56

You put your hands up in the air. You doubt that you will be able to move fast enough to take the man out before he pulls the trigger. The man now points the gun at you. “Professor, hand over the data or I now shoot this young man,” he says.

The professor nods. He slowly gets up and moves towards his computer.  His fingers play over the keys. After a minute or so, he inserts a memory stick into the computer. “Just a few seconds more,” he mutters to himself more than anyone else in the room. He then removes the memory stick from his machine.

“Here,” he says and hands the man the memory stick.

“Tie him up!” the man orders. The professor shrugs. He rummages through some of his worktables and emerges with some cables, which he uses to tie your hands together.

As the professor ties the last knot, the man moves behind the professor and hits him over the back of the head with the butt of his pistol. He then leans in and grabs your phone from your pocket.

The professor falls forward, unconscious at your feet. A burst of evil laughter erupts from the man. He grabs the professor’s computer and turns towards the hatch door.

“Goodbye!” he says as he leaves.

You find that the professor did not do a good job with the ropes. After a few minutes or intense concentration and working at the knots you manage to untie yourself.

You leave the professor’s lab and rush towards your helicopter, hoping that you can still catch up to them.

When you get to the landing pad and your helicopter, Emily is nowhere to be seen. You look towards the other landing pad and unsurprisingly, the other helicopter is no longer there, the clouds defying any opportunity to spot in which direction it is flying.

Panic grips you. Have they kidnapped Emily?

You search the oil rig, hoping that she is just hiding somewhere. After thirty minutes of searching, you return to the professor.

He has a nasty bump on the head and the few remaining hairs on his head are matted with sticky blood. From a first aid course you took as part of your training as a pilot, you know that cuts to the head often bleed profusely, even when the injury is fairly minor. You move the professor’s head to examine the wound more closely and breathe a sigh of relief, the cut is really just superficial.

The professor stirs slightly, his body responding to the slow return to consciousness.

“Wh.. What happened?” he asks weakly.

“Professor, who was that man?”

“They stole my work. You must stop him, please! The future of the planet depends on it!. Now go!”

“Sorry professor, but it’s too late. And Emily is gone as well!”

“Emily is gone, professor,” he slumps even further in his chair, looking utterly devastated.

“Oh no! What now, what can we do?”

You realise that there is not much you can do. The professor’s work is lost and Emily is gone as well.

You never found out what happened to Emily or the professor’s work. But the world’s news services are full of rumours of a frightening new weapon in development.

The end.