The Shell [Episode 10]

The room warped again. The walls flexed and turned into large cabinets filled with guns and other exotic weapons. She began to question herself which part of her perception was real. This warping technology looked extremely futuristic, whereas she had only skipped 40 years in cryo-sleep.

The Traveller threw her a gun with three large nozzles. She thought it would be heavy, but surprisingly, it felt just like the weight of an ordinary book.

"This Platzen gun will take out the unwanted elements on Earth, like Dan and his agents," he said.

"They are just people, not machines. There is no need for Platzen gun," she stared at that glimmering red gun with hints of yellow hologram buried. She couldn't make out the design of the hologram embedded.

"You still need those," the Traveller insisted.

She held the gun up, and it crossed her mind quickly that she had no doubts left. She powered it up and pointed the gun at him. "Tell me, bastard, how many truths are you hiding from me?"

"I have tell you nothing but the truth, Jane," he was taken in surprise.

"Correction: you have tell me nothing and the truth," she said. "Now tell me, bastard, what have you been hiding from me? Don't piss me off. I assume you know my background and what I am capable of."

"What would you like to know?" the Traveller asked.

"Let's see... what about everything?"

"That's... too general..."

"Piss on that shit, bastard. Try telling me who is the Driver? Why am I have to be frozen for 40 years? If you have the means already, why look for me to kill Dan? What is the purpose of the cylinder? And that shard from the Shell thingy? It doesn't convince me much," she blurted.

"The Driver is just a driver..."

"Don't fuck me off, I warn you," she fired a warning shot to a wall. The wall scorched black with bright red embers while the lights went out momentarily and came back on again.

"Alright, alright," the Traveller gave up. "He is a projection from the cylinder. He is used to monitor and check everything is in order. He will know what goes wrong and try to amend it, like you, the technical glitch one."

"Stop saying I am a glitch. You make me feel like I am a piece of shit," she said.

"Fine," the Traveller said. "You are not allowed to absorb any information throughout your journey to this station guards. You hold crucial information for the mission to remove Dan. Only you know how to remove Dan. I am being 'plugged out' from the Earth system and what I do will have no effect."

"Nonsense!" she cried.

"Try shooting me and you will understand," the Traveller said.

She hesitated.

"Go on, I allow you to do that because I have the confidence that you can't harm me," he said, with a smile.

She fired. The pink energy shell whizzed passed his body as if he was invisible. A bright ion trail after the shell and the energy shell slammed on the wall, leaving another scorch mark. "What are you?" she sputtered.

"I am the Traveller, or the Godfather. I can't be harmed by any beings from Earth now. I am being unplugged from the information system. Nothing originate from Earth can harm me. You see, because of this, by the same token, I can't harm you or Dan."

She remembered that the Driver didn't shoot the Doppeldecker down or the pursuing car when they were on the way to Island Spire. She remembered that the Traveller did not touch her before. Even the Driver dragged her out from the casket, it's because she held the cylinder with her when the Erasing occured. She and the Driver was linked somehow.

"Now you understand fully, so would you take your mission to take out Dan?" the Traveller asked.

"Dan is my colleague," she said.

"He tried to poison you during dinner. He insisted on having you drinking the wine, didn't he? Guess what, a fly just dissolved into nothingness when it fell into the wine. He called the agents to kill you while you are on the way to the Island Spire..."

"I can't believe everything you said."

"Jane is dead," he said suddenly. "The second Jane Soutaine you found? She is found guilty for the terrorist attack at Singapore and she was killed by the officer whose name was also called Dan in an act of self defense."

"What?"

"Check your cube. It will tell you everything," the Traveller said. "You are a global war criminal, Jane. I am protecting you by bringing you far out this way. But there is a high chance that Dan and his Eraserheads are able to sense your presence and started gathering resources to reach you here, despite the Shell is trying its very best to limit their motion in space."

"What?" she was stunned.

"Before I put you on a ship, I have to ask you something: Have you heard of the mass extinctions that occur in a regular timescale interval?" he asked with his twinkling eyes.