Dark Universe & Forbidden Love Read online

  “You don’t see what I see.” Sayilin grinned as Titainein suddenly emerged behind Jason. She was firing her fist at Jason’s shoulder. Just before the contact, Jason reached back and caught her fist.

  “Well, you are good.” Sayilin said with a grin.

  “I will get him next time.” Titainen said easily as she sat next to Jason. She was a Tizuee who were famous for their beautiful figures. Titainein had a sexy body and a diamond-shape face with red eyes, pink lips and long red hair. Tizuee had no ears.

  “Well, let’s get started. Two things. The paper for dark energy and the upcoming game. For the paper, we will break it into different parts and each of us takes one part. Like discovery, usage, application, advantages and so on. What you guys think?” Jason said.

  “We should also add the history of the dark energy.” Lucis said.

  “Also basic theory and future potential.” Idi added

  “What about the species using dark energy?” Orizy asked.

  “There are only two species: Glycan and Hylocan. I don’t know whether the teacher will like it if we write Hylocan? Sayilin said.

  “It is scientific paper. If we just write several sentences, should be all right.” Jason said.

  “I don’t know about that.” Sayilin said.

  “The application part should be our main focus. It should contain both civilian application and military application.” Jason said.

  Everyone nodded their heads.

  “We need discussion and summary parts at the end as well.” Erikon said.

  “I wonder if we can find some information from first class libarary.” Titainein said quietly.

  “That is a good call, especially Glycan’s library.” Idi said.

  “If you get caught, you are dead.” Lucis said.

  “We don’t have those crystals anyway.” Orizy said.

  “Yea, I forgot that.” Titainein said.

  “Well, I will see what I can do.” Jason said confidently.

  “Man, don’t do anything special. We know you like to try stuff.” Sayilin said in a worried tone and everyone grinned.

  “Maybe. So how about three people handle the application part? Orizy, Sayilin and me. Vampire, you do the history part. Erikon you do the future potential. Idi, the introduction including basic theory. Titainein, can you put them all together and write a discussion and summary?” Jason said.

  Titainein nodded and everyone was fine with the assignments.

  Then they talked about the upcoming game. It was a big thing in the training center and had been around since the training center was founded. It was a ball game. In each match, every team were allowed to use anything to get their hands on the ball. That included all kinds of weapons such as rifles, grenade launchers and laser guns. Players in the game wore heavy armor suits. The team held the ball most time would be the winner. Jason and others were all excited about the game. Since they never played this kind of game before, they decided to consult senior trainees and then made their plan.

  “Well, if there is nothing else, I will go to meet my parents. See you guys later.” Titainein said hastily and left the table. Jason, Erikon and Lucis stared at Titinainein’s s-shaped figure. Trainees on other tables were also checking her out.

  “Guys, Guys, watch yourself!” Idi whispered. But the three acted like they didn’t hear her.

  “I don’t think she is that beautiful.” Sayilin said.

  “You don’t see what we see.” Lucis said.

  Everyone sensed the irony and laughed.

  “I am going to see my father. What about you guys?” Jason asked.

  “It is the visiting day. Once a month. Of course.” Orizy said.

  Everyone nodded except Lucis.

  “Have a nice day!” Jason said and headed out.

  Chapter 4

  The radio broadcast waked Mark up. It said they would arrive in 10 minutes. He looked out of the window and saw planet Evena, the blue eye. The name derived from the fact that 95% of its surface was covered by water. Evena was the diplomatic center of the universe. Both first and second class species had their embassies set up on Evena. It also hosted UG headquarter and it was the checking point for Eva-1. No civilian transport vessels was allowed to land on Eva-1 directly. Those attempting visiting Eva-1 must go through security and biosafety scan on planet Evena. From there, they would take another transport vessel to Eva-1.

  After about an hour, Mark finally sat in the visitor room, waiting for his son Jason. The room was about the size of a tennis field with 40 tables packed close to each other. All tables were occupied by different species. They were talking, joking, laughing and crying. Even though Mark couldn’t understand all those different languages. He could feel the warm and happiness. Some were crying in others’ arms; some were whispering into others’ ears; some were playing games and some were just like Mark, sitting there and waiting.

  Jason stepped into the room and spotted his father right away. He ran to Mark and gave him a big hug.

  “You are taller than last time.” Mark said happily.

  “I miss you! Dad.”

  “I miss you, too. Come on. Let’s sit down.”

  They sat next to each other.

  “So how is everything? Getting along with others?”

  “Well, they are not that different.”

  “Really, you see that Sulan over there? Was he born in chocolate?”

  “That is Orizy. He is in my study group.” Jason laughed.

  “What about that one, you see?” Mark said as he pointed at the girl whose skin color is exactly same as the color of the wall.

  “They are Lozisusis. Their skin can change colors. She is actually my classmate. Her name is Leseu”

  “You like her? It seems that you know a lot about her.”

  “Come on. Dad.”

  They both laughed.

  “So you’ve been snooping around?” Mark lowered his voice.

  “Not really, except the library. I checked some information.”

  “Tell me, man.”

  “Well, I read a lot and also found some information about the vessel mom took.” Jason said and tried to hide his sadness, but Mark could tell.

  “I know that is the reason why you want to sneak into Glycan’s library. But Jason, your mom is gone, she is not with us anymore.” Mark said sadly.

  “I know. I know. I just want to...you know. How mom got on that ship? We can’t just get on Glycan’s ship. How the ship went missing? I want to know more.”

  “Nobody knows what happened.” Mark said calmly.

  “There is still hope. Every Glycan ship has lifeboat. She might be alright.” Jason said emotionally.

  “Jason, we talked about this. I miss her as much as you do. But when you think what we can do...” Mark sighed.

  “If we can find more information about the ship, there is still hope.” Jason said firmly.

  Mark knew this was not going anywhere.

  “Hey, there is something for you.” Mark said quietly as he handed Jason two crystals under the table.

  “Just in time. I finished the last one two days ago.” Jason murmured as he looked around and took the crystals.

  “Oh, John wanted to say thank you for your gift.” Mark grinned. John was Jason’s older brother. He had a health situation requiring medical attention all the time. He was in coma for most of the time and only woke up occasionally.

  “You talked with him?” Jason asked excitedly.

  “No, it’s hard to catch that moment. But he is good. He left me a message that he likes the gift.” Mark said happily.

  “Dad, don’t you worry. After I graduated from here, we will have money to cure John. He will be all right.” Jason said confidently.

  “Man, I am counting on you. You keep that in mind!” Mark said and patted Jason’s shoulder.

  “I am the man! You remember that as well.” Jason said in a hard tone and punched on Mark’s chest. Later they talked about other stuff such as new movies,
footballs, the upcoming games and so on. Before they realized it, one hour flew by and their time was up.

  “It is the time.” Mark said slowly.

  “Yea, it is.” Jason said sadly, casting his eyes down.

  “Listen, you be good and don’t get caught using those crystals.”

  “Man, you need to trust me more than that.”

  “I know. But just be careful. Learn more stuff with them. OK?”

  “All right.” Jason said as he gave Mark a big hug. They walked together to the doorway and said goodbye. Jason stood there until he couldn’t see his father any more.

  Chapter 5

  Mark took another transport vessel and headed to planet M13. Orbiting around a red dwarf, M13 was a small planet that was known as the black market. Due to the tidal forces, it did not rotate and had the same side facing the star all the time. Small business owners from second class species turned the dayside of the planet into a huge marketplace with all kinds of companies and markets. Sharp eyes and a fat wallet could get you goods ranging from spacecraft to deadly poisons. The night side planet was colder and quieter. Brothels, bars, hotels and mysterious buildings clustered like molds and spread all over the area. There was no regulation on M13. Robberies and murders happened all the time. All species did businesses on their own risks.

  Mark got off the vessel on the night side of the planet. He headed to the sailor bar, one of the oldest bars on M13. The bar was actually an abandoned spacecraft. It looked like a dagger sticking on the ground. Mark checked around as he walked to the entrance. There was no streetlight and the only dim lights came from billboards on each building. Few were walking cautiously on the street. Mark took a deep breath and entered the bar.

  The bar was well lightened with beams of yellow lights. In the middle of the room, a big robot with more than thirty arms was busy with filling glasses. Some 30 tables scattered around, occupied by different species.

  “Still too early.” Mark said to himself. He wandered among those tables, looking for a familiar face.

  “Want a drink?” A robot waiter asked as it passed by.

  “No money.” Mark said coldly. He suddenly recalled what Jason said today. Mark knew he was doing everything he could to make money. But that was still not enough. He reminisced about his past. Before snagging a job in Latianium as a mine worker, He worked in intelligence agency which was shut down later due to the tight budget. Then he served in the special force in Human Infantry 23rd division. If he wasn’t injured and lost his left kidney in the last mission, he could still stay in the special force and might even be promoted to the captain rank. But now he had been working on the mine site for two years. Thinking about this, he felt depressed and heavy.

  A Human stepped into the bar. Mark recognized the guy right away even though he was wearing some kind of shield over his eyes. He walked to Mark and said, “Wait for the game?”

  “The game number is 30304987299. What is yours?” Mark said.

  “Mine is 20293884721.” The guy said patiently as he sat down.

  “Have a good one.”

  “You too.” The guy said and stood up. He found another table about five meters away.

  Marked glided his hand over the bottom of the table and picked up a penny size sticker. He stuck it on his forehead. It was a neurotransmitter designed for people to carry out conversions without speaking. The process of generating sentences in the brain was related with neutral tissue oscillatory activity which could be converted to electronic signal. However, the operational range of such neurotransmitter was about five meter.

  “What’s up, Mark.”

  Mark could see the sentence in his brain.

  “Hi Aron. How are you doing?” Mark replied.

  “Very well. How are your sons?” Aron asked.

  “I saw Jason today. I will go to see John later.”

  “How is Jason? He is doing all right in the training center?”

  “He is doing fine. More ambitious that is. He still keeps asking about his mother. It is hard for him to let it go.”

  “Maybe you should tell him the truth one day.”

  “Well, when he gets older. I will. Right now, I am worried that he will do something crazy.” Mark didn’t tell Jason that Glycan killed his mother.

  “I feel you, Man.”

  “How about you?” Jason asked.

  “You know, a single man like me doesn’t have much going on. These days I can’t afford to have a family. No money for a room.” Aron said easily.

  “You are still young. Don’t worry.”

  “Alright. Back to the business. The intel you got last time might have something to do with Hylocan eyeballs. We also found other cases just like the one you got.” Aron said seriously.

  “I see.” Mark nodded. Mark’s last mission was to verify the death of a Hylocan scientist who was killed in an accident right after UWII. Mark found out that the autopsy results of the scientist contained a very fuzzy brain scan picture. He further dug out that the crash was staged and the brain was removed when the scientist was alive.

  “I think some guys want others believe those scientists are dead.” Mark said.

  “Well, in your case, the scientist in question was one of the chief scientists in charge of Hylocan neurology research center before UWII.” Aron said.

  “Well, I am quite sure every species wants that.” Mark said.

  Before UWII, Hylocan was the lead in the research of central nerve system, far ahead of other species in the universe. They were able to make a device to extract information from brains. In other words, they could read minds. At the beginning, the device was as big as a helmet. As Hylocans advanced related technology and science, they made the device so small that it could be fitted into an eyeball, so they began to plant the devices into the eyeballs of some Hylocans. But they did not stop there. Combining with atomic infusion, cell mutation and tissue regeneration, they revolutionized the device to an organ and made it grow inside of the eyeball. Then they embedded the organ’s genetic sequence into the genes of Hylocans. Years after years, generations after generations, mind-reading organ hiding in their eyes evolved more and more powerful. However, their loss in UWII terminated the future of the organ. The senior council of UG had all Hylocans’ eyeballs removed and replaced with electronic eyes. This included every new born Hylocans.

  “That brings us the whereabouts of those eyeballs. After eyeballs are removed from Hylocans, they should be sent to a planet to be destroyed. It seems that not all of them were done this way.” Aron said.

  “We just found out this? I mean, it has been 84 years since Hylocan was defeated.” Marked asked in surprise.

  “Recently, one Hylocan girl went missing. We dug into it and found that some eyeballs were transported to somewhere else.”

  “Where then?”

  “That is your new assignment. We managed to place a tracer on one eyeball, but we don’t know where it went. It might because the destination was beyond the tracer’s transmission range. All we know is the location of the last transmission.” Aron said.

  “I see. No problem. Aron, I know the rule, but can I get some money now?”

  “The money is tight. I can’t prepay you with their money. But I can pay you with my money.”

  “Thanks, Man. I appreciate it.”

  “For John?”

  “Right.”

  “How is he?”

  “He is all right. Not getting worse. Right now, I can only keep it this way. Need to win a lottery to start the actual treatment.”

  “Man, I wish I can do more.”

  “You have done a lot and I appreciate that and this job. I know you can find other guys for this job.”

  “Come on, Man. You saved me twice.”

  “You saved me once, so it made me save you only one time.”

  “OK. I gotta go. I will put the detail information and money in the old place.” Aron said and headed out.

  Mark took the sticker off his forehead and let
out a long sigh.

  Chapter 6

  It was midnight in the training center. Jason sneaked out of the room after Lucis and Erikon fell asleep. He ran across dormitory area and headed to the library. It was dark and deadly quiet. Jason checked surrounding carefully and only saw several robots sweeping the floor. Soon he got to the library and climbed into the ventilation system through a vent on the ceiling. After running thirty minutes in the shaft and climbing up two floors, he crawled into Glycan’s library through a vent on the wall.

  Starlight passed through huge windows on one side of the library and showered half of the room in silver. On the other side where it was dark, there were more than thirty small cubicles. Jason rushed into one cubicle and sat down in front of the table. Then he inserted the crystal his father gave him into the slot on the table. A beam of light shot through the crystal and casted a halo on Jason’s forehead.

  “Search for dark energy.” Jason whispered in Glycanese.

  Within seconds, words and images popped up directly in his brain.

  “Dark energy had three categories based on its source. 1: from decomposition of dark matter. 2: from the decay of dark elements. 3: from interaction between dark elements and antimatter.”

  “Explain dark matter.”

  “Dark matter were made from dark elements. There are two categories. 1: Dark matter formed by light dark elements. 2: Dark matter formed by heavy dark elements.”

  “This will take forever.” Jason sighed and shook his head. He continued the search with dark elements and lost the track of time. He didn’t stop until he had the unbearable headache. He leaned back against the chair. Just at this moment, he heard someone sobbing. At first, Jason thought it was his illusion, because he doubted anyone would came to Glycan library this late. But when he listened more carefully, he was certain that someone else was in the library. Jason slightly opened the door. He peeked outside and saw a girl sitting in the distant corner. Her wavy blonde hair reached the middle of her back, shining and glowing. Even though it was dark, Jason could tell it was a Glycan because of the unique texture of their hair. Glycan’s hair was thin but very tough. They had to use high energy laser to cut hair.