The Never War Read Online Free Page B

watching him.
    Even though I’m still trying to understand where we fit into this whole Traveler picture, there are a few things I know all too well. Mostly they have to do with our mission and with the guy who was standing before us in a hologram—Saint Dane.
    Halla is in danger because of him. Halla is everything—every territory, every person, every thing, and every time thatever existed. I know, it doesn’t make total sense to me, either, but that’s what I’ve been told. Saint Dane is a Traveler who wants to control Halla. In a word, he is evil. But simply calling him evil is like saying Tiger Woods is a good golfer. Saint Dane is the Tiger Woods of bad. He enjoys causing pain and suffering. I’ve seen what he’s capable of. It isn’t pretty. If he gets his way and somehow takes control of Halla, well, I don’t even want to think about that.
    The only thing standing between Saint Dane and his wicked plans are the other Travelers. That’s us. Every territory is reaching a critical turning point. Saint Dane is doing his worst to influence these important events so that each territory will fall into chaos. If he succeeds, then all of Halla will fall to him.
    We’ve got to make sure he doesn’t succeed.
    So far we are 2 and 0. Denduron and Cloral were wins. But it’s going to be a long war.
    As we stood staring at the hologram of Saint Dane, every fear I had about the guy came screaming back. He was one bad dude. I watched as his recorded image turned back toward the flume.
    â€œFirst Earth,” he commanded.
    An instant later the light and music swept him up and carried him into the tunnel. The image then faded out and the flume projection was gone. We were back in the dark.
    â€œNow do you understand?” the girl-head’s voice boomed out of the darkness. “He was here. He left. End of story. Now go away.”
    â€œWho are you?” I called out to the girl-head. “Why should we believe that?”
    Another hologram appeared before us. It was the same view of the flume as before. Again, the tunnel activated withlight and music. Who was going to arrive this time? A second later Spader and I watched as…
    Spader and I stepped out of the flume in the hologram!
    â€œI’ve gone totally off my nut,” Spader said in awe.
    â€œWhoa, Veelox is dark,” the projection of Spader declared.
    â€œYeah, no kidding,” the projection of me said. “Let’s wait a second for our eyes to adjust.”
    It was exactly what had happened a minute before.
    â€œMy name is Aja Killian,” boomed the head voice as our holograms disappeared.
    Spader and I spun around to see the big head had returned. It hovered over us like a blond cloud.
    â€œI’m the Traveler from Veelox,” she said. “I’ve got the flume monitored and I record everything that happens. That’s why I know Saint Dane isn’t here anymore. Any more questions?”
    â€œYes,” I said. “Would you please stop with this giant-head thing and show yourself? If you’re a Traveler, then we’re all friends here.”
    I was feeling a little more bold now, and getting tired of staring up at this girl.
    â€œI would,” Aja answered. “But I’m nowhere near you.”
    Spader said, “So you’re telling us that Saint Dane flumed in here for a second, then flumed right back out again?”
    â€œI’m not telling you,” she said curtly. “I just showed you. Don’t you believe what you see?”
    Spader looked at me and asked softly, “Why did he leave so fast?”
    â€œBecause he’s wasting his time here,” Aja answered quickly. “Veelox is totally under control.”
    I laughed and said, “Yeah, that’s what I thought about Cloral, until people started turning up dead.”
    â€œLook,” the Aja-head scolded. “Nobody comes or goes through the flume without my