Paradise

Thirteen

3019, Earth | Zeus Space Center | Beyond The Milky Way

The drones wouldn't stop chasing him. Ben turned and twisted between the trees and bushes. It worked in some cases, but eventually, they would find him and chase him all over again. His legs were beginning to tire. His legs were wobbly, but he continued to persist. But then, he tripped, then tumbled and fell to the ground.

Ben took deep breaths. He tried to take out his blaster but then he remembered it got lost somewhere. Damn it.

The drone closed on him, ready to fire as Ben braced himself. But suddenly, the droid shortcircuited and fell to the ground, dead. Standing behind where the drone last stood was Justine who held the gun and was panting from the sheer exhaustion.

"Thank goodness I found you," Justine said, relieved. "I was talking to Jacob."

Ben looked at him incredulously. "You what?"

Justine gave the dismissive wave. "I'll explain later. We need to regroup."

"What do you mean? The Revolution III could explode at any minute--"

"No! The Anita, the ship where Jacob and the Robed One are staying, are on their way to Greta," he cut in, his voice dark. "The plan has been to distract us from the mission. The final stage of the plan has begun."

- - -

Jones swam away from the ship and is still swimming until she could find a place to rest. She had been getting suspicious of how long they needed to find him. Something must have happened to Timothy, she had thought a lot of times. And in all those times, she contradicted to those ideas and speculations.

She had been wrong all along.

As she swam, she was beginning to have doubts. What if it was a ploy? What if it was a trap? Can he even be saved? Is it part of the mission to save him? Will she and the others be revered as heroes when they could save him? What if. . .

The sound of a spaceship interrupted her from her train of thought. She hastily took a deep breath and dived into the crystal sea as a police ship zoomed overhead. She watched in horror as the ship crashed into the water and was sinking to the bottom. A black figure pounded on the glass door of the ship as it sunk deeper in the ocean, the pressure slowly becoming harder to handle. It won't be long until the car compresses on itself.

Should she help? No, she immediately thought. That person wants me dead.

She was satisfied with that thought, but her other side contradicted. If I can save the guy, I can get the information that we need.

Jones dived deeper to help the person. Along the way, she thought about the advanced underwater suits that people now use for expeditions underwater. She wished that she had one right now; one of its benefits was the ability to go deeper in the water.

A sudden metallic sound interrupted her train of thought. She cursed; she had been so lost that she was losing the ship. She then allowed her instincts to kick in, paddling to get deeper into the water.

As she closed in on the spaceship, she swam even deeper just to catch up. She tried to find the black figure, but she could not spot him or her. She focused on pulling the ship, but to no avail; it was too heavy. As she struggled, the more she became desperate. They will be entering waters where light is limited. She struggled to pull the spacecraft up.