The Awakening: Book 1 of the Evaran Chronicles (19 page)

Dr. Snowden’s perspective on life, and reality in general, had changed in his time with Evaran. He learned that he shouldn’t dismiss things based on his misunderstanding of a situation. He learned that Emily was not a little girl wanting airplane rides anymore; she was a strong young woman. He learned that first impressions were not always absolute, like with Jay and Sanjay. Perhaps the biggest change was his realization that it was okay to show emotions like he had with Kazryn. He shook his head and exhaled through his nose.

“Oh, you may want this. I will need it back when I return,” said Evaran as he handed a disk to Dr. Snowden.

“What is it?” asked Dr. Snowden.

“The logs the Krotovore kept on you. It does not contain any technical or engineering details, just their observations and a bit of their history. I replicated a disk that your computer will understand and transferred the information over to it. It will read like a set of log entries, and if anyone were to read it, they would think it was a work of fiction,” said Evaran.

Dr. Snowden’s eyes lit up, and his lips parted.

“I am still unclear as to why they selected you four, but will sift through the data on my ship later and see what I can find. If I find something, then I will let you know. You two will be fine. When I come back, dinner is on you,” said Evaran with a half smile.

“You got it,” said Dr. Snowden with a cracked voice.

Evaran nodded. “Everything is as it should be.” He walked back to his ship, pausing at the ramp to look back.

Dr. Snowden saw Evaran wave, turn around, and walk up the ramp while looking at something in his hand.

Epilogue

J
ay’s eyes burst open as he sat up on a slab. His breathing was ragged as he slid his legs off the side. He ran his hands over the bag covering his severed arm and swiveled his head as a robot entered the room.

“You are awake. How are you feeling?” said the robot.

Jay jumped off the slab and licked his lips. “Who the fuck are you, and where the hell am I?”

The robot tilted its head at Jay. “I am V, or Blue Ball as you have designated, in full-body mode.”

Jay sighed. “Blue Ball! Damn, glad to see you, man.” He looked around. “What’s going on?”

“You passed out after you lost your arm. Evaran found a Krotovore gel that is regenerating your arm. In a month, it will be fully regenerated,” said V.

Jay wiggled his arm stump around. “It doesn’t hurt.” He looked up at V. “So it looks like we got off the ship. What happened with the others?”

V walked over to one of the replicators on the side of the room and picked up a container of water. V took the container over to Jay and handed it to him. “Dr. Snowden and Emily are back on Earth. Evaran saved Jerzan and one of his mercenaries. They are in a Bilaxian prison, which is where we are now. Evaran wanted to talk to you before heading in to see Jerzan.”

Jay nodded and then took a sip of water.

After a few moments, Evaran walked into the room. “Jay, you look well.”

Jay exhaled. “Yeah. Doin’ all right, I guess. Heard you got Doc and Emily back safely and saved some of those merc assholes.”

Evaran half grinned. “Dr. Snowden and Emily will be glad to see you when you get back to Earth. As for Jerzan, I am about to visit him and Jahl. I wanted to show you something before I go. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them.” Evaran walked toward the medical lab entrance, with Jay in tow.

Jay scratched his head. “What’s the date?”

Evaran half turned his head as they exited the medical room. “March 16, 2013, two weeks past the events of the Krotovore ship. I made several stops while you were unconscious and then traveled to this point in space and time. From my perspective, it has only been a day since the Krotovore ship. ”

Jay sighed. “More of that time-travel crap. Not sure I fully understand all that.”

Evaran half smiled. “You do not need to. Come.” He stopped outside a door that was two doors to the left of the entrance ramp.

Jay looked around. “So this is your ship.”

“It is. V will be your guide for the month you are here. He can give you a tour of it. Step into this room, and I will show you something I believe you may enjoy.”

Jay stepped into the room. He squinted as he looked around. The room was large and had a white floor and walls. “What the hell is this?”

Evaran and V walked into the room. Evaran gestured to the back of the room. “It is my holo room. You can recreate anything you can imagine in here, within reason.”

Jay jerked his head back. “Anything? Not following.”

Evaran looked up at an angle. “Computer, run program Jay Home One.”

The white walls shimmered as the room changed into a replica of the street Jay’s house was on. Jay stumbled back. “What the fuck!”

“We are still in the room. These are just solid holograms.”

Jay reached down to touch the street. His eyes widened.

“V will help you learn how to use it. V is interested in learning more about Earth culture, so this will be good. Any other questions before I head out?”

Jay smirked. “Can it create living things?”

Evaran nodded. “It creates an approximation.”

Jay’s smile widened as he pointed at Evaran. “Ahh, man, you know what I’m talking about.”

Evaran half smiled. “I do. V, make sure the room’s busy signal is set appropriately. I will be back soon. We can have dinner, or if you wish to discuss more things, we can.”

Jay slapped V on the back. “I think me and Blue Ball will be okay. When you see Jerzan, slap the shit out of him for me.”

Evaran nodded and walked out of the room.

Evaran exited the Torvatta, where two Bilaxian guards awaited him. They nodded at him and took him into a large building built inside an asteroid. After twenty minutes of various checkpoints, they arrived at a dimly lit hallway with doors on each side. They walked to the second door on the left. One of the guards pressed a button on the wall console outside the door.

“Hey! Assholes! You have a visitor,” said the guard.

“What?” said Jerzan.

“A visitor.”

“Who is it?”

“Evaran.”

The sound of thumping and dropped metal rang out. The guard pressed another button, and the door slid open. The guard faced Evaran. “You have twenty minutes. Do I need to get a body bag?”

Evaran wrinkled his eyebrows. “No, I am not here to harm them. Just to talk.”

The guards laughed. “Well, they ain’t gonna survive here for long. If it ain’t you, it’ll be someone else.”

Evaran nodded. “Noted.” He walked into the room. Jerzan and Jahl had their backs pressed against the other side of the room.

“You come to finish the job?” asked Jerzan.

The door slid closed. Evaran raised a hand toward them. “I am not here to harm you. I just have a few things to say. Please sit.” He gestured toward the tattered beds on each side of the room. Jahl looked at Jerzan, then sat on his bed.

Jerzan exhaled sharply, then sat on his bed. “So what the fuck you want?”

Evaran walked to the center of the room. “First, the people of Neoparene have forgiven you.”

Jerzan laughed. “What? We kick their ass, and they forgive us? Their weakness is irritating.”

Evaran nodded. “They were initially planning on giving you Teelah Crotoris. I talked them out of it.”

Jahl scrunched up his face. “What’s that?”

“A disease. It forms an exoskeleton and takes forty years or so to form. The remaining years after that are excruciatingly painful from what they said,” said Evaran.

Jerzan and Jahl grimaced.

“My second topic deals with the impact of what you did. Your massacre on the planet has caused the Bilaxian Empire to elevate Neoparene to a member planet due to knowledge pollution. They went from a simple society to one with access to advanced tech. That usually does not turn out well. I disagree with the Bilaxians on this,” said Evaran.

“Well, good for them, I guess. Sounds like we helped them. What does that have to do with us?” asked Jerzan.

Evaran looked down at the ground for a moment, then glanced back up at them. “I have traveled up and down the timeline in this area for a while now. My first visit two thousand years or so in the future was a while ago. The Neoparene and Dalrun were the dominant powers in this region. They had a rivalry but got along for the most part. The Bilaxian Empire had fallen, and the Neoparene, with their advanced intellect, took their place.”

Jerzan shook his head. “Time travel. I swear. Galkett actually believes you can.”

Evaran furrowed his eyebrows. “That is because he does his research. Now, I went back to the future to check if the Bilaxian embrace of Neoparene had any impact. My second visit showed only one dominant power, and it was the Neoparene. The Dalrun Empire was broken and scattered. Apparently the Neoparene advanced much faster technologically, which gave them an edge. They also were aware of what was out there, and built technology to prevent what you did from ever happening to them again.”

Jahl smirked. “So you think we’re guilty.”

“Partially. I am guilty as well. I showed the Neoparene better farming techniques. This led to them being detected by your crew. If I had not helped them, you would not have detected them, as they would have hidden from you instead of thinking you were another person from the stars out to help them. I did not know you were going to pass over the planet and do what you did, but it is done,” said Evaran.

“Well, what do you want us to do about it?” asked Jerzan.

“Nothing. I wanted you to know what the consequences of your actions were. That’s all I have to say,” said Evaran. He turned and walked back to the cell door.

Jerzan licked his lips and stood up. “Wait! If you can time travel, maybe you could take us back to our younger selves, and we could change all that.”

Evaran shook his head. “That is not how it works. It is already woven into my past.” He walked over to the cell door and pressed a button on the wall console. He half turned his head back around. “I took the liberty of visiting this prison twenty years in the future to check on your status.”

The door slid open. Evaran walked out and turned to face them. “There was nothing to get a status on.” The door slid shut.

Note from the Author