Chapter 130: Imprisoned

Omar looked at Eyad and saw him sitting with his hand on his face, his features troubled, his face pale and despondent. It was clear that he was in a terrible conflict with himself. Omar said in a calm tone, trying to hide his tension, "If this is the truth, then we bear you no ill will. Can you get us out of here now? We want to go to Atlantis 2 to reveal the truth to the humans, and to find out why the leaders did this! It may have something to do with freeing you from this Gaia. Perhaps this Athenos fled to planet Earth to get you help, and it has indeed come."The old man replied in a trembling voice, "Then why did they deceive you?"

"I really don’t know! But the main reason may be to avoid panic or so that we would not refuse to enter a war that we have nothing to do with. Perhaps deception was the best way to make us fight Gaia. If you asked me if I wanted to go to another planet to fight with alien creatures against one of their own who has advanced and deadly robots, of course I would have refused, and I would have even scoffed at the idea." Fresh chapters posted on ????????????????????•????????????????•????????????

Everyone seemed convinced by what he said, and this was because they could not find any other convincing explanation. Omar looked at Eyad and smiled for the first time since he had left Atlantis. "And that means, Eyad, that planet Earth is fine, and that we will return to it soon."

Eyad felt some relief when he heard this information. Although it was simple, it had not occurred to him because of the shocks he had just received. "That’s good news," Eyad said, his eyes overflowing with pain and sadness. "But returning to planet Earth will not be that simple. We will face a lot of trouble until we return home, and most importantly, we may be killed here."

Emotion overcame Omar’s voice as he said, "Don’t worry, we will return, I promise you this. And now, our esteemed ancestors, can you show us the way out of here and back up?"

The Astra looked at each other with skepticism, gathered together, and began to whisper and chatter among themselves. Omar put on his helmet and began to listen to what they were saying. He found that they suspected that he and Eyad were lying or that they were spies for Gaia, and that they had fabricated this whole story. But what shocked Omar was what the young one said, that Omar had killed his father. Omar remembered the creature he had killed before he came here, but he also remembered the death of his brother. This caused a volcano to erupt inside him, as these events had made him forget the death of his dear brother. He felt a flood of emotions attack and grip his heart, and he had barely managed to get rid of his turmoil from the effect of the truth he had learned.

The Astra continued to chatter among themselves, and it seemed that Minora was on the humans’ side and saw that they were peaceful and did not feel any aura of killing or evil coming from them.

The discussion ended with them deciding to free the humans. But the young one lost his temper and went to the door. He gave Omar a dark look that burned with anger. Omar felt some fear of what he might do, but he knew that he had more than enough justification for killing his father. But killing is killing in the end and has no convincing justification except in self-defense or in defense of one’s country and religion.

Jarin approached the cell and opened it with a smile to give them a sense of security. Both Eyad and Omar came out cautiously, expecting something to happen, but nothing did. The old man said with a bright face, "Welcome to your home."

The young one entered, panting, terror evident on his features. He screamed, "We are under attack! Oh my God, what are we going to do?!"

After the cover that was over the cell was removed, both Akira and Yousef saw strange robots looking at them. They did not resemble the robots that had attacked them, but somehow they seemed alive! They felt and reacted like humans, and their facial expressions were not rigid and cold. They were talking, joking, and laughing, and they looked as if they were scientists in their strange white coats.

Their faces were gray, but soft like human skin, not iron, and that is why you could see their facial expressions change, contract, relax, and change easily. And they had hair like humans. One of them had black hair, and the other was blond. They were speaking in a strange language that Akira and Yousef did not understand. Akira looked around to explore his surroundings and saw that he was in some kind of laboratory. There were many surgical tools, machines, computers, and vials inside which were unknown organs of creatures they did not recognize. Some of them were conducting tests on these strange creatures, and others were sitting at the computers and pressing buttons with boredom. The color white covered the laboratory and dominated it.

"What in God’s name is happening here?" Yousef whispered to Akira nervously.

"I don’t know. It seems that this is a testing laboratory for robots. But why do they look as if they have feelings like us?"

Yousef was silent for a moment, feeling terrified by what was happening, and began to stare at the place carefully. One of the robots noticed them and approached them with an artificial smile. He said some strange words to them. Akira and Yousef retreated to the end of the cage, frightened. The robot moved its hands as if to say, "Don’t be afraid." And suddenly, two others approached the cage. One of them was short with black hair styled back, and the other was a little taller than him and looked serious and strict.

They circled the cage to examine Yousef and Akira from all directions. The two young men felt tense and sharpened their senses in preparation for anything. Suddenly, the short one signaled to one of the guard robots to open the cage and grab them. The two guards approached the cage slowly and coolly. Akira signaled to Yousef to get ready to attack. But before the two guards could open the cage, a hatch opened in the ceiling, and another covered cage descended from it and settled on the ground. Then the cover was lifted from it. Akira was terrified by what he saw, while Yousef gasped. The cage contained a group of humans, young and old, male and female, of different colors and shapes.

"What is happening here?" Akira said, shocked, to Yousef in an emotional tone. "Are there humans who survived the catastrophe and were captured by the robots?"

"It’s possible," Yousef replied, unable to take his eyes off them. "There is no certain possibility that there are no humans outside of Atlantis. Maybe the machines caught them and performed the most heinous experiments on them. Maybe this explains the strange change in the behavior of some of the machines."

The humans in the cage continued to scream for help, and the children were crying, while the rest sat in tension and terror at what they were seeing. Akira called out to them, "You! What happened to you? Where did you come from?"

A man in his forties looked at him with a look overflowing with pain and sadness and said to him, "Are you from the guards who went out on the reconnaissance trip?"

"Yes, that’s right. But how do you know that? And what happened to you?"

"I know this because I saw you. And what happened to us... is that... that..."

The man fell silent, feeling that the words were failing him and that he could not get them out of his throat. Akira screamed at him, "Tell me what happened now!"

"Atlantis has fallen. The robots have taken control of it. They have killed thousands of humans and taken us hostage. It seems that Atlantis has been completely destroyed as we speak now."

The man’s words fell on Akira and Yousef like a thunderbolt. He grabbed the bars, screaming with emotion, "What?! Is what you’re saying true? You’re not deceiving me, are you? Tell me you’re not deceiving me, please!"

The man looked at him, pain wringing his heart and shaking his being. Some of the young men and women turned their gazes to Akira and Yousef and confirmed what the man was saying. Yousef asked them to tell them everything that had happened. They began to tell him everything they knew about the incident. The two young men’s turmoil grew, and they wished that the earth had split open for them before all this had happened. They had lost their leader, the robots had caught them, and now the worst news was the fall of Atlantis!

Suddenly, the two guards opened the humans’ cage and pulled out a young woman and a young boy. They screamed for help, but no one could help them. The scientists pulled the woman and the boy into another room. Everyone felt terrified of the unknown fate that awaited them.

Yousef and Akira continued to talk with the humans throughout the night about what had happened. The scientists did not return to the laboratory again, and the woman and the boy did not return either. Everyone expected that they had met their demise and that heinous experiments were now being performed on them. They were sure of it when they heard the sound of the woman’s screams echoing like thunder in the facility. They trembled, cried, and begged.

Night fell, and all the humans in the cage fell asleep. None of the robots were present in the laboratory except for the two guards, as all the robots working in the laboratory had left after they had closed all the devices and equipment.

The night cast its cloak on the sky, and darkness fell on the laboratory. The moonlight was the only light that filtered through the opening in the ceiling. Akira tried to use some of the equipment with him to get out of this cage, but it was impossible with the strange laser bars. And as Yousef was trying to try anything that might enable them to get out, the laboratory door suddenly opened. Their hearts pounded. And from the darkness, an unknown person slipped in, whom they could not see or recognize. He approached and stood in front of their cage.

"Hello, you humans!" he said, with an accent that was strange to the ear.