Ferenc:
All right, a hunt. With only some net bots, and a plasma gun. This will be fun. It would have been even more fun, if Wei didn’t tell us to bring the Naga in for questioning.
I pause before the labyrinth’s entrance, and look at Robin.
“Are you ready?” I ask him. He looks determined, if a bit pale. “This won’t be any different, than all the times you caught criminals.”
“It will be different. Most criminals don’t have access to planet destroying bombs.”
“Don’t you worry about that,” I try to assure him. He hums, and we make the first step inside the labyrinth. Soon, there is a ball of light, which Wei has made so that it can be our guide. We walk in silence, not wanting to give our position away.
The ball becomes ever brighter, as we near the Naga. Finally, it is so big, and so blinding, that the man probably knows we are near him.
After a while, we see him. Down on the ground, face first. The two of us rush towards him, and place him on his back. There is a deep wound on his chest, which looks to have festered.
“Where...” The Naga asks, and tries to focus on Robin and me. Yet, I can see that his eyes are too unfocused.
“Check his bottomless bag for bombs,” I urge Robin. He opens it up, and with a bit of mana, empties it on the ground. There is nothing resembling a bomb in there. I look in the face of the Naga. He looks young, almost like a teenager. I wonder from where I have seen this face before.
“Why would he need a camera?” Robin asks. The puzzle pieces click together.
“Dave Parsons?” I ask, shaking the teen a little. Just why did Vincent lie?
“Ah, shark teeth,” the boy says, as he fights to open his eyes. “I knew you weren’t dead.”
“Wait, isn’t this the kid who filmed a vlog entry during our wedding?” Robin asks. I nod at that.
“Come on, help me carry him out of here. He will be the last person, who Gorgon would hire for a job this delicate,” I take a hold of Dave’s upper half, while Robin takes a hold of the tail. We follow the light ball out of the labyrinth, and then look at the nearest camera.
“Wei? Do you remember Dave Parsons? He sent you vlog entries for your birthday,” I say into the camera, then heft Dave up just a bit. “He is injured and needs to be stabilized. Call an ambulance.”
<How do I know whether the boy works for Gorgon, or not.>
I blink at the question. Surely, Wei doesn’t believe that this goofball is connected to the terrorist acts?
“I can vouch for him,” I say, as I lower Dave, so he can lay on the grass. I don’t like the yellow ooze that comes from his chest. His T-shirt is ripped open, and the wound is clear to be seen.
“He must go through a truth test,” Robin says, and I narrow my eyes at him.
“Just look at him. Do you think he will be up for a truth test?” I snap at my husband. Naga become adults at 30. Dave, if my memory serves me correctly, is 28. I tell that to Wei, who pulls up another screen.
<He will be under watch. If he is working for Gorgon, then I will eject him out of the crystal,> Wei’s words bring an uneasy feeling into my stomach. Is he so afraid, that he is going to litter Phoenix 1 with corpses?
“He is just a kid, Wei,” Robin says, as he pulls out his phone. “We can do the truth test now, while we wait for the ambulance.”
No response comes from Wei. I sigh, and pinch Dave’s cheek. His eyes snap open, but it is obvious that he is still mostly out of it.
“Do you work for Gorgon?” I ask, as my eyes become locked on the screen.
“No, I just wanted to warn you, guys. I stole a rocket, and took the wormhole that is between the Cosmos and the New Cosmos. You can’t believe how many times I had to outrace policemen,” I take a hold of the boy’s ear, and tug with all my strength. “Ouch! Hey, I risked my life for you guys. I knew you weren’t dead. If I can find you, then so can Gorgon.”
Dave does have a point. Yet, we can’t run. Not anymore.
“We must stand our ground and fight,” Robin says.
<Who is going to train the Dru’dru?>
I am glad that Wei is on board. I wonder though if the Dru’dru will agree. It didn’t sit well with most of them, that they had to abandon their planet. Yet, are they ready to fight for a chunk of rock — now?
“There is another way,” Dave says, and we all look at him. “Why don’t you turn this planet a voyager planet? You can just stay in here, in this crystal. I never understood why a dungeon core would need a planet. I mean, you guys can imprint on any chunk of Cosmic rock.”
“Gorgon will still find us,” Robin says, looking grim.
“Yes, but it will be by far harder for her. If she can’t pinpoint us on the GPS, then she will have to send out rockets to the New Cosmos to search for us. Wei, if you don’t want to fight, then this is the only answer,” I say. After a whole of five minutes, a screen appears.
<The GPS coordinates of any trackers she has placed in the crystal will indeed go off, if we move with so much as a centimeter. But that will only be for about an hour or two,> Wei provides us with a screen, with a view of the planet on which we are on. Slowly, it looks as if it is moving.
“You won’t need to move that far away,” Dave says. He reaches out for his bottomless bag, and then takes out some sort of stick, that beeps green. “I turned off the tracking function. Now, you can use this, to find where the information went.”
Then, he closes his eyes, and collapses. I guess I underestimated the kid. He does have a good head on his shoulders. If he was a bit less of a daredevil, I might have even said I approve of him.
As things stand, this little stunt of his, must have made the news in both the New Cosmos and the Old Cosmos. That is something I will chew him out on. For, he could have simply asked Tony to bring him here.
