The Prize: Book One (37 page)

“Now we know what the monster was searching for.”

“Yeah, I'm so glad they found each other at last.”  Arms around each other, they walked slowly toward the last barrier, hearing Dana scream at last as the monster began to devour him.

“Can't help you with this, my love.” Penn said tiredly, nodding toward at the shimmering barrier.

“I know.”  Helping him over to the foot of a statue, she gave him a quick kiss.  The back of her hand brushing the side of his face before stepped boldly forward to meet her fate.  With a sigh, Penn sank to the floor, content to watch, fear for Ellis gone.  She would face her fear, whatever it was.

CHAPTER - THIRTY SEVEN:

Ellis stood there looking at her other self beyond the barrier.  After seeing what Penn went through, she wondered if she could face what she saw.  Her stomach tightened in nervous anticipation, a disconnected tentacle of fear worming its way through her brain.  Unlike Penn, she didn't have a stoic acceptance of death.  She wanted to live, wanted to feel Penn's arms about her, enjoy their lovemaking, walk with him in the sun, but most of all she wanted to have his children.   Taking a deep breath, she stepped back from the barrier, drawing the other Ellis with her until it was on this side.  To her surprise, she found the other Ellis holding a baby.  They stood facing at each other, and she wondered what this copy of her thought.  Probably the same thoughts as her.  As Penn had found, it would know and understand what she wanted and hoped for, what she feared the most.  Was this other Ellis like Penn's alter ego, evil and unfeeling?  Or was she something else.

“Hello,” she said at last.

“Hello to you as well.”

“So what do we do, fight?”  Ellis asked, balled her fists in anticipation.

“If that is what you want.”  The other Ellis cocked her head slightly to one side before looking down at the sleeping baby, and softly stroking one pink cheek, her finger a light as thistledown.

“It's not.”  Ellis never realized until then that she cocked her head that way.

“What do you want?”

“You know.”

“Yes I do.  You want to love this man with all your heart and soul, to have his children, to live, love, laugh, and grow old with him.”

“Yes.”  She nodded.

“And what price are you willing to pay to have all those things?”

“I don't know…” what price would any woman pay to have all those things? “  Anything I guess.”  In truth, she didn't know what price she was willing to pay to be with Penn.

“Even knowing what he is, and what he's capable of?”  Ellis smiled hearing that.

Penn was many things, starting with cold-blooded psychopathic killer at the head of the list.  The inventory of what Penn was went on forever, right down to the most infuriating man she had ever met, but it didn't matter.  They were just labels, and none of them said anything about the man.  Like they say, the map isn’t the territory and said nothing about his capacity for love of life, his understanding, compassion and so much more.  She 'knew' who Penn was and didn't care.  He was her man, and that was all that mattered.

“Would you be willing to die for him?”

“Yes, if necessary,” she answered immediately.

“To kill for him?”

“Yes!”

“To betray him?”  It felt as if the other Ellis had punched her in the stomach and she sucked in her breath, nodded, almost to herself.

“That is my fear, isn't it?  That sometime in the future I might have to betray him, like someone did before.”

“Yes.”

“And that is what I have to face isn't it.”

“There may come a time when you might have to choose between the life of your children, and that of Penn, or maybe all the rest of humanities children.”  Ellis sucked in a shuddering breath, feeling a tear run down her cheek.  It was the one silent promise she'd made to herself that she might not be able to keep.

“Yes, if that were the situation…”  Ellis let out a shuddering breath, “I would betray him,” she said at last, looking over her shoulder at Penn.

He sat there, looking at her with his bright golden eyes, a slight smile on his pain-wracked face.  Taking a deep breath, Ellis walked over to him.

“Penn… my love… there may come a time when I might have to betray you…” she shook her head and looked away from his searching eyes, “to save our children, or many children…”

“I understand,” he whispered.

“You do?”

“Yes.”  He smiled at her.  “If that is your fear, be at peace.  I know now that there are no absolutes.  Why my first love betrayed me I don't know, but it doesn't matter now.  Like here, there may come where your choices are limited.  You would never betray me out of greed, or even pain of death.  The rest I can accept.”  Unable to stand, he reached out, pulling her toward him, and kissed her forehead.  Ellis felt a profound sense of relief, and kneeling down she wrapping her arms around him and crying into his chest, her hands gripping his shoulders.

“I love you.”

“And I love you.”  He gently pushed her back.  ”Go.  Go face your fear… what the hell!”  Ellis turned and looked toward the barrier but it was gone, along with the other Ellis.

“Well I'll be dammed,” Penn exclaimed, his laugh coming out more like croak.

“What the hell is going on…?”  Ellis stammered.  “You have to fight to the death and I get to walk through…?”  Penn laughed out loud, wincing in pain.

“Oh lord that hurts.”   Laughed despite the stabbing pain.

“I don't get it.”

“I told you way back when that there is more to this place than meets the eye.  Now go, go find out what this damn prize is all about.”

“What?”  Ellis did a double take, looking at the open tunnel, and then back at Penn.  “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I'm done.  Go claim this prize, or whatever the hell it is.  I'll just stay here and rest.”  He sat back against the base of the alien statue, feeling bone tired.  He’d got her to the end, and that was enough.  Beside the throbbing agony in his leg, his accumulated cut, scrape and bruises had taken their toll.  He doubted there was any part of his body that didn’t hurt to one degree or another, so he was content to just stay where he was and rest.

“Penn, that stupid!” She snapped, “we go together to claim it.”

“I don't want the bloody thing. Never did.  Go switch off the gravity effect.  At least I can get some medical attention as soon as that asshole Tandy gets his sorry ass down here.”

“Like hell!  We go together, and Tandy can go screw himself.”  Saying that, Ellis stomped off back down the tunnel to retrieved Penn's pack.  She fished around inside until she found the med kit, she ripped it open and sorted through the available drugs.

“Don't think you'll find much in there to heal this,” Penn sighed, looking down at his leg.

“No, but it will help.”  Penn hissed in pain as she jabbed painkiller and broad-spectrum antibiotics into him.  She waited a few seconds for the drugs to take effect before grabbing him under the arms.

“On your feet soldier.  You have a mission to accomplish.”

“I do?”

“Yes, as you said, it’s your job to get my cute tush to the freaking prize, and we ain't there yet, mister, so move your sorry, good-for-nothing, lazy ass.”

“Jeeze!  Now I know why everyone said you were a hard ass bitch.”

“Yeah, but I'm your bitch.”  She laughed.  ”Oh shit!  Did I say that out loud?”

“Oh Yes, Sub Major Ellis, you surely did.”  Penn’s laugh sounded more like a crock.

Even with the drugs, it was almost impossible to stand on his bad leg, and with Ellis's shoulder under him arm they shuffled down the tunnel, half expecting the barrier to spring back into existents at any moment.  It didn't, and they walked passed without a problem.  Within a short distance, the light in the tunnel strengthened and they saw a doorway in the distance.  That led them to a large circular room with a raised dais.  In the center stood a four-foot high bronze colored pillar, topped with a glowing reddish sphere floating in the air just above it.  There were no controls, no readout, in fact nothing to show what purpose this room served.  If it was the control room for the gravitation device, they were screwed.

"Is this it?”  Ellis asked, as she looked around.

"Guess so.”  Helping Penn over to the raised dais, she sat him on the edge and stood back to survey the room.

“You suppose this is the prize.”

“Haven't a clue.  It could be an alien coffee making for all I know.”  Penn murmured, looking around.  “I fact I wish it was, I could use a cup about now.”

"It's not very impressive, is it?”  Ellis walked around the dais, puzzled.  Her brain felt fussy and unfocused.  She'd never felt so tired in her life, and she wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep.

"The question is, what, do we do now we are here.  I don't see anywhere else to go.”  Ellis looked around, but there were no other doorways, not that meant much in this place, but apparently, they had reached the end of the road.

“I don't see a big red button labeled 'OFF' either.”  Was Penn’s contribution.

CHAPTER - THIRTY EIGHT:  Journeys End

"At this point I don't give a damn.  All I want to do is lie down and sleep for about 18 hours.”  Dropping her pack, she leaned back against the wall, and slipped to the floor.

“It has been a long time.”  A resonant voice issuing out of thin air startled them.   “I am gratified to see the descendents of my creators have come home again.”

"What?”  Startled, they both looked for the source of the voice.

"If I am reading your thoughts correctly, I am what you call the 'prize'.”  The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.  With few inflections, it was impossible to tell if the voice was male or female.

"Are you the one controlling all this?”  Penn asked.

"Yes, in a way.  I monitor the system.”

"So how come it was so frigging difficult to get here?”  Ellis snapped.  She felt a little let down.

"Difficult?"

"Yes, you know all those death traps and things, the pits and the killer plants.”

"I believe Mr.  Penn already knows the answer to that question.”

"Penn?”  Somewhat surprised, she looked over at him.  Penn shrugged.

“I told you in the beginning, this place wasn't what those dickheads at Imperial headquarters though it was.  I suspect there is no Prize as such.  This is nothing more than a challenge, a mental and physical challenge for something.”

“You are correct Mr.  Penn.  There is no grand prize as you suspected.”

“Then what's the point?”  Ellis asked, seeing Pen shake his head.

"Maybe it's a test of some sort.”  Penn shrugged, at a loss of how to explain it to her.  “It's like a giant sandbox for us to prove ourselves in.”

"Correct, Mr.  Penn this is indeed a playground for both adults and children.”

“Are you crazy?”  Ellis growled.  ”What kind of parents let their children play in a homicidal madhouse like this?  That's insane!"

“There are no monsters here, Sub-Major.”

“Come again?”