The Awakening: Book 1 of the Evaran Chronicles (9 page)

Jay rubbed his forehead and squinted hard while grimacing. He walked over and put both hands on the wall, then leaned against it.

Dr. Snowden could hear Jay’s short, anger-filled breaths. His heart pumped furiously as he walked over to Emily. Tears ran down her face as she sat slumped with her back against the wall. He sat down next to her and put his head in his hands. She leaned against him. He couldn’t believe Sanjay was dead. It happened so fast. One moment there, the next, not. A tidal wave of anger swept through him. Sanjay didn’t deserve this. He just wanted to go home like the rest of them. Why did they target Sanjay? He was really beginning to like him.

Evaran turned toward them as V flew into the room. “V, status?”

“They were led to a large creature. They did not survive.”

“Replay,” said Evaran, circling a finger in the air.

V projected a holographic display showing two men firing at a large shelled creature. The creature launched itself at one of the men, crushing him against the wall. It then lashed out with green tentacles through its shell, grabbing the other man. It pulled the man close and squeezed him until he went limp.

Evaran narrowed his eyes and interacted with his ARI. “A cepharus.” He tilted his head. “It would seem they were from Jerzan’s crew based on their gear, unless there is another pack of mercenaries on board we are unaware of.”

Jay faced Evaran and took a deep breath. “We’re not gonna make it, are we?”

Evaran looked at the ground with his lips turned down. He clenched his jaw in a circular motion before glancing at Jay. “I have failed Sanjay, but we will make it. I underestimated the mercenaries. That will not happen again.”

Jay shook his head and sighed. He turned and kicked the wall. “Fuck!”

Evaran sighed. “As unfortunate as that was, we still need to turn the engines on. Dr. Snowden?”

Dr. Snowden looked up at Evaran. His took off his glasses and wiped his puffy eyes. “I’m here.”

Emily looked up at Evaran. She sniffled and wiped her face. Her voice cracked. “I’m here too.”

Evaran nodded at them and interacted with his ARI. “V, display engine room layout.”

“Acknowledged.”

V projected a layout of the area they were in. It showed them as
X
’s in the main chamber. Hallways leading off to the right, left, and opposite end of the room were colored. They wound around several rooms and other hallways, ending in small rooms.

Evaran traced his finger along the colored hallway leading to the left. “I do not want to split us up, but for this, we will need to. Dr. Snowden, you and Emily will take this route. There will be signs on the wall leading to the control rooms. They are clearly marked, and there is also a colored line on the floor leading to them.” He traced the colored hallway leading to the right. “Jay, you and V will take the right one.” He traced the one on the opposite end of the room. “I will take this one.”

Jay guffawed. “Sanjay just got wasted, man! You don’t seem to really give a shit. Now you want to split up?”

Evaran pointed to the red beams in the center of the room. “Those red beams need to be disabled and shutting them down is a manual process. It requires at least three people per the Krotovore security protocol. I have already disabled all the security checks and door locks here, so we just need to get to the control rooms. If there was another way, we would be doing it. I cannot physically be in three places at the same time. I hate having to ask this of you, but there is no other choice. I do not like what happened to Sanjay, but we cannot change it, only try to prevent it from occurring again.”

Jay snorted. “Whatever, man.”

Dr. Snowden stood up. He crossed his arms while slightly bending forward. He agreed with Jay. He did not want to split up either. It seemed odd to him how Evaran expressed emotion, very constrained. Then again, he was an alien, so maybe it was different for him.

“V, display the unlocking panel,” said Evaran.

V projected a wall in the control room. It showed a panel cover with a screen above it. The screen had an image of three red dots in a triangle with a button in the middle with the word
unlock
in green on it. There was a status label under it, indicating
locked
.

“I have to turn it off in the main control room. When I do, the top dot will turn green. When it turns green, there is only a five-minute window to get both the others unlocked. To do that, press the button in the middle. The button will appear disabled, and the panel cover underneath it will slide back,” said Evaran.

V projected the sequence, showing the panel sliding back. A cylinder with a handle was embedded in the wall.

“The status will say
pull
. You will pull out the cylinder, turn it until the status on the screen says
push
, then push it back in. Once it is back in, the status will say
ready
and the button will be enabled with the word
lock
on it. Press the button. The panel will slide forward to close, and the red dot corresponding to your control room will turn green. When all three are green, the engines will fire,” said Evaran.

V projected the final steps.

“Everyone clear?”

Dr. Snowden’s eyes dulled and his shoulders slumped. He put out his hand toward Emily. “Sounds kinda simplistic for a ship this advanced.”

Evaran nodded. “You do not have to deal with the security checkpoints, automated scans backed by turrets, stun beams, shielded sections, biometric scans on the unlocking mechanism, or door locks. The manual process is just a backup in case the main automation system goes down. We are activating the secondary systems. Simple perhaps, but far from easy if the ship was not damaged.”

Dr. Snowden sighed and shook his head. “Doesn’t sound like we have a choice. C’mon, Emily.” She grabbed his hand and stood up.

“I will get to the main control room before you do. V will let me know when you get to yours, Jay. The time to get there should be about the same for you, Dr. Snowden. Remember to only begin the process once the top red dot is green. Okay, we meet back here once it is done. Good luck,” said Evaran.

Jay sighed. “Fine. C’mon, Blue Ball, let’s get this shit over with.”

“Acknowledged.”

Jay and V headed off to the right. Evaran walked to the opposite side of the room.

Dr. Snowden squeezed Emily’s shoulder as they walked over to the left hallway. He glanced around before they entered it. It had low lighting, and the mist seemed unusually heavy. After several minutes down the corridor, he paused at hearing the same noise from earlier. He cocked his head at Emily. “You hear that?”

Emily sniffled. “I don’t hear anything.”

He held out a hand toward Emily and stopped to listen intently. He made a few sidelong glances as he studied the sound around him. He narrowed his eyes as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. After a few moments, he exhaled sharply. “Something is trailing us.” He swallowed hard as they continued on. Whatever was making that sound was now behind them. Was it the group of small creatures Evaran mentioned?

A smattering of small footsteps echoed through the hallways. He turned and looked around again, but did not see anything. Whatever they were, they would not lay a finger on Emily, of that he was sure. It was probably some lost specimens or something. He turned back around, and they began walking down the hallway.

Dr. Snowden bent his neck back and forth trying to peer through the dimly lit hallway as they walked through it. He saw the signs on the walls with directions, but the colored line on the ground was hard to see due to the mist. The noises he heard earlier were now more distinct. It sounded like the footsteps of children intermixed with occasional banging against something. He estimated they were about a few bends away. A chill ran through him. He briefly turned while shielding his torso. He did not see anything. Were the nanobots malfunctioning? He clasped his hands together and rubbed them.

Emily walked in silence next to him. She swatted his arm, causing him to look at her. “Uncle Albert? Am I a bad person?”

He furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at her. “Why would you say that?”

Emily sighed and grimaced. “When others need compassion, I seem to fight them.”

Dr. Snowden pursed his lips. “Where’s this going?”

Emily’s chin quivered as she looked at him. “Sanjay died, and the last interaction I had with him I wasn’t nice. Same with Dad.”

He let out a measured breath. “Those are slightly different situations. You can’t control how other people are going to act. All you can do is be yourself in the moment.”

“If that’s true, then being myself is fighting others when I should be helping them,” said Emily.

“Or that you are just headstrong,” said Dr. Snowden as he put his left arm around her and squeezed.

A chattering noise breached their discussion.

His heart skipped a beat. He scanned behind him and saw nothing. “We need to pick up the pace.”

They hustled down the various hallways and ramps and, after fifteen minutes, reached the control room. A console to the right of the door had various options, one of which was to open the door.

He pressed the open option, and the doors slid open.

They walked into the bare control room, and he pressed the close option on the inner console. A table stood in the middle surrounded by consoles lined up against the wall.

One thing that immediately stood out was that there were no loose items anywhere in the control room. Maybe that was an intentional design decision. Another possibility was that something looted the room clean. He walked up to the table and looked around for the locking panel. He found it on the wall to the left of the room’s entrance. The dot at the top was red, so he figured Evaran must not have started the process yet. Three slow knocks rang out from the door.

He froze as another three knocks rang out. Whatever it was, it was knocking, so it must have some semblance of intelligence. He walked up to the door and turned to Emily while pointing to the unlock panel. “Watch that panel.”

“What’re you gonna do?” asked Emily as she walked over to the unlock panel.

“I’m not—” he said as the door slipped open. He turned and saw a small red-skinned humanoid alien standing in the room’s entrance. He swallowed hard and jerked back. Emily gasped, her eyes wide.

The alien stood about three feet tall and had large black eyes, and its grayish hair stood upright in a frizzled pattern. The mouth was excessively large for the face. Dr. Snowden wondered why a small alien would need such a large mouth. The ears, eyes, and nose had bone-like piercings. It had on a chest piece that also looked like it was made of some type of bone. Below the chest piece was a belt with what appeared to be various other bone pieces held in place by leather strips. It reminded him of a pygmy headhunter. Maybe it was just as frightened as he was. He figured he would try to communicate with it.

“Uncle Albert! What’re those things?” said Emily.

He gulped. “I don’t know.” He approached the alien and placed his trembling left hand over his chest. “Hello. I am Dr. Snowden.”

The alien tilted its head at him and put its hand on its chest. Dr. Snowden waved his right hand in front of him, and the alien responded by waving its hand at him. This alien seemed to be sentient, as he had thought. Then he saw that there were two more behind it, gazing intently at him. Their big black eyes shined in the dim hallway. His chest tightened, and his fingers went cold. He pushed up his glasses. This did not seem right. Were they sizing him up? He would show them he was not a threat. He raised both hands up in front of him.

The aliens tilted their heads and then looked at each other. With a sharp, piercing cry, the first one turned around and lunged at him. It revealed it had a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. He sidestepped the charge. The first one slid to a stop. The second one rushed at him. He grabbed it by its hair when it was within range and slammed it against the wall. The first one jumped on the table behind him. He heard Emily scream. The third one rushed in. He ignored the third one and went for the first one. He grabbed it off the table and slung it at the second one, which was just getting up.

He glanced at the unlocking panels screen. It showed a green dot at the top. “Emily! Unlock it!”

Emily gritted her teeth and began the unlocking process.

He turned at the sound of bone scraping. A pain shot up his right leg as the third one he had ignored stabbed him. Adrenaline surged through him. His vision blurred as his face turned red. These things meant to kill. The third one faced Emily. He clenched his jaw. The third one swayed as it approached Emily. He snatched it by the hair with his right arm, pulling it back toward him. He reached around its neck with his left arm. He pulled hard to the right, snapping its neck. The smell of sweat and blood saturated the air. The first and second ones shrieked as they ganged up on him. He wheeled around and kicked the first one back down with his left leg. The second one dodged his kick and pulled out a bone knife. It positioned itself near his left leg.
Stab!
He howled as he fell to the ground.