Muri, Star Knight

I hope you like my science-fiction short story!

Muri, Star Knight 

1998

Part I: The Adventure

I did have to find the plant to cure my Metuone disease, and I fabricated a spaceship to take me to a distant planet to find the much-needed plants.  The exciting journey to this planet took me about eight hours going near the speed of light, and I proceeded to find a good way to obtain this health-giving, salubrious plant here on this moon.  I tell the story of Jonathan Failla, or alias Muri, as I go on a search!  Muri (I!!!) felt strange on the gray, dusty solid ground of the planet. Although it was plain daylight, nevertheless he saw no living things around him. His ship had created a circle of earth where the dust had blown off. Muri did, however, see in the distance what looked like a big star structure. It was large, black, and square. It looked sort of like a dwelling place, and it looked like a very large mansion built of some high-tech material like Turus.
Muri decided to approach this and to see if he could find anyone there who knew of the location of the Sanus plant. Muri also knew that he could be walking into much danger. On Muri's approach to the strange mansion, something very disturbing happened. He got an attack of nervousness, and he had to sit on the dust ground and hold his head low until it passed. He knew that the Metuone disease was even now starting to effect his system, and he knew that he had only a year's time to cure himself of a disease that could stay with him for his whole life.
The mansion became a huge black square structure with a huge black door. It looked like a huge mansion told about in fairy tales in his youth. He approached the door and yelled, "Hello?! Is there anybody there?" He knew that the inside of the structure must be something beautiful from the lovely yet simple black Turus art building's architecture. Muri was anxious to find out what was inside, and he began to look forward to meeting some people and seeing what was inside. He was not to know of the terrible things he was to encounter there later.
Even before anyone answered his call, he felt a feeling of wellbeing and thought that he could let up on his quest to find the Sanus plant if he met any interesting people in this majestic star mansion, and he instantly felt as if this was where he grew up. As if to answer his thoughts, the doors opened instantaneously from the vacuum doors, and he saw a group of well-dressed men like him. He forgot the talk of monsters on Itinerum, and greeted them with his native tongue. They also spoke his language, and with the greatest hospitality, they invited them into their star mansion.
The mansion was lovely, and it had marble staircases and ancient pictures hanging on the walls. Muri felt safe and well in the mansion. He asked who appeared to be the leader, "How did you come across all of this wealth?" The leader replied, "You landed near our mansion, which is one of the biggest properties on all of Itinerum. The other property belongs to our enemy, the evil Lis clan." Muri said, "Do you know where to find the Sanus plant?"
"Yes," the leader said, "The Lis' have taken all of the plants and stored them in their own storehouse by their mansion. We are aware of its medicinal value to ourselves and peoples of other worlds. Unfortunately, the plants live about the mansion of the Lis clan. It is our plan to try to win the plants so that we can give them to people who came here in need of bringing back the plant extract. The Lis clan sells the plants at exorbitantly high prices to rich people, and few people are cured of the Metuoso because they cannot afford to take the trip to Iternum and buy it from the Lis'." Muri said, "I will help you get the plants. How come nobody has been able to defeat the Lis clan?"
"Their mansion has a state of the art defense mechanism." So, Muri and Umans and the rest of the inhabitants of the mansion decided to leave for the Lis mansion in two days. Meanwhile, they practiced the art of saber fighting which they would have to use against the Lis clan. Muri knew he would have to be sharp to battle against the Lis clan, and he knew that the battle between the Lis clan and the good Umans clan would be difficult. The Umans clan was skilled in combat and was very intelligent. Some people from the clan expressed their gratitude for having Muri with them. Muri got to know each of them personally and found that each had a unique saber fighting style. He was nervous about fighting the Lis clan, but he knew he was fighting for a good cause.
They set out early in the day to the Lis mansion and reached it after a few hour's journey. They had crossed a whole desert with their dune speeders. The mansion was very big and had a big black door with pink beams of light horizontally across the door. Umans threw the electronic device at the door, the pink beams dissipated, and the lock was broken. Umans and his clan and Muri now knew the hardest part was ahead. Muri and Umans pushed open the big door and found that there were guards standing right in front of them looking surprised and ready to ready to fight. Muri skillfully with an underthrust hit the saber out of the guard's hand, after which the guard threw up his arms in surrender. Umans was having a harder time with the other guard, so Muri put the electronic cuffs on his guard and Muri told the guards, "Do not make a sound or else we will be forced to take stronger measures against you."
Umans replied, "Let us hope that they gather for meetings. We will stealthily try to infiltrate their mansion to find the storage plant inside. I was hoping that the storage plant was outside, but apparently it is in this mansion."
"Let you and I go ahead to find the plant and leave the others behind to make sure the guards keep quiet," Muri said.
"You are right, Muri. We would jeopardize the hope of getting the plants if we brought everyone along. We will get them all later when we have found the location of the plants. My clan will help us bring the plants back to the speeders. I think there will be about one hundred plants in here since the plants are extremely rare. With the molecular formula, we will be enough to cure all the people in many worlds of the Metuoso disease, including yourself and your father, " said Umans. Muri said, 'First, we must find the storage facility. Let us pass quickly through this main hall of marble so that we may not be seen."
In a battle coming up, Muri was going to try to get to the plants from the Lis mansion and so he could bring it back to his home planet so he can cure everyone of the Metuoso disease. His fighter was flying to defeat the fighters who try to let off missiles against him in combat, and he was expecting some problems to occur. Namely, he may to avoid ground fire and some aircraft missiles. His Clip fighter was built with electronic armor, but it would not be able to stop a direct missile hit from destroying the entire ship. Muri's Clip fighter was made with flares to occupy the enemy missiles while his ship avoided them, but he would have to avoid a missile if the flare did not direct the missile far enough away from the ship. Muri had trained for an incident like this occurring, but it was frightening how close in the simulator he had come to having himself destroyed by a computerized missile. Now, he would have to face real real missiles and possibly real fighters. The enemy fighters were similar to Muri's Clip and were called Mals.
Muri was told that the enemy base possessed some skilled pilots, and he was told to use avoidance instead of trying to combat them. This mission was dangerous, but Muri was given it to prove his worth for being a Star Knight. Before governing great cities, a Star Knight would have to prove himself in carrying out a dangerous mission, but he wanted to compete his objective of becoming a Star Knight, and he would risk his life to do so.
Coming up on the nearby water planet called Apar, Muri relaxed himself and pulled on to the surface. Cruising across the purple water, he thought he would reach the base in ten minutes. So far, no radar had picked up his initial entry onto Apar. Muri armed his M-fighter so that at the flick of a switch an M-bomb would drop. Before he dropped the M-Bombs, he had to have the base locked in on his combat aircraft. He tried to stay low to avoid the enemy radar. His computer soon showed that there was the base a couple minutes ahead of him. At that moment, however, he took his eye off of the terrain and skipped too high over a mountain edge. Indicates that he had been seen by radar, a yellow light above his windshield flashed monotonously.
Muri immediately turned his fighter on to maximum speed and cruised above the mountain tops. He could not go full speed since he had already been seen by enemy radar, a yellow light above his windshield flashed monotonously. Muri immediately turned his fighter onto maximum speed and cruised above, and, when he reached the base, he saw enemy fighters on the runway taking off.
So, Muri and Umans walked quickly through the hall, and reached a large marble empty doorway. Muri looked around the corner and saw a large a hall filled with strange metal sculptures a large black rug made of rubbery material. It looked as if this hall was interesting and might lead to danger Muri thought. Umans told Muri that they should quickly proceed down this hall since there were no Lis members around. Muri hesitantly agreed. They walked briskly past the eerie, lucid metal sculptures of monsters, like the monsters Muri had been warned of. Muri associated with the Lis members with these statues and began to feel a sense of foreboding about the Lis clan. He wondered if these frightening creatures portrayed might be somehow aligned with the Lis'. His curiosity awakened, he asked Umans, "Do these monsters really exist here on Itinerum?
"No," replied Umans, "But the Lis people make these ugly sculptures and scatter them around the planet to frighten visitors and to please themselves. They are evil people who worship these pagans, and the figures represent the evil destruction. Then if the plants are very important to their evil. The storage place must be filled with guards," said Muri.
"Yes. Let us find the storage place first before we deal with the patrol guards," said Umans. At the end of the hall was a sprawling doorway with the door fully opened. Muri opened took peek inside the room and saw a room with many guards in front of a large round steel door. Umans and Muri decided that they had already found the vault. Umans told the clan to follow him, and so everyone walked briskly through the main chamber, through the sculpture hall and stopped before the open door to what they thought was the storage room, and on Uman's command, the clan rushed in and by pure force surprised and took captive the fifteen or so guards there, and with a loud shriek, the pink beams dissipated, and the lock was broken. Umans and his clan and Muri now knew the hardest part was ahead.
Muri said, "I hope we can find the plants without another encounter like that one." Umans replied, "Let us hope that they convocate for meetings. We will stealthily try to infiltrate their mansion to find the storage plant inside. I was hoping that the storage plant was outside, but apparently it is in this mansion."
"Let you and I go ahead to find the plant, and leave the others behind to make sure the guards keep quiet," Muri said. "You are right, Muri. We would jeopardize the hope of getting the plants if we brought everyone along. We will get them all after when we have found the location of the plants. My clan will help us bring the plants back to the speeders. I think that there will be about one hundred plants in here since the plants are extremely rare. With the molecular quantity needed, however, of the plant extract, there will be enough to cure all the people in the many worlds of the Metuoso disease, including yourself and you father, "said Umans. Muri said, "Yes."
At the end of the hall was a sprawling doorway with the door fully opened. Muri took a peek inside the room and saw a room with many guards in front of a large round steel door. Umans and Muri decided that they had already found the vault. Umans told the clan to followed him, and so everyone walked briskly through the main chamber, through the sculpture hall and stopped before the open door to what they thought was the storage place. On Umans' command, the clan rushed in and by pure force surprised and took captive the fifteen or so guards on patrol. Umans shut the door behind him and gathered all the defeated guards together. Umans' clan quickly put electronic cuffs on the guards, and Umans told the guards not to say a sound if they wanted to get out of their situation alive.
At his imploring, the chief guard told him that this was the safe where they kept the sanus plant. Umans used the same electronic device to disable the glowing pink beams across the steel door. It took three men to open the door, and inside was a large greenhouse, where it was sunny and the Sanus plants seemed to gleam in the sunlight. Each man took one plant, and they briskly brought the plants to the speeders. In less than five minutes, the clan had taken all of the plants without any other Lis clan members seeing them.
Umans told Muri that although the the guards they had met were Lis clan members, that they were less skilled at the Saber than the higher level members. Muri and Umans' clan could not have infiltrated the Lis mansion at a better time. They had the speeders filled with plants, and none of the Lis clan sped quickly away from the Lis mansion with the Sanus plants.

Part II: Star Knight Headquarters

Once accepted into the academy, Muri found from an instructor that he would have to pass the saber and fighter tests. He would have a month to study for the two tests. Thankfully, the first tests he would take would be the easiest ones because he was in his first year at the academy. He studied hard for his tests by flying a fighter ship through maneuvers and by dueling with other men with his saber. He became good at both, and his childhood training in these things helped him. He had learned to fly and fight at a young age, and he was confident that he would pass his tests. He was told that after his first first set of tests, he would have, in another month, the first academic tests. Muri found some friends who were as motivated as he was, and he found companionship exciting.
Muri challenged himself to excel for the tests. He often went on training runs in a simulator, and he had duels whenever he could set them up. Muri was told later on that his first test would involve a risky one-week mission to another planet. He was tired of hard missions because he had just got back from Itinerum, but he realized that the mission would test his own skill. Muri's instructor, Cron, told him that he would have to destroy a military base where there were lethal bombs being built that would destroy entire populations from the gas that was emitted from one. Cron told Muri that the former training in flying a Clip ship would be sufficient for the mission, but that he would be greatly challenged. Cron had watched Muri train and had thought Muri had sufficient skills to pull off a mission.
So, Muri soon found himself in a Clip fighter, headed for a nearby planet to destroy a nearby military base. He knew he would have to evade some tough fire from the ground missiles. If he flew low enough, he could evade the enemies' detection systems and could quickly blow up the base so that he could avoid any deadly space combat against the enemy fighters. On his Clip fighter, he had three of the most powerful M-bombs and six air-to-air torpedos with which to blow up the enemy fighters with. He would use one or two M-bombs to destroy the enemy base, and then he hoped to get back to headquarters quickly.
On his way to the planet, he psyched himself up for the mission. He knew that it would not be easy to evade the enemy entirely, and he expected some problems to occur. Namely, he may have to avoid ground fire and some aircraft missiles. His Clip fighter was built with defensive electronic armor, but it would not be able to stop a direct missile hit from destroying the entire ship. Muri had trained for an incident like this occurring, but it was frightening how close in the simulator he had come to having himself destroyed by a computerized missile. Now, he would have to face real missiles and possibly real fighters. The enemy fighters were similar Muri's Clip and were called Mals.
Muri was told that the enemy base possessed some skilled pilots, and he was told to use avoidance instead of trying to combat them. This mission was dangerous, but Muri was given it to prove his worth for being a Star Knight. Before governing great cities, a Star Knight would have to prove himself in carrying out dangerous missions to prove his bravery. Muri could have declined the dangerous mission, but he wanted to complete his objective of becoming a Star Knight, and he would risk his life to do so.
Coming up on the nearby planet called Apar, Muri relaxed himself, feeling that too much excitement would rile his nerves and pulled onto the surface. Cruising across the purple water, he thought he would reach the base in ten minutes. So far, no radar had picked up his initial entry onto Apar. Muri armed his M-bombs so that at a flick of the switch one would drop. Before he dropped the M-bombs, he had to have the base locked on in his combat computer. Muri, however, was prepared for any size of the base and knew that he could not hope for an easy mission. In five minutes, he came upon some mountainous terrain. He tried to stay low to avoid the enemy radar. His computer soon showed that there was the base a couple minutes ahead of him. At that moment, however, he took his eye off of the terrain and skipped too high over a mountain edge. Indicated that he had been seen by radar, a yellow light above his windshield flashed monotonously.
Muri immediately turned his fighter on to maximum speed, and cruised above the mountain tops. He could now go full speed since he had already been seen by enemy radar, and he rose above the mountains to avoid the treacherous mountain peaks. When he reached the base, he saw enemy fighters on the runway taking off.

Part III: The Interstellar Confrontation

Muri returned to headquarters on Riel and presented his audio and visual recordings. He passed his mission, and his instructor, Mir, praised him on his work. Muri now had to take his other tests. For three days, he studied often to pass the tests. When the day came for the tests, he did pass and he was good position to move on to the second half of the year at Star Knight Headquarters. For the second half of the year, Muri was asked to participate in a dangerous mission from the other men of the academy and from the space army of Riel. The mission was to destroy a huge, hostile star ship, which was seen pirating goods from innocent civilians on different planets.
This juggernaut had to be destroyed, and the Riel army thus was chosen to destroy the star ship. For Muri, the meeting with a huge star ship would mean valuable combat experience going into battle with the many fighters on the star ship. Muri decided to accept the mission, and he was told if he was successful in destroying enemy fighters, which would be seen on the video monitor on his Clip fighter, then he would get credit for passing a maneuvering test he would need to take in the second half of his year.
Muri was told that the star ship's name he would attack is Turpis. There would be about fifty enemy fighters on Turpis that would be used in defending Turpis, and Muri would be involved in fighting with them. The Riel army was going to send fifty fighters, and there would be ten members of the five hundred member Star Knight headquarter's team going to fight; Muri was one of the ten.
Muri was to rendezvous with the Riel fighters tomorrow at mid-day and then proceed to the Turpis, which was located in the same star system. To prepare for the mission, which would likely last until nighttime tomorrow, Muri meditated on his past adventures and realized that he was gaining some valuable experience, which he needed to become a Star Knight. Muri reflected on the danger he faced in getting the Sanus plant and with the man-gorilla.
He stayed with souls called the Ne's. Their house was small, but it had a separate bedroom for Muri, and he went to his room to rest for a short time and then told the family kindly that he had to discover some different landscapes for his class. The Ne's understood, and Muri went out on his buggy away from the white hills and the small village. He noticed from the village that it did not have the same technology and as good government as the Space Knight headquarters, but from the generosity of the Ne's, he discovered that even on an unsophisticated planet there were very kind and benign people. He felt happy to be staying with the Ne's and looked forward to a hearty home-cooked meal of carrots and cabbage. For now, however, Muri had to search for different landscapes on Ania.
As he got closer to the mountains, they seemed to grow in countenance. Currently, on the way to the mountains, he was on a dirt path with gray trees surrounding him on all sides. There was nothing to see in the forest except to notice that it existed. The mountains, however, had separate paths where one could notice strange birds and herds of the big mountain goats. Also, Mir told him to beware of the huge man-like gorilla beasts that had their home in the mountains.
Muri stopped at the foot of the mountains and saw four rocky trails diverging from his forest path. He looked at the signs for each path that read, "Path 1. Most scenic path where one can look easily all the way to the white hills of the space port. This path is, however, dangerous because of the existence of man-gorillas." Without looking at the other signs, Muri decided to risk his life to see the view for his biology video, as his buggy was powerful enough to climb the hilly and rocky terrain that led into the mountains. On a high peak, Muri saw a lush valley of green in the distance. At the same time, however, he looked to his side and noticed a man-gorilla in a carved-out side of the cliff. The man-gorilla roared, warning Muri to stay away from the man-gorilla's lair. Although the man-gorilla was intellectually primitive, it was able to make its own lair and tools, and was far superior to Muri. The man-gorilla was covered in beige-fur, and it was twice the height and width of Muri. It lifted up a stone and threw it at Muri, who ducked just in time to escape.
Although the man-gorilla was intellectually primitive, it was able to make its own lair and tools and was far physically superior to Muri. The man-gorilla was covered in beige fur, and it was twice the height and width of Muri. It lifted up a stone and threw it at Muri. Muri ducked just in time to avoid a blow, and the stone shattered on a wall of stone behind him. The man-gorilla roared and charged at Muri. Evidently, Muri thought, this man-gorilla would not like to be communicated with. Muri turned his buggy on to full speed and raced away from the man-gorilla. The man-gorilla was surprisingly fast, but Muri's buggy soon put the man-gorilla in the distance. Muri was skillful enough to avoid the steep mountain drops on the trail and was able to avoid hitting the side of the mountain. Muri's encounter with the man-gorilla prompted him to speed as fast as he could down the side of the mountain with his heart racing from the encounter.
He reached a valley of gardens raising yellow and orange plants. Muri was happy to finally be away from the mountains, and he laughed aloud as he walked through the lush gardens. He did not eat the fruit, though, as the owner of the gardens would not want anyone to steal his fruit. The recorder on the buggy was recording him walking through the gardens. The plants were fifteen feet high, and Muri could almost climb up the branches. The fruits were the biggest that Muri had ever seen. Muri noticed that the plants with the fruits on them were all in neat rows, and there was was wooden supports for miles around holding the plants up.
Muri wondered who owned these lush gardens. Curious, Muri hopped on his buggy and drove around the gardens and noticed a large triangular glass house coming before him. There was a man in front of the large house. In front of the house was a small garden with a variety of plants that attracted Muri. "Hello," Muri said, "I am on assignment from Star Knight headquarters, and I am noting down the wonderful variety of plants and fruits you have on my recorder. My name is Muri."
"My name is Carpov," Carpov replied, "I own all of these gardens. Thank you for praising them. I am able to maintain this large, unbreakable glass house with the income that these gardens generate. Would you like to try a piece of fruit on me?
"Sure. I am eager for an early snack," Muri.
Carpov plucked a large yellow fruit called the Gorga from his garden and handed it to Muri. Muri took a large bite from the fruit, and juice spilled on his clothes. "I will need to return to my village now, as it is getting late. Thank you, Carpov, for the brief pleasure of your company," Muri.
Muri turned his buggy around from the huge glass house, and he rode past the gardens, through the mountains, through the forest, and to the village in time for supper with the Ne's. He told them of his adventures, and he enjoyed the Ne's warm hospitality and the great cabbage. The Ne's found that although they were not wealthy, studying for his academic tests were essential, which would be in one month's time.
Even though Muri thought about having a less dangerous life, he realized that becoming a Star Knight was filled with perilous challenges, which he would have to overcome. He was happy in his desire to become a Star Knight, and he knew that he would feel satisfied with achieving things in the time ahead. His goal to become a Star Knight, however, was not a guarantee that he would become one.
One project he had to do was to stay with a family for two days on the planet Ania. His project was for Intergalactic Biology, and at Ania he was to record the landscapes and things he saw on a camera attached to his buggy. Also, he was to record conversations with the people on Ania with a disc recorder. His biology instructor told him Ania was not a highly explored planet and that the people there were working class. The instructor, named Mir, told Muri that there were many great sights to see and that the family he would stay at night with was kind.
Muri pulled up his fighter and looked at his combat computers, which indicated that the fighter was now on his tail. Muri's instincts now came into play, and he pulled down quickly and put his air brakes on, sending the enemy Mal ahead of him. Muri quickly sped up to chase the Mal. Muri could not be in combat long because he had a fuel leak. He would have to destroy the Mal quickly and then return to headquarters before his gas ran out. Muri locked on to the Mal and fired a torpedo. The Mal, however, had pulled up into the sky and let a flare loose, enough of a maneuver to evade Muri's torpedo.
Muri pulled up with the Mal and locked on the target again. Sensing that the Mal would make a similar defensive move, Mal guessed where the location of the Mal would soon be and fired two torpedos, one at where the Mal now was and the other at a higher location. The Mal pulled up and let loose a flare, diverting one torpedo away from it, but the other torpedo was close to the Mal and hit it dead on. Muri had no time to celebrate, however, as he barely had enough fuel to return to headquarters. Muri turned on his navigation systems and let the autopilot bring him into base in a way which would conserve the most fuel. He had no Mal fighters to fear from the rest of the Apar since the rest of the planet was mostly bare with only a few peaceful nations inside. Muri knew that he had rid the planet of the only military base it had.
Muri did reach Star Base headquarters, where a group of instructors had been waiting for him to congratulate him and to comfort him. The instructors had been watching from a camera inside the Clip ship and had seen all of the Muri moves. Muri was glad to have passed his first test in the fighter. His own particular instructor, named Sapio, said that he would not have to take the saber test due to his past training. So, Muri had passed his first two tests. Muri knew that he would have many challenges ahead of him at the Star Knight headquarters, and he immediately got to work.
Then he lifted off from Riel's space sport at a most quiet nighttime airport, where it was dark and where the subdued but practical and bright lights on the runway were about 25 feet off the serene, absent, peaceful, empty, tarmac, and he knew he would have to go into space with the Negs enemy fighters- like he knew from playing Afterburner II at arcades.
Muri saw the Negs coming toward them, and he prepared to lock on to the Neg that was closest to him. As a Neg approached, he locked on to it and fired. The Neg deployed an anti-torpedo device, and Muri's torpedo followed the device into space, leaving the Neg untouched. Muri then quickly pulled up to avoid any lock that the Neg would get on him. One hundred and ten ships were now locked into combat; fortunately, there was so much confusion that the star ship could not use any of its own firepower to destroy the Riel army or the Star Knight fighters because they did not want to destroy the Negs.
With much persistence, Muri pulled closer to the Neg and got a lock and fired a torpedo and also fired his gamma cannon. The torpedo and gamma blasts hit the Neg fighter and destroyed it. Muri then dodged the wreckage and set his sights on another Neg fighter.
Currently, there was a Neg fighter that Muri saw fly by chasing a Clip fighter. Muri quickly followed the Neg and got a lock on and fired both the torpedo and gamma cannon at it. The Neg evaded the torpedo with its anti-torpedo device, but the gamma blasts considerably weakened the Neg's shields; the Neg swerved to the right to evade a Muri Clip fighter, and over the radio Muri heard, "Thanks, future Star Knight, you just saved my life." Muri replied to the Clip fighter, who was from the Riel Army, "No problem soldier, I am glad to help you out."
It was apparent to Muri that he could defeat the Negs with persistence, but he also sensed that the Negs were a real threat to him. There were now twenty Clips left, who were dispensing with about the ten Negs that were left. Muri had lost two of his friends in the battle and wondered if becoming a Star Knight was worth losing friends over. He was deeply hurt by the loss, and he attacked a Neg with concentration and vigor. Soon, all of the Negs were gone, and there were still twenty Clip fighters left. The commander said to all of the Clip ships, "Now it is time to attack the huge star ship. Watch out for its two huge laser cannons. One is knocked out, but the others work. Let's go now."
The Clip entourage moved in and quickly unloaded all of their Epsilon bombs on to the Turpis in places that were not already being destroyed. Muri saw the Clips near him attack the middle of the star ship, and he attacked the front of it with a few other Clip fighters. In one sweep, the Clips had dropped sixty Epsilon bombs on the Turpis that destroyed the entire star ship. There was a huge ball of fire that lit up the air around the Clips, but that did not reach in time to hurt their ships. The Riel army commander gave the word for the Star Knight trainees to return to headquarters with the ten remaining Clips belonging to the Star Knight trainees. Muri was congratulated by Mir, and he was able to skip the required ship maneuvering exercises because the video camera on his Clip had shown his good moves and his intellect in the battle.
Having completed an entire half-year at headquarters, now Muri found himself as completing part of the second half of the year. Muri got a week's rest at headquarters before starting on his next academic pursuits. Mir, his personal instructor for the year, told him that after the week was over, then he would have a lot of hard studying and difficult academic projects to do. Muri decided that with the week, he would look around Star Knight headquarters more and to get to know some of his fellow trainees. Each trainee had his own instructor, and each instructor had let them all off for a week, stressing that they should find recreation for themselves. Muri wanted to meet some fellow Star Knight trainees.

Part IV: Muri Finds Friendship at Star Knight Headquarters

Star Knight headquarters is a big place, and Muri finally had the time to use some of what it offered in terms of sports and recreation facilities. First he went to the large restaurant, where he thankfully met up with people that he had met. Muri sat down with them as they were eating ice cream and bananas.
"Muri, I hear that you got into a rough battle with the Neg fighters. I am sorry about our friends that were killed in the melee. Anyway, do you want some ice cream?" said Abona, a slim man who was twenty-four year old and almost through with the Star Knight academy. "Sure," replied Muri, "It is terrible how our friends got killed. The mission was dangerous, and they knew the risks; they were brave to have gone. The Turpis had been destroying nearby ships, and we had no choice but to destroy. The ship would not listen to reason, and remained hostile to all people. Did you ever have such a dangerous mission here, Abona?"
"Once we had a nasty fight with skilled fighter ships called Pugs. I almost was killed when a Pug hit me with a torpedo. I managed to get out of its way just in time. Remember that battle, Ben?" Abona replied.
Ben said, "Yes. The Pegs were hostile fighters that would plunder goods from innocent ships, kind of like the Turpis, only the Pugs had more skilled pirates. We both managed to have survived the war and had actually won it. Danger must be accepted to be a Star Knight. Many people with criminal minds do not like the power Star Knights hold, and they would like to assassinate them. There is always danger with becoming a Star Knight."
Muri and the trainees talked for about a half hour before Muri decided to seek out the sports mansion, which he had been wanting to visit but had not had the time with his various missions and academics. He had found out from his fellow friends that every year they were put on about two dangerous missions to help clear the galaxy of criminals. Muri had already been on two missions and had gained valuable combat experience. Muri knew that before entering the Star Knight academy, one had to be well trained in saber fighting and in Clip fighter maneuvring.
One had to have started flying early to be able to gain entrance into the Star Knight headquarters because you had to be trained to go on the dangerous missions your instructors sent you on. Becoming a Star Knight, one had to know before entering the headquarters, is a dangerous profession, which is not for everyone. Muri found the sports mansion and found a track, weights, laser ping-pong courts, and a hoopball court. Since he was alone, he decided to go back to his quarters, change into running clothes, and then run on the indoor track. When he got back to his quarters, he unfortunately caught someone who had broken into his room. The man had Muri's wallet in his pocket and had all of Muri's money in his hand.
The man put Muri's money in his pocket and tackled Muri before Muri could say anything. Muri yelled "Stop!" The man rushed out and away from Muri's room. Muri ran after the thief and kept following the thief through the quarters of the Star Knight trainees. The thief struggled against the runner's full nelson hold. Muri got to the thief and said, "Who are you and why did you come into my room and steal my wallet and money?" "Shut up!" the man said, "I am not going to tell you anything." "How can you, a future Star Knight have the audacity to steal. This incident will be reported to my instructor Mir. You will go before the court and will likely be kicked out of this academy." "I do not care about any rules!" the man replied.
The runner took back Muri's wallet and money from the thief. Muri and the runner took the thief to Mir, whom would find a way to punish the thief. Muri was surprised that anyone that was accepted to be at the Star Knight academy could possibly steal his wallet. Muri and the runner, who introduced himself to Muri as Cursus, held the man tightly and brought him to Muri's quarters, which was close to the athletic center. Muri knew the man, and said, "How could you do this, Ifiro. You were to graduate next year from headquarters." Muri and the runner let Ifiro loose, and Ifiro replied, "I do not know why I did it, but I feel bad for doing it now. I should not have stolen Muri's wallet, for that was wrong." Mir said to Muri and Cursus, "Please go now. Ifiro and I will discuss his standing to remain here at the headquarters any longer."
Muri and Cursus left Mir's quarters, and Muri was in disbelief because he had never thought any future Star Knight could have been so bad as to have taken his belongings. I guess there are bad seeds everywhere. One had to have started flying early to be able to gain entrance into the Star Knight headquarters because you had to be trained to go one the dangerous missions your instructors sent you on. Becoming a Star Knight, one had to know before entering the headquarters, is a dangerous profession, which is not for everyone.
Muri thought he heard the swooshing sound of a waterfall. Cursus heard the sound, also, and said, "Let's investigate and go forward to see what the sound really is. It does not seem to be a danger." The light from the sunlight outside was getting dimmer as Cursus and Muri descended into the cave, but there were halogen torches put alongside the dirt walls of the cave to light up the way. Still, Muri could see no end to the cave. The noise got louder, and as they approached a curve in the cave, they could tell that they were close to what sounded like the waterfall. They turned the corner and saw ahead of them a huge room, where there was a small waterfall high above them. Water splashed down to the ground, and there was small river that was flowing through part of the room. Muri took out his pocket video camera and recorded the waterfall.
The cave continued in a corridor on the other side of the river, and Muri and Cursus decided to move over the river where the water was not falling. They noted that there must be some water source above the ground that fed the waterfall, which in turn fed this underground river, which flowed through this room in the cave and further to the left and right of them underground. Since they dared not to swim into the two corridors where the river flowed, they decided to walk into the dry corridor on the other side of the large room.
As they waded through the water, Muri said, "This is cold water. We must not venture too far into the cave, for we have our dinner in the Clip fighter. Hopefully, we can get back to the ship without passing by those deceitfully innocent pink flowers. Hopefully, our compass will lead us safely back to the ship once we depart from this cave. I noted that the ship is due South of the entrance of the cave." Cursus answered, "We should explore for a little more and if we do not find anything as majestic as this waterfall, we will head back."
Before entering the cave, Cursus and Muri looked back on the high waterfall with awe, and Muri was hoping even to see a human in these caves. They could only see for about fifty feet down this corridor, for it turned to the right. They followed the corridor and took a right, which led them descending downwards and straight. Muri and Cursus had a feeling that there was something living to be found ahead, and they began to be afraid but very curious as to what they might find. Muri said, "Cursus, I have a feeling that we will meet up with something magnificent and something which we have not ever experienced before. Let's hope that we do not run into something that will be dangerous." Cursus replied, "I also feel that there is some being or a piece of nature ahead..."