Chapter 45: The Chase Begins
The next morning, Tiberius was having breakfast in the main tent with Miro, Walter, and Revals.
‘The fruit is not as sweet and the pancakes are not as fluffy,’ remarked Tiberius. ‘And for the life of me, why is there never any meat?’
‘The Downs workers do not eat it, and the technicians’ digestive system cannot handle it, Your Imperial Majesty,’ replied Revals.
‘Is your goal in life to disappoint me in every way imaginable?’ asked Tiberius. ‘Someone with just one hand should be very careful in how they act.’
Revals felt incredibly nervous as he tried to avoid Tiberius’ gaze.
Captain Cecil entered the tent. ‘Your Imperial Majesty, we’ve cut power to the cult's and West Tribes’ underground cities. We have also successfully blocked the glow rocks.’
‘Job well done,’ said Tiberius, nodding. ‘You’re finally proving to be useful.’
Cecil nodded and left the tent.
Tiberius dug back into his breakfast. Revals nervously began to eat. Walter looked at him and nodded.
An hour later, the enforcers in the flying vehicles returned. They landed in the centre of the camp. Miro was there to greet them.
‘Congratulations on covering the glow rocks,’ said Miro excitedly. ‘The Emperor is pleased with you.’
‘We have some troubling news to report, Grand Vizier,’ said the captain as he climbed out of the flying vehicle. ‘We lost communication with two of our scout groups.
‘Where and how long ago?’ asked Miro.
‘They were patrolling near an exit just south of the location of the cult underground city,’ replied the captain. ‘We’ve been trying to regain communication for half an hour. I have redirected two more scout teams to investigate.’
‘Yes, that sounds like the right move,’ said Miro, nodding. ‘We need to be on top of what they’re doing.’
Meanwhile at a freshly broken-through passage into the outside world, the combined ground teams of the West Tribes and cult were about to make their move.
‘The scout teams are well out of position,’ said Orcilla to Flint through her radio. She and one of the flyer teams were following the scout teams. ‘Now is the time to move.’
‘Thank you, Orcilla,’ replied Flint.
The convoy of vehicles began to pass through the opening.
The two scout teams approached what was left of the other two scout teams. Their vehicles had been destroyed.
‘Oh, this doesn’t look good,’ said one of the enforcers in the scout vehicle. ‘We need to contact…’
The scout teams were suddenly hit with a powerful shock wave. The windows in the vehicles imploded on the enforcers inside them. The enforcers screamed in shock. One of the enforcers tried to call for help, but their communication devices were no longer working.
Some of the enforcers climbed out of the badly damaged vehicles. Suddenly one of the enforcers was tossed into the air and was then ripped in half mid-air.
One by one, the enforcers were violently attacked by an invisible enemy. Within minutes, all the enforcers in these scout teams were killed.
Tiberius was in the main tent listening to a small group of technicians playing a tune for him on their flutes. Fluffy Lily was with them. She was playfully jumping up and down to the rhythm. Captain Cecil rushed into the tent.
‘Your Imperial Majesty,’ said Cecil. ‘We have…’
‘Please, captain,’ said Tiberius angrily. ‘Let me enjoy this delightful performance before troubling me with your next emergency.’
Cecil nodded and waited for the performance to end.
Tiberius clapped joyfully as the technicians left the tent, and fluffy Lily skipped out after them.
‘That was fun, am I right?’ chuckled Tiberius.
‘That was spectacular, Your Imperial Majesty,’ said Cecil.
‘Okay, what do you want?’ asked Tiberius as his voice instantly turned from joyful to annoyed.
‘We have lost communication with two more scout teams,’ said Cecil. ‘Something is definitely going on.’
‘Yes, they’ve been killed,’ replied Tiberius.
‘We’ll take immediate action, Your Imperial Majesty,’ said Cecil while saluting.
‘Did the most recent teams lose communication in the same location as the previous two teams?’ asked Tiberius.
‘Yes, exactly the same place,’ replied Cecil.
‘That means they’re not moving,’ sighed Tiberius as he put his arm on Cecil’s shoulders. ‘Does that make sense to you?’
‘It’s a bit strange,’ replied Cecil.
‘It’s a decoy to lure us in,’ said Tiberius, shaking his head as he removed his arm from Cecil’s shoulders. ‘They’re trying to buy themselves time. Send out the two flying vehicles to search the area that they could have slipped into while our scouts were distracted.’
‘Yes, Your Imperial Majesty,’ replied Cecil.
Tiberius sat back in his chair. Another group of technicians entered the tent carrying instruments.
The convoy of ground vehicles had fully come to the surface and was making good progress towards the Downs Region. Flint was in constant communication with Orcilla’s and Razor’s flying teams, who were monitoring the Empire’s scout teams.
‘You need to push further north,’ said Orcilla. ‘There are no scout teams north of Agriah.’
‘That’s quite a detour,’ replied Flint.
‘Trust me, it’s necessary,’ said Orcilla.
A few hours later, Tiberius was still in his main tent. Two more groups of technicians had just finished entertaining him. Tiberius was expecting an update from Cecil, but he did not enter the tent. Tiberius got up and left the tent. He walked into Cecil’s command tent. Cecil and Miro were meeting with a few other captains.
‘No updates yet, Your Imperial Majesty,’ said Cecil.
‘Why is that?’ asked Tiberius.
‘Maybe they changed their mind,’ replied Cecil, sounding concerned.
‘That’s clearly not it,’ sighed Tiberius.
‘Two more scout teams are moving into the area previously covered by the other two teams,’ replied Miro. ‘They’re being backed up by the enforcers in the flying vehicles. I’ve instructed them to look for tracks to give us some indication of their movements.’
‘This is taking too long,’ said Tiberius angrily. ‘They could be attacking from any direction now. Why haven’t you intercepted any of their communication?’
‘We’ve been unable to pick anything up,’ replied Miro. ‘They must be doing something different.’
‘Prepare the enforcers for battle,’ said Tiberius angrily. ‘We’re not going to let them catch us out.’
Another hour passed. Miro rushed into Tiberius’ tent.
‘Your Imperial Majesty,’ said Miro, sounding alarmed. ‘The scout teams have found tracks from their vehicles. It appears they are heading east. Would you like the flying vehicles to pursue them?’
‘To do what exactly, take their photographs?’ asked Tiberius, sounding annoyed. ‘No, call my flying vehicle back. They’re going after the Downs Region.’
‘They could be using this as a strategy to draw us out, Your Imperial Majesty,’ said Miro. ‘We should pursue them with one of the flying vehicles as a precaution.
‘Sure, but you’ll travel with the ground forces then,’ replied Tiberius. ‘Get ready to move out now. I’ll catch up when my ride arrives.
Miro nodded and then rushed out of the tent.
Minutes later, enforcers gathered outside the main entrance into the camp. The captains directed them to their respective vehicles. Fifteen minutes later, the fastest vehicles began to form the front of a convoy. More and more vehicles continued to join the convoy. Tiberius stood by the main gate and watched them.
Razor and his flying team had spotted the flying vehicle that was closing in on their convoy.
‘Orcilla,’ said Razor into his radio. ‘A flying vehicle is approaching our convoy. Shall we take it out?’
‘No,’ replied Orcilla. ‘Whether we attack it or not, our position has been given away. No point revealing what extra firepower we have.’
‘Oh no!’ gasped Razor.
‘Don’t worry, this is anticipated,’ replied Orcilla. ‘We’re moving down south to see how Tiberius is responding.’
‘Great, I’m glad the plan is still working,’ said Razor.
Meanwhile, in the West Camp. Tiberius was outside the main tent watching a technician playing on his banjo. Captain Cecil saw Tiberius and rushed over to him.
‘The captain in the flying vehicle has informed me that their convoy is further up north and heading east,’ said Cecil as he approached Tiberius.
‘How much closer to the Downs Region are they than we are?’ asked Tiberius.
‘Well, haha, yes,’ stammered Cecil.
‘Give their current coordinates to that technician,’ said Tiberius as he pointed to the technician playing the banjo. ‘Ask him to account for terrain and to factor in our cleared path.’
‘Yes, Your Imperial Majesty,’ replied Cecil. He then ran over to the technician.
Tiberius watched Cecil talking to the technician. The technician put down his banjo and pulled out a device. He began typing into his device. A few seconds later, he held up the device to Cecil. Tiberius walked towards Cecil and the technician.
‘Give me the good news,’ chuckled Tiberius as he looked at the technician.
‘Yes, Your Imperial Majesty,’ replied the technician. ‘Based on current positions, knowledge of terrain, our average vehicle speeds, their current vehicle speeds, and the assumption of continuous travelling, we would reach the Downs Region somewhere between two and six hours sooner than they would.’
‘Then we’ll be able to cut them off before they reach Downs,’ said Tiberius as he looked at Cecil, who seemed a little confused. ‘Sounds like a certain victory.’
‘Absolutely brilliant,’ replied Cecil. ‘Your leadership is unmatched in every way.’
‘You must feel disappointed not to be leading our forces to victory in the field,’ said Tiberius.
‘I happily accept all your leadership decisions, Your Imperial Majesty,’ replied Cecil, nodding.
‘Of course you do,’ said Tiberius, patting Cecil on the back. ‘I want to reward you for your recent achievements.’
‘I’d be truly honoured,’ replied Cecil.
Tiberius and Cecil walked off together. Tiberius began to explain his plan to him.
Meanwhile, in the West Tribes’ main underground city, Frank was conducting more rehearsals in the theatre. Despite power restrictions, Frank had convinced the other technicians to restore full power to the theatre. All the lights were on, music was blaring out, and even some of the special effects were used.
‘One to the left and two to the right,’ called out Frank. ‘Then shuffle back five and return to the line.’
Shamia entered the theatre. She did not seem happy. ‘Oh Frank!’ she said in a frustrated tone. ‘You can’t be using this amount of electricity.’
‘Everyone take five minutes,’ called out Frank in an annoyed tone.
‘Turn all of this off now,’ insisted Shamia as she stood in front of Frank.
‘I will accept nothing less than perfection,’ said Frank as he leaned towards Shamia.
‘I have let you get your way every single time for years,’ said Shamia angrily. ‘This time I’m drawing the line.’
‘On that basis, I’m crossing the line,’ said Frank as he raised his right hand, shaking his fingers to shoo Shamia away.
‘Your power usage is preventing me from contacting Flint and our guards,’ said Shamia while flinging her arms around. ‘You are putting lives in danger.’
Frank began laughing.
‘I’m so disappointed in your attitude,’ sighed Shamia as she tilted her head back.
Frank continued to laugh.
‘Restore our communications or I’ll cancel your musical,’ said Shamia as she placed her hands on her hips.
Frank stopped laughing. Shamia was staring at him angrily.
‘Surely you don’t mean that,’ gasped Frank. ‘This is my lifelong dream.’
‘Oh Frank, that’s the last thing I’d want to do to you,’ said Shamia as her anger started to die down. ‘There’s just so much at stake. I really need your cooperation and help.’
‘It always comes down to Frank,’ replied Frank, shaking his head. ‘I’ll get the communications up again if you promise I can keep this theatre fully powered.’
‘Sure, that sounds fair,’ said Shamia, nodding her head.
‘Everyone, you can have an early tea,’ shouted Frank. ‘There’s a box of red bean buns in the yellow room.’
Frank followed Shamia up to her office.
Shamia flipped open her laptop computer. ‘Look, it says communications disabled,’ she said. ‘I need enough power for it to be enabled.’
Frank looked at Shamia and smiled. He joyfully raised his eyebrows up and down.
Shamia looked at Frank and frowned.
Frank clicked on the settings button. Then he clicked on an ‘enable communications’ button. Then he exited the settings screen.
‘Your communications are restored,’ said Frank proudly.
‘How strange,’ said Shamia, scratching her head.
‘When you know what you’re doing, nothing is ever too surprising,’ gloated Frank. He raised his eyebrows up and down again and then strutted out of Shamia’s office. Shamia smiled at him as he left.
Sapien Loop: Worlds Collide
Sapien Loop: Worlds Collide is the final book in the Sapien Loop trilogy. It continues directly after the events of the second book. The world above and the world below merge into one world. The conflicts in the underground world are brought to the surface. The new ruling elite attempt to crush any resistance from above and below in an attempt to create a new global empire.
Currently, three books from the series have been published on Amazon; see the links below:
All individual chapters can be found on my 