Chapter 18: Conclusion

“Get some rest Pen, okay?” Sarah cooed as she gingerly pushed the ill man back into a lying position on the examination table. Nicole kept watch by looking through the door's little window. “This isn't the best place for him to rest Sarah. I mean, I know your heart is in the right place and far be it from me to say I've got more medical expertise than you, but he was just locked up to that very table.”

Sarah gasped at Nicole and then at herself. “Oh, I'm sorry. I guess she's right about that. It must be pretty insensitive of me to ask you to lie there.” Pen gave a small chuckle. “Well no. Where else would I lie down in here? It's okay, really. I've been through worse. I'm more worried about getting the PIT back.”

Nicole danced about, trying to get a better look outside. “I think we're about to see some action. I just saw two guys run down the hall and they definitely were looking right at me when they passed.” The scientist gave an anxious sigh, then coughed, curling up on the table. “They're likely going to place explosives at the door, so I wouldn't stand there if I were you.”

Nicole backed away a bit. “What makes you say that?”

Just afterward, the group heard a loud cracking noise and smoke began to seep into the room. Nicole backed away a lot more, completely startled. “Oh my god! They could have killed me!”

“I don't think they value your life very highly,” Pen lamented. “Stay out of the way. It's me they want.”

Nicole scoffed, incredulous. “Don't you think I know that? There's no way I'll just let them have you without a fight.”

Another bomb was set off and this time it busted the door, but hadn't blown it down. Nicole got ready behind a side table of tools, firearm aimed and steady.

Pen sat up. “No, Nicole; if you use that weapon they will see you as a threat.”

“As they should,” the young woman confidently replied.

The third bomb managed to blow off the door, sending it flying to the other side of the room. As the air cleared, Pen and Sarah held their breaths. They couldn't see Nicole anymore.

One shot and then two were fired, followed by a thumping noise. Sarah held onto Pen tightly, her eyes watering up as she trembled in the agonizing wait.

As the dust settled, Nicole was the one who had been left standing. She looked over the two stunned soldiers. “That takes care of you bozos. Don't eff with New York,” she proclaimed boldly as she pushed them both onto their backs and got a look at them. She gasped in shock. “Oh god, what are those things? They're not hanor.”

Pen pushed himself off the table and looked over at the two soldiers, surprised as well. “I remember. These two are half-breeds, created at the laboratory I was imprisoned in.”

“Now I remember why his face seemed so familiar. Arcon,” Pen growled, trailing off. “Why?” Sarah asked. He shook his head. “Now's not the time to explain. Let's go before they send reinforcements.”

ʮ

Despite initially rejecting the extra help walking, Pen gave in after about fifteen minutes and accepted Sarah's assistance, leaning into her as they walked. Eventually, they came upon a small landing to a most incommodious, tiny spiral staircase. “Where are we going Pen?” Sarah queried as they headed down, having to form a single line.

Pen licked his lips as he looked about him. “Some of the designs of this place are most intriguing. Why place so much emphasis on space elsewhere but have a cramped stairwell? Could be this leads to some sort of maintenance room. The design feels different somehow.”

Nicole tsked. “Pen, seriously? That doesn't answer her question. Quit being so opaque.”

They headed to the bottom of the stairs and he turned to look at the two Earthlings. “My only goal is to keep moving. To be honest, I have no idea where we are or what the plan is to get out of this mess.”

Nicole glared at her interstellar friend. “How reassuring,” she grumbled as she pushed him aside to scope out the halls from the bottom landing door.

This floor was different than the upper halls, like as if it were made by an entirely different culture. Not only that, but it was much darker too. The only light was emitted by little red crystalline bulbs along the low ceiling. Nicole listened for signs of life but the only thing she could hear was an electric hum. It was declared clear and the group filtered out.

As they walked, Pen dragged his hands against the series of large pipes laid into the wall of the circular hallway. “This floor looks really different from the rest. Sounds different too. It's odd.” Pen once more leaned on Sarah as they headed further along the strange rounded corridor.

“How so?” Sarah whispered, watching him curiously as she helped him stay up. He tapped his chin in thought. “Well, usually pipes made out of these sorts of materials are really expensive to make, so they're reserved for things that have to withstand extreme temperatures. Why this sort of thing would be in an underground building-”

Nicole hushed him mid-sentence, whispering. “Quiet, I hear something. It sounds like footsteps. I think they're coming closer.”

The mad scientist fingered his prison collar, trying to feel the skin underneath. “They may have caught up to us.”

The raven haired woman sighed at him. “Or, it could be allies. We can't be sure it's bad news.” Pen rose a brow at her. “I can be pretty sure it's bad news.”

Nicole shushed him. “Let me at least check.” She silently made her way ahead and peered over, spotting eight beings clad in Gorgonin hoods.

She held up her hand to her allies motioning for them to halt, then held up and aimed her gun. Pen mouthed “I told you so” and she rolled her eyes at him before popping out from around the bend, shooting two of them down before they readied their own weaponry and began shooting at her. She rolled back to cover and hastily pushed herself back up. “You were right; run!”

However, from out of the dark came several more enemies from the other side. “Freeze, Prisoner 485,” stated a small, unimposing blond from the second group that had ambushed them. He was holding up a remote in one hand and the PIT device in his other. On either side of him were about three more dark, hooded figures. “Stop this silly nonsense right now. You and I both know that there's no point to this cat and mouse game. You've nowhere to run.”

Nicole held her stun gun steadily aimed at Arcon as they were surrounded. “I'm not afraid of you. Give up the PIT device, now!”

The handsome blond hanor looked as though he were seriously considering it, playing with his soft locks. Then, he shook his head. “Uh, no. I don't think so. Not unless you pry it from my cold, dead hands,” he replied sweetly.

“Not a problem,” Nicole remarked with a confidently raised eyebrow.

Sarah put herself in front of Pen timidly. “We w-won't let you harm Pen anymore, Gorgonin sc-um! What you're doing is wrong!” The escapee gave a worried look from Sarah to Arcon and pushed her aside. “Stay out of the way Sarah. This is my fight.”

“Put the gun down, or else your dear little Pen will perish.” Arcon held up the remote threateningly. “With the simple press of a button, he'll die.”

Nicole laughed sardonically. “You'd kill him? I highly doubt it. You want him alive,” she called out, refusing to budge.

Arcon shook his head. “You obviously don't understand. If I can't have him alive, I'll settle for dead. He's too dangerous to let roam free. Put the gun down or I kill him.”

Pen huffed, crossing his arms. “I'd much rather die than return to the life I escaped from. Go ahead and kill me.”

Arcon shrugged his shoulders with a chuckle. “If you insist,” he replied as he pressed a button. Pen collapsed in pain, convulsing as if he were being electrocuted. Sarah dropped to his side, but was afraid to touch him. “Pen! No! Stop this!” she cried, tears welling up.

Nicole looked from Pen to Arcon, unsure of what to do, so she lowered her weapon but did not drop it.

Just then, a strong gust of air knocked into everyone, causing them all to lose their footing. Nicole fell backwards into Sarah and they both went down. The hybrid soldiers knelt in order to prevent themselves from toppling over.

Upon crashing to the floor, Arcon lost his grip on both the remote, which slid a ways from him, and the PIT device, which rolled down the corridor and fell into a grate.

Eek floated in, gasping for another breath attack and Charlie appeared by her side, holding up a stun gun to Arcon's head. “Move and you're toast,” he boldly proclaimed. Nicole got up quickly with a gasp, pointing her gun at him. “Don't you dare! Oh my god, Charlie, you idiot!”

Arcon looked up at the rotund young man and scoffed, then ripped the gun out of his hands and held it to Charlie's head. “You'll all at least agree I have no qualms about killing this one! He's of no use to me!”

Eek froze, releasing her breath in a sigh. Several hybrid soldiers got back up and restrained her. Nicole's lower lip trembled as she tried to shoot Arcon anyway, but the fearful look in Charlie's eyes made the gun shake in her hands.

Arcon pushed his gun into Charlie's forehead and held him in a tighter hug.“Drop your weapon loud mouth!”

Nicole dropped her gun with a hateful glare. “You got me.” Arcon motioned with his free hand. “Kick it here.” She did as she was told, hands in the air. Arcon smirked. “Now get on the floor, hands behind your head, and be quiet.” Nicole did as she was told, defeated in body but not in spirit. Her eyes looked like those of a ferocious tigress ready to defend her cubs. The blond sadist giggled in delight as he smacked Charlie in the cheek with the gun and ruffled his hair. “Good girl.” Tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks, which reddened with emotion. Charlie winced, “I'm sorry guys. I'm so sorry.”

Arcon pointed his free hand at Sarah. “You, cowardly girl, go fetch the PIT device for me and bring it here, else your friend dies. Do it now!” She nodded in understanding, tears streaming down her cheeks as she crawled along the floor and timidly reached her arm into the grate. She stuck her entire arm in and waved it around for nearly a minute. “I can't f-feel it,” she finally admitted. “I think the hole is too deep.”

Pen cracked open an eye, still pretending to be unconscious. Arcon let out a huff of irritation. “Move aside girl-,” he began, shoving Charlie into one of his minions, but the ceiling panel above him came down, crushing him underneath Maita and several others' weight.

Maita deftly rolled off and ran right up to the mutant holding Charlie and shoved his hood over his eyes and pushed Charlie out of the way, disarmed, climbed and drop kicked him.

Nicole sat up, watching the whole thing unfold in disbelief. “Whoa. She's amazing!”

The five others Maita had brought along began shooting at Arcon's other cronies as Arcon himself lay there unconscious. Eek was used as a shield, causing another standoff.

Amidst the sudden chaos, Pen got up and rushed over to the grate and pulled it open, then jumped inside. Sarah followed him to the grate and sat down at its edge. “Pen! You're hurt! What are you doing?!”

He fell for longer than predicted and crashed to the pitch black floor below. “Don't worry Sarah. I'm okay!”

Pen looked around very closely and found what he was looking for, a soft blue glow. He grabbed the PIT device and gave it a quick kiss before opening it up and using it like a flashlight. He gasped. “I'm in some sort of control room.” He stood before a giant computer and fingered a few keys before decidedly pressing one. The system began to boot up and light the room. It was a dust covered and small room with two exits and one giant computer connected to thousands of variously sized and colored cords. He tucked his PIT into his breast pocket. “Well, I'll be curious.”

Arcon woke up from the injury to his head and looked about in confusion before realizing the grate was open and Pen was gone. He struggled to get up and headed for the grate, but Sarah grabbed a stun gun from the floor and aimed it right at him, standing in his way. “Help!” she cried, wincing in fear as the weapon shook in her hands.

Maita turned her head towards the cry. “Sarah! No!” Distracted, she didn't notice a hybrid sneak up behind her. He smacked her in the head with the butt of his gun, rendering her unconscious.

Arcon grabbed the gun from Sarah and shoved her aside roughly, jumping into the grate.

Pen pondered to himself. “Password? Uh...” He entered the first thing that came to mind, “Ma..i..ta.” Surprisingly, the computer bleeped affirmatively. “Password accepted.”

“Oh, well that's convenient,” Pen muttered to himself as he began to input a code sequence.

Behind him, Arcon came crashing down. “You're not going anywhere!” He insisted as he forced himself to his feet, still somewhat unsteady, and aimed his gun.

Pen smirked and looked back. “Oh, I think we're going everywhere,” he stated as he pressed the final button. “Launch initiated.”

The floor began to rumble, causing the collective screams of confusion on both sides.

Sarah fell into one of the mutants in surprise and closed her eyes before she punched him in the face, knocking him out.

Arcon shot at Pen but his aim was ruined by the shuddering building shoving them all to the side. Everyone was forced to their knees as the gravity increased dramatically, and Pen crawled towards the control panel, determined. “It's good this thing has voice control. Here it goes! Initiate defense systems.”

“Defense system initiated. 31 unidentified lifeforms detected.” Arcon caught up with Pen and began to duke it out with him. “No! No no no! How could I have not known about this?! You dirty backstabber!”

Pen threw a punch in return and avoided Arcon's swings, eyes glued to the screen. “Show me the unidentified ones! Quickly!” 31 pictures came up on the screen. Most were Gorgonins, including Arcon, but the humans were also there. “Restrain the ones in the black robes!”

Arcon felt himself slam to the ground and Pen pushed himself away from him. The gravity had apparently returned to normal.

On both sides of the computer screen, two screen covers opened to reveal the vast depth of space and the planet, New Holborgon, the ship once called home. Pen watched as the planet shrank in wonder.

Nicole threw a rope and slid down, releasing towards the end and landing on her feet. She rushed and jumped into Pen's arms with a laugh. “You're okay! What happened? Suddenly, all the Gorgonins we were fighting just got slammed to the floor like as if restrained by invisible bodyguards. Hey, what is this place? Whoa, is that space?”

Charlie called down cheerfully. “Hey, I'm the one who's supposed to ask too many questions around here!” Eek the fhuu floated to Charlie's side. “Fuu!”

Pen nodded. “Seems we were on a giant spaceship this whole time.”

Sarah helped Maita back to her feet. “You're okay. You're fine. It's a bump to the head, but we can get some ice on it.”

Maita stood up and took a look around her at all of the restrained Gorgonins and her exhausted followers. “We did it. We actually won. I can't believe it.”

Author's Note

I had a really rough time with this chapter. Any suggestions are appreciated immensely.