Chapter 8: Lily Returns
Around a week later, Vulay’s team arrived in the Capital Region. Vulay decided the team would split up. She and most of the team would visit the Economic Institute to collect the gold, and Daily, accompanied by a few enforcers, would thaw out Lily.
Daily crawled into the mountain facility through the tiny entrance. He entered the main room. On the other side of the room was the glass pod containing Lily.
Daily walked over to her. Then he waited for the enforcers to join him inside the room.
‘Okay, friends,’ said Daily as he turned to the small group of enforcers who had joined him. ‘Your job is to simply bring her down to our vehicle. The rest is on me.’
The enforcers exchanged glances before turning to Daily and nodding.
Daily pulled a small instruction booklet out of his backpack. He walked over to the control station. His eyes darted between the instructions and the controls. After around a minute, he began pressing buttons. The glass pod began making a whirring noise.
Daily walked over to the enforcers. ‘Pass me a donut, friends. I’m feeling a little peckish,’ said Daily as he sat next to an enforcer with red hair.
An hour later, the door to the pod automatically opened. Lily just hung limp in her restraints.
‘Go get her, boys,’ said Daily as he crunched on some crisps.
Two enforcers rushed over to Lily. They untied her restraints. Lily flopped forward and landed face first on the stone floor.
‘Well done,’ remarked Daily as he walked over to her. He checked her pulse. ‘She’s alive and well. If she or anyone asks why her face is slightly smashed, just tell her or them it was the pod.’
The enforcers frowned and looked at each other.
Meanwhile, at the Economic Institute, Vulay and the maintenance workers had broken into the badly damaged gold vault.
‘This is an insane amount of gold!’ gasped Vulay. ‘In the end, what good did it do them?’
‘So heavy,’ said a maintenance worker who picked up a gold brick.
‘It’s the real deal,’ said Vulay. ‘If these underground guys are friends. We’ll have plenty to offer.’
‘If they’re not,’ said a maintenance worker. ‘We’ll make them our friends. Kindness is the key.’
‘I’d never doubt your willpower,’ said Vulay as she patted the maintenance worker on the back. ‘Right now, I need your muscle power.’
The maintenance workers began posing to show off their muscular physiques. Vulay shook her head and laughed.
After around an hour of transferring the gold to Happy Bus One, a maintenance worker noticed a hole in the ground in a room next to the vault.
‘There are rooms below the vault, friend,’ the maintenance worker called out to Vulay. ‘I think we should explore.’
‘We definitely shouldn’t,’ said Vulay sternly. ‘There’s probably just hidden treasure and priceless artefacts down there.’
‘You’re probably right,’ said the maintenance worker, shrugging his shoulders in disappointment.
‘Okay, you convinced me.’ said Vulay, shaking her head. ‘Once the bus is loaded up, we’ll venture down there.’
‘It’s called the happy bus, friend,’ said the maintenance worker, wagging his finger.
‘Yes. Yes, it is,’ said Vulay as she picked up a gold brick.
Once all the gold had been loaded up into the happy bus, Vulay and the maintenance workers gathered inside the vault.
‘Apparently, there is more to this place than this vault,’ said Vulay as she looked over at the maintenance worker who found the hole in the ground.
‘Let’s use the jackhammer,’ said the maintenance worker as he raised his eyebrows up and down.
‘Yes, but don’t get too excited,’ said Vulay, nodding her head.
After ten minutes of jackhammering, a huge hole had opened up in the room. The maintenance workers grabbed their torches and enthusiastically climbed into the room below them.
They came across a shelf full of old videotape recordings.
‘These look interesting,’ called out a maintenance worker to Vulay. ‘They have the Pound Ball Grand Final, Waldo Time, and several Saliyah concert tapes.’
‘Oh, sorry, I don’t understand any of that,’ said Vulay as she entered the room.
‘They have this to play them on,’ said the maintenance worker as he waved a video cassette player.
‘Okay, I guess we should take it,’ said Vulay as she walked further into the room.
‘I found something big,’ shouted a maintenance worker.
Vulay shone her torchlight on the object he was pointing at. It was an enormous cube covered by a huge sheet.
‘Give it a tug and let’s see what’s underneath,’ said Vulay as she approached the maintenance worker.
He pulled the sheet off. In the back corner of the cage was a huge creature.
‘I think he’s dead,’ said Vulay. ‘Look at him. He’s just skin and bone. He would have run out of food a long time ago.’
‘I better check to make sure,’ said the maintenance worker as he grabbed the creature’s arm.
The creature’s fingers moved a little.
‘He’s alive! He’s alive!’ shouted the maintenance worker. ‘Friend in need alert! We need food and juice. Now!’
Two maintenance workers ran over with two juice packets. Another one climbed out to fetch some food.
The maintenance worker squirted juice into the creature’s mouth. The creature began to swallow. They continued until they ran out of juice. The creature slowly opened his eyes.
‘We’ll bring you back to Downs,’ said the maintenance worker as he continued to hold his arm. ‘You’ll have a new family and lots of great friends.’
Vulay stared at the creature in disbelief. She didn’t know what to say.
Another maintenance worker arrived with a bag of food. They began force-feeding the creature cakes and donuts.
Meanwhile, Daily and the enforcers had managed to bring Lily down the mountain. They placed her inside Happy Bus Two. She was still unconscious. The enforcers placed a few cushions under her to make her feel comfortable.
‘Daily, Daily, we need you to drive over to the Economic Institute,’ said Vulay through the radio. ‘The bus is full of gold. We need your bus to transport the maintenance workers and another passenger we picked up.’
‘A new friend,’ shouted an enforcer. ‘That sounds like great news.’
‘Well, we certainly hope so,’ replied Vulay.
‘We’re back in the happy bus,’ said Daily into the radio. ‘We should be over there pretty soon.’
‘Great, see you soon,’ replied Vulay.
Around an hour later, Happy Bus Two arrived at the Economic Institute. Vulay, the maintenance workers, and the creature they had found were sitting outside eating slices of pineapple.
‘What’s that?’ asked Daily as he poked his head out the window.
‘A giant, scaly Sapiod,’ replied Vulay. ‘His name might be X. He keeps making an “X” sign with his arms.’
X nodded in agreement.
‘Great,’ said Daily, scratching his head. ‘Let’s fuel up on those husks and head back. This place still gives me nightmares.’
‘Agreed, it’s just too eerie,’ replied Vulay.
The maintenance workers and X joined the enforcers in Happy Bus Two. After fuelling up on pineapple husks, they headed off.
After around an hour of driving, Lily woke. She looked up at all those in the crowded bus.
‘Where am I? Who are you?’ she asked in a groggy voice.
‘You’re on Happy Bus Two, friend,’ said an enforcer.
‘Oh no, nightmare, nightmare,’ squealed Lily as she looked around frantically. ‘What’s that thing?’ she added, pointing at X.
‘He’s our new friend, X,’ replied the enforcer calmly.
‘Please, let me off,’ pleaded Lily.
‘Sure, we will,’ replied the enforcer. ‘Once, we reach Downs.’
‘Don’t tell me that’s the only region left,’ said Lily, sounding even more desperate.
‘Yes, it is,’ said the enforcer, nodding. ‘We offered the monsters fruit, and they ran away.’
‘More like the Sentray have some standards in food,’ remarked Lily. ‘They didn’t want to get diarrhoea from eating you lot.’
The enforcer looked puzzled as he scratched his head.
‘Looks like the G.O.A.T. is returning to form,’ called out Daily.
‘Those cakes look nice,’ said Lily in a much calmer tone as she pointed to a cake a maintenance worker was holding.
‘These cakes are excellent,’ said the enforcer as he smiled. ‘Julie baked several dozen batches of them before we left.’
‘Okay, translation,’ said Lily in an annoyed tone. ‘I would like a piece of cake. I’m very hungry. I do not want a story about these cakes or the simpleton who made them.’
‘Oh, sorry,’ replied the enforcer, sounding worried. He grabbed a piece of chocolate cake and a packet of juice. ‘Here you go, friend.’
‘Thank you so much,’ replied Lily with a snide smile. ‘You’re very kind.’
‘Great, we’re all one happy family,’ said Daily in a chirpy tone. ‘Let’s have a little sing song for fun. They call it a happy bus for a reason.’
The enforcers and maintenance workers looked at each other in excitement. Then they began singing joyfully together.
Lily pulled a cushion over her head.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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