New Hope: Book 1

The lieutenant awoke with a massive ache emanating from his arm, which reminded him of his very recent clash with the wall and a fragment of some machine sticking out of it. He also remembered the last thing he saw before he blacked out - the evil look of the robot and the metal leg that was quickly making its way toward his face.

John tried to move, but any movement caused strong pain and recalled the trauma caused by the kick in the head.

“Arghh!” he let out an inarticulate sound, trying to overcome the limitations of the constraints that were hindering his movements and keeping his body fixed to a hard surface behind him.

The lieutenant was looking around the room trying to recognize it. He was no longer in the same spot he was caught but in a brightly lit room, which resembled a control room in a modern power plant. The place was teeming with buttons, screens, and holographic screens, glowing with all the colors of the visible electromagnetic spectrum.

A moment later, the door to the room opened and the 9-foot robot, Elrael, entered. The body of the Sarassian representative was visibly damaged, though it did not alter the robot’s balanced and efficient movements. Clearly, the injuries caused in the brief conflict with the commandos’ rifles weren’t sufficiently serious to affect the opponent’s functioning.

Elrael approached the incapacitated lieutenant in a swift motion and bent over him.

“You’re probably wondering how long you’ve been here and how much time is left to cross the activation deadline of the hyperspace transmitter?” he asked casually. Without waiting for a response from the prisoner, he continued, “I must disappoint you slightly. You didn’t sleep long, only a few minutes. But if you are wondering how much time is left to destroy the cooling system of the fusion reactors... Then we still have quite some time,” said the robot. “A whole 15 terrestrial minutes. Enough to stop the process before it stops me from broadcasting the transmission to my kinsmen. And you will have a very important role in this task,” added the robot. “See, I was monitoring all your transmissions with Ellie Johnson, but I also heard everything you talked about with your friend before entering the engineering section. I know then, that despite neither of you admitting it openly in front of the other, I have no doubt that as soon as I inform your girlfriend about capturing you, Ellie will try to rescue you. I’m sure you can guess what the result of that will be,” laughed Elrael as if it was telling some joke to an old friend.

“Ellie will never come to help me because I already gave the order to evacuate if I didn’t report within the given time. That time has passed, so good luck in executing the vile plan of conquering space. You people will never get here because they don’t even know this place exists,” said the lieutenant through clenched teeth, trying to fight with every word the queasiness his bleeding wound was causing.

“Wrong,” said the robot. There was something disturbing in his behavior, too much self-confidence, which threw John off his game. “Ellie never left the control center. She’s still underground and trying to reprogram the security systems, hoping she can switch off the transmitter by some miracle without blowing up the whole area. You’ll soon see for yourself,” Elrael touched the holographic button on one of the consoles.

“Ellie, Ellie. My dear. I know you’re working hard and that you’re busy, but I have someone here who’d like to exchange a few words with you. Lieutenant?” asked Elrael, but he didn’t let John reply and continued. “Well, the Lieutenant is not really in the best condition to talk remotely for long so it’d be best if you talked in person. Before he loses too much blood, that is. And he’s losing a lot of it, I am afraid, my dear. Soon he won’t be able to say anything. I suggest you drop what you’re doing and come down to the engineering level,” said Elrael. “The three of us really need to talk. You have 3 minutes to get here.”

There was silence for a while and then Ellie’s resigned voice resounded through the speakers.

“I’m on my way... Don’t hurt the Lieutenant...”

Elrael looked at the wounded lieutenant and said,

“I told you so.”