weapons at ready.  Three had
appeared in the hallway before them, and three were positioned behind them,
boxing them in.

Before she even had a chance to fully grasp the situation,
Shepherd was reacting.  He reached out his hands and generated two force-shield
walls of golden light on either side of them just in time to block the volley
of plasma fire that erupted from the soldiers.

Shepherd pushed the shield wall behind them, and it rocketed
toward the three Dark Soldiers who were blocking the path they’d just come
from.  It slammed into the Deathlords, sending them hurtling backwards.  They
finally came to a crushing stop when they hit the walled entrance into Anna’s
former cell.  The golden barrier came to rest against them with a sickening
crunch, pinning them there.

Shepherd unleashed his quad-cannons and let the shield wall
dissipate.  The three Deathlords started to drop, no longer propped up by the
energy barrier, only to be hit expertly with well-placed plasma blasts before erupting
into puffs of grainy black clouds.

With those Deathlords dispatched, Shepherd turned.  He gave
the other force field a nudge, and it rammed into the three soldiers before
him, knocking them back.  Shepherd opened a hole in his shield and fired both
his quad-cannons, making short work of the enemies on the other side of the
barrier.

The whole thing was over almost as fast as it had started.

“Run,” he ordered, taking off down the hall.

Anna did not need to be told twice.  She began to run,
staying close to Shepherd.  The two of them sprinted down the corridor for a
few more seconds before making another turn down an adjoining hallway.  Anna
hoped Shepherd knew where he was going, because already she was feeling
hopelessly turned around.  The corridors all looked alike as far as she could
tell.

As they rounded a corner, they saw a group of six Dark
Soldiers before them, taking aim with plasma rifles.  Shepherd threw up a hand,
pulsing a circular force shield in the middle of the group like an explosion.  They
flew in all directions from the sudden appearance and expansion of his energy
field.

In a swift motion, Shepherd reached behind him and grabbed
his batons, the two sticks crackling to life.  He twirled them in a blinding flurry
as he rushed through the group, striking each Deathlord in turn as he passed
without slowing down.  Anna followed not far behind, just close enough to feel
the grainy black sand-like dust of the Deathlord’s disintegrating bodies mist
over her.

More flashes of purple came from behind.  Without slowing
down, Shepherd erected a shield barrier behind them to block the new volley of plasma
fire.  The shield trailed along with them, giving them continuous cover as they
ran.

More Dark Soldiers appeared before them, and Shepherd threw
himself into the group, energy batons flashing, making quick work of the
adversaries.  A few Deathlords managed to fire off some shots before Shepherd
dispatched them, but his armor simply absorbed the blasts without incident.

Suddenly, another flash of purple occurred, but this time,
instead of Dark Soldiers, there were simply two disk-shaped objects about the
size of bicycle tires in front of and behind them.  The smooth black disks had
a green core that pulsed rapidly.

Shepherd grabbed Anna and pulled her close, crouching over
her and shielding her with his body.  Their rear protective shield disappeared
and a domed energy barrier materialized around them just as the two disks
exploded.

Anna felt the ground beneath her tremble with the explosion,
and Shepherd grunted from the impact against his shields.  She looked up and
saw tiny black splinters sticking to the outside of the shield, slowly pushing
their way in as though the barrier was nothing more than a pin cushion.  The
needle-like black shrapnel slowly wormed its way past their protection.

Shepherd glanced at the shards and pushed his shield back,
expanding it around them to allow for more room.

“Stay down,” he ordered as he got to his feet.

Anna looked up to see one of the dark splinters had made it
through the shield barrier.  It shot directly at Shepherd fast as an arrow. 
Shepherd raised his baton in time, swatting it away like an annoying bug.

A few more splinters rocketed forth, and again, Shepherd deflected
them.

Anna shrieked as one splinter unexpectedly shot by her,
ripping her sleeve as it moved toward Shepherd.  The Paragon turned in time for
the splinter to embed itself in the shin guard of his armor.  It sparked on
impact and the splinter fell smoking and limp to the ground.

Shepherd reached out his batons and touched the sides of his
shield, channeling crackling white energy from his weapons into the barrier. 
Tendrils of electric white light streaked across the dome, hitting and charring
the numerous splinters still trying to worm their way through.

The charge to the shield caused it to dissipate, and the
splinters dropped to the ground around Shepherd and Anna harmlessly.