The Purification: Book 3 of the Evaran Chronicles (11 page)

He went to the conference room and got a cup of coffee. Looking at the empty table brought back a memory of when Emily was eight. Dan had gone on a business trip and asked Dr. Snowden to house-sit for a few days. Dr. Snowden agreed. While working at the dinner table late that night, he heard Emily scream and shout his name. When he entered her room, she was wide eyed and held her covers tight. She said she thought she saw someone outside her window. He checked and saw nothing. She then asked to sleep on the couch in the living room next to where he was working. He allowed it, and after she snuggled into the couch, he hugged her and told her he would always be there to protect her. As quickly as the memory had come, it left.

Dr. Snowden wiped his eyes and sighed as he headed to the command area. Evaran was in his command chair, V at the front console, and Lord Vygon sitting in the left seating area. The front right screen was awash with various bars and graphs and complex mathematics swirling around. Dr. Snowden took a seat on the right and took a sip of his coffee.

“You are awake. Did you sleep well?” asked Evaran.

Dr. Snowden shook his head. “Slept soundly, but feel a little nauseated.”

Evaran stood and nodded. “You have been under pressure. When you finish your coffee, we can head to the holo room for your first training session.”

“Sure,” said Dr. Snowden. He glanced at Lord Vygon. “Did you sleep at all?”

Lord Vygon smiled. “I’m an ancient vampire. When I sleep, I sleep for years at a time, sometimes more.”

Dr. Snowden jerked his head back. “Must be nice.”

“It also means I’m vulnerable for an extended period.”

Dr. Snowden nodded. He was coming to understand that life was precarious. One slipup and bad things could happen. He finished his coffee and followed Evaran to the holo room.

Evaran called up a program that showed Dr. Snowden’s vital signs as vertical bar graphs hovering in the air behind Evaran.

The only seating was the chair Dr. Snowden sat in.

“I have tied your internal body systems to these graphs, thanks to your nanobots,” said Evaran. “First, I want you to breathe deeply. Make sure each breath is coming from your stomach area, and not your chest.”

Dr. Snowden pictured a tornado of air rising from his gut and then being expelled. After a moment, a wave of relaxation swept over him.

“Now, in your head, for each breath, say the word
relax
in your mind.”

Dr. Snowden complied.

“Imagine a place that is serene to you. Describe it.”

Dr. Snowden recalled the first time he had looked up and seen the stars as a kid. “It was in my parents’ backyard. They had a telescope and I’d spend hours looking up at the stars.”

The room changed to a backyard with a telescope.

Dr. Snowden’s eyes widened as he looked around. “Umm … it looked a lot like this …”

“Your nanobots are sending information to assist in the recreation.”

“Okay … hopefully that’s the only thing they’re sending …”

Evaran half smiled. “Do not worry. Okay, now breathe, say the words, and focus on the scene and the feeling it gives you.”

Dr. Snowden spent five minutes breathing, saying the word
relax
, and looking around. He felt his heartbeat slow, and a wave of relaxation mixed with a tingling sensation washed over him. It was the first time in a long while that he had felt truly relaxed. The graphs reflected his mood.

“Good, you adapt quickly. I am impressed.”

“Wow,” said Dr. Snowden. “I actually feel … normal.”

“Every morning and night, you should do this until you reach a state of relaxation. Tomorrow we will go over some exercises that will also help. Later on, we will do cognitive restructuring. You can control your outbursts, but it will take time.”

Dr. Snowden swallowed hard and nodded. “I … appreciate your help with this.”

“I know you do not like to ask for help, but I am always available if you need me,” said Evaran. He gestured toward the exit. “Come, let us head to the command center.”

“Before we go, I did feel a tingling sensation over my body when it was relaxing. Nanobots?”

Evaran rubbed his chin. “It could be. You cannot communicate with them directly, but they do respond to your body’s cues. I do not know what form that takes on, but a tingling sensation may be a sign of that.”

Dr. Snowden raised his eyebrows.

“Come.”

They headed back to the command area and took their respective seats.

Evaran faced Dr. Snowden. “Based on the scans we ran over the night, we will need help in gaining access to the pyramid.”

“Is it that heavily guarded?”

“Yes. There is a small rectangular entranceway that opens at specific times,” said Evaran. “We observed several sentinels coming and going. It is too small for the Torvatta to go through. However, V went in when it was open and came back out when it opened again. He was able to scan quite a bit of the inside. There are several structures hidden from view by the shield. There are also a lot of guards, both inside and outside.”

Dr. Snowden slid to the edge of his seat. “Any sign of Emily?”

Evaran looked down. “None.”

Dr. Snowden clenched his jaw. His face turned a slight shade of red as his focus shifted to thoughts of dismantling the Purifier base.

“Breathe,” said Evaran.

After several minutes of breathing, Dr. Snowden’s focus returned. “So … where do we get help then?”

“We should check with the Helians,” said Lord Vygon. “They have advanced technology, troops, and as the so-called protectors of the planet, they should help.”

Dr. Snowden furrowed his eyebrows. “That could take forever for them to act, and they don’t like Daedrould apparently.”

“Yeah … they don’t care for us. That’s okay, though. They aren’t as powerful as they think they are. Nonetheless, it’s worth it to see what they can do.”

“Great.”

“V, take us to Atlantis,” said Evaran.

“Acknowledged.”

After twenty minutes of travel, the Torvatta arrived at Atlantis. Using the credentials from their last visit, they were granted a landing pad. Once it touched down, everyone, including V in orb mode, disembarked and headed toward the Helian who had registered them before. Evaran carried the teleportation staff.

“Back so soon?” asked the Helian.

Evaran gestured at Lord Vygon. “We found who we were looking for, but need to talk to someone with authority. We have evidence of illegal activity.”

The Helian eyed Lord Vygon. He gestured for them to walk through the walkway scanner. After going through it, the Helian tapped at his forearm screen. “Lord Vygon … surprised to see you here again.”

“Well … only here to help my friends,” said Lord Vygon. “I’ll clean the
stench
of this place off me later.”

The Helian scowled. “And we will sanitize everything after you leave.” He looked at the weapon. “What’s that?”

“Part of the evidence,” said Evaran.

The Helian gestured for Evaran to hand it to him. “I’ll hold it until an agent arrives. He will be here shortly.”

Evaran handed the weapon over. The Helian moved over to a wall console a bit away.

Lord Vygon snorted. “He knew who I was. Just wanted to hassle me.” He shook his head.

“You’ve been here before?” asked Dr. Snowden.

“Yeah. As an ancient vampire, I run my own house,” said Lord Vygon. “It’s empty at the moment, but I still hold some political power in my area, and the Helians recognize it.”

Dr. Snowden narrowed his eyes. “So the communication beacon near your base was really only for the Helians, and not just any Outsider wanting to visit.”

“You got it,” said Lord Vygon. “It also signals to others that the Helians are not to be killed on sight and that they are there to communicate.”

“I was not aware relations were that bad,” said Evaran.

“It’s a mess. We get along with the Outsiders near us, but the ones posing as gods and protectors have issues.”

After a few minutes, a Helian dressed similarly to Agent Asher arrived. His mantle had the same symbols on it. He held the transporter weapon in his right hand and brought his left hand to it in the Helian salute. “I’m Special Agent Joktan. I hear you have evidence of illegal activity and this weapon is part of it. Is this correct?”

Evaran returned Joktan’s salute. “Yes, is there someplace we can discuss it?”

Joktan turned around and walked with a forward-waving motion. “Follow me.”

They followed Joktan and reached the ramp to Agent Asher’s office. Dr. Snowden’s throat constricted as he remembered going up it with Emily. He paused to unwind his throat.

“Dr. Snowden?” asked Lord Vygon.

Dr. Snowden looked up and saw that Joktan and Evaran had already gone down a different path. “Coming.” He walked with Lord Vygon and turned his head toward him. “So … you know a future Evaran?”

“Yep,” said Lord Vygon.

Dr. Snowden paused for a moment. “Are me and Emily with him?”

Lord Vygon drew his head back. “I can’t tell you that.”

“But you can tell me that you know a future Evaran?”

“Yes, part of Evaran’s rules.”

“Damn the rules! Are we with him or not?” asked Dr. Snowden. His face began to turn red.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t. Would you tell me my future if you knew it?”

Dr. Snowden pondered Lord Vygon’s question. His mind knew he probably would not, but his heart told him otherwise. “Depends on the situation.”

“If you broke Evaran’s rules, you would not travel with him. Would it be worth it?”

“If it gets Emily back, then yes!” said Dr. Snowden.

Lord Vygon looked down and sighed. “All I can tell you is you’ll be fine. No details.”

“I’m not asking about me … I’m asking about Emily.”

“I know … but that’s all I can say.”

Dr. Snowden rolled his eyes as he shook his head. He was not getting anywhere and Lord Vygon was too loyal to Evaran to break a rule. It was not fair. Everyone played by the book when it came to Evaran’s rules. Maybe there were consequences he was not seeing, but it was difficult to think of anything other than finding Emily.

After a while, they arrived at Joktan’s office. It was larger than Agent Asher’s and was divided into two rooms. The first one had a conference table in it. The second was a smaller room with a desk and chair in it. Joktan waved them into the first room. He went to the head of the conference table and took a seat. Evaran sat to his right and Lord Vygon and Dr. Snowden to his left.

Joktan laid the weapon on the table. “So … is this weapon your only evidence?”

“No,” said Evaran. He gestured toward the middle of the table. “V, display the sentinel.”

V displayed a holographic video showing the meeting with the sentinel that they had interrogated earlier.

Joktan put his hand on his chin as he watched. When the holographic video was done, he faced Evaran. “So the weapon is a teleporter.”

“Yes. It teleports whatever it hits to a pyramid in Egypt.”

“Egypt?”

Evaran paused for a moment. He then tilted his head. “You would know it as the lands of Pharaoh Djoser. The pyramid is just outside Memphis. We checked it out, but it appears to be shielded. V, display the pyramid.”

V projected the pyramid.

“What an unusual structure. However, that would be Ra’s domain,” said Joktan. “I would suggest you talk to him except—”

“Let me guess, Ra is missing,” said Lord Vygon.

Joktan let out a measured breath. “Yes … it was reported, but that doesn’t mean it was due to this … teleporting weapon. Ra is known to take off for periods of time, and we have had reports filed on him.”

Lord Vygon smirked. “You just heard what the Purifiers are going to do. You have seen the weapons they are using to enact their plan. You have seen where they are sending people and where their base is. You
know
Ra is missing. This doesn’t worry you?”

“I can’t verify any of this. All I have seen is a video that may or may not be true. A weapon which might teleport to a structure that has not been reported as being an issue. Nonetheless, we will look into it.”

“You have also had a recent increase in missing people,” said Evaran.

“Well … almost all Daedrould and, of course, Ra. Doesn’t mean what you’re showing me is the cause.”

Lord Vygon shook his head. “Typical. I bet if it were the pantheons reporting this, you’d give it top priority.”

“I said we’ll investigate it, but we are stretched thin at the moment.”

Dr. Snowden slammed his hand on the table. “I can’t believe this. My niece is missing because of these Purifiers, and your response when provided evidence is that you’re stretched a bit thin?”

Joktan jerked back in his chair. “To be honest, this evidence is all circumstantial. We would need to talk to the pantheon, since Ra is missing, in that area and ask about the structure. We need to run tests on the weapon. And the sentinel you speak of, where is it? It takes time to do all these things.”

Dr. Snowden scowled as he shook his head. “In the future, these Purifiers kill all nonhumans. You want evidence? How about I shoot you with the teleporter and then see what you say!”

“Dr. Snowden!” said Evaran.