The energy bolt from the UltraZ was unerring in its accuracy as it hit the Mokrian straight in the heart. The heart of all the people of the Mokrian species was roughly in the place where humans had their stomach and it was well portected. But it just did not matter. The Mokrian with his gray skin and broad forehead and six and half feet height did not even have a chance to blink. The sheer unexpectedness of the shot stopped the Mokrian as he collapsed on the ground immediately.
Omkar Navate who had fired the shot, did not even notice the fallen Mokrian as he swept his UltraZ in another arc around him, checking for the others, as he was moving forward.
For a human, Omkar Navate was very tall, he was almost the height of the Mokrian that he had just shot and his intense dark eyes were looking around the dense forest for any sudden movement, near the fallen Mokrian. The reason for the double check by Omkar, was very obvious. Mokrians, worked brilliantly in teams and though Omkar was 90% sure this Mokrian was alone, Omkar just wanted to be sure.
And Omkar was running behind the first tree for cover, as he reloaded his gun. The UltraZ in his hand thrummed gently as Omkar hid behind the tree and surveyed the place for immediate threats. He found nothing as he looked at the gun, trying to find the reason for the thrumming. Omkar stifled a sigh as he realized that the energy level of the weapon was very low. At best he could make only five more shots.
Omkar studied the weapon of the Mokrian, whom he had just shot and wondered whether he could sneak up and take the weapon. Omkar dismissed the idea almost immediately. Omkar himself had used the trick plenty of times. To use the weapon of a fallen soldier as bait for gunning the next one. Sighing, Omkar looked around as he wondered how many of them were there. Omkar himself had taken out the two Arkhorans. His computer reported that two Jiporans were out and now the Mokrian was out.
Carefully Omkar tapped on the ear-piece still looking around.
"Computer, people in vicinity?" Omkar whispered, trying to make sure he did not make much noise.
"Four." The computer said immediately.
Omkar nodded realizing that the count included him too. That meant someone had taken out the other Mokrian - Ovarn Thar.
And Omkar peered and saw ahead from behind the tree to check the route to be taken from here, because those details would not be available in the computer.
And that was when Omkar saw what lay before him.
"You have got to be kidding me." Omkar muttered almost aghast as he saw what was ahead.
"Request incapable of being deciphered." The computer intoned in an emotionless voice.
"SHUT UP." Omkar fumed as he angrily switched off his ear piece, as he wondered when these damned geeks were going to make machines which actually said something useful.
Omkar saw again, just to confirm himself and realized that it was indeed underground geysers stretch. And to people who had never seen one it was really horrible place to be in. The ground of the underground geyser stretch was smoking almost everywhere and could explode anytime because of the geysers from underground and for a brief second Omkar thought that he saw the ground moving. Cursing angrily, Omkar looked around and wondered whether there was any other way to the other side.
Feeling sorry for himself, Omkar realized that twenty minutes back, he had himself blown up the bridge. And that left this as the only way forward. Cursing himself again, Omkar saw the stretch which was a kilometer wide. After that there were two huge boulders, which hopefully marked the end of the geyser stretch.
Omkar wondered whether anyone was going to set up an ambush here and nearly shuddered as he hoped that no one was stupid enough to do that. The ground of the underground geyser stretch was unstable and the slightest touch could set it off and could even cause a mild earthquake.
Gingerly Omkar set his foot on the geyser stretch. Just at that time, on his left an underground geyser spurt open almost shocking Omkar. Luckily, Omkar was far away from the geyser for it to actually do any damage. Knowing that he had very little time, Omkar did not hesitate as he ran across the stretch. He was going mostly by instinct, as he tried to keep his feet movements are light as possible.
Three minutes later, Omkar has slipped and fallen twice but had not hurt himself very badly, as he had almost reached the huge boulders and though he could not see it properly, he was 90% sure that the area beyond the border marked the end of the geyser stretch.
And Omkar heaved a sigh of relief.
Naturally, things had to go wrong.
Just as Omkar was about to between the huge boulders to step out of the underground geyser stretch, Omkar was ambushed.
Arka Verth, the Jiporan, had set a brilliantly good ambush hiding behind the rocks. The rocks would show no signs of any person having been there which would cover the tracks of the Jiporan. And being a Jiporan, Arka's skin was transparent and when needed Arka could merge slightly with the surroundings. Which was what Arka did. Arka had waited for Omkar to come right between the two boulders and then had tried to shoot Omkar.
It would have worked except that Arka miscalculated one small factor - the most important reason why no one ever set up ambushes where there were underground geysers. The area was dangerous and in such a place, when energy bolts like the UltraZ were fired, there was a very high chance that things could go very, very wrong.
Which was exactly what happened.
Seeing the gun in Arka's hands, Omkar had fallen back, on the hard ground and was badly jarred as Omkar was blinking back black spots and in the confusion, Omkar had dropped his weapon. Controlling himself, Omkar was trying to get after the UltraZ, when Omkar saw Arka's shot hit the ground.
And with the shot, all hell broke lose. The ground was shaking real hard and Arka was shocked as Omkar realized that Arka shot had activated an under-asteroid geyser. The cracks started appearing in the ground of the ground, as Omkar watched the the cracks were appearing all over and Arka was right in the path of the cracks. Abandoning his weapon, Omkar and pushed himself away from the cracks.
"MOVE!" Omkar shouted in Jiporan. Omkar was not too sure whether Arka would be wearing the translator and wanted no misunderstanding, which was why Omkar had spoken in Arka's own language.
But Omkar was too late.
Arka did not notice the crack until it was too late and slipped and fell into it. Arka fell straight inside the widening crevice and even before Omkar could reach him, Arka was gone.
And the only thing of Arka which was left behind was his weapon.
Omkar was almost trembling for a few seconds as he slowly walked towards the crevice picking up the weapon and slipping it into his holster. After the underground geyser stretch, the place was again a dense dark forest and seemed from Mokria, because Omkar could see both purple and green colour foliage around him, as was common in asteroid of Mokria.
As Omkar was running, he noticed subconsciously, the snow clad mountains far away in the horizon and suppressed a smile. Any other time, Omkar would have paid more attention to his surrounding. Omkar was from Terran, the second planet of the Kor Solar System, though he was not a native of the planet. But then Omkar had been living in Terran for fifteen years now and it was the closest thing to home. And because the humans were one of the first bipedal species to colonize Terran, Terran was developed such that it resembled Earth, the origin planet of the humans, in many respects. Except for the weather. The Double Sun of the Kor Solar System made sure of that. All through the 301 days of the Terran year, the only two weathers that Terran ever had was a hot one or a hotter one.
And as Omkar was walking through the forest it took a few minutes for him to get adjusted to his surroundings. And almost immediately Omkar could feel something wrong.
There was someone else near him.
There was a sudden slight rustle from the purple coloured bush before him, as Omkar hid behind the tree and concentrated on hearing. Though there were three moons in the sky, all of them were right now obscured by smoky, slight purplish clouds. And Omkar's grip on the UltraZ in his hand slightly tightened, as Omkar focused his attention entirely on hearing because Omkar knew that relying on eyesight in here was a complete waste of time. One second, then two seconds...Omkar nodded to himself as he realized that though the sound was almost muffled, it was a certainty that there was someone behind the bush.
Omkar moved forward slowly.
Omkar saw the life signs indicator on his wrist and saw that the last fall while escaping from Arka had done absolutely nothing good for him and he definitely could not take anything like that anymore.
The sound of the rustling behind the purple bush was repeated, though it was faint and Omkar thought he saw something red. That meant that the person behind the bush was probably a Narlaun. Omkar knew better than to engage Narlauns in a physical combat. All Narlauns - males and females were at least seven feet tall and a physique to match. And with their dragon like face and two fore limbs which ended in strong sharp seven claws, the Narlauns were a ferocious warrior species and though Omkar was very tall himself, he barely came up to the shoulder of any Narlaun. Omkar knew that there was no way he could enter into a physical fight with a Narlaun and win, right now.
Omkar saw his weapon and saw that the energy level in the UltraZ was very low and Omkar knew that he could at best manage only two more hits. But then Omkar did not hesitate. Narlauns had a brilliant eye sight, but their hearing was not strong enough. That was the only thing that Omkar could use right now. Omkar pointed the UltraZ ahead at the bushes in front of him, and pulled the trigger.
Omkar was rewarded with a thump and a "swish" as Omkar smiled and nodded to himself. He realized that it was a bullseye and whoever it was , was out.
Omkar wondered how many of them were left over. It had started with ten of them. And Omkar was more or less sure that seven of them were out. And now the eighth was whom Omkar had taken out. Cautiously Omkar looked around and saw no one as he tapped his ear piece, switching on his radio.
"Computer, how many in vicinity?" Omkar whispered, as he was still scanning the surroundings for any movement.
"Two." The computer told him in his ear-piece.
"And who would the other be!" Omkar murmured to himself, unable to stop smiling.
"Information cannot be divulged." The computer intoned in an emotionless voice.
"I am really not talking to you." Omkar murmured sighing, as he ran left, keeping to the shade of the trees. He had to tell Mitra Naveretan or Dr. Kon, to make these damned machines talk less. They spoiled the concentration by giving irrelevant information at the worst times.
And now, Omkar had no doubt about who was the other person, because Omkar realized that he had just shot the female Narlaun Enforcer - A'ahita.
And Omkar was moving away from the scene because he realized that he had given away his position by shooting A'ahita.
Omkar's feet were making a very little sound in the rough grass as he ran towards the clearing closest to the place where he had been previously. He had to see the position that he had just vacated. He needed to know whether he had guessed correctly. It was based only on that, that Omkar could plan his next move. His course of action could only be determined only if he knew how the last contestant was tracking him.
Omkar slipped behind the tree and was watching ahead, looking at the place. Any sudden rustling, any sudden change, anything to indicate where the last person could be.
"Rich Boy!" The drawling voice was confident and was laughing, like the owner of the voice found everything in life too funny and good.
Omkar's shoulder sagged as he could feel the UltraZ pointed right at his chest from above the tree that he was just hiding. Obviously, Shankar was not tracking him. Shankar was waiting for Omkar to finish A'ahita and come to him.
"Drop the gun, Rich Boy!" Shankar continued in his jovial voice, as he watched Omkar, from the well hidden place on top of the tree, his gun pointed straight at Omkar's chest.
"You are becoming predictable, Rich Boy!" Shankar scolded Omkar, as Omkar threw his gun behind him, raising his hands, showing Shankar that he was unarmed.
"I was following A'ahita!" Shankar grinned, as he slowly signaled Omkar to get back. "I was never trying to track you. I knew you would get to her and I knew that you would stupidly be expecting me to track your position from there." Shankar continued.
Omkar wanted to use A'ahita as bait. Shankar had the same idea and Omkar fell for it.
Shankar waved Omkar back again.
Omkar said nothing as he walked back, raising his hands.
Shankar jumped down from the tree and kept his weapon trained at Omkar. Omkar studied Shankar and at with a height of exactly six feet, Shankar was two inches shorter than Omkar. While Omkar with his lean frame had a wiry strength in him, Shankar was muscular. Shankar had brown, easy going eyes, which always led people to have the first impression that Shankar was a passive man. Which just on went on say how wrong first impressions could be. Shankar was the most tenacious, ruthless and nicest humans ever. An impossible combination. But Shankar bought it out effortlessly. Omkar saw that Shankar's wavy hair was disheveled and slightly burnt and realized that Shankar had also had his share of adventures in the underground geyser stretch.
"I win!" Shankar grinned as he pointed the UltraZ at Omkar's heart and pulled the trigger.
But Shankar had underestimated Omkar. A little. Omkar fell back and rolled over as Shankar's shot from his UltraZ harmlessly hit the surrounding. As Omkar rolled over, Omkar pulled the knife concealed in his arm and threw it straight at Shankar.
Shankar barely had time to blink, as he fell back hard. Even as Shankar fell back, he clutched his UltraZ tightly and rolled over, pointing the weapon, straight ahead.
That hesitation was the only time which Omkar needed as in a fluid moment, he pulled the UltraZ which he had thrown to the ground.
Both Omkar and Shankar pointed their guns at each other, a second later.
The two humans had both pointed their guns at each other. Each waiting. And that was when they both heard the voice. "The simulation would be terminated, concluding in a draw." the voice spoke and the voice appeared from around their surroundings.
Omkar struggled not to groan, as he heard the voice. But it was a wasted effort. Hearing Ritvik, always got that reaction from Omkar. Because Ritvik the Jiporan was the office Jackass and a constant pain in the neck to all Enforcers, especially, to these two humans, and the two humans reciprocated by making it a point to annoy Ritvik, at least once a day. Depending on Ritvik's luck the number of times that happened either increased exponentially or incrementally. Omkar just could not understand how Ritvik made it inside the Enforcers. Ritvik was an idiot, annoying, boring and stupid...Omkar was sure he could add many more words. Just that right now, he was focused on Shankar.
To anyone who did not understand Jiporan, Ritvik's speech, without the translator, would sound just like scrappy noises, something like rubbing paper on a board. Unfortunately for Omkar, he understood Jiporan and Shankar had affixed his translator, which was why they could not pretend that they did not understand Ritvik.
"Ritvik, I know how smart you are! And I am busy right now." Shankar said, his eyes never leaving Omkar. "And DON'T terminate the simulation. My lunch is on this and I am not drawing this one. Not now." Shankar said grinning, speaking through through his translator.
Though Omkar understood what Shankar had said, it took a few seconds for Omkar to really understand exactly what Shankar meant by his sentence. And even as Omkar was moving his hands to his ear-piece to remove the radio affixed to his ears, the sound blared from his ear piece so badly that Omkar winced falling back, dropping his UltraZ, groaning.
The sound was Shankar's favourite piece of music and even in normal times, that music was sufficient to drive anyone stone deaf.
"My game, Rich Boy!" Shankar said grinning, pulling the trigger, aimed straight at Omkar's heart.
Omkar felt a zap in his heart as he fell back. He fell on the ground, blinking hard as the surrounding faded as he ripped the ear-piece shaking his head.
"Simulation Terminated." the computer intoned as Omkar saw that he was back in the Simulation Bay of the Enforcer HQ, at Terran. He was lying on the hard, steel floor of the Simulation Deck in the basement of the Enforcer Headquarters, at Terran. The loud music was still blaring in the background as Shankar appeared in his full gear, grinning at Omkar.
"Lunch is on you." Shankar said loudly sounding gleeful, pulling Omkar up. Omkar was looking badly jarred as Shankar realized that Omkar could not hear anything he had said. And on top of it, his music was still blaring in the background.
The other eight people who were in the simulation, were the other eight contestants the Narlaun - A'ahita, three Jiporans, two Arkhorans and two Mokrians. All of them came around Shankar to congratulate Shankar, who looked extraordinarily cool and extremely proud of himself.
"YOU CHEATED!"
Ritvik, with his transparent skin and like all Jiporans was slightly shorter in height than most humans, was looking remarkably ferocious as he was walking towards Shankar. Shankar winced wondering whether Ritvik was being loud on purpose or because of the music or because the guy was an idiot. Shankar glanced at Omkar who for once was completely untouched because Omkar could not hear Ritvik at all. And for once, Shankar was really jealous of Omkar. Not having to hear Ritvik prattle was something that only really fortunate people were blessed with.
"Your turn or mine?" Shankar asked Omkar, who was still shaking his head, looking like he still could not hear properly.
"Never mind." Shankar said sighing, as he turned to Ritvik. "Captain Ritvik," Shankar said with a small smile.
That stopped Ritvik as Ritvik looked sore. Because Ritvik, like the others in the place realized that the "Captain" was to put him in his place. Ritvik's face was flushed as the transparent face showed that he was really annoyed. Because that was a fact. The two humans were Majors in the Enforcers and trumped his rank. "Enlighten us on why you think I cheated?" Shankar said in an elaborately polite tone.
"You hacked into his radio signal!" Ritvik yelled angrily.
The other people in the Simulation were around Shankar and watching this interaction, with slight mirth. Omkar turned and saw Ritvik and sighed audibly. Because Ritvik was a genuinely ill-liked person to almost all Enforcers as he had this annoying habit of quoting rules and pointing out how wrong things were going in almost any scenario. The Enforcers generally avoided him like a plague. Unless it happened to be these two humans.
"Was the radio not an equipment provided to me during the beginning of the simulation?" Shankar asked Ritvik, trying to imitate Omkar in that suave and completely irritating tone that Omkar used, when Omkar was trying to explain to the Space Pirates, their grounds of arrest.
"Yes!" Ritvik said hastily. "But that is meant for..." Ritvik started
"And the minute, you show me any rule which says that I cannot hack anyone's radio signal or use an equipment which was provided to me during the simulation..." Shankar interrupted Ritvik because Shankar was ravenously hungry. Shankar knew that Ritvik could talk on for an unimaginable long time. And Shankar really did not think that Ritvik was so important that Shankar give him undivided attention for that long. "...I will apologize for cheating." Shankar finished giving Ritvik, a false smile.
Shankar watched Omkar who was watching him rolling his eyes as Shankar turned to Ritvik, who was still trying to think up of something.
"That device is meant for communication!" Ritvik snapped angrily.
"I was communicating with my brother." Shankar told Ritvik in an expressionless tone as A'ahita giggled as Shankar saw her properly and wondered why she was still wearing the Carmellan shoes along with the Enforcer uniform. Those shoes were part of the uniform, but were used only in Benzoir because of the extreme cold in that planet. The other planets in the Kor Solar System were so hot that wearing the Carmellan shoes was almost uncomfortable.
Shankar was fingering the chain in his neck, which had a strange ring attached to it, as Shankar turned his attention back to Ritvik, who was spluttering angrily. Omkar was getting up and going close to the computer that Ritvik was working on, pushing Ritvik to a side, as Omkar was presumably watching the showing the last scene between him and Shankar in the simulation screen.
And it also looked like Omkar was back to hearing though for Ritvik's sake, Omkar was pretending that he could not hear anything.
"And you seriously should to be glad that my brother is incommunicado." Shankar said thumbing at Omkar. "Otherwise he would have done a much better job of insulting you." Shankar said helpfully.
"A...Ah...." Ritvik started furiously, as Shankar shook his head, turning, already tuning the man out.
And that was when the Link in Omkar's hands chimed. And Omkar looked at the caller as Shankar was watching him. Omkar walked away from the group, as he answered the Link, as Shankar turned to Ritvik. "It has been really intellectually stimulating conversation." Shankar said as A'ahita was unable to stop herself and laughed hard. One of the Arkhoran - Likhar Ker, with his seven feet height and huge brown hairy skin guffawed loudly, almost scaring Shankar.
Ritvik's transparent skin turned almost beet red and was breathing hard as he was looking as if he was ready to strike down Shankar. And Shankar was not even looking like he was worried. The worst thing Ritvik could do was talk. And though that was really painful to talk with Ritvik, that was just about the most dangerous thing Ritvik could do. In case anything physical actually broke out, Ritvik disappeared long before the first punch could be thrown.
Shankar saw that Omkar had cut the Link and was looking slightly worried, which was very rare and bad. "We will continue with our conversation after I get back." Shankar said following Omkar, who was picking up his jacket and was signaling Shankar to come out with him as Omkar was already walking out of the Simulation Room.