When Max woke up, he was very dizzy, hungry, and thirsty. He looked around and he saw that he was in some sort of enclosed cell. There was a thick multi-layered door that blocked his way out. Then someone opened the door, and a person entered Max’s cell. He was in human form and was well dressed. However, it could be one of those shape-shifters that had fooled him. Max stood up as the man engaged him in a conversation.
“Welcome, Mr. Howell. I hope you are wondering why you are here, because you’re going to be here for a while. We’ll give you food and drink. Do you need anything else?” The man asked.
“As long as I get food and drink, I am satisfied.”
“Good, cooperate with us, and we will cooperate with you. Don’t try anything foolish, we have guards and security cameras everywhere.” The man said as a patrol of armored droids marched by his cell.
“I’ll be fine.” Max said, looking back to the man in his cell.
“Good. Call us if you need anything.” The man said as he left.
Max sat back down on his couch that was against a polished wall on the left side of the door. Looking strait ahead he saw a security camera on the far wall that was focused on him. Max leaned back and thought over what had happened.
How could he have so easily fallen into their trap? But how could he have known that it was all a trap. He thought it was a real attempt to kill him, when it was merely the bait to bring him into the trap. Why did they want him though? He was merely a mad scientist. His discovery of Duranium had only been released the day before, and all of his colleagues could be trusted. Who would want to use the Duranium for their own good?
His Duranium discovery and the possibilities of its uses were to be given to the Union. The Union barely had enough energy to get by, but given an almost limitless supply of energy, the possibilities were endless. Almost ceaseless energy would power new technologies and broaden the scope for change. No matter how large the world, there is always need for change. Change is inevitable.
Knowing the possibilities of Duranium energy, he knew that the Union would want to get its hands on the technology. But why would the Union go so far as to kidnap him to get the energy. Who was this “boss” of theirs that the man talked about? If it wasn’t the Union who kidnapped him, what else would it be since all colonies and districts known to man were under Union control?
Perhaps the kidnapping was not the whole picture, but rather bait for a hidden trap waiting to be set off. Perhaps they didn’t need my technology. They needed my publicity. Once the public knows of my disappearance, they will get rather frightened.
If the trap was set for the public, there could be riots over public safety. That in turn could be an opportunity for the “bad guys” to step, march their troops into Pasadena and take over the Union government. Max suddenly realized if that was true, then the whole entire Union was in danger. Then he knew that the “bad guys” would never let me go until they had taken control of government. If I appeared in the public again, there would be no more riots, and I could persuade the government to create a strong defense organization.
Max knew that he had to escape. How he would do it, he didn’t know. However he reminded himself that to every question, there is an answer. He had to somehow devise an escape route without the “bad guys knowing”.
He glanced over at the security camera, and then saw that there was another security camera watching the doorway. How could he escape without being seen? Even if he escaped his cell, there were guards and probably more security cameras. Maybe if there was a power shortage, then the cameras would stop working. But then they would double the security everywhere. But he knew that the cameras were probably powered by batteries that were charged by a larger generator, so they wouldn’t be affected by power shortages. If he could some how get to those batteries, then maybe he could use them for something. Well, if the batteries were strong enough, he could make a simple stun gun.
But how would he be able to get out of the cell? Even if he disarmed the cameras, he was still in his cell. Maybe the security guards would come in and see what was going on. He could then quickly stun them and take their weapons. It was his only chance. With that in mind, Max got to work. He slowly rose up from his couch, walked over to the wall where the camera was, and pretended to be leaning against the wall.
Then Max swiftly grabbed the camera, and yanked it out of the polished wall. Max set the camera down and looked into the dusty cavity in the wall. Max reached his hand into the hole, and pulled out a medium-sized battery. Ok, so now Max had his power source. He turned on the battery to full power, and a loop of bright blue light jumped from the energy transmitter to the receiver.
Max took the battery in his hand, and pressed it against the other stationary camera on the other wall. Max knew instantly that the camera was then fried because there were no more movements in the camera’s focusing system, and the quiet hum that came from the camera was not to be heard anymore. Now Max just had to wait for the security guard to come.
Without notice, the cell door opened, and a guard came in that was in human form.
“I hear that there are problems with the security cameras here. Well, what is this?” The guard said pointing at the camera on the floor, and the hole in the wall. The guard stepped over to the camera and the hole and inspected it.
This was Max’s chance! Max calmly walked over to the guard, and then plunged the battery into the guard’s back. The human skin shrunk away as the guard collapsed to the ground and revealed a metallic body. The robot looked exactly like the one that had kidnapped him. Max stooped down, grabbed a laser blaster and 3 grenades from the robot.
The cell door still open, Max stealthily walked out of the cell, and into a hallway. Max put his ear to the ground, and could hear marching which was getting louder. It seemed like it was coming from the left hallway. Without hesitation, Max started running down the hallway on the right.
Max was stuck, he didn’t know where he was, and he didn’t know where to go. All Max knew, was that he had to escape. This place was probably a base for the enemies. If it was on land, he could find a land cruiser somewhere, and try to find normal civilization. If the base was on a remote planet, moon, or space station, he would have to find the hangars in order to find a craft to escape. Max kept walking down the hallway, but he saw no signs.
Then Max heard someone approaching from around the next corner, so Max drew his blaster, and prepared for the worst. A security guard quickly rounded the corner, but Max put several holes through it. Max looked closer at the guard and saw that it was not a guard, but a pilot. Maybe the hallway that the pilot had just left, lead to the hangars. Max knew no where else to go, so he quickly stepped around the corner, and began to run down the hallway.
“Attention all, we are in code yellow. Lock all exits, and guard all hallways.” voiced an announcer on the overhead speakers which lined the lightly blue lit channel.
Now Max really began to run, but was very cautious. Max stopped when he saw the hangar on a side route, but the door leading to it was closing. There was another little hallway that ran along the side of the large hangar, so Max started running down there. All the windows looking into the hangar were being secured. Looking ahead, there was a little booth that looked into the hangar, and was accessible by the hallway that Max was in.
He began to run for this booth, but stopped because of the sound of fast marching around a corner. Max grabbed a grenade, activated it and threw it around the corner. Max, waiting for the blast grasped his hand on his blaster just incase anyone survived. A loud blast shook the building, and nearly knocked Max over. He quickly stepped out into the side hallway, and found that the whole squadron had been blasted away.
Relieved, Max then continued to run up to the booth, knowing that time was of the essence since now they guards knew where he was. The door of the little booth opened, and a guard peeked out.
“What’s going on ou…”
The guard never got to finish his sentence as Max had blown a couple holes through the guard’s chest. Max jumped up into the booth, and saw that the windows were not shielded like the others when the alarm was set off. Inside the hangar there were several fighter space craft, and the hangar door was closed. After looking over the displays in the booth, Max dragged his hand over one of the touch screen displays, and looked up as the hangar doors began to open.
Max grinned, but in the corner of his eye, he saw another squadron that had spotted him, and was running for him. Max quickly drew his blaster and shot at the windows, breaking them. Max then jumped out and landed in the hangar. He started to dash for a large fighter craft that was nearby. He jumped inside the craft and started up the engines. Three guards were dashing after Max while the other guard was getting in the booth.
Max lifted his craft off the ground, drew in the landing gear, and closed the cockpit. Seeing that the big hangar door was closing, Max jetted the engines, heading for the fast closing doors. His craft barely made it through as the doors slammed shut behind him.
Surprisingly, no enemy fighters came after him. Looking back, he saw a large space station that was suspended in empty space. Hoping to find out where he was and where to go, Max started up the on-screen navigation system. The navigation system said that Max was only a couple hours away from a small Union controlled district called Terpis.
Terpis was one of the most beautiful districts, and one of the top choices for vacation trips. It was a woody district, having forests covering the whole surface of the district. The people that lived there built beautiful wooden homes on hills that overlooked rivers, lakes, and mountains. The people didn’t care about not having much technology around them. They were happy being around forests, lakes, and mountains where they often went hiking, swimming, and going on adventures with friends.
Max could land at Terpis; rent a small house for the night, re-fuel, and then head for Elacora. With plans on heading towards Terpis, Max prepared the craft for hyper jump. When the hyper drive was charged, Max pulled the red lever that was in front of him and his ship began to slip into hyperspace.
While the fighter was on auto pilot, Max searched the craft’s computer system. There weren’t many flights, but there were some trips between space stations and unexplored territories. Most of the orders on the computer were from “General Grada”. Max was certain that this unknown enemy was planning an attack on the Union, but where would they attack first, and when? This enemy could become very dangerous, especially since they had a head start. Max had to warn the Union and build up an army and defenses.
Max knew that his fighter was probably being tracked, but since the tracking device was probably in the hull somewhere, Max would not be able to disable it while flying. He would have to land at Terpis, disable the tracking device, and would then have to leave immediately after disabling the tracker and warn the Union. If he left too late, the enemy could blockade Terpis, and he would be trapped.
A couple of hours past without much happening until the computer announced that Max could turn off the hyper drive, because he was nearing Terpis. Max pulled down the hyper drive lever, and his ship slowed to a cruising speed. A green planet loomed in front of the ship.
A couple minutes later, Max broke through Terpis’s bright blue atmosphere, and was searching for a city to land by. Below, he could see the immense forest, lakes, hills, and waterfalls. He flew over a large hill, and cruised into a large basin that was surrounded by hills. In the middle of the basin, there was a city that climbed up the sides of the hills.
There was a large building with a landing area with several transporter craft nearby. Max circled the building, slowed down, and prepared to land on the landing pad. Landing legs extended as the craft softly landed on the expansive pad.
Shutting down the engines, Max opened up the cockpit and jumped out. Like most visitors to Terpis, Max was stunned by the sheer beauty of the surroundings. After looking around for a moment, Max headed towards the building that overlooked the landing pad.
Max entered the building, and walked over to the desk in the brightly lit lobby. The man behind the desk looked up and greeted him.
“Welcome, what can I do for you?”
“I am in a hurry to find a mechanic and a conference room where I can talk to the Government officials.” Max replied.
“We have a mechanic garage just outside of the landing pad, and you can find the conference room by hall 8G.” said the man, pulling out a map of the city and circling the conference room.
“Thank you very much.” Max replied courteously, and then went through the main door before dashing down to the landing pad and starting up his fighter.
Max hovered slowly into the large mechanic garage where a large passenger craft was being worked on. Max slowed down to a stop, and landed inside the garage. The manager peeked around from behind his office and greeted Max.
“Hello there, is there something that I can help you with?”
“Yes, my craft needs some attention, but I would be willing to fix it myself. I need to re-adjust on of the internal components. I just need proper tools and equipment.” Max replied.
“Internal components, I certainly have the right tools for that. I’ll be right back.”
A moment later, the manager came back with an array of tools. Max thanked him, and began taking apart the hull of the fighter. After the hull was off, Max made sure that systems were shut down. Even though the systems were shut down, the tracking device would probably still be operating and taking a very small amount from the on-board battery.
Max took an energy detector and waved it around the interior of the craft. The detector showed that there was a device using an incredibly small amount of energy, and it was coming from the middle of the craft. Surely that was the tracking device that he was looking for. Using a variety of tools, Max disassembled several components before seeing a small chip that was blinking. Just to make sure that this was a tracker, Max waved a radiation detector around the chip, and sure enough, there were energy waves that were being transmitted from the chip.
Max carefully cut the wires to the chip and took the chip out. He looked at it for a moment, and threw it away. He then carefully put the other components back together, but he noticed that the engine wasn’t the type that current Union craft used.
There was no fuel cell, but there was a generator. It wasn’t like the generators that are found in Union spacecraft, but it was something different. Max took the generator out of the fighter, and disassembled it. Max sampled the mineral that was used, and it turned up the same mineral properties as Max found in Duranium!
This really shocked Max, because he had kept the details of his experiment a secret. Apparently the enemy was knowledgeable in Duranium, and was probably then an alien civilization. That find also helped support Max’s thesis that he was kidnapped to set up a trap for the public, since the aliens were not after the technology, but rather wanted to take over the Union. Since the fighter was fueled by Duranium, Max wouldn’t have to re-fuel. After hesitating for a moment, he assembled the generator, connected it to the fighter, and proceeded to finish assembling the hull of the fighter craft.
Max returned the tools, and thanked the manager. Max then sped his fighter into a hangar, where he could keep it until he had gotten something to eat. He ran back to the large building by the landing pad, and asked the receptionist where he could eat. The receptionist pointed him to a popular restaurant that wasn’t too far away. Max thanked him, and then went to the floor beneath where the subway was.
The city had a large underground transportation system. Speeders weren’t allowed in the urban areas, but transporters and speeders were only for transportation between planets. When the hover train arrived at the station, Max stepped in and found a seat near the exit. The next stop was where the restaurant was, so it wasn’t too long before the computer announced the arrival at the next stop.
Ending the trip, the incredibly fast hover train sped around a curve before it slowed and arrived at the station. Max stepped off the train and onto a platform that had stone walls with arches and domes. He walked up the stairs, and he found himself near a large plaza. He walked into the plaza, and into a large crowd of people that were everywhere to be seen. Inside the plaza, there was a pizzeria, so he entered the pizzeria and found a seat.
The waiter came by and asked what his order was. Looking up, Max told her that he wanted three slices of cheese pizza and water.
“Max Howell! What are you doing here? You have been missing for months! What happened? Where were you?” The waiter said in a tone of shock.
“Months! But I’ve only been gone for a couple days. How could that be?”
“It has been months. The entire Union has been searching for you, but we gave up hope. We thought that you had mysteriously died somewhere unknown. Well, aren’t you going to tell me what happened?”
“No. This is something that I must keep within myself for now, but you’ll find out later.” Max answered.
“Ok, so three slices of cheese pizza, and water, correct?”
“Correct.”
The waiter then left and a couple minutes later returned with the desired order. Max thanked the waiter, and began eating his meal.
After filling up his stomach, Max left and took the train to the hangars where his fighter was waiting for him. He stepped out into the open air and headed for the hangar where he had last left his fighter. Max entered the hangar, but not seeing his fighter, he asked the manager.
“Hello, I believe I left my craft here, but I can’t find it.”
“Well we had to move it into that far corner over there to make room for this large cargo ship that just landed.” The manager replied, pointing toward a corner at the far end of the hangar.
Max looked, and sure enough, there stood his craft, gleaming in the light. He thanked the manager, and ran over to his fighter and leapt inside. With the roar of thunder Max started up the engines, and hovered outside where he soared into the beautiful blue sky. He jetted the engines once breaking through the atmosphere, and then prepared for the hyper jump towards Pasadena. After the computer aligned the craft towards Pasadena, and made sure that there were no obstacles in the way, Max started the hyper drive, and his fighter zoomed into deep space.
Several hours later, Max slowed to a cruising speed as his fighter entered the Euchara district. The star Gienah shone its bright rays of light on the yellowish planet of Euchara. The yellow color of Euchara came from the lights, buildings, and highways that streaked the planet. When Max’s ship rammed through the atmosphere he slowed down even further and then cruised into one of the aerial highways that lined the planet.
Within an hour Max arrived at the Union HQ, and he parked his fighter on one of the many landing docks on the Union HQ building. Many of the assistants that stood by looked curiously at the unique craft that had just landed. When Max opened the cockpit and leapt out, many stared at him in wonder, identifying him as Max Howell, the one who mysteriously disappeared months ago. People flocked to him, but Max ran ahead, ignoring the crowds.
He rushed to the elevator, and ascended to the 17th floor. Upon walking out of the elevator, he rushed to find office 18783, the office where his friend Ted Rosenfeller worked. This time he would meet his friend, not a robot that imitated Ted. He walked inside his office, and there was Ted, behind his desk. Ted looked up, and immediately recognized Max.
“Max, whatever are you doing here? Where have you been? Several months ago you said that you would see me in my office, but you never turned up. You have been missing for months!” Ted said in a great deal of shock.
“Well, there is a lot to explain, and there is still a lot that I don’t understand, but first, I need to tell you about something that happened right after my speech at the GTA.”
At that time a red light blinked on the holographic monitor, so Ted said “Relay message” to the computer. A voice over the speaker said that a very urgent meeting was to be held in a large meeting room.
“Well, I guess I have to go, but I’ll be back.” Ted said.
“I should go with you, as I think I know what this urgent meeting is about, and I will have information that only I know.”
“Well, urgent meetings are only for personally invited employees, but I will ask my co-workers there.” Ted answered as he exited his office and motioned for Max to come.
After a couple minutes of walking, they arrived at the meeting place. Large French doors guarded the entrance, but they got pushed aside as Max and Ted entered the room. Several people were already seated, so Ted approached them, motioning Max to stay behind. Ahead, Max could see Ted begin to talk with the people, and all at once, they looked back in a surprised state, and after a few more moments, Ted motioned Max to come and sit down.
The president of the Union walked on stage, and he began speaking.
“We have reports that the planet of Terpis has been attacked and is now under the control of an unknown outside force.”
I will complete it soon, and then upload the 4th, 5th, and hopefully 6th chapter as well by then! 
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