Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1)

  **********

  The little boy looked up at his mother and father. They were both smiling at him. The boy looked to be almost eight years of age. Skip saw a very clear image of the boy, but not of his mother and father.

  The boy had black hair and insightful, beaming blue eyes. His smile was nearly as bright as the sun, as his body seemed to glow from the light that was coming from the top of the temple pyramid.

  The boy hugged his mother and father and waved good-bye as he entered the temple.

  Suddenly, Skip flinched. His body had finally awakened from the deep sleep he had been in for days. He rubbed his head and realized that his head had been shaven, and he had stitches that extended from the top of his neck to the middle of his scalp.

  He shook his head, trying to regain his blurred vision. He didn't know exactly how long he had been out of it, but he had had the same dream over and over again. The dream seemed almost real, and he had actually thought he was living it. He had no idea what the dream meant, or why it seemed to replay in his mind. He wondered if it had something to do with what he saw at the temple after he had been blown through the door and lost consciousness.

  Upon that thought, Skip suddenly realized he was fully awake and looked around. He had no idea where he was. He looked down and realized that he had been sleeping on a soft, leather sofa.

  As he scanned the rest of the strange room, he realized that he was in some sort of office. The office was big and spacious. Directly in front of him were two leather chairs with long backs. Behind the chairs was a large, shiny wooden desk, and directly behind the desk was another long backed, black leather chair.

  Skip blinked to focus his vision better. The chair seemed to sway back and forth. He thought he saw an arm move out from behind the chair.

  He continued to scan the room and saw there was a large view screen just above the person who sat in the chair. On the view screen was what looked like a jungle background, machinery of all types, and thousands of slaves digging up the ground in the jungle, as well as Gnol guards dispersed among them.

  He looked to his left and saw a gigantic painting of whom he supposed was Koroan Chast. He looked back to the chair in which the person sat and saw it slowly turn around.

  In the chair sat a polished Gnol officer. He was dressed in official Gnol green fatigues - obviously to blend into the jungle background. Skip could tell from the stars on each of his shoulders that this officer was high up in the Gnol military. The officer had dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard.

  He looked at Skip with intensity and seemed to study him. "Ah, Colonel Hendricks. It is nice to see that you have finally awakened. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Commander Polatis Schaal - Commander of the jungle slave camp of Zikf."

  Skip gave the officer a curious look. He had heard of the name of the slave camp before, but he couldn't recall where. "How did you know my name?" he asked as he felt behind his ears. His inhibitors were gone.

  Commander Schaal moved to the front of his desk and leaned against it. "Do not worry, Colonel. Your inhibitors were taken out, but ? for some odd reason, I was not able to read your mind. That is why you are here in my office and not in one of the slave quarters. I was able to gather the information I need about you from your female friend."

  The mention of Ariauna caused Skip to stand quickly. As he did so, his head began to spin, and he felt a sharp pain behind his knee in his cybernetic leg. He fell back into the comfort of the sofa and clutched his leg. He winced in pain and thought it odd that he was experiencing pain in it at all. Doc had told him that his leg would be able to sense touch, but not pain. However, this pain was almost unbearable. He wondered if it was malfunctioning.

  The Gnol officer noticed Skip's pain. He gave Skip a congenial smile, grabbed a chair, placed it directly in front of Skip, and sat down. "Hmm," he said as she stroked his beard. "Our doctors scanned that cybernetic leg of yours. I have to admit, that is a pretty impressive piece of technology, especially coming from humans."

  Skip glared at the officer. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  Skip's question seemed to anger Schaal. He furrowed his eyebrows and glared at Skip for a moment. But just as quickly, he changed his demeanor and smiled. He let out a small laugh and continued. "When we first took out your inhibitors, and I could not read your mind, we did a full-body scan to see if you had any implants hidden inside of your head. Needless to say, we did not find any, but we did discover that leg of yours. The only conclusion that I could come up with was either you have mastered the ability to block our mind probes or, and this is the most believable theory, whoever designed your cybernetic leg, placed inhibitors within it to prevent our mind probes.

  "So, our computers searched your leg for inhibitors, but it seems that your leg is protected and encrypted with very complicated algorithms. As soon as our computers attempted a scan, your leg sent back an electronic pulse that downed our network for several hours."

  Skip was stunned. He knew his cybernetic leg was impressive, but he had had no clue that there could be inhibitors placed within it, or that it was encrypted. And if what this commander was saying was true, why didn't Doc and Sean tell him?

  Commander Schaal continued to stare at Skip, waiting for a response. Skip didn't say a word and looked at the view screen. He looked back at the officer and said, "You said that you extracted all of the information about me from a girl. Where is she?"

  The officer stood and turned back to the view screen. "Computer ?"

  "Yes, Commander Schaal," the computer replied.

  "Locate Prisoner A-1209."

  "Yes, Commander."

  Skip watched as the view screen focused in on a small group of slaves working on a hilltop. It continued to focus in until it located what it was looking for. There, in the center of the group and placing mounds of rocks into a hover-truck, was Ariauna. Her head was bandaged, and she wore the same blue clothing as all of the other slaves. She looked as if she was in a trance.

  Skip looked back at the officer. "What did you do to her?"

  The officer returned to his seat and leaned forward. He was within a foot of Skip's face. "Nothing we do not do to all slaves," he said. "Ariauna is simply doing what we ask her to do. It is amazing, Skip. Can I call you Skip?"

  Skip didn't answer. He felt his face flush red with anger and glared at the officer.

  Schaal continued. "Okay, Skip. Anyway, as I was saying. The human mind is so frail and weak, and the Gnol's mind is so superior. It only makes sense that we control what you do. After all, we would not want you to hurt yourselves."

  Skip wanted to take a swing at the officer, but he knew he would be ripped to pieces if he did. He took a deep breath. "So, you take it upon yourselves - the Gnols - to hurt us, so we won't hurt ourselves?"

  Commander Schaal laughed as if Skip had just told him a particularly funny joke. "See, I knew you would understand."

  Skip frowned at Schaal. "I meant it as a question."

  "And the question was rhetorical, so you already know the answer," Schaal said as he stood and walked to the painting Skip had noticed earlier. "Do you know who this is?" he asked, pointing at the painting.

  Skip glanced at the picture and then back to Schaal. "I can only assume that he is your leader, Koroan Chast."

  "Yes ? but he is not just our leader; he is our god. And under the direction of the supreme goddess of light, he has saved the Gnol race and given us all this wonderful technology you see here today."

  This time, Skip let out a small laugh. Schaal immediately turned his smile into a frown. He walked to Skip, clutched him by the collar of his rebel uniform, and lifted him up. "What is so funny? You must show more respect to your god."

  Skip tried to knock Schaal's hand away, but it was useless. The Gnol was too strong. As Schaal held Skip in midair, Skip met his gaze and in a dead, serious tone said, "Chast is not my God. My God would never submit another person or animal - as you believe us to be - to tyranny or oppression."

/>   Schaal looked as if he was ready to land a deathblow to Skip's face. He lifted his fist, flung it forward, and stopped with his knuckle barely touching Skip's nose. He threw Skip back onto the sofa and resumed to his seat. "Your God sounds weak."

  Skip didn't respond.

  "Well, your beliefs will soon change, especially after you have been here awhile."

  "I thought you couldn't control my mind?"

  Schaal seemed friendly once again and smiled. "That may be to my advantage."

  Skip gave Schaal a puzzled look. "How so?"

  Schaal stood and began to pace back and forth. He stopped and stared at Skip for a long moment. "It seems that I am in need of a new personal secretary. My last one ? well, he could not think for himself. ? I had to do all of it. As a result, I wasted a lot of time controlling his mind. Since I cannot control your mind, and since you seem somewhat intelligent - for a human - I have decided to make you my new personal secretary. This will allow me more time to run my camp."

  "And how long will I be your secretary?"

  Schaal seemed to look through Skip and said, "Until your death, of course."

  "Well, I guess since I don't have any other option, I accept the position."

  Schaal laughed at Skip's sarcasm. "You know, Skip. You are the first human I have ever held a conversation with. If you do what is asked of you and do not cause any trouble, you will begin to see who your real god is, and you just may begin to see that we Gnols truly have your best interests at heart."

  Again, Skip didn't respond. There was no way he would allow himself to be brainwashed by these monsters. He looked at the view screen and saw Ariauna hard at work. He longed to rescue her from the hell she was in. She had told him once that being under the Gnol's mind control was like watching yourself from above. She wanted to resist every command that was given to her but couldn't. Her entire freewill had been robbed.

  Skip looked back at Schaal. "When Ariauna and I were brought here, was her father with her?"

  "You mean the old man who was with you at those ruins?"

  Skip nodded his head.

  "He was killed. But do not worry; his body was cremated on sight."

  Skip gave Schaal an intense look. "What do you mean, 'cremated on sight'?"

  "The old man's body was burned, and soon Lord Chast will have that heathen temple destroyed as well."

  Skip tried to hide the panic in his voice. "When?"

  Schaal smiled at Skip. "Oh, in due time."

  Skip lowered his head. He didn't want to believe Schaal. The temple was too important. What he had seen after he was blown through the door was too important to be destroyed. If his God was the true God, then he knew without a doubt that it wouldn't be destroyed. Somehow, he had to get out of this slave camp and get back to the temple.

  Another pain shot through Skip's cybernetic leg. Schaal saw Skip clutching behind his knee. "Problem with your cybernetic leg, Skip?"

  Skip met Schaal's eyes. "No, I just had an itch, that's all."

  Schaal looked at Skip with suspicion for several seconds, and then walked to the door. It slid open, and he called out, "Captain, you may come in now."

  Skip watched as a gigantic Gnol walked in. Skip's eyes widened. He didn't know if he had ever seen anyone so big. The captain seemed to tower above the commander. Skip figured Commander Schaal to be about 6'3", which would have made this Gnol just about seven feet tall. Skip scanned the captain's body up and down. He wore a green T-shirt with green fatigue bottoms and black boots. The uniform reminded Skip of an army basic trainee uniform back on Earth.

  The captain had large, rippling muscles that were accentuated by his shiny, ebony skin. One of his arms seemed as big as both of Skip's legs combined. The captain glared at Skip, and Skip quickly closed his mouth.

  Commander Schaal seemed amused from the look on Skip's face. "Skip, this is Captain Noran Belzar. He will be your shadow."

  Skip gave Schaal a questioning look. "My shadow?"

  "Yes, your shadow. Captain Belzar will never leave your side. He will stay in the room next to yours here at camp headquarters and stay with you every waking moment."

  "May I ask why?"

  "Well, Skip. Since I am not able to read your mind, I do not know what is going on in that head of yours. And because I do not know what you are thinking, I do not know if you can be trusted."

  Commander Schaal turned to the captain. "Captain, introduce Skip to his new home and bring him back in precisely one hour. We have work to do."

  The captain saluted and spoke with the deepest voice Skip had ever heard. "Yes, Commander." He motioned for Skip to follow.

  Skip did as he was commanded and felt a sinking feeling deep within his gut. How was he going to plan an escape with this giant on him every waking moment of the day?