Sapien Loop 3 - Chapter 72: High Stakes Performance
Chapter 72: High Stakes Performance
Felix and Head Enforcer had arrived at the apartment where the senior technicians were hiding. Felix did the special technician's knock on the door. A senior technician let in both Felix and Head Enforcer. There were about a dozen senior technicians sitting and standing around in the lounge. Most of them were nervously sucking on juice packets.
‘I’ve got great news,’ said Felix as his eyes darted from side to side.
‘Is the monster gone?’ asked a senior technician as he pulled the juice packet away from his face.
‘I don’t know about that, but I can tell you that we’re going to put on a grand performance,’ said Felix. ‘The Emperor insists I lead.’
‘That’s amazing,’ said another senior technician. ‘Your career is going to soar.’
Felix nodded excitedly.
‘Hold on a second,’ said a senior technician. ‘If that monster is still out there, we might be murdered.’
‘I have that exact same fear,’ said a senior technician standing at the back of the room.
‘Oh come on,’ said Felix as he gestured expressively with his hands. ‘You know the power of music and dance can overcome all.’
‘I’m not sure that has been scientifically proven,’ said a senior technician scratching his chin.
‘I say we do it for Henders,’ said Felix. ‘I say we do it for Frank.’
All the senior technicians cheered.
‘Well, get on with it,’ said Head Enforcer angrily. ‘The Emperor has called upon you.’
The senior technicians rushed out of their apartment to organise the other technicians for the performance.
An hour later, Polly arrived at the resistance’s campsite in the Central Agriculture Zone. Henders and Morgan were dancing with the little miracles. Everyone seemed nervous and concerned, as they could still see smoke coming from the Downs Region.
‘Haha, yes,’ said Eugene as he ran towards Polly.
‘Things are really bad,’ sighed Polly. ‘There’s death and destruction everywhere.’
‘Just one of them could do all of that,’ said Vulay.
‘Yes, this creature has the powers of both the Linap and Sentray,’ said Polly. ‘His rage is fuelled by vengeance for what the enforcers have done to his tribe.’
‘There must be something we can do to stop him,’ said Yassme.
‘Help could be on the way,’ said Polly.
‘So we wait,’ said Daily as he looked around for Yassmay. ‘Yassmay!’
Everyone looked around, but they could not see Yassmay.
‘She was here when you arrived,’ said Yassme as she looked at Polly.
Henders pointed to the sky. They looked up. They could see Yassmay disappear in the distance. She was heading towards the Downs Region.
‘I’ll get her back,’ said Polly as she sprinted towards the Downs Region. Yassme sprinted after her.
‘Wait, please!’ shouted Daily.
The technicians had made their way to the Downs Agriculture Zone. They were facing the north Residential Zone. They had arranged themselves in formation for their grand performance. A dozen enforcers, who were invisible, had positioned themselves behind the technicians to provoke an attack on them.
Felix was at the front of the technicians. He was marching energetically on the spot. He was wearing a bright, colourful outfit. The senior technicians formed one row behind him, and the remaining technicians made up the rest of the rows.
All the technicians were marching on the spot. The technicians’ work theme tune blared out. It could be heard all across the region.
August, who was still in the tunnel, shook his head in frustration.
‘Oh no,’ said Gilling. ‘They’re being so silly.’
‘This is classic technician behaviour,’ said Hermon energetically. ‘Their mad obsession for these performances is built into their genetics.’
‘It’s a fundamental part of our routine,’ said Benny, waving his arms around. ‘It’s like brushing your teeth before bed.’
‘I don’t get the analogy,’ said Hermon, scratching his head.
‘Maybe we could use…’ said August as he pounced on a shimmer he saw moving towards Hermon, ‘a valuable bait.’
‘Get the hell off me, you mad pervert!’ shouted Lily as she became visible.
‘G.O.A.T. bait, beautiful,’ said Hermon, clapping his hands while August climbed off Lily.
‘I’m sorry I thought you were someone else,’ said August as he offered his hand to help Lily off the ground. Lily grabbed August’s hand, and he pulled her up.
Lily slapped August hard across the face. ‘I was left in a locked room inside a burning hotel,’ she said angrily. ‘You didn’t do a single thing to help me, you bastard.’
‘That explains why you look filthy and disgusting,’ giggled Hermon.
Lily stormed over to Hermon and punched him hard in the face. Hermon flopped limp to the ground.
‘Wow, someone actually did it!’ said Gilling as she looked in amazement at Hermon, who was lying unconscious on the ground.
‘Oh no,’ said Benny, shaking his head. ‘I know he’s going to blame me.’
The music from the performance continued to play uninterrupted.
‘Listen, he hasn’t attacked them yet,’ said August.
‘He’s anticipating it’s a trap,’ sighed Lily as she angrily stared at August.
‘I’m going to take a look anyway,’ said August.
‘I’ll join you,’ said Lily.
The two of them ran off towards the ladder to the hatch that gave them access to the Downs Agriculture Zone.
Tiberius was still in the dungeon with Duffo, who was still tied to the torture rack. He was growing frustrated that the technicians had not been attacked yet.
‘Your stupid plan isn’t working,’ chuckled Duffo. ‘Their performance sucks so bad it’s scared him away.’
‘It’s making a strategic move,’ sighed Tiberius. ‘Something that your so-called genius mind can’t seem to grasp.’
‘He has found out about Henders’ noise-cancelling headphones,’ chuckled Duffo.
Tiberius punched Duffo hard in the stomach.
Julio was in the Downs Agriculture Zone but had chosen not to attack the technicians. Instead, he decided to sneak up behind them. He had sensed the presence of the enforcers. One by one, he silently slit their throats. As they died, they became visible. The technicians, who were oblivious to what was happening behind them, continued to perform with great enthusiasm.
Head Enforcer had been watching the performance from the roof of an apartment building. He had seen the bodies of his enforcers become visible. Feeling frustrated, he climbed down off the roof into the apartment building.
Julio had shapeshifted into a junior technician so that he could blend in with the other technicians. Yassmay was invisible and flying above the Downs Region. She saw the immense damage that had been caused to the buildings. The performing technicians captured her attention. She scanned the area around and near them with her infrared goggles but could not find the monster she was trying to locate.
The performance finally ended. The technicians jumped for joy.
A senior technician walked over to Felix, who was extremely happy. ‘That was brilliant!’ he said to Felix, patting him on the back. ‘This is the biggest performance I’ve ever been part of, and you managed to put it together in under an hour. You need to be promoted from just hitting things with a hammer. In my opinion, you should work with industrial machines.’
‘That means so much coming from you, sir,’ replied Felix joyfully.
‘Excuse me,’ said a junior technician. ‘This performance was truly brilliant. What do I need to do to get an opportunity like this one?’
‘Oh well, I was just lucky that I met the Emperor when I was working with my hammer,’ replied Felix.
‘That sounds so cool,’ said the junior technician. ‘Where did you meet him?’
‘He was in the dungeon of his new palace,’ replied Felix.
‘That is amazing, thank you,’ said the junior technician.
The junior technician ran off towards the town square.
‘Look at him go,’ said a senior technician to Felix. ‘You’re inspiring generations.’
‘I see you now,’ said Yassmay as she looked down at the dispersing technicians.
August and Lily had arrived in the Downs Agriculture Zone.
‘It doesn’t look like he’s here,’ said Lily, looking around.
‘I think he’s just left,’ said August as he watched the junior technician hop over the fence.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lily caught a slight shimmer in the sky. ‘I think Yassmay might be pursuing,’ she sighed in a slightly distressed tone.
‘We’ll have to intervene,’ said August as he ran after the departing technician. Lily followed close behind him.
Felix entered the cell in the palace dungeon. Duffo was still on the torture rack.
‘Hey, great to see you,’ said Duffo. ‘I need a bit of help here.’
Felix shapeshifted into Julio.
‘Oh no,’ gasped Duffo.
‘Where is he?’ asked Julio casually.
‘Who are we talking about?’ asked Duffo.
‘Don’t play games with me!’ shouted Julio as his head partially shapeshifted into a Sentray.
‘He didn’t tell me anything, I swear,’ said Duffo in a desperate tone.
‘Then, I suppose you’re not much use to me,’ said Julio as he walked over to the torture rack.
‘Please, don’t!’ begged Duffo as he watched Julio grab hold of one of the handles on the torture rack.
‘Stop this now!’ shouted Yassmay as she rushed into the cell.
‘Stay out of this,’ said Julio as he looked at Yassmay.
‘No, I won’t stay out of this!’ shouted Yassmay. ‘You’re destroying our region. It ends now!’
‘I’m not finished with them,’ said Julio. ‘They need to suffer for what they’ve done.’
‘By doing that you’re killing yourself,’ said Yassmay. ‘You’ll become the evil that you hate so much.’
Julio looked down. A tear formed in his eye.
‘It’s okay,’ said Yassmay as she rubbed Julio’s arm. ‘It’s not too late. I know you can stop.’
Julio let go of the handle, and then he put his arms around Yassmay.
‘Excuse me,’ said Duffo. ‘You need to let me go. I’m starving. I haven’t eaten since breakfast.’
‘Let’s go,’ said Yassmay. ‘This place is depressing.’
‘Hey, let me go,’ said Duffo angrily as he watched them leave the cell. ‘I’m your new ruler.’
In the corridor of the dungeon, Julio and Yassmay encountered August and Lily, who had just rushed down the stairs.
‘We saw you at the Agriculture Zone,’ said Lily. ‘We were worried you were in grave danger.’
‘No, it’s all okay now,’ said Yassmay.
‘There’s still Tiberius,’ said Julio.
‘You need to take a step back,’ said August firmly. ‘You’ve done enough damage.’
Julio growled angrily at August.
‘I know this is difficult, but this must stop now,’ said Yassmay as she hugged Julio’s arm.
‘Seeing him could cause you to lose control of your Sentray instincts,’ said August. ‘I know what it feels like, and I don’t have as much in me as you.’
‘You must promise me you’ll spare him no mercy,’ said Julio, trembling slightly.
‘He’ll be begging for death when I’m done with him,’ said Lily.
Julio closed his eyes and then he nodded.
‘Please don’t leave me here,’ called out Duffo.
Lily poked her head around the cell door. She looked at Duffo and smiled. Then she turned to look at the others. ‘If you don’t mind,’ she said with a twinkle in her eye. ‘I might hang around here for a while.’
Julio growled and then stepped back and became invisible.
The technicians were making their way back to their apartments. Head Enforcer was watching from the end of the corridor.
‘Hey,’ said a voice from the stairwell. Tiberius emerged from the darkness. ‘What’s going? What’s happening?’ he asked.
‘He had no interest in the technicians,’ said Head Enforcer. ‘He did manage to kill another dozen enforcers.’
‘That’s not any good,’ said Tiberius. ‘Luckily I’m here to remedy this problem.’
‘What do you suggest, Your Imperial Majesty?’ asked Head Enforcer.
‘We take care of business ourselves,’ said Tiberius. ‘You have enforcers embedded in their population within this building?’
‘Yes, we do,’ said Head Enforcer.
‘Tonight let the massacre begin,’ chuckled Tiberius.
Head Enforcer nodded as he watched a senior technician dish out packets of juice to the junior technicians.
August and Yassmay had arrived in the tunnels. Hermon was awake. He was sitting on the ground with his arms folded and was staring angrily at Benny, who was sitting behind Eric, Gilling and Wendell to avoid his piercing gaze.
‘Hey, tunnel-dwellers,’ chuckled Yassmay as she approached them.
‘I’m not a tunnel-dweller,’ said Hermon angrily. ‘Don’t you recognise greatness when you see it?’
‘Haha, you’re so funny,’ replied Yassmay.
‘Yassmay, you’re okay,’ said Polly as she ran towards her.
‘Better than that,’ replied Yassmay confidently. ‘I just saved the Downs Region.’
‘That’s nice, but you gave everyone a fright,’ said Polly.
‘As if you cleaned that monster’s clock,’ said Hermon as he pointed at Yassmay.
‘There are other ways to resolve conflict,’ sighed August. ‘Even with Yassmay’s valiant effort to calm the storm, I fear we are quite far from saving the Downs Region.’
‘Yassmay!’ called out Yassme as she ran towards them. ‘How dare you fly off and have fun without me.’
‘You haven’t earned your wings yet, dullard,’ remarked Yassmay as Yassme hugged her.
‘I’m taking you both back,’ said Polly. ‘I know Daily must be having a meltdown.’
Later that evening, Polly returned both Yassmay and Yassme safely to the camp.
Daily rushed over to them. ‘You’ve both been very silly,’ he said sternly to the girls.
‘I rushed off to get her back,’ said Yassme angrily.
‘I saved the Downs Region by calming an emotional monster,’ said Yassmay angrily.
‘She played an important part in saving the Downs Region,’ replied Polly. ‘You should be proud of both of them.’
‘Oh yes, I’m very proud now that they’re safe,’ said Daily.
‘The words of a hopeless fool,’ sighed Yassmay.
Henders ran over to them. He was carrying two flowers.
‘That’s how you show appreciation,’ said Yassme as she accepted one of the flowers.
Yassmay accepted the other flower, and the three of them joyfully skipped off together.
‘He always knows how to put a smile on everyone’s face,’ sighed Daily.
‘He’s just so great,’ smiled Polly as she watched Yassmay, Yassme, Henders, Eugene, Morgan, Denise, Louis, and Vulay dancing in a circle together.
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 @captainhive account.
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