The runners had found a path that they hoped would lead them to the city. The skyling carrying Starz had long disappeared. The kids all stared off into the distance thinking about Starz and hoping that he was ok.
"Mike," Sheldon asked. "Do you think we will ever see Starz again?"
"Sure we will buddy," he said with a reassured smile. "Remember, Starz is a space dog. He’s probably done this before. Once the skyling puts him down, he’ll jump up and kick him in the uh, in the uh, beak and then do some flips or something and escape."
Sheldon smiled and gave Mike a hug.
Drabin raised his hand, and both runners came to a stop.
"There’s a small building up ahead," he said. "It looks like a small outpost. Not much happens out here, so there probably won’t be more than just a few guards around."
"How far are we from the city?" asked Brial.
"Not far," he replied. "According to Tentuu, Kartoov is surrounded by a massive wall. Kron built a large number of tunnels from the city to these outposts. If we can get inside without being detected, we should be able to find a tunnel to the city."
"Good," replied Tallion. "We need to locate the Professor and get him to safety first. Kron won’t harm my father or Tatiana yet. He needs them."
"Ok, here’s what we do," Drabin stated. "Brial and I will circle around on foot and see how many guards there are."
Just then they all heard a twig snap. Everyone turned to see a guard facing them, with his weapon drawn. The guard instinctively looked down at the twig he had stepped on, giving Drabin just the break he needed. He quickly pulled a small
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sphere from his pocket, twisted it, and threw it at the guard. Blue electrical currents consumed his body and he fell to the ground in a fit of convulsions.
Brial ran over and grabbed the guard’s weapon.
"Great, I’m sure the others know we’re here." Brial stated. "Hopefully they haven’t radioed anything in to the city."
Just then a laser bolt ricocheted off one of the runners. Tallion instinctively took off through the forest with Dacota and Sheldon on the back. The others darted off into the bushes on foot. Two guards roared by on hover bikes chasing after Tallion. Two more pulled up together and stopped at the land runner. They jumped off, and headed into the bushes after the others.
"RUN!" shouted Drabin.
The four of them ran through the forest jumping over bushes and rocks. Mike screamed at the top of his lungs, as laser fire zipped by his head. Brial used his weapon and fired back as often as he could.
Aaron fiddled through his backpack as he ran through the woods. He managed to pull out a force field generator, and showed it to Mike. Mike smiled at Aaron and nodded his head. The guards were right behind them. Aaron and Mike suddenly stopped and activated the bubble. The bubble instantly formed as the guards reached out for them. One guard ran smack into the bubble. He was thrown back, and sent flying through the air. The other guard was too close, and ended up inside the bubble with Mike and Aaron. The guard froze and looked around, as Mike and Aaron screamed. They both fiddled with the controller.
"TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF!" Mike screamed.
"I’M TRYING," Aaron shouted back.
Aaron managed to deactivate the bubble, and they took off running. The guard, still confused about what had just happened, fell a few steps behind. Aaron quickly reactivated the bubble, and this time the guard was on the outside.
Both guards caught up to Mike and Aaron, and stopped and stared at the bubble. One tried to touch the bubble, but his hand was repelled back. The guards turned and looked at each other. One motioned that he was going after the other intruders, and for him to stay here. They both nodded and one guard took off.
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Mike looked at the guard and smirked. "Now whatcha gonna do? Ain’t so bad now are ya."
The guard pulled out his weapon. Mike grabbed onto Aaron and screamed. The guard fired at the bubble, but nothing happened. The laser bolt just deflected away.
Mike let go of Aaron, and started to taunt the guard again.
"Yeah, you not da man. Can’t touch this," he said excitedly, as he tried to do a dance.
"Shut up Mike," Aaron said. "He might not be able to come in, but we can’t get out either."
"Uh, oh yeah," he replied. "So what do we do?"
"Just sit here and hope the others come to help."
Mike and Aaron sat down as the guard stood there and watched. Then there was a loud noise. The guard turned to look and then took off running.
"Well at least we don’t have to worry about him anymore," Mike stated, as he sat down on the ground.
Brial and Drabin saw Aaron and Mike activate the bubble, and figured the two kids were safe for now. They continued to run from the other guard, as laser bolts zipped by them. As Drabin tried to duck out of the way of laser fire, he snagged his foot on a stick and fell over. He managed to roll away and hide under a bush. Brial continued to run and fire back.
Drabin quickly scrambled to find something he could fight with. He found a stick by his leg and grabbed it. When the guard came running by, Drabin reached out the stick and tripped him. The guard stumbled to the ground and dropped his weapon. Drabin jumped on top of the guard and struck him in the helmet with his stick. The guard slumped over unconscious.
Brial turned and hurried back.
"Good job Drabin," he stated. "I knew it was a good thing to bring you along."
"Here, help me with this guy," Drabin stated. "I have an idea."
They both grabbed a hold of the guard and lifted him to his feet. Then they propped him up next to a tree.
"You go hide over there," Drabin said. "I’ll stand here with him and call the other guard."
"Gotcha!" replied Brial.
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Brial headed over to a bush and crouched down. Drabin grabbed the guards arm and called out.
"Hey, I got the intruders trapped. I need some help."
The other guard heard this, and came running.
Drabin raised the guard’s arm and waved.
"Over here," he shouted. "I have them cornered."
The guard took a look and ran towards him. Brial jumped up from behind and smacked him on the helmet, knocking him to the ground. Drabin dropped the other guard and ran to Brial.
"Good work. We’ll tie them up, and then go find the others."
After the guards had been tied up, they took off to find Mike and Aaron.
"Mike, someone’s coming."
Mike looked up and saw the bushes shake. Then Brial and Drabin emerged.
"Alright!" Mike shouted.
Both boys jumped up. Aaron deactivated the bubble and ran to them.
"What happened?" Aaron asked. "Where are the others?"
The two guards chasing us, are back there tied to a tree," Drabin said. "I don’t know where the others are. We need to go find them."
They all headed back towards the runner to look for the others.
Meanwhile Tallion lead the other two guards on a frantic chase through the forest, while Dacota and Sheldon held on for their lives. They dashed and darted through the trees, dodging laser fire from the guards behind.
"Hang on guys!" he yelled.
Tallion pulled the runner hard to the right, just missing a tree, as the boys screamed. One of the guards wasn’t so lucky, as his hover bike slammed into the tree and burst in to flames. The guard was thrown through the air and landed in the bushes.
Tallion pulled the runner hard to the right again, trying to shake the last bike. Sheldon tumbled across the back and nearly fell off. Dacota grabbed his arm and pulled him back to safety.
Tallion saw the outpost ahead and made a dash for it. He knew that if the others were ok, that they would be near by.
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Brial heard the other runner and looked around to see where it was. He saw Tallion racing towards them with a guard on his tail.
"LOOK!" he shouted. "There’s Tal!"
Everyone looked and saw them coming. Mike and Aaron noticed that Dacota and Sheldon were barely holding on.
"Hey Mike," Aaron shouted. "Remember the stories that Dad used to tell us about the rope trick?"
"Uh yeah," he replied. "Why, you got an idea?"
"The runner," he stated. "The runner has a cable. We can stretch it out, and do the rope trick on the guard chasing them."
Yeah great!" he said. "Let’s do it."
Aaron turned to the others.
"Hey, I gotta plan. Everyone hide."
Everyone listened and hid behind the bushes. Brial and Drabin had their weapons out, ready to fire. Aaron ran over to the runner and started to pull the cable out across the path. He stood up and motioned to Tallion to head their way. Tallion didn’t know what they were planning, but turned and headed straight for them.
Aaron stretched the cable all the way out and handed it to Mike. They both held on for just the right moment.
"Ok Mike, when I give the signal, pull."
"Ok got it."
Tallion approached fast, and then went racing by. Sheldon saw Mike and Aaron, and managed to let out a smile and a wave. The guard approached, and Aaron gave the signal.
"NOW!"
They both jumped up and pulled the cable tight. The cable caught the guard right across the chest and yanked him off his bike. The force was strong enough to send Mike and Aaron tumbling to the ground also. The bike went crashing into a tree and burst into flames.
Brial and Drabin quickly ran to the guard and tied him up.
Mike and Aaron both managed to get back to their feet and brushed themselves off.
"Good work guys!" Drabin stated.
"That’s the rope trick," Mike said. "The prof, uh, our dad taught us that one."
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Tallion made it back with Dacota and Sheldon, and they all ran to the others.
Dacota and Sheldon jumped on Mike and Aaron.
"That was awesome!" Dacota shouted. "The guard went flying through the air when you jumped up with the rope."
"Yeah, and so did Mike and Aaron," Sheldon added.
Tallion approached Brial and Drabin.
"Are there anymore guards?" he asked.
"I don’t think so," Drabin answered. "We have four of them tied up. What happened to the other one chasing you?"
"He hit a tree and tumbled into some bushes," he replied. "I don’t think we will have to worry about him."
"Let’s just hope they didn’t get word back to headquarters," Brial added.
"Well there’s nothing we can do about that now," Tallion said. "Let’s head to the post and see if we can find a tunnel into the city."
The three men motioned for the boys, and they all hopped on the runners and headed to the post.
They didn’t see anymore guards around the building, and the door was open. They all followed Tallion inside.
Tallion found a light switch and turned it on. The outpost was just a small room with a table and some supplies for the guards. At the far end of the room was a set of stairs that led down to a door.
"That must be the door to the tunnel," Tallion said.
Mike ran over to the stairs, and then down to the door. He grabbed the door and pulled, but it didn’t open.
"It’s locked," he shouted.
"Push dummy," Aaron yelled back.
Mike pushed the door and it opened.
"Oh, uh sorry," he said with a sheepish grin.
"Wait," Drabin interrupted. "Don’t go taking off through the tunnel until we know where it goes."
Drabin pulled out the map that Tentuu had given him, and sat down at the table. Tallion and Brial joined him, as the boys stood by and watched. The map was a layout of the city’s tunnel system. It also had the location of the Ministry of Science
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building, the Tower of Trivok, and several other buildings of importance.
"Now, I’m not sure what post we are at, but all these tunnels seem to go to one main chamber," Drabin said. "Once we get to the main chamber, it looks like the Ministry of Science building will be the tunnel on the far right."
"Won’t there be guards in the main chamber?" Brial asked.
"Yes," replied Drabin. "And the doors to the inner tunnels will probably need access codes to open."
"What do you suggest?" Tallion asked.
"Well there should be a main control panel that operates all the doors," Drabin said. "Hopefully we can find an override switch to open them. If not, we’ll just have to hope for the best."
"And the guards?" Mike asked.
"Hey, there are some helmets on the shelf over there," Aaron stated. "Maybe you can wear them and they’ll think you are guards."
"Well, we don’t look like Kartravians, but it might be enough to throw them off for a few seconds," Brial added.
"It’s worth a shot."
Tallion walked over and grabbed a couple of helmets. He tossed one to Drabin, and then placed one on his head.
"Hey, I want one," said Mike.
"You don’t need a helmet Mike. You need a mask," Aaron stated.
Dacota and Sheldon laughed.
"Shut up Aaron," Mike snapped back, as he punched him in the arm.
"Let’s get going," Tallion said. "We don’t have much time.
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