The House of Time E-Book

Florian P. Wallner

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 459

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

It has been centuries since Earth ceased to exist. Now the galaxy is under threat from the United Dark Planets. No sooner has Eugene been freed from the shackles of slavery when he realizes that his fight for survival has only just begun. As his mysterious past catches up with him, and the house of his nightmares, the House of Time, suddenly becomes reality, he doesn’t just fight for his own survival but for the survival of his species and the free world.

Leseprobe

I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to those who gave so generously of their time to help me with the publication of this book:

Beate Kinzer for her translation

Margaret Grant for her proof-reading

Tamara Faye Creed for her cover design

Table of Contents

Introduction

400 years later

August 2420

2388 years after the destruction of Earth on the desert planet Tattau

The Black Circle

Earth

Sool

We construct a new holiday centre for you and your family.

2 days later

Sool's high-rise

Drad control ship

Drad control ship

2 days later

On Earth, somewhere 3rd August, 2001

Introduction

Chan was in charge of the excavation. Today he had been informed about a special find and he had sent his people to the site to take a look; he was happy that he was able to go there as well. This bloody traffic jam was going to drive him mad. Near a mountain a human skeleton had been discovered. According to the first results it was around 1000 years old. Chan, getting bored, turned on the radio. The presenter was making a joke. Chan couldn't laugh about it; he never really could laugh about jokes. The presenter was announcing a song when Chan's mobile started ringing. He turned off the radio and answered "Yes?" A female voice greeted him.

"Hi, Chan." It was Susan, his assistant at the excavation and a close colleague.

"Hi, Susan! What's up?"

"Chan, where are you? You have to get here as fast as possible. We have made an extraordinary discovery. The skeleton carried a driver's licence and an ID card."

"I can't get there fast. I am stuck in this damned traffic, for goodness sake, but hang on a sec, what did you say just now? A driver's licence?"

"And an ID card. It's totally crazy!"

"They don't necessarily belong to our body, do they?"

"We've checked. They certainly do belong to our body."

Chan didn't know what to say. "Chan, this is totally weird.

It won't be long and the press will get wind of this." He was shocked; years ago he had read something like this in a novel.

"Do your best to keep out the press."

"The police are here to keep journalists and the curious at bay as best they can."

"I'll be there as fast as I possibly can, Susan."

"Please hurry!"

"I'll try!"

"See you in a bit!"

"See you, Susan!"

Chan put down his earpiece and put the mobile in his pocket mumbling: "Crazy!"

So, what was the story in that novel he had read all those years ago? Something about a hole in time or something along those lines. Could that be possible?

This might be his breakthrough as archaeologist and professor. This skeleton was worth millions and it was his team that had got hold of it. This was his chance to leave the company and work at the university. Unless Sool was going to raise his salary. Chan turned the radio back on. Slowly, slowly the slip-road came closer and Chan could finally leave the motorway and reach the dig via back roads.

It was a road full of twists and turns and the old Honda groaned ominously at every bend, but with his raise Chan would be able to buy a new car. He had always wanted to buy a German car, an Audi or maybe a BMW.

Meanwhile the excavation area had been expanded tremendously. There were tents, cars and people everywhere. The police were bustling around and chasing down reporters attempting to trespass. Professors were shouting advice at great distances while business people tried to get a grip on the situation. Droves of excavators who had nothing more to do celebrated their find by drinking champagne out of plastic cups.

"We found a jeep!" cried Jack, the senior field archaeologist.

"What?" Susan had come out of her tent and tried to spot Jack.

"Hello, Susan." Suddenly Chan stood next to her.

"Do you see Jack anywhere?" asked Susan without greeting. Chan looked around and saw him outside the barriers.

"Over there. What is going on?" he pointed with his finger at Jack.

"Come along, Chan."

In the following weeks a company called Sool purchased the whole excavation area as well as thousands of acres around it. The purpose of the company was changed. Workers were made redundant, new ones hired. A giant building complex was erected on the newly purchased land at huge cost, the research began…

Jason's car danced through the air in a cloud of fire and black smoke. It went up vertically, wrapped in flames, losing its rear end to another explosion that catapulted it through the air in a wide arc. Unrecognisable parts rained down on the road. The once beautiful sports car landed on its roof, the fuel tank exploded. Jason, watching the scene from a safe distance behind a tree, was horrified and at the same time his opinion of people did not improve, quite on the contrary it deteriorated. Impatiently, Jason searched his coat pockets for his lighter and cigarettes. Finding both, he lit a cigarette. The wind carried away the smoke through the treetops into the setting sun. The landscape turned orange and red. Jason flicked the butt into the grass. At once he lighted another one, his lungs filling with the biting smoke before gliding out through his mouth. His thoughts drifted. He thought of his brother Eugene and his father, who had discovered the hole in time and had both paid for it with their lives. That damned Sool…

400 years later

A big battle raged on the yellow sand of the desert. "We cannot hold our position, go to the gate and travel immediately to 1998. Tell Sool to muster all available troops at the time gate." Jackson, the general of the army founded by the powerful businessman Sool and calling itself the "gatekeepers", had just passed the order to Jason Hanks, who was now on his way to warn Sool. The gatekeepers, with a large part of their army, had travelled to 2420 to avert the extinction of humankind. Now far greater damage had thereby arisen. The political conflict had spread far beyond their solar system. The army of the United Dark Planets fought the warriors of Sool. Endless gunfights took place. Positions were abandoned, human lives ended. Jason ran as fast as possible to the building complex. He was nearly hit by a grenade, and then he stormed through the door and towards the time gate.

"Report, General," prompted Sool.

"We're falling back. The UDP's army is too strong."

"Damn it! How close are they to the time gate?"

"So far, we've been able to keep them at a distance but they are going to reach it in about three hours."

"Unless a miracle happens within the next two hours and we do win the battle, you know what you've got to do."

"Yes, I know. I shall personally initiate and execute 'RedDeath'."

"Take care! I sure hope we'll meet again."

"So do I, so do I!"

August 2420

The gatekeepers were virtually wiped out. General Wilson started to initiate "RedDeath" as agreed with Sool. At 10:43pm GMT a gigantic fireball would be swallowing the Earth. Heavy rocks would be catapulted into space at incredible speeds. Once the chaos will have subsided, nothing would be left of Earth. People who hadn't been present on Earth during its destruction were rounded up by UDP soldiers and sent into slavery. Some employees of the Sool Company were able to save themselves by jumping through the time gate seconds before they would have been torn apart. But they, too, were found later.

The government of the day took over the responsibility for the time gate. Sool had to step down as director of his company and was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment. The government had an administration block built around the gate to keep it secret from the public and to protect it. Internally the building was known as the "House of Time." Since the destruction of the planet was unavoidable and an evacuation was impossible, the government allowed people to go about their daily business until in 2440 the end finally came.

2388 years after the destruction of Earth on the desert planet Tattau

"Eugene! Run, run!"

"No!" he grabbed his arm.

"You can make it! I am too weak, leave me."

It cost him a lot of effort to leave his old friend behind. Drads came running round the corner. Eugene looked back at his friend and saw the drads stabbing him with their storm lances. Two followed him. He quickened his step, he could feel the sand beneath his feet, it was night. The drads dropped back, he was too fast for them. He had acquired too many muscles thanks to the heavy work he had had to do. He had escaped; he started to laugh, flung his hands in the air and screamed.

He was dirty and his eyes would soon give in to tiredness. Each step required an enormous effort. Eugene was totally exhausted. His long black hair was hanging dishevelled into his face. He ran and ran and yet he didn't seem to get anywhere, the horizon was retreating in front of him. The heat flowed around his body, there had to be more than 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The sun must have reached its zenith, it was high noon. In the distance the volcanoes peaked over the horizon and filled the air with their plumes of stifling smoke. Eugene put one foot in front of the other until all his energy was used up.

The sun slowly approached the horizon and gave way to the moon. A sign for Eugene to start looking for a cosy place to sleep in. The ideal hiding place would, of course, be a recess or a cave where he would be hidden from soldiers and fighting robots, so-called drads, who were looking for him everywhere. A cave or at least a small hole in the sand where he could cower was not to be found anywhere near, but at least a tall rock sheltered him from the moonlight. The long march in the blazing sun had sapped his strength. He tried to make himself as comfortable as possible on the dry cracked soil and fell immediately into a deep sleep.

A house painted black without windows but with a door painted in the same dark colour as the house. The sky as black as the house, the moon red as blood. What was he doing here? Bewildered he looked around. He was going to go into the house. "I know!" called an unfamiliar voice. He entered the house, the black, dark house. Into the living room, as black as the walls outside, just without the moonlight that helped the eyes to make sense of his surroundings. Bats were hanging upside down from the beam that kept the roof from collapsing. Woken by the intruder they winged outside into freedom, into the cold dark freedom. A breath caught Eugene's hair. One, two, three steps into the unknown and a fall into the depth of hell. Fire everywhere. Heat that drove you to distraction….Eugene started from his dream soaked in sweat; the sun had given him an almighty sunburn, how long had he slept for goodness' sake? And why was there this buzzing in his head? No, it wasn't a buzz, it vibrated. Eugene ran around the rock behind which he had found shelter for the night and spotted a legion of drads, the whole desert seemed to be covered by them. There was a sea of black robots with just the one thought… to kill. To hide from them, Eugene backed behind the rock again, but that couldn't hide him forever. He needed to get to the volcanoes as quickly as possible. There would be more possibilities to hide there. But the drads were too close to reach the volcanoes without being discovered. His only chance was the hills not too far into the prairie, a quarter of an hour at most to get there; that might work. He could not remember this outcrop but he had probably not noticed it out of tiredness and the sudden darkness. Trying to stay under cover of his rock, Eugene was running towards the hilly area. His clothes stick to his skin with sweat. The army could not see him yet but he would not be able to hide behind the rock much longer, he was quite aware of that.

How glad he would be if it had still been night, but the damned sun would kill him yet with its heat. Not much further and he would have reached those hills.

Not far now… not far….sweat and strength, where is his strength? It was used up. Eugene put one foot in front of the other. He dimmed out all the pains. A few more yards still separated him from the place that would shelter him from the drads. He made it. Jumping over the little rocks he collapsed behind a big chunk, his breath came quickly and his heart was thumping. His eyes, caked with the dust of the relentless desert, glimpsed a path leading through the boulders. It wasn't the sun that was dead as in his dream, it was him. With his last bit of energy he started following the path. He stumbled more that he actually walked. The path was small and in some places hidden by debris and impossible to see. It looked as if it hadn't been used for years. Eugene saw a cave, quite low but apparently very deep. He slid into the cave feet first; it was dark until his whole body had vanished inside. Inside, there was a steep downward gradient, but it was not long before he stubbed his toes against something. Now he had to stay here until the legion had passed the outcrop. He hated not seeing where he lay or stood. Oh, yeah, how he hated that. The soil started to vibrate, first only a little, and then more and more. The UDP's drad army was very close to the rocks if not right among them. He had to remain in his position for a long time. Only when the vibrations started dying down, did Eugene dare to give a furtive glance outside. He put his head out of the entrance of the cave but saw nothing but rocks and the ubiquitous sand. The heat momentarily took his breath away; out here it was much hotter than inside the cave. Eugene decided to remain in hiding for a while longer to allow the distance between him and the army to grow. He closed his eyes to relax. Don't fall asleep…

A house, painted green, no windows, a door however, yellow, just like the lawn in front of the house, crazy … the sky is orange and the sun green. It is bitterly cold. Shaking, he drew up his coat to his chin. Strange, he'll go into the house. "I can feel it…" the unfamiliar voice mumbled. He enters the house, inside yellow walls, the roof is missing, the sun is shining through, it is blue, the sky red. The wooden floor under his feet is rotten. A step, a fall into the heat of hell… A scream, and then it is HOT!

Bugger, he had known it, he had fallen asleep and he had dreamt again. The cave was like an enormous oven, the sun stood right outside the entrance. Eugene hurried to get outside. Soon it would be night. He followed the path until he came to its very end. In front of him was a wide desert, nothing but sand, sand, and more sand. The army had nearly vanished from view. Refreshed by his sleep, but weakened by hunger and even more by thirst and the sun, he started out towards the volcanoes, not that he had any real destination anymore. The sun slowly vanished. Because it wasn't quite as hot during the night as during the day, the march to the volcanoes was less exhausting. He reached them after not too long a march. He allowed himself a rest and sat down next to one of the many rocks. All his limbs were tired. He was unable to move. What should he do now? If he walked on, he would die of thirst or get fried by the relentless heat of the scorching desert sun. But hang on, what was that noise? The sound of rushing water. Rushing water? Yes, rushing water, there definitely was the sound of rushing water. Eugene forced himself to listen more closely. It had to be water, somewhere there was an underground stream. Eugene tried to pinpoint the origin of the noise. After a short while he succeeded. It came from the ground directly in front of him. He started to dig till the sand became moist. Then for a last shovel with his hand, and the water shot out into his face. He had found a subterranean spring. Water, finally. Eugene drank, his head stuck into the ground. When his thirst was quenched, his craving for something to eat had weakened, too. Had he been a believer, he would have thought it a miracle.

He hated drads. Slowly, he walked along the path, without haste, passing rocks and little gorges walking beneath natural rock bridges like tunnels. Passing innumerable volcanoes until, finally, the path came to an end. Eugene looked up and saw the drad army standing on the sand not a hundred yards in front of him. That could not be possible. The sky was peppered with many little spaceships, there was a battle brewing. Eugene had no choice but to hide yet again. He ran back in the opposite direction to find another cave or some other hiding place. He left the path, ran over hills and stones until a crater blocked his progress. A shot sounded. Eugene was sure that the battle had begun Not long afterwards the air was filled with deafening noise and screams. Eugene found a little recess where he could somewhat barricade himself and where he was also sheltered from the noise of the battle. The war cries and the shots were suddenly far away and seemed strangely familiar to Eugene.

Time passed and the battle was still raging. The air vibrated with shots from cannons and guns. After some time dusk fell and night slowly came. The shots grew farther apart until there were none at all, the battle was over.

Eugene forced himself to leave his shelter, shook the dust off his clothes and started walking again. After leaving the volcanoes behind him, he had an unlimited view of the battlefield and came to the conviction that the drads must have won. There was blood everywhere, oil, severed limbs of human beings, of other creatures and of robots. Smashed spaceships, burnt fighter jets destroyed beyond any hope of identification, some were still burning. Legs of drads that ran around without body. There were coups de grace by firing shotguns and the fires were extinguished. Robot paramedics ran about and tried to save what could be saved. They were followed by drads who chucked all the still usable parts of their comrades into a huge wheelbarrow. There was nothing left to see of the airborne attackers. It seemed that they had been utterly defeated or had fled in time to avoid further losses. Eugene started walking again, he passed the battlefield. Nobody took any notice of him. Maybe he wasn't close enough to be noticed. The drads were probably too busy to see anything but their victory. His legs carried him past severed heads and other things, past incomprehensible, dubious and mysterious equipment and past burning spaceships. Eugene had never seen anything like it in his life; it was fascinating but also frightening and intimidating. He could not take his eyes off the spectacle and kept spotting new objects. Drads whose head was missing. Drads whose upper bodies were engulfed by flames and whose head had already melted into a shapeless lump. Drads who swam in a puddle of oil and drads who screwed on their own legs or arms. The air was like a veil, it had never been that hot, at least 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. The sky looked like a huge sun, it gleamed yellow. Eugene mopped his brow with his left hand, but a few seconds later it was just as before, his hair was clinging to his head, his clothes seemed to have become one with his skin.

When he finally left the battlefield behind, he was immediately faced with another problem: the border post. He saw the towers with their black cannons on the horizon, they were bathed in red light, the sun being about to disappear behind them. The towers and walls stretched into the sky and blocked the path into freedom. He was faced by an intractable puzzle. How could he pass the guards without being noticed? The walls were at least forty feet high, the towers three times taller. It was impossible, he needed a miracle. Half a day's march still separated him from the walls and since he only had a chance to pass the guards in the dark, he decided to wait until the sun had completely vanished behind the towers and walls.

In order to rest for his night-time adventure, he lay down on the sandy ground and stared at the sky. The grains of sand crunched under his back. The sky was cloudless and its colour had turned a dark blue, here and there the first stars showed.

Not until the sky had become black and the moon had risen, did Eugene get up, full of energy, shook the grains of sand out of his clothes and set off for the border post. He had to make it somehow. The question was how?

Eugene had not quite reached the post yet when a spotlight was pointed in his direction. Maybe they had heat sensors or night vision devices. Blinded by the strong beam of the spotlight, he put up his hands as a sign of surrender and to protect his eyes that had become used to the dark. A warning shot was fired and hit the sand in front of his feet, then guards rushed out of the gates of the towers, strange creatures with long, very long heads and very thick legs but virtually without neck, as if their bodies had fused with their heads without a neck in-between. Eugene fell to his knees. He hadn't managed to escape. It had all been for nothing. The strange creatures handcuffed him; one of the guards hit him on the back of his head with a club. He fainted.

A house surrounded by thick fog, painted white with yellow shutters and black windowpanes. The unfamiliar voice sighed. As always he will step into the house….he will. Squeaking hinges announced him. One, two, three steps, no fall. No, no fall, quite unusual. A man stood in front of him. "Hey! I know you! You are the guy who… Yes, yes, that will cost you dear! You can rely on it! You are a bad person! Yes, yes, these things, they will be expensive, expensive." There was a funny smell…Screams, rustling chains and the smell of death buzzed in the air…

Eugene woke from a weird dream. He was surrounded by black walls. His head ached intolerably from the blow he had received. His eyes hurt. He discovered a door with a small square cut out at eye level; the square was covered with mesh. Eugene looked around, but couldn't see anything except a bench made of old, nearly rotten wood supported by four frail thin legs. He sat down on it and hoped that it would carry his weight. It did but protesting a little with a loud "Creak!"

From the frying pan into the fire, he had screwed up, his whole escape, his exertions in the desert, all for nothing, why hadn't he run away? They would have shot and killed him, so what? Better than this! Now he sat on a bench with legs like four toothpicks surrounded by four bare, naked walls with a wooden door with a meshed hole. The door was his only chance to escape from his prison. The walls were too thick, the floor like a piece of concrete. All that was left were the few inches of wooden door to get out. And even these proved an insurmountable obstacle. It seemed as if the dice had been cast.

Shots, screams, pain and death, these sounds had become familiar to Eugene and they were just outside the wooden door with its meshed hole. The shots did not go on for long. It seemed as if the guards had been beaten. Intruders. Have they come for him? Do they want to free him? Or kill him? After some lengthy key jingling, the door to his cell was opened and, it seemed quite incredible but was still true, a human being entered. Eugene sat there befuddled, suspicious but also a little bit scared on his bench with the toothpick legs. With a gesture he was prompted to get up, as he very politely did. Then the human spoke to him in a language Eugene did not understand. "What?" he asked.

"I am sorry; we didn't know what language to use so we can understand each other. But it seems you even speak the old Earth language, still the official language in many places."

"Sounds like it. Have you come to free the prisoners?"

"Only one, you, Eugene."

"Why do you want to free me?"

"Because you are the only human being who has ever been able to flee from slavery. And now come quickly before reinforcements arrive."

"But you are human as well."

"Me? No…. but please come along."

Eugene and the human who apparently wasn't one walked through the door of the cell and entered a wide passage full of the same kind of bizarre doors, some with windows, some without. There were parts of destroyed drads everywhere. No sound could be heard.

"Everyone else is outside already. Hurry up, we don't have much time left. The drad army has nearly reached the post," somebody said. Another human. He had just joined them passing the last cell in the passage close to the stairs. He hadn't put his life on the line for nothing after all; the risk he had taken had been rewarded. How relieved he was, he, Eugene, who had spent his life in horrendous work camps and had to share his bed with three others, provided he was lucky enough to grab a space in a bed. Since there were more than a million human slaves on Tattau and only a little more than a hundred thousand beds, it was difficult to get one. All in all there were no more than five hundred sleeper blocks each holding dozens of dormitories. It was awful. Eugene couldn't believe his luck, but would his luck hold in the future? Through one of the great wooden gates from which the guards had emerged to capture him it was now his turn to walk, under very different circumstances. For the second time he had managed to escape from the drads. It was absolutely incredible.

It was hot outside under the blazing sun. With quick steps they hurried along, he and the two humans who weren't human, even though he couldn't be sure about one of them, he might be human or he might not be. They hurried along to the spaceship that wasn't far from the post. The hatchway had been lowered and they could easily go aboard. Inside the ship, it was a space jet, the temperature was pleasant and it felt good not to be exposed to that lethal sun any more. The part of the jet where they were was bathed in very bright blue light; there was no furniture in this room, only a door at one end. The light came from neon tubes on the ceiling. The human or non-human, as the case might be, put out his hand. Eugene took it and the "human" shook it and introduced himself.

"My name is Jim. And this guy next to me is Slow. You think we are human. You're not entirely wrong. We are Homo Sapiens 3000. When humans became scarce on the planet, we helped out as so-called substitute humans."

"Well then, you are robots? Just like those damned drads? Why did you free me?"

"We freed you because it is our task to find a human being who is able to undertake a strenuous mission. Who is able to work long hours without a break and who doesn't fear any type of work. Someone with courage, who loves action, without fear of change or even death."

"And that brought you to me?"

"Of course, but to be honest, it did not necessarily have to be a human. But we happened to hear about your escape and we just had to help you." Eugene looked at them doubtfully; he didn't understand at all what those two Homo Sapiens 3000 were getting at.

"Why me?"

"But that is absolutely obvious. You fulfil our requirements."

"What are these requirements that I fulfil, I would like to know. And why do you risk your lives?"

"Those requirements help us to complete our crew and to make it perfect, so to speak. But allow me to tell the whole story. Many thousands of years ago a hole in time was found on your planet, the Earth and abused for the wrong purposes. The United Dark Planets tried to gain power over the time hole. People destroyed the Earth before they succeeded. Once the Earth had been destroyed and the time gate along with it, there was no reason for the UDP to go on fighting. Their plans to use the gate for military purposes had failed and therefore they looked for other ways to gain control over the universe. They started to create and perfect the drads and thus bred a huge army in just a few years. These drads were then stationed on every single hostile planet to solve the problem and convert the civilians. Something they did quite well. The drad army is controlled by a main ship and a control ship, but it can also function quite well when left to its own devices. Both spaceships are connected in such a way that they are virtually one vessel. In order to bring the unlawful rule of the drads to an end and to restore peace to the universe, this spaceship must be destroyed. And that is our order. Without their drad army, the UDP will lose its hold over the universe and will be far less powerful than they are today."

"Now let's recap that very slowly. You want me with my wonderful extraordinary ability to be strong and courageous to help you to destroy the drads and thus ultimately the UDP?"

"That's it."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Well then tens of billions of lives will continue to be in danger. Cultures and whole planets are threatened. And just like Earth all those years ago, whole planets will be destroyed time and again. Nobody can oppose the UDP. The outcome is always deadly and usually the innocent are made to suffer."

"But what do you suggest we do? To me all this sounds very much like a suicide mission."

"Everything has been planned very carefully right down to the tiniest detail, don't worry. We are not going to force anybody to be part of our plan. You are welcome to return to Tattau, if you like. Is that what you would like to do, Eugene?" Jim looked at him with his robot eyes. Those damned robots.

"Okay, fine. I am with you, even if it's the last thing I do." Relief spread over Jim's and Slow's faces.

"We are relieved. Eugene, we'll now enter the heart of this little jet."

Until now the door at the end of the room had been closed but now it opened and a large room presented itself. They entered and once everybody was inside, the door closed again of its own accord. Inside the temperature was pleasant and the room apparently occupied the whole width of the jet since there were windows on either side. Five people were seated round a small round table in the middle of the room. Eugene looked around, greeted everybody, they nodded a response.

"These are the warrior robots of the rebels; they have no language chip and no intelligence chip either. They can only distinguish between friend and foe and eliminate the foes. Really they are only prototypes yet, but in a few years they will be deployed for war purposes."

Eugene, Slow, and Jim settled at a table close to the windows. The room also held a small galley, two more doors and a big cupboard bolted to the floor with three doors, one of them with a mirror. In one of the four corners there was a pot with a plant, the plant had light green leaves and a dark red stalk. On top was a very beautiful yellow flower with blue stamina and a red floral cushion. After a period of silence and futile looks around the room as if looking for something incredible nobody in the room had noticed so far, Jim finally spoke.

"Down there is Mike. It is the smallest planet in the solar system. Once it was known as Pluto but after the destruction of the blue planet it has been given another name for whatever reason."

"Tell me, where will our journey end?"

"We are on our way to the rebels' mothership."

Slow stood up and disappeared through one of the doors.

"I'll go and check how far we still have to go. We should get there soon."

Eugene stayed behind, stared out of one of the many windows into nothingness. Far away he could just make out some stars. He still couldn't believe what he had got himself into.

"Eugene?"

"Yes?" Startled, Eugene sat up. He had fallen asleep and had dreamt once more of this house. Jim stood in front of him. His head, what had happened to his head? It was missing. Impossible. Eugene closed his eyes again, opened them. His tiredness and his nightmares had played a trick on him. His thoughts buzzed unchecked through his head. It took him a while to control them.

"Eugene?"

"Yes, what is it?" Didn't he see that he had opened his eyes?

"We are in the mothership."

"Already?"

"Yes, and now come quickly, the nation of rebels is waiting for you."

Eugene stood up, he could feel every bone in his body, painfully so. Following Jim, he stepped through the door and then walking down the hatchway he had used to enter the ship, he now left it.

The jet had landed in a big hangar; obviously they were now inside the mothership. The high-ceilinged, very wide and long hall was covered in metal panes. High above, right at the top, near the ceiling, Eugene could glimpse some windows where people could be seen. The windows were huge and milky; they had to be very thick. Maybe it was bulletproof glass? By now Eugene and Jim had reached a door covered with metal just like the walls. They crossed the threshold.

A seemingly endless corridor with innumerable doors to the right and left opened up in front of Eugene's eyes. The corridor was empty apart from Slow. The three of them walked along side by side. The silence made Eugene nervous. Something felt strange. And this woefully long corridor just never seemed to end. Some distance away, Eugene could see that the corridor led to a huge door. It was as wide and high as the corridor itself. This door seemed to be their destination and finally they were right in front of it. It was really breathtakingly big. Jim stepped up to it, cranked a lever, and with a loud creaking noise the mechanics of the door were put into motion. The door swung open. Eugene, Slow and Jim stepped through the door into a gigantic hall boasting windows as big as houses. Eugene looked up. Apparently, they were at the highest point of the hall because the ceiling was right above their heads. The ceiling was full of windows as well and you could see the stars. In front of them was a simple balustrade, they took another step and looked down. Eugene was thrilled and speechless. He had never seen anything like it. The hall was more than three hundred feet high. Eugene heard a creaking noise. At such a dizzying height a creaking noise isn't terribly welcome, but in this case it was just the elevator they stood on and that now slowly moved downwards to the floor of the hall. It was a wonderful and heavenly view; the hall was filled with people, computers and huge screens. There was a big hustle and bustle; you could find anything in this hectic turmoil. Eugene even saw someone cutting his nails. With a spirited braking manoeuvre the elevator finally reached the lowest point of the hall. The balustrade moved sideways a bit and with a low humming noise glided into little slits in the floor. After the whole iron railing had disappeared, they stepped into the huge hall that now appeared even bigger and, what really surprised Eugene, was utterly silent. No sound could be heard, no coughing, no sniffing and no desperate rustling caused by someone urgently looking for something important. Deep silence surrounded him and his two mechanical companions. By the wall, many yards away there was a big pedestal on which stood an old man holding a microphone in one hand and a sheet of paper in the other helping him to find the right words. He cleared his throat and everybody's attention was on him. After clearing his throat once more, he lifted the microphone to his mouth and began his speech.

"Today, my dear fellow campaigners and inhabitants of this ship, the war against the UDP officially starts." The old man had to interrupt his speech because the audience started to applaud and some looks swayed towards Eugene then back to the old man on the pedestal. The latter now lifted his hand, the clapping died down. He waited a moment until the last murmurings were hushed.

"A squad sent out by me has succeeded in finding the first person for the team and rescued him before the drad army had a chance to kill him. He is here right now. Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome Eugene to our ship!" Everybody looked at Eugene and he didn't know what to do. So he just stood still, smiled and said an occasional "thank you" which was drowned out by the audience's clapping. Hesitatingly, he raised his hand to show his gratitude.

"Enjoy it, Eugene, it is well deserved." The old man nodded at him appreciatively. "As you know, the crew, the team is not complete yet, not by a long shot. Therefore Jim, Slow and you will set out to find the other three members. You will set out to find Aecey, Lyon and Rob. With their help, you will destroy the control ship of the drad army. With them, you will be an invincible squad!" Again the crowd cheered. The old man bowed and left the pedestal through a door behind him. With a queasy feeling Eugene realized that all eyes were upon him again. Jim, who stood next to him, prodded him in his side and hissed, "Let's get out of here quickly before everybody comes over to wish us good luck!"

Eugene nodded and they walked off to the other side of the hall, the crowd parted in front of them to allow their passage. Some nodded towards them as they hurried past, others called out good luck and still others just stood and watched them. Eugene saw the most unusual life forms; some looked like plants, weird leaves and tentacles growing all over their skin. Others looked comparatively normal if you ignored the black-red eyes or the arms that were three yards long, but most of them seemed to be these strange Homo Sapiens 3000 androids. By now they had reached the steel door, it was light grey and had a big round spyhole made of glass in the middle. The door opened inwards with a quiet humming and they could easily enter the next room. After they had all passed through, the door closed behind them with the same quiet humming. They now found themselves in a small square room that had a door in each of its four walls. All four doors had spyholes like the one they had just passed. In the middle of the room were small stools placed around an even smaller table and there sat even smaller creatures. They were very thin und their heads could hardly be distinguished from their bodies. Jim and Slow hurried past them towards the door on the opposite side. Eugene followed them while he kept staring at the little creatures. They didn't look up. He saw that there were cards or something like that on the table and they had some in their hands. It looked like they were playing a game. Eugene just tried to have a sneaky look at the cards when Jim pulled him into the next room.

"Leave them alone. They feel watched if you look into their cards. They don't look it but they can get quite nasty." "Okay." Eugene found that difficult to believe. They could get nasty? A likely story! The room they now entered held paintings and benches. It was fairly long and a part of its floor was covered by a runner. The runner was very nicely ornamented and shone purple, blue and turquoise. Jim, Slow and Eugene walked along the elongated room and Eugene noticed how, with every step, he sank a few inches deep into the carpet. Finally they reached the end of the room and stepped through a dark-red door with an old-fashioned doorknob.

"Our leader has a weakness for antiques even if some of the pieces are just old-fashioned rubbish," explained Jim. One after the other they walked through the dark-red door. This area was full of doors. There were grey, red, blue, green, black and pink doors. Some were made of wood, some of iron or plastic. The floor was dark grey and dirty from the many feet that trampled over it every day.

"Are there several of these corridors in the ship or is there just this one?" Eugene's interest was aroused.

"Well, there are a main corridor and fifty minor corridors per level, as well as three secret corridors only the boss and his immediate staff know." Jim pointed at a light green door. "These are the doors leading to the minor corridors."

"Are we in the main corridor?"

"Oh no!" he laughed. "The main corridor is almost twenty yards wide and has more than eight hundred doors. There is so much traffic that we introduced the fifteen lane system. Seven lanes for one direction, seven for the other."

"I understand. What about lane number fifteen?"

"Very good; finally someone who is actually thinking. The last lane is reserved for emergencies and is marked red."

"I see." Eugene nodded. Somehow it all felt like a dream.

Maybe he was going to wake up in a few seconds' time? Surrounded by rocks and sand?

"We are in corridor 23; we call it the boss level."

"Why do you call it boss level?"

"Because that's where all the generals, directors and so on have their offices."

Eugene realized that they had been walking for quite a while. He also realized that there were very few people around. Now and then they met someone carrying a pile of papers or talking excitedly into a telephone. Eugene didn't know the language, however.

"Where are we actually going?"

"We are going to see our director, Hesson Lachopp.

"That old man on the pedestal who gave the speech?"

"Correct, that's him."

Eugene was just avoiding a creature without eyes that had nearly run into him. After walking some more, they finally stopped outside a door with a wooden appearance. Jim stepped up to it and knocked three times. A moment later it was opened from the inside and the old man stood in front of them and asked them to come in. They found themselves in a very large, tastefully decorated office just as you would expect a director's office to be. Being invited to sit down in three leather armchairs opposite an enormous desk, they did just that. The man took his seat behind the desk, leaned back and said, "Welcome, Eugene.

I am most grateful that you accepted our offer to be part of our team since at the moment it consists only of you, Jim and the good Slow, doesn't it?"

"To be honest, director, I am not thrilled at the prospect of destroying the control ship of the UDP," said Eugene and saw no reaction in the old man's face. He waited a moment. "But someone's got to do it, don't you think?" Hesson nodded slowly but firmly.

"We will do our very best, director," promised Jim and the man nodded his thanks. Jim, Slow and Eugene stood up. The man shook their hands and wished them good luck for their journey. This done, they left the office. Once they were back in the corridor, they walked just as long a distance as before until they passed a door into a big hangar. In the middle of the hangar was a space jet. They approached the jet walking side by side. Eugene felt a sense of pride and self-confidence. And he was sure that Jim and Slow felt just the same. Time stood still at that moment, all consciousness of slavery had disappeared from Eugene's memory. His brain freed itself from the unpleasant memories, now he was truly free. Past machines and gas containers they finally reached the space jet. The hall was bigger than it seemed. As if by magic a hatch was lowered so they could board the jet quite comfortably. Once they were inside, it was raised again. The jet was quite different from the flying object in which Eugene had travelled to this place. It consisted of a corridor that after three yards branched out into tree more corridors. One went straight on and ended after a while in the engine room. The other two led to the cockpit and the leisure rooms. All three chose the corridor leading to the cockpit. There were two seats, one for the pilot and one for the person commanding and activating the guns on the jet roof and bottom or taking care of the speed of light mode. The role of pilot was taken by Slow and Jim was responsible for the weaponry. Eugene stepped behind Jim's chair that looked more like an armchair and held on to the back while the big gate of the hangar opened and the way into space was clear. Slow started the engine and seconds later they were surrounded by the all-encompassing blackness of the airless space.

"Where are we going to pick up our fourth member?"

"Our first destination is Mars where we'll pick up Lyon, a native of Mars."

"I thought Mars was destroyed along with the Earth."

"No, you are wrong there. It still exists, but in only half its glory, so to speak. It has only one hemisphere now. The inhabitants of Mars can call themselves lucky, that their oh so beloved Mars wasn't thrown out of orbit when it was hit and half squashed to dust."

"It is a single hemisphere?"

"Yes. I have read up on it. Nowadays there are about three million inhabitants, a third of them lives in towns and cities, the others in the country and a few live beneath the ground. Besides, they never got round to building sewage drains, so be prepared for some pretty awful smells."

"We will be there within a few hours."

The Black Circle

The animal was goaded by its hunger and by the plebs pitilessly wanting to see the death of its still living prey. The Colloscoseum shook and the mob shouted incessantly "Death! Death! Death!...." The predator satisfied its hunger because it knows very well that it might take some time before there will be anything more to chew on....

"We need some disguise for Eugene. We cannot take him to Mars the way he is." It was Slow who suggested this to Jim. He nodded, but didn't reply instead he got up and beckoned Eugene to follow him. While Slow was busy piloting the space jet to Mars, Jim and Eugene went to the big room with the hatch. The area lit by neon lights was quiet and its peace was only disturbed by the humming of the jet engine. Jim opened one of the doors; all sorts of clothes were hidden behind it. Jim pulled out a particularly ugly piece of clothing and with an encouraging look he gave it to Eugene, who took it and looked it over. Then he looked at Jim and said, "Why do I have to dress up?"

"Please forgive us! We are quite aware that you cannot know anything about all of this. We simply forget now and then, however. Well, here goes. After your planet, the Earth, had been destroyed, the UDP sent the survivors into slavery. Some of them, actually quite a lot of them were handed over to the inhabitants of Mars as compensation, so to speak, because half the planet had been smashed by humankind. There have always been fairly barbaric customs on Mars and they have used humans for their amusement for a long time now. They constructed a building where they stage the killing of humans to entertain the people. That's its sole purpose. It's called Colloscoseum. You can see that name as an homage to ancient Rome, on Earth, you know. The Black Circle, that's what the locals call it, holds about two million spectators. It's got an area of about half a square mile. To make the most of that huge space, several humans are executed at various places within the arena at the same time. Any human being, who is on the planet illegally and is found out, will be taken there and killed for the amusement of the locals."

"I don't know what to say, only that I already despise this planet. How are humans killed in the arena?"

"Oh, there are endless variations. Humans are run over, shot, quartered, impaled, drowned, eaten by animals while still alive, tarred and feathered and so on and so forth."

"How wonderful, I don't really want to know more."

Eugene took the moth-eaten garment that Jim held under his nose again and had a closer look. It had to cover legs, arms and body completely. And so it did. After Eugene had put it on with some difficulty, only his head was still visible. But not for long because Jim found some colour and started to paint his face green to go with the outfit. Then his lips were given a dark-blue colour and his hair was tinted blue as well. Eugene looked at the result of Jim's handiwork in the mirror. It was awful.

"What exactly am I?"

"The way you look right now, you are a Saphorian."

"A Saphorian? What's that supposed to be?"

"Saphorians live on the moons of Jupiter. Each moon has its own city with one exception. 99.8% of the biggest moon are covered by plants and that provides the oxygen necessary for the other moons."

"Is it inhabited?"

"Robots live there. They look after the oxygen stations and maintain the plant diversity of the moon. We'll have to pick up one of our crew members there, the other one we'll find on one of the urban moons called Aqua."

Eugene was just looking at himself again in a tall mirror that slid out of the wall as Jim pressed a button. Once Eugene had finished studying himself - it was hopeless anyway, he had never looked so ugly in all his life, the perfect Halloween costume - they returned to the cockpit. Through the windscreen, the red planet already slowly became visible in the darkness, it was surrounded by a dust cloud and the closer they came, the bigger the small rocks became. In fact the planet was badly damaged. The once round sphere had become a hemisphere. Rocky, full of cracks, uninhabitable. Hot, bright red magma came to the surface at some places on the damaged side. It looked incredible. Half a planet.

"When are we going to land?" Eugene wanted to know.

"In ten or fifteen minutes." Slow avoided some lurching rocks. They were now quite close to Mars even though they still seemed to be far away. A big red rock passed their jet very closely and threatened to crash into them. A sheet of dust settled on the windscreen and by and by everything outside looked red. They were now passing through the second layer of Mars dust and slowly but surely reached the so-called particle-free zone. They didn't speak a word until the jet was brought to a standstill after having been safely landed by Slow. Once the dust thrown up by their jet had settled, they disembarked. To avoid unnecessary interest, they had parked their jet outside the capital. In the capital, Mars City, stands the equally famous and infamous Colloscoseum much feared by humans. Slow, Jim and Eugene waited silently until the hatchway had been lowered completely and it was safe to disembark. They left one by one and stepped onto Mars soil. Their shoes didn't leave any prints in the red sand of Mars, the air, however, was full of fine red flour-like dust that burnt in their lungs. In the far distance they could just see Mars City with its tall towers, red buildings and the great oval of the Colloscoseum in the background with its many decorations, ornaments and statues. Everything around them was red. No other colour was visible, even the sun seemed to have adapted. It was setting behind the mountains and spread red light on the planet making it seem even redder. It was not without reason that humans called it the "Red Planet."