John steered his escape pod into a lake and immediately overrode the locking mechanism. The pod dismantled itself and John swam out. He had to get out of this place quickly. If they had sophisticated air detection systems in this area they’d be on his tail in no time. They could be watching him right now through a satellite feed. John was starting to get a little paranoid. He immediately ran towards the city. He was wet and tired, but if he slipped up here he’d also be dead. The night was cold. John shivered as he ran. After a few hours he made it to the outskirts of the city. He changed his face to that of a boy his own age, with a mole on his cheek, a slightly bigger chin and an aquiline nose.

John sat down by a door and contacted the Empress’ Spymaster. He did not know the Spymaster’s name. Everything about that person was a mystery. Even his avatar on the root way was an amorphous black cloud.

“You’ve made a real mess,” the Spymaster said. “The whole city is searching for you.” His voice sounded like a machine’s.

“It wasn’t my fault,” John protested and then quickly talked about his encounter with Datna and Sola.

“Hmm, let me look into this. In the meantime get to a safe house. I’ll send you its location. Duke Atarex has declared a curfew in the city. His soldiers are combing the streets, either looking for you or the two defectors. Avoid them at all cost.”

The door behind John suddenly opened. A man looked at him suspiciously. “What are you doing here, boy? Go back to your house.”

“My father has the door code and I can’t find him,” John lied without so much as a blink.

“Well then,” the man scratched his head. “Come in. You won’t be able to find your da tonight. There’s a curfew. We aren’t allowed out. Your da might have gotten arrested, but he’ll be out tomorrow. Have you had dinner?”

The people on this planet were so nice, thought John, and so easily fooled. “No, I haven’t eaten anything since morning.” That wasn’t a lie. His stomach had been grumbling for some time now.

“It’s a good thing we eat dinner late then. There’s more than enough to fill you. Come in. The smog outside will kill you. By the way, where’s your mask?”

“Lost it,” said John.

“We’ve got some spare. Don’t worry about it.”

They went into the house where his wife was setting the table. It was a three room house, a living cum dining room with an attached kitchen and two bed rooms. It wasn’t very big.

“Why, what have we here?” the wife asked.

“This is uh...”

“Kila,” said John. “I’m fourteen years old,” he decided to use his real age. “I lost my da somewhere in the city, and he has my house’s door codes.”

“Where do you live?” she asked. The woman seemed suspicious.

“Outer Green Section 17,” John said. He’d already prepared his whole story in the few minutes the man had talked to him on the porch.

“Can’t you reach him on the root way?”

“I tried, but he wouldn’t answer.”

“Enough with the cross examination missus,” said the man. “The lad hasn’t eaten since this morning.”

“Oh, poor boy,” the woman drew out a chair for him. “Come. Eat while the food’s hot.”

“Thank you,” said John. He began eating one plate after another. He was just too hungry and couldn’t help himself. It didn’t help that the food was delicious.

“Do you two live here all alone?” he asked.

“We do now. Our children passed away in an accident two years ago,” the man sighed. “They would have been around your age by now.”

“They were twins?”

“Identical twins. People said that they were blessed,” a small tear fell down the woman’s cheek. “And then this happened.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” said John. He was quite clumsy when it came to emotions. Living alone for so long had really affected his EQ. It had just been about five and a half years ago when he was rescued by the elves. It seemed like a lifetime after everything that had happened, but it actually hadn’t been that long a time.

“Thank you,” said the man. They made small talk through the meal. John had to lie through his teeth. He thought he did a splendid job. He was a natural born liar. It was not something to be proud of.

He went to sleep in the children’s bedroom. There were digital posters on the wall, moving images of the great military heroes of Oor. The twins must have wanted to be soldiers. There was even a poster of Ovin the Destroyer. He had been a soldier of Oor a long time ago. John had taken Ovin to be his role model. He did not put on any airs, was quiet and deadly. Even emperors and empresses had to respect him. If such a man wanted to form an expeditionary fleet, hundreds of thousands would come.

John slept, dreaming of being on his lonely planet again, fighting giant monsters and talking to himself until he went crazy. The dream suddenly shifted to something strange. A woman gazed at him, her face almost touching his. She took a few steps back. The woman had brown hair that fell to her knees, purplish eyes, and wore a plain blue robe. She was bedecked in jewelry, a big golden necklace that covered her chest, rings with precious stones on all her fingers, crystal earrings, silver bangles and anklets.

“I’ve finally found you,” she exclaimed.

This didn’t feel like a dream anymore. John wanted to pinch himself but found he couldn’t move. He could only talk. “Who are you?” he asked

“I’m Inashta. You killed one of my servants.”

“He was a crazy mass murderer,” John’s eyes glimmered with anger. He didn’t feel any remorse for killing that mad man.

“He deserved what he got,” the goddess said. “He was loyal at first but he then peeked into my dreams and went crazy.”

“Then why did you try to possess him? I wouldn’t have killed him if you hadn’t done that.”

“I was just coming out to explain things to you. Also, I wanted your help.”

“Help with what?”

“Waking me up.”

“If you think I’m going to go through those fertility rituals you’d better look for someone else.”

“It’s nothing like that,” she said. “Those rituals are useless. I need you to wound my brother Ir. I’ll be able to wake up when he’s weak enough.”

“You want me to fight a god?”

“Not now, but when you’re stronger. You will be my champion.”

Why were powerful women always making him their champion? Was there something about his face? Was he very handsome? John didn’t think so.

“I pass,” he said.

John could see rage in the goddess’ eyes. “You shall not pass. It is your honor to serve me, and serve me you shall.” She seemed to have gone crazy for a moment. She calmed down quickly, “I can give you whatever you want in exchange.”

“Can you take me to Earth?” Hope kindled within John. If it was a goddess it was possible.

“What is Erth?” John’s hope vanished instantly.

“It’s a planet. Third rock from the ‘Sun.’”

“I have never heard of a ‘Sun.’ I can give you other planets which are just as good, if not better.”

“I only want Earth,” John said, and woke up before the goddess could throw a tantrum. Phew! He’d woken up just in time. He’d been sweating while he dreamed. He went to the bathroom to wash his face. He grabbed an air filter mask from the living room cupboard. He left a ruby on the dining table and then slipped out of the house. It was early in the morning. The smog really hit his lungs, despite the mask.

He made his way to the safe house. It was easy to dodge the patrolling soldiers. He stuck to the small roads that were spread like a web throughout the city. At one point there were two patrols heading his way and he had to jump onto the roof of one of the small houses and wait for them to pass by. With his stealth circuit on, their detectors could see no sign of him. He soon made it to the safe house.

The first thing he did was take a bath. He felt dirty from walking on the roads. Then, he called the Spymaster.

“You’ve finally reached,” the Spymaster said. “Your mission parameters have changed. You are to rescue Datna and Sola from the Duke’s private prison.”

“He has a private prison?”

“He enjoys certain activities that are best kept away from the public eye.”

“Like torture? I read the file. Why are those two idiots so important that you want me to rescue them?”

“They are both information couriers.”

“What are information couriers?” John’s knowledge of the galaxy was woefully lacking.

“They are special. They store information in their synaptic connections. They can lock and unlock this information with mental commands. They have recently stolen some information that is very useful to the Empress.”

“How did they gain access?”

“They were trusted agents of the Duke.”

“Why doesn’t the Duke just kill them and be done with it?”

“He needs the information they have. I doubt they’re cooperating with him. They know that to give him this information spells death for them. They are trained to resist torture. I shall send you all the plans we have of the prison. Rescue them quickly. Time is of the essence. The duke’s tortures are much worse than anything you can imagine. They might not remain intact. A stealth ship will be waiting for you at the coordinates I send you whenever you schedule it. It is already in orbit. I’ll send you the uplink address.”

“Why didn’t you give me one of those stealth ships from the get go?”

“They’re a classified technology. We’re going all out to get you and the information couriers to safety. Be thankful.”

“Sure,” said John. “Thank you. I wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for the Empress in the first place. I’d be safely working for the Conglomerate.”

“Oor will reward you much better than the Conglomerate ever could. Don’t complain,” the Spymaster cut the feed.

John hadn’t had the chance to ask for a new stealth suit. He doubted they’d have given him one anyway. Breaking Datna and Sola out of prison was going to be a real bother.