TIME : April 17, 2016 6:30 P.M. (18:30)
PLACE : 500 meters above the surface of Glunzet
Peter, Hank, Linda, Detrina, and Lisa were indeed totally and completely on their own. There was no sign of any kind of civilization and Hank was having trouble finding a place to land the ship. The homing beacon the M.W.G.D. soldier had left for them was in the middle of a densely populated forest. At last he spotted a clearing that was within walking distance of the homing beacon.
"I think we're heading into trouble," suspected Peter eating another piece of candy. "We haven't heard from the scout party ever since we left M.W.G.D. Headquarters. Something must have happened to them."
"You're probably right," agreed Hank. "We should split up and search the area around the homing beacon thoroughly before we enter their camp."
"It's best for us to stick together," disagreed Lisa. "If we split up into small groups, they could easily pick us off one by one. There are only five of us. How much splitting up can we do?"
"Let's vote on it," suggested Peter. "All those in favor of splitting up, raise your hand."
Peter, Linda, Detrina, and Hank raised their hands.
"All those opposed?"
Lisa reluctantly raised hers. She was still against it, but willing to follow the majority. There was no point in arguing about it.
"If the rest of you are in agreement, Lisa and I will circle around to our left while the rest of you circle around to the right," Hank advised them.
"Sounds good to me," said Linda. "We'd better leave now. It'll be getting dark in a few hours."
Unknown to them, their entire conversation had been heard by the M.W.G.D. soldier who had betrayed his own scouting party just so he could lure them into a trap.
"They're splitting up," he reported to Altair 7 soldiers who were waiting for them by the homing beacon. "Two of them are coming from the northwest and the other three from the southwest. The know the scouting party has been ambushed, but their not expecting an attack. Act now and you should be able to capture all of them."
"You've done a good job for us," replied someone the soldier wasn't use to dealing with.
He recognized the voice of Vondwin, the Ruler's second-in-command. He was involved in something much bigger than he thought.
"Glad to be of service," he stammered with the funny feeling that something wasn't quite right about his current situation.
"That is why it is with regret that I tell you you have outlived your usefulness," Vondwin added coldly.
The soldier tried to run, but before he could even get up, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck. Seconds later, he was dead.
"This is Admiral Flondou," said the Altair 7 commander that the unfortunate soldier had been talking to the day before. "Mission accomplished. No more outside witnesses."
He examined the soldiers body to see if he had anything of value and, after finding nothing, dumped his body in a nearby ditch. The Ruler didn't trust anybody from M.W.G.D., even the ones that were traitors. There was always the possibility that one of them could be a double agent.
After disposing of the body, Flondou went over to check out the ship the M.W.G.D. officers had arrived in. He tried as hard as he could to open the door, but the door wouldn't budge.
"No matter," Flondou thought. "They'll have to return to their ship if they want to leave the planet, and when they do I'll be waiting for them, if they can return."
TIME : 6:38 P.M. (18:38)
PLACE : In the middle of a dense forest on Glunzet
Considering all the trees and vines that obstructed their progress, Hank and Lisa had covered a remarkable distance in a fairly short amount of time. They were well ahead of schedule. Everything was going smoothly, too smoothly.
"I think we're walking into a trap," warned Lisa.
"I know we're walking into a trap," agreed Hank. "but we have no choice if we want to find out what happened to the scout party or the poor people of Glunzet."
"Look!" exclaimed Lisa.
Hank could see it too. Chained to a tree directly in front of them was a native of Glunzet. He was naked allowing them to see every bruise on his body. They didn't know how long he had been chained to that tree, but it was clear that he hadn't been fed for days. He spotted them and gazed into their eyes begging for mercy.
His eyes told them the whole story. He had been roaming the forest in search of food when he was suddenly attacked by the Ruler's troops. He had been beaten and chained to a tree as an example to the others of the soldiers powers. All he wanted to do was escape. His home was no longer worth living in. He would have to flee to another part of the forest, or another forest altcgether, as long as he was free from the strange newcomers.
"We have to do something," cried Lisa.
Hank nodded and approached the man slowly and cautiously. Lisa followed close behind.
In spite of the way he had been treated by strangers, he seemed to understand that these two were here to help. He walked to them as far as his chains would let him. As they got closer, they could see that he was chained about the neck like a large dog.
"The Ruler has gone too far," complained Lisa. "These people can't even defend themselves."
Hank set his phaser on the lowest setting so he wouldn't burn himself and held the end of the chain that was attached to the man's neck steady. Slowly, his phaser cut through the chain until the man was finally free.
"There you go," Hank told him. "You're free once again."
The man couldn't understand a word they said, but he wouldn't forget what they had done for him. He waved to them as if to say, "Thank you." and disappeared into the shadows of the trees.
Suddenly, without warning, Hank was hit by a phaser fired from directly in front of them. He passed out instantly. Lisa tried to see where the blast had come from, but the trees were too thick. She realized too late that the man chained to a tree was bait to lure them into a trap. They were the ones the Ruler was after.
Lisa screamed at the top of her lungs and then was suddenly silenced.
TIME : 6:41 P.M. (18:41)
PLACE : Elsewhere in the forest
Peter, Detrina, and Linda heard Lisa's scream, but there was nothing they could do to help her. The only thing they could do was make sure they didn't suffer the same fate.
They were also making excellent progress, though not to the extent that Hank and Lisa were before they got sidetracked. Unlike Hank and Lisa, they had been warned that things weren't always what they seemed. They were less likely to fall for that kind of trap.
Peter urged them on not wanting anything to catch up with them. If they were going to fight, he wanted to at least see their attackers.
"The homing beacon is fairly close," Peter encouraged them. "We're almost there."
Peter was rudely interrupted by a loud burst of phaser fire. One of the shots hit Linda. She collapsed to the floor.
Peter and Detrina scrambled for cover. There were too many of them for them to stand the slightest chance of winning a direct phaser battle. Their only choice was to flee and hope they could find each other someplace relatively safe.
Some of the soldiers stopped to take Linda to Vondwin before she recovered giving Peter and Detrina the chance they needed to escape. The soldiers remaining in the hunt split up, four of them went after Peter and four of them went after Detrina.
Detrina ran back to the ship thinking it to be a place of temporary safety.
"No, Detrina!" yelled Peter, but it was too late. He was too far away to help her. Detrina ran straight into Flondou. By the time Peter had shouted his warning, Detrina was unconscious and unabled to hear him.
"You're next!" Flondou shouted at him while the soldiers carried Detrina to where the others were.
Peter thought about where to run. He couldn't go back to the ship. The remaining soldiers were bound to beat him to it. He couldn't go in the direction of the homing beacon. That was probably where they had set up camp. He definitely couldn't go back in the direction he had come in which left only one other direction. He ran as fast as he could go hoping he had picked a direction that wasn't covered.
He could hear the soldiers behind him getting closer and closer. They were gaining on him. In just a few seconds, they would be within phaser range. Knowing he couldn't outrun them, Peter figured the best thing for him to do was to hide and pray they didn't find him.
He found a place where the vines were unusually thick and hid in the middle of it. It was very uncomfortable for him, but he dared not move for fear of being discovered. He heard the soldiers getting closer and closer.
"Have they found me?" thought Peter. "Did they see where I hid?"
Mercifully, the sound became fainter and fainter until he could no longer hear them. He had eluded them, for the time being.
Peter waited an extra long time before emerging from the clump of vines. He had been scratched up, but other than that he was fine. Once he had established his own status, Peter concentrate on figuring out how to rescue his friends. It seemed hopeless. Shawn had said that the nearest M.W.G.D. was over five hundred light years away and by the time they arrived, it would be too late. Peter was on his own.
TIME : 7:00 P.M. (19:00)
PLACE : Another clearing in the forest
Peter had retreated to a place of temporary security where he could plan his rescue attempt in peace. He would have to strike before dawn. If he didn't, he would probably never see them again. Above all, he couldn't allow himself to be captured. He was their last hope.
The sun had disappeared behind the horizon plunging the almost forgotten world into darkness. A cold breeze began to blow from the west. The breeze would have discouraged most people, but, to Peter, it was a sigh from God. He hadn't been forgotten after all.
To his surprise, a Glunzet native suddenly appeared beside him. Peter thought the clearing he had picked would enable him to see anyone approaching him. He was disappointed that his unexpected visitor had proven him wrong. He seemed to be interested in his M.W.G.D. uniform.
Peter didn't know it, but it was the same man that Hank and Lisa had seen earlier. He recognized the uniform and felt that it was safe to trust the newest stranger to visit his once forgotten planet.
Peter extended his hand in friendship and the man accepted it. Contact had been established and Peter was no longer alone.
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