CHAPTER TWO

ESCAPE~

The food we were being fed helped me gain more strength than I usually had and unlike when I first arrived I felt energy coursing through my veins, we were properly looked after. I now sat resting my back against the wall that demarcated my cell from Jane’s. She wasn’t that much of a talker, maybe she was still battling with that feeling of loneliness or the awareness of being lost. Well, what can I say? Maybe she’s just an introvert, but at least she had told me her name after the first two days of complete silence since we got here.

“ Hey, how was today’s first test?” I rest my head against the wall staring at what I could best describe as the ceiling as I spoke.

“ Fine, thanks.” She replied in her usual introverted tone. I could tell by her accent that she wasn’t American nor African-American. Her accent sounded firm and deep, with her nouns, verbs and adjectives produced in a high tone and articles, prepositions and conjunctions with a low tone. It could be purely African. I wasn’t sure. I had to ask.

“ Back on Earth, playing chess and winning was never a big deal for me. Although these things prove to be more difficult but… ”

“ You played chess? ” She cut me off.

“ Uh yeah, didn’t you? ” “ No. Mine was monopoly. ”

“ Monopoly?…” I repeated holding my chin with my thumb and index finger. ‘ Different board games? I was always given chess since I got here, could it be because it’s my favorite? ’ I thought within a second.

“ Was monopoly ever your favorite board game? ” I asked.

“ Yes it is. ” She replied. It all seemed really clear to me now, they were attesting our various mental capabilities from what we enjoy and do often. What we are good at and how good we are at doing them. I also don’t want to believe these games exist here, they probably replicated them from Earth to fulfill this purpose. Same thing goes for the virtual reality video games too, mathematical equations, puzzles and riddles. Looking at it, these are all mental tests one way or the other. Is our mind the only thing they are interested in?

“ Yunno, I’m starting to… ”

“ Mr. Elliot. ” A deep unfamiliar voice drew my attention to my now opened cell. still sitting at where I was, I gazed at this tall humanoid being with two others like it by it’s sides.

“ You’d be coming with me now. ” It said with an obvious mischievous intent in it’s tone before pressing something on it’s wrist that made me feel weak and drowsy, suddenly I went blank.

•

“ He’s awake now, Lord. ”

The room was wide and it’s walls in bright white. Large rectangular fluorescent lights immersed in the ceiling and scattered at different spots around the room making it properly lighted. Elliot was lying down on a bed levitating to about chest level in mid-air. It wasn’t magic but advanced technology. Two Alienodroids were present in the room, one seemed to be of a higher status than the other with it’s unique clothing like a cassock but transparent and having tiny light particles like electrons flowing through it’s fibers. This Alienodroid had special red markings on it’s face like paintings around it’s completely dark eyes then a straight line down like a canine tooth to it’s cheeks. Some part of it’s body like the arms, nape and chest had the same red markings with unfamiliar patterns like tattoos. This Alienodroid was referred to as ‘ The Fourth Lord. ’ Alienodroids were humanoid bio-mechanical creatures, they looked like they were made up of actual cells, tissues, blood vessels and bones but they were existing alien robots similar to androids. Alienodroids had natural living minds in mechanical bodies and self-will which made them better and far more efficient than man-made robots.

“ Speak their language whenever a human is present. ” The Fourth Lord of the Alienodroids corrected and walked up to Elliot on his bed.

“ Where am I? ” Elliot asked in a mutter. A bewildered look cast on his face as soon as he regained consciousness. His electric blue eyes speedily moved across the room noting the change in his environment. He looked at his arms, they were not fastened to the steel rods of the bed but they wouldn’t budge anytime he tried.

“ I can’t…move ” He looked at the Fourth Lord, noticing none of his muscles in his body contrasted.

“ That’s right, Elliot. I made sure you were placed under temporal paralysis. ”

“ Was that necessary? And how do you know my name? ”

“ Humans are the most powerful creatures in the universe, but they appear to be the most vulnerable, because they fail to utilize their maximum potentials. ” The Fourth Lord had a voice that echoed authority and power in the depths of it’s husky tone. “ What a waste! ” It added and began a slow walk with arms folded, making an orbit around Elliot’s bed.

“ Would you want me to answer those questions? Or the biggest question ‘ why are we here? ’ on every human mind present in Helveton. ” The Fourth Lord gave a stare on Elliot as a cold silence floods the room. “ As I expected. ” It added, feeling Elliot was ready to listen.

“ UNITECH is a project we must achieve. A project that when successful, it would place the entire universe under our control. But logically, the Universe is a continuously expanding mass of worlds, realities, dimensions and time. It’s infinite and therefore cannot be owned except one becomes Omnipotent. And after thousands of years trying to acquire omnipotence, we figured it’s unattainable to all. Except the race called man, because of what they possess. ” Elliot bursts into a hearty laughter.

“ Yunno what I think?… I think y’all are crazy and obsessed with power. ” He chuckles.

“ Well, what does seventeen year old Elliot know? ” The Fourth Lord asked rhetorically, turning away from him. It took a few steps towards a plain wall and snapped it’s fingers. At once! the environment changed from a spacious cubical room enclosed with four white walls and numerous large fluorescent lights to a massive working area filled with a horde of busy Alienodroids holding various gadgets as they moved from one end to another over a gigantic structure as enormous as a skyscraper but with the looks of a rocket.

“ W-what’s this?… where are we?” Elliot panicked a bit.

“ We are still at the Technology and science operating Headquarters in Helveton. And this? This is the ‘ Extractor '. ” The Fourth Lord replied with hands now meeting the other behind it’s back.

“ Did we just teleport? ”

“ Yes, Elliot. But this is far more advanced as we are currently invisible. ”

“ Automatic invisibility after teleportation, that’s badass! ” Elliot nearly made a high pitch.

“ You think that’s amazing? ” The Fourth Lord turned to Elliot.

“ It’s nothing compared to what you can do. ” It added moving towards Elliot who was now on his feet, his temporal paralysis had timed out. “ Weird ” Elliot mutters. “ So why did you bring me here? ” He said aloud.The Fourth Lord turns to gaze at the ‘ Extractor ’ then begins a speech with an unusually high tone from sudden elation, arms raised and spread apart.

“ This!… would be the most remarkable creation in the universe’s history, with the ability of harvesting the only known non-material substance capable of accessing Intellectual Energy, the most powerful source of energy in the universe. After the harvest and transfer, the seven lords of Helveton shall gain insurmountable power and be… ” A blaring horn echoed all over the building repeatedly while bright red lights flashed with it in unison. An emergency. The Fourth Lord stopped it’s speech abruptly then warped itself and Elliot back to the room. Elliot sat up on the bed, staring at both Alienodroids converse in their own language.

“ What’s happening? ” Curiosity flooded Elliot’s eyes.

“ We are under attack, the cosmic invaders who wander our galaxy plundering planets have come for us. They want what’s ours. I’m sorry but I no longer have time to answer the biggest question. ” The Fourth Lord answered and fled the room angrily, leaving the other Alienodroid in the room to disclose to Elliot what they intend to use them for.

“ …speechless? ” The Alienodroid asked, seeing the horrified look on Elliot’s face.

“ B-but…why?…tell… ” Elliot ran out of breath. “ … tell me this is a joke! ” He added in disbelief, Fear dancing in his eyes.

“ I’m not obligated to tell you anything else, Mr. Elliot. ” The Alienodroid said in response. It was the same Alienodroid who had come to take Elliot from his cell. It appeared different from the guards with not a single weapon on it but a clothing similar to a lab coat in white.

“ It’s time to go to your chamber. ” It added as two Alienodroid guards step into the room to lead Elliot away. Elliot followed without the slightest form of resistance. His mind totally distressed on what was coming, his face was blank and his soul transfixed with terror.

“ And also, you're not meant to share any of these conversations with anyone. ” The Alienodroid muttered in Elliot’s ears as it opened his cell and pushes him slightly by the shoulder to go in.

“ What's the matter, Elliot? ” Jane could hear his heavy exhales. The Alienodroid and the guards had left.

“ What did they do to you?…Say something! ” She added desperately.  “ Jane…w-we have to escape…escape from here. "