Peter looked into Detrina's eyes and hesitated. Detrina saw that Peter was resisting the Ruler's orders and tried to encourage him.
"A long time ago, I pointed a gun at you," Detrina reminded him. "but you knew I wasn't going to kill you. Just like I know that you're not going to kill me."
Detrina took a step closer. Peter lowered the gun. Detrina took another step closer and put her hands out in front of him.
"Give me the gun," she commanded.
Peter handed Detrina the gun then collapsed. He had avoided looking at the diamond long enough to resist the Ruler's orders. He had won the battle of wills.
"The Ruler wanted me to kill anyone who entered this room," Peter told them. "I told him what I found in here and he wasn't pleased."
Suddenly they began to hear loud noises all over the city.
"X must have begun the attack," said Zenald. "We better not let anyone find us here."
"Just a minute," insisted Peter. "I have a plan."
Peter cut off one of the table legs with his phaser. The table and the skeleton went crashing to the floor. Peter picked up the table leg and examined it.
"This is what I need to destroy the diamond," he declared.
"You better let me go after the diamond," argued Zenald. "You have already been expose to the diamond once. I'm not sure what a second exposure will do to you. As leader of the resistance I promised not to let anybody do anything I wasn't willing to do myself. I read the book and know what to do. My sight isn't that good. I think I can avoid looking at the diamond."
"Many people have thought that, including me, and all of us have failed," stated Peter.
"You didn't fail," smiled Zenald. "You might not have been able to smash the diamond, but you clearly haven't been brainwshed. With your simple looking weapon I will be able finish the job for you."
"Maybe you're right," conceded Peter. "but you'll need someone to take you there. I can pretend I captured you and lock you in the vault. If anything goes wrong, yell and I'll let you out."
"I won't yell if anything goes wrong," Zenald promised. "I don't want anything else to happen to you."
"Detrina, find X and tell him Zenald is going to attempt to destroy the diamond," ordered Peter. "If he fails, I will try next. The table still has three more legs."
Detrina was getting tired of running, but she had to find X quickly. She ran to the nearest sign of chaos hoping X was the cause of it. Peter led Zenald toward the vault.
"Keep the table leg hidden," whispered Peter.
The plan was working. No one suspected that Peter was free from the Ruler's control. Peter opened the vault and Zenald walked inside. He quickly closed the vault again before the diamond effected him.
Peter waited by the vault door. There was no way he could know what was going on inside but he felt better staying by the vault door just in case Zenald changed his mind and decided to call for help.
TIME : 9:15 A.M.
PLACE : The edge of city
Detrina finally caught up with X and told him where Peter and Zenald had gone.
"I hope they succeed," said X. "It will make our job much easier. We're looking for the Ruler. Do you have any idea where he could have gone?"
"No," sighed Detrina. "I haven't seen him."
"You have done more for us than duty requires," complimented X. "I'll understand if you want to return to the cave, but if you want to help us find the Ruler, we'll be glad to have you."
"I want to find the Ruler," snapped Detrina.
"I had a feeling that would be what you wanted to do," smiled X. "The Ruler won't last long if he chooses to remain on Austragon."
TIME : 9:30 A.M.
PLACE : Inside the vault
Zenald took a blindfold out of his pocket and tied it around his head. Once he was sure no light could penetrate the blindfold, he moved slowly toward the diamond. When he thought he was near the diamond, he swung at it with the table leg and missed. He swung again and missed. He swung a third time. He hit the diamond, but it didn't shatter.
He felt tempted to remove the blindfold. Knowing he only had a few swings left Zenald swung as hard as he could. There was a loud crack. He had chipped the diamond. He swung again. This time the diamond split in two, the bottom half fell to the floor while the top half remained suspended in the air. Zenald quickly shattered the bottom half into as many pieces as he possibly could before returning to the top half. The top half was harder to hit, but the diamond had already lost some of its power. He could take as many swings as he wanted. His eight swing totally shattered the diamond.
"I destroyed the diamond!" he shouted. "Let me out!"
Peter opened the vault and guided Zenald outside. The people around them were free for the first time in years. They were still confused, but they knew they wanted revenge. The Ruler would pay for what he had done to them. As X predicted, the Ruler felt he was outmatched and ordered a retreat. The diamond was the only thing on the planet that concerned him. Without the diamond, the planet was useless. The people in the city watched him leave with mixed emotions. They were mad that the Ruler got away but glad that they were rid of him.
The people in the city and the resistance were friends once again. The savages were no more. Peter suddenly spotted a group approaching that looked very familiar.
"I don't ever want to go through something like that again," snapped Lisa. Peter ran over and hugged them one at a time. They were together once more.
TIME : 3:00 P.M. (15:00)
PLACE : The city
The rest of the day was spent celebrating their freedom. The people who had been brainwashed for years slowly readjusted to making their own decisions while the former resistance worked on setting up a new form of government.
Everyone from M.W.G.D. contributed something to the party. Lisa brought a pinata, but Zenald wasn't particularly found of the game. The others brought simpler thing that they liked at parties on Earth.
"We're sorry for all the trouble we caused you," said Norvic.
"It wasn't your fault," Shawn assured him. "You were being controlled by the Ruler. It wasn't your idea to trick us."
"I know, but we never should have let Austragon trick us into coming here," Norvic insisted. "We should have known he was up to something."
"We were all fooled by him," Abar reminded him. "It was our fault as well as yours."
"Sometimes it's hard to know whether or not to trust somebody," agreed Shawn. "I have been fooled many times."
"I was ready to defend you against the savages even before I was brainwashed," added Mac. "We have to learn from our mistakes and keep going. Are you going to rename your planet?"
"No," answered Zenald. "We will kept the planet's original name to remind us what can happen when someone gets too power hungry. If we ever encounter another diamond like the one that use to be inside the vault, we will destroy it immediately."
"Thank you for freeing us," smiled Helsa. "I don't know what would have happened to us if you hadn't helped us."
"It's our job to help people, no matter where they are," Shawn told her. "We can't stay much longer, but we'll return in a few months and see how you are doing."
"You will always be welcome here," said Zenald. "Your heroics will not be forgotten."
Everyone except X from M.W.G.D. returned to M.W.G.D. Headquarters leaving the colonists to restart their colony the way they wanted it. X stayed a few hours longer to help them get started.
"I'm sure this colony will be flourishing in no time," predicted X.
"May the same be said about M.W.G.D.," agreed Zenald.
After X left, the party continued but Abar was already thinking about the work ahead of them.
"Why don't you come our new leader?" Abar suggested to Zenald. "You were our leader before."
"I am getting old," explained Zenald. "I would like to retire. Being the new leader of the colonists is about the last thing I want to do, but you could be our leader. We'll elect our new leader in a week. With my support, you should win in a landslide."
Abar and Zenald started their campaign plans.
TIME : 7:30 P.M. (19:30)
PLACE : M.W.G.D. Headquarters
Austragon was far behind them. They had returned to deep space where the Ruler would never find them. Peter, Hank, Linda, Lisa, Shawn, Mac, Detrina, and X were having a quiet celebration of their own.
"How many more of those diamond do you think are out there?" Peter asked X.
"I don't know," admitted X. "I'd like to believe the one on Mars and the one on Austragon were the only two in existence, but there could be millions of them."
"Being brainwashed was weird," Mac told the others. "I can remember everything I did, but I could not control my own actions. It was as if I was just watching myself."
"Where do you think the Ruler will strike next?" wondered Hank. "Some one must have seen where he was headed."
"He was returning to the Altair system," replied Shawn. "but he won't stay there for long."
"Someone should brainwash the Ruler so he'1l know what it's like," Mac cried angrily.
"Take it easy," commanded Peter. "The Ruler doesn't stay hidden for long. He turn up someplace eventually and when he does we'll be ready for him."
Copyright MCMXCII, MCMXCIX
