Chapter 5: Escape
Abel bashed the invisible barriers in front of him with his own hands. His containment cell looked as if it came from the stone age, yet the bars were needlessly technological, seemingly more advanced than the average brig or prison on Earth.
As he bashed on in desperation, he heard a feminine voice.
“Abel Ramsey,” Thalya said.
He frowned as he looked at her. “What do you want?”
“I seek to ascertain your condition,” she said. “Know that I am happy to see you well.”
Abel crossed his arms. “And why is that?”
“Because of what I told my father,” responded Thalya. “Join me, Abel Ramsey of Earth. Together, we shall overthrow my father. Cain is a conqueror, a great warrior, but he is an average administrator at best. Unable to integrate his new conquests, he had allowed chaos to spread over all Kruptos. The lion, the shark, and the hawk tribes have begun their quiet revolt. Yet even now, he thought only of further conquests. Cain had served his purpose, now it was time for Kruptos to have not a conqueror, but a liberator. Abel the Liberator. You will be the most powerful man on Kruptos… nay, you will be the most powerful man in the universe!”
“Never,” Abel said. “Even if I care for such things, there’s no way I can trust you after what you’ve done to Nia and I.”
Thalya’s face remained impassive.
Abel continued, “Speaking of, where is she? What have you done to Nia?”
“The Sethite woman will be married to my father,” Thalya said. “She will be Cain’s Empress.”
“She will not agree to that arrangement,” Abel said.
Thalya smirked. “There are ways to make her… cooperate.”
***
In the gilded cage of her newly given bedroom, Nia frowned. As preparation for her sham of a marriage, Cain’s ladies-in-waiting had dressed her—against her will, of course—in a wedding dress, or what passed for one, which covered just her chest, leaving her arms, shoulders, and midriff bare; her leggings were so thin it might as well not be there.
The towering figure of Cain arrived, and he looked at Nia with barely disguised lust.
In all honesty, the conqueror had struck fear in the heart of the UEC Lieutenant. Nia gulped, and having put on her bravest face, she also crossed her arms.
“How may I help you?” she said with sarcasm.
“Your presence will do just fine,” Cain said, his hand caressing Nia’s cheek.
By instinct, Nia recoiled.
Cain shook his head. “Now that won’t do. For our grand wedding to work, your consent will be needed.”
“Never,” Nia said. “I’ll never marry you!”
“You turned out to be more resistant than I had hoped,” responded Cain. “You leave me no choice, Nia Ennis of Earth. I will have to… compel you to cooperate.”
As he said this, Cain snapped his fingers, a cue that led to the arrival of three red-skinned men. Two men, soldiers by their armor, grabbed Nia by her arms, keeping her pinned.
“Hey!” Nia cried. “What do you think you’re...”
Then the third figure, a witch doctor by his tattered silk clothing, brought out a crystal ball and held it in front of Nia.
Nia’s eyes widened. “What is…”
But Nia’s protests stopped abruptly as the invisible energy from the crystal ball reached into her. Instantly, her defiant expression disappeared, replaced by a blank stare. Her eyes stared off into nowhere; the lights were on, but there was nobody home.
The witch doctor turned to Cain, his smile evil. “It is done, Your Majesty. You may do with her as you please.”
“Good,” said Cain. Then he moved closer to Nia. “You will be my bride, Nia Ennis.”
“I will be your bride,” Nia responded.
Cain then took Nia by the hand. “Now let us go, my Empress.”
Nia said nothing, and followed the Emperor.
***
Abel sat down, feeling utterly crushed. He had searched his cell scrupulously, searching for a way out. But he had found nothing, the stone walls were too strong. There was no way he was getting out, not any time soon. His thoughts went to Thalya, her last parting words:
“Rest assured, Abel Ramsey of Earth. Nia Ennis will be wed to my father. The Sphere of Tubal-Cain will turn your feral kitten docile, should she insist on resistance. As we speak, she is undergoing all the preparations, including the lobotomy if necessary.”
Abel shuddered, there was no way he was going to let that happen. But he saw no way to escape, not in time. Yet Captain Abel Ramsey knew he couldn’t give up. He felt at the back part of the wall an indication of hollowness. He figured that should be a place to start.
With the prison guard away, Abel began to explore again. But just as he began to place a hand, he saw a small part of the wall opening up. A woman’s hand, manicured with fingernails painted purple, dropped some items.
Abel wasted no time as he checked. First was a baton, stone and neolithic; it was alien but Abel could make use of it by intuition. The second item was a wrist-band, some sort of device; though made of stone it worked just like an Earth-based communicator.
With a little bit of tinkering, Abel got his communicator to work. Now it was time for him to get out of this cell. The prison guard was away and relaxed—utterly ignorant of what had just transpired.
After checking the energy barrier, Abel decided that the best way out was by force. With his stun baton, he struck the sides of the entrance. And lo, the barrier was deactivated.
No alarm. Good, Abel thought. He snuck through the hallways, the prison guard in front of him. With quick speed, he rushed with his stun baton and struck the prison guard.
The red man collapsed in a heap. Then Abel ruffled through the unconscious guard and found a gun by his holster. Abel took it then left in a hurry. There was a stun baton on the ground also, but Abel left it be.
Having left the prison cell undetected, Abel worked through the communicator and found that it had a map. He saw a direction to both Cain’s throne room and even Nia’s “guest room”. More importantly was the Chapel of Enoch, so-called in the map, where Nia and Cain were to have their sham marriage.
Abel knew he had no time to waste.
***
At the dark altar of the Chapel of Enoch, Cain the Conqueror and Nia Ennis were now brought in front of the tech-priest of Cain.
Cain’s expression was a mix of focus and desire; he simply couldn’t wait to get this over and done with. Nia was blank, utterly unaware of what was going on.
The tech-priest brought his scripture, ready to speak, but Cain interrupted:
“Let us get through this ritual posthaste.”
The tech-priest responded, “But sir, the marriage ceremony must follow the rubric. It is our custom as…”
“I am Cain the Conqueror,” he barked. “I demand you speed this up”.
As the conqueror and the tech-priest were quarreling, Abel hid behind the idol of a Cainite deity. Seeing his opportunity, Abel rushed from behind with his stun baton. The first victim was the tech-priest, who fell to the ground unceremoniously.
Without his armor and his weapon, in just his formal dress, Cain was caught off-guard; the conqueror looked to Abel with surprise. And it was at this point that he knew he had been checkmated.
“Son of Seth,” Cain said. “What is it that you desire? Say it so that I may grant it.”
Abel responded with a swing, striking the conqueror with the stun baton. Thus, the towering figure of Cain crumpled to the ground.
“I want Nia back, you tyrant,” Abel said.
Quickly, Abel got to Nia, but was shocked by the girl’s blank stare.
“Nia,” Abel said.
But Nia didn’t respond.
“Nia,” Abel said again. “It’s me, Abel.”
“Abel,” Nia responded.
Abel grimaced. He remembered Thalya’s words. This must have been the effect of the Sphere of Tubal-Cain that she had mentioned. Nia had surely fallen victim to it. But Abel put aside his fears, he knew that he still needed to get out; Nia too.
“Nia, let’s go,” Abel said, taking her by the hand.
“I will go,” Nia responded.
Abel knew his next destination, the communicator had identified an escape route: the underground levels of Cain’s castle connected to a subterranean sea. A submarine was there.
***
At the now empty prison cell, Thalya looked around. She saw the unconscious prison guard on the way, clearly a victim of Abel’s. She picked up the guard’s stun baton on the ground.
Now inside the cell, Thalya laid down on her back. With the stun baton in hand, she held it to her chest, and pressed; her body convulsed as she felt the electricity coursing through. As her body went limp, Thalya heard the ringing sound of the baton hitting the stone floor. Then everything went dark.
***
Abel rushed, bringing Nia along with him. He ducked, making sure to lower Nia also, just in time to avoid a Cainite laser. Yet that was the only Cainite soldier who was even close to overtaking the two.
Now at the underground dry-dock of the castle, Abel saw a submarine at the waters. A quick look at the communicator map told Abel that this dock was a part of a water tunnel that could take them all the way to the seas of Kruptos. It was here that Cain had constructed his fleet to conquer the Shark peoples.
The thought of a “shark people” brought a shiver to Abel. But he knew that they were his best hope of opposing Cain on Planet Kruptos.
So Abel entered. And was able to activate the submarines to escape the Dark City. And not a moment to soon, for as soon as the submarine began to take off, he heard the alarms blaring. A quick look at the screen showed torpedoes heading towards the ship, no doubt fired by the Kruptosian defenses.
Swiftly, Abel began maneuvers, not even bothering to strap himself or Nia to their seats. With a quick, almost instinctive move, Abel just barely drifted the submarine to avoid a direct hit. But the missile grazed the submarine, sending it shaking.
Abel held on to the seat, and kept steady. But Nia, still unaware of her surroundings, was thrown back. She struck the walls of the submarine, then slumped to the ground with her eyes closed.
Just as the submarine stabilized, Abel saw Nia lying on the ground.
“No,” he cried, “Nia!”
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