From his first glimpse of what lay beyond the dock, Peter could tell that Triax Island had many things to offer. In the distance was something that resembled a small town A small path led up to the town, but that wasn't what caught Peter's attention.
On either side of the path was a huge garden filled with fruits and vegetables from all parts of the galaxy. It extended in either direction as far as the eye could see.
"We have enough food to feed several million people," said Drae noticing Peter's interest in their garden.
"How many people live on Triax Island?" asked Peter.
"About a hundred forty-four thousand," Drae replied. "We send our huge surplus of food to wherever it is needed. If the Ruler destroys are crops, millions of people will starve to death."
"With all your technology, how come there are still people starving?" inquired Lisa.
"That's a good question. I'm not entirely sure how to answer it," admitted Drae. "All planets from the most primitive to the most advanced have a portion of their population that is malnourished. It is due to a number of problems most notably overpopulation and the uneven distribution of wealth. People keep saying as soon as we become more advanced poverty and hunger will be eliminated, but it never is."
"People like the Ruler make it bad for everyone," Doug remarked.
"To the scanner room," Drae announced apparently to no one.
Suddenly they were lifted six inches above the ground and pulled in the direction of the city. In spite of moving very fast, it hardly felt like they were moving at all. Doug tried to move to the side, but he was held firmly in place by an unseen force.
"What's happening to us?" wondered Doug.
"This is how we get in and out of the city when we don't feel like walking," Drae explained. "We tell the transportation computer where we'd like to go and it pulls us to our destination using gravity beams. It is much safer than the types transportation used elsewhere."
The city was arranged completely opposite to the way most cities were. The taller buildings were around the edge of the city and the smaller buildings were in the center. The whole thing looked like a gigantic fortress.
About half way between the edge of the city and the center of the city was a modest looking one story building about five meters high. The five of them were placed gently on the ground directly in front of the building.
"You can move now," Drae told them. "The gravity beams are no longer in place."
A giant-computer screen covered the entire back wall of the scanner room. It currently displayed a map of Triax, including Triax Island. Two people were busy at a smaller scanner on either side. They either didn't see them come in or didn't care to meet them. Either way they had buried themselves in their work and refused to notice anything else.
"Excuse me," started Drae clearing his throat. "We'd like to use the large scanner."
"Go right ahead, we're not stopping you," one of them muttered not even bothering to look at them.
Drae found the controls and pushed a few buttons. Instantly the picture on the screen changed to a close up of Beach Town. The geographic features of the area were clearly visible. Even the basic outline of the city itself could be made out.
Drae was waiting for something to happen, but whatever he was waiting for never occurred.
"It wants me to be more specific," cursed Drae.
"Maybe we can help," suggested Doug.
"I'm looking for the bomb," Drae began. "In order for the bomb to be powerful enough to destroy an entire city, it would have to be made with a highly unstable material, probably Varusamite. Since there are only traces of Varusamite on Triax, I have programed the scanners to search for Varusamite. Unfortunately only a small amount of Varusamite is needed for such an explosion to occur. The computer can't find it unless we're able to figure out the general area to look for it."
Peter thought back to when he was on the beach watching the tide come in.
"I think the bomb is underwater," he declared. "They must have planted the bomb at low tide and let the water cover their work."
"That's a good place to start," agreed Drae.
He pushed a few more buttons and the screen showed a picture of the sand and the water A few waves could be seen, but other than that it was just two colors that refused to blend together. Suddenly there was a loud beeping sound and a flashing light appeared near the top of the screen slightly into the water.
"We found the bomb!" exclaimed Drae.
He picked up a small portable device that looked like a giger counter.
"This will lead us right to it," he declared.
"If the bomb was so easy to find, why didn't someone else look for it?" wondered Doug.
"The people of Triax Island are mostly isolationists," Drae explained. "They don't care much what happens on the rest of Triax, much less the rest of the galaxy. As long as it doesn't concern them directly, they think it best not to get involved. They give food to the rest of Triax, but that's about all they do and some people don't even want to do that."
"The sooner we get to the bomb and deactivate it, the better," Detrina reminded them.
"To the docks," said Drae as soon as they were outside.
Once more they were engulfed by the gravity beams which carried them back to the docks The people in the scanner room finally payed some attention to them. They turn to watch them go. When they were out of sight, they resumed their activities as if they had never left them.
TIME : 11:00 A.M.
PLACE : The bottom floor of the Government Building
Linda, Mac, and Brenna had searched the building from top to bottom, but couldn't find anything that even resembled a bomb.
"Where do we look next?" asked Linda.
"Let's search the beach," suggested Mac.
"The beach has already been searched," snapped Brenna.
"Well the building had already been searched several times, but we searched it again anyway," argued Mac.
"We'll search the beach," conceded Brenna. "but you may not like what you'll find there."
Hank followed at a distance. He had a feeling Linda and Mac were in danger. Brenna gave in far too easily for it not to be a trap.
"Why the sudden change of heart?" inquired Linda sharing Hank's suspicions.
"I decided it was worth wasting time arguing about it," she replied.
All of the sudden guards appeared from several different directions. Linda and Mac were completely surrounded. Vondwin followed close behind. The guards let him pass so he could interrogate the prisoners personally.
"Who told you Brenna was working for me?" he demanded.
"No one," answered Linda.
"Then why did Brerina report that her cover had been blown?" attacked Vondwin.
"Maybe X figured it out," said Mac. "He suspected someone was working for you."
"X will not be a problem for me much longer," declared Vondwin. "When the bomb goes off, X will still be inside the city. Not even he can survive an explosion powerful enough to destroy an entire city."
"I would kill both of you right now, but there is someone else I'm after. If he hears you've been captured, he'll be sure to try to rescue you. Before he can the bomb will go off. He'll die, X will die, and of could you'll die along with them."
Hank had taken cover as soon as he heard the guards coming. From his vantage point he could see and hear everything that had been said. He knew that Vondwin was after Peter, but since he didn't know where Peter was so there was no way he could possibly warn him. His only alternative was to follow Linda and Mac and see if he could rescue them.
At first there were too many guards for him to even think about rescuing them, but as they continued to their destination more and more guards left until only three remained. They stopped at an old building that was considerably more worn down than the surrounding buildings. It looked like it hadn't been used in years.
The guard put Linda and Mac inside the building and locked the door. One of the guards stayed by the door while the other two guarded the windows on either side. Their job was simple. It didn't matter whether or not they escaped as long as news of their capture lure Peter over there. As soon as Peter showed up they were to report it to the Ruler and Vondwin. They didn't see anything that could possibly go wrong.
Hank crept up to the back of the building, strangely devoid of doors and windows, and examined the situation. One of the guards was sitting down with his gun to his side. Hank crept up beside him and stunned him before he could reach his gun.
The other guards would be harder. They were armed, aIert, and listening for anything out of the ordinary. If he tried to open the window, they were sure to hear it. Hank peek around the corner. The guard didn't see him so he fired. The guard slumped to the ground.
Hank thought about going after the keys, but decided it would leave him vulnerable. He had to beat the remaining guard first.
With the odds more to his liking, Hank felt it safe to open the window.
"Linda! Mac!" he called out quietly.
Without saying a word, the two of them walked over to the window. Linda climbed out the window first. As soon as she was safely on the ground, Hank handed her the phaser of one of the guards he had stunned.
"There's another phaser next to the door, but be careful. The guard on the opposite wall is still conscious," Hank told her. "Proceed with caution."
As Mac started to climb out, the remaining guard began to approach them. Until Mac could help him, Hank had to watch two different directions at once. The guard waited patiently for Hank to look the other way. He was just about to fire when something hit him in the back of the neck. He collapsed to the ground without even enough strength to pull the trigger.
"I got him!" exclaimed Linda.
"Good work," said Hank. "One of you needs to tell X what happened. The other one will help me find Peter before Brenna does."
"I'll tell X," volunteered Mac.
"The city is crawling with the Ruler's guards," Hank reminded him. "Be careful."
"I will," Mac assured him.
Mac slipped quietly into the shadows.
"Last time we saw Peter he was on the beach," started Linda. "That's where we need to look."
Hank agreed. The two of them proceeded to the beach keeping a sharp eye out for trouble.
Copyright MCMXCII, MCMXCIX
