This frightening planet finally disappeared behind them. "Whew, that was close, Master!" Aria said, trembling.

"Yeah. Where is the black hole which lead to the five-dimensional space? How far are we from it?" William asked Photon who was staring at the computer screen as he steered the ship.

"Oh, we'll be there soon." Natalie replied, "It's only an hour away."

"Can it be any faster? I want to go home as soon as possible."

"No, Master. If you waste too much antimatter traveling very fast, we might not be able to resist the gravity of the black hole. But we have to be twisted a little bit like when we came here before we can enter the five-dimensional space, and then you can fly faster. I just do not want to make anyone more painful."

"All right, then." William turned and resumed control of the ship. Tens of millions of bright stars zoomed past them.

A huge black sphere appeared in front of their eyes. It rotated slowly, swallowing everything with its powerful gravitational pull. "Yes, this is it." Photon said. So William pushed the joystick, accelerating the ship toward the endless darkness. They passed the event horizon and at first felt a strong, violent tug on the ship, but it soon died away.

The party went like lightning through the black hole. After a few minutes, the strong gravity began to pull on the ship again. The alarm was set off, and the piercing sound echoed through the ship. All of them were horribly distorted, like the delicious pasta of the earthmen. William, too, fell to the floor, clutching his head as hard as he could.

Then the gravity faded. The party got up and saw a dark void surrounding them. For an instant, they were in a trance and could not even remember how they had just entered the five-dimensional space. Rebecca and Aria looked out of the window curiously, but they could see nothing but the endless darkness.

"Yeah," Said William to himself, "I'm going back to my universe soon!"

Unfortunately, his joy was too premature. Suddenly the alarm sounded again, and the piercing sound stung everyone's nerves. It got higher and higher in pitch and faster and faster in frequency. The atmosphere lights inside the ship also turned a bright red and flashed quickly. William saw a red dialog box pop up on the computer screen,

Danger!

Almost immediately, his head began to ache again, as if it would be torn to pieces. He clutched his head with his hands in pain and rolled hard on the floor, trying to ease the pain.

"William! Are you all right?" Ranran was frightened and immediately rushed to his side and asked anxiously.

Before he could answer, everyone heard an angry, evil voice, "Ha ha ha! You won't escape!"

"What's... That?" Ranran's red lips trembled and she asked in horror.

The voice continued to sneer, and then said, slowly,

"I'm the You-Know-Who who's going to kill you!"

The voice made the spaceship shake violently. But no one else showed up. William was still rolling on the floor.

"Oh dear! Hold on, William!" Ranran cried in a sobbing voice.

"Stop dreaming!" Growled the You-Know-Who angrily, "I'm chasing you in a black fighter, and I've got a surprise for you!" Then an invisible hand held William hard by the neck. You-Know-Who's voice sounded in his ear, "Wanna know what the surprise is, little poor?"

"Let me go... I...... Certainly... Want to know! How should I... Do it!" He struggled out the words, out of breath.

"The antimatter bomb, of course!" That hand did not loosen for the time being, "I will attack you with laser weapons; you can use sphere fighters to fight back. If you want to get home safely, kill me! However, the probability of this event happening is almost zero! Ha ha ha!"

The laughter pierced all ears. At the same moment, a huge, fast-moving exclamation mark appeared on the computer screen. The distance between it and the spaceship was shrinking at an alarming rate. William crawled slowly to his feet, pleased that the pain was not so strong. Then he spoke quickly,

"Photon, you fly the ship! I will operate the sphere fighters myself!"

"We'll help you, Master!" Shouted everyone except Photon.

Photon ran to the console while the others approached the sphere fighters at the rear of the ship. William entered the captain plane and adjusted his direction so that he could aim at the rear of the ship.

The pain came back to William. He had to press hard on his head with his hands temporarily to relieve the pain. The pain gnawed at him like a beast. His head felt as if it would explode.

The pain soon faded, so William quickly put his hands on the fire button. Seconds later, through the glass at the rear of the ship, he saw an extremely small black spot approaching them. If they had come a little closer, William would have been able to get a good look at the fighters. It was all painted a horrible black, with red lightnings on the main wing. There were eight thick openings in front of the main wing, which were plasma cannons. It came a little closer, and then William saw a blood-red eye on the fighter open.

The voice said again, "Come and kill me!"

William roared furiously. He pressed the fire button and fired a volley of bullets. The others also aimed at the fighter and fired. Bullets sped toward the fighter and exploded on its surface.

The fighter shook violently, and then the eye stared more angrily at the ship. Now it was its turn to fire. Even though Photon did his best to avoid it, many of the bullets hit the ship. William saw some burns.

The fighter turned to the left. William wanted to keep aiming at it, but the pain hit him again, so he had to make the sphere fighter attack automatically. He fell to the ground in pain and rolled over for all his strength. His arms worked so hard that soon his muscles began to cramp. The pain was much more pronounced, however, so he continued to press his head.

Ranran caught a glimpse of William's arms trembling violently. "William! Let me help you!" She cried, sprinting into the captain plane.

"I... I've got a cramp in my arms, help me..." Said William, gritting his teeth, and howling painfully.

Ranran pressed William's head with all her strength. Her strength matched William's, so he could seize the time to rest. Every time he howled, his howling cut into her tender heart like the blade of a sharp sword, while the tears were her heart's blood.

"Oh, poor William!" She said in tears.

"I'm fine... Now my arm doesn't cramp anymore. How was the spaceship? Was it badly damaged?"

"No, just some minor damages. Your partners are operating other sphere fighters. I will always be with you! If you need their help, I'll send them here at once!"

"No!" Shouted William, "You mustn't let them help me. They must cooperate in shooting down the fighter!"

"The sphere fighters' autopilot system is perfect! They can do it without our help!"

"Don't say any more! Only you can help me! The rest of us are not supposed to leave the sphere fighters, and that's my order!" William almost growled.

Ranran looked at him with misty eyes. Her voice trembled as she said, "Yes, yes, I won't let anyone come and help you!"

William's anger went away. He was glad the pain was away from him for a while, so he pressed the fire button again. At the moment the fighter was being bombarded by bullets from all the sphere fighters. Although it was like a flexible loach, yet it was still badly damaged. More and more places on sphere fighters were burned.

William dared not relax. He seized every opportunity. "If you need my help..." Before Ranran could finish her sentence, he fell to the ground again, rolling in pain. She immediately squatted down and pressed on his head. This time the pain was more intense, so they worked together.

Fortunately, the pain soon left William, so he quickly jumped up and sat down at the sphere fighter console again. He glimpsed that all the sphere fighters were riddled with holes. His heart was bleeding.

William turned and saw the angry, blood-red eye staring at William. He looked at it, too.

"Surrender!" The voice said again, "You won't kill me!"

"Stop dreaming!" Growled William, imitating his tone, "Look how violently you're rocking!"

"Ha ha, you are becoming a sieve too!"

"I'll see who becomes a sieve first!" Said William, raining bullets. The others were furious, too.

The fighter ducked quickly to the right. The sphere fighters' muzzles were aimed at it. Colorful bullets exploded on the surface of the fighter like fireworks. Now it was shaking more violently.

The party heard the sound of plasma shells exploding on the surface of the sphere fighters. They knew the sphere fighters were already no longer recognizable, but they couldn't relax even a bit.

William felt the terrible pain again. He rolled hard on the ground, roaring at the top of his lungs. Ranran went to help him.

"I... I'm going to kill that damned You-Know-Who!" Gasped William, "I will go home!"

"Hold on, William!" Ranran encouraged him.

William's arms were trembling violently, and his forehead was thick with sweat. Ranran's heart was stung by William's howling, and her blood flowed with tears. He tried to put out a hand to wipe her tears, but she refused.

"Don't worry about me," Her voice trembled.

The pain quickly got worse and then went away again. William let out a cry of pain, and almost fainted. But nearly at the same moment, he heard a clear, ethereal sound.