BENNY’S CONFLICT

Well, this is it. The end for Benny, Carlos and Shana. About to face trial on Izen Dopolous’ flagship, their ship a smoking ruin, the remains of Carlson the android inside, certain death to await them. Surely there is no way for them to survive?

THE trio were led into a large, formal room, important-looking humans seated on wooden furnishings. Benny recognised Bernard and Bertha among them.

Seated in the centre of the room, his disciples around him, was Izen Dopolous, although it was clear he had undergone a makeover.

The robotic form he now had was a larger, more powerful dark android, eyes glowing red on a pointed face that lacked any other features.

Once Benny, Carlos and Shana were led to a podium, he addressed the crowd.

“My esteemed disciples, it is time to decide the fate of these three, one of them I trusted with my life. An error I will not make again.”

He turned towards his prisoners. “Now, where to begin with your list of crimes? First of all, Benny, the young human with the light hair. His list starts with my murder—”

“Actually,” Benny interrupted, “you’ve got it wrong.”

Izen was clearly shocked. “Do not interrupt me. However, I shall hear what you have to say. Out of the three you deserve it the most.”

“The thing is, Izen doesn’t remember what led to his death. He jumped to a bunch of conclusions when he met us, none of which I confirmed to be true.

“He saw me talking with Shana and Carlos, and didn’t think I might have been lying to them.

“You see, when Izen sent me to kill Shana, I didn’t just want to kill her immediately, like a crude hitman. I wanted to make her death hurt. I wanted to make it a betrayal.

“So I proved my trust by killing Izen, and then used her skills to rescue Bernard and Bertha, valuable members of Izen’s code. And I was going to betray her, but then Izen put a stop to that, directly before I would have done it.

“You see, I was going to use the android. If you could take me to it, I could prove to you I’m not lying.”

Izen was silent for a moment, and Benny hoped he believed the lies he had just said. He’d learnt to direct his skill of lying at the right people, not at everybody like he had done before.

His path was clear now. No more internal conflicts.

Speaking of internal conflicts, Izen was done thinking.

“Very well. It did seem strange that you of all people would betray me. Guards, take the prisoners to the remains of their ship. I hope their droid is intact enough.”

So do I, Benny thought as he, Carlos and Shana were led out of the hall by three guards.

He looked as Izen watched them go, his robotic face expressionless. He didn’t know it at the time, but this was the last time he would see Izen for a good while.

The trio were led back into the hanger to the smoking wreckage, and Benny rooted through the rubble, finding the remains of Carlson, which Carlos assured him was enough.

Quickly, and without hesitation, Carlos turned around, the superlaser partially formed in his hands, and fired at the guards, immediately sending bits of them flying everywhere.

They didn’t have much time, so the trio ran towards the Nebulous Dragonfly Benny had eyed, and Shana began to turn it on.

Thankfully, it still had power. Carlos aimed at the airlock, and it exploded, sucking anything not anchored on into the vacuum of space, including most of the ships.

The superlaser fell apart in his hands, the remains of Carlson zooming out, along with the Nebulous Dragonfly.

Benny looked behind him at the rapidly shrinking asteroid, and didn’t stop looking until it was long gone, and Shana didn’t stop piloting until they reached a safe little space station they could dock and land in.

Everybody, still panting, couldn’t help smiling at each other about their impossible escape.

Carlos turned to Benny, “Well, we’ve reached the end of the road. The road to forgiveness. I officially forgive you for killing my Gorgon friend.”

“I knew that Gorgon. We used to be good friends,” Shana added,

“I forgive you too, Benny. In fact, I should be saying thank you! We couldn’t have gotten this far without you. My only regret is Izen’s survival.”

But Benny said nothing.

He stared out the window at the darkness of space, broken by an uncountable number of tiny white dots.

They had escaped, but Izen was still at large, his influence spreading deep into the government.

Aliens would never be seen as equal as long as he kept doing what he was doing. He knew in order to achieve their eventual goal, Izen must be stopped. But that was for later.

Right now he was relaxing, celebrating with his friends, enjoying another beautiful morning in the void of space.