Chapter 1 In a dark, black room, Rowan awoke, cold and frightened. To keep warm, he tucked himself into one of the room’s corners with only his uniform, made with a thin khaki-like material, to keep him warm. The room was darker than any night he had remembered in all the times he camped out with his brother, when he was a boy. Rowan missed his brother, Eric, a kind young man who, also, could be the tough, masculine figure Rowan needed in his life, after their father died. Suddenly, the sight of blackness turned in to visions of Eric and the fun the two boys had in their youth. "Hey, Ro, did dad ever show you how to pitch one of those old, mid-twentieth century tents?"
"Na, I was just a kid when he died, remember?"
"Yeah.. If it makes you feel better, he never taught me, either.. He was horrible at the outdoorsy stuff."
Rowan grinned a little at the thought of his brother. It had been about 4 years since they last saw each other—4 years since Rowan was taken prisoner by the G’Ni, a rebel force against Earth’s oppressive rule over Cyprus 12, a planet in the Eros system.
The thought of being away from his brother for four years took Rowans mind away from the golden visions of his youth, back to the cold, black room.
"Why am I still alive?" he muttered to himself. "Why haven’t they killed me, yet?"
A tear ran down Rowan’s cheek. He took a moment to observe the room. For some reason things seemed a bit off. He then remembered that the G’Ni were only a rebel force and that their generators weren’t making that familiar humming noise. Being the rebel force, they were, the G’Ni were always low on men and their generators weren’t running all the time to keep everyone warm, like the ones the Earth military had.
Rowan hated the dark. He hadn’t even seen his own face for the past four years. In fact, the only thing Rowan ever got to see was the guard who gave him his food, once a day, through a small slot on the bottom of the heavy metal door keeping him secluded from the outside world. Though those times only lasted a few moments, and the guard never said a word to him, Rowan loved it when his eyes could touch that small bit of light that shone through the slot on the floor.
Rowans thoughts were abruptly interrupted when the heavy metal door swung open. The light pierced his eyes like thousands of tiny needles, as he had not seen so much light in so long. Blinded, Rowan exclaimed, "Who are you?! What the hell is going on?!"
Chapter 2 Two mysterious figures ran towards him. As Rowan rubbed his eyes, they picked him up and started running down the left corridor, freeing all of the POWs, some of which had been in the prison camp longer than, even, him.
Realizing he was being freed, Rowan made an attempt to see the two figures that had carried him all this way. "What’s going on? Have we won the war? You can put me down, now; I can walk just fine!"
The men put Rowan down and allowed him to run along side, as they escaped with as many POWs as possible. "Don’t worry, Rowan. Everything’s fine. We haven’t won the war yet, but we’re well on our way. I guarantee it," said one of the figures, a tall human male with brown hair and eyes.
"Oh my God! I’ve waited for this day for so long!" exclaimed Rowan. "This prison camp was one of the major strong points of the rebels! Does this mean we’ve successfully moved up in the war?"
"We don’t want to say anything yet, Rowan," said the other figure, middle-aged, with gray hair. "We don’t want to jinx it."
The three men led the prisoners to a ship, docked along side the prison. "Welcome, one and all, to the U.S.S. Invinctus!" said Alexander, the tall, brown hared man, "I hope you enjoy your ride back to Earth!"
The mass of men and women cheered, and laughed. The voyage home was to last three hours, just enough time for everyone to celebrate. As the former prisoners laughed and cried with one-another, Rowan felt a bit odd. He walked up to Neil, the older man who had helped in out of his cell.
"Neil, I don’t know what to say…"
"Then, don’t say anything. Just enjoy your freedom," Neil interrupted.
"But I can’t help but feel strange. Something just doesn’t seem right."
"Everything is fine, Rowan! Relax, its normal to feel… different, on your first few days of freedom. Here, help me pass these out." Neil handed a tray of glasses filled with a thick, red drink that resembled the paint Rowan and Eric used to finish up their tree house, several years before.
The prisoners continued to eat, drink, and dance to the music playing on the intercom system. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. Reluctantly, Rowan decided to join the revelers in their fun. He sipped the red substance and, instantly, his mood changed. He felt great and more relaxed than before.
As he continued to drink, Alexander came up to him with a lady friend of his. "Ahh, I see someone has loosened up a bit! I knew you’d feel better, Rowan," smiled Alexander. "Meet Lola. She was an intelligence operative before her cover was blown. I trust you two will find something to talk about…"
"Hello, Rowan," Lola said with a warm smile, "After you were sent to the prison camp, you became quite a legend with the rest of the unit."
"Oh? You were with Blue Squadron?"
"Yes, I joined about four years ago, to replace you.."
"Four years? Is that how long I was held captive? It seemed much longer."
"I know what you mean. I thought I’d never get out of there."
"Hmm, doesn’t sound like you folks are having much fun," grinned Neil.
Rowan, a bit shocked, inquired, "Have you been eavesdropping this entire time???"
"Don’t worry about him, Rowan," laughed Lola, "he’s always sticking that big nose of his where it doesn’t belong!"
The three joked about the situation and continued to mingle with one-another. Everything seemed to be great and Rowan was too excited about getting home and seeing his friends and family to be worried about anything else.
"All right, folks, final stop, Earth," announced Alexander, "Please place your seats in an upright position and prepare for landing," he grinned.
Everyone began to feel a strong feeling of anxiety and excitement at the same time. They were finally making it home—finally, after all this time.
Chapter 3
Exhilarated, the former prisoners filed out of the U.S.S. Invinctus, into the headquarters of the United Earth Armed Forces (the UEAF). For some reason, international organizations always had hospital-like, sterile rooms. Everything, excluding the walls and floor, was made out of steel and cleaned regularly. Rowan, who lagged behind, was one of the last ones to enter and feel that familiar sense of power and unity. He was one of the big guys, again. "I love that smell," Rowan gleamed.
"What smell," inquired Neil, who, along with Alexander, walked beside him.
"The smell of the various UEAF regulation cleaning substances. No other place ever had that false sense of what lemon smells like," he grinned, "I love it!"
The group was met by a security official who called Alexander and Neil to the front of the line. Rowan couldn’t hear what they were saying, but from the looks of it, he could tell that the two were being congratulated for helping so many soldiers.
The three men continued to talk as they led the group into a small, cramped room.
"What’s going on? What’s this all about?" the people asked.
"Don’t worry, ladies and gents, we’re just determining your medical state to see what the G’Ni have done or not done to you," said the security official, "Don’t worry it will only take a few minutes before we can start the examinations."
"A team of physicians should be in here, soon," said Neil, "then the examinations can begin."
Alexander and Neil decided to stay in the room to provide any comfort they could for the fallen heroes. The former POWs began to relax a little.
Suddenly, Rowan began to smell light fumes. He turned to one of the prisoners and asked if they smelled the same thing. Soon, all of the prisoners began to smell it. It was like bleach, but stronger. It made their eyes and throats burn.
Rowan, along with the others, started coughing uncontrollably. He noticed that two people looked suspicious. They were not experiencing coughing fits, nor did their eyes well up with tears. They, Neil and Alexander, seemed to enjoy watching the prisoners formed confused looks on their faces. But, why were they not being effected by the gasses? Why were they all right, but the others in pain? Rowan, almost throwing up, took one last glance at the two, before he passed out. Why didn’t they feel this?
Chapter 4 Rowan awoke, in the dark. He thought, for a moment, that maybe all he had experienced was one of his strange dreams. He knew this couldn’t be a dream, as his throat still burned from the putrid gasses. He tried to look around, but to no avail, everything was black.
He tried to move his arms and legs, but nothing in him would allow such activity. It was as though he was paralyzed. He tried to speak, but his mouth wouldn’t open. He tried to make any audible noise, but his throat was burned too badly. Rowan couldn’t make any movement whatsoever.
"We warned you! We warned all of you! If you had just left our planet Nag N’Ui, alone, the planet you so ridiculously named ‘Cyprus 12,’ your men wouldn’t be dead," exclaimed a G’Ni rebel.
"Who was this?" Rowan thought, in his mind, "What’s going on?"
He heard the G’Ni rebel speak again, this time to someone, apparently a cameraman. He realized that this was probably being broadcast to all of the nations of the UEAF.
"If you humans wouldn’t have been so imperialistic, we could have lived in peace," the rebel continued, "Our planet flourished with the natural resources you needed. We could have established trade. Why did you kill our men, our women, our children? Tell me, what did a child do so horribly that your leaders needed to have him destroyed? Well, its over now. We’re weak, hungry, and are dying quickly. We killed your men as a last resort. Two of your agents, a Mr. Alexander James Hewitt and W. Neil Anderson, saw our plight. They helped us! Now, in a final attempt at vengeance, we want to show you what its like to lose! Look at your soldiers! Three hundred lay dead in this very room! Look, See! This is your own doing!"
Rowan didn’t believe what was happening. He wasn’t dead, but he couldn’t do anything to prove otherwise. How could Earth be the attackers? Rowan was raised in a democracy! All he knew of war was that he was fighting the just cause, and, now, even that may not have been true! He wondered. The G’Ni rebel said the three hundred POWs were dead! Rowan, obviously, was not dead. Could this have been a horrible mistake where everyone but him died?
He pondered for a moment.
"They knew my name! Why didn’t I question why, before? Why didn’t I think of it? How did they know my name??" Rowan screamed, inside of himself. "Why didn’t Alexander or Neil fall to this fate?" And, suddenly, he remembered, "That’s it! They never drank the red liquid! Why didn’t I notice all of this before???? My God, what has happened to Lola!?"
Rowan's thoughts suddenly turned more morbid. "I only drank a few sips. Maybe if I had more, like the others, the fumes would have been more effective and I’d be dead, rather than this shell of a man! Why didn’t I drink more?!"
The news broadcast continued.
The G’Ni rebel continued further, with instructions for the families of the dead, "One family member for each victim shall enter through our security fields, escorted by one of our men. You may dispose with the bodies as you see fit."
"Dispose with us?" Rowan thought, "But Eric won’t know if I’m alive!"
Rowan spent hours, which seemed like an eternity, thinking about his life, and how he would tell his brother he was still alive?? The only thing that stopped his entire train of thought was a noise. Family members, one by one, came in to take their loved ones home. Rowan listened for the next few hours, hoping someone would know he was alive.
Finally, the G’Ni got down to Rowan’s name. "Where’s this man’s family?" asked a female rebel.
"He only had a brother," said another, "but Eric, his name was, was killed four years ago in one of the land combats on Nag N’Ui."
"Cyprus 12, you mean.. at least according to those Earth bafoons," said the female, sarcastically.
Rowan was dumbfounded, his heart raced.
"What shall we do with him?" asked the female.
"Let’s bury him with the security officer. She didn’t have any family either and they’d go well together."
In a dark, black room, Rowan awoke, cold and frightened. To keep warm, he tucked himself into one of the room’s corners with only his uniform, made with a thin khaki-like material, to keep him warm. The room was darker than any night he had remembered in all the times he camped out with his brother, when he was a boy. Rowan missed his brother, Eric, a kind young man who, also, could be the tough, masculine figure Rowan needed in his life, after their father died. Suddenly, the sight of blackness turned in to visions of Eric and the fun the two boys had in their youth.