Part Ranger: Chapter 9

Two years have passed. The Mind Soldiers have won monthly battles with other squads. Charles got transferred to the Earthling squad as Zana’s replacement. Apparently she was better than the commander. Her talent was kept secret because she said something.

I was getting called the “mind killer” by everyone now. One of the other boys must have overheard Charles say it during breakfast one morning.

Matt disappeared for a month last year. His friend, Officer Jerry, watched over me like he did for Matt. It was awkward at times when there was nothing to do.

One thing we had in common was that nothing about Matt made sense to us. He told both us about what she wanted. Whoever knows who she is, please send us a message.

When Matt came back, we spent more time together with Jerry. I could see he was a better person than Benjamin was.

Speaking of Benjamin! We found his secret hideout on the station. It was last month after most of my friends left the station. Matt and I thought it would be a good idea to “try out” all of the crawl tunnels to “make sure they were safe.” What we found at the end of one was it.

There was a second space watching room that only officers could go in. How Matt didn’t walk through here flabbergasts me. Benjamin was on a couch, asleep, with the door locked. He had maps of where the crawl tunnels led, what paths specific officers followed, what paths I took daily and where Charles would go next?

I quietly went through some of his files. Matt was trying to enter his mind for thoughts that could help us. There were request forms that had two squad names and Charles Borgenson on the top. Multiple papers, one for each month, had requested Charles to be transferred squads immediately.

Matt’s face would cringe every now and then. He got out of his trance and stared into the maps. One thing I failed to learn was how to send and receive images I mentally take. She wouldn’t answer me whenever I asked.

We left and went back to the room. The five others that didn’t graduate yet were in there. They grew up more once the first group left.

I thought it would be good for them to learn things they never knew about. It was a week for each topic they chose. We went from Ancient Earth history to the mathematical solutions for every household problem by a Calcorita.

The boys were trying to read each other’s minds. Matt snorted and jumped onto my bed. “Let’s go over what we found today!” The youngest of their five came over and knelt down. He kept quiet and waited for Matt to continue.

“Sorry Tom. This is a private matter we need to speak about. Can you go back over there for a couple minutes?” Matt smiled mischievously. I didn’t like that look.

“Stay! We actually need ALL of you to come over and listen.” He looked directly at me. “She thinks we should allow them to help.”

There was no way I would allow him to let these boys get into this much trouble. “What if she told me to tell them to leave?”

“They why didn’t she tell me the same thing?” Matt retorted. “I won’t make them do anything bad. But it would be good to have extra hands.” He took out papers and a pen from my mattress. The maps we saw earlier were being copied, line from line, as he drew.

“We’ll get him with some changes to the routes. First, we have to learn his route and schedule! Then, we need to find a time and place where we can intercept him.” Our plan was set and ready for action! If Benjamin didn’t kill himself with the gun he gave Forgo to kill me.

Back to the present, Charles and I were walking by the simulation room. It was time to end the first part of Stephen’s plan. “Maybe it is time we ended what was started.” Charles stopped. “The time for learning is over. Can you help me?”

He swallowed hard. “What do you mean ‘the time for learning is over’? We still have five years left here!” I turned around and smiled. He already gave up a chance to do this once.

“The time for us to learn from each other is over.” I pulled out a rock on a stick from my bag. Officer Jerry got it for me. “Don’t worry about being thrown out! The superiors already cleared my death whenever it inevitably happens.” I threw the weapon over to him, “Come on! Let’s enter the field.”

I ran into the simulation room and jumped up. Matt had the gravity turned off when I telepathically called him. Charles walked in, slowly, with the stick gripped in both hands. “The final lesson shall begin now! If you can’t end my life, then I’ll just have to end yours!”

Charles stood in the center of the field. I jumped over and tried to punch him. He dodged and flew towards the other entrance. “Why are we trying to kill each other? Did you plan for this to happen?”

“I told you when we first got here. You are going to kill me. And if that doesn’t happen, I will ruin everything for everyone!” He stood still. I flew over and tried to kick his face. He threw me to the ground and dropped down on top of me. The next thing I knew, he was punching my head continuously and I blacked out.