Colony in the Core

“YOU’RE THE ONE THAT SHOT AT US!” Sandra exploded, standing up over him.

“But I helped get you two out of there!”
She sat back down. “Okay,” she said, calming down. “but you have a lot of questions to answer.”

“Fine with me,” he said.

“Why is King Ben doing this? Why aren’t the officers and his bodyguards retaliating? This is madness!”

“His only explanation is that you all murdered King Ralph and Queen Rachel, not to mention the guards on duty there.”

“And he said there was a tape of us doing it, and he said he burned it, there is no proof!”

“I didn’t hear anything about a tape. There were rumors about it though and how it showed you all in it.”

“Impossible,” Cindy said softly.

“And the bodyguards, Oonandeli and Alnanzu…”

Evin shook his head, “They vanished. They just suddenly vanished when you guys escaped the capitol. Them and our commander, Philip, they all just disappeared together. So now King Ben has control over all of the officers here.”

“Well is anybody going against him?” Cindy spoke finally.

“Some left, some are still in it to support so the pay supports our families whether we like it or not, I’m among them. A lot of us are just terrified if we don’t follow orders from the king. And of course you got your extremists, the ones that follow him all the way. Those people believe in justice no matter who the targets are.”

“And you don’t follow the king because you don’t think its right to fight against the Officials isn’t it?”

“Correct, you guys are here to protect us, not to kill people, not to abuse your power. Plus, I don’t see the reason for the Alarakan king and queen to be killed. They are just succeeded by two others which whom none of us have heard of…” he paused.
Sandra looked at him, he seemed to be thinking pretty hard, “So you’re saying that someone, supposedly an Official, or so that is what King Ben claims, killed the other king and queen, and now there are two new people right?”

“Yeah, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he said.

“They usurped the throne because of a murder case, and perhaps that murder was a set up”-

“To get them to the throne-”

“But what makes those two so important,” Cindy yelled excitedly, “that King Ben wants them up there and blame the Officials for? And how in the world can we prove this? Are we even on the right track?!”

“I don’t know,” Evin began, “but it’s a good starting point. Is there any way you can tell the others?”

“My phone is dead,” Sandra said, sadly. “What about you?”

“Officers aren’t allowed to carry cell phones.”

“I got my 8-Way Communicator,” Cindy exclaimed.

“What’s that?” Evin said.

“We can’t use that, not anymore,” Sandra said, “It’s too dangerous. If they find this one one of the captured Officials and notice it going off then we all risk being found.”

“But what is it?”

“It’s like a camera and a phone put together and you can talk to eight people that it is linked too.”

“Oh, ok, so if it’s the camera you’re worried about then just cover up the background with something, or get by a wall.”

“But the others won’t know of our plans, and if anyone we don’t want to see picks up the communicator they’ll know we’re still around.”

“Darn,” Cindy said.
The door opened again, and the other officer walked in. “Everyone this is Dustin, he also helped get you two here.”

“Hi Dustin,” they said.

“Hi,” he said.

These two officers, they were both very tall. Evin had curly hair and a slightly freckled face. Dustin had straight, blonde hair, was a peachy colored man in his thirties seemingly older than Evin. Sandra looked at them mysteriously, “How many more? Or is it just you two that helped us here? Didn’t take advantage of us did you!?” she grew angry again.

“No, no, I don’t know how to make you believe me,” Dustin said, “but why would we take advantage of Officials?” he playfully winked at her.

“Oh whatever,” Sandra blushed.

“So are we just going to stay here forever or something?” Cindy started, “Because I’m going to die if I have to deal with a place like this.”

“You’ll live,” Evin said.

“So why did you guys not turn us in?” Sandra said.

“We thought about it,” Dustin said.

“Thanks,” Sandra exclaimed, sarcastically.

He laughed, “Well we didn’t as you can see. Well, we were both scared about what would happen but we respected you guys, so you could say we were desperate and needed some hope. The king was out of his mind as we thought and needed someone else we could look up to.”

“Aw,” Sandra exclaimed, “that’s sweet of you two. Come here, I want to give you two a hug.”

“Yay, group hug,” Evin said, playfully.

“Oh man, getting hugged by an Official. I’m not going to shower again!” Dustin laughed.

“Well you better, if you two are going to take care of us!” Sandra laughed.

“But we’re still missing my sister, and Akins,” Cindy said. “They’re still out there.”

“No they’re not,” Dustin said. “They got them.”

“No,” Cindy looked down, and then back up, “What will happen to them?”

“We normally tell people they are killed if they ask, but really we just lock them up along with the others.”

“Others?”

“The Soul Gazers and the Sages,” Evin said.

“Yes!” Sandra exclaimed. “So they’re still alive.”

“Yeah,” Dustin said, “it’d be a shame if those descendants of the Makers were to perish.

“So, all’s good still,” Sandra said, “We just need to find out the King’s motives, and who the new king and queen of Alaraka are.