Lost Revenge

  II

  By Hao Yang

  Copyright ©2016 by Hao Yang

  All Rights Reserved

  The book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations and invents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual incidents, persons or locations is entirely coincidental. No part of the book can be used or distributed or reproduced in any manner (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author.

  “Commander Jason Yang?”

  “Commander Jason Yang?”

  Never heard this voice before. Who is this?

  I open my eyes and see a beautiful blonde with a cold face. Right away I can tell she doesn’t like me at all.

  Wait. I am alive?!

  The last thing I remember was the explosion and I suffocated, but right now I am lying on a bed in a lab-looking room.

  The mighty blonde brings a flashlight to my left eye and then right eye.

  “Where am I? What happened?” I ask and then I notice my voice is different. It is softer and lower. This is not my voice.

  The mighty blonde acts as if she doesn’t hear me.

  I turn my head around and see a guy in a white lab coat not far away from me. He is jotting down something on a tablet.

  “Excuse me? Excuse me?” I shout at the top of my lungs.

  “Yes.” He says but doesn’t even raise his eyes.

  I guess he doesn’t like me either.

  “Can anyone tell me where I am?”

  “What do you remember?” He sounds like a robot. You know, I actually can’t rule out that he is a robot.

  “I remember explosion and I died in Achilles.” I say as calm as I can.

  The guy turns to the blonde and says, “I think we get him back. I will let Chief know.”

  “All right. I need to run more tests.” The blonde says while taking out a kit.

  They make me feel like I should stay dead.

  While she is doing her stuff, I take a close look at the surrounding. This is a lab like the one in hospital, only smaller and more compact. The way things are arranged is like a compartment in a spaceship. On one side of the room a mirror takes up a third of the wall. Probably a two-way mirror.

  I guess I should be happy. Apparently they found my body and revived me through some magical and mysterious way. However, I just don’t feel it. I have nothing. Lily is dead and so is my crew.

  After a while, the blonde seems satisfied with what she gets. She throws me a quick glimpse and leaves the compartment.

  Now it is just me. I try to move a bit to ease my numb ass, but all my limbs and hands are restrained.

  “Whoosh. Whoosh.” Door opens and closes.

  Another blonde comes into my view. She is 30 something, wavy hair, blue eyes, sexy lips, pink cheeks. She is more beautiful than the previous one and she gives me a welcome smile.

  “Commander Jason Yang, my name is Kathy. How do you feel?”

  “Well, my brain is working. Since I can’t really move around, I don’t know about my body.” I reply in a very NASA way.

  Kathy shows me an understanding smile. “I am sorry about that. It is just we are not sure whether there is any side effect.”

  “Like I will go crazy and bite people?” I grimace.

  She laughs out and says, “I know you won’t.” Then she nods to the mirror.

  Two guys come in, remove all my restraints and stand by the bed. I sit up and stretch a little. Looking at my hands, I know this is not my body.

  “So tell me your theory?” Kathy asks.

  “I guess you guys recovered my body from Achilles and revived me from death with some magic.”

  “That is very close to what actually happened except the magic part.”

  “Tell me please.”

  “First, it is 2089 now.” She stops and let it sink in.

  I let out a sigh. It’s about 34 years after the failed mission.

  “You are on spaceship Hercules and we are three days away from reaching Jupiter. On the way to Jupiter, we recovered your body from Achilles and that was about one and half years ago. It took a long time to get you back.”

  “Did you find other bodies? I mean alien bodies?”

  “I am very happy you remember those aliens and we hope you can help us close the case.”

  “I will. Just one thing. You didn’t revive those aliens, did you?” I ask nervously.

  Her face freezes for a second and quickly goes back to normal. “In the next two days, you will talk to several people and they have questions for you.”

  “I will do my best.” I squeeze out a smile. They have no idea how much trouble I went through to kill those motherfuckers. I just don’t want to go through that again.

  “Thank you. We will talk later. By the way, do you need anything?” Kathy asks kindly.

  “No, not really. You give me my life. What else can I request?” I say happily.

  Kathy flashes me a sweet smile and then leaves the room.

  It turns out there are more than several people who have questions. Some are psychiatrists; some are astronauts; some are engineers and some are detectives, I think. They all have one thing in common: they don’t like me. I don’t blame them. The mission failed; my crew died; 400 billion dollar spaceship is now a piece of shit.

  It also turns out that this body of mine is completely different from my old one. Now I have white skin, blue eyes, blonde hair and a movie star’s face. I am not complaining. At least they didn’t put me in a woman’s body. However, the new face fails to conceal my identity. People still know I am the fucked-up Mission Commander. When I walk in the corridor with my two bodyguards, nobody even looks at me, let alone say hi. Only Kathy talks to me from time to time and we become some kind of friends, although I understand that this is probably part of her job besides reviving me. She told me that the process was extremely expensive and even those people who live on the moon couldn’t afford it. I guess I am the lucky one.

  It is the third day since I woke up and we are now slowing down to be grabbed by Jupiter’s gravity. I am watching it in my cabin which is actually a storage room. On this spaceship only two persons have their own rooms. The Commander and me. By the way, I met the Commander during that two day question bombardment. He is as cold as ice and as hard as a rock.

  I often imagine myself sitting at the bridge and watching this historical moment with Lily and my crew. I miss Lily. I miss her so much that my heart hurts.

  “Knock, knock.”

  It must be Kathy. Others don’t knock and just come in directly to get the stuff they need.

  “Come in please.”

  The door slides open and Kathy walks in with a big smile on her face.

  “You look happy.” I greet her with a stiff smile.

  “Come on Jason. We are finishing what you started. You should be proud of yourself.” Kathy says happily.

  “Well, I wish I can take that credit. But...” I sigh.

  “But what? Tell me what bothers you.”

  “It sounds funny. I never know the objective of Achilles mission.”

  “They never told you?”

  “No. They just say you will know it when the time comes.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up. I don’t know the objective of this mission either. They just told me to revive you. That’s it.”

  “I guess we are not supposed to ask.”

  Kathy stands next to me and pat my shoulder. “Oh, I almost forgot. Here is a video message from Ken Seevers. You remember him?” Kathy says while handing me a folded paper.

  “He was in charge of flight control back at my time.” I take over the paper and unfold it. It becomes a screen and a window pops up on the screen. I touch the window and see his weathered face on the screen.

  “Jason, I am very happy that they got you back. I know you have gone through a lot and I should have said thank you in person, but they don’t let me fly any more. A lot of people may blame you for what happened back then. What matters most is you did what you could do. You didn’t let those aliens take Achilles and I think you saved the entire human species because of that. I am proud of you and you should be proud of yourself.

  I know you have many questions and one of them is the objective of your mission. You deserve answers, but I hate to say I still can’t tell you. I know you can’t let it go. I don’t blame you. If I were the Commander, I would want to know as well. All I can tell you is the current mission have the same objective as Achilles. I am sorry I can’t say more. Take care of yourself. Ken out.”

  I drop the screen on the floor. He just wants me to feel better. He knows I failed NASA and I know I failed the people who trusted me and loved me.

  Kathy slowly picks up the screen and folds it back to the way it was. “I think I may be able to help you.”

  “About what?”

  “Mission objective.”

  “I don’t think the Commander of this ship knows it.” I sigh.

  “You are probably right. Even if he knows, I am quite sure he won’t tell me.” Kathy says with a positive tone.

  “Well, what is your plan?” I ask eagerly.

  “Another group of scientists are working on reviving the alien Commander—”

  “You think this is such a good idea?” I shout.

  “It is not my call. Anyway I overheard that they extracted some information from that alien’s brain and it seemed that the alien ship was also heading for Jupiter at that time.”

/>   “Anything else?”

  “That’s all I know.” Kathy shakes her head.

  “This has nothing to do with my mission objective.”

  “Well, you may call me crazy, but I think the alien and you were heading for Jupiter for the same reason.” Kathy says confidently.

  I am surprised. I never thought about it.

  “Is there any way we can get the information extracted from that alien’s brain?” I grab Kathy’s shoulder.

  “I think I can do something about it.” Kathy nods at me.

  I hold her hand and say, “Thank you so much!”

  “You are welcome. Oh, by the way, what are you going to do after all this?”

  I thought about this question and I don’t have an answer. Now I don’t have Lily and I don’t know what to do with my life. I take a deep breath and slowly let it out.

  “You are thinking about Lily?” Kathy asks carefully.

  I nod and say, “You know I even keep a lock of Lily’s hair among my personal stuff.”

  “I didn’t see it.”

  “You went through my personal stuff?”

  “Actually, before we left Luna Station, we gathered all your personal belongings and brought them onboard this ship. We thought those items might help you recall your memory, but apparently you could do it without them.”

  “Can I get them back?” I ask quickly.

  “Of course. They are yours. I will bring them to you sometime later.”

  “Thanks. You know I really appreciate everything you did. I don’t know how to thank you. I...I...” I turn my head away.

  “Don’t worry about it. I always want you back, even though…” Her voice trails away.

  “Even though?” I look into her eyes. Her blue eyes are as deep as oceans.

  “Nothing. I need to check on some stuff. I will let you know when I get the alien data.” She quickly leaves the room.

  I am alone again. I don’t know what triggered such reaction.

  Our rendezvous with Jupiter is slow and smooth. Everyone except me is busy and the best I can do is stay out of their ways. By the way, I no longer have bodyguards. I guess they finally come to the conclusion that I am not crazy. When my bodyguards were following me, I felt more like a prisoner and I didn’t want to walk around. Now I can take a better look at this spaceship.

  They call it Hercules, the largest spaceship ever built, the brother of Achilles but three times larger. You know, I wonder whether Hercules and Achilles are brothers. Never mind. Shape wise, the two ships don’t look like each other at all. Achilles had a straight line structure, but Hercules is more like a saucer. Content wise, besides the necessary compartments such as life support, communication and reactor, Hercules has at least two labs. I say at least, because I don’t know the exact number. There are places they don’t even allow me to take a peek. There are probably 50 people onboard Hercules and I get this number based on what I see in the dining area.

  After dinner, I lay on my bed, bored and tired. This kind of fatigue is not like the one you get after a whole day’s hard work. It is crawling on your nerve like snails. You want to shake it off, but you don’t know what to do.

  Time drags on and on. When it gets close to midnight, I am still tossing and turning on the bed. This is not the first night. I have been having sleep problem since the beginning.

  “Knock. Knock.”

  I get up, throw on some clothes and open the door.

  Kathy looks at me with a nervous face and says, “Quiet. Follow me.”

  I nod and follow behind her. We walk silently but quickly and arrive at a serious-looking door covered in red and yellow stripes. I am so excited that my hands are shaking out of control.

  Kathy keys in the code and the door opens to a lab with a chair in the center and dozens of instruments along the wall. After we rush in and close the door behind us, Kathy lets out a relief sigh and says, “Now we are safe.”

  “Looks like a lab.” I murmur.

  “It is a lab and this is where they extracted the information from that alien Commander.”

  “So he is alive?” I ask nervously.

  “His brain is alive. I am not sure about the body. They are probably working on that.” Kathy says with a tone of an expert. Apparently she is not worried.

  For a second I am thinking about killing Asuak again, but I realize if they have decided to revive him, they can do it more than one time.

  Kathy is working on those instruments, her hands fast and steady. After a minute, she turns to me with a syringe in one hand and says, “This is how it works. In this syringe there are nanorobots and they are loaded with the alien data. I will inject them into your blood. Once they reach your brain, they will bind to neurons and start uploading the data. You will have his knowledge and experience what he saw, thought and felt. The data may be fragmented, so you probably could see his childhood as well.”

  I stare at the syringe for several seconds and say, “Let’s do this.”

  “By the way, remember you can’t change what has happened, so stay calm.” Kathy says softly.

  I know what she means. I probably can see how the aliens kill my crew.

  “Alright.” I sit on the chair and roll up my sleeves. Kathy quickly finds the vein on my left forearm and injects the nanorobots. It is cold and it spreads quickly. I feel my body is soaked in ice-cold water and then I start shaking. I am scared and I want to scream, but can’t open my mouth. Kathy reaches out and holds my hand. My vision is getting blurry and something is emerging in my mind.

  Standing in front of a huge window, Commander Asuak was looking down at a green planet, the home planet of his species Agiren who had a civilization of 120 million years. He felt if he looked hard enough, he could see his house just under that piece of cloud. The green had a peace in it and it calmed Asuak down. He was anxious of his incoming mission, although he had lost the count of how many missions he had accomplished. This particular one was one of a kind.

  “I will bring her back.” Asuak said to himself. Then he tightened the cuffs of his white military uniform. He was four feet tall with a slender body and the uniform fitted him perfectly, the color making a good contrast to the black Commander insignia on his forehead. It was a triangle with several lines in it.

  He turned around and faced the bridge. His crew was busy going through the final check before the inter-galaxy drive. The flight control of the fleet had cleared their takeoff.

  The pilots, Teirs and Teors, were testing the thrusters. They were twins and they shared the same aggressive personalities.

  Fawous, the navigator, was doing some calculations. Her skin was dark blue instead of the light blue others had.

  Keiwh, a short lady in charge of communication, was talking to flight control.

  Meiwiq, the engineer, was checking different systems, his forehead covered in sweat. He was the busiest one before every takeoff.

  Standing behind Meiwiq, Lusie was helping him finish the final examination. Lusie was the chief of staff, the second in command on this ship. He had a skinny figure and a square face with sharp red eyes.

  “Commander, this is engine.” A coarse voice came out of intercom.

  Asuak went to his seat, pressed a button and said, “Yes, Uyeet, I am listening.”

  “Engine is ready.”

  “Good.” Asuak said happily.

  Lusie patted on Meiwiq’s shoulder and walked to Asuak. “Commander, it is time to open the order.”

  Asuak nodded and said, “Follow me.”

  They went to Asuak’s cabin and closed the door behind them. It was a small compartment with only a bed and a table. There was a safe built into the wall on the bedside. Asuak inserted his long index finger into the hole on the safe.

  “Click.” It opened to the second door which had a similar hole on it.

  Lusie inserted his index finger into the hole and pulled the door open.

  Asuak reached into the safe and took out a coin like object. He hesitated and said, “Lusie, I need to be honest with you. Actually I know what the order is.”

  “Let me guess. Bring back your sister and the ship she commanded.” Lusie said easily.

  “How do you know?”

  “You have lobbied the fleet for how long? Two years?”

  “One and a half, actually.”

  “I don’t blame you. If I were you, I would do the same thing.”

  “So the crew all knew.”

 

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