CHAPTER XIV

Zanboloch rounded a corner and nearly fainted. Caleb was going right up to a trooper.
“What are you DOING?!” Hissed Zanboloch.
Caleb ignored him and said something to the trooper. The trooper nodded, said something back and handed Caleb a small object that resembled a USB, another old-fashioned trinket from the 2020s.

Caleb nodded in thanks and ran over to Zanboloch.

He pressed a button and a hologram of the Emperor’s entire flagship flickered into view.
“Now we have a map. You’re welcome.” He said.

He stared at the map and frowned.
“That’s…odd.”
“What?”
“It’s just that…this looks exactly like the schematics of Emperor Carne’s warship…”
The more Caleb stared at it, the more prominent his expression became.
“Why would they be exactly the same?”

Zanboloch shrugged.

Caleb pointed at a big blank spot on the map. There was big red writing beside it.
“What does that say? He asked, being a human, unable to read the Emperor’s language.
“I think it says, ‘OFF LIMITS. ANY UNAUTHORISED LIFE FORMS WILL BE DISINTEGRATED.’”
“Then that’s where we’re heading.”

Zanboloch grumbled something and followed Caleb as he stared at the hologram and jogged through the corridor.

“Are we nearly there yet?” Moaned Zanboloch almost 10 minutes later. Getting around on the Emperor’s flagship was hell. Why on Xingfeng was it so big?!

Eventually, the hallway came to a complete stop.
“We’re here.” He said.
Zanboloch looked around. There was nothing but bare walls.
“No we’re not.” He said blithely.
Caleb shoved the translucent map into Zanboloch’s face.
“That red dot is us. We’re right next to that big blank area.”

Caleb thought for a moment and then walked over to a wall.

“Don’t tell me…” He breathed as he began pressing his hands on the wall in seemingly random places.

There were a series of clicks and rumbling noises until the wall contracted, split in two and rolled to the side, revealing a vast laboratory full of tanks, benches, test tubes and computer.

“Oh, wow. I knew Emperor Gairake was into science, but not this into science.”
Said Zanboloch as he went over and examined something in one of the bubbling tanks full of a greenish slime.

“I don’t believe it.” Whispered Caleb.
“Don’t believe what?” Grunted Zanboloch nonchalantly as he sniffed a test tube.
“This lab…i’ve been here before. It’s exactly the same as the lab on Carne’s ship…”
Zanboloch came barrelling from behind a tank straight into Caleb.
“Hide!” He hissed.

Caleb froze as he heard the click-clack of polished shoes on the polished floor.
He scrabbled on the smooth floor, but eventually was forced to dive behind a bench.

The click-clacks got closer and closer until they entered the room. The polished shoes belonged to the person in the helmet that Zanboloch had seen deliver that sphere of gas to the Emperor. His posture seemed terrible now, he was clutching a beaker of some sort of bright green liquid, and was hiccupping uncontrollably.
He immediately strolled over to the workbench and started mixing the contents of the test tubes.
This was good, because it meant he was making noise and concentrating on something other that looking for intruders.
But it was bad because a hyperventilating human was lying on the other side of his bench.

CHAPTER XV

Caleb tried to get off his front so he could crawl, but his armour ground against the floor, causing the scientist guy to look up and grunt. The two were so on edge even this small happening was like being told the world was going to end in 20 seconds.
Zanboloch shook his head so much Caleb thought it would fly clean off.

He knew that Caleb would never escape on his own…
He desperately began to think. He couldn’t use his gun because then it would be obvious someone was here…and he couldn’t move any of the—

Suddenly, he reached across and bumped something off the bench onto Caleb’s side.
Unaware of how much panic he was causing, he went round to pick up the thing he dropped.
He stared at the frozen Caleb.
And then looked to the bottle in his hand.
He snorted and poured the liquid down a sink and retreated back to wherever he came from, hiccupping to himself.

It took a while for Caleb to calm down.
In the meanwhile, Zanboloch snuck around, trying to find something that seemed nefarious.
“There’s nothing here to suggest that Emperor Gairake is up to anything bad. Sure, he has a secret lab. But making new, uh, advancements is how we win the war.”
He looked over at Caleb.

“Sorry.”

Caleb sighed. “There’s nothing for it. We both belong to two warring species. Come on.”

He tried to stand up, and banged his head on the workbench. Hard.

Then the floor beneath him vanished.

CHAPTER XVI

Caleb slammed into the floor back first.
“Oooooow.” He groaned loudly.
Caleb looked up. He must have fallen a good 3 metres. Luckily he was wearing armour, otherwise he would have broken something for sure.
Zanboloch’s silhouetted head appeared above him.
“What just happened??” He squeaked.

Caleb stood up. “Uhhh...”
He took a step backwards into a smooth surface that beeped.
Blue light flooded the small, blank, metal room as two holographic squares materialised in front of Caleb.

“I’m hearing a lot of beeping and whirring. It would be nice to have an update on what’s happening down there.” Called Zanboloch, squinting down into the almost-blackness.

Caleb squinted at the two blue squares.

“I think it’s a handprint scanner, with a holographic keypad next to it.” He called back.
“How did you even get down there? Where did the floor go?!” Spluttered Zanboloch.
Caleb thought for a moment.
“There must have been a secret button on the bottom of the desk. I must have accidentally pressed it when I banged my he—“

“WHO’S THERE?!” Bellowed a mechanical voice.

Zanboloch jumped, lost his balance and fell screaming all the way down into the secret room and landed with a thud on the cold metal floor.

The owner of the mechanical voice approached with the click-clack of their polished shoes. It was the scientist they had seen before.

He looked down at the shocked looking human and the Xingfeng splattered onto the floor like a squashed blue frog.

“Ugh. What are…*hic*…doing here?” He mumbled, his helmet making his voice sound like a drunken robot. Which he was. The first half, at least.

“You…are all under arrest. You’re so dead now. Emperor Gairake is going to-“

Zanboloch set his gun to stun and shot the scientist.
He froze, the energy flashing through his body and up to his brain forcing it to shut down.
Which it did. His knees buckled, and he fell down towards Caleb, who tried to catch him, but just ended acting as a human cushion.

“Wanna bet that this guy had access to whatever is on the other side of all this freakish security?” Grunted Caleb.

Zanboloch grabbed the unconscious man’s hand and pressed it onto the hologram. It turned from blue to green and dematerialised with a ding.
“Now for the keycard…ah!” Muttered Zanboloch, palming a flat, rectangular object off the man’s belt and slapping it onto the scanner.
It turned green beeped twice, and vanished. The wall behind it opened with a pneumatic hiss.

A metal slab closed off the ceiling, and rained some foul-smelling liquid onto them.
The disgusting rain lasted for about five seconds before the room was suddenly filled with pleasant-smelling steam, and a door opened to their left.

The room was totally and utterly dark. Zanboloch had to wave his hand at the floor to make sure it existed.

“Where are we?” He said as he slowly stepped out into the blackness.
Caleb shivered. The biting cold had slashed straight through his armour already.
Zanboloch took out a flashlight from his belt.
Even though light definitely came out, the room was somehow still pitch black.
“I think the floor has been painted black. The walls too.” Moaned Caleb.
“Is that a way out?” Asked Zanboloch, squinting at a tiny rectangle of light in the distance.
“I see it. I think it might be. Come on, let’s go.”

Suddenly, the unconscious scientist guy became conscious again with a loud snort and a splutter.
“Urgh! You…get back here! You shall answer to the Emperor for this ridiculo-“ He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the completely dark room.

“Oh no.” He whispered.
“What?”
The scientist began shaking. He slowly scanned the room, looking so hard he might have been trying to find a panther in the inky blackness.

“Have y-you seen it yet? How long have you been in here? ANSWER ME!!” He yelled, grabbing Caleb and shaking him like a wet towel.

“Seen what? We’ve only been in here, like for a few seconds. All there is is black. Is that an exit?” Asked Zanboloch.

The scientist sighed. “There’s still time.” And with that, he shoved past the others and made a beeline for the speck of light in the distance.
“Hey!” Barked Zanboloch as they both ran after him.

The room was completely sparse, they didn’t bang into anything (other than eachother) in the dark. The further in they went, the more rank a smell became.
It’s like before in the tunnel, thought Zanboloch.

Caleb suddenly screeched to a halt, pointed at something and made a high pitched, absolutely petrified scream that made everyone stop dead in their tracks.

Caleb was pointing to something emerging from the darkness about 20 metres away from them.
All Zanboloch, and anyone else could see of it were two rows of extremely long, sharp and jagged white teeth that seemed to be giving off light, and two burning crimson eyes.

“What…is…THAT?!” Whispered Zanboloch.

The scientist was the first to break out of their petrified daze.

“RUUUN!!” He bellowed at the top of his lungs.

It was like a starting signal for everyone, or rather, everything to GO.

Zanboloch, Caleb and the scientist took off towards the doorway, and their presumable escape, whereas that thing they saw (whatever it was) emitted a massively blinding flash of light that lit up the entire room, and Zanboloch could, for a split second, see the monster’s entire body.

It was ginormous, about three metres tall, and had massive arms that were as thick as tree trunks with dagger-like talons and much smaller back legs.
It ran on all fours like a spider, all the while making a hissing-bellowing noise that sent shivers down Zanboloch’s spine.

Zanboloch and Caleb’s legs were about to give out, but the scientist’s did before theirs.
He tripped over, and was pounced upon like a lightning strike.
The creature bit down on their leg and dragged the poor scientist into the darkness.

Zanboloch and Caleb stood shocked. They couldn’t see anything (thank god) but they could hear it all…

After the creature had completely decimated its victim, it looked up at Zanboloch and Caleb, blood dripping off its teeth.
Red blood.
Human blood.
It began making a guttural growling, gurgling noise that echoed around the empty room.

“Oh, that is MESSED UP!!” Shouted Caleb as they both started running again.

Finally, they shot out of the dark room and entered the light once again.
“Close the door! CLOSE THE DOOR!!” Screamed Zanboloch.
“WHERE? HOW? THERE IS NO DOOR!!” Caleb screamed back.

“IT MUST BE ELECTRICAL— FIND A BUTTON!!”

Caleb looked in panic at the impressive array of buttons and levers before him.

“WHICH ONE?!?!”

“MAYONNAISE!!!”

The monster’s horrible teeth were right outside the doorway.
The duo clenched their teeth and braced for the end…

CHAPTER XVII

The moment the creature set foot in the bright room, it howled and made a strange hissing noise that sounded like the dousing of fire.
It scrabbled on the floor to get back into the darkness.
The creature’s skin seemed to be red and peeling off like it had been scalded. Which it had been.
By the light! Thought Zanboloch.
It can’t venture beyond the darkness!

“It’s ok, Caleb. It can’t go any further that the darkness. Look, its skin is burning.”

When the two eventually fully calmed down, they took in their surroundings.
They were in a longish room with tables of buttons, levers, knobs, keypads and much more on either side of the place, with surveillance cameras that showed night-vision views of the creature they had just encountered.

“What the heck was that thing?” muttered Zanboloch, staring at the screen.

“It straight up killed that scientist guy. Just ripped him apart.” Moaned Caleb.
“Is there anything useful we can use in here?” Asked Zanboloch.

Caleb grabbed what looked like a rolled-up poster off the bench.
“This is the only thing in the room that isn’t nailed down.”
“A poster. Wow. What’s on it?”

As Caleb unrolled it, the black part flashed white, and a holographic keyboard shimmered into view.
“Hey! That’s a computer!”
Caleb stared at it like it was a watermelon which had just grown a face and told him the universe was a simulation.
“This looks just like Emperor Carne’s computer…” He mumbled.
Zanboloch ignored him and immediately began typing on the keyboard.

“This thing could hold all the answers. It could have everything on it.”
The screen beeped, and an empty bar showed up.

Zanboloch bashed his head on the keyboard.
“Damn! We need a passcode.” He hissed.
“But who would know the passcode? We can’t just go and kidnap somebody. Maybe there’s a note somewhere, or-“

The computer screen went green and dinged.
Zanboloch spun around to see Caleb standing in front of it in shock.
“What did you do?!”
“I-I-I entered the passcode to Emperor Carne’s computer. It turned out to be the same…what?!” He spluttered, looking at the screen.

“This is Emperor Carne’s computer!” He breathed.

“It looks the same, its passcode is the same, the files on it are the same!”

He opened an application called “YouCylinder”.
“And this is the stupid cat video I was watching a few days ago!”

Zanboloch was sceptical.
“So you’re saying you used it, like, yesterday, and now its magically appeared here?”

Caleb thought for a moment.

“I don’t know. But I do know that this has to be Emperor Carne’s computer.”

Zanboloch pointed at a file on the screen that had a picture of Emperor Carne’s helmet on it.
“Click onto that.”

Caleb hesitated.
“Emperor Carne always told me that file was off-limits.”

Zanboloch rolled his eyes and clicked onto the file.
A hologram of a masked head was projected into the room. It was made more crudely of metal, and seemed a little more worse for wear, as if it had been around longer. It had no gas mask-like features, except for the same empty, black, staring lenses. It was Emperor Carne.

“This is log entry number two hundred and three.” Said Emperor Carne’s digital head.
The Xingfengese forces were driven back a sector recently. Moving my flagship from Earth to Xingfeng has proven cumbersome and energy-costing.”

“What is he talking about? Emperor Carne has never been to Xingfeng.” Whispered Caleb.

“So, I have decided to place my flagship on a halfway mark of sorts between the planets. The transition from Emperor Carne to Emperor Gairake is also very cumbersome and time-wasting. I may need to revise my armour so it is less of a hassle.” Continued Carne.

“The transition from Emperor Carne to Gairake? What?! How?!” Spluttered Caleb.

“Skip forward.” Said Zanboloch breathlessly.

Suddenly, a different mask was projected.
It was sort of reminiscent of a human gas mask, but it looked like it was made of titanium, there were two horns that resembled razor-sharp metal antlers, and the eyeholes were black pools of darkness that seemed to stare into your soul.

Caleb and Zanboloch recognised it immediately. It was Emperor Gairake.

“This is log entry two hundred and six. Caleb almost witnessed me in my alter form. I must be more careful around that little brat. He is starting to get curious.”

Caleb made a noise that sounded like an elephant with a blocked nose.

“That’s Gairake! Did it switch logs or something? What happened?” He yelped.

Zanboloch looked like he was about to throw up.

“No. It’s the same file.”

“Fortunately, though,” Continued Gairake, “My cover remains intact. He suspects nothing of my double life.
“However, process with the construction of the super weapon is slow. Those numbskull Xingfengese workers have trouble comprehending such advanced technical blueprints.
The human workers are far superior to the Xingfengese. Oh, how they disgust me.” Growled Gairake.

“W-w-what?” Squeaked Zanboloch, his voice barely above a whisper.

“I shall rejoice when the focusing lenses are complete, and I can wipe out the entire planet of Xingfeng in seconds.”

“WHAT?!” Screamed Zanboloch, his voice much louder than a whisper now.

“And then I shall finally reveal to my own race, the humans, how I infiltrated the ranks of Xingfeng, rose to the top, usurped their rule and led them to their demise, all in service of the human race.” He finished, his voice smooth as a pearl, and as determined as a hypocrite who believed he was ridding the world from evil.

Zanboloch rolled up the laptop and the hologram disappeared.
“We have to get this to Sergeant Slick. Or at least my sister, Poioy. This is far too dangerou-“

Suddenly, a cold, metal hand was clapped over his mouth, its sharp fingers piercing his skin.
A gag was shoved in his mouth and a hood was whipped over his head.
As he struggled to breathe, all he could think was, Emperor Gairake is a human? I need to tell the others. Poioy, Fred, even Slick.
Poioy…

Caleb…

CHAPTER XVIII

“Ah, thank you very much for your assistance, Caleb.” Said the now chilling voice of Emperor Gairake.
Caleb’s mouth was not able to produce any noise as he watched Zanboloch get carried away by the Emperor’s Guards.
“Although, I have some inquiries. I am still not sure why you allied yourself with that Xingfeng. May I ask why?” He said as if he was asking about the ingredients of a particularly tasty muffin.

Caleb wasn’t listening.
“NO! Why? Why would you do this? You lied to me! To everyone! The Xingfeng DIDN’T kill our family, did they?” He yelled, shaking.

The Emperor’s tone hardened a little.

“No. Your parents were killed by the Xingfeng. They are cruel, vicious beasts. Also, their feet stink.” Was his verdict.

A noise that sounded like somebody telling the Emperor to shut up came from beneath the hood and the gag.
The Emperor whipped out his hand, and without looking round, clocked Zanboloch in the head with the back of his fist.
A muffled cry rang out from beneath the material, along with a barrage of insults.

“Stop hurting him, you horrible man!”
Emperor Gairake growled. A rattling, otherworldly growl.
“I thought you would last the longest. So naive, so trusting. But it turns out, you’re a failure. Just like the REST OF MY CLONES!!” He roared with such malice that everyone in the area, even the monster in the dark room, trembled.
“Rest of what?” Caleb spluttered.

Emperor Gairake drew a dagger from his belt, and held it high above Zanboloch.
“NO!!” Caleb bellowed as he reached out a hand.
His hand turned an odd colour, and then vanished underneath a coat of sticky, greenish-brownish slime, giving off a disgusting, dank smell of a liquidated trash can full of rotten flesh.

Like the goo I found in that tunnel, Caleb thought.

Suddenly, the slime shot out like an octopus’s arm and enveloped Gairake’s hand.
Oddly enough, Caleb could feel it all, like the slime was an extension of his body.
He felt the slime close around the dagger, and he dragged it out of Emperor Gairake’s grip.

There was silence for a moment, as every stared at Caleb’s hand.

“No.” Hissed Gairake after what seemed like an eternity.
“NO. It’s too early. He shouldn’t have that much control over it yet. This has never happened to any of the other clones.”

He turned to the guard.

“Kill the Xingfeng.”

The guard drew his gun…

CHAPTER XIX

The goo shot out of Caleb’s arm once again and smashed into the guard like he had just been hit by a car.
This is really stinky, but it’s kind of cool. Thought Caleb as he grabbed Zanboloch.

“What the heck are you?” He spluttered as he pulled out his gag.

“I have no idea!” Caleb said brightly before drawing back a slimy fist and barrelling straight into Emperor Gairake.
Emperor Gairake pointed a finger skywards and drew a circle in the air. Caleb’s gooey hand disappeared into Gairake’s finger.
He chuckled. A frigid, condescending chuckle.

“Oh, Caleb. I suppose you think you’re something special. No doubt you found my creation in the Blackrooms.” He said, gesturing to the room where they had encountered the monster, “and that ‘slime bug’ that Private Whatshisname supposedly found. A creation just like the one in the Blackrooms, but it escaped. I was wondering where it ended up. I also know you allied with that human the moment you met him. And that smell that the slime bug, my Creation, and now, you. Isn’t it so…familiar?”

Caleb shivered. Gairake was exactly right. He had been pondering about it all day.

Gairake chuckled again.

“You wouldn’t remember. When you were just a tiny embryo, surrounded by the exact same slime, in a bubbling tank. I remember looking through the glass at you, wondering if this one would be any different.”

Caleb’s mind was in overdrive, and it was obvious by the look on his face.

“That’s right, Caleb. You’re a clone. That ‘slime bug’ you and Private butt cactus found, the one you just encountered, they’re your siblings. You’re a monster.”

Caleb fell to his knees. “No! You’re lying. It can’t. You can’t! No…” He groaned.

Gairake looked at him as if he was an insignificant speck of dirt on his shoes.

“As for you, Xingfeng…” He growled turning to Zanboloch.

But then he stopped.
He looked around wildly.

“Where did he GO?!” He howled.

Slime erupted through the chinks in his golden armour, coating one of his arms, and then a massive gob of it leapt out onto Caleb’s hands and legs, sticking them together.

The goo began erupting out of his back, his arms, and even his helmet, covering his entire body.
He became almost a metre taller, and then ripped off his helmet to reveal a horribly deformed and warped skull that glowed a vivid green colour.
He opened his jaws, revealing teeth like a tyrannosaurus rex’s, let out a terrible, bloodcurdling screech and bolted away, following Zanboloch’s scent. CHAPTER XX

Zanboloch punched in a frequency code and waited, praying that somebody cared enough to answer him.

There was a burst of static, and then somebody spluttered his name.
“Zanboloch? What in the galaxy?”

Zanboloch almost literally jumped for joy.
“Poioy! I’m so glad you responded. Listen, Emperor Gairake is actually Emperor Carne. They’re the same. It’s a plot. He’s with the humans. He’s going to annihilate our home planet. And he’s after me and my friend. We’re on his flagship.”

Poioy’s incredulous, almost screaming tone was all too familiar.
“What?! Listen, Zanboloch, ever since you just—“
Suddenly, her voice cut out. Zanboloch could hear muttering on the other end of the line.
“Private? Is that you?” Asked Slick in a concerned tone.
“Slick! Ye—“

“WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?! We only just spotted you after you buggered off into that rat Lola’s fancy spaceship. Where the heck were you going? How did you get on the Emperor’s ship? What—“
“There’s no time to explain fully.” Groaned Zanboloch, constantly checking behind himself.
“Just bring everyone you have to the Emperor’s Flagship. I’ve just uncovered a massive conspiracy. Gairake is a traitor. Come qui—“

A horrible screech, like two pieces of metal being ground against eachother.
Zanboloch spun around to see the sickening monster that the Emperor had morphed into.
It charged towards him, galloping on all fours like a horse.
Zanboloch almost soiled himself as he screamed and began running blindly away as fast as he could.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have much hope of getting away. Gairake was far faster than he was, and all he had to do was sling out a hand of slime, engulf the Xingfeng, and carry him back.

“Alright, Caleb, TIME’S UP!!” Roared Gairake as he reentered the room.
“I have your little Xingfeng!”

Caleb nearly sobbed. He was a copy of someone Gairake had made disappear, and now him and his only friend were about to die.

“I think i’m gonna KILL one of you FIRST, just for the heck of it!”
Gairake’s hand turned to a long, sharp blade.
With each word he spoke, he shoved the blade right between their eyes.
“Eenie, meenie, miney, YOU!!!” He bellowed in an ever so slightly shrill, shaking voice, pointing at Caleb.

He drew the blade high above his head…