Gammeid evaded Hymen for another thirty seconds before he was caught. Under normal circumstances, he could have kept but of Bymen's reach indefinitely but he had already run almost twenty kilometers. Even for someone like him, that was a considerable amount of running.
"Bring him over here," commanded Eglo.
Bymen did as he was told. Gammeid didn't resist. He saw how easily they had taken care of Shawn and didn't want to risk his life or his health foolishly. He looked at Eglo fearfully, yet defiantly.
Eglo dropped Shawn's feet to the ground and lifted him up painfully. Shawn took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. He quickly stopped when he realized his breathing was annoying Eglo.
Eglo handed Shawn to Hymen and looked them over wondering which one of them to kill first. If he had acted at that moment, he might have succeeded but he took a few minutes to gloat over their predicament.
He was in the middle of his gloating when both doors slammed open simultaneously. Security came swarming in from both sides. Eglo and Hymen tried to use Shawn and Gammeid as hostages but it didn't do any good. They were quickly overpowered.
"How did you know where to find us?" gasped Shawn.
"We got a message from Detrina a few minutes ago," one of them explained. "She told us Phybliana, my superior officer, was working for the Ruler. I didn't believe it, but I followed standard policy and asked her about it. To my suprise, she confessed the whole thing. She also told us where to find these two."
"I told you not to trust Phybliana," roared Eglo.
"You were the one who trusted her," protested Bymen.
The two of them continued to argue as they were being taken away. They never wanted to work together in the first place and now they hated each other even more.
"I think you should take all three of them to another planet as soon as possible," Shawn advised the person in charge. "Otherwise they might escape and try again."
"We already thought of that," one of the subordinates replied. "We are taking them to Star Colony #2. It is the largest of the Star Colonies and contains the tightest maximum security prison in the area."
"That should be sufficient," agreed Shawn. "If you need M.W.G.D. to help with anything, just let me know."
Gammeid dusted himself off and continued running as if nothing had happened. Even more surprising he stayed at the same pace he had been running before his ordeal.
TIME : 8:00 P.M. (20:00)
PLACE : The Terni Training Facility
Peter, Hank, Linda, Lisa, Shawn, Detrina, and Gammeid were all together once more. Even though Terni had declared its neutrality in the war against the Ruler, they let the M.W.G.D. officers stay as the guests of Peter, Detrina, and Gammeid.
"It's good to eat something that doesn't taste like a shake," said Peter finishing his steak.
"I know what you mean," sympathized Gammeid. "Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the extra energy it gives you. If you want to be an athlete, you have to keep a strict diet and get plenty of exercise."
"I get plenty of exercise keeping you out of trouble," smiled Peter.
"You get any arguement from me," laughed Gammeid. "At least now we can relax now that those assassins have been taken care of."
"I'm not so sure," warned Shawn. "That may be the last we see of those particular assasins, but for all we know there might be ten more of them. I'm going to keep M.W.G.D. Headquarters in orbit around this solar system until after the Galactic Olympics is over."
"Why not keep it in orbit around Star Colony #8?" asked Gammeid.
"We'd be too easy to spot," replied Shawn. "It will be very difficult to watch the Ruler's agents if they know they're being watched?"
"Do you need us to stay here?" wondered Hank.
"No," ordered Shawn. "Peter and Detrina should be able to handle the job on their own. I need the three of you to return to M.W.G.D. headquarters and keep an eye out for trouble."
"We can always watch the Galactic Olympics when we're off duty," taunted Lisa.
"This is a good year for Terni!" chirped Detrina. "With a little over half the events completed, Terni is in second place overall. A few more victories should put us out in front!"
"That reminds me. The jetpack race is next," remarked Gammeid. "Peter told me he was pretty good with a jetpack."
"I'm good, but I'm not that good," sighed Peter. "I mostly use jetpacks to observe things from the air. That way I can get a better view of things. That's it!"
"What's it?" inquired Detrina.
"I can watch Gammeid from the air when he runs the marathon," explained Peter. "That way I can keep up with him without interfering with the race."
"The actual marathon would be the perfect time for an assassin to strike," agreed Hank. "Even though weapons aren't allowed here, it would be fairly easy to hide one in such a large crowd. From the air, you could spot such a weapon."
"You'll have to get their permission first," Shawn reminded them.
"After stopping Phybliana, Eglo, and Bymen, I think they'll let us do practically anything," declared Peter.
TIME : March 14, 2018 6:00 P.M. (18:00)
PLACE : The starting line of the marathon
The day after Peter had run, Terni took the lead in the overall standings after three consecutive victories. However, Triax won the next event and pulled ahead again. They were able to keep the lead until the next to last day of the Olympics when Terni took the lead once again. On the last day, Triax regained the lead and kept it until the next to last event. Triax and Terni were tied for the lead with only one event remaining, the marathon. If Gammeid could finish in one of the top six spots and finish ahead of the runner from Triax, Terni would finish first in the overall standings for the first time in nearly a decade.
With Gammeid the ovenwhelming favorite to win the marathon, Triax and Terni reversed roles with Terni as the favorite and Triax as the underdog. Gammeid looked around at his competitors. The runner from Triax was new so he had no idea how good he would be. Next he looked at the runner from Altair 7. At the last Galactic Olympics, Gammeid had competed for Altair 7 in the marathon and won. Altair 7 had won several events this year and had a lock on seventh place in the overall standings.
Gammeid reminded himself that the overall standings were mostly for the fans. His goal was to win the marathon. He looked up at Peter who was directly above him. Peter waved to him. Gammeid waved back. Gammeid walked up to the starting line and waited eagerly for the race to begin. Suddenly a loud buzzer sounded signaling the start of the race.
At the start of the race, all the runners struggled for position. Soon a small group moved ahead of the rest of the pack. An unknown runner from Darius had taken a commanding lead. Gammeid saw four runners ahead of him, but he didn't let this bother him. He had plenty of time to catch up with them.
After a few minutes, some of the runners began to challenge the newcomer. The runner from Darius responded by running even faster, but the other runners kept putting pressure on him. Gammeid was content where he was, but increased his pace so he could make his move later on in the race.
Thirty minutes later, the runner from Darius started getting tired. Slowly some of the other runners started to pass him. Altair 3, Altair 7, and Louqrah were just about even with Terni slowly moving up. Eventually the runner from Altair 7 moved ahead of the others and started widening the gap, but Gammeid was running even faster. He had moved into second place and was only a few seconds behind the leader.
Both of them stayed where they were. Neither one of them wanted to jeopardize their chances by doing something foolish. The crowd began to cheer as the two runners moved way out in front of the others. Not only would this be one of the fastest marathons in the history of the Galactic Olympics. but also one of the closest.
From Peter's vantage point, he could that the two runners were pushing each other to the limits of their ability. The question was would they have enough enemy left for the home stretch. The runner from Altair 7 stumbled allowing Gammeid to gain another second. With only 10 kilometers remaining, only three and a half seconds separated the two runners.
Peter looked up and saw a faint gleam of light coming from the dome. It was so faint that he wasn't sure if he actually saw it or if it was just his imagination playing tricks on him. He stared in the direction the light had come from hoping for some sort of confirmation.
The faint gleam of light appeared once again. This time there could be do denying it. He had definitely seen something and it had definitely occurred somewhere near the dome. After a few seconds hesitation, Peter decided it was more important to find out what was happening to the dome than it was to keep an eye on Gammeid and headed toward the spot where he saw the light as fast as he could go.
As he got closer, he saw a human shaped spacesuit that bore the familiar markings of the Ruler's army. Whoever it was was on the other side of the dome. The figure took a look in Peter's direction then fled to another part of the dome. He had been spotted.
Peter had lost whoever it was, but he could still see what he was doing. In most places the dome was virtually invisible, however a small part of the dome, about the size of a human head, was distorted. Suddenly it dawned on him what they were doing and he was horrified. He fumbled for his communicator and contacted M.W.G.D. Headquarters.
"This is Peter Buckwell!" he cried. "I have a priority one emergency! The Ruler's troops are trying to puncture a hole in the dome! I repeat, the Ruler's troops are trying to puncture a hole in the dome!"
The response came almost instantaneously.
"Peter, this is Shawn!" Shawn replied. "We're on our way but it will take us a few minutes to get there. You must delay them long enough for us to get there. If they can create a large enough hole, everyone inside the dome will be killed. That's almost a million people."
"I don't think I can stop them in here," Peter said gravely. "I'll have to face them outside the dome."
Peter hurried to the edge of the city and put on an Enviroumental Suit similar to the kind the Ruler's agent was wearing. After contacting security, he was reunited with his weapon. He was greatful that he had it, but realized that the Ruler's agent would have a weapon too.
He entered the airlock not knowing what to expect. As soon as he reached the outside, he saw one of the Ruler's agents and started after him. Suddenly, a warning was fired from directly behind him passing a few centimeters above his might shoulder. Peter turned to face yet another of the Ruler's agents.
Copyright MCMXCV, MCMXCIX
