SpaceGems

Ginen has been looking for a specific SpaceGem. What will he do after he finds it?

     “A SpaceGem is a gem that has been created when a planet of pure crystal with gems embedded within this crystal explodes outward into the universe. No one knows for sure why the planet Randus has exploded, but most believe it is because someone or a group of individuals tried to steal these gems. Instead, they sent the gems into the universe,” says SpaceFaction.

     Not every planet in the universe has at least one SpaceGem on it, but about ninety percent of them do. Out of that ninety percent, most of them have a lot more than just one. These planets have several. Some of them have a lot more than several. The planet Zeeon is one of them. They have almost twenty SpaceGems. At least they used to have that many,” says SpaceFaction.

SpaceGems

A Short Story

Written By

SpaceFaction

     “I barely escaped before Jhinnifer and the other Local Rules Enforcers this time,” says Ginen after she appears in the Control Room on his spaceship. He looks at the large Monitor in front of him as he sits down in one of the two hovering seats under this Monitor. He’s looking at where he has been until he returned to his spaceship.

     “Are you looking for someone or something?” Asks Ginen to Jhinnifer and the other Local Rules Enforcers, who have now stopped looking for Ginen and the SpaceGem he has taken from that Collections Center.

     Jhinnifer and the other Local Rules Enforcers are looking up at the Watcher. Ginen has also been placed in that Collections Center. “I almost had you this time. We were coming in just as you were leaving.”

     “Another few seconds and we would have had you,” says Jhinnifer as she hovers up to become almost face to face with Ginen. “You know that sooner or later we will have those few seconds, and we will stop you from taking what doesn’t belong to you.”

#

     Ginen enters a large room with some of the other things he has taken. In the center of this room, there are nineteen tall but small square stands. Thirteen of them already have a SpaceGem displayed on them. After walking over to one of the six other stands, he places the latest SpaceGem on one of these stands.

     “Monitoring, are we still unseeable from the planet Zeeon below us?” Ginen asks Monitoring while looking up and all around him.

     The room begins to pulsate in different colors with each word spoken by Monitoring. “We are still unseeable.”

     “That’s good to hear,” replies Ginen. “I need a little rest from our last SpaceGem encounter. Let me know when you have found another one to take.”

     “I have already found another SpaceGem for you to take,” echoes Monitoring all around that room with each color. “We have a problem with this one.”

     Ginen looks up at a Watcher. “What kind of a problem?”

     “This SpaceGem is with an individual Zeeon,” answers Monitoring. “It will be hard to take this one.”

#

     “What makes this individual different than the others who have or have had a SpaceGem?” Ginen asks while walking down the corridors of his spaceship.
     A clicking sound begins several seconds before Monitoring starts answering Ginen’s question. “Three things make him different. One thing is that he never leaves his side or sight. Even when he sleeps, he has a hold on it. Another thing is that his residence is protected by Protection.”

     “The third thing is he has numerous Protectors protecting him and his belongings,” continues Monitoring. “I don’t know how many there are, but it looks like there are several hundred of them, only a few feet from each other at all times.”

     “You’re right. This could be a problem,” says Ginen. “Are there any places that don’t have a Protector in it? Can you get through their Protection?”

     Ginen enters his Control Room. The image of this individual’s residence is already on his large Monitor there. Small solid red circles appear almost everywhere. “It doesn’t appear that there are any places where these Protectors aren’t.”

#

     Suddenly, Ginen appears on top of a large hill that overlooks, among other buildings and residences, a Collections Center. Ginen places a pair of eyewear with extendable lenses over his eyes.

     By turning these lenses left and right, he can see the Collections Center below him up close. “Monitoring, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

     “Of course, I am seeing what you see. That eyewear you have on is an extension of me.”

     “There are a lot of Protectors and Local Rules Enforcers down there,” says Ginen. “Give me insight so that I can see how many Protectors and Local Rules Enforcers are in there.”

     Monitoring clicks a few times, and the lenses on the eyewear Ginen is wearing turn red. Ginen can now see inside this Collections Center. “It appears there are even more Protectors on the inside than there are on the outside,” says Monitoring softly.

     “I don’t like this,” says Ginen. “This looks like they are expecting me. I’m still going to take this SpaceGem too, but it won’t be easy for me to do.”

#

     After crawling through the extremely tight ventilation system of the Collections Center, Ginen stops when he gets to a slit infested opening. Ginen uses his special eyewear to see what he’s looking for: a SpaceGem. He doesn’t see any Protectors or Local Rules Enforcers, but he does see that this SpaceGem is protected by Death Wires all around it.

     “There are no Protectors or Local Rules Enforcers, but there doesn’t need to be any. Death Wires are protecting this SpaceGem,” says Ginen to Monitoring. I may not get out of here alive.”

     “What will you do?” Monitoring echoes softly all around Ginen’s ears.

     Ginen doesn’t answer Monitoring. Instead, he pushes the slit opening. He catches it before it hits the level below him. With his other hand, he shoots a small wire to the other side of this large room. It barely misses the Death Wires protecting this SpaceGem.

     After this small wire sticks itself to the wall on this side, Ginen takes a roller from his hip and places it on top of this wire. Using this roller, Ginen crosses that room. He uses the slit opening to slice through the Death Wires and knock the SpaceGem into his other hand.

###

     “Thanks, Monitoring, for getting me out of there before Jhinnifer and the other Local Rules Enforcers showed up there.” Ginen keeps looking at the physical image of a female HealthGiver. The voice is the same as Monitoring.

     Ginen lay in a sleeper in the Health Room. This female HealthGiver is checking him out. “So, how bad am I?”

     “You have had worse,” says Monitoring. “I think you will be well in time, but I don’t think you will be taking any SpaceGems anytime soon.”

     “I have been thinking about this, and I think I need to slow down on finding that special SpaceGem. I’m still going to find it, but I’m not in any hurry to find it. The sooner I find it, the better, though.”

     Monitoring finishes checking Ginen’s health. “I’m not only monitoring you. I am also looking for the last three SpaceGems on this planet. So far, I haven’t found any more of them to take.”

     “I’m not surprised about that,” says Ginen. “I have also been having trouble finding them lately.”

###

     Ginen doesn’t look too well yet, but he’s well enough to be sitting in one of his seats in the Control Room of his spaceship. He’s looking up at an image of Jhinnifer. “Who are you, and why are you so obsessed with me?”

     “All I know is that you have been following me all over Zeeon for most of our adult lives,” says Ginen as he continues staring at that image of Jhinnifer. “I also know that you are a Local Rules Enforcer. Is that why you are so obsessed with me?”

     “I don’t think that’s the reason why she is obsessed with me,” says Monitoring. “It’s something else. I’m not sure what that something is yet, but it’s not that.”

     Ginen looks at where the voice of Monitoring came from. “If it’s not that, then what is that reason?”

     Monitoring doesn’t say anything for quite a while. “I don’t know how I will find this out yet, but if anyone can do it, I can. After all, I’m the best Monitoring system on this planet.”

#

     “I can think of only one way to find out why Jhinnifer is so obsessed with me,” says Ginen as he walks down the corridors of his spaceship. “That is to ask her why.”

     “Of course, I don’t think she will tell me why, but what else can I do?” Ginen continues talking to himself.

     Monitoring clears her throat. At least that’s what it sounds like to Ginen. She sounds more human every day. “I don’t think she will tell you why either. Give me a little bit more time. I’m sure I can find out why if I have more time to do it.”

     Ginen enters the Communications Room. He sits down behind a large Data Monitor. “I don’t want you to stop trying to find out why she is obsessed with me, but I have to try this.”

     “I want to talk to Jhinnifer,” says Ginen after he taps a few buttons on the Control Panel under his Data Monitor. “Tell her it’s me, Ginen. She will want to talk to me.

#

     Jhinnifer comes up on the Data Monitor in front of Ginen. “Are you ready to admit to what you have been doing all these years?”

     “It’s kind of the opposite of that,” says Ginen. “I want to know why you are so obsessed with me.”

     “I’m not obsessed with you,” answers Jhinnifer. “You have been taking what doesn’t belong to you for most of your adult life.”

     Ginen doesn’t answer right away. “It sounds like you are obsessed to me. If you aren’t obsessed with me, then why have you been following me for most of our adult lives?”

     “It’s not what you think,” Jhinnifer finally says. “I haven’t been following you for all these years because I’m interested in you.”

     “I never thought you were interested in me,” says Ginen. “It’s because you think I have been taking things that don’t belong to me. That’s not all it is, though. There is something else, and I want to know what it is, now.”

     Jhinnifer sighs. “I know you aren’t from Zeeon. That’s why I have been following you all these years. We have enough takers; we don’t need anyone who wasn’t born here.”

#

     Ginen smiles. “I have found the special SpaceGem I have been looking for, but I don’t know if I can get out of here alive. There are about a hundred Protectors and Local Rules Enforcers around here.”

     “They haven’t been looking for me yet, but they will soon,” says Ginen as he walks down the hallways of that Collections Center. “You need to find a way to get me out of here fast.”

     “I’m trying to get you out of there, but I’m having some problems doing it,” says Monitoring softly. “The Protectors and the Local Rules Enforcers are stopping me from doing it.”

     Monitoring continues a few seconds later. “Maybe I can’t get you out of there yet, but I can tell you how close they are to you. Right now, there aren’t any Protectors or Enforcers near you.”

     “If you continue going the same way you are, you will get out of there before any Protectors or Enforcers catch up to you. Once you are outside, I should be able to help you leave there.”

#

     In the large room where he keeps what he has taken from Zeeon, he places his latest SpaceGem on the last stand there. “It has taken me a lifetime to find you, but I have finally done it.”

     “It’s time for me to find another planet to start taking things from,” continues Ginen. “Besides, I can’t sell any of my SpaceGems on Zeeon. I won’t see my special SpaceGem, but I can and will sell all the others.”

     “Monitoring, get our spaceship ready to leave here,” continues Ginen. “The sooner we leave there, the better.”

     Ginen leaves that large room and heads for his Control Room. When he gets there, he sits down in one of the seats under his large Monitor. He looks up at Zeeon on his large Monitor. After tapping a few buttons, Zeeon starts getting further away from them.

     After Zeeon becomes almost a speck on his large Monitor, Ginen turns his spaceship away from Zeeon. “What planet do you want to live on next?” Monitoring asks.

Word Count = 1,987