Young Writers Society

Jason and Edwards seemed relaxed after stepping on Articus Base.

Shortly they were welcomed by the Base security force.They seemed to doubt the two men as intruders and treated it as a part of security breach.

One of the guards questioned them as to how they managed to connect the Gallian system to the the entrance base as it was reported earlier that the Gallian pipe was damaged by a sudden attack by a mutated giant squid.

“Who are you? Are you guys spy from the surface world?”, said one of the guards.

They took out their weapon and asked the two men to put their hands behind their head and follow them.They took Jason and Edwards to the Chief Security Officer’s building.

One of the guards said that he thinks the two men are spy from the surface world and established a forceful connection of the Gallian system to the Articus Base.

“Silent!”, screamed officer Ingram.

“I wish to see your letter of permit to visit the Articus city”, said CSO Ingram.

Jason told what their names were and added that they obtained letter of permit from the Governor of Global Sea Operation,Mr. Stevens and mentioned their IDs.

Mr.Ingram checked those and verified them to be authentic. He told that they must follow all rules and regulations of the city and that their permit was for seven days only and they are left with only five days now.He ordered the guards to release them and let them go.

Edwards thanked Mr. Ingram, picked up his backpack and left the building after that.

Jason whispered that the CSO was indeed an asshole. Edwards asked Jason to be quiet.

As they were marching through the roads of Articus, a strange pack of men caught them. They beat them down and kidnapped them. They put the two men in their vehicle and drove off to a strange building somewhere in the outskirts of the city.

Actually, it was the laboratory of a crazy scientist Dr. Zan Kirchoff.

The goons kicked both men and threw them out of the vehicle.

“Welcome, surface dwellers”,said Dr.Kirchoff with a cunning smile.

He told that they are hold under his custody at the Articus Base 1 . He explained that the undiscovered city of Articus is larger than they thought it was. It has three divisions- Base1 which is visitor’s base, Base2- which serves more of a tourist attraction with a very rich facility and Base3, which is the core of science and technology in Articus.

“I was really amazed to see how both of you established a forceful Gallian connection which I believe no ordinary man could do and it serves as an evidence that you are a perfect fit for this mission”, said Dr.Zan Kirchoff.

Edwards quickly remembered who the crazy scientist was and told Jason that he was a fanatic. He was kicked out of New York science academy where he worked as senior professor for his crazy and destructive experiments. He mentioned that Jane ,his cousin was also a student of that institute when she was pursuing her post graduation in Hydrology and Genetics.

“Ahh, Miss.Jane Stewart! I must admit she had a bright mind. She even assisted me in my work at Articus.Perhaps she believed that whatever I was doing was for the benefit of humans living in this city until the day she got to knew my true intentions, poor lady.Since then she went missing”,said Dr.Kirchoff.

“What did you do to her”,screamed Edwards.

“Calm down gentleman, I know where she is”, said Dr.Kirchoff.

He showed them a footage that Jane is trapped within a chamber and it seemed that she needed help.

“Let go off her,you crazy son of a bitch”, shouted Jason.

Dr.Kirchoff said that he had no personal issues either with any one of them nor with Jane.He is ready to release Jane if they help him in his mission. He said that he would like them to steal Plutonium from Articus Base3 and deliver them to him in good condition or else they may not even get close to meet Jane again.

“Why do you want those”, asked Edwards.

Dr.Kirchoff explained that he demanded a huge sum of money from the United Nations but he was turned down as his ideas were received to be irrational by the Council. He threatened to melt the glaciers and sink the surface world but he would require huge energy for that and hence he want the two of them to fulfill his needs.

Jason told that the doctor is a fanatic and a bastard and they would never be a part of his murderous mission which would put the lives of millions of surface dwellers at stake.

Dr.Kirchoff threatened to torture and eventually kill Jane if they did not co-operate.

“Calm down Jason, let us help this freak. Do we have any options? I fear we don’t”, said Edwards.

Dr.Kirchoff said that Articus Base3 is a scientific innovation and development facility at the Articus. It supplies unlimited power to the entire city. No ordinary humans are permitted within the territory of Base3 and hence you will have to disguise as Chief power engineers from the surface world who came there to enhance power production at the Base. Dr.Kirchoff added that they have only five days left in their permit and must accomplish their task within three days. His men will escort them to the border of the Base1 and they must travel to Base3 through Base2. Travelling through Base2 will take them around a day as the place is meant for tourists and very vast. He instructed that once they steal the plutonium they must reach Base1 bypassing base2 by special Articus Interbase metro system. He wished them the very best for this task.

“How can we be assured that once you get your hands on the plutonium, Jane will be released”,asked Jason.

Dr.Kirchoff explained that the footage that was shown to them was from a DVD he played which contains all the information regarding the whereabouts of Jane. He showed them only a quarter of the entire footage. He assured that once he gets the plutonium he wanted, he would hand over the DVD to Jason.

Dr.Zan Kirchoff’s goons escorted them to the border of Articus and now our heroes must undertake a unwanted journey to do something they never ever dreamed of doing.