*some violence

The metal bird flew across the sky with ease. It broke through a cloud like a spoon scooping though an ice cream. Around him, the sky shone down in its pure brilliance. Blinding to almost every occupant on which was having sunlight, this pilot however could not feel anything. The canopy that covered him within this giant metal bird was coated with sunshades. The bird responded easily and with manoeuvrability that would put 20^th century warplanes to shame. He looked down through the canopy to what lay below him. Down below the ship lay only the clear blue sea that seemed to stretch for infinity.

His uniformed was that of blues and reddish. There was a red stripe stretching from the middle of him abdomen to the top of his right hand shoulder. On it lay a few buttons, signifying his rank. His blond curls were somewhat unruly like a mop. A stray strand was lying over his left eye. But that didn’t bother him one bit. He wasn’t flying … at least for now. His hands were somewhere else, folded across his chest as he leaned back and enjoyed the view of the beautiful sun and the cloud formations.

Lieutenant Bobby Belden was enjoying himself to the extent that he was feeling rather bored. Too bored. He yawned as his thoughts travelled back to last night’s meeting with Melissa. She had told him that he was ignoring her. That he wasn’t a bit interested in maintaining a relationship with her. But that didn’t bother him one bit. Something else was more important and had taken his utmost his attention when she had met up with him. He had earlier found out that Trixie and her husband had gone missing while holidaying in Saturn Stars. While he doubt not in his sister’s abilities to take care of herself, he was worried because not so long ago, about 3 months before, she had told him that she was pregnant. So far, according to her, he was the only Belden clan that she has told this news to. And so he feared for her unborn baby that she is now carrying with her. His "see-crud" with Trixie. He smiled at that thought.

"Bobby?" He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He hadn’t realised that he had strayed of course while he was daydreaming. Not that there was anybody to bother him right up here. Even if there were any danger, his onboard sensors would alert him immediately of the danger.

"Yeah, Jack?" Jack Le Tissier was his best buddy and boy genius at the Academy. If Bobby was the genius at flying then Jack was master of gadgets and mad ideas. Somehow a warm friendship had sprung between the two. Bobby love flying and Jack love tinkering with planes. And right now, Bobby was flying Jack’s prototype plane. What made this plane special was the fact that the plane had a special onboard chip that could somehow anticipate the enemies firing position relative to itself. This mean that the chip could theoretically inform it’s pilot where and when it’s enemy would be firing at him. But right now, due to the massive modifications that was done to the plane neither was quite sure how the craft would handle in the event that it was sent for a war. There was more concern with its flying capabilities than anything else.

"So far so good, buddy. All systems normal. No adnormalies, Jack. All systems are operating within normal parameters. … Looks like it’s gonna be OK." Just in the last few practices, the computers had started to give errors to both of them. While they were minor, both of them wanted to ensure that the problem would not exist in a real and dangering situation.

"You haven’t taken it to vacuum yet, Bobby Belden. Don’t count your chickens before their hatch. And don’t forget, we haven’t tested the chip … yet." He paused to let the effect crept in. While the chip probably work in theory, practical was another thing. It has to work!

"It’ll work buddy. Your ideas always work." Jack smiled to himself. Bobby sometimes had telepathic abilities. Like now. Confirming what Jack was thinking.

"Thanks. I think we’ll call it a day and take her up tomorrow. OK with you?"

"You’re the boss!"

With that the plane bank left and headed back to it’s base cutting through a cloud and then racing thru’ the skies from one horizon to the next in the sun’s setting rays.

The room was lightly furnished except for amount of books and clothing that was lying around. Bobby shook his head in dismay at the mess in which his roommate had turn their apartment into. While Jack could easily be the best engineer around, he was a total wreck when it came to tidiness. A mirror caught a smile on Bobby’s face a second later as he reminded himself that he too was like that and that it was Trixie who would scold him for his untidiness when they both were still at Crabapple Farm. Secretly, he wondered whether any women could stand Jack’s untidiness.

The apartment has 3 rooms. To the left and right of the living room were their rooms, Bobby’s on the left, Jack’s on the right. Facing the living room at the other end was a glass window, which lead out onto the balcony overlooking the mountains. This augured well for Bobby because he had always loved nature when he was young, exploring whenever he could. Right now, the sun’s setting rays was penetrating through the matching blue embroidered curtains made by Honey. Books were stack up in shelves outside of Jack’s room. A couch and the entertainment system were placed facing the balcony. Actually, all you saw was the couch. The entertainment system was hidden in the wall on top of the glass doors courtesy of Jack’s little trick. Of course, Jack had explained it to Bobby. Bobby however couldn’t make head or tail of what Jack had told him. It was just way, way too cryptic sometimes…

"Shhhssst." The doors behind him slide open to reveal a figure that was one head shorter then Bobby. He had sleek jet-black hair swept backwards. Green twinkling eyes and a freckled faced turn into a massive grin. Dressed almost identical like Bobby except that instead of the red tunic in front, he had green, which signified that he was an Engineer.

"So, whatcha think? Isn’t she fast? And highly manoeuvrable as well?"

Bobby could not resist a grin in return as he thought of just concluded flight that he had just test piloted.

"It’s a beauty no doubt about that. I think you outdid yourself this time Jack. She’s definitely sleek and fast. But … Why can’t you keep this room in order?"

The next moment found both of them wrestling on the floor.

A 3 ring rang out from their shared intercom and caused them to pause their actions momentarily.

"Incoming call for Mr. Bobby Belden."

Bobby looked up from the floor, disentangled himself, smoothed his hair and his tunic as he turned to face the intercom’s viewing screen.

"Answer."

The LCD screen changed from black to a very familiar face.

"Trixie!" Bobby said with a start. "Trixie, how … what … are you alright? What happened?"

"I’m fine. Bobby, what you’ve been hearing is false. Someone has playing a practical joke on us. Nothing has happened to us. We’ll be coming back on the date as scheduled. Nothing to worry about."

"But … but … you disappeared for a few days!" Bobby stuttered through the words. "And the authorities said that you were kidnapped and…"

Trixie interrupted him. "We were hiking out in the woods. Naturally, there was no way for them to contact us. And we didn’t want to take the tracker along. Remember," Trixie silence Bobby who was about to interrupt, "this is a extended honeymoon for both of us."

"But the tracker was for…"

"I know what was the tracker for Bobby Belden!" Trixie snapped. "But we both felt we needed some time off from the outside world. Everybody keeps looking for us. We just wanted time for ourselves, can’t you understand that?"

"Yeah, sure." Bobby mumbled his answer. "How’s our little see-crud coming along?"

"What see-crud?" Trixie frowned. "Don’t talk rubbish Bobby Belden! Anyway, I have to go. I’ll see you later. Bye."

Before Bobby knew what happened next, the screen went blank.

Bobby turned around with a puzzled look to Jack. Even Jack had the mystified look on his face.

"See-crud?"

"It’s our little … way of doing things. Why did she say nothing about it?"

"Maybe she was afraid somebody might be listening in? Or…"

"But it doesn’t make sense! If she’s safe, then why is she so afraid to say it. There’s nothing to hide. You were here when she made the declaration. So, how can she deny it unless…"

Bobby left the inevitable hanging in the air. As if thinking what his roommate was thinking, Jack shot up from the couch he was lazing in and headed for giant LCD terminal with its controls.

"Computer, trace last call!"

Immediately, the dull screen light up as the onboard computer liased with the main traffic computer to trace its last call. The LCD screen switches to a map that showed almost the entire Starfleet territory. Planets, orbiting station’s & ships appeared all at once. Lines started to appear almost instantly across the massive screen in order to accommodate the burgeoning information. Lines that criss-crossed each other link from one end of the screen to another end. It seemed like there was no end to the linkage. They both look at each other in amazement and realised together at the complexity of the issue at hand.

"Holy cow! Would you look at that! She’s gotta be an impostor. No way somebody would go through all these lengths to cover up an innocent call."

Bobby nodded silently. Well, sister dear, what have you gotten yourself into this time? Finally, the computer said, "Trace complete. Last call originated from Saturn Stars. Location unknown. Trace ID is SS56987-TB."

"Well, well, well. Looks like your sister’s gotten herself into trouble again. But this is the first time someone tried to impersonate her or … a computer."

"A computer?"

"Yep. Hang on a minute while I check the details." Jack punch a few keys and Bobby could see the LCD screen flashing the previous call picture as well as that picture of her in Starfleet records. Bobby sat down on the couch slowly as he digested the information at hand.

"Yep, she’s a computer imagery alright. See the lines here and here and here. And if you look … Bobby? You OK?" Jack look with concern at his best friend. "Guess it’s a bit heavy huh? Don’t worry pal. We’ll find her. I promise. And she’ll be OK in the end. If there’s one lady I know who can get herself into problems and then get herself out of them without so much as a scratch, that would be your sister."

"Thanks buddy."

It was getting windy with a touch of rain in the air. Lightning was flickering like a snake’s tongue across the sky, flashing its brilliance from one end to another, momentarily lighting up the dark sky. The impending rumble that followed reminded Bobby that the ship’s doors were still open. Quickly, he tap a key on the console to close the door. Once the door was closed, Bobby was sure he couldn’t hear anything even if he was flying right next to T-Rex roaring next to him.

"All systems’ go, capt’n!" Jack said with grin.

"Alright then, Jack let’s fired up this baby and see whether your new gadget works."

Jack, sometime back had invented a new gadget, somewhat like a cloaking device employed by the Romulans. He had studied their technique and was certain there were too many flaws whilst Starfleet maintain that it was technological feasible for Starfleet ships to use. Hence, Jack had come up with a new designed that was unknown to Starfleet or even to its enemies. The Romulans designed was flawed due to the fact that it emitted a certain ion when cloaked. And if you configured the scanners properly, you would be able to trace that particular ion emittance. And hence, find the Romulan ship. What Jack had done was that, he added a certain filter to the Romulan design to filter out this ion plus a few minor changes as well. Therefore, since there was no ‘extra’ ion emission, there would be no means of tracking the ship. End of story. But so far, that was all in theory. He hadn’t had time to test it out yet … until now.

The screen in front of Bobby suddenly switched itself on. The face had pretty green eyes, brownish hair that was let loose and came down to her shoulder in loose curls. But right now, the face was contorted in anger.

"Gleeps!" Bobby exclaims as he remembered his date with Melissa. "Melissa! How … did you know where to find me? How did you get…???" Bobby faltered weakly in the end as the face had put on a darker frown than before.

"Mr. Bobby Belden! Where do you think you’re going? Do you think you can get to Saturn Stars without me knowing? Or are you trying to get out of our relationship?"

"Errrr… Melissa… no… err… Saturn Stars? How did you know?" Jack tried to hide a grin. If there was somebody who could make Bobby Belden squirm, it was his girlfriend. But then, she had a sharp tongue, which somehow soften when around with the love of her life. But woe betides if you ever got on the wrong end. Jack had experienced it once and that was enough.

"I’m coming aboard!"

Before Bobby knew what happened next, the face in his LCD screen had disappeared and he then heard a shimmering sound appearing behind him. He turned his chair around to face a girl that look even more beautiful than on the screen. Her slim body showed off in all the right places, but of course, she was wearing a party dress that was cut to perfection. She carried in her hand a bag.

"You didn’t think you could leave behind, could you? Besides, you might need someone who is born and bred there."

Bobby turned to his best friend. "You told her didn’t you?"

Jack grinned sheepishly.

Bobby sighed. Somehow this was not going how he had planned it to be. Why? Oh why did things always have a way of screwing themselves up? Not that he didn’t think Melissa couldn’t take care off herself. In fact, he was very sure she could in fact take care of them both, as she was more level headed than he was. Still, the unnecessary threat was there. Against someone who he loved deeply and could possibly be his future wife. He smiled at that thought. Still the danger that if something were to happen to Melissa, he didn’t think he could ever forgive himself. But then, she was from there … and that provided him an added advantage no matter how minuscule it was in finding Trixie back.

"You know you need me Bobby. Don’t deny it!"

Bobby looked at Melissa. God, she was even more beautiful when she’s angry!!! Those eyes that are blazing fiery bright, and how her hair matches those eyes … If Jack wasn’t there … Bobby was very sure he would take her in his arms and kiss her. No, his logical mind went, she would probably give you a few nice stinging slap’s instead!

"Do you know that you look absolutely ravishing when you’re angry?" Bobby cooed at her.

For a split second there, Bobby was certain that she felt embarrassed and pleased at his remark but that look disappeared with a flick of her eyelids. He could also see the slight blush on her cheeks but that disappeared quickly too. She just gave him her famous cold stare. Somehow, Bobby was certain that if she was a mad woman, you definitely did not want to go against her…

Pain shot through her head once again. It course through her mind numbing her senses. She could feel her head whirling round and round like a merry-go round. Words were spoken between different persons. One baritone reverberated through her head causing more pain than there already is. She tried to clutch her head in her hands but realised later on that her hands were tied behind her back. And even that too was giving her pain. Her fingers were getting numb. And her whole body was aching too.

Again another round of pain came again. This time it made her gasp and strain her bonds on her hands to the maximum. She could hear herself cry out in pain. This time it was not just on her head. It centred instead on her stomach.

If this is hell, this sure fits it!

She strained to hear what was said but her mind just wasn’t working. All she could get were muffled sounds. Her ears were ringing. It was just like when you were struggling to wake up in the morning with the alarm ringing in your ears.

As the pain subsided, she could hear someone sobbing away. She wondered who could be sympathising with her. And then it dawn on her. I’m crying!!! I can’t believe I’m actually crying! Trixie could hardly recall when was the last time she had shed tears. Oh yes, that was when I was at the altar after the Fr Gene Goldman had pronounce us husband and wife and then I turned to look at…

A rough hand grabbed her mouth and pulled it up, dragging her head and body along with it. Finger nails bit into her skin causing her eyes to open against a bright life with a face blocking her view.

A head balding with grey hairs at the side like a crown came into her view with light gleaming out from his uncovered head shining into her eyes like a reflection from a mirror. For a minute there, she was tempted to laugh at the spectacle. For a minute there too, she thought she saw someone standing behind her through the makeshift mirror.

An acrid smell of beer and cigar mixed like cocktail caused her mind to snap to attention almost immediately. What she saw frightened her in one of the few times of her life. Scars were littered over his whole face. From the forehead to his chin, they stretched and reminded her of the cragginess of a cliff wall beaten by sun and rain. His right eye was half hidden in the eyelids. His lips were cracked and she could see traces of blood. Her spine chilled at the sight that was before her. Evil was something this man does for fun. Torture was just a game to him.

For the first time in her life, she was scared for her life and of what this man could do if his wishes were not meant or if the results were not what he expected it to be. She gulped down her terror and tried not to show fear in her eyes but she knew deep within her heart that he knew that she was scared like she was never before. "Let …me… go…" She pleaded.

"Well, now, you know I can’t do that. Not with your friend running wild in the woods. And besides, I’m sure we could have a little fun while we wait for him. You see, we’ve been deprived of a man’s enjoyment for a very long time, a… very… long… time…"

His last words brought chill to her spine again. There was a gleam in his eye that she knew that if she didn’t get herself out there soon enough, she would definitely be experiencing hell in her life.

"What… what do you want with me? We haven’t done anything wrong." The last words brought another round of pain into her head as she felt his hand connect with her cheek amazingly fast. The force completely knock the breath out of her lungs.

"What do you want with me???" She cried out. She was shocked again to find that tears were now streaming down her cheeks. She tried to blink them back but it was no use.

"All I want you to know is that you’ve met your living hell. And it isn’t gonna be pleasant for you girlie. Think about it."

With that, he stood up, and walked out of the room, followed by 3 other people, all looking just as nasty as him. It seemed to her that they not only were deprived of ‘man’s joy’ they were also deprived of a good shave and a good bath plus a new set of clothes.

Heck, they even needed a new set of teeth too! She could see patches of multi coloured rag sown onto their pants and shirts and jackets.

She stifled her anger to just burst forth like a thunderstorm and bawled like a 3-year-old kid with the full strength of her voicebox. Like Bobby used to do it when he was hurt or when they didn’t give him what he wanted. She wanted someone to comfort her. She wanted Mom’s to smile and say everything’s gonna be all right. But it’s not going to be all right! There’s no way out and you know it! All your Starfleet training for nothing. Graduating 2^nd in the class was just fluke, a chance. Probably, the rest were duds. This is hell, girl. This is hell. Tears of self pity came streaming down her cheeks like a waterfall.

A sound caused her to stifle her cry at full trottle. It was towards the left of her. There was someone standing there observing her in silence through her ordeal.

He was about 5 ft 6. Compared to the rest of the colourful gang, he was completely different. His clothes had not even one patch on it. He was clean-shaven. His hair was swept back and tied into a ponytail. Sunglasses covered his eyes. He wore a blue – green bandanna around his neck to complement his outfit of a tight pair of jeans with high cut cowboy boots and a slightly faded T-shirt.

"What do you what?" She snapped at him. "Don’t you have anything better to do than to stand and watch a helpless girl cry her heart out? Why can’t you just leave me alone like the rest of them? What do you want?"

He just continued to stare at her. At least she thought he was staring at her.

"You’re scaring me. Please go."

Again no response.

"I haven’t done anything wrong. Why are you’ll keeping me?" She pleaded. "At least I think I haven’t done anything wrong." She ended softly.

"Think back to about 7 months back when you received an amulet which was crested with jewels that took your breath away. It was made of solid gold and there were just about all the jewels in this universe that you could imagine. Blue, red, green, orange…"

His voice was soft and somewhat soothing to her ears. It was like music to her and yet not music at all. She looked at him in amazement.

"Am… amulet? With jewels?" She frowned at that thought. "I don’t remember any… Oh no. You don’t mean the…" She left the sentence hanging in mid air as her memory sluggishly recalled an amulet that was of fine craftsmanship. It had been mailed to her quarters over about 5 months back. When she had first received it, it was in a box that was breaking apart at the seams. Since nobody had owned up to sending her the box, she had then arranged to get everyone over at her apartment. Since it was April Fool’s Day, she wanted to have the triumphant chance of apprehending the guilty person of sending her this unwelcome sight. So with practically the whole clan there and also her close friends, with the exception of Bobby who was at that time onboard the USS Ulysses, she had opened it. It was small, like a chocolate box. There was lots of Styrofoam and she could see nothing in it. Removing all of the Styrofoam, and there was still nothing in it. Empty. The box was then passed around with look of puzzlement on each of her family members. Once certain that none of her family members were involved, she had proceeded to go through the Styrofoam, afraid that something might have dropped out with it. But still nothing. The only the emotions that were present amongst her family and friends were of surprise and puzzle looks. If it was an April Fool’s Joke, this was good! And if it was someone from her family, the person was very good at concealing his/her emotions. Could it be Bobby? No, Bobby had never played a practical joke on her before. It was usually either Jim or Brian or Mart. They loved teasing her so. Honey? She glanced at her best friend but in her heart, she knew Honey would be grinning or laughing her head off. And that would go for the rest. They all had their telltales. Bobby! It had to be him!

It was only when the box was back in her hands that she noticed that the package seemed to be smaller than when viewed from the outside than from the inside. There upon she had proceeded to carefully break apart the box. What they then saw took their breath away…

Now she remembered about it. The sudden gasped and then the silence. When no one had admitted to the present, she had taken it to be valued. According Starfleet’s record, there was no such thing. So, what was it? Beautiful amulets don’t come appearing from out of the blue. For the last 5 months or so, she had gone to just about every antiquarian she knew or was listed in Starfleet’s records but her search revealed nothing. After failing to find out about it, she had tried to trace the sender but that too prove useless. There was no postage on it. It must be therefore have been hand delivered. She would lay in bed at night thinking about it, wondering why, who and what was it all about. Maybe now, she would get her answer.

There was also the funny lettering or inscription on the amulet which was faded. Somehow the amulet reminded her of the 16^th –18^th century necklaces that the rich women wore to weddings and parties. It was no doubt heavy, shape like a plus (+) sign. She wondered who in her sane mind would wear this priceless jewel around her precious neck!

"The amulet is to be given always from one women to another during its heyday. It is said that there is a curse connected to it if it was not given in the way it was suppose to be."

"Then who gave it to me? And why me? Why not somebody else?" Trixie’s curiosity was now pique and bristling with theories.

"I do not know. But I do know that ‘my friends’ want it badly. It is said that it is also connected to a mass of fortune hidden by the late Jeanny Hrasley. She was a powerful woman, born in the late 20^th century who amassed untold riches and power during her reign in Saturn Seven. She was crazy for every kind of amulet. Wooden, Golden…

It is also said that the amulet also posses some kind of power and that that is the very reason how she got so powerful. Mystic powers they said."

"What kind of powers?" Trixie asks breathlessly.

"Some say powers of the mind. To control. Others say, power to create and destroy. Much of it is legend and nobody actually knows whether this is true or not."

"If it’s true… wait a minute. How come it’s not on Starfleet’s records? Nothing about it or even this… Jeanny whatever. Or…" Trixie frowned.

"There are some things that are best left not in your computers databases. This is one of them. The evil the lady has done. The amount of power that is given to the holder of the amulet…"

"Wait a minute! How does one get this ‘power’ from the amulet?"

He smiled sadly. "You wear it!"

"But I wore it. And nothing happened. So…"

"No!!! It is not as easy as that. The inscription on the amulet. If you say it, you will be given the power. But," he silenced her with a steel look, "if your heart is hurt or resentful or angry, then God have mercy on you."

"I have said too much. The others will be looking for me soon if I do not go back to them. I will come back for you later."

With that, he silently and quickly went out of the room, his cloak behind him billowing.

"Wait! Who are you and why are you telling this to me?" She shouted after him after he had excited from the room and closed the door.

Cloak? When since did he wear a cloak? She was very certain when she first saw him that there was no cloak only a jacket. But that didn’t matter now. The amulet was safe. At least for now. Nobody except her knew its location. But those guys…??? She wondered how she was going to stand it. And there’s my baby inside of me!!! What if they decide to kick me? What am I going to do?

Tears were starting to come down her cheeks again. Self-pity isn’t going to get me out of here!!! I must find a way out of here. But then where’s…???

For the first time in her life, she realised that escape was not an option. It would be a miracle.

The sun was nothing more than a warm red glow over the fast darkening sky. The day was slowly coming to and end and he figured there was probably another 20-30 minutes of daylight left. Already, the lack of light had caused him to stumble over dead and lying tree trunks more than 5 times the in last hour.

Tall trees rose upward like the California Redwood with its branches entwined with each other to create a canopy over him. The forest was becoming like a dark cloud with virtually no light at all being admitted past the tree branches. It was like almost standing in a room with no light switched on.

Throughout the whole day of walking, the forest was full of sounds, be it birds chirping, or of insects buzzing around. But now, it was like death, so silent, you feared that anybody close enough could hear you breathing. If you cough, it sounded like an explosion. He looked up and wondered where had all the animals had gone to. This was not like Earth, where whether it was day or night, it was still equally noisy. Day animals and insects would be replaced by their night counterparts.

"Owwww!"

He had walked himself into a tree! While he had tried to refrain from using any source of light at all for fear of being spotted, he realised that he would not be able to continue his journey without an aid of any light. Looking up towards the trees that rose like giant pillars that seemed to have no end, he decided he couldn’t continue any longer and that he would have to make camp immediately. It reminded him of the Jack and The Beanstalk in the sense that these trees rose above him as like in the story. He started to unhook his backpack. Using whatever light he had left from the sky, he managed to find his lamp to light up his surroundings. He would have to risk the possibility that someone might spot his light as he made camp.

"Oh, Trixie, my love. Don’t worry, I’m coming to get you! Just give me another day or two and I’ll be there to rescue you from those goons…"

He wondered what had happened since they last separated. All he knew was that that they were taking a hike in the nearby country forests when suddenly a group of about 5-6 people that had appeared from nowhere to besiege them. Everything had happened so fast, that there wasn’t even any time to activate the emergency locator. The group had split the two of them apart. He had managed to fight of his group of men that had attacked him, but by the time he had returned to the location where he was separated from Trixie, she was already gone. Knowing that his group would come back for him, he had then thought it best to give chase to Trixie’s group. But somehow they had eluded him at a certain point. Luckily for him, she had activated a small tracker that could only be picked up by mini-tricorder.

The clock showed 0247 hours, Starfleet time. He yawned aloud, causing his colleagues to turn and glare at him. He gave them an impish grin and turn to look at his computer screen. The screen was littered with small dots of the same colour, blue. The dots move about in their own pattern, much like Brownian Movement, up, down, left, right … The screen track all the movements of all the various ships within striking range of Saturn Seven’s defences. While, at this moment, all was peaceful, you’d never know when all hell could break loose. Ever since Saturn Seven signed an agreement with The Federation for protection, the Jehuds have since laid off from trying to conquer them. He sigh at the boredom of his mundane job. "Join the army and see the world and the universe…!" The advertisement had splash on his computer at home when he was much younger. Yeah, right!!! I’m definitely seeing the universe all right! Through a screen!

Unfortunately, there was one blip that was not on the screen… and it had been there for more than 4 hours… and will continue to remain there for some time more.

Above in the small Starfleet fighter shuttle, the 3 occupants were making plans to go about on locating Bobby’s missing sister and her husband. It was understood that Jack would remain onboard and monitor the activities of the other two.

"So, where will you guys go?" Jack called as the other two change clothes from formal uniforms to casual clothes. They figured that it would be easier to inquire about the missing two’s whereabouts’ in casual clothes and thus not making them so inconspicuous.

Bobby looked at Melissa as she came out of the changing room. Dressed in jeans and a round-necked T-shirt with a scarf tied to her hair in a ponytail, Bobby realised that no matter how she dressed herself, her dressing will still take your breath away. Bobby realised at that moment too, that he was lucky to have her as his girlfriend.

Their eyes met, and Bobby could see a small blush appearing on her cheeks. He smiled at her. "You looked gorgeous as usual, my dear."

"Ah-hum!"

"Oh! Err." It took Bobby every effort to draw his eyes away form the love of his life to Jack’s question. "Well, the last I heard from them was in Seven Height’s. We might as well go there and find out exactly what happened to them. Keep an emergency lock on us at all times. Although I hope we never have to use it."

They materialised in an alley that was narrow but brightly lit. The ground was clean. Even the walls of the back of the houses had no graffiti on it. There were no trees; not even a bush in sight on that alley as Bobby looked up and down hoping to meet no one that saw them materialised from nowhere. It was quiet. Too quiet. Further down on his left-hand side he could hear softly music of the street band kind.

"Which way?"

She pointed towards the side where the music was coming from. As they got closer and closer to where the alley met the main road, they could see that it was like a carnival atmosphere for some sort of celebration. Not only was there gay music which was now coming loud and blaring, but they could see coloured lights and banners as well as small tiny flags of sorts were strung up high between buildings. Confetti was raining down on both of them as they entered the main road. Stalls were lined up on both sides of the road selling their wares ranging from antiques to books to apparel to toys and just about anything he could imagine. Citizens and tourists alike were mixed in this endless parade of bodies.

She led him through the mass of bodies down the road. Eventually, he noticed that amount of people started to thin out and he could see his surroundings better. Now, with the music not so loud anymore, he could hear in the distance of the sea breaking on the beach. The buildings now were a mixed of new and old variety. Some looked like they been there through the centuries restored to their grandour and past glory. They had small rising minarets and gothic like curves akin to those found back on earth, which was popularise during The Renaissance period. As for the new buildings, they were more of the squarish kind… except for the building that had massive structures that span hundreds of feet into the air. The building rose and towered over anything close to it. Sunlight glinted of the windows in the evening setting sun. Arches and roman pillars rose along with the building. Creepers of every kind hung from balconies overhanging down onto the arches below. Giant oak trees were planted in and around the resort to give a shaded look. Other kinds of trees, mostly plants and fruit trees were also planted in and around the resort. Beyond the resort, mountains rose ominously to reach the sky. But between the mountains and the resort, lay a forest; dark and green, wide as the eye could see reaching probably to the mountains edge.

Melissa took him into the resort, pass the huge arches with it’s overhanging creepers from balconies above and it’s massive pillars to a hall with two giant stairways winding up into it’s upper floors. In between the two stairways was the reception desk. Bobby could see that almost every alien race was represented in this resort as a tourist. Some came in pairs, other's’ in-groups. Towards his left, Bobby could see that it gave way to café’s and dining tables, already half full. Towards his right, were lifts to take its customers up into the hotel above.

Melissa walked all the way up to the reception desk. Manning the desk were 5 humans, all females. Bobby raised his eyebrows at her. If this were earth, there would be at least one or two guys around. In fact, he seemed to notice that ever since he had walked into the resort, all the resort workers were females.

"Most of the women in Saturn Seven, work in the entertainment or tourism industry. It has always been like that." She added hurriedly as she saw the question form in his mind to quickly cut him off. "Men work in the ‘more heavy’ duty industry like the security forces and such where women are not allowed, unlike the federation which gives equal access. Now you know why I left Saturn Seven?"

 

Chapter 7

"Hi. My name is Melissa and I was wondering if you could so kind as to help my friend to locate his missing sister." The 5 girls look at her and then at one another. Bobby could see the hesitation of answer on one of the girl’s lips. Just as she was about to burst out, another girl gave them her answer.

"We already told the security forces all that we know. She checked in here with her husband. We saw them a few times. The last any of us saw them was on Thursday, May 11^th, 2368 at 1043 hours, standard time. If you want to know more, please refer to security chief Dickson Chiefs. We had told him everything we can remember. Please do not bother us. We are very busy."

With that, she and the other’s turn away from them except for one of them that initially wanted to tell them something. She shrugged her shoulders and then turn too.

"Can we rent a room then? We," Melissa gestured to Bobby and herself; "need a place to stay and enjoy the romantic sights of Saturn Heights." She ended with a smile.

The 5 girls look a little taken aback by her request. The first to recover was the girl who wanted to speak to them. "Sure, any room preferences? Front or back?"

"We’ll take the Forest view. It’s not soooo hot in the morning’s then. Is any room on the 5^th floor available?"

"Yes, there are a few rooms available on that floor. I’ll give you Room Number 521. It’ll be on your left when you leave the lifts." She said as she handed over the room keys. "I hope you have a pleasant stay with us."

"Thanks. I’m sure we will." Bobby answered before they took their things and headed for the lifts.

"You’re good." Bobby said once they were out of earshot. "Think they’ll see the connection of your request?"

"Who knows? But we should try and have a chat with Jackie Brills. There’s something-fishy going on. Did you notice that Jackie wanted to say something and then…"

"It would seem as though somebody wants them to keep quiet about this whole matter. I wonder whom? You don’t suppose the security chief could be involved?" Bobby mused.

"I’m not surprised. He might be on the take."

"Huh? Are you sure? You…"

"If my memory serves me right, he’s probably gotten himself a nice suite with lots of beautiful and stolen antiques as well as pictures. Although it’s been a while since I last saw or met him." She ended softly.

"You… know him? When?" Bobby looked surprised.

"When we were back in high school. He was so… different then. We… er… were an item back then. I even thought of marrying him!!! He was so sweet and romantic and so sympathetic. And then, all of a sudden, he changed. It was so fast. It was as if somebody had taken away his soul and replaced it with a harden stone." Her eyes had that faraway look.

"I’m sorry."

"Don’t be. It’s between him and me. You have nothing to do with it. Even my friends were shock of his overnight behavioural changed. We were so lovely back then. He even thought about us starting a family … house … I was willing to sacrifice my career for him too! But that’s in the past now. And that ass actually turn his back and sneered and rejected me and said untruthful things about me behind my back."

"Didn’t you guys try to find out what happened to him? Surely there must be some clues… as to his sudden changes?"

She shocked he head. "No, none that we could find out. No matter how much we tried to dig up, we couldn’t find an explanation for his despicable," she spat, "behaviour."

"It would seemed that our quite irrepressible young sibling has gone AWOL. I would presume that he has gone looking for his older sibling. And to comfound the problem even more, Jack and Melissa has also gone missing," Mart announced.

"Are you sure? Have you checked with Admiral Chi?" Brian asked anxiously.

"Absolutely, brother dear. And not only that, the USS Tomcat is not in its hangar as well. And since our dear brother’s esteem colleague has fitted it with a cloaking device that is even undetectable to Romulans systems, we have no idea as to his whereabouts except to assumed that he has gone searching for her."

"How did you know about all this?" Brian asked after a moment’s pause.

"Admiral Chi informed me not too long ago. Apparently, the trio was supposed to report back to him on the progress of the ship as well as attend other special functions. When they didn’t appear for any, he started to get suspicious and thus informed me of their disappearance which I am now forwarding to you."

"Does Mom’s and dad know about their disappearance?"

"Not yet. I thought it best to keep this issue as quiet as possible and not alarm them more than necessarily. It would do them no good."

"It would also seem that my younger brother has learned responsibility after his marriage!!!" Brian cracks a joke.

"Come now. You give me too much credit where it’s not due. Sure, marriage life had given me a different perspective, but too much credit." Mart wagged his forefinger at him.

"So, what do we do now? I would assumed that the trio has gone to Saturn Stars to try and gather whatever information that is possible."

"There is no way I can leave my post and I don’t think telling Honey would be a good idea either. If I did, definitely Honey would want to go to Saturn Stars without so much as a ‘when’! And she would never cease to worry about Trixie even more, not that she doesn’t worry about her best friend day and night. What about you?"

"Nope. Leaving is not an option right now. However, we could cite family anxieties and hence ask for some time off, could we not? What about Admiral Chi? Do you think he would help us?"

"Maybe, maybe not. You can’t tell with the old man. But it wouldn’t help not asking anyway. There’s nothing to loose right now… have you told the rest yet?"

"No, you’re the first. Being the eldest, I believe you command respectability and hence you’re input carries weight!" Mart grinned.

"You sly devil! Flattery will get you nowhere!"

"How’s Di taking it?"

"So far so good. I have yet to tell her about this unsettling news. And I’m even more afraid that if this word gets out to the Twins… and knowing the Twins they would definitely disappear as he did, seeing how to Twins always show up with Bobby!"

Brian nodded. "Try and keep Di from knowing as long as possible. It’s for everyone’s good. Keep me informed as soon as you get any news."

"Will do. Mart out." And the LCD screen in front of Brian went blank instantly. Brian sigh and lean back on his armchair. Bobby, Bobby, why did you have to go?! Why can’t you just leave it to the authorities to search for her? But even as he asks that question, he knew from the bottom of his heart, Bobby stood a better chance compared to any of them. And since Melissa and Jack was with him, the odds of finding his sister may look much better than if he worked alone. He wondered whether Bobby did any convincing to either of them or did both of them decided to join him?

Brian thought back to their much younger days. Even though Bobby gave Trixie hell, there was no denying that Bobby loved his only sister very much. In fact he adored her and looked up to her in many ways. And the same could be said about Trixie to Bobby. In many ways the two could be inseparable!!!

"Any news, Brian?" A single solitary figure silhouetted at the doorframe. Dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, and blessed with big eyes, with honey hair, Honey Wheeler Belden strike a figure of beauty. But even then, if you could looked closely, you would see wrinkles and lines appearing on her beautiful face due to constant anxiety about her best friend.

"No, no word yet. It’s still a blank." Brian shook his head.

A piece of paper was stuck under the cover of the main dish. Bobby took it and gave a low whistle.

"What is it?" Melissa stuck her head out of her bedroom.

"Guess what?" Bobby grinned. "Looks like we might have an informant! Jackie’s just gave a very interesting story regarding your friend. It seems that he’s given them a very pleasant sum of credits to keep them quiet. Not only that, they are to informed him if anybody was to ask about her whereabouts. Somehow, I think we’re gonna receive a very pleasant housecall soon!"

"Well, I don’t want to be around when that happens. In case you don’t or have already forgotten, there is a chance your informant could be risking her life by telling you this. Don’t you want to be her ‘hero’?"

"A knight in shinning armour never misses a chance to rescue damsels in distress! He had been sworn to…"

A knock on the door interrupted his speech. Bobby scowled and Melissa grinned as she went to open the door. Opening her tricorder, a small device that fitted snugly into her palm, it detected 6 human figures beyond the door. And none of them gave a small measurement.

"Oh-oh. Housecalls here."

"Luckily, I came prepared as always." Bobby took out a small ball that could be fit into his fist. "You know, 20^th century wars were very interesting. This little device here will…"

Bobby had no time to demonstrate the usefulness of his ‘little device’. A loud ‘boom’ reverberated around the room as the door was broken down in smithereens. Almost immediately after that, some very ugly characters started trickling into the room. The first guy was definitely a size bigger that Bobby would have like him to be. Covered in almost leather, he had a huge scar on his forehead. His nose was flat and his left eye was crooked. Bobby couldn’t see the next guy but he could imagine that they were probably all like him.

"Uh… Hi. Tea anyone?" Bobby grinned over his freckled face as he edged towards Melissa. "Take a deep breath!" Bobby said as he pressed hard on the little device that he was holding. Immediately, green smoke was emitted from the contraption. Melissa took a deep breath as Bobby ordered and hurriedly made a grab for her bags. The guys were suddenly gasping and making choking noises as she quickly followed Bobby out of the room. Just as she was about the leave the room, she suddenly felt something snagged around her ankle. Looking around, she saw one of the guys had his hand around her ankle. Trying desperately to wriggle her ankle free did nothing. Panic swept through her soul. Beads of perspiration started trickling down her face. She could feel that her lungs were on the verge of breaking apart. Pain was shooting through all over her chest. Black spots were rapidly filling her vision. Just as she was to give up gulping for breath, something warm and moist was pressed onto her lips. Some air was passed through along with some saliva. She opened her eyelids and was surprised to see Bobby kissing her. A moment later, the pressure around her ankle eased as he removed the obstruction. How he managed to move them with his lips still stuck to hers amazed her. He took her down the corridor and lay her gently on the floor. Then he turned and went back into the room to collect her bags.

Her mind slowly closed in on itself. When she came back to her senses, she saw a figure with a huge transparent masked covering his face was looking down at her. Screaming, her immediate reflexes shot out her right hand into the person’s face. Her hand slammed into the mask and the flesh beneath it. Pain shot back to her mind, but her left leg was already in motion to bring this weird character down. It swept beneath his legs, cleanly talking them and then she was up on her feet ready for her next moved. Her right leg swung to kick his abdomen but he moved just as agilently as she moved from when she was laying on her back to her feet. Cursing herself for being so slow, she moved forward with her left fist aimed at his face again.

"Honey!!!" The figure threw the mask off his face.

"What?" Melissa was speechless and her hand was left in mid air. "Oh, I’m sorry, darling. I thought that you were an impostor or…" She rushed over to console him.

"All right for you since it wasn’t your head inside that thing!" Bobby grumble as he massage his right cheek. "We better get out of here. It’ll be a matter of time before our friend’s wake up. Much as I would love to have a crack at those guys, you gotta know when a retreat is the best option! But before we leave, I think we should pay my sister’s rented room a visit."

Further down the corridor, they came to room 557. Melissa took out her modified tricorder and pointed it at the door’s control panel. Lights started flashing as she tap a few buttons on her tricorder. Seconds later, the door-swished open.

"Oh-oh"

"Uh … hi again."

And all hell broke loose at that moment. Next thing Melissa knew, two guys had her pinned to a wall. Bobby was busy entertaining the remaining gang. The guy on her left sniggered at her.

"So, you ain’t so tough anymore without your partner, eh? I’m gonna make you wish you were never born. But before that, I’m gonna have a little fun since your such a pretty girl."

He stood in front of her, which was his biggest mistake. Immediately, her leg shot up. His face was a mixture of pain and anguish and regret. He doubled up which was his second biggest mistake. With her right hand free, she gave him an uppercut. Seconds later, he toppled down and lay motionless on the floor. His colleague hadn’t wasted any time by standing still and gaping mouth opened at her. He had released her and in his hands was no ordinary stick, which quickly expanded into a stick that was as tall as he was. He grinned and spinned the stick in his right hand. Without warning, the stick came aiming for her abdomen but she was waiting for it. She grabbed the stick and yanked forward. Her sudden movement plus his own momentum caused him to move towards her at a far greater speed than he anticipated. She folded her elbow and moments later his nose slammed into her stationary elbow. He grimaced with the pain, howling with rage and anger and also madness as he realised that his nose was bleeding. Wanting to cup and stem the bloody tide, he let go of the stick. Much as Melissa would love to let him go, she rolled up her fist and planted it into his chest taking the wind out of him. He doubled up to like his companion and she then slammed the stick on his back. She looked up from her fallen adversaries, spinned the stick like a baton and proceeded to help Bobby.

Bobby in the meantime was dodging his enemies as well as taking every opportunity to use anything he could find in the room as a weapon. Chairs, table, vases, glasses, flowers, picture frames, clocks even champagne was flying around the room. He had managed to get one down and out, but the other three were proving to be quite up to the tasks of disposing of him permanently. He had wanted to help Melissa as much as he could, but he knew that she would scorn at his help. He was glad that she hadn’t had much trouble with her two opponents.

His back was facing the couch. He misstep and felled down onto the couch. Almost immediately, his three adversaries rush towards him. Rolling off in the nick of time, and swinging the couch at them, he caught all of them by surprised. He jump onto the guys closest to him and then sprang up from him to grab a stuffed dear head from the wall above. Landing almost perfectly on the third guys furthest from him when he jumped, he turned around and grinned at them. The three stooges having landed quite awkwardly on the couch stood up and faced him but the guy closest to him was eyeing the sharp horns of the stuffed dear with wariness. Melissa had crept up silently to the third guy furthest from him.

"If I were you," Bobby gestured to the last thug, "I would turn around and look behind my back."

"I ain’t following for that stupid line. What you take me for a fool?"

"Nope, just trying to be helpful." Bobby sigh. "You try to help, and they say you’re an idiot for trying. Don’t say I didn’t warned you." He swung the sharp horns at the closest thug to him. He yelped and tried to move back. The middle fellow however, had other plans. Pushing him forward, Bobby swung the horns again. Next thing Bobby knew the horns broke in half!

"Huh?" Bobby looked from the broken horns to the thugs. "Oh shit." Flinging the remains at the first fellow who managed to duck, it hit the second thug square on the head. Bobby immediately charged straight for the first thug.

Meanwhile Melissa had used the boo-stick to her fullest advantage. Slipping it between the legs of the thug closest to her, he stumbled unto the floor. Looking behind him, he growled and turned around. But she wasn’t finished with her toy yet. She flipped the stick and hit him hard on the head with it. It connected with a loud crack and he slumped unto the floor motionless.

Bobby had managed to grab the first thug and pushed him into the second thug. The three of them felled down on top of one another like a pack of playing cards. Still grabbing him, he turned the thug and using the still standing coffee’s table leg next to him to connect to the thug’s head. It hit with ‘thing’! The middle guy having had all the weight suddenly dumped on him, was trying very hard to get his breath back. Bobby glared at him, daring him to do anything. He looked towards Melissa who was still holding the boo stick.

"Uh, can we talk about this?"

Four people were seated around the table much akin to Knight’s of the Round Table. They sat there fidgeting while consuming bottles of beer and wine. While the rest were busying themselves with the food on the table, guffawing at somebody’s stupid joke or remarks, splashing and dropping and spluttering saliva and drinking liquid all over, only one of them sat motionless hidden behind a hood. He sat there observing, his eyes darting over their features, understanding and memorising their traits. His hands were folded into each other, covered under the robe that he wore.

"Hey, fella’s. Wouldn’t you like to see what’s behind that robe?" One of them gestured after they had finished the dinner. He grinned as he started to get up from his seat.

"Wouldn’t you like to know what I would do to you if you tried?" A voice soft and serene yet cold hit all of them.

"Now, whadya think us? A bunch of babies? I’ll let cha know we face more fella’s than you and we prevailed over them. Nobody’s better than us." One of them answered. He wore garments different from the rest. A cloak covered his shoulders. His hair was an unruly mop on his head kept with blond straight’s. He was broadly built, with square shoulders. One glanced at him and you wouldn’t even know that he was a thug. "And that’s a fact!" He spat the last part. He rose his glass up, "To the …"

"It would seemed that you all are only better than the average clowns outside there when together. Or are you a baby when alone?"

The voice hit them as if someone had slapped them on their face. Rage contorted with fury and mixed with anger turn their faces red. One by one they stood up and moved towards him. He still sat there unmoving, unflinching towards the hostility shown by his neighbours.

"Baby, eh? You’re gonna wish you never uttered that word to us. You’re gonna wish you never even met us in your life. Who do ya think you are sitting so cool and calm? If I were you, I would be saying ‘I’m Sorry’ before we decide to realign you’re face and your body." Again, the same guy spoke.

"Now, now, it ain’t fair for you all to gang up on a poor old guy like me. If you wanted to take me down, you would face mano a mano. Or are you not man enough?" He said as he stood up slowly.

"Enough!!! I brought you all here not to bicker amongst yourselves. If you’re itching for a fight, you just have wait a little while longer. It seems we have some very interesting characters on the way. And if I were you, I would start being friends. They seem were competent in dispatching your friends." The new intrusion was a bald headed man, obviously their group leader. He glared at each of them in turn. "Especially you, Gerard!" He shot a look at the thug with the clock. "If they didn’t seemed to have any problems with your friends, I would suggest you start practising now, seeing that you all of the same group. Fat lot of good your friends are!" He spat.

"And who would our adversaries be?" Gerard smiled sweetly. "I can’t hardly wait to meet them. Wouldn’t you please enlighten us, Rael?"

Rael threw two folders onto the table as Gerard and everyone else sat down, grudgingly. Gerard grab one of them. He snickered. "This girl made mince meat of…" He laughed. "You are certainly one of the best jokers of the galaxy, Rael! Nobody can take care of…"

"Are you sure, or would you like to visit your friends in the cell?" Rael growl. "Dickson just gave me call. It has gotten worse. The fed.’s have been called in and it’ll just be a matter of time before they start swarming over this place and put two and two together. Apparently, your friends have a costly price over their heads. So, I would suggest you do NOT cause any trouble more than is necessary.

"The two trouble makers are not your average Starfleet student’s. They are the best of the best. The very best in fact. So, I wouldn’t take them so lightly if I were you. These two have achievements that would make even a book envious."

"So what? There’s only two of them!" Gerard protested.

"Three!" Rael shot back. "There’s three of them."

"I thought you said there were only two?" Gerard said as he looked at the folders on the table.

"The third person works behind these two. He is a technology expert. Give him with nothing to survive, and he will some how still survive. He’s probably loaded his two friends with goodies that would make Batman and Santa Claus jealous. On top of that, I haven’t considered about his family nor their family’s friends either. If we were to include them into the equation, we would be asking for a lot of trouble." He ended softly. "It would also seemed that your idea of an impersonation of Miss Trixie Belden have failed due to the fact that they have somehow trace her to here." At this he glared at Gerard.

Gerard merely polished his fingernails. "Small matter." He waved.

"It brought them here faster, you idiot!" Rael roared. "And this complicates even more! We have to wrap this up as soon as possible. Find the amulet! Before her brother gets here."

"What… are… you… so… afraid of? For all you know, they may bring it to us! And that… would save us a lot of problems later. So, it might work to our advantage."

"And what if they did not carry the amulet with them?"

"Then, if we capture out visitors, we would have an extra playing card on our hands." Gerard smiled. "And they would have wished that they had never crossed swords with me, Gerard Pridas, Lord and Master of Saturn Seven!"

With that, he got up from his seat, empty his glass and left the table. The other’s rose immediately after him except for the person cloaked. He sat there immobile. In fact throughout the entire meeting he had hardly move at all. Now he placed his fingertips together and smiled.

He got up silently and left the room. At the entrance, he turn left and walked all the way down. The corridors were lit with small lamps that gave out a yellow colour glow onto the walls. The corridors were cut through some 2-3 centuries ago. He had long observed that there were small squiggles on the walls and long wondered whether that was the mark of a long forgotten civilisation.

He came to a door. Stopping in front, he stood there silently for a few seconds before opening the door. Stepping in silently, he came to the still figure of Trixie lying on a makeshift bed. Pulling a chair, he sat down beside her and waited for her to awaken.

 

It was all dark. Everywhere she turn, up, down, left, right, every angle was darkness. It was like someone had snuff out the lights on the darken sky. She tried to cry out, but nothing came out of her mouth. She tried to move, but she couldn’t tell just where she was going as there was nothing, absolutely nothing to orient her to her destination. If this was hell, then it sure was lonely and desolate. All emotions of fear, resentment, anger, hatred, loneliness flooded her mind at once informing her that it was payback time for her sins, her trespasser’s that she had done when she was small or as a teenager or even as an adult, that she had wronged someone. Images after images flashed by her. She saw the hurts she did to her parents, her family and close friends. There were cases, which had ambiguity. When hurts could not be avoided due to the circumstances at that moment in time and occasion. She tried to think of happier occasions, like birthdays and her marriage, but nothing could stop or stem the flow of images. It was as if she was trying to single handedly stop a dam from breaking its walls, but she could see the cracks that were appearing fast. Images after images began to flow faster until they were just to fast to even see what the images were all about. All she could do was cry and believe that her family and friends loved her and forgive her. She tried to cry out again to ask for forgiveness, but nobody answered.

A small white light, much light a dot appeared to the extreme left of her vision. And surprising, she found herself suddenly being able to move. Slowly, she floated towards the dot, which slowly enlarged itself, as she approach it. Soon, white blinding light filled her vision. She raised her hands to block the blinding light. All she could see was brilliant white light. Around her, was also as empty as the darkness behind her. She turned around to look for the darkness, but it was gone. As brilliant as the light had been, it slowly dimmed itself down to a more manageable intensity. She turned around again, hoping to spot someone, but all there were was was emptiness.

"Think of it as a cleanliness session." A voice that was somewhat familiar echoed around. "A cleansing ritual if you please. To prepare you for what is to come. A future that will be filled with a lot of uncertainty and doubts and maybe even regrets." The voice was warm yet harsh but filled with understanding and compassion. She looked around for the voice but all she saw was just emptiness.

"Who are you?" Trixie ask softly. "Why are you doing this to me? Where am I?"

"Who I am is of no consequence to you. Why? I believe I just explained that to you. It is to prepare you for what is to befall on you soon when you find that your courage, bravery, your integrity, your belief’s, everything that you know, understand and believe will be challenged. Whether you will have forgiveness in your heart to forgive your friends for the hurt, denials that is to follow…"

Trixie was silent as she contemplated what was said. Softly, "What is going to happen to me?"

"I have told you all that I can tell you. You have been taught that, ‘Nothing is what it seems’. Therefore, what you are about to embark on will test every knowledge and will of your life. But remember this, never ever doubt neither your parent’s nor your family’s love for you. The bond of your family is the strongest link in your life. Never doubt this much."

With that, the light started to dim. And Trixie felt herself getting sleepier by the minute. The next she could her were soft murmurs, which lulled her to sleep.

Two figures materialised out of nowhere to solidify and form into human bodies. Bobby looked above him and all he could see were trees that formed a huge canopy over his head. Even the sun was shut out. Above and around him, birds and the insects went about their business as if the two were never there.

"Which way?" Melissa asks aloud.

"Turn approximately, 30 degree’s to your right and keep going straight." A voice answered that appear to come out of nowhere. Hidden underneath her dress was a small COM badge. There, Bobby and she had decided to keep an open communication channel with Jack up in the shuttle.

"All ready?" Bobby asked as he loaded his pump gun with Melissa looking in astonishment. Pulling the safety off, he had a look of contentment, even delighted!

"And what the dickens is THAT?" Melissa ask.

"This?" Bobby turn the device around in his hands. "A very interesting contraption designed in the 21^st century as a weapon. Although not as good as what we have compared to our phasers, it is nevertheless manages to get the message across when it comes to killing people." A horrified look spread across Melissa’s face. Bobby hurriedly continued, "But rest assured dearest, I have never condone killing as a option. So, what I have done is refitted this contraption known as a machine gun, to use a different set of bullets. While the 21^st century version can kill you, this one won’t. Instead, it will disable you, by causing great pain to whatever body it chances upon." Bobby smiled. "Relax, ok. No one will be hurt anymore than you want them to be. Unconscious maybe. Dead no."

Melissa gave a rueful smile. "Sometimes, I don’t even know you. You and your gadgets! When everything we do is to miniaturised, you’re going the opposite way."

"There is an advantage in using this out dated equipment. No one but you, knows how to use it! So, if they happened to get it, they just wouldn’t know how to shoot it! Great huh?" Bobby grinned as he showed her how to use it in the event that she had to use it. The others are the same.

"Shall we?" Bobby gestured towards their destination after he had shown her how to use the variety of weapons in his bag. Melissa was left shaking her head in amazement as he started up the hill. They rest at the summit and look around them. What they say took their breath away. While trees still obscure their view, they could see between the tree branches and trunks of the hills and mountains beyond. These rose majestically and towered over anything nearby. Their peaks were covered in snow. The forests thinned out near the base of the mountain. The sun’s rays shone through the cloud cover, casting beautiful glows on the ground. Birds of a dizzying variety chase each other. There seem to be no end of an assortment of variety of insects and butterflies that could be seen flying and fluttering around. Bobby had never seen this many species before. It was like a kind of heaven to him.

"Wow!" Bobby gazed around him. "This is fantabulous."

"Beautiful isn’t it?" Melissa asked as she went down the hill, laughing. Bobby watched her go down, her hair streaming behind her.

The forests started to thin itself out as they got closer and closer to the base of the mountains. Here, they started to move in a guerrilla fashion, moving from tree to tree silently. Even from a distance, they could see the cave opening, which they believe, led to where Trixie was being held. The tricorder readings showed a lot of Electromagnetic Field Interference. In fact, the whole sit was humming with it.

"This should be it." Bobby muttered. "No natural composition could give off this kind of EMF. It’s practically going through the roof! Tricorder’s going crazy over the readings! I’ll switch it to infrared detection. A-hah!" Bobby said with triumph. "We’ve got multiple bogeys! I’m reading 3 bandits." Bobby announced as he took out his phaser.

Melissa looked surprised. "I thought you did not agree with modern technology anymore?"

"Something’s are done better with existing technology. The phaser allows us to ‘stun’ the person in concern and thus rendered the object immobile. We are after all, required a certain amount of stealth in order to rescue my captured sister. Ready?" Bobby gestured.

The two of them crept towards their opponents, using the bushes and trees as their shields. Finally, going as close as they could, Bobby nodded to Melissa. Raising 3 fingers, Bobby counted down with his finger from three to two to one. Swinging the phaser to the three people, they both took aim and fired simultaneously. Bobby’s phaser took out the left person while Melissa’s took out the person on the right. That left the middle person, looking surprise at his two fallen comrades. He took out a weapon that looks like a gun, took aim at them and prepared to fire his weapon. He got no chance as both Bobby and Melissa fired together from their phaser.

They cross the open space and walked cautiously towards the cave mouth. They could see the lamps that lit the corridors casting a faint glow. The air smelt musty. The ground was harden unlike outside which was soft and damp. They walk down the corridor. Bobby noticed that it hardly bend. Turning around, he could still see the light from cave mouth. He noticed too that the corridor was sloping downwards. The light behind them was getting dimmer and dimmer until it slowly wink out. Bobby knelt down and using the tricorder, he examined the footprints available. Eventually, he smiled to himself.

"Trixie’s been here." Bobby announced. "That’s her footprint." Bobby gestured towards a different footprint compared to the rest. The print was easily distinguishable compared to the rest as it was smaller, more compact and lightly pressed against the soil of the corridor. However, it looked slightly different compared to what Bobby knew of since he assumed that she was dragged or push or pull down this corridor. The corridor seemed to go on forever downwards. Bobby was wondering just how far more did he had to walk when he noticed that the walls had started to become narrower. When previously he and Melissa could walk side by side, he now had to walk behind her. Just as suddenly the walls had narrowed itself, so too did it enlarge itself all of a sudden. They had just turn a sharp bend towards the right, when they came out into the open. The walls suddenly disappeared from they’re left and right. The roof to disappeared itself. Lights from heavy-duty lamps could not even pierce through the darkness of the cave. Stalagmites and staglatites shine down and gave a ballroom like atmosphere to the cave. Bobby swore that if rescuing his sister wasn’t his number one priority, he would asked Melissa to dance with him, there and then!

But something else took his attention, for right in the middle of the cave was his sister surrounded by 6 people in a circle. Before Bobby or Melissa could do anything, the five people had left her alone on the stage and had their weapons drawn out facing the two of them. Knowing they couldn’t face the five of with weapons drawn, Bobby and Melissa drop theirs and raised their hands. Except for one of them, who were covered in a scowl, the rest were delighted to meet the two of them.

"Well, well, well. The famous duo that easily defeated our friends in the resort seemed to have given up very easily. Let me introduce myself. I am Lord Gerard Pridas. Rightful heir and thrown owner of Saturn Seven. And I’m very delighted to meet you both. We have heard a lot of good things about you." He gestured towards Rael. "This is my fellow colleague, Rael. You could say that he is the brains behind this scheme. However, he lacks neither the finesse nor the ideas to push forth to make it into this competitive world. In fact, I have often wondered personally why I needed him."

Rael turn a few shades red and thundered. "Whose idea was this? It was I who came to you asking for your help. Who help you trace back your lineage to your forefathers. It was I that sat in that musty, dusty and decrepit library, choking through all the centuries of dust, squinting through another century of writing! Just so, I could tell you that you’re the rightful ruler of Saturn Seven. Is this how you repay me?" Rael spat. "If this is the thanks I get…"

"Your right." Gerard cooed. "My dear Trixie, why don’t you disintegrate my friend Rael here." Gerard grin as he gripped Rael tightly and started to pull him towards Trixie. The other’s started to laugh and tease Rael to his dismay.

"Help me…!!!" Rael pleaded to Bobby and Melissa as they watch helplessly. They two were gestured to follow him.

Trixie had been motionless since they both had stumble into this giant cave. Her head, which was lowered now, raised itself slowly. Her eyes that used to glitter were dull and lifeless. She was practically standing still, her chest rising and up down slowly, as if she was in a trance. Her clothes were torn in certain places and mud was plastered everywhere. Her hair had traces of small leaves and certain parts were caked in mud as well. Cuts and bruises could be seen on her face. A black round spot was around her right eye, signalling a black eye.

But what caught his attention was the amulet around her neck, which had infamously arrived just before her birthday. Now it glittered in a multitude of colours, all colours of the spectrum imaginable were shining forth from the amulet, red, green, blue, yellow, indigo, brown, white, pink… they all shot forth from the amulet like a ballroom revolving around the globe shooting forth its colours with dazzling clarity, brightening up anything within it’s reach, splashing it with it’s vivid colours and enrapturing it’s audience as well. It was like being given a lesson in colours. Colours beyond imagination. Bobby could only stare and gasped at it. Beautiful was hardly a word comparable in Bobby’s mind. Colours reach as far as they could in this vast cave, spreading out into each and every direction. Bobby was spellbound as he watch the colours intermingle with each other to form new ones, to form ones he already know off. Mingling and interchanging they continue this motion for a short while until they slowly died off slowly to lent a faint glow to the surroundings.

Lights flared up from her fingertips coursing through the cave like ancient planes of the 21^st century having a round the island race. The lights gave out aura of lights, lending to another spectacular lighting display, somewhat akin to laser display given during special celebrations. Flaring down as quickly as it was lighted up, it disappeared into Rael’s head causing his body to go through convulsions and spasms. Screams tore out from his lips, echoing through the cavern, deafening all of them momentarily causing all of them to cover their ear’s with their hands. Small bulches could be seen travelling up and down his hands and around any uncover part of his body and face from clothing.

Just as sudden as his scream came out too, his scream was cut off again without warning. He clutched at his throat, signifying that something was happening to him, that he was becoming voiceless. His faced was a mixture of visions. Contorted to show distressed, anger, hatred, dislike, and most of revenge, his face started to change its features again. But his fingertips were beginning to shoot out greyish lights. All around him, his skin rippled and bulge. Even under his clothes, the bulges could be seen travelling up and down his body and they seemed to be getting bigger and bigger as time went by. His clothes started to rip apart themselves. A scream that was supposed to come out never came. The lights started to get brighter and with more intensity. The light bright and white was like looking at an atomic blast, searing with intensity, momentarily causing blindness. It flared up and disappeared so fast that Bobby was left wondering what had happened to his eyes as he thought he had lost his vision. The sudden absence of light didn’t have much time for his eyes to re-adjust. But apparently somebody had.

The next thing Bobby knew he was pulled to his right by someone. He could feel that the person’s hand was smooth yet its gripe was strong. Bobby followed obediently. Stumbling, and falling down as his foot hit an outcrop, he could also hear somebody in front of him cursing as she bumped into something as well. Light was slowly returning to his vision. Bobby could just make out the faint outlines of the slabs of rock that jutted out from the floor of the cave, avoiding one here, another there. Bobby was getting an idea where Melissa was taking him, but he was unsure just what they were going to do in order to get his sister back.

 

The power that she holds! And she just participated in killing somebody in cold blood. No blinking, no question’s asked. Just like that. Bobby wondered what could possess his sister to do something that was totally against her understanding. She had always believe that weapons or the use of arms was only an option when all else was exhausted, just like the rest of them. But she had just killed someone! His mind shriek back. How can you fight that? It was so much as "okie-dokie, glad to get rid of this scumbag for you!" That cannot be her! No way. His mind shot back. She’s not like that! That cannot be her. She must be an impostor. Someone paid to dress like her, act like her to be like her. Or maybe even computer generated imagery using holograms! But even as Bobby turned to look, he could see neither wires nor any form of projection of any sort. Tears started to stream down his cheeks slowly. Recognising that his sister was someone he no longer understood and that she would forever be changed by this experience if she ever recovered. If she ever came back to them… or if she could be rescued in the first place. But I sure am gonna try! Bobby vowed.

It was by this time that Gerard realised that his captives had gone missing. Looking around wildly, he grabbed the nearest man towards him and hissed, "Where are they?" The man could only gibber his reply. Flinging him aside, he roared "Find them!"

The four of them spread out in all directions, with about two of them heading towards Bobby and Melissa’s position. One of them started sniffing the air like a dog that was hunting for his prey. His eyes glittered of the light from Trixie’s amulet as he headed over to they’re position. He growled with satisfaction as scent’s told him where the two were hiding with pinpoint accuracy and knowing that the hunt was over and the kill was about to begin. Bobby took out his phaser and aimed it. Making sure that his foe was as close as he dared, he fired a shot to stun him. The man-dog didn’t know what hit him. One minute he was slinking around, the next minute saw him propped down on the ground unconscious. However, the shot had its drawback. It now alerted the rest of their whereabouts. The cave suddenly saw destructive lights flying around as phaser shots were traded from one side of the cave to the other. Bobby and Melissa tried to get themselves as far as they could at the same time trying to reach Trixie as well. So far, their efforts haven’t been too successful. Bobby could see that the thugs were trying to close in on them. They seemed to be covering each other’s tracks, criss-crossing here and there to ensure that the two of them do not get through and thus escape. It was also getting difficult to shoot on anyone of them. They were getting smatter and were using the darkness and the jut out rocks to hide them. Bobby also noticed that they were slowly forced towards the cave wall. Unless the find a way to break through, they would find themselves trap soon.

He reached into his backpack and took out a rather peculiar device. Shaped like an orange, but green in colour, it had a pin stuck into its head. Bobby made a grab for Melissa and motioned her to take a deep breath. Once she was ready, he unplugged the pin. Almost immediately, blue smoke was emitted from the device.

It started with a small whiff of smoke, which exploded into a huge fireball which eventually, covered them and also their surroundings in a blink of an eye. Bobby and Melissa moved under the cover of the smoke towards where they think was Trixie being held. Boulder’s loomed around them as they slowly trudge their way towards her.

The blue smoke made boulders look beyond recognisable. It changed their appearance and amplified their small cracks and crevices. It gave a gnarled and menacing look, sending shivers down Bobby and Melissa’s back. While the blue smoke gave them a cover, which they needed so desperately to reach Trixie, it also gave a big disadvantage. You didn’t know that there was a boulder until you walk smack straight into one. Bobby didn’t see one and that was what he did for the 5fh time. He cursed at the unliving object as he realised that he had stubbed his toe on one of its outcroppings. The smoke also gave of an acrid smell, pungent at it’s best. Bobby grinned at the thought of the smell going up the ultra sensitive nostrils of a wolf or dog, which his opponents seemed to bear resemblance too. They continue their slow and labouring walk as carefully as possible, scared to make any noise that would give their opponents their latest position.

Bobby blink hard. White light? What happened to my blue smoke? Yikes! Bobby thought and then realised what had happened. Their cover was gone! Bobby turn around and stared at Melissa. She too had a look of surprised on her face. Almost immediately they both split up, each heading in a different direction. And almost immediately too, they heard a shout around them as they both realised that they were spotted once again.

 

Where did the smoke go to? It couldn’t have just disappeared like that! Bobby didn’t have time to think, because the next moment, he found he was flying through the air. Pain shot through from his legs as he realised that he hadn’t watched where he was walking. Landmine! With his arms failing, he landed on his side, the wind knocked out of his lungs as he landed. Bobby shooked his head to clear his head of the pain he felt. He felt his senses come back to him gradually, hearing on his right hand side the war cries of Melissa as she battle her opponents. There was an occasional soft grunt as she scored a hit, succeeding in injuring her opponent compared to me, lying on the floor! I can believe that she’s doing better that me. I’m supposed to protect her, not the other way round. Bobby found that his legs were working. Strange, I thought that I had stepped on a landmine. Then what caused that explosion? Bobby examined the marks and looked with horror as he realised what had just happened. It wasn’t a landmine.

It was Trixie letting loose her powers on him! She had fired on him! He could see her from where he was, straight in front of him. She still had her finger pointed at him. Bobby walked slowly towards her. He hadn’t walked more than one foot forward when he found himself facing a creature that was totally different from what he knew in all of his life.

It looked like a man but yet not like one. There were still clothes clinging to him, ripped in certain places. It towered over him, almost like a 7 feet tall giant. It’s arm’s, two, were not that long compared to his legs. Short but rippling and bulging with muscles, it showed that it was no pushover. His head had small eyes, smaller than that of a man, roundish and purplish in colour. Bobby frowned and realised that this creature didn’t have a nose or an ear at all. But it did showed of its extremely long teeth. In fact, if you could consider it, it seemed to be grinning at him. Grinning at my demise, eh? We’ll soon see who’s left standing at the end. I’ve met weirder and bigger characters than you and I was the only one left standing at the end. But I’m sorry to informed you that I don’t have time to play, coz I’ve got a sister to free!

"Hi. My name’s Bobby Belden. What’s yours?"

Bobby whipped out the machine gun from his bag and started spraying his opponents with the bullets. The bullets bounced of him like a rubber ball bouncing off a wall. The creature roared and moved forward, covering the distance between the two of them in just one footstep.

"Uhhh. Guess you weren’t happy with that, were ya?" Bobby grabbed a hand grenade that was tied to his belt and tossed it to the creature. The creature deftly caught it in mid-air.

"I wouldn’t be still holding that if I were you." Bobby informed the creature as he step backwards slowly. The creature blink it’s eyes and glared at him. "I’m warning you…!" whereupon Bobby promptly turned around and started running. The creature continues to look at the grenade. A muffled explosion could be heard from behind him. Bobby turned around to look behind him.

"Oh my god!" The creature was still standing there, virtually unscathed by the explosion. Almost. Its fingers were missing. At least Bobby thought it’s fingers was missing. A funny crackling sound could be heard coming from his fingers. A bright blue light shined out like spotlights lighting the sky from him, lancing the surroundings around him. Cracks of blue light started to spread from his fingers up to his hands, entering his torso, head and lower parts of his body and finally his legs. It screamed out loud. The spotlight that started out was now changed to a huge fireball of light, flooding the entire area with its blue brilliance. Bobby shielded his eyes with his hand to block its intensity. When the light had faded, Bobby blink his eyes to clear his vision.

"Oomph." The next thing he knew, he was left sprawling on the ground. He quickly rolled to his right the minute he hit the ground. As he turned he got a glimpsed of his assailant. It was Bad Boy number two. Short and stocky, with rumpled hair, he had hands that could rival a tree trunk. He move forward to stamp on Bobby who was rolling to his right. He had boots that had soles that glittered for underneath on his soles were thousands of sharp small points. Definitely very painful if any part of his body was to be pierce with it. Bobby noticed that it left very beautiful prints wherever he walked on. Bobby grabbed a fistful of dirt and flung it directly at his assailant. His assailant promptly covered his eyes to protect them from Bobby’s action just as he assumed he would. Using the temporarily blindness and his only window of opportunity, Bobby got up immediately and landed a jab and a follow up on his opponents face. He moved forward to land punch after punch to his opponent not giving him time to recover at all. But his assailant was tougher than he thought. Even with all his punches landing direct on him, he was still standing at the end of it all… and grinning. Bobby was left a little exhausted with his effort and dejected noticing that nothing had happened to his opponent after all the punches he had thrown at him.

Melissa meanwhile was engaged in a heated battle with someone who had extremely long hands. His hair covered his face, in fact his whole head. She couldn’t see whether he had ears or eyes or even a mouth. Hair closed his head like a mop, revealing nothing underneath it. Even when he swung his sword, she just couldn’t see past the thickness of his hair.

He wore a long cloak, tattered and torn in many places. Big patches of a multitude of colours showed that he had use whatever clothing he could to sewn back the patches on his beloved cloak. Melissa could not help remembering the resemblance it gave towards Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. She remembered watching as a child with her parents; around at the tender age of 8 and also playing the part of one of his brothers in her high school production when she was 16.

Her remisnicing costs her boo stick to be neatly chopped in half by Mr Long Hands. She gazed at in amazement, knowing full well that the stick is virtually unbreakable, but yet it now lay broken in her hands, a piece on each side. She shock her head to clear her memories, and decided enough was enough. She looked thoughtfully at the broken sticks and grinned. Maybe it wouldn’t be sooo bad after all!

They circled each other like birds of prey, looking for an opening, for the kill. He twirled his sword in his right hand, it’s blade glinting as distant light touch the silver and clean blade. She swore you could almost use it as a mirror, if she wasn’t thinking of her blood being smeared on the clean blade. In a flash, he moved forward, the blade a blur as he twirled it desperately close to her. Seizing her chance, she swung her right hand boo stick to meet his onslaught while using her left hand’s boo stick to hit him at the midriff. But he was much faster than she would give him credit for. His leg was there to protect his body. Even so, she spinned around, and delivered a blow to his other leg, knowing full well, he wouldn’t have time to completely regain his balance. If there was pain, he didn’t show it. His counter attack was faster than anybody else. She had just managed to manoeuvre herself from the cold and gleaming blade. She felt the blade touching her. It had taken a snippet of her hair with it. She glanced at him. Even though his face, if there was a face, was covered in an unruly mop of hair, she could imagine his delight, knowing full well that, that could have been her flesh. All right, no more Ms Nice Guy. Nobody gets to snip my hair and get away with it. Party’s over.

She grinned back. She aimed her left hands stick straight at his body, hoping that he would use his sword to block it – which he did. She then swung her right hand’s stick at the same time she aimed her right leg for his. He saw her right hand stick but failed to see her right leg coming for his groin. He used his left hand to hold her right hand’s boo stick. Almost a second later her right leg hit his groin. Pain flooded from her right leg to her brain. What the heck? Pain made her dropped both of her boo sticks to clutch her leg. If she thought that he would stop and let her recover then she was mistaken. Clutching his sword with both hands, he swung it towards her body. She had just managed to twist herself from the sword path. Noticing that another opportunity was presenting itself again, she managed to evade the blade and grabbed his hands and rely on his forward momentum, propelling him towards a boulder behind her. His head smack the boulder before any part of his body came into contact. She quickly picked up her sticks and using all of her strength, she hit him as hard as possible, first on his leg’s, then his body. She felt like someone from those pictures where a guy was tied up around an upright stick and was whipped for possessing drugs or for despicable crimes that she had seen as a teenager. He arched his back, and Melissa went for the kill. Combining both of her sticks together, she slammed both of her sticks onto his back. He screamed with pain and doubled up as he lay on the floor. She aimed one final kicked at his stomach and this time she could only hear his groaning.

She turned around in case if there was someone behind her. On the other side of the cave, she could see Bobby was engaged in someone whose lineage probably came from a tree. He was stamping around whilst the only thing Bobby could do to evade the stumping was to continue rolling around on the cave floor. It was actually quite comical come to think of it. She at last that he finally manage to get to his feet and trow some punches at Stumpy Guy, but nothing came out of it. She rummage around her bag and took out the modified revolver from her bag which Bobby had handed earlier to her. Aiming it, she fired shot after shot towards Stumpy Guy. It seemed to bounce off him.

Bobby saw what Melissa was doing but realised that if punches and modified bullets did could not do any damage, then a changed of plan was in order. Bobby saw his chance to change his tactics. He quickly rummage around his bag and came up with an object that was small in sized, rectangular with an opener at one end that you flip open. He grinned at the device and slowly circled Stumpy Guy so that he would come up behind him. Stumpy Guy wasn’t too happy being distracted neither was he happy about bullets bumping off him. He roared out loud showing his displeasure at being shot at. Bobby saw his chance and quickly went behind Stumpy Guy. He flicked at a certain part and press the device. A small flame shot out. Holding as close as possible to Stumpy Guy, he proceeded to light up a part of Stumpy Guy. Somehow or rather, the next thing Bobby new, Stumpy Guy was suddenly engulfed in flames! Bobby had never seen anything go up in smoke faster than this. Stumpy Guy realised that he was on fire and roared with madness. He went running around the cave in a violent fit. Realising that the only person that could save him was Gerard, he ran towards him! Gerard saw him coming towards him and promptly turn around and starting running away, not realising that he had the power to save him and himself.

Bobby and Melissa could not help laughing at the two as they went round and round boulders, one trying to get away from the other, the other pleading for help! Bobby and Melissa seeing that this was probably their only chance to rescue Trixie made their way over to her. A blue mist surrounded her and swirled around her legs reaching up to her knees. White bright light was dimly given off from her fingers. Her eyes were of the glassy look, like someone sleepwalking or in a trance or even a ghost. Her face was pale as was her lips. Her hands were at her side. Bobby and Melissa approach her cautiously, afraid of what might happen to them, scared to wake her up, frighten that she might use her powers on them.

"Trixie?" Bobby ask softly. If Trixie heard him, she pretended not to. She didn’t even bat an eyelid.

"There is nothing you can do to bring her out. With the power she possess, she will not lose it just so she can come back to you." A laugh filled the cave echoing around the cave, slowly dying off. "Say goodbye to your beloved sister, Bobby Belden. Oh by the way, how would you like to be the first sacrifice?" Gerard grinned as he made some motion with his hands.

Wind whipped the leaves from the ground and carried it high into the air. Dust and sand flowed with the gale force wind and whipped at Bobby’s and Melissa’s faces. It stung both of them and slowly brought them to their senses. Bobby could feel a soft trobbing at the back of his head. He groan softly and then realised that his mouth was scorch dry. He tried to get some saliva but also realised that his tongue was devoid of any water. He could feel the coldness of the wind around him but he could also feel the intensity of the sun’s rays on him, especially on his face. Like someone was trying to leave an imprint on his face, burned in permanently. He blinked his eyes for a few times, trying to shake away the effect of the intensity of the sun’s rays and also to bring himself into focus. He tried to move his hands or his legs but found both of them to tie down by chains. He also realised that he was lying flat on his back which would give reason why the sun’s rays was so intensive on his face. The wind was roaring in his ear lobs, whistling and shrilling, wailing as it reach its high and lows. Lightning and thunder flashed and rolled across the sky, brightening and deafening anything and everything in its part. Bobby could have sworn that the lightning and thundering was actually brighter and louder than the usual. The sound of birds cries, the rushing of wind against grass as high as his knees filtered through slowly.

He blinked his eyes again and slowly open it as little as he dared. He could smell water in the air. Looks like it’s gonna be one heck of a storm. The Perfect Storm! Sure enough, rain droplets the size of bottle caps rained down on both of them. In seconds, both of them were drenched, soaked down to their skin in a matter of seconds. Rainwater hissed as it splattered on the stone table, evaporating almost instantaneously due to the heat of the table. Bobby wondered how come he wasn’t fried at all. The rain splattering on his face was painful, as if trying to peel of his skin. He close his eyes. Even through his eyelids, he could feel the force of the raindrops. He thought of shouting to Melissa but decided against it, after hearing the roar of the rain, wind and thunder combination.

All of a sudden, the ruckus disappeared. Bobby blinked a few times and look around for some time. The rain, thunder and lightning had disappeared as well. Did someone press the mute button? Bobby wondered. Even the birds too had disappeared. In Bobby’s mind, something fishy was about to happened. It was too quiet. Too still. There was no more roaring wind. He looked at the knee-high grass and noticed that immediately that the grass was still, hardly moving at all. Am I dreaming?

He looked across to Melissa and noticed that she too was looking around her. She too had that frightened look on her face, fearful for the unknown. He looked up and saw that the clouds were swirling around. The usual ominous grey was being replaced with other slightly brilliant colours, a flash of blue here, a streak of orange there. It looked like someone decided to paint the background grey and then take a fine paintbrush and splatter a multitude of colours across the dark background. Yeech, what a lousy combination of colours! If only Honey was here! Bobby smiled. She would probably hit the roof once she saw the lousy combination of colours…

Bobby arched his back to see what was behind them. It was then that he saw Trixie and Gerard standing at the head of stone table. What caught his attention next were the clothes that Gerard wore as well as a glinting blade, which he hold at his left hand. While the last time Bobby saw his clothes were of slightly darker colours, now, the clothes seemed to mirror the colours of that in the darken sky. But something else caught his eye. The streaking colours seemed to be moving! The robe covered him fully from top to toe in one piece. Which brought him to the dagger. Gerard had seen him eyeing it and now was fingering the edged of the blade with his right fore finger. He took Trixie’s left hand with his right, and handed the blade over to her.

She took the blade in her hands and turned it over and over while fingering the diamonds and rubies and emeralds that line up the holder. The dim lights of the sky gave the jewellery a magnificent light up. The combinational light’s from the jewellery was reflected and refracted and this lighted up Trixie’s face with an assortment of colours. They say, diamonds is a girl’s best friend. Right now, Trixie was caught up in its beauty. In her mind, she noticed that the diamond centred on the holder looked somewhat familiar. Deep down, something stirred inside Trixie’s soul. The darkness that was supposed to hold her was slowly breaking up. Lights that were supposed to be absent slowly came into her life. But even then they blinked at her. She tried to reach out to it. To tried grasp it if she could. Somehow, it just keep on alluding her outstretched hands. And when she thought that she had finally got it, it would slip out between her fingers. The stars seemed to not want to be captured. But they were showing her something. She strain her eyes to make out what they were showing her. And then she realised that she should be looking from afar and not at each individual streaming light. What she saw shocked her to the core. It’s me! My god, what happened to me? She saw her ragged self. Her hair in shambles. Her clothes were dirty and torn here and there. Grim, dirt, mud and leaves clung to her hair and clothes. But what shocked her most were her eyes. She noticed that they were dull, dim and lifeless. As if I’m dead and someone didn’t close my eyes! Am I dead?

She knew she wasn’t dead. If she was dead, she couldn’t be looking at her own self. She saw herself holding the beautiful dagger in her hands. She saw that she nodded at Gerard and moved towards a person lying down, straining to get out of the chains that hold him back. He looks oddly familiar. I have seen him before, somewhere, but I can’t remember where. She saw him shouting at her. Almost screaming at her. She frowned at the figure struggling to get loose. Funnily enough, she did an about turn to face another person lying on the stone table too. She too looked oddly familiar. Why can’t I remember? Who are you? Tried as she could, she just knew somewhere in her heart that she knew these people, but just couldn’t figured out who they were. And yet, they know her so. Look at the way they’re screaming at me! They must have known me.

The visions changed and made her heart stop for a few seconds. Light glittered of the smooth edge of the dagger. It was held high over her head, waiting to be trusted into the person looking up with horror, realising that death was knocking on his/her door. Any moment now, that dagger would pierce the skin and body underneath. She saw herself turn to look at Gerard, and there was the gleeful look on his face. The other person opposite this female person, was still struggling frantically to get free. She could see that he was going hysterical just to be free. Friends? Or Lovers? Love…

Almost immediately, images after images came into her mind. Images of her past, from the time she was captured, tortured and brainwashed flooded her memory altogether. She felt like a boat being left stuck in the middle of a ravaging storm. Like a boat buffeted by winds from each and every side, she too felt the images, big and small, flooding for her attention. She could feel herself failing about, drowning in the surge of memories. Moms. Dad. Brian. Mart. Honey.

 

Bobby! Melissa! My god, what am I… Slowly her mind awakened to the outside world. Somebody was laughing his heart out. There was screaming and yelling from both Melissa and Bobby. Even though the laughter was loud and reverberated through her mind, she could hear them, calling out to her, to stop the madness.

But there was somebody else’s voice amongst that cacophony of noises. Two, in fact, soft but growing stronger with time, just as a love grows stronger with time. Like a California Red tree that needs hundreds of years to mature. She tried to put in place both of the voices, but they still alluded her. Why can’t I remember? She shouted at herself. I know that voice! It is someone that I love that I cherish that I have promised to spend my whole life with. Flashes of her memories brought back the happiest days of her life, the day she was proposed to, her wedding day, her honeymoon. The face that she loved him with all her heart completely filled her mind. The face that she had longed for ever since she was capture, the face that had keep her going through her torture. The face that she keep very close to her heart, which hoped against all, hoped that he would be her knight in his shinning armour. The face that gave life to her baby that was now growing in her womb. The other voice was someone she regularly fought with almost everyday of her growing up life. It was with someone that she always hated and loved at the same time. Someone who could annoy and yet be a real tender loving person underneath his hard headedness. Someone she knew she could count on when the going gets tough, when she needed someone to lean on. She smiled as she recalled his name. Mart!

Another word filled her memories followed by three magical words that flowed gently into her conscious mind. Like lubricating oil for an engine, it broke through her numbness and set her mind into motion. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! She felt herself screaming at the top of her lungs as she saw her hands bring down the blade. She willed herself to stop her hands to continue it’s plunging. She felt resistance that met her mind like a stone. Pain shot through her mind as she felt herself knocking into a wall or a barrier of some sort. Her breathing too was becoming scarce due to the lack of oxygen in her lungs. Black pockets started to appear, impairing her vision. Her strength was failing fast but at last she could feel something, somewhere. Her fingertips and hands responded very sluggishly to her commands. It’s as if I’m fighting against myself for control! But whom am I fighting against? She saw the blade advancement slowing down. It’s still coming down. It’s too late! Melissa, please forgive me! Two voices came silently over her mind brimming with confidence. ‘You can do it if you believe in yourself. All you have to do is to believe in yourself, that is all.’ Mart spoke from somewhere in the dark recesses of her mind. ‘I believe in you.’ Jim said. ‘Trust in yourself. It is still not too late, you can still make it. Just believe in yourself.’

"Believe. What is that word that sounds so familiar?" Another voice prompted her. "It’s just a word with no meaning. You have always depended…"

"I do not!" Trixie spat out. "I have never depended on anybody to solve my problems. I can solve my problems. I’m married. I can’t keep on running over to my parent’s for help every time I have a problem, now can I?"

"Are you so sure that you have never gone to your parent’s for help? I can show you the countless times that you have run to your parent’s and sibling’s for help. Whenever you were in a jam, who got you out of your problems? All the times you were trapped or captured or kidnapped, who saved you?" He was right. Who save her whenever she and Honey got into trouble? It was always the Mart, Brian, Jim, Dan, Regan and Mr Maypenny. Or her parent’s or The Wheelers. It was never herself. Always somebody else.

"While you always got yourself into lots of trouble, you cannot deny the fact that you have touch so many lives, save so many people, for the joy and happiness that you shared with them. The end result is more important than the means to achieve it. We would have a very long queue of people if you wanted to find out how many lives you have helped." Trixie recognised the voice as that of Mart’s and Jim’s. "Plus we don’t actually mind helping you out. At least we know where you’re at! You’re just most active than the other kids. Much as we would like to admit it, you’re good at what you do. You have no idea how proud we all are of you. Never doubt this. We love you for who and what you are and not anything else."

"Love is an overrated word," sneered Gerard. "What is love? What do you know about it? How do you know you’re in love?"

Jim’s voice came back strongly. "Love is when someone treats you for who you are. You’ll know love when your heart beats faster every time you meet up with him/her. When your knees go weak or when your palms go sweaty or when you go tongue-tied. When all you can think of is this special person that have treated you so well. And when you’re not together, the world is not the same. You feel lonely, restless. But when you hear him/her calling for you or receive a letter, you’re suddenly full of joy. You feel you can take on the world. Nothing is impossible after that... Have you already forgotten this song?"

"I'll paint my mood in shades of blue
Paint my soul to be with you
I'll sketch your lips in shaded tones
Draw your mouth to my own

I'll draw your arms around my waist
Then all doubt I shall erase
I'll paint the rain that softly lands on your wind-blown hair

I'll trace a hand to wipe out your tears
A look to calm your fears
A silhouette of dark and light
While we hold each other oh so tight

I'll paint a sun to warm your heart
Swearing that we'll never part
That's the colour of my love

I'll paint the truth
Show how I feel
Try to make you completely real
I'll use a brush so light and fine
To draw you close and make you mine

I'll paint a sun to warm your heart
Swearing that we'll never part
That's the colour of my love

I'll draw the years all passing by
So much to learn so much to try

And with this ring our lives will start
Swearing that we'll never ever part
I offer what you cannot buy
Devoted love until we die…"

Chapter 15

Ps. The song is taken from Celine Dion’s ‘Colour Of My Love’. It is entitled ‘Colour Of My Love’. The song is copyrighted of Sony Music.

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