The lights gleamed hot. Cameras danced like dragonflys through the evening light. I could see a pale moon in the sky. The crowd roared when David and I appeared. Apparently we were doing something right. Most of the crowd was pulling for us.

Father K's platform appeared from the stands. It circled around us and the remaining contestants. The crowd screamed and yelled when it saw the dynamic Father K who bowed and preened for the crowd.

"Welcome to Round Two of the Temple of Trials," Father K shouted into his microphone.

The crowd roared and rose to its feet. Father K's platform circled the arena.

"In first place, we have the mercenary team from Alpha Draconis."

The Dra Khan warriors bowed. They looked fierce. I rememberd fighting the Grimm Dra Khan warriors in the shadows of the UN library back on Earth. These were the real thing. In many ways they resembled Romano. Tall and muscular with extensive weapons: blaster rifles, vibro swords, and plasma grenades, the Dra Khanian mercenarys looked to be equipped for any situation.

"In second place, we have the prisoners from Rigel Seven," Father K pointed out a tall humanoid with horns on its head and an insectile creature that resembled a huge wasp. The crowd roared its approval.

"And finally in third place, the Blackstone Rangers of Earth," Father K said and pointed at me and David. The crowd did a combination of roaring and jeering. I gave them the finger.

"Maybe that will help us in the rankings," I said to David.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure it helped," David said.

"Well, it seems one of our young lovers isn't happy today," Father K said. He pointed at the video monitors in the stadium which showed David and I kissing in our cell. I blushed and looked at David who didn't seem to be too happy about it either. The crowd hooted and laughed at us. I should have known that our every move was being monitored. That was the last time I would make a mistake like that again.

"The next round of the Temple of Trials begins tonight! Where will our contestants go? Stay tuned to find out because the action begins right now!" Father K said.

Jump Doors opened in front of us. David and I looked at each other.

"I wonder what happens if we refuse to go?" I said.

"Do you really want to stick around and find out?" David said.

"Not really."

"The only way out is up, Grant. We've got to win this thing if we ever want to get back to Earth. Let's go," David said and jumped through the shimmering portal.

I shook my head. There were times when David really got on my nerves and this was one of those times. I jumped after him.

I landed or rather splashed down into freezing black water. A thousand needles stabbed my body until my Ranger Jumpsuit compensated for the temperature. I kicked for the surface.

I broke through to frigid Arctic air and sputtered trying to catch my breath. David was treading water near to me.

"Keep moving," he shouted, "Our jumpsuits respond to motion."

"Thanks for the suggestion," I shouted back.

I looked around and spotted a small boat bobbing in the ocean current.

"Over there!" I shouted to David.

We kicked for the boat, and finally made it. David and I climbed aboard and tried to dry ourselves. Being out of the water wasn't much better. A cold wind blew across the water, chilling me to the bone. If it wasn't for our Ranger Jumpsuits we both would probably have died from exposure. I could feel the Jumpsuit struggling to warm us.

"Come here, Grant," David said and pulled me toward him. We hugged each other and shivered in the cold. That's when a Jump Door opened and a camera shot through. It zoomed in on us. A holographic projection of Father K emerged.

"Look at the young lovers. It seems they just can't get enough of each other." Father K sneered.

This was the last thing I wanted. I hated the cold and now to be broadcast in front of how many millions of viewers, was more than I could imagine. I shrieked in anger, grabbed my razor phone and shot a full volley of photon blasts at the image until David grabbed my hand.

"Don't give him the satisfaction, Eliza," David said through chattering teeth.

"That's quite all right, young man. Your little relationship has raised the stakes and our ratings. Keep up the good work. Now if you want to win this round, I suggest you find me the gold tusk of a Denebian Walkrus. You have two days, young rangers. Keep up the great work!" Father K said and the holographic projection winked out.

"The golden tusk of a Denebian Walkrus?" I said.

David consulted his razor phone, "First things first. We've got to get out of this cold. The temperature is going to drop another fifty degrees by nightfall and I'm afraid this boat isn't going to cut it. We've got to find shelter quick or we won't make it. Help me scan."

David and I scanned with our razor phones. From the data, I got back it seemed to be that we were in the Arctic region of an Earth like planet. The ocean extended for thousands of miles and the only land mass was hundreds of miles to the south. However, I did detect a large object only one mile to the North.

"Ross, are you picking this up, too?" I said.

David looked at the readout on his phone, "Got it. It seems to be some kind of ship. It doesn't seem to be moving. That looks like our best bet. It's only a mile or so I think we can make it."

The little boat had an outboard motor attached to it. David activated it and it sputtered to life. David grabbed the motor's handle and we moved off to the North. It was a freezing ride. Large icebergs filled the vast frozen sea and a cold wind blew across the waters, chilling us to the bone. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity we approached the object. It was a tremendously large rusting freighter that listed on its side. It was so large that it reminded me of the gigantic oil tankers of Earth.

David motored our little boat right up to the side of the hulking wreck.

I looked up the side of the freighter. It seemed to be a mile up the side.

"Will our grappling lines reach that far?" I said to David.

"Only one way to find out," David said and reached for his Etheric knife.

Grappling lines shot out of our Etheric knives and streaked up towards the deck. They latched on. We attached them to our belts and shot up the side of the rusted freighter. Finally we reached the deck and climbed over the side.

The deck sloped to the side. It did indeed look like this was some kind of derelict oil tanker. Rusted pipes and equipment sprawled across the massive deck. Way at the other end of the ship was a small building that was probably the pilot house. David and I made our way across the slippery deck until we reached the pilot house. We stepped inside.

The pilot house was abandoned. The computers were dead and the equipment looked like it hadn't been used in a hundred years or more. I shivered. The whole place was spooky beyond belief.

"At least we're out of the wind. This should shield us from the elements enough for our Jumpsuits to keep us warm," David said.

"Now we just need to find the golden tusk from the walkrus or whatever it's called." I said.

David found a rusting metal can. He shot a laser beam from his razor phone until it glowed white hot. We gathered around it and held our hands out to the glowing warmth. It felt so good to be out of the cold.

"I don't think I've ever been this cold before in my life," I said and held my hands closer to the can.

"I have. Training in Antarctica. We didn't have our Jump Suits, either. That was rough," David said.

"We've got no food or water, either."

"This ship has got to have a galley. Maybe we can find some food and water there."

I looked around the pilot house. This ship looked like it was over a hundred years old. "Are you kidding. This rusting hulk is older than Colonel Nash. Any food we find has got to have spoiled by now."

"Well the water filtration system might still be good. Let's check it out."

The prospect of wandering around this rusty derelict hulk of a ship wasn't exactly appealing, but we at least needed water and we hadn't eaten in hours. The moldy bread and protein bar I had on the desert planet wasn't enough to sustain us for long. Rangers were trained to go without food but we had our limits.

David and I set off into the bowels of the ship. We wandered down a long flight of stairs. David checked his razor phone constantly, but something interfered with his readings. Finally, we came to a crude galley. We looked in the stores and found some hard biscuits of some kind. David and I gnawed away at them.

"I guess this is better than nothing," I said as I wolfed down one of the biscuits.

"Beggars can't be choosers," David said as he chewed.

"How's the water filtration system?"

David scanned the machine with his razor phone. "It should still work."

David turned the faucet on and water came out. We eagerly drank from it. The water tasted great, cool and refreshing. I didn't realize how thirsty I was.

"I keep expecting everything to be boobytrapped or something," I said.

"They don't have time to think of everything," David said.

"The Hunters have got to be coming after us eventually."

"They've got to rest sometime."

I finished my biscuit and sat down on a wooden crate. "Father K said we've got to get a golden tusk from a Walkrus. Can you please tell me what a Walkrus is?"

David tapped a button on his razor phone and a holographic image popped out that showed a large grey mammal that resembled a walrus except that it had golden tusks.

"They're highly prized for their golden tusks. They're supposed to be protected by InterGalactic Law, but poachers still hunt them."

"So we're doing something highly illegal by hunting one of these things. There's got to be another way to get this golden tusk."

"I don't see any other way, Grant. Father K's put us in a bind here."

Father K obviously had something against animals. First, the dragon that he hauled off to a desert planet and left there and now an endangered species that we were supposed to butcher and take one of its golden tusks. This was a perfect reason to feed him to the Wend.

"Ross, I don't care what you say about bringing this Father K to justice. I'm personally going to take an interest in making him suffer."

"At this point, I'm beginning to agree with you." David said.

We spent the night in the derelict freighter. I was constantly on edge expecting hunters to attack at any moment. Sleep was almost impossible. Even below decks it was still icy cold. I thanked the heavens for my Ranger Jumpsuit that kept me warm.

The next day, David and I emerged above deck to find a clear blue sky. The ocean stretched for miles in every direction, and huge icebergs filled the landscape. The sun was pale in the sky and did little to provide any warmth. David looked at his razor phone.

"The nearest continent is a hundreds of miles to the south. But I am showing a chain of small islands that are closer. We might as well start there," he said.

We rappelled down the side of the freighter and landed in the small boat. We had made sure to bring with us a sack full of biscuits and some canteens full of water. David revved up the motor and we set off for the islands.

After traveling for what seemed like hours, we finally got to the islands. Weird looking birds swooped and dove through the air. There on the beach were hundreds of the walkrus creatures. They raised a deafening din of noise, barking and carrying on. The creatures were kind of cute and reminded me of the walrus I had seen on the National Geographic Channel. Gold tusks flashed in the sunlight.

David pulled the boat up to the beach. We jumped out. The walkrus creatures didn't even move or seem to care that we were there.

"David, we can't do this. What are we going to do just saw off one of these poor creature's tusks with our etheric knife?"

David thought for a moment. "Yes, that's exactly what we're going to do."

I stopped dead in my tracks, "Well, I'm not going through with it."

"Eliza, I know this is hard for you, but we've got a greater duty to perform."

"And that's what? Don't say bringing Father K to justice, or I'll punch you in the mouth."

"That's exactly what we've got to do. Stop this whole damn Temple of Trials in the first place. As Rangers we're sworn to uphold the law and protect the weak."

"David, don't you see. We are protecting the weak. These creatures are almost extinct. We've got to save them from-"

Suddenly, a photon blast knocked me off my feet. I fell to the ground stunned.

David spun around. Approaching from the ocean were half a dozen power boats. Energy bolts streamed from them and crashed onto the shore. The walkrus creatures cried out in fear and made for the ocean.

"Poachers!" David dove to one side and fired back with his razor phone.

I struggled to my feet, but I was still groggy from the blast. Soon we were surrounded by the poachers, who leapt off their power boats. A tall human poacher with a wicked scar running down the side of his face and a jaunty grin stepped forward.

"What do we have here? A bunch of kids. Is that what the gaming commission is sending to protect the gold tusks?"

David stepped forward, "My name is David Ross and this is Eliza Grant. We're both Blackstone Rangers of Earth. We've been abducted by Father K and forced to compete in The Temple of Trials. We need to get a message to Earth. Can you help us?"

The tall poacher laughed. It was a chilling sound. "I'm Dax. These are my men. I've heard of the Blackstone Rangers and frankly I'm not impressed. Right now, you're getting in the way of me making my living."

"I promise you we can pay double what you would have made from harvesting the Walkrus tusks," David said.

The poachers laughed. Dax motioned them to be quiet.

"I'm sure you could, kid, but I've got customers who are expecting some gold tusks tonight and they get a little upset with me when I don't deliver. My good name is on the line here," Dax said.

The cold fury of the Wend rose up in me. I was still groggy, but all these indignities that David and I had suffered were too much and now I had to deal with this smug bastard of a poacher.

"I'll kill you!" I screamed and leaped at Dax.

"Eliza, No!" David yelled and jumped to stop me. Half a dozen photon blasts greeted us and both David and I slumped to the ground unconscious.

To Be Continued

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