Chapter 222: The Oscillator Key
Following the brief scuffle, Tyler finally learned the real reason for their unexpected rescue mission from Ben.
"Those guys on the phone mentioned you had the Oscillator Key, or something sounding a lot like that," Ben said. He was sitting directly behind Tyler, casually draping his arm over the back of the seat and leaning forward to get a better look at the bewildered trucker.
Kevin shot a sideways glance at Ben from the driver's seat. Hearing the hesitation in Ben's voice, Kevin knew the guy wasn't entirely sure if he had heard the term right. Given that Ben barely understood the basics of most alien tech, it was perfectly normal for him to doubt his own ears.
Fortunately, Kevin, who had spent years running black-market alien smuggling rings, was there to fill in the blanks. "The Oscillator Key is Level Five alien tech. It is a highly specialized piece of equipment capable of bridging dimensions and opening jump gates."
Tyler's jaw dropped. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
"How exactly do you have your hands on high-tier alien technology?" Gwen asked, her brow furrowing in deep confusion. Tyler looked like nothing more than an average, run-of-the-mill Earth human.
"I... I honestly don't know. Someone scrambled my memory," Tyler muttered, his shoulders slumping in visible frustration. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small, red triangular pick he had found in his wallet earlier. As far as he knew, this tiny piece of plastic was the only tangible clue connected to his true identity.
"What is that? Is it another piece of alien hardware?" Even Kevin could not resist taking his eyes off the road for a second to crane his neck and inspect the object in Tyler's palm.
This prompted Klein, who was currently sandwiched between Ben and Gwen in the back and perfectly content to remain silent, to finally speak up. "Hey, keep your eyes on the road while you're driving a two-ton death machine!" he drawled, sounding more bored than genuinely concerned.
After shooting a lazy glare at the back of Kevin's head, Klein shifted his gaze to the object in Tyler's hand. "That looks like a guitar pick. Specifically, a bass pick."
"I'm a bassist?" Tyler murmured. Logically speaking, that made sense given the evidence. But his mind was a complete blank. What kind of professional bassist couldn't even recognize their own instrument's pick?
A wave of heavy dejection washed over the amnesiac trucker. If his memories never returned and he completely forgot how to play his instrument, would he end up homeless on the streets?
However, while Tyler was starting to believe his own musical backstory, Kevin was far from convinced. "Oh, right. Sure. You managed to escape from a heavily fortified alien nest all by yourself, successfully stole their Level Five technology, and now you are trying to tell me you are just a humble bassist?"
Kevin trusted Klein's judgment regarding the pick, but that hardly meant Tyler played music for a living. Perhaps slapping the bass was just a weekend hobby, and his actual day job was being a black-ops special forces soldier. Otherwise, there was absolutely no logical way to explain how this random guy possessed the sheer nerve to pull off a heist against extraterrestrial invaders.
But as Kevin chewed on the thought a bit longer, even the special forces theory began to fall apart. Given the terrifying physical prowess and advanced weaponry of the DNAliens, a normal human soldier wouldn't stand a chance...
Before Kevin could fully organize his racing thoughts, a calm, commanding voice cut through the cabin. "Lights off."
Recognizing Klein's serious tone, Kevin instinctively slapped the dashboard switch, plunging the car into pitch darkness. With the headlights dead, he squinted through the windshield, scanning the surrounding darkness to see what had triggered the warning.
The threat was not hard to spot. A cluster of small, sweeping light beams cut through the gloom a few hundred meters down the road. Kevin immediately eased off the gas pedal, letting the vehicle coast to minimize engine noise.
As they rolled to within a hundred meters of the mysterious lights, the figures holding them finally came into sharp focus.
They were DNAliens.
The grotesque, tentacled creatures were gripping heavy-duty searchlights, sweeping the beams back and forth as if hunting for a lost prize. While there were only two or three patrolling the immediate roadside, a much larger swarm of lights flickered in the distant valley below.
The highway stretched across a barren, desolate wilderness. With nothing but the occasional stray tumbleweed to break up the flat terrain, the sunken valley off to the side of the road was completely exposed to the naked eye.
Fixated on the dense cluster of searchlights swarming the valley floor, the usually vigilant Kevin failed to notice a jagged pothole where the asphalt had collapsed just ahead. The car's front tire slammed into the crater, sending a violent, teeth-rattling jolt through the entire chassis.
Kevin cursed under his breath. Just as he had feared, the loud metallic crunch of the suspension echoed through the quiet night, instantly drawing the attention of the roadside DNAliens.
Fortunately, Kevin's street-racing reflexes kicked in. The highway sat on a raised embankment, creating a steep elevation drop between the asphalt and the approaching monsters. The high shoulder of the road provided a natural blind spot. All he needed to do was maneuver the car a few feet to the side.
By the time the investigating DNAliens scrambled up the steep embankment and peered over the edge of the asphalt, Kevin had already silently rolled the vehicle behind a towering mound of excavated dirt.
Everyone inside the cabin held their breath. They watched in tense silence as the sweeping beams of the searchlights passed inches from their windows. Only after the DNAliens grunted in confusion and trudged away did Kevin finally dare to turn the ignition key, accelerating smoothly out of the danger zone.
They cruised in total darkness until they reached a stretch of highway safely out of range from the search party.
Ben broke the heavy silence, his voice dropping to a serious register. "They are out in full force tonight. Something massive must have happened to get them this riled up."
Kevin nodded in agreement, his hands gripping the steering wheel tight. "Losing the Oscillator Key is a massive deal for them. That tech is irreplaceable."
"I must have stolen it to stop those aliens," Tyler murmured, piecing together his own fragmented motives.
"Stop them from doing what, exactly?" Gwen asked.
"I'll... I'll remember eventually," Tyler sighed, rubbing his temples.
Hearing Tyler's vague promise, Kevin rolled his eyes and let out a dry quip. "Wow. You are just a fountain of useful information, aren't you?"
Gwen, however, ignored the sarcasm. She was far less concerned with Tyler's lost motives and much more focused on the tactical situation. "The Highbreed and their DNAlien foot soldiers desperately need the Oscillator Key, but they clearly have no idea where it is hidden. That is our biggest advantage right now."
As she finished speaking, every pair of eyes in the car slowly swiveled to lock onto Tyler.
The amnesiac trucker blinked, momentarily stunned by the sudden pressure. He swallowed hard, nodded silently, and pointed a shaky finger toward the windshield. "Take the next left."
They drove for another ten kilometers before Kevin finally pulled the car to a halt near the edge of a deep ravine. This was the exact spot where Tyler's massive cargo truck had been run off the road earlier that night. It was situated relatively close to the highway weigh station, which explained how the dazed man had managed to wander there on foot seeking help.
The group piled out of the vehicle and carefully picked their way down the steep, rocky slope into the valley. At the bottom of the ravine rested the mangled wreckage of an overturned semi-truck. Its massive steel cargo container was heavily dented and scarred from the violent impact.
"Is the Oscillator Key locked up inside this thing?" Kevin asked. Driven by curiosity, he stepped forward and placed his bare hand flat against the side of the cargo container. Instantly, a layer of solid steel rippled out from his palm, encasing his entire body in a thick, metallic armor.
Tyler stumbled back a step, his eyes widening in shock. As a man who currently believed himself to be a simple musician, watching a teenager turn into a living steel statue was more than a little jarring.
Just as Kevin cracked his metal knuckles, preparing to use brute force to tear the container's heavy doors right off their hinges, a loud, echoing bang rang out. The metal doors violently kicked open from the inside.
"What the hell?!" Kevin shouted, quickly leaping backward to put some distance between himself and the wreckage.
Ben, Gwen, and Klein immediately rushed forward, dropping into defensive stances as they peered into the dark interior of the trailer.
Two grotesque DNAliens suddenly vaulted out of the open doorway, landing in the dirt with heavy thuds. They were closely followed by four more of the mutated creatures, who lumbered out of the shadows while carefully carrying a massive, glowing piece of high-tech machinery.
"DNAliens?!" Ben exclaimed, his hand instinctively hovering over the Omnitrix dial. The group tensed, their surprise quickly melting into high-alert vigilance. These creatures operated like a hive mind and rarely traveled in small packs. There was no guarantee the surrounding shadows weren't crawling with reinforcements waiting to spring an ambush.
In reality, however, the DNAliens standing opposite them were sweating bullets. They had spent hours scouring the desert and had finally managed to secure the precious Oscillator Key. Yet, right before they could haul their prize back to their masters, they had the absolute misfortune of running into the most troublesome group of humans on the planet.
"So, that bulky thing is the Oscillator Key?" Klein asked, his voice cutting through the tense silence. He lazily inspected the large machine hoisted by the four grunting aliens, completely unimpressed. He then shifted his indifferent gaze to the lead DNAlien. "Put it down on the ground, and I will let you walk away in one piece."
The lead DNAlien stared at him in utter disbelief.
'Is this human joking?'
The very will of the DNAliens was bound to the absolute command of the Highbreed. To suggest they would just drop their prize and run away like cowards without their masters' permission was a massive insult to their brainwashed loyalty.
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