Copyright © 2016

All rights to this publication are reserved. No part of this publication may be

copied, reproduced, transmitted or stored in any form or by any means

(including electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise) without prior

written permission of the Author.

Published by:

Top Advertising Pte Ltd

1014 Geylang East Ave 3 #07-210

Singapore 389729

ISBN: 978-981-11-0978-2

About the Author and a Message to all:

Benedict Kok

I am a 13 year-old author, who writes because

writing is…Fun! Well, I don’t think age matters when

you write books. It’s about the creativity,

imagination and put into it which counts. I have

started on nearly 7 Books before finally mustering

enough effort to complete 1, and that’s Invasion

2650. I hope this story will inspire others to write

too!

About the illustrator:

Benjamin Pan

Ben started doodling in his school books when he

was five years old, and realized he had the talent

when he received compliments instead of friendly

warnings on his “creative artwork". Completely self-

taught, Ben's artistic philosophy is to draw whatever,

whenever inspired, and has a passion for all things

Japanese, from manga and anime to the food and

language.

Special thanks to Klaus Tan, Ryan Chong and Chun

Meng for editing!

2

4

5

The Flashback

One moment I was in, the next, I was out… The

world around me was blank. My brain could not

process the possibilities of what had happened as

reality had been knocked out of me. Unending

darkness seemed to stretch out in all directions. I felt

lost. I felt empty. That was until a sudden shock of

cold icy water struck my body like electricity. My

body jerked up, with my eyes widened, and almost

instantly, the past came flooding back to me...

“John! Don't be such a sludge! Go out and play

with those friends of yours!” Mom shouted

across the spacious banquet hall. Mom was an

active person, with dark curly hair and eyes as of

an eagle. I knew I had no option. No matter

what, Mom would find out if I remained in the

house. Reluctantly, I stood up and trudged out of

the comfortable and cozy house. My house was

a huge mansion, dressed in a brilliant coat of

dazzling white paint, and topped with dozens of

eerie looking Gargoyles. Those with the sharp

piercing eyes and pointed vampire teeth. More

like a haunted house, you might think, but to me,

it was really, really beautiful. The sprawling

garden at the back yard added to the serene

6

backdrop. Making me leave the house was like

making me leave my computer games for a

week. But as I said, it would be worse if Mom

found out that I was still home.

In a matter of minutes, I had rounded up the

whole ‘gang’ of us. It consisted of my close

buddies, who were Betty, Shaun and Luke. The

four of us were as inseparable as if four sticks

bundled together with a tight rope. “Why don't

we have a challenge? Let's bring our new bikes

for a test run! Last one to the Nature Reserve

treats us to lunch!” Luke suggested with an evil

smirk spreading across his face. Up to the

challenge, we all agreed confidently in unison.

We mounted our shiny, speckless, stainless bikes

and set out in a matter of seconds. The race had

begun!

The bikes sped off, leaving a trail of dust behind.

Terrains changed as we entered the thickly

forested area and our surroundings were blur. I

felt like I was on a cheetah, slicing through the

air mindlessly. Turn left, turn right! Instructions

popped up in my mind as I made my way

towards the nature reserve. With strong pushes

of my legs, I finally closed in on Shaun just at the

7

last moment. For the grand finale, I skidded to a

stop, followed by Shaun, Luke and then Betty.

We had finally reached our end point. The usual

sight of the famous Nature Reserve greeted us

warmly with breath-taking flowers in a parade

of colours.

The swings were what most of us were eyeing.

Ever since they added those new swings at the

entrance, the four of us would always go for a

ride on those bright blue swings. We dismounted

the bikes, panting heavily and gasping for air. As

we were heading to towards the swings, a shiny

object gleamed in the sunlight, catching my

outmost curiosity and attention. I picked it up

from the cold and moist soil to find a smart-

looking watch, garnished with gems and

trimmed with gold. It was in working condition

but the time displayed on the electronic screen

was a lot faster than it should have been. I

strapped it onto my wrist and made a mental

note to fix it when I get home. Seeing how far

back I was, I hurried up to the swings.

As usual, the swings were unquestionably fun!

After a full thirty minutes of swinging, shouting

and screaming, my friends and I were

8

malnourished, hungry for a decent meal. The

thought of mouth-watering Monster Burgers

lingered in my mind, as my stomach rumbled

violently. The good thing was that the treat was

on Betty. Betty grumbled on, pointing out how it

was unfair being the only girl in there and so on.

After much agreement, we headed for our bikes.

Just as we were about to reach the four

glimmering bikes, a hole seemed to appear in

the ground, swallowing all four of us. A brilliant

flash of blue and white streaked around me. My

mind was spinning wildly. Seconds later, I

blacked out…

I found myself on top of poor Luke and Shaun

who were squashed like flies. Betty was staring down

at me, apparently the one who threw the water onto

my face. Though her face was pale, I could make out

the faint grin of satisfaction across her once radiant

face. As I shifted my attention from her to my

surroundings, I realized that we weren't in the

Nature Reserve anymore.

We were on a sandy beach with junk littered all

over. The sky was an angry mix of red and grey, with

9

bolts of lightning flung everywhere. The choppy sea

was a fierce monster, with waves as high as

skyscrapers. A sense of danger was ignited in me,

warning me to be prepared for the worst.

10

A Tale of War

Finally, Shaun and Luke were conscious again.

We huddled together to keep ourselves warm from

the mighty gusts of wind. It reminded me of snow,

but it didn't help to calm my nerves down. There was

a sudden beeping noise. Then another. It was the

watch. It was beeping and blinking, with the time

displayed as ‘2650 AD’. Then, everything snapped

into place. The watch was not any ordinary watch…

It was a Time Machine. We were now stuck in the

year 2650 all because of this watch. Somewhere in

the wind, a voice as quiet as a whisper distracted me.

“Sent by the watch…I see…” .

The voice seemed to come from behind me. I

whirled around to face a stranger with fair skin and

dressed in a white jump suit which seemed to be torn

and tattered. He looked like he was an elderly man

with unkempt hair as white as snow. One look at him

and you could tell he was wise in his age. “You have

finally come…The heroes…” The man who introduced

himself as, Kyle, told us slowly. His eyes had a sparkle

of hope and excitement escalating with every word

said.

11

Shuffling my feet under the sand, I was

speechless and at a loss for words…The future I

thought, would have been much cleaner and

“advanced”, but all I saw was ruins everywhere.

Garbage. Litter. I was never prepared for the scene

before me.

12

The Tale Unfolds

“20 Years ago… They came. The almighty

Conquerors came. The war which led up to that

unfortunate day was always remembered… For

years the War of Technology raged on, North Korea

had successfully taken down South Korea with their

nukes, Taiwan invaded by the Chinese and US

invaded by England… the world was chaos… until one

day, our little island here, Singapore, which was close

to becoming defeated by the Japanese once again,

decided to take matters into our own hands. The

smartest brains all over Singapore worked on

Operation Clusterhole. Months of brainstorming

began, and in the end, they built an Energy Portal to

suck in Japan's WarBots. But failed attempts to do so

and instead…” Kyle paused dramatically for a few

seconds, as tears welled up in his beady green eyes.

“… the portal opened up and The Conquerors’ Space

Cruisers came flooding out in thousands. Thick black

clouds engulfed the sky as the Cruisers scattered

themselves all over the world!”

“Those Cruisers were big spaceships, or rather

enormous! With almost 80 floors, it was no match

for any of our defense systems… So we lost to the

Conquerors and now, they force us to build their

13

technologically advanced weapons to conquer other

universes! We are not the only ones… There are

more people being tortured out there in other

universes and planets, all under the name and power

of the nefarious and fear-striking Conquerors!

Everything has gone catawampus all because of

them! But a few brave ones had escaped to find hope

for the future, and one of them is me.” Kyle’s story

sounded very fictional, but from afar, I could see the

towering cruisers which were dotted with lights. It

seemed to be looking down on us mockingly. Well,

we have made up our minds… We were going to save

the day! I guessed I said it too soon, I never knew

what I was expecting…

Just at that moment, a bolt of electricity shot

Kyle in the arm. Three shiny robots stormed towards

the injured Kyle who was in a daze. “GO! Leave this

place immediately! You are the chosen… Ones…! You

can

find

your

own

way

out

and…save…the….world…The watch chose … You” His

voice cut off as another robot shot him in the back.

He was dead… Blood flowed out of his mouth and his

clothes were charred. Then I came back to my

senses. “RUN! GO! GO! GO!” All of us took off as the

robots continued their torturing sequence on Kyle. A

moment I would never forget…this was definitely

14

more dangerous and scarier than anything I had

thought of. But Kyle needed us, the watch chose us,

we had to persevere and end this once and for all…

15

Past, Future, Present

The wind seemed to be laughing at us sinisterly,

raging at tremendous speeds. One strong gust of

wind could have blown all four of us off the ground.

Observant enough to spot little things, Betty spotted

a half buried map, with the other half flapping

violently, as if wanting to return to its master. She

bent down and picked up the yellowish map, which

dated back all the way to 2630… The year of the

invasion. With great caution, I took the map from her

and examined its every detail carefully. West Coast

Park S9878 26 Central Avenue, that was where we

were currently at. The faint words on a huge, ruined

wall confirmed it. As I tapped on our location on the

map, a holographic picture of the wall appeared,

startling me with a jolt.

A brief description was read out in an almost

human voice. “The Island Defensive Wall System is

the protection of the city, made of pure Kollium, it is

an estimated 3,000 m tall, towering well above the

city. All defense inside the wall is top secret and

confidential. This is also the control center for the

Singapore Weather Dome.” The description ended

there, before the hologram flickered and

disappeared into thin air. The pictures looked so

16

similar to each other, just that what I was seeing in

reality now was much more ancient, ruined and

rusted than the shinier and majestic wall in the

hologram. I was sure the people had gone through

lots of hard times… Every step we took, brought us

further and further away from the wall, and also

pulled us deeper and deeper to the heart of the city.

Shiny metal lay strewn everywhere, which I

presumed were robot parts once used for service.

Night was starting to fall. Darkness stretched beyond

into the forested ruins, temperatures dropped

tremendously. Seeking no other option, we decided

to camp out in an overturned SkyBus.

The bus was dirty and rusted, parts and wires

dangled dangerously from the top, or should I say the

bottom? But we were too tired to find another spot,

and besides, it was complete darkness outside, so we

had to bear with it. Tears streamed down my cold,

rosy cheeks. Will I make it back? Questions brewed

up in my mind. I missed my friends. I missed my

family. And surprisingly, I missed school. As we lay on

the cold, lifeless piece of metal with my question left

unanswered, my friends fell into a deep sleep, but I

had a strange vision…

17

The Vision

A dark gloomy figure stepped into the dome.

The chamber had been built to keep prisoners so

that they are able to extract their memories.

Especially those which were really useful to them.

The figure that walked in wore a badge made of shiny

silver, with golden linings on the outer rim. The cross

emblem engraved in the centre of the badge had a

skull over it, possibly inferring that these people

aren't your normal friendly neighbors. They were not

E.T either, so don't mess around with them. Two

bodyguards walked in after him.

The guards wore stylish black armour and

carried blasters. As the figure stood beside me, I

squinted to take a good look. My eyes were blurry.

Then my vision cleared. Shocked was the only word I

could use to express myself at that very moment.

They were not humans…They were Cyborgs. The

bodyguard towards the left was a tall one, the one

who really made my eyes popped out of its sockets.

He was Kyle!

18

Strange Intentions

My body jerked up as I snapped awake. The trees

were rustling as beastly winds blew against them.

The sky was still dark and I had long lost track of the

time. Time… How complicated it was. From behind

some thick foliage, I heard a sizzle of electricity. The

clear petrifying sound made me froze in awkward

silence. Could it be the robots again? The thought of

it made me break out in cold sweat. Gingerly, I

advanced towards the source of the terrifying sound.

Behind the bush, I saw a spark of bright blue light

followed by a loud whirring sound.

To my relief, it was just Shaun. He had woken up

in the middle of the night as nature was calling.

However, Shaun being a curious and clever student

in school had transformed four ancient looking hover

boards into what seemed like four floating miracles.

A neon blue light on the hover board illuminated the

dark sky. I had never seen a real hoverboard before.

Yes, I had seen it in movies but never really in real

life. Shaun offered a hoverboard to me. With a slight

smile on my face, I grabbed it. Within seconds, I

found myself riding the hoverboard together with

Shaun.

19

The fun seemed endless especially when you

were from a different time and age. An experience

which most probably could not be fast forwarded in

the present age. Sunrise came as the two of us

jumped off our hover boards. It was unexceptionally

fun and exhilarating! We were laughing like mad by

the time we stopped. Bruises were obvious and blue-

blacks were almost everywhere. We reunited with

Betty and Luke who were still fast asleep and

drooling like two dogs. A thin buzzing sound caught

my attention.

“Shaun, stop modifying the boards… They are

already fun enough!” I said to him, still giggly from

the experience. “What? I am just sitting here…”

Shaun replied lazily. “Wait… That means if it wasn't

you… Then… It's…”

Even before I could complete my statement, two

robots stumbled out from the bushes. Almost similar

to the three robots we met earlier, they were armed

with laser guns and electric shockers. By this time,

the commotion has caused Betty and Luke to snap

awake. Almost instantly, we each grabbed a hover

board and took off. Flying a hover board wasn't

exactly fun when you had two robots blasting lasers

20

at you and you could hear the sound of it whizzing

right past you. It was a nightmare.

The speed we were travelling at blurred our

visions, with streaky lines everywhere. I wonder how

this thing is keeping us on the hover boards when we

ought to fall off… Well that doesn't matter now, the

only thing that matters now is that we need to get

rid of those robots. Looking into my pocket, I saw a

handle of a white-object. It was a laser blaster. A

wide grin wiped across my face. I always wanted one

of these. Without hesitation, I whipped out the

blaster I found mysteriously in my pocket. A note

attached to the tip dropped off. No time to read, I

told myself and stuffed the note into my pocket. On

the gun, there were three settings. Melt, Cut and Kill.

Cut sounded good to me.

Setting it to the mode ‘Cut’, I gave one blast and

a laser beam went whizzing through the air. Strike!

The robot split into two and dropped onto the floor,

dead and powerless. One more to go. This one was

swifter than the other, dodging all eight shots. On my

ninth shot, nothing came out. I glanced down onto

the display on the laser gun. ‘Please Wait, Gun is

recharging…one minute remaining.’ showed on the

display. My heart skipped a beat. Why did it have to

21

charge at this crucial moment! I looked down at my

hover board, at a loss of what to do. Then it struck

me like a lightning bolt in the head. From ‘Accelerate’

to ‘Reverse’! There was a loud click and followed by

the change of direction. It seemed that the hover

board had changed its direction almost instantly

without stopping.

At break-neck speed, the hover board headed

right for the robot which was trying to make a quick

escape. Crash! The robot was flung into the air and

landed in a swamp. Or was it toxic waste? Never

22

mind, as long as the robots were gone, I am happy

and relieved.

23

Missing Member

Switching off the hover board, a terrible

realization struck me. My friends had left without

me! They were nowhere in sight. Not even a trace of

them. Once again, I heard another rustling sound. Oh

no… Not more! As I braced myself for a quick escape,

Luke appeared from the bushes with his hover board

in hand together with Shaun. I was glad they

remembered about me, or I would have clobbered

them when I found them.

But where was Betty? “Errrrrrrm… John….. I

think Betty got….how do I say this?.....Lost?”

Stammered Luke. At the word ‘lost’, my eyes

widened and my heart was in my throat. What would

happen to Betty? We've got to find her fast! Or

maybe she has been captured by some more robots?

I wasn’t sure, but we would definitely find out soon.

As I glanced over my shoulders, I could see Shaun

busily pecking around the debris of the robot which

I split into half. It wasn't weird to see him doing that,

because I have seen him looking into far more

horrible things… Which I won't say. Because it is

really very horrible. Picking out certain parts of the

robot, he stored it into his sling bag which he calls his

‘Parts Bag’. But anyways, we call it his ‘Garbage Bag’!

24

Ha ha ha! I mean, come on? Who hoards all this

stuff?

Never mind… Now back to the story. His bag was

bulging with parts like gears, springs and circuits.

Ignoring him, I plucked out the crumpled note from

my pocket which I found on the laser blaster. This is

what it read:

Dear Fellow Chosen Ones,

Welcome to Singapore! I am thankful to have

you all here to help us defeat the evil

Conquerors. They are just pure wreckers! We

will assist you in this operation in whatever

ways that we can assist you in. Take this Faboo

Laser Blaster with you at all times. You will

meet me and my Faboo team soon enough. We

are glad you are here. ‘Enjoy’ your stay. Stay

Safe, Stay Strong.

Signed, Cyrus Yeo

Head of Operations in ACA

*P.S Faboo is a new word used for Fabulous in

the future. It's fun to use! Try it!

25

As I placed down the crumpled note, the note

disintegrated and turned into ashes. The map

dropped out of my cramped pocket which was

holding my blaster and my phone. MY PHONE! Why

didn't i think of it earlier! Without a second thought,

I seized my phone from my pocket. Luck wasn't on

my side. I took one quick glance at it, and was

disappointed when it displayed the words “Battery

Critically Low”. Rolling my eyes with annoyance, I

shoved my phone back into my pocket. I wondered if

this could get any worse…

26

Overdue Books

The clouds above us turned into a threatening

shade of ash grey. As if venting its rage on us, rain

pelted down endlessly from every direction. Visibility

was poor and all that could be seen were faint

silhouettes. As we forced ourselves against the

howling winds, I heard a loud crack. Then another.

The ground beneath me trembled, and finally, gave

way. Before I knew it, I was sent plunging down into

the unknown darkness. Ouch! That hurt a lot. As I

stood up and looked around, I found Shaun, Luke and

I lying in a building filled with darkness beyond.

Stumbling around, I leaned against the wall for

support. A switch prodded me at the back. Without

hesitation, my hands shot out for it. It was a huge

switch. The one like a lever with two handles.

Dragging down the switch, a loud and apparent click

could be heard. Light washed the room.

My jaw dropped and I looked at my

surroundings in awe. We were in a library! Shelves of

TouchScreen Devices stood upright and reached out

beyond my sight. The library was huge. Long

deactivated robots stationed at the counter. From

what I could see, they were Librarian Robots. Shaped

like a cone, it each wore a pair of reading glasses. The

27

words ‘Librarian’ was engraved on its back. As I

turned around, Shaun had already begun fiddling

with the technology. After several strings of ‘Oohs’

and ‘Ahs’, the robot whirled to life.

Levitating at the tip of the cone, it said in a

smooth robotic voice a welcome greeting. “Welcome

to Woodlands Regional Library! How may I be of

assistance to you today?”. This was Faboo! After

ensuring the Librarian Robot was no harm to him,

Luke started to play around with it. “Give me the

most frequently borrowed book!” Luke asked.

Almost instantly, a robotic arm thrust out from the

ceiling and picked a TouchScreen Device. It whizzed

towards the robot and passed the package to the

Robot.

“Here-is-your-book-sir.”.” The robot turned

around and then started to arrange the shelves. Luke

thought that this was not good enough. That

adventurous smile on his face confirmed my

thoughts. He was going to do something very

mischievous and childish. “Let's see how the robot

takes this!” Luke giggled. He snuck up behind the

robot and kicked it hard. A loud shriek could be heard

as Luke grappled his leg in pain. The robot was not in

the slightest way dented or damaged. “Abuse of

28

Librarian Robot detected! You are under arrest!”

Two robotic arms appeared from the ceilings with a

pair of handcuffs. I think Luke was starting to regret

his actions. He took to his heels as the pair of hands

chased after him. Shaun and I stood there laughing

at this scene.

“Accomplices detected!” Another two pairs of

robotic arms appeared out of nowhere and charged

towards us with handcuffs. The three of us ran

aimlessly. As we retreated down a spiral staircase,

the three of us crashed into each other and went

tumbling down the stairs and into a room. The door

slammed behind us, leaving us in complete darkness.

Again.

29

Virtual Reality

As we got onto our feet, we staggered around,

lost in the enclosed darkness of the room. Suddenly,

the room around us filled with light and we seemed

to be in another world. Towering buildings stood sky-

high, reaching beyond the clouds. As I reached out

my hand to touch one of the buildings, my hand went

through it easily. Was I a ghost? Did I die? As I looked

around us, I stumbled and tripped over a tangle of

wires.

30

My arms slammed down on a thick rubbery

button. This time, the buildings had faded away, and

now, we could see that we were in a room. Beside

the door from where I supposed we came from,

there was a sign, inscribed with the words ‘VIRTUAL

REALITY ROOM’ in thick, bold letters. I guessed I am

still alive then… Glancing around, I saw Luke and

Shaun caught by surprise. The duo had their eyes

wide open and their jaws touching the ground.

Trying to stifle a laughter, I heard loud bangs on the

door. “Open the door immediately! Surrender and

put down your weapons!” Echoed a robotic voice

from the other side.

Luke and Shaun were already heading for a door

which was all planked up and cordoned off.

Following their lead, I helped them remove the

planks which were loosely fitted against the frame of

the door. With little effort, the planks were wretched

off. As we pushed open the door, we scrambled into

the small squeezed room on the opposite end,

shutting the door behind us with a loud thud. A loud

zapping noise rang through the air, followed by the

crashing of objects. “I guess they are not here

leader.” “Don't be a fool, J-7766, they can be

anywhere. Those pesky humans will face the wrath

of the Conquerors!” “Could they be behind that

31

door, Sir?” “Good observation! Finally something

good comes out of you! Doesn't harm to find out,”

As the two robots approached the door, Shaun's

head slammed against the wall…

At least I thought it was a wall. It was actually a

control panel. My guts seemed to float to my throat

as the room we were in descended at rapid speed.

And yet again, I was wrong. It was actually an

elevator. The elevator stopped abruptly in between

the shaft. Our faces smacked onto the floor as we

jerked down. “We know you are down there!” A

robotic voice echoed down into the shaft. The

elevator shot back up, causing us to lose balance

again. “Guys! We can actually get into the elevator

shaft from that trapdoor below!” Shaun whispered

as he gestured for us to open the trapdoor. All

together, we pulled the trapdoor.

Clink! The trapdoor opened without much force

inflicted. We climbed down and hung to the bottom

of the elevator. “Sir! They are not here either!”

“Bzzzzzztt.. J-7899, please report back to Division

678 now!” “Let's go back!” The two robots left the

place, leaving the three of us without a single care.

32

What Lives Below Stays Below

The trapdoor was now shut tightly, refusing

to open. A force pushed us down deep into the shaft.

It was the elevator. It was not held by strings, but it

was levitating. Fortunately, we grappled onto a loose

wire just in time. If it weren’t for that close call, we

have dropped down into the elevator shaft and be

flattened like pancakes! A cold, icy elevator door

stood a meter beneath us. We needed to get down

there. We descended towards the door which was

made of pure titanium. Stiff, strong titanium. No

matter how hard I kicked the door, it would reflect

back. Shaun, the one with the brains, pressed a

button at the corner and the door slid open easily.

Lesson learnt, simple answers to tough situations.

We jumped out of the shaft. We seemed to be in a

huge underground civilization.

A huge sign greeted us, with the big words

“Welcome To Underground City!”. Singapore sure

was a big city. Maybe, I could write a book about our

expedition when we go home! That is if I ever make

it out of this era. As we ventured deeper into the

Underground City, I felt a strange presence of eyes

following us. Every step we took, every sound we

made, were being monitored. My eyes darted

33

around the secluded streets. Pod shaped cars laid

strewn all over the place, with once floating street

lights all deactivated and on the ground. Skyscrapers,

which were not quite suitable to be called

“Skyscrapers” anymore, were all either split into half,

or still being held together by just thin pieces of

concrete, metal and glass. Creepers crept up almost

all the ancient structures.

Marvelous. We are stuck in this creepy place

now. Only the three of us. Or could there be more to

this than meets the eye? I kept that idea far away

from my thoughts as we inspected every structure

with our outmost curiosity. ROAR! A loud roar rang

through the city. At the corner of my eye, I could see

one of the skyscrapers crumbling down to the

ground. A wet and gooey liquid dripped onto my

head. Then another drip. And another. I lifted my

head up, only to see a ferocious and beastly monster

looking down on us. The monster had four eyes,

teeth sharper than anything I had ever seen and had

a mane of smooth fur. It was stripped with a majestic

coating of fur. It seemed to be part shark, part lion

and part tiger. First instinct when faced with an

unknown monster…Run!

34

The three of us took off at supersonic speed. No,

it was impossible to outrun the monster. The

monster was barely meters away from us, so instead,

we dived into one of the Pod cars, hoping for the

best. Within seconds, the Pod car roared to life, after

some amendments to its circuits. Racing the car off,

we randomly pushed the button. The Pod car spun in

circles, smashing everything that stood in its way. It

sure was making us giddy. A sudden impact caused

Shaun’s head to slam onto a huge red button. Like

lightning, the Pod car shot off. Actually, I think it

reversed and hit down the monster when it shot off,

as I heard a loud thump. I decreased the speed and

deactivated the huge red button. It was the

accelerate button. We sure owed that to Shaun’s big

head. Gingerly, we proceeded out of the Pod car, and

approached the beast. It was dead, and I was sure.

Ocean blue blood flowed out of its mouth and

wounds. “I see you have defeated a genetically

modified monster created by the Conquerors. This

was one of their spies.” Startled by the voice, my

eyes darted to its source. A man in his 60’s who

introduced himself as Drake was its owner. As I

studied the monster, I realized its eyes were glowing.

There were actually cameras implanted onto the

35

eyes! We were being spied! Drake was impressed by

our skills, nodding his head in approval.

“I am from the ACA and I am here to bring you

to its headquarters.” Drake said in a slow, but

somehow robotic manner. His voice had a tinge of

metal making me uneasy. Suddenly a burst of bright

blue light struck the back of Drake. “Give up puny

agent! You are no match for me.” Said Drake. He was

an imposter! “Scram! Scram! Scram!” Shouted the

attacker who popped up behind us. Our saviour! A

stout man with neatly combed hair was how to

describe him. Three of us jumped out of the scene,

36

still drawn to the human versus cyborg battle. The

cyborg used its mighty titanium fist, and dived it

straight into the agent’s stomach. The pitied agent

was sent flying in the air, landing a few meters away.

A strange remote-like device slipped out of his

pocket and slid to Luke. Luke swooped up the

unknown device, tampering with it in every way

possible.

The cyborg now approached us at a steady pace,

with cold and merciless robotic eyes. With a great

force, the strange device flew out of Luke’s hands,

and landed smacked onto the chest of the now

worried robot. The red light on the device blinked

rapidly. I knew something bad was going to happen,

like a train charging towards us at a tremendously

amazing speed. A loud explosion rang through the

city, throwing us off our feet. The sonic blast blinded

our eyes, and the next moment, I passed out.

37

The ACA

As my vision cleared and I stirred back to

consciousness, I found me and the two others in a

pure white room. Stainless. Spick and span. Was this

heaven? It seemed like a good place to be. It was

then, I further realized the tangle of wires streaming

out of me. A monitor at the side showed my

heartbeat and my current thoughts. Amazing! How

did they do that? But the sight of the wires creeping

out of me was not so amazing. Instead, it was insane!

A young man stepped into the room. He looked as if

he was in his 20’s. “Hello Boys! Welcome to the ACA

HQ! We are glad you survived unlike the others!”

Said the man. “I am Trylaus! Assistant director of

special operations!”

“Wait… Do you mean we are not the first?!” I

asked, completely pale. “Yes, in fact, you are the

twelfth batch. The earlier have all died in their efforts

to save us. And I suppose two of them were your

neighbors Lily and Tommy.” As I thought about it, it

was true! Tommy and Lily mysteriously disappeared

a year ago, without a trace. I am starting to doubt our

survival span here. My thoughts harassed me

endlessly, striking my confidence down every

second. “Let's get moving! We don't have all day!”

38

Trylaus talked as if he was a hyper chipmunk with an

extra dose of caffeinated coffee.

A pair of robotic arms appeared from the

ceilings, unwiring me and the two others who have

been apparently shocked awake. They were literally

shocked with electricity. Their hair stood at its tips,

body upright straight. With eyes twitching as if

something was bottling up in them, their hand shook

violently and they finally shot back to reality. Their

bodies jerked as they retained back their posture. As

I attempted to stand up, I realized I felt no sensation

in my legs. It seemed like…emptiness. A dead end.

“Don't worry about your legs! They are just suffering

from after effects of the medication! So chop chop!

Let's get going!”

Three levitating chairs came out from a storage

room. The robotic arms dragged us onto the wobbly

chairs and we were whisked off. The chairs stability

were poor, trembling violently throughout the whole

journey. We entered a lift and were shot downwards

like a bullet. The lift doors opened dramatically,

revealing a spotless white room, with pictures and

awards displayed on a huge cupboard. A desk made

of some plastic material stood at the center of the

room with a leather arm chair behind it.

39

A towering figure was seated on the leather

chair, hair neatly combed, with a clean tuxedo on.

The ones people wear to casinos. His eyes darted

towards us as we approached. He had bright blue

eyes. Those which gives a marvelous sparkle. He was

Cyrus Yeo.

“Ah! I see you have come. A great welcome to

you and your friends! We have been monitoring you

ever since you stepped foot onto this island. And we

have to say we really take our hats off to you. You

blew a K-230 Robot just now in the underground city

and you also defeated the hardest mutant to defeat

made by the evil Conquerors! Not even my agents

can do that, buddy! You are here in this headquarters

so that we can give you your survival packs! I don't

think stuffing things into your pockets would help,”

explained Cyrus.

I glanced down at my pockets. He was right! My

pockets looked as if it was going to explode! “It's my

pleasure to lead you to the PhysicsFuture Lab! Now,

follow me!” He whipped out a touchpad, and

pressed a few buttons furiously. He clapped his two

hands, and we were off! We entered back into the

lift. The lift shot upwards, pulling us towards the

ground. The three chairs were our temporary ‘legs’.

40

They shot us through a spacious corridor, making a

series of left and right turns.

After the fifth or the sixth left turn, Shaun’s chair

spun out of control. His ‘legs’ was like a mad bull,

who has just been angered by someone. Shaun’s

‘legs’ smashed into ours and brought us off-track.

The chairs now seemed to be weapons of

destruction, besides its commercial function to bring

us around. We ran over a total of seven cleaning

bots, three service bots, one delivery bot and six

weird looking robots with razors sticking out of

them. Fortunately, the damage was inflicted on

them and not us. Alas, we reached our destination.

41

Gear of the Future

Cyrus was already there, waiting for us eagerly.

“That was a wreck wasn't it?” Cyrus joked, laughing

hysterically. Was it that funny? Or is this man just

mental? I think I am going with the second option.

“Welcome to the lab!” Cyrus slid his access card into

a slot and the door slid opened. It was more like a

vault than a door. The lab was just amazing! Robots

buzzed around everywhere just like bees. Robotic

arms worked on different projects together with

their scientist masters.

One of the scientist approached as with a big

smile. His hair was in a tangle and he wore safety

googles and rubber gloves. He greeted us and

introduced himself as Professor Lucas. Another

hyperactive chipmunk! Did they fuse chipmunks with

humans? This man was worse than Cyrus! His

mouthed moved endlessly, with words with exactly

no meaning streaming out of his mouth. While he

was still chattering away about how monkeys looks

like birds (which really isn't true), he led us towards

his messy work station.

Strewn with blueprints and stained with liquids,

his desk was a battlefield. From beneath his desk, he

42

took out four suitcases out of a safe. The suitcases

were massive and locked with fingerprint access

panels. He pushed the suitcases towards us. This

time, he was strangely quiet and had a serious look

on his face. “Are you missing someone here?” He

asked, realizing there were only three of us. “Yes.

One of our friends got… Lost.” Shaun answered in

reply. “Then it's up to you to save her.”

“Scan your fingerprints.” Instructed Professor

Lucas. Without a single question, we scanned our

fingerprints on the access panels. “John Yan” “Shaun

See” “Luke Skyler” a robotic voice read out our

43

names one after another. The suitcases clicked open

in almost perfect precision. The suitcases each had a

jumpsuit, a sling bag with many compartments, an

intelligent watch, a blaster coated in pearly white

paint, smoke bombs, system disabling devices, a

grappling hook and hi-tech gloves. The gloves were

suction gloves and could also attract magnetic

materials. These gloves also had melting systems.

Awesome! With much earnestness, we put on

our cool jumpsuits and stocked the bag with

supplies. The jumpsuits were literally cool! They had

built-in cooling systems in it. But whatever it was, I

knew that the future didn't look so bright on our

side…

44

Hostages

A siren sounded off in the lab as troops of

armed robots smashed down the vault door. Dust

flooded the entire lab as the robots swarmed in,

destroying everything that stood in their way. Lab

Robots went haywire, running all over the place.

Robotic arms turned against their masters as they

grabbed them and attempted to strangle them. A

pair of Robotic arms dived for us. In a split second, I

activated my gloves and the Robotic arms melted.

The infiltrators stared at us. We stared at them. This

wasn't a good sign… The robots raised their arms

which were fitted with blasters, much more

advanced than ours. Their blasters had an

illuminating purple glow, fitted with a glass pods

which were bustling with electrostatic energy.

“HALT! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!” We had no choice

but to comply, as it was thousands against three.

The irritating and yet intimidating robots

ushered us onto a spacecraft parked in the midst of

thick vegetation. The spacecraft was fitted with a

wide range of blasters and also had turbo jets

installed in it. But what interested me most was the

logo on the spacecraft. It matched the one in my

vision! The robots derailed my train of thoughts as

45

they nudged us into the spacecraft which stood

there sinisterly. I realized that everything the

Conquerors had looked sinister. The leathery seats in

the spacecraft made us feel more like guests rather

than prisoners, except for the fact that our hands

were tied with thick reinforced metal rope.

The Robots shoved us into the seats with their

tenacious strength. Soon after they settled us down,

the spacecraft took off. A robot stood in front of us,

monitoring us in the cabin. It was a cozy enclosed

room fitted with those leather seats. I couldn't help

but started fidgeting. Suddenly, I realized my rope

had melted. It was now just a puddle of grayish

liquid. I seized the opportunity and threw a

deactivator at the robot. The deactivator stuck onto

its chest, but nothing else happened. Instead, the

robot stood up and opened the spacecraft’s airlock.

I forgot that they were actually cyborgs.

With all its strength, the cyborg carried me and

threw me out. I kicked and struggled furiously,

putting on a huge tussle with the cyborg, but to no

avail. Fortunately, I managed to cling onto the metal

landing gear at the bottom of the spacecraft. The

wind harassed my cheeks and my ears could hear

nothing but the deafening roar of the wind. On top

46

of me, I saw the cyborg glancing down, preparing his

blaster. I reached out my hand, and the blaster

attracted to my gloves. While this was happening,

the blaster pulled the robot along with it and the

cyborg went tumbling down. Victory was in favor of

me! Unfortunately, the deactivator on his chest

slipped out and instead, it attracted onto the

spacecraft.

The spacecraft stopped abruptly mid-flight and

the next moment, I found us tumbling through the

air. The spacecraft made flips, as it dived down

towards the ground mercilessly. The flips caused the

other two cyborg pilots to tumble out of the cockpit

of the spacecraft. My mouth opened wide as I saw

Luke sliding off together with the cyborgs. Just like

that, he was sent flying towards earth at break-

necking speed, with the uncertainty of death.

Nimbly, I plucked the deactivator off before it caused

a tragedy. Soon, the spacecraft regained its balanced

just meters off the ground. Using all my might, I

pulled myself towards the cockpit door and entered.

I sat myself down and looked out of the window. The

cyborgs were gone together with Luke. Two friends

have been lost. With a downcast mood, I closed the

cockpit door and the cabin door.

47

It was then I realized that the controls on the

spacecraft’s control panel was all Greek to me.

Stabilizers, Cloaking systems, altitude knob,

destination data output and space-jump. In my

frustration, rage swelled up in me, could this get any

worse! Venting my anger on the controls systems

definitely did not help. The spacecraft jumped to one

side, and started spinning wildly. The spacecraft

came plummeting down towards the earth again. My

body was lifted up from the seats and my bag

smashed against the control panel. Strangely, the

spacecraft returned to its stabilized position for a

split second before whizzing off. Red lights were

blinking on the control panel, and oxygen masks

were deployed.

Before I could even resolve the problem, the

spacecraft seemed to gradually descend. I found

myself in a hangar full of the exact same type of

spacecraft. At the far end of the room, machinery

churned out what seemed like blasters, the ones

used by the Conquerors. I know where we were. We

were in the Conquerors Weaponry center. Crates

and boxes labeled with strange codes were laid

strewn all over the hangar. Weird-looking robots

scurried about, carrying stockpiles of blasters. My

mind was racing and my eyes were darting, trying to

48

calculate a possible escape route. A bolted door was

barely meters away from the spacecraft I was in.

Wish me luck! Hastily, I jumped out of the ship and

went to the cabin to help Shaun off. To my horror,

three robots appeared from the back of the

spacecraft and removed the still unconscious Shaun

into a thawing pod, before whisking him off on a

hover transporter! Rats! These robots sure were

fast!

Without hesitation, I dashed out and jumped

onto the hover transporter, causing it to pre

cautiously tilt to one side. All four robots carrying the

pod turned and stared at me. I had blown my cover!

At this crucial moment, I grabbed the thawing pod

and made a run for it. Dashing through a maze of

robots and machinery, the thawing pod slowly

slipped out of my hands. Two Security Bots came into

sight. Wailing the sirens fitted onto their heads, they

were sent into a wild goose chase. Before I knew it,

the thawing pod slipped out of my hands. The

Security Bots shot their lasers carelessly. One laser

accidentally shot the thawing pod and it opened

instantly. Shaun rolled out of the pod. Without

thinking, I picked up Shaun and continued running.

Shaun was heavier than I thought.

49

As he weighed down on me, two deactivators

flew out of his pocket and attached to the Security

robots which shut down without a sound. I almost

forgot about that! Running down to secluded

hallways, my legs moved back and forth, as fast as it

could be. Smack! My face slammed onto the ground

as I tripped over a pipe. Shaun was flung onto a

conveyer belt which was moving slowly. Two robots

dropped onto the cold, icy metal floor as Shaun took

its place. Yikes! He was on a robot production line!

As I dashed to pull him out, two huge robots in thick

armor approached me. They pointed their

intimidating blasters at me, making me feel anxious.

In my hurry to save Shaun, I accidentally overturned

two crates of parts. Little did I know they were

actually mines!

The mines flew towards the robots, and in a

matter of seconds, a strong blast pushed me off my

feet. My hearing was muffled. I stumbled up, and

pulled Shaun away from the partly destroyed

mechanism. Huge pipes from the ceiling came

crashing down with brownish liquid spewing out

endlessly. The smell it emitted rang a bell. It was oil!

The place was going to be reduced to ashes and same

goes to us if we hadn’t escaped. A transporter stood

parked at the corner of the production room.

50

Without thinking, I threw Shaun into the cargo

load area and jumped into the driver’s seat.

Activating it, I rushed it off towards the exit. An army

of menacing robots marched out from behind in

perfect precision. In front, another army of robots

appeared. How were we going to escape? All I could

do was try my luck! I rammed the robots down like

ants, squashing them or flinging them into the air.

The exit loomed ahead of me, as I harassed the

accelerate button. The warming sunlight greeted us

as we zoomed out into the forest. An explosion

behind us pushed us even further away. All I could

51

see was flames and thick black smoke billowing out

from the “Weaponry Center”.

52

Das De Flora

Pieces of glass shattered around me as the

transporter crashed into a glass dome. It was a piece

of land, with glass surrounding it. Beneath was thick

long rods prodding out from the dirt. Something hard

slammed against the transporter and the transporter

stopped with a sudden jerk. It was dented badly, and

its circuits were critically damaged. Nothing in this

world could bring it back to life. I picked out the worn

map from my bag and touched it. “Current location:

Stamford Raffles Memorial Hoversite. The statue

and memorial dates of Sir Stamford Raffles. Out of

commission.” I stepped out of the driver’s seat,

making sure I didn't step on any glass pieces. Instead,

a head on the floor startled me. It was crusty and

layered with dust, looking like a seriously deformed

skull.

However, the crack at the neck assured me that

it was just a statue head and not a skull. They should

really stop beheading people. As I made my way to

the cargo load to help Shaun out, my legs tripped

over a rusty piece of metal. As I turned around to see

what it was, I realized that it was an old power box.

Curious, I opened it and flicked the ‘Activate’ switch.

The earth beneath me shook vigorously, as it floated

53

up. Yes, the earth was floating into the air. I looked

down uneasily. In my entire life, I never had a thing

for heights. Finally, the piece of earth stopped

moving.

From here, I could see the whole of Singapore. It

was in total ruins! Space cruisers were everywhere.

Junk was strewn all over. We really had to conserve.

Just then, I spotted Shaun at the corner of my eye

looking at me in awe. All he said was “Awesome”. He

was really amazed, jumping around, examining the

power box and taking down notes. Getting a little

more curious, he started plucking parts out of the

power box. I should have stopped him if I

remembered that if one part of a system is removed,

the others would not be able to function properly.

The piece of land slanted to one side, turning upside

down. Shaun crashed his head onto the glass dome,

nearly falling through the hole we created. Instead,

the piece of land spat me out, making me cling onto

the sharp edges of the broken dome. I was clinging

onto my dear life!

Tomato red blood trickled down my tanned skin.

My hand throbbed with immense pain. My hand

started to feel numb as Shaun attempted to pull me

up. Finally, my hand gave way and I was sent whirling

54

down into the forest. I landed on a bed of leaves right

at the bottom, with my hand covered with blood.

The world didn't matter to me anymore. I just

wanted to go home. Soon after, I fell into a lapse of

unconsciousness.

55

Wise Words

“Kyle? Is that you?” My voice echoed out as a

figure loomed ahead of me. He wore the same

tattered clothes as Kyle earlier when we met. “John?

Why are you here? Aren't you suppose to save us?” I

was close to tears, with eyes welling up at a rapid

speed. I wanted to scream! I wanted to shout! But all

I said was, “I give up.”

Guilt washed over me as I stood in this unknown

place full of whiteness and pure light. I felt as if I was

standing on clouds. Thick fluffy clouds. But this could

not compensate for the immense guilt I had. “I

believe you can save us, John,” said Kyle from afar.

“All you need to do is believe in yourself. Never give

up!” I wanted to break down at this very moment,

where I am lost like a sheep, away from its shepherd.

“How can I not give up?” I wept and sobbed as I cried

out. The prominent figure was fading away now into

the light, but before he disappeared, Kyle said

something that made me garner my confidence and

perseverance again. “Just know that you are not

alone!”

This struck me like a lightning bolt. I still had my

friends. The universe needed our help. The watch

56

chose us because we were special. Kyle was gone.

My thanks could go nowhere. Once again, the world

came crashing down on me.

57

Unclear Future

Before I knew it, I was conscious again. A bright

light shone high above the sky. It was night time but

something was hovering above me. The roaring of

wind suggested that it was a Spacecraft. Oh no… This

can't be good! I dragged myself back up and whipped

out my blaster. They were here for revenge! I aimed

my blaster unsteadily at the Spacecraft. My left arm

wobbled, and shook.

I was a right-handed, but my right arm was now

useless. Closing my eyes, I triggered the blaster and

sent a laser shot in the air. A robot came tumbling

out of the cabin, landing on the muddy ground. I

stared at the robot. Yes! Clean headshot. As I looked

back up, all I could see was Shaun a meter above me,

before I was flattened against the ground. I had too

little time to react. Shaun laid above me, uninjured

but clearly shaken by the near death experience. I

came back into my feet and picked up the robot’s

blaster. Upgrade to first class! I tossed the blaster

into my sling bag, laughing wildly.

58

The Wanderers

My arm was forcing against reality, attempting

to function as its normal self. The map which I was

clenching to, using my bad arm, struggled to break

free. After much wriggling, it reigned with victory,

drifting far away, slowly. The map was now a speck

of brown dust in the distance, adding on to the foggy

atmosphere. It seemed to reach beyond a statue of

the Merlion, majestically sitting there. I didn't even

try to retrieve it, holding my head up high because I

knew that I was still alive. However, seeing Shaun

chasing after the map was amusing, portraying how

childish he looked. With a downcast face, he trudged

back, as if all was lost. Just then, my tummy rumbled.

I sure was as hungry as a lion. I felt like I could eat a

whole burger in five seconds flat. Savaged and

malnourished were the two words that described

Shaun and I.

We had shed a few pounds in the last few days

after skipping all our meals. At the corner of my eyes,

I caught sight of a plump, thick and juicy looking pig

caught in a tangle of shrubs. Food at last! I whipped

out the ill-gotten blaster from my haversack and

blaster the pig. The smell of cooked pork wafted

towards me. Mmmmmmmm… Nice delicious pork,

59

all cooked and ready to be eaten! This blaster sure is

handy! Me and Shaun dashed to the huge cooked

pig. Like a pair of wolves, we plucked out huge

chunks of meat and gobbled it down. Strangely,

behind some thick foliage, I spotted something

moving. A human. The human was dressed in white

armor. That human did better run away before I blast

him into pieces, I thought in my head.

Picking up my blaster, I gingerly sneaked to the

foliage. Just like that, I sparked a reaction and the

human took off. I wanted an explanation! Chasing

after that person was tough on a full stomach. A wild

goose chase erupted out of it, with Shaun struggling

to catch up behind me. We ran past what seemed to

look like Changi Airport Control Tower. The huge ball

which used to sit on top of it, now looked more like

a huge boulder. Ahead of me, the person had

stopped in his tracks. I approached him slowly with

caution. Swiftly, the person lifted a rock, revealing a

button. The piece of ground descended gradually.

Nimbly, I sprinted towards the descending piece of

land, just in time before another piece of land

covered it. It was deep hole. I landed with a great

thud on the stranger.

60

Following this, Shaun pinned me down. The

person tossed and turned wildly, and loud gasping

for air could be heard. After what seemed to be like

eternity, light flooded into my eyes. We were in a

huge metallic room. People wearing the exact same

thing as the stranger we saw earlier filled the room.

The stranger let out a huge shriek and all eyes were

turned to us. Jaws dropped as the people drew their

blasters out, directing them to us.

Jumping off the stranger, I raised my hand up

high in the air. Shaun took my lead and followed my

every movement. “How dare you invade us… We

61

shall kill every Conqueror which stand in our way!”

Said a tall and stout man who seemed to be the

leader of the group. He wore a more majestic white

armor, with the word “Representative” engraved on

it. “I think you got us wrong kind sir… We are not

working for the Conquerors!” Shaun stammered.

The raised his hand, giving a signal to hold their fire.

“But how can you explain that blaster you have

in your bag?” Asked the leader in a low and unusually

kind tone. “We got this from one of the cyborgs we

destroyed. Please believe us… We work for the ACA.”

I stammered in response to his question. His eyes

flared with rage and he creased his thick eyebrows.

“The more we should kill you!” “The ACA always said

that they would defeat the Conquerors for us. They

never did. After 20 years and we are still stuck in

these old machines. Rusted and depleting in

supplies.” “Curses to the ACA!” Exclaimed their

leader as he blew his top. The crowd broke out in

uproar.

Trying to plot a plan, I quickly blurted out some

words. “Why don't we defeat the Conquerors and

the ACA together! Let's make an alliance.” The rage

in his eyes depleted as he started tearing. “You bet…

The ACA forced those of us who never made it to the

62

Emergency Spaceship to stay in these machines

which they called MRV, also known as Moving

Rescue Vehicles. These machines are horrible. They

move from time to time. However, we finally found

its brakes and made it stay here, in one place, for

good. As I said, they promised to save us from the

Conquerors but these are vague promises. This is like

prison to us. We need freedom. Are sure you want to

help us?”

I had no option, neither could I dwell on that

thought, so I nodded my head reluctantly. “That's

great! My name is Frank Lee. You can just address me

as Frank. We are called the Wanderers.” Introduced

Frank in a sudden change of mood. Frank Lee. I

giggled at the mention of that name. Frankly, I found

it a good name! My giggles startled the Wanderers.

They were stunned by how amused I was by their

leader. “This is Shaun and I am John. We came from

the past to help you.” I explained. “Visitors from the

past? How interesting…” Murmurs came from the

crowd of Wanderers. “Let's get working on that

plan!” I shouted. After three intense hours in an

enclosed room, we hatched a plan.

63

THE Plan

Dig underground and go underneath the Conquerors

main Space Cruiser.

Infiltrate and shutdown external shields.

Deploy Drillers to drill into the reactor core.

Find and destroy the main reactor core.

Load the whole building with explosives.

Escape. Blow up the building and victory is ours!

Hopefully this plan would work flawlessly. In my

opinion, I wasn't really the best planner. I walked

towards the control panel of the MRV and looked

down at it with my mind racing to think of a way to

remove the brakes of this futuristic technology.

Green, blue, yellow, purple or red. Randomly, I

pressed the purple button. I swirled behind to see

water streaming down from the ceilings, with

Wanderers scattering all over. I think I accidentally

activated the sprinklers. “Erm… John…” Shaun called

for me. “Let me do this by myself for once Shaun.” I

responded, cutting him off mid-sentence.

Next, I pressed the green button. The machine

rumbled violently. Yes! I must have pressed the right

button! However, I was annoyed to see the main

64

paddock entrance partially open, forcing itself

against the soil and dirt. “John please listen to me…”

Said Shaun. “I said let me do it!” I exclaimed in my

frustration. I yanked down on the red button. This

had to be the button. Red means everything. Well…

At least most of the time. The Wanderers in the main

cabin were lifted off the ground. They were floating.

Slowly, we too were lifted of the ground. “John..”

Shaun repeated again. “What in the world do you

want!” I burst out. Shaun was pointing to a lever with

a label which stated “Brakes” above it. “Oh… I get

it…” Guiltily, I apologized to Shaun. “I tried telling

you.” Shaun said, savouring the moment of respect.

I pulled down the lever and the machine started

moving.

All the other functions disabled and we moved

forward rapidly. Wait… How do I control this thing?

The machine moved aimlessly through the dirt. I

searched around the spacious cockpit which was

decked out with levers, buttons and screens. As I

looked at what seemed like a GPS, I realized we were

heading straight for an underground volcanic

system! The GPS beeped irritatingly, displaying the

complex craters of the volcanic system. Panicking, I

dashed up and down the cockpit. The force of the

machine pushed me down onto one of the two seats

65

in the middle of the cockpit. A pair of goggles were

placed on me and complex graphics appeared. My

hand was on a pad fitted with many buttons.

“How in this world do I make this thing turn

left!” I exclaimed in my panic. Just like that, the

machine swiftly turned to the left. “Turn left!” I said

again. Once again, the machine turn left. Ah ha! So

the machine actually worked by using Voice Control.

“Take a look at this Shaun!” Shaun dashed to me and

inspected the new piece of technology made known

to us. “Don’t play with that titanium box! It could be

dangerous!” I lectured Shaun. Music started blasting

through the speakers. Titanium…The song was called

Titanium. Wow! This Voice Control system could do

more than I thought it could. Focus! My conscience

told me. Immediately, I deactivated the music and

we were on our way to the Space Cruisers!

66

Infiltrating the Stronghold

After giving a string of commands, we

reached our destination. Butterflies were in my

stomach. Doing this was like sending a lamb to the

slaughter. I couldn't guarantee victory, neither could

I guarantee safety. But it's all worth the try. Two

million feet beneath the Conquerors’ Space Cruiser

was already scary enough to spark a whole

commotion in the cabin. Shrieks from children and

crashing of furniture could be heard with great

clarity.

Everyone

was

doing

last-minute

preparations.

The minute we all have been waiting for. The

moment of revenge. It was time for infiltration. Frank

gave his last words encouragement before sending

us off with teary eyes. A group of ten brave

Wanderers followed us in this major operation to

tackle the Conquerors. We stepped on the lift pad

and soon, we found ourselves being raised up

towards the mysterious Space Cruiser. We also

found ourselves being raised up towards the

slaughter.

67

Betrayal

The prominent clink of the lift pad we were

standing on meant that we had reached our

destination. Carefully, I removed a hatch that lead to

an air-conditioning vent and ushered everyone in,

before I slowly entered and returned the hatch to its

original place. The vent was dark. The only source of

light came from the helmet Shaun was wearing.

Chattering of teeth could be heard from our fellow

friends, displaying how cold they were, and how

scared they had become. In fact, I admit I was

shivering in that vent. One careless step made by

Shaun sent him tumbling down into a room filled

with cyborgs loading parts into crates. The Wanderer

behind Shaun grabbed him in the nick of time.

Unfortunately, he was too light and instead, he was

sent tumbling down too.

This happened to all the subsequent Wanderers

and lastly, it happened to me. They really had to

sharpen their IQ. The cyborgs reacted like light and

whipped out their blasters. Recovering from the fall,

we crawled out of the room as fast as we could,

dodging their strikes. I whipped out my blaster and

shot down three cyborgs before exiting the room. All

twelve of us stood up and dusted off the dirt

68

accumulated on our knees and proceeded on.

Sneaking through to complex hallway of the Space

Cruiser, we remained undetected and undercover.

As we made our way to the Shield Generator room,

something else caught my attention. Like a

hypnotized chicken, I walked towards the door which

I was attracted to. Shaun tried dragging me away,

but I refused and I flung him to one side.

Cyborg Production Room. I pushed the doors

wide open, revealing tons of liquid filled pods and

stacked neatly one above another. Inside each pod

was a human which was connected to many wires.

Some eyeballs were out of their sockets, and some

had seriously dislocated jaws. Robotic arms inside

each pod worked on each body. They removed body

parts, displaying a gruesome scene. As I stumbled

backwards, I turned around to see Betty and Luke

walking towards me. They each had a blank

expression on their face. “Are both of you ok? I can't

believe you are still alive!” I exclaimed in relief.

Without a word they continued walking towards me.

A hand from behind me pulled me out of the

room and back into the hallway. “Stop that Shaun!

What's wrong with meeting our friends!” I

reprimanded Shaun. “No! You don't understand!

69

They are not our friends! They have been bugged!”

Shaun exclaimed. His words fell on deaf ears as I

returned back into the room. As I approached Luke

and Betty, I lifted my hands to give them a big, warm

hug. But I was unprepared for what happened next.

Betty punched me in the face and once again I went

spiraling back into darkness.

“You should have listened to Shaun… How

could you fall into their trap so easily?” Said a voice.

The familiar voice echoed through my empty mind.

It was Kyle again. “Don't you have anything better to

do…” I asked in annoyance. “Erm… There isn't much

to do here. Let's get back to the point. Don't wave

away ideas next time. Be open-minded and accept

others. Never give up!” Kyle’s voice faded away and

I came back to the real world.

70

On the Run-again

I was in a tank. A huge tank. A tube was

connected into my mouth. I couldn't move. I couldn't

escape. Just then, an idea struck me. I blew hard into

the tube and caused a machine behind the tank to

explode. I knew it! The pressure was too much for it

to take. Jumping out of the tank, I realized I was still

in the Cyborg Production Room. Eleven other similar

tanks stood I front of me. Each contained one

member of our team, including Shaun. Why did I not

listen to Shaun? Guilt overwhelmed me. Again, Luke

and Betty came out from the shadows. “How dare

you escape!” They shouted in unison.

I decided to do it the hard way. “Don't you

remember me! I am your friend! John! How can I call

you my friend when you punched me in the face! You

should be guilty!” I thundered. This seemed to strike

a cord in both of their minds. Deep inside their

heads, their treasure trove of memories was

unlocked. They fell to the ground and clutched their

heads looking stressed and confused, whining

endlessly. Then, they snapped back. “What

happened?” Luke asked. “Nothing you need to

know…” I said, glad to have my friends back. “Stop

71

where you are! Surrender and we will not do

anything to you!”

A voice came from the speakers. Defiant, I

pressed the button to open all eleven tanks and the

team was free again. “Then you shall face your

doom. Code B-245!” Boomed the voice over the

speaker. The pods of liquid above which contained

the bodies of half built cyborgs opened. The bodies

stormed out of their tanks. They were the half-dead

and looked pale and ghastly. Some had their heads

tilted to one side, others had dislocated legs. Others

had parts of their skin falling off and their brains

were exposed. In fact, some had hands out of their

sockets. The sight was atrocious and beastly.

This was what I would call a zombie apocalypse.

Whipping out our blasters, we fired an endless string

of laser shots. Shooting down a small minority of the

“zombies”. Step two if u ever get involved in a

zombie apocalypse…Run! All of us scooted out of the

room, making a beeline for the main entrance. Four

unfortunate Wanderers became dinner. Or was it

lunch? The sight of their remains were just

unbearable, better not to be described in detail. We

continued our hasty escape through the hallway.

72

These despicable Conquerors had really caused lots

of chaos and destruction.

Firstly, they conquered the world, secondly,

they caused a zombie apocalypse in their very own

Space Cruiser and thirdly, they took me and my

friends away from our freedom. Freedom. The good

days back then. Focus John! Focus! I nagged at

myself. Finally, we bashed into the Shield Generator

Room. Using my deactivator, I threw it onto the

panel to deactivate the system. The system flashed a

warning sign before deactivating. As we looked out

of the window, we saw the diggers approaching at

the speed of light. Strangely, the diggers exploded at

the foot of the Space Cruiser. Just like an army of ants

getting stomped on. No time to escape, no time to

fear, all at once, death came.

I don't understand… How was this possible?

Why was life so unfair, why was nature so cruel? The

blood-drained faces of the team made me feel like a

failure. Static electricity shot down from the ceiling

onto the ground all around me.

I stumbled and fell down clumsily. The results of

failure. So much for savoring the taste of failure…

“You think you could defeat us so easily? Ha! Dream

73

on! You are in my hands now… I have finally got all of

you, and nothing can stand in our way for now.

Mwahahahahaha.” The evil cackling was the last

thing I heard before a strange gas was released into

the room, making me feel sleepy. Rest in peace, how

good it felt to have all the guilt fade away into

something better… Death.

“Seriously, you think you are going to die?”

Kyle’s voice echoed in my mind…again! “Can you

please leave me alone for once!” I shouted in rage.

“Ok… If you need me, just call out for me.” Can't I just

rest well in my conscience? I can't believe it! I

just…its…Argh! I can't take it! The stress that

weighed on me these days, the guilt which I thought

was gone! Can I ever just leave? Why? Why me? I felt

like crying, I felt like going home! “Just believe and

you can do all things!” Echoed Kyle.

74

General Dex

I found myself standing in the middle of an office

at attention. The whole team was at attention. I

couldn't move. Not because of liquid this time, but

because of my brain. No matter how hard I tried to

command myself to move, I stood still. “I see you are

conscious John…” Boomed a voice. A tall menacing

figure appeared from the shadows. It was the

general with the badge I saw in my dreams. “Don't

even try escaping. I have mind-controlled you, using

a special poison too complicated for people like you

to understand.”

My body locked tighter into place. Behind him

stood… Stood… Kyle! Both strolled silently towards

me, as the general tried to get the evil in him to

prevail. By now, he had his face stuffed right in front

of mine, making me feel uneasy, but somehow I

didn't really feel that way, I just felt empty. Bits of

saliva shot out of his mouth and landed on my face

like missiles. His once neat pure white uniform had

become somehow creased and crumpled. “Let's do a

test run! Slap yourself.”

My hand obediently raised itself and slapped me

hard on my face. “Slap yourself again!” This repeated

75

continually. Imaging the pain and torture I felt. Sharp

pain pierced through my cheeks which were now

red. Yes. Red with anger, embarrassment and pain.

“Never give up!” Echoed Kyle in my mind. Never give

up, I thought. The thought of those words seemed to

empower me all of a sudden. I forced myself to go

against the mind-control poison. Push! Argh! Finally,

I did it. I went against the poison and this time

instead of slapping myself, my hand flew towards the

general who was standing right in front of me. For a

moment, he was filled with shock. But as shock

turned into anger, his inner beast was unleashed.

His eyes flared up as I see the negative energy

building up in him. “How dare you!” He grabbed me

by the neck and lifted me up high in the air. “Oh if I

could talk, I can control the rest of them.” I said in a

calm voice. “Disable mind-control.” I shouted. Each

and every one of them snapped out of the mind-

control effects. “No! No! Enable mind-control!” He

shouted in a confused and worried voice. “Look at

their arms! The poison had already been pushed out!

Ha!” I exclaimed mockingly at the panicking general.

“That's enough! I shall destroy you and your friends

once and for all!” He took out a blaster two times the

size of mine and pointed it to me.

76

A swarm of short cylinder-shaped robots

stormed out of pods located behind the walls.

Hastily, me, Shaun, Luke and Betty hid behind a pillar

while the rest of the team waged war with the robots

and their master. Shaun took out his haversack and

slammed it against the ground. Its contents spilled

out as it made contact with the silvery floor. Picking

up three of it, he gave an item to each of us. These

seemed to be gadgets made out of the parts we got

on our journey! Well, I finally realized the benefits of

a nerd.

To be honest, I found the gadgets pretty cool. I

got a laser reflector shield, Betty got a pair of electric

mines and Luke got the coolest and most

sophisticated gadget. The laser glove. The laser

gloves were made in a way such that each finger had

a laser blaster which could blast out lasers by just

using hand gestures. Something like Spider-Man.

Just deadlier.

Push front to shoot, pull back to deactivate.

Simple. “Let me brief you on this… Remember I want

these back as these can cost a bomb in our era. Luke,

remember not to overheat the core central terminal

of the gloves and preheat-cool down fans and also…”

Shaun went rattling on. “Please explain in my

77

language.” Luke asked sarcastically. “No time for

that! We have a universe to save!” Betty putting on

her serious face. She swiped the mines which were

on the ground as she jumped into the messed up war

zone. Following her cue, we all scrambled from the

safety of the pillar. “You all are little scumbags aren't

you? Who is going to save you now eh? No one!”

Yelled the partially insane general. Trash-talking us

only made us more determined to fulfill the task

rather than giving up. However, things seemed bad

for the team. The laser beams shot at the robots just

get reflected back! Our members were dwindling

fast. In a last attempt to save themselves, the

remaining members dived out of the window.

78

Last Man Standing

The loud shattering of glass rang through the

room, followed by screams of terror from fellow

members of the team. This leaves just the four of us.

The robots diverted from their attention to us.

“What are your waiting for? Get them!” Obedient to

their master, the robots charged at us with full

speed. They were equipped with highly lethal

blasters which seemed to be modified more than the

standard Conquerors vision of the blasters.

This can't be good! Trying my luck, I shot a laser

beam at one of the robots. Just as suspected, it was

reflected. Now it was headed for me! I fiddled with

Laser Reflector Shaun handed me. How do I get this

thing to activate? Then I spotted a little red button

on the ball-shaped device. Without much hesitation,

I pressed it. The Reflector activated just in the nick of

time. Once again the beam whizzed away from me

headed from a computer terminal located on a huge

metal study desk. Zap! Thick black smoke bellowed

out if the terminal. In a split second, the robots were

sent into a wild frenzy, blasting lasers everywhere

We sought refuge behind the same pillar we hid

behind previously. Robots were punching each other

79

while others made a run for the general. The general

widened his eyes in realization that his army had

turned against him. Dropping his mini blaster on the

floor, he turned and took to his heels. The childish

act of him being chased by the robots he once

commanded was amusing. Unfortunately, our

perfectly good cover was blown by our squeals of

laughter. Three of the robots turned to us and made

a mad rush for us. Betty threw her two Electric mines

at the terminal on the desk so as to shut down the

system completely. Success. The robots fell to the

ground with thundering thumps.

80

Clanking of metal was the only thing that could

be heard at that very moment. As the quietness of

the room was restored, I realized it was a little too

quiet. It was then, it struck me like a bolt in the head

that the general was gone! “He went that way!” Luke

shouted at us from the other end of the hall. He

gestured us towards the main door. As we ran out of

the office, I could see the cowardly figure running

down the hallway. It was a game of cat and mice as

we attempted to find the stealthy general.

After running through a maze of hallways, we

spotted the general bashing through the door

leading to a room which was labelled “Control

Room”. We trapped him! As we bashed into the

control room, the sight of control panels dotted with

colorful buttons (Not a compliment) greeted us. No

general. No maniac. Just controls. Could we have

gone into the wrong room? Impossible! We saw him

came in here! I thought. As we turned to leave the

control room, Luke yelped in pain before falling

helplessly to the ground.

We spun around to find ourselves face to face

with that maniac general! In his hand was a

Touchscreen device which was all cracked and

shattered, apparently from the impact of Luke's

81

head. “Game over little rascals!” Exclaimed the

general as he walked towards us in a slow and steady

pace. “Look what I have here! Two little rascals and

what is this?” He pointed to a bladed weapon in his

hand. “This… Is my little friend called Szappy. With

just a little zap and slash, I doubt it would hurt at all!”

Cackled the general.

82

Quarter Failures

The general continued advancing towards us,

wielding the weapon in his hand. Just then, the

general was pushed forward by a sudden force from

behind. He fell face flat on the ground, dropping the

weapon beside him. Behind him stood a black-eyed

Luke. “The sweet taste of revenge!” Said Luke with a

grin on his face. A tall shadowy figure appeared from

behind a secret door located at the back of the

control room. “I can't believe you failed me Dex! I will

take them down myself!”

The figure behind us came out from the

shadows, wearing a helmet and a cape made of pure

white linen. Behind the helmet, I could see blood-red

eyes. Glowing. “Now, face your doom, for it is I,

Master Akilo” Thundered the ghastly figure. I gave a

loud and clear gulp. “If you want us, you have to get

through me!” Luke challenged. “Very well then. Bring

it on!” Luke slipped on his gloves.. Master Akilo held

in his hands a huge static launcher. Without a word,

he shot endless strings of static rays at Shaun. In

return, Shaun deflected the static rays using the

lasers.

83

Master Akilo looked stunned for a moment.

Seeking this golden opportunity, Shaun shot a short

string of laser beams at Master Akilo’s helmet.

Approaching with speed, the frenzied Master Akilo

pressed a button on one of the control panels before

the laser beam reached him. The laser beams melted

his helmet and shot him in both eyes. A gush of wind

came out from the bottom of his white cloak. Dust

blinded us for a moment as we coughed the dust that

went into us. As we recovered from that effect, all

that was left of Master Akilo was his majestic cloak,

cape and melted helmet. Nothing else.

84

Evacuation

A mechanic voice boomed through the speakers

“Commencing evacuation in T-minus 5 minutes.”

Looking out of the control room’s huge window, I

saw Singapore. A nice good view of Singapore. A

garden city. A city where there is hope for everyone

in any situation. Peace was being restored! The

Conquerors’ cyborgs flooded into the Space Cruiser

at a steady pace, bringing along with them

transporters loaded with their robots. In their hurry

to evacuate, robots tumbled off the transporters,

deactivated

and

dominant.

“Commencing

evacuation in T-minus 2 minutes.” As I snapped back

from admiring the beautifully crafted scene of

Singapore right in front of me, I realized that we had

to get off this ship!

All four of us exited the control room and

hurried towards the row of escape pods located

further down the hallway. Perfect! “Commencing

evacuation in T-minus 1 minute.” A shoved everyone

into the squeezed escape pod and activated it. The

doors shut close with an ear-piercing screech. Soon,

I felt my guts floating up to my throat, followed by an

abrupt jerk that caused me to black out.

85

Reunions

As I came back to my senses, I saw the escape

pod door wide open and the cool morning breeze

brushing against my face. The fragrance a sweet

lavender wafted through the air. It felt good to be

away from the danger. A thundering roar from the

air caught my attention as pod-shaped spaceships

flooded down from above. Oh no... It can't be the

Conquerors again! The loud thunderous roar from

above caused the three of them to snap awake. From

what I could see, I think they had the same thinking

as me. One of the pods landed in front of our escape

pod. Gingerly, we approached the pod, armed and

ready for combat.

As the pods opened, I was baffled to see normal

looking people. Those people inside the pod were

gem more baffled than we were, fiddling with the

pod’s controls. “Don't worry! We won't shoot you!”

I affirmed them. We dropped our weapons to show

our sincerity. “Who are you?” Asked one of the

people. “We came from the past and defeated the

Conquerors!” Shaun explained to them. “You what?

You were the ones? But you are only children!” One

woman stammered. Murmurs came from the crowd

that came out from the pod. Behind them, an old

86

man with white hair and beard, decked out in an

Armani suit walked towards us.

The crowd parted to make way for this

mysterious man. By now, the people from the other

pods had gathered too. There seemed to be millions

of people. “Thank you for defeating the Conquerors

young children! I, President Yu and the rest of us

Singaporeans would like you to assist us in rebuilding

the city!” Said President Yu. Now the pieces clicked

into place. These are the citizens of Singapore who

fled 20 years ago prior to the war! Sensing that the

Conquerors were gone, they came back! Such a

dangerous adventure with a happy ending. “We

would be honored to do so.” I said putting up a brave

front. In actually fact, I felt shy and overjoyed.

He led us towards a building which stood not so

far away. It looked like the Istana! Vines were

creeping up its wall but the history of Singapore was

still built on it. Inside a small little room in the Istana,

President Yu scanned his fingerprint on a control

panel. “Welcome back President Yu, access granted.

Heating up systems. Prepare for tremors.” A robotic

voice said. Before the last word was even said, the

ground beneath us rumbled. All of us were knocked

87

off our feet as we felt ourselves being pulled to the

ground.

Finally, after several minutes, the rumbling

stopped and we regained our posture. “Island

Stabilizing Complete! Estimated 8000 feet above sea

level!” I can't believe it! Singapore was floating in the

air. The whole island! President Yu just grinned at us

as he fiddled with other controls. Over the years,

Singapore has changed drastically. Advanced in

technology but still as green as ever, it sure is one

special city. President Yu deployed a few active

88

robots to rebuild the city defense systems and

weather dome.

Several experts in robotics were asked to

explore the weapons and robots left behind by the

Conquerors. The rest of the population was

dedicated to rebuild Singapore together as one and

committed to defend their city. “Here you go, keep

these as souvenirs from us.” Said President Yu,

handing us each a medal and a Smart-watch. “Keep

them safe.” President Yu said in a low and serious

voice. He clicked a button on a remote he was

holding in his hands, and I found myself in another

dimension. Sky blue lines streaked around me and

then, darkness engulfed me.

Everything was a blur. All I could see was

sunlight, all I could visualize was the color blue. As

my vision cleared up, I realized all four of us were

facing the sky. Lying on… Mud? I stood up to see

police yellow tape cordoning off the area we were in.

We weren't in 2650 anymore. We were in the

present. Four police officers spotted us and scurried

over to our aid. “Where did you go? Your parents

have been looking for you for four days!” One of the

police officers said, eying the shiny and boastful

medals on our chests. We were away for four days?

89

I didn't know we were away for so long! “Long story

cut short, everything was awesome!” Shaun

exclaimed with his eyes wide opened. I think he was

referring to the technology there, but I wouldn't

stand in his way. I guess the way things are now, we

were back to the good old days. Excluding school. I

looked at the medal I had received and the watch

strapped on my hand. It always remind me that no

matter what, we have to keep Singapore united and

protected!

90

91

*** Three Years Later ***

(Book 2 Teaser)

Rain battered against my forehead as I pushed

myself ahead. Fancy not bringing my umbrella on this

specific day! The monsoon season had begun and I

made a mental note to bring my umbrella next time.

Now all my homework was all wet! I stepped into the

dreaded school compound, drenched to the skin. My

hair was plastered against my forehead, dripping

with rainwater. Just right at that moment, Shaun,

Luke and Betty stepped into the foyer. “Hi guys! Did

you do your homework?” I asked, curious to know.

The trio turned and smiled to each other sheepishly.

I definitely knew that look… “Ahem!” Our heads

flung to the person standing behind us. That voice

could have been recognized anywhere. Mr. Adam! He

was our Literature teacher and no one would want to

mess with him. “All of you are late! I also predict that

you did not finish my homework yet huh?” He said

sarcastically.

“No

sir…we…you…the…”

Shaun

stuttered, forming no words in his mind. “I will see

you at two!” Mr. Adam ordered. Not detention

again! Secondary One life wasn't the best time to

mess with teachers.

92

As the four of us streamed into the familiar and

most dreaded room in the entire school, Mr. Adam

eyed us, observing our every move. “Sir, I need to use

the Ladies!” Exclaimed Betty. This was apparently

her signature move to escape detention. “Ok fine…

Be back in 5 minutes!” Betty zoomed out of the

room, and I think I saw a wide grin on her face. As I

read my engrossing book with great interest, I felt a

vibration on my wrist. I looked down at my wrist. It

was the watch. The one we received as a token of

appreciation. It illuminated with a bright green glow.

I turned behind to see the Shaun and Luke looking at

their watches.

Mr. Adam was fiddling with the watch on Betty’s

table. I could see him trying to disable the vibration

but to no avail. He cursed under his breath before

strapping it onto his wrist. “I will confiscate your

watches if I ever hear it vibrate in class next time!”

He warned us. Suddenly, a brilliant flash of bright

light blinded us and I was sent into another world. A

world filled with darkness. A world, linking time and

reality. However, things weren’t going to be as per

normal now. We had lost Betty and we had a new

member… Mr. Adam.

Printed on environmentally friendly paper

THE FUTURE DOESN'T ALWAYS TURN OUT

THE WAY YOU WANT IT TO BE…

John is just like any ordinary kid. And like any other kid, he always

thought the future would be filled with flying cars or robots.

However, beyond his wildest dream, he never expected himself to

land up in the future, even more, save it from mass destruction. As

he ventures deeper into the Invaded island of Singapore in the

year 2650, he finds out the tragic incident that happened years

ago. Strange people? Strange contraptions? Strange stories? Will

John and his friends make it back to the past safely? Or will they

face uncertain death? Read Invasion 2650 to find out!

ISBN 9789811109782

9 789811 109782

Document Outline

- cover (A5)

- Inside & Back Cover

- Ben Book v4 LATEST (A5 size)

- Inside & Back Cover

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Table of Contents

cover (A5)

Inside & Back Cover

Ben Book v4 LATEST (A5 size)

Inside & Back Cover

Inside & Back Cover