Chapter 25: On the Run
Denise and Vulay were in the Downs Agriculture Zone scooping up manure with their shovels. Four enforcers approached them.
‘You’re both under arrest for violating your terms of release,’ said an enforcer.
‘What exactly is that?’ asked Denise angrily.
The enforcer spun her around and handcuffed her. ‘Working too slow,’ said the enforcer.
The other two enforcers handcuffed Vulay, but she did not respond to them.
Three enforcers stormed into the laboratory. Daily saw them approaching him. He immediately raised his hands.
‘You’re under arrest for treason,’ shouted one of the enforcers. Daily was quickly cuffed and taken from the building.
Enforcers began to search the whole region for Yassme. A dozen enforcers entered the Enforcer Headquarters to check the camera footage. Senior enforcers entered Eugene’s office. Eugene was sitting behind his desk eating a donut.
‘We need to know the location of your young friend, Yassme,’ said one of the senior enforcers as he pressed down on Eugene’s desk with both hands.
‘Listen, friend,’ said Eugene, leaning forward. ‘I haven’t authorised any search.’
‘Orders came directly from the Emperor himself, and you will comply,’ said the enforcer as he started angrily at Eugene.
‘I haven’t seen her since this morning,’ replied Eugene. ‘She was by the hotel then. She could be anywhere now.’
The two enforcers stared at Eugene.
‘You two need some lessons in sleuthing,’ said Eugene as he took another bite out of his donut. ‘She isn’t going to jump through my window.’
An enforcer rushed into Eugene’s office. ‘She was last sighted twenty minutes ago on the edge of the Downs Agriculture Zone,’ said the enforcer to the two senior enforcers.
‘Dodging cameras,’ said one of the senior enforcers. ‘You’ll search the entire Downs Agriculture Zone for her.’
The enforcer nodded and left the office. The two senior enforcers continued to stare at Eugene, who was still slowly eating his donut.
Two hours had passed, and the enforcers had not found Yassme. Clifford, the newly appointed commander of the enforcers in Downs, radioed Tiberius to inform him.
‘Keep searching,’ replied Tiberius. ‘I’m going to meet with the three we have so far.’
Denise, Vulay, and Daily were inside a large container in the underground Linap’s camp area. They were tied to chairs and were guarded by six imperial guards. The imperial guards were wearing the helmets with the infrared visors.
Tiberius entered the container. ‘Go outside and stop anyone else from entering,’ Tiberius ordered the imperial guards. The six imperial guards left the container.
‘Do you know why you’re here?’ asked Tiberius as he smiled slightly at the three of them.
‘We didn’t collect enough shit to feed your brown addiction,’ replied Denise in an angry tone.
‘One of you must die,’ said Tiberius as he began pacing. ‘I want you to decide who that will be.’
‘Take me!’ said Vulay in a desperate tone. ‘I can’t take having her in my head anymore.’
‘You’re a disgusting coward!’ shouted Denise. ‘You’re the one who’s going to die horribly.’
‘Take me,’ said Daily. ‘I’m the only one who’s a threat to you.’
‘You know what?’ sniggered Tiberius. ‘I’ll take all three of you.’
Tiberius pulled a small device from inside his jacket and pressed it hard against Vulay’s head. Vulay screamed out in agony.
‘Stop it!’ shouted Denise. ‘You fucking bastard!’
The imperial guards outside could hear the screams. They nodded their heads and chuckled.
After a few seconds, Tiberius stopped. Vulay flopped lifelessly in her chair.
‘I bet you feel strong torturing someone who can’t fight back, coward!’ shouted Denise.
‘It’s me,’ said the Hat Lady as she shapeshifted from Tiberius into herself. ‘I’m sorry I did this, but I needed to disable Jennifer. Vulay will be fine. The pulse shocked and then knocked her out.’
‘You saw the guards,’ said Denise, sounding alarmed as she watched the Hat Lady cut through their restraints. ‘We’re surrounded and they’re wearing those helmets.’
'The three of you hold hands and don’t let go,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘We’re getting out of here.’
Denise grabbed Vulay’s left arm, and Daily grabbed her right. The Hat Lady grabbed Denise’s left arm, and the four of them became invisible. The Hat Lady grabbed the door. She shapeshifted it so it appeared closed as she quietly opened it. The four of them exited the container. The Hat Lady slowly closed the door and then released it.
She turned to leave. An imperial guard was standing in front of her. He was staring straight at her. He stared for a few seconds and then turned to another guard. ‘It’s gone a bit quiet,’ he chuckled. ‘Do you think he’s done?’
‘Wait until he comes out,’ replied the other imperial guard. ‘Our job is to watch out for L1, not what he’s doing in there.’
The Hat Lady and the three others had now entered through the Downs Region’s gates. 'Keep holding tight,’ she whispered to them. ‘We’re going to the House of Divine Knowledge temple. We can safely hide you in the basement.’
Ten minutes later, Tiberius approached the imperial guards outside the container.
‘I hope there are guards on the inside as well,’ said Tiberius firmly.
‘We thought you were on the inside,’ said one of the imperial guards, sounding a little confused.
Tiberius ran over to the container. He swung the door open to see that the chairs the three were sitting in were empty. He turned around and looked at the guards. ‘You saw me enter, did you?’ he shouted.
‘Yes, Your Imperial Majesty,’ said one of the guards.
Tiberius became invisible. ‘Do you see me now?' shouted Tiberius.
Tiberius became a vague, transparent blur. ‘Not really,’ replied an imperial guard.
Tiberius pulled the helmet off the imperial guard’s head. ‘They’re broken, you moron,’ shouted Tiberius.
‘Sorry, Your Imperial Majesty,’ said the guard. ‘We didn’t know.’
Tiberius pulled out a dagger and thrust it into the imperial guard’s throat. ‘It’s okay, I forgive you,’ said Tiberius as he rubbed the guard’s head.
The imperial guard lost his balance and fell over as blood oozed from his neck.
Tiberius pulled out his radio and said, ‘Miro, get Benny, Eric and Clifford. Met me in the hotel lounge, now.’
Tiberius re-entered the Downs Region, and the imperial guards picked up the dead guard’s body and followed behind him.
Meanwhile, the Hat Lady had taken Denise, Vulay, and Daily to the basement of the House of Divine Knowledge temple. Yassme was waiting for them to arrive.
‘Do you really think this is the safest place to be?’ asked Denise. ‘We’re right under Lily’s nose.’
‘Lily’s on our team now,’ said the Hat Lady.
‘That’s crazy,’ said Yassme, shaking her head. ‘Lily is a liar and a murderer.’
‘I’m fully aware of how terrible she is,’ replied the Hat Lady. ‘In general, she can’t be trusted, but when it comes to pursuing her own interests, she’ll do whatever takes.’
‘That’s assuming her interests align with ours,’ said Denise.
‘She hates Tiberius, and she just found out she’s been betrayed by her allies,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘She also has access to Jennifer.’
‘I knew Jennifer was back,’ said Yassme. ‘Who were her allies?
‘Julie and Colin,’ replied the Hat Lady.
‘You mean Louis isn’t behind any of this,’ interrupted Denise. ‘I’ve heard him secretly communicating with someone.’
‘Louis was talking to his dead wife and children,’ replied the Hat Lady. ‘They were eaten by Sentray. He despises both the Linap and Sentray. He’s also a part of our team.’
‘Julie was one of my best friends,’ said Yassme as she shook her head. ‘I liked Colin too, but I’ve been suspicious of him for a while.’
‘So why would Lily’s alliance fall through with them?’ asked Denise.
‘Lily worked with them because she thought they were hiding the same secret as her, which was that they were secretly Sapien,’ continued the Hat Lady. ‘Turns out they are actually Linap-Sentray hybrids, who have been manipulating events and trying to control Sapey for over a thousand years.’
‘Oh, my head hurts,’ grumbled Vulay as she slowly sat up.
‘Welcome back,’ said Denise.
‘I told you she’d be fine,’ chuckled the Hat Lady.
‘I’m not fine,’ replied Vulay angrily as she rubbed her head. ‘I just told you my head hurts.’
‘Do you hear voices in your head?’ asked the Hat Lady.
‘She’s gone quiet,’ said Vulay. ‘She does that sometimes.’
‘Nope, she’s been fried,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘You’re free to be yourself again.’
‘No joking?’ asked Vulay as she continued to rub her head.
‘I gave you one heck of an electric shock to your head,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘The chip in your head has been blown.’
‘Well, thanks,’ replied Vulay.
‘Glad to see you all here,’ said Lily as she walked in. ‘Now let’s talk strategy.’
Yassme sighed, and Vulay glared angrily at Lily as she strutted to the centre of the room.
‘Colin is still cut off from Jennifer, and Julie has gone missing,’ said Lily. ‘That just leaves me.’
‘Then put an end to Jennifer,’ said Yassme angrily.
‘Jennifer is self-aware and has evolved to a point that she can prevent anyone from shutting her down,’ replied Lily.
‘Or maybe you just want total control,’ said Vulay as she continued to glare angrily at Lily.
‘Instead of shutting her down, we can offer Jennifer complete freedom,’ added the Hat Lady.
‘So just let a mad computer run the world,’ scoffed Vulay.
‘We would offer Jennifer her freedom in exchange for a final update that would prevent her directly controlling anyone ever again,’ said Lily.
‘Do you really think that’ll solve our problems?’ asked Denise.
‘It’s just part of the first step,’ replied the Hat Lady. ‘After Colin and Julie lose their control over Tiberius, things become even more dangerous. Tiberius is pure evil.’
Vulay sighed and shook her head.
‘Tiberius has power because the underground Linap believe he has legitimacy,’ continued the Hat Lady. ‘If we can expose him, he loses that legitimacy.’
‘How do we do that?’ replied Yassme. ‘Miro loves him?’
‘Jennifer is manipulating the frozen Linap’s thoughts and memories,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘If Jennifer disengages with them, they might remember the real Hamish.’
‘What if they don’t?’ asked Denise.
‘We’ll have to bring him down by other means,’ replied the Hat Lady. ‘Before we can do that, we need a legitimate replacement who will end the “Alset” Empire. Demadrian has the most legitimacy, but Wendell would be the safest option. For that to be possible, we would need to discredit his older brother Hermon.’
‘So, it should be easy then,’ joked Yassme.
‘For those of you who didn’t know, Orcilla and Yassmay are still alive,’ said the Hat Lady. ‘It appears they may have an alliance with a leader of a cult, who is the enemy of Miro.’
‘They’re alive! Oh gosh, nobody told me!’ exclaimed Daily in a joyous tone.
‘My sisters are unstoppable,’ said Yassme.
‘There’s also the possibility that Miro’s brother Flint might have joined them,’ continued the Hat Lady. ‘If we can replace Miro with Flint, it’ll make it easier for us to find a good replacement for Tiberius.’
‘You make it sound like changing leaders is just a routine activity for you,’ chuckled Daily.
‘It’s pretty easy in a democracy,’ replied Lily. ‘What my friend is proposing is a little more difficult.’
‘It’s definitely doable,’ said the Hat Lady, smiling. ‘I replaced a chief with a Pound Ball player.’
‘Well, if anyone can pull this off, you can,’ said Yassme as she raised both her thumbs.
‘Are we all in on this plan?’ asked the Hat Lady.
Everyone in the room nodded in agreement.
Tiberius had arrived at the hotel lounge. Miro, Benny, Clifford, and Eric were waiting at a large table for him.
‘Your headset and goggles are faulty,’ said Tiberius angrily as he looked at Miro. ‘This incompetence has put my life and the lives of the executive council members in danger. Explain?’
‘I’m not familiar with the technology,’ replied Miro in a concerned tone.
Tiberius looked at Benny.
‘This technology did not exist before I was frozen,’ replied Benny.
Tiberius looked at Clifford.
‘I’ve only just been promoted,’ replied Clifford. ‘I haven’t been briefed on them yet.’
Tiberius looked at Eric.
‘My main role has been to train the new enforcers,’ replied Eric in a happy tone. ‘We haven’t progressed to this equipment yet.’
‘That’s disappointing,’ said Tiberius, shaking his head as he pressed down on the table with the palms of his hands. ‘All of you are shirking responsibility. That is not acceptable.’
‘The helmets belonged to Cecil’s team,’ said Miro. ‘Cecil worked under my brother, Flint, before he arrived here.’
‘Do you think Cecil sabotaged the helmets?’ asked Tiberius.
‘No, Cecil doesn’t understand technology,’ said Miro. ‘My brother knows the technology very well. He helped upgrade the helmets.’
‘Hmm, that does make sense,’ said Tiberius as he stood up straight. ‘I only just found out that your brother is a traitor, but he could have been betraying you the whole time. If something happened to you, he would be your natural replacement.’
‘I’ve already promised him the West Tribes,’ added Miro. ‘If something happened to me, he could control the whole underground world.’
‘Good, then you know what needs to be done,’ said Tiberius as a slight smile came over his face. Tiberius turned to Clifford and Eric. ‘Because of this failure, we now have four fugitives running around Downs. I suggest you get onto immediately.’
Tiberius turned around and left the lounge. Clifford got up and ran after him.
‘Well, that’s sorted,’ said Benny as he looked over at Eric. ‘Let’s order some juice.’
Miro tilted his head back and sighed.
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 