The Hangar remained a restricted section of Regnum where only those with access cards could enter. These access cards could be issued only to those in power, and all official military personnel. The Hangar was located on top of the Regnum, outside the glass containment. Alongside it were two more hangars, where civilian spaceships and tourist cruisers were located. These were used for those who wanted to take a fifteen day cruise of the Regnum, orbiting the man-made planet. The third hangar was used for scientists who would send satellites and unmanned ships to monitor the Regnum from afar. They did this for their own personal researches and for communicating to the military about its position.
The Main Hangar could hold two thousand fighters, four hundred space tanks (which held a thousand ships at a time and three hundred thousand men), and eight hundred transport tankers (which were used as larger fighters and transportation for soldiers who had to go from one area to another) at a time. There were many more fighters kept in storage in the lower levels of the Hangar. If needed, they could be quickly transported by large cargo elevators.
John and Richard left the limo and took a lone elevator located in the middle of the Regnum and thirty kilometers from Central Square. Here too access cards needed to be used in order to enter. The elevator looked like a large metal rod that extended upwards to the outside of the Regnum like a spinal cord. They arrived there at 4:55. A soldier saluted them and escorted them into a large skyscraper, towering four hundred feet in the air, above the glass like an antennae. Here all the administrative work of the army, navy, and air force was collected, distributed and dealt with. Two soldiers with guns slung over their backs led them to the elevator which took them all the way to the twenty seventh and top floor. From there, they were further escorted up the stairs, to the terrace. The terrace was contained within a glass oxygen bubble. There, a private space-jet waited for them and took them to the Main Hangar. This was one of two ways to get the hangar. The other, slower way was through the Fortress, a large base protected by heavily armed guards and surrounded by an electric barbed wire fence. The guards opened the gates to let in cargo and military trucks. These transports would pass through a tunnel, one and a half kilometers from the entrance that would lead them to the lower levels of the Hangar. This base and the skyscraper were part of a huge complex dealing only with the armed forces.
As soon as they stepped out of the jet they were saluted and greeted by the five generals and their respective soldiers, along with Commander Lord and his pilots.
“At ease!” John said firmly. “Gather around fellows. In a few minutes from now, we will embark on a course for Earth. Many of you haven’t ever been there before. Nevertheless, you must know and realize it to be your home. Take this as your first of many exoduses, back to the promised realm. You will fight those who took our rightful place from us, and I urge, nay, I command you to show no mercy!
“Don’t be afraid. Remember that your fight will never go in vain, for we are the righteous. Our fight is not a fight of force but a war for life itself. We struggle for our rights, and we shall have them! I swear to you we shall have them!
“Now, lift your swords with me,” a sword was given to John, “and swear an oath along with me.” They all lifted their swords. “I swear by this sacred weapon, and by the blood that it defends, that I will never let this fall from my hands, until I am dead, or until I have returned from promised victory. Never shall I go against my people in times of war or peace, and I shall respect the ancient traditions of war, battle ethics, and will not falter in the eyes of my enemy. So help me God!
“Now, get yourselves ready. In a few minutes, we attack!” A large resonant battle cry shook the walls of the Hangar as the men shouted in excitement, anxious to fight.
The soldiers were dressed in black and they wore shiny lightweight metallic armor. It fitted easily, and with help of the latest nanotechnology and quantum mechanics, adapted to their stature, muscle mass, and body weight. Their helmets covered their entire faces except for two eye holes. The eye holes could be fitted with night-vision lenses, infrared, thermal vision, or lenses for the desert and the tundra. The armor had its own heating system for fights in the tundra and cooling vents for hotter climates.
John pulled Richard aside so he could speak to him privately. “Listen. If anything happens to me, take care of Alex and my mother.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” Richard said. “You’ll be back to protect them.”
“You really think so?”
“You can’t die so easily. You know that.”
John nodded and kept one hand on his sword, which was sheathed and latched onto his belt. “Be careful out there.” John put his right arm round Richard’s shoulder and they walked to the private space-transport jet. They sat down, while the others prepared themselves. John pushed the intercom button on his right armrest and said, “Captain.”
“Yes sir,” said the pilot of the jet.
“Connect me to all frequencies.”
“Right away.” There was a pause and then the pilot said, “You’re connected sir.”
“Thanks,” John said and gave the orders, “All units move out on my command.”
“Yes sir,” they responded.
“Let’s go, captain,” John said.
“Sure sir,” the pilot said, and the main thrusters heated up, their force vibrating throughout the jet. A few minutes later, it sped off at mach 5 and John closed his eyes, thankful that he would be back on the Earth.
Alex thought his spine was bound to break any moment as the heat rose to an unbearable level. It was as if a large gush of acid had been pumped into his vertebrae and was trying to break free. Whatever little space that must have been in between the vertebrae was filled up and whatever was filling it was growing larger, wider, and more painful by the minute. It was like something was crawling and eating away at his spine. He wanted to move, to be free, but he knew he couldn’t. His body wavered in the air as if some invisible giant shook him around. His neck straightened further, and his chest widened, but he wanted to bend and move to relieve the tension. His patience was tested to the limits and every moment only got worse. He concentrated on the space between his eyes. He concentrated so hard that he felt like his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. He clenched his gums, tightened his cheeks and ground his teeth to break the monotony of pain. If he moved another muscle related to or connected to the neck and back areas he would be reduced to a pile of burning flesh and ashes.
A spirit or one who had perfect vision would have been able to see the play of light, shadow and rainbow colors as they all flowed from Nikolas’s room and down to Alex’s mind, heart and spine. Alex soon felt the calming effect and he realized the pain subsided when he concentrated on the lights he felt and saw through his meditative inner vision. The immaculate and holy colors comforted him and cleansed all his worries, taxing emotions, and burdening thoughts. The pain seeped out little by little.
Suddenly he felt a stabbing pain in his brain that came and went in an instant. But the overtly soothing sensation of joy and power overwhelmed all pain, dissolving it fully. He felt energized and electric. He wanted more of it. He calmed his mind and listened intently to the hum and the whirling sensation, as if the neurons in the pathways of his brain were fueled and accelerated by pure energy. Now came the second phase: patience and revival, rejuvenation and absorption of power, silence of mind, and the relaxation of what felt like a thousand years.