Explorer X Alpha (19 page)

“What's your story?” Dakota asked, breaking the staring match that the boy and Damien had going on.

“My story? My story is I want off this freaking ship! They are crazy here! They inject us with some crap that turns us into monsters! You wait… you will become a monster sooner or later. Then they'll cut you up and clone you to make more for their company's gain. You need to get out while you can, because once they've got you on this ship, you are their property,” the boy said with such anger that Dakota wondered if they should even try and set him free.

“Look, what's your name? Mine is Dakota, and this is Damien,” Dakota said as he glanced at Damien who was staring at the kid and sizing him up for a fight, it seemed.

“My name is Mason Steele,” Mason answered and pulled at his chains and bindings.

“Look, we gotta go. The guards are on the way,” Damien said and turned around and headed to the vent. Dakota looked back at Damien as he went to the vent opening and then turned back around to face Mason.

“Hey, Mason. I am going to put this explosive device here, on the bottom of your door. If you get out, make sure you take Maryann with you,” Dakota said as he bent down and put the clear, flexible explosive on the bottom of the door.

“This will automatically activate in a few hours, and hopefully the guards won't see it. We will be leaving for the first expedition before dawn. If I'd known I had to break you out, I would have brought something more powerful. Keep biting at the binds, because you'll need to be free of them,” Dakota said as he pressed the pressure point on the explosive to cause the device to heat up to the point of explosion.

“Now, Dakota, or I'm leaving without you!” Damien roared.

Dakota quickly followed Damien and lifted Damien up on his shoulders while Damien pulled himself up the rest of the way into the vent opening. Damien then braced his legs on each side of the duct and reached his arms down for Dakota. Dakota grabbed his arms and climbed up Damien and into the vent. They quickly closed the vent and quietly left.

 

 

Scott, Raiko, and Carter were the first to arrive back in the engineering room. They were about ten minutes earlier than the meeting time. Scott went to peek out the door to make sure no one was snooping around.

“Hey, Carter, Raiko, go get us a basketball court. I don't care how. I don't think it would be good for all of us to be caught here. I'll send the others over as they come out,” Scott said.

“I got it, dude. C'mon Raiko,” Carter said and walked like he was in charge of the world. Raiko rolled her eyes and followed him.

Aadi, Eirena, and Tacitus came out with just two minutes to spare.

“Man, do we have a lot to talk about!” Scott said to Aadi as he climbed out.

“Right you are,” Aadi answered grimly.

“Hey, I sent Carter and Raiko out to the courts. Why don't Eirena and Tacitus join them while we wait for Dakota and Damien?” Scott said.

“Gladly. I'll see you both when the other two come out. C'mon, Tacitus,” Eirena said as she led the way out of the engineering room door after slowly opening the door and peeking side to side.

“Aadi, there is some scary stuff going on with this company and this ship. We have got to figure a way to fight this,” Scott said so angrily that he grabbed Aadi's shoulder.

“I know. Just hold tight,” Aadi said as they heard Dakota and Damien coming through the vent.

“Hey, let's go meet the others at the courts. We don't want to be found here,” Aadi said to the others, as he screwed the vent closed.

“You got that right! No fight from me on that note!” said Dakota. He followed Scott and Damien out the door. Aadi finished up and went right behind them.

Carter had managed to get them the court closest to the engineering room where they found a bench and sat down as they were watching some of the other kids finish up their games.

“They just called for lights out. We got about ten minutes before they do their sweep and to kick us out of the recreation areas,” said Carter.

“Okay, now where to begin… uh, Scott, what did you find out?” questioned Aadi.

“There is some type of experiment going on here that caused some of the kids to get sick. And here is the kicker… they plan on getting rid of these kids that got sick from this experiment because they say they own the rights to them, as they were created by the company,” Scott said, and he slapped his fist against his hand in anger.

“Well, that's not the half of it. There are a lot of sick kids in the infirmary, and they aren't treating them well at all. The kids are drugged and helpless,” said Aadi.

“Not all of them are so helpless. Some of the kids that were injected got enhanced strength, but they brought those kids under control and put them in The Cave. I don't know exactly what will happen to them, but one little girl named Maryann seems to think that they will be disposed of. She just doesn't know how. Hopefully, they will find a way out in the near future,” Dakota said. Raiko looked at him and lifted her eyebrows.

“What do you mean, exactly? About ‘hopefully they will find a way out,' Dakota?” Damien asked and then crossed his arms.

“Nothing, I just felt sorry for them. I would want someone to help me if I were in their shoes,” Dakota said and turned around to watch the basketball game.

“You better hope you have nothing to do with their problems, Dakota,” Damien said as he walked up behind Dakota and growled in Dakota's ear. Dakota just stared straight ahead with a quick look of fear on his face at Damien's comment and then brushed it off. His mischievous smile reappeared. Aadi raised an eyebrow at the exchange and wondered if there was something that Dakota wasn't telling them.

“Well, guys, when we board our cruisers, bring everything that you need to protect yourselves. I don't want to come back to this ship after the expedition to any surprises. See you all in the morning,” Aadi said, ending the conversation, as he was very disturbed and needed to get back to the room to plan how they could fight this conspiracy when they returned from their expedition. He needed to call his mom… now!

Aadi walked and blocked out all the kids walking past and around him. He blinked and blacked out his mind to bring his mom's face into view within his mind's eye. She was at her office at TEGRC typing on her computer keyboard, intently reading the screen when he called her. However, she instantly smiled and closed her eyes in order to speak to him mentally, “Aadi, I have missed you so. Are you okay? I've prayed that these next four weeks go very fast.”

“Mom, I miss you, too, but everything is not going well here. There are some strange things going on. They have kids that didn't do well from the immunizations, and they plan to destroy those kids in some way. I don't know Mom… I just wish I could come home now, but I don't feel right leaving these others here to suffer,” Aadi thought and pushed it to her through the telenex.

“Aadi, what are you saying? Are you saying some of you all got sick, and they are holding those kids there? Oh my God! Why would Mr. Mitchellson let something like this happen?”

“Who is Mr. Mitchellson?” Aadi responded.

“He is the President and CEO of this company. He supports and approves all of the research and development for new business. He cannot be this cruel. I will see about this! I am going to request a meeting tomorrow, but first I am going to talk to your dad and some of the other parents we can trust,” his mom said.

“I don't know, Mom. I just hope tomorrow is not too late. I think one of the kids on my team did something that may make this place a little hostile. I don't know for sure, but I just got a feeling about something. Anyway, I'll call you after the expedition. My team is leading it with Damien and Tacitus, my teammates, in the front,” Aadi pushed to her in his thoughts.

“That's awesome! I knew you would be a great leader! My son, I love you and please, please, please be very careful not to bring attention to yourself,” she said as she put her hand up to her lips and kissed it.

“I think it's too late for that, but I will try. I love you too,” said Aadi as he blinked and blacked out his mind's vision of her. He walked faster to his room. He needed to speak to Ebu before the others arrived.

Aadi ran the rest of the way to his room. He scanned his eye and was in the door. He opened his backpack, and Ebu jumped out and climbed on the bed.

“Ebu, it's starting to feel like this is a very dangerous place to be,” Aadi said and grabbed some of the things that were in his duffle bag that he wanted to take with him to the expedition in the morning. He put as much as he could into his backpack.

“I saw a lot of things that were very bad. I downloaded information into my hard drive, and it is locked away for safekeeping. I will share it with you after the expedition. I will go with you tomorrow. Make room for me in the bag,” Aadi opened the backpack to make room for Ebu. Aadi was so spooked that he decided he would sleep with his backpack on to be ready for tomorrow's expedition.

The boys started to come into the room. They all looked solemn and had the same idea as Aadi. They started to pack their backpacks for the expedition with everything they may need while on Mars and for defending themselves when they returned, just in case.

“Hey, I, um… I, um, have a few extra laser guns,” said Dakota.

“Okay, Dakota. What's with you? Where do you get this stuff? How did you get on the ship with it in the first place? They made everyone hand over their communications devices and any other dangerous items, but you have it all. What gives?” asked Aadi and shook his head in amazement at Dakota.

“Let's just say that I like to acquire stuff on my travels,” Dakota said, smirking.

“He means he
steals
them,” said Scott as he put his hypnotic device discretely in his ear.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious. Well, I don't know about you all, but I am sleeping with my stuff on. I am feeling a bit edgy,” said Aadi. He grabbed his space suit, helmet, and gloves and put them at the foot of his bed.

“I don't think I will sleep for weeks after what we found out today,” said Scott.

“I am not going to have any problems sleeping,” said Damien as he climbed on his bunk, turned his back to everyone, and appeared to go straight to sleep.

“Tacitus, thanks for pulling me up back there,” Aadi said as he climbed in his bed and got under the covers.

“You're welcome. Good night,” Tacitus said as he finally got into bed. As the lights went out, Aadi couldn't see anything but Trevor, and the tears that fell from his eyes. Aadi felt horrible because he couldn't help Trevor. He wished that he didn't have to leave the boy there with all those other kids. He was tired of feeling helpless. As he closed his eyes, he wished he were older, bigger, and strong enough to save them all.

 

 

Aadi woke up with a jerk.
Today is the day… expedition day,
he thought. He jumped up with anticipation, his blood was pumped, and he was ready to be in the sky. He looked around and realized everyone was still asleep. He looked at the time, and it was just two-thirty a.m. They would be blasting off at five in the morning, and he couldn't wait. He got up and went to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and washed his hair. He looked at his face in the mirror, and Trevor's face appeared. He felt helpless again, so for the first time since he started camp, he prayed. He prayed for strength and for Trevor and the other kids because he knew he couldn't save them all. He put on his uniform and his gloves in his belt. He was ready. As he moved forward out of the bathroom, Scott stood in the doorway.

“I know how you feel, Aadi. I know how you feel. I hope God hasn't forgotten about us, because right now, it sure is starting to feel like it. We will figure out a way to save them. I just know we will. We'll come up with a plan,” said Scott as he put his hand on Aadi's shoulder.

“God forgot about us the moment He put us on this ship or sooner even. He never did anything for me, and He ain't going to start now. Move,” Damien spat out and stormed by Aadi. Aadi looked at Damien's back as he passed and figured ignoring his comment would be best. He didn't have the energy to deal with Damien's anger any longer.

“I hope we will, Scott, because right now I really don't feel like a leader. I have no control over what they are doing to those kids or to us. We all had that immunization. What is it going to do to us? What has it already done? I don't feel different, but am I? Are you? I just don't know,” Aadi said as he shook his head and walked past Scott to grab his backpack. Dakota and Damien started heading to the bathroom to get dressed. They silently passed him by, which wasn't like Damien at all. Aadi wondered to himself,
Did I wake them up, or do they already feel the same way I do about what we saw last night?

Once dressed, the boys didn't wait for the call. They went straight to breakfast to meet the girls. Carter, Eirena, and Raiko waited at the table and surprised the boys by having their food already there waiting for them.

“Hey, what's this about? You didn't poison mine, did you? ‘Cause I wouldn't put it past you since you were taught your place in the simulation. You may be bitter,” Damian spat out.

“Lucky for you, I wasn't the one to get your food, Carter was. So hopefully, you didn't tick him off enough to want to poison you or put some interesting tasty buggley wuggleys in your food,” Eirena added with squinted eyes.

“If he wanted to live, he wouldn't,” Damien grumbled, but his usual biting sarcasms sounded dull.

“Well, anyways boys, we got your food because we don't have much time to talk about the plan after we return back from the expedition,” Eirena said and picked up some bacon and stuffed it in her mouth.