The Awakening: Book 1 of the Evaran Chronicles (6 page)

Jay slapped him on the back. “Damn, Doc—I mean, Dr. Snowden. You literally kicked the shit out of them, man. Fuck yeah.”

Dr. Snowden exhaled sharply and nodded at Jay. If Jay hadn’t pushed him out of the way, the creatures would have landed on him. The situation could have been much worse. When it came to fight or flight, Jay was all fight. “Call me Doc.”

Jay half grinned and nodded at Dr. Snowden. “All right then.”

Evaran tilted his head while raising his index finger. “The brood has arrived at the entrance. We must move.
Now.
”

Dr. Snowden rubbed the goose bumps on his arms. The intensity of Evaran’s face startled him back to reality.

V had flown off back toward the main bridge concourse entrance per a motion from Evaran. It took them twenty minutes to hustle to the main bridge door. When they arrived, Evaran placed his UIC on the console next to the entryway. Sanjay was curled up next to the door.

“There you are, you son of a bitch!” said Jay.

Sanjay crawled up to a standing position. A urine trail snaked down his slacks. “I was scared, okay?”

“Fuck, man, we’re all scared. Doesn’t mean we don’t watch each other’s back,” said Jay.

“Jay, this is not the time for this,” said Evaran.

Jay shook his head and exhaled sharply. “God, what a pussy.” He walked away from Sanjay.

Evaran interacted with his ARI and then pulled out a small orb device from his utility belt. Evaran tossed the orb out, and it hovered a few feet off the ground. Evaran interacted with his ARI again, and a projection shot up showing creatures running in through the entrance. They were pouring in, not just on the ground, but on the sides and the ceiling.

“Shit, more of those things,” said Jay with wide eyes, his mouth slightly ajar. He turned his hat back around.

“So many of them,” said Emily, grimacing.

“That is a full-on draug brood. We can discuss it more when we are in a safer position,” said Evaran.

“Goddamn,” said Jay.

Emily grabbed Dr. Snowden’s arm. Her trembling echoed through him.

He had a lot of thoughts running through his mind, but the projection of the draug mesmerized him. The draug had different body types. Although they were all mostly mottled brown in color, there was a remarkable diversity of shapes. It reminded him of ants somewhat. There were larger ones with four legs, a thorax behind them, and an upper plated body. The face had two large eyes and large pincers where a mouth would be. The upper body had two powerful-looking arms that ended in claws. Those must be the soldiers. Then there were two smaller types running around the larger ones. The first one was the type they just ran into. It was a darker brown than the rest of the draug. They also seemed to move much faster than the rest. The second one reminded him of a pill bug, except with armored plates that had spikes on each segment of its back armor. It had a tube of some sort coming from its face. Those must be specialized workers.

As V began flying back, there was a wide shot of them.

He noticed a single one that towered over them all. The body reminded him of a large praying mantis, but this one had arms ending in large claws instead of praying forelegs, and there were all sorts of protruding spikes on it. He figured it was the size of an elephant. The face reminded him of a spider’s. There were multiple eyes on it and large fangs projecting from its mouth. He had no idea what that creature represented, maybe an overseer or something. The clicking sounds were getting louder. He guessed they knew that there was food in here. At least there were no flying ones.

“Umm … how’s the door coming?” asked Sanjay.

Evaran reached out, and the projection orb flew into his hand. He put it back on his belt. The UIC had a blue light between it and the door console. Evaran interacted with his ARI. “Opening it now.”

The doors pulled back into the sidewalls, revealing a large bridge. They burst through as Evaran pulled the UIC from the door console, causing the doors to begin closing. V flew in as the doors closed. Thumping sounds emanated from the door a few moments later.

Dr. Snowden barely registered the thumping. A jumble of thoughts was waging war in his mind. He was not used to being this wrong. He vowed to learn everything he could.

They took a breather after the doors closed. Jay walked over to the wall near the entrance and leaned back against it. He looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. “Damn, I could go for a smoke ’bout now.”

Dr. Snowden went over and slumped down against the wall next to him. Emily followed him and bent down. Sanjay walked over the opposite side of the door. He drooped his head and slid his hands into his pockets.

Evaran walked out in front of them. “Any longer out there and we would have been another meal for them. They will not be breaking through that door. It has shields and is physically very durable. Relax a bit. I am going to work on the bridge consoles. There are sustenance replicators to your right. You can get some water there, but I would recommend not trying to select any food items.” He looked at Jay. “Or cigarettes.”

“Figures. Any place to get this crap off?” asked Jay, pointing to the draug bits and pieces on his boots.

Evaran nodded and pointed to their left. “There are some cleaning rooms over there. Just step in, wait for the door to close. and undress. If you need to use the bathroom, they have a structure for that in there as well. Once you are ready, just press the large green button, and it will scan and then clean everything in the room.”

Jay smirked as he walked over to the first cleaning room. “A shit scanner.”

Emily tugged on Dr. Snowden’s arm. “Uncle Albert? You okay?”

Dr. Snowden nodded. “I’m fine. I need to think for a bit. Why don’t you go get cleaned up?”

Emily stared at him for a moment. “Okay.” She got up and walked toward the cleaning rooms.

Sanjay followed after her, giving her ample time to get into one of the rooms before he went in one.

Dr. Snowden began to sort out his thoughts. How had he had been so wrong? Evidence was all around him, and he dismissed it out of hand because he did not believe in the premise. It was not easy for him as a scientist to accept the situation, especially given the lack of verifiable facts. He concluded that Evaran was just being brutally honest.

He began going through what he knew. First, there was Evaran. The first alien that he met while conscious. Evaran was apparently able to hack into an alien virtual simulation. On top of that, he had his own starship and a flying orb with artificial intelligence. Evaran seemed to have an understanding of time travel, those rift things, and these Krotovore. Evaran was an enigma, but this could also be a learning opportunity. Evaran did not have to rescue them, but he did. That said a lot about Evaran’s character. He concluded that Evaran had their best interests in mind.

His thoughts turned to the Krotovore. Why did they abduct four people along a lone stretch of I-70? Evaran said there was sparse information in the logs and that he planned to find out more. Maybe there would be additional information here on the bridge. He filed it away as something to ask Evaran. The fact that aliens exist at all was exciting, but what they did was inexcusable. Life was already hard for Emily, and now she has to deal with this. It saddened him that that meeting aliens for the first time was not in an effort of cooperation, but a violation of his very being. He tried to subdue those thoughts, but they simmered in the back of his mind.

He then focused on the virtual simulation. It felt real. The sensations he felt now were much different. The sudden onset of insomnia now made sense. One hour awake in the real world was probably a day or two in the virtual simulation. No wonder trying to sleep in there was so hard. Other times he could barely keep his eyes open. Evaran mentioned that death was a real possibility, and for these Krotovore, it would have been just another failed experiment.

He looked at his hand and flexed it. He imagined the nanobots swimming around in there. They cured his prostate cancer, and he felt like he was twenty-one again. He had doubted their existence, but he could feel their effects on him when fighting the draug. If they kept his body in this shape, he was not sure he wanted them out. He recalled Evaran mentioning they had sensory functions. He did not know what Evaran meant but figured he would ask Evaran more about them later. Emily would want them out, but maybe after hearing what they did, she would change her mind. He planned to let her know about his prostate cancer before then. The last thing she needed right now on top of all this is to learn that he had any type of cancer.

Then there were Sanjay and Jay. He liked Jay, although his machismo was off-putting at times. Jay had saved him from having one of those creatures fall on him. He admired Jay’s resilience. He knew Jay was as scared as the rest of them, but anger was his reaction. Sanjay was a mystery, however. He seemed to be a bright kid, but crippling fear caused him to run at the first sign of trouble. Not once, but twice. Both of them had a rough awakening. He was glad Evaran had visited him and Emily.

He figured his next plan of attack was to learn as much as he could. If this was real, he needed to know the lay of the land. Evaran seemed willing to share some information, so he would take advantage of that. He stood up and walked over to the cleaning rooms. There were six of them, and three were active.

He walked into an open room. The doors closed. Like the stall in the medical lab, he was hit by a strong scent, except this one smelled like vinegar. He undressed and placed his clothes on a table that jutted out from the wall. He looked around and saw the structure Evaran mentioned. It was a hole in the ground with a set of adjustable limbs jutting out over it. He adjusted the limbs and locked them in place, then sat on them and relieved himself. Once finished, he stood up and pressed the large green button near the entrance. A greenish mist filled the room. It was difficult to see anything, but the mist massaged his body.

He enjoyed the sensation over the next few minutes. He could feel the grime falling off like skin from a molting snake. Once the mist dissipated, a sweet fragrance filled the air. He looked at his arm and ran his hand over it. The mist had cleansed him thoroughly. He grabbed and inspected his shirt and noted there was not a trace of black blood or draug guts. He would love to have this back at home. He checked the toilet and noticed it was cleaned out as well. He dressed and walked out of the cleaning room.

Looking around, he saw Jay trying to interact with Emily at the sustenance replicators. He could tell Emily was less than pleased to talk with him. Her smirk gave it away. Jay scratched his hand and walked away over to where Sanjay was. Sanjay was interacting with one of the consoles by himself. Jay tried to talk to him, but Sanjay brushed him off.

Jay walked over to Dr. Snowden and chuckled. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hard on Sanjay. Your niece doesn’t like me either.”

Dr. Snowden nodded. “They’re young, angry, and confused.” He smirked at Jay. “And you did call her Hot Pants.”

Jay looked down and away.

Dr. Snowden tapped Jay on the arm with the back of his hand. “It’s okay. Let’s see what Evaran’s up to.”

As he walked over to Evaran, who was standing facing one of the wall consoles, he surveyed the bridge. The bridge was a mash-up of alien spaceship bridges he had seen on television growing up. At the front of the bridge, the wall had a large single screen that covered almost the entirety of it. To the sides of it were multiple smaller screens. The room had two areas. The first area near the entrance had three rows. Each row had consoles and unusual-looking chairs. A walkway down the middle separated the rows into equal parts. A command chair loomed at the end of the walkway. The second area was open in front of the front screen. The sides of the bridge had a continuous console with odd-looking chairs distributed evenly. The center screen showed a planet, with readouts indicating distance and speed on the bottom right.

“Is that the planet we’re hurtling toward?” asked Dr. Snowden as they walked up to Evaran.

Evaran turned to face them. “It is. The planet has primitive life but will not have any if this ship hits it.”

Dr. Snowden noticed that Evaran’s suit was cleaner than before. He figured it must have some type of slow self-cleaning aspect to it.

Emily had joined them and handed Dr. Snowden a container of water. She looked at the center screen. “It looks so serene.”

Sanjay joined them. Evaran glanced around at them all, then looked at Dr. Snowden with knowing eyes. “So, what questions do you have?”

Dr. Snowden smiled. He reflected on how odd it felt to smile. “That UIC, you said it allows you to connect to any system. How does it know how to connect to an alien system like this?”

“I’d like to know this to,” said Sanjay.

Evaran nodded. “It is only important that you know it can. The how is … a bit deeper than I think you are ready for. The UIC can interface with any technological system, usually bypassing any security setup.” He faced Sanjay. “Your studies involve working with software. Think of it as a low-level matter decompiler that works on technology. When it is accessing the system, it will snap a few inches from what it is trying to interface, and you will see a blue light begin to intensify. Once it has accessed the system, the UIC will emit a stable blue light, and I can then access it via my ARI. Their security system, which is fairly secure I might add, does not have countermeasures for a device like this.”