At a penthouse in downtown Phoenix, there in a shabby room was heard the groaning of a muzzled man. Then a figure appeared from the shadows of the dim ray of light from the window,
"Take the hood off!" the figure from the shadows instructed.
The tortured captive started jerking on the chair on which he sat with his hands tied to the back of the chair.
"And that!" the figure instructed pointing at the tape on the mouth of the captive.
"Now what do you know about the stone – Curest?" the figure yelled.
"I don't know anything. It was a classified case from the top echelon; please don't kill me!"
"Captain Alvin Cooper, a diver and a veteran of war, medal of bravery – American Navy; impressive! Pain means nothing to you – right? What about them?" the figure shouted presenting a phone showing a woman and child playing in the snow.
"Please; don't do that!" Alvin pleaded.
"Or what you would – call the American Navy? Of course not!!"
"So what is it going to be; love of country or love of family?" the figure laughed menacingly.
"Ok. I would talk. The stone – Curest – was found in Sussex; it is an ancient stone from space. From a planet called Galaxy Nimbus. The Curest I found at the bottom of the sea in Sussex is part of a larger piece in Nimbus, if fused together and radically bombarded can generate enough energy; enough to
destroy the entire solar system! That is all I know about the stone. Please don't hurt my family!" Alvin wept.
"Is that really all?" what about the co-ordinates; do you want to withhold it for the life of your family?" the figure harped.
"No; the co-ordinates are …"
"The lights!" the figure shouted as the light came on and his identity became visible.
"Dr. Robert Dexter! You bag of shit and traitor! You won't get away with this; I promise!" Alvin fumed with rage.
"I have already. Guards take care of our visitor here!" Dr. Robert laughed leaving the room as the sound of gunshots erupted.
*****
At Star-dust Technological industry, from the conference room, the voice of Dr. Robert sounded;
"Now, fellow shareholders being the CEO of this great company, I propose this offer as the major breakthrough we have been waiting for to leverage on our competitors closed ties with the American government by leapfrogging them in this revolutionary discovery. So what do you say?" Dr. Robert asked as he took his seat.
"Dr. Robert; where were you when Dr. Aberdeen got his hands on the stone – Curest? I hate to admit, you always make this firm second best with your slow instinct and foresight!" Reinard Brooks remarked as some other shareholders roared with laughter.
"No disrespect to you – Dr. Robert. But don't you think a space exploration project would sap the company's mopped income which is not even enough to fund alternative frontiers of innovation. I think this call is wrongly timed!" Avan Garfield remarked.
"Sometimes I wonder when feud and rivalry has become the rudder of this organization. Dr. Robert put your ego aside and see; Dr. Aberdeen is a genius beyond anyone alive – including you and he would always be steps ahead of you. Just try and come to terms with that and let's build our companies brand from there. For this exploration; it would be another of your scientific jamboree that yields no fruit!" Noah O' Connor remarked sternly.
"It's not for us to decide individually; let's put it up for vote!" Dame Angela Ward said.
"You want us to embark on the exploration – hands up and no – hands down!"
The other shareholders including Dr. Robert raised their hands excluding Avan, Reinard and Noah.
"That leaves us with 50 – 50!" so the decision would be adjourned to two weeks' time!" the manager said.
After the meeting with the usual pleasantries, with each board member leaving; Dr. Robert sat back and Anthony Mane came to him; whispered into his ears and he nodded soliloquizing.
"Avan, Reinard and Noah, we shall see!" Dr. Robert said locking his fingers together striking the tip of both index fingers as his laughter crescendos.
****
At the penthouse in downtown Phoenix; there screams of tortured captives sounded.
"Please; don't kill us!" the trio pleaded.
"We would give you whatever you want!" the trio shouted in unison.
"Whatever I want!" a voice sounded as the silhouette of a man walked towards the captive.
"The lights!" the voice shouted.
"Avan, Reinard and Noah! What a small world!" Dr. Robert clapped as they come to grasp his identity.
"You two-faced son of a bitch!" Reinard fumed.
"Oh, really!" Dr. Robert remarked.
"You are involved in this! It's unbelievable?" Avan said in disbelief.
"Why?" Noah asked.
"You wanna know why? Because I am tired of being second to Dr. Aberdeen and I want the world to bow to me. By the time I lay my hands on the stone, I would be immortal!" Dr. Robert exhilarated.
"So what is it going to be; your support or your life?"
"To hell with your empty threats! We won't chicken out now! We won't fund your lunatic exploration!" Reinard shouted staring at Avan and Noah who were rather cold and indifferent.
"Is that so Avan and Noah?" Dr. Robert said bending low towards Avan, who vehemently shook his head.
"So you see, you are all alone – Reinard. I hate to do this but you leave me with no option!" instantly Dr. Robert pulled a gun out and shot Reinard on the head.
"See you guys at the meeting in a fortnight!" Dr. Robert shouted as he walked away with his voice sending shivers into the spine of Avan and Noah as they fidgeted.
****
At Stow way, the nuclear power plant that supplies half of America was sited; there as workers were going on their daily activity, a shortage of moderator occurred and the reaction was uncontainable.
All the workers in the plant fled for their lives and the worst was being expected as the explosion of the plant would result in power outage in America and loss of eight states along with its citizens.
Then the Replicator flew into the power plant with haste, he made swift entry into the control room of the plant and radiation burnt part of his suit and half of his face was melted as he tries to contain the chain reaction manually; he entered the cycle with his whole body transformed into graphite after hours of burnout, radiation and particle exchange; the cycle was balanced and the plant started working again.
As he came out of the plant; the radiation he absorbed melted the wire gauze and he flew off with the on-lookers cheering him on.
"Today tragedy was averted again by the American hero and mask man called the Replicator. As wrong calculation on the path of plant engineers nearly cost the lives of millions of American's due to shortage of moderator – graphite. But thanks to the Replicator America is saved.
In other news, earlier, patrol teams along the American-Mexico border finally caught Taofeek Hussain the kingpin of the defunct gang – The Nicodemus.
The Isreali-American terrorist was caught as he tries to flee the country. From Stow way in Arizona; it's Jessica Ritchie MNS news."
****
At Space Hi-tech firm, Dr. Aberdeen was in his office perusing on a document when the door sounded;
"Come in!"
"Sir, you sent for me!" Sarah said walking into the room.
"Yes, Sarah; sit down!"
"Thank you, Sir!"
"So have you seen Dave today?" Dr. Aberdeen asked taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes with his handkerchief.
"No – Sir! Dave, I haven't!" Sarah remarked rather uneasily.
"Oh, Sarah come on! I know he is into you and you are into him. So please stop the pretense. So have you?" Dr. Aberdeen reiterated.
"Yes, Sir – only this morning. For some hours now, I haven't spoken to him; maybe he is with the other pilot or in the air taking passengers to their destination!" Sarah responded.
"Ok. So what is the result carried out from his blood sample?" Dr. Aberdeen asked.
"Sir, I thought since he was Ok, there was no need to carry out any further test on his blood!"
"Come on – Sarah! You know that Dave is a pilot who transports high profile executives of this company, workers, families and also a personal pilot of mine. His health status is of paramount importance to us because lives are entrusted to him as a pilot!" Dr. Aberdeen reprimanded.
"Ok – Sir! I would perform the test right away!" Sarah said.
"Thank you – Sarah!"
"Any other thing Sir?" Sarah asked.
"No, you can go!" Dr. Aberdeen said gesticulating with his hands.
"Ok sir. Thank you Sir!" Sarah said standing up about to leave.
"Sarah, love is a complex thing. I don't want you to get hurt. So be careful with him!" Dr. Aberdeen admonished.
"I will sir. Thank you very much – Sir!" Sarah said leaving the office.
****
At Star-dust Technological industry's air base, six fleets of space ship was ready to be launched and Dr. Robert, along with other shareholders of the firm accompanied the Captain and crew to the terminal.
"Today, we witness the evolution and birth of a new order. Today humanity would step closer in harnessing energy greater than that of the sun. Today this firm starts its journey to the top; in days to come a larger than man-sized Curest would be brought back by this team of astronauts led by Captain
Drake Stone and his wingman – Captain Jack Porter! Good luck boys!" Dr. Robert orated as the crowd applauded.
Then, the crew entered their various ships, the capsule was lit and within split seconds and the six space ships was air-borne and it burst through the clouds becoming obscure to the on-lookers who cheered.