The Purification: Book 3 of the Evaran Chronicles (39 page)

Dr. Snowden followed Nanobot Emily, who followed Organic Emily. V flew ahead of them and waited for them at the exit. When they reached it and stepped inside the corridor, a door began to slide down. Before it shut down, he saw the other door in the room begin to close and Evaran and Lord Vygon head to the opposite doorway from where they all had initially entered the room.

Nanobot Emily tugged on his arm. “C’mon!”

Dr. Snowden nodded and turned. He waved his wrist around and studied the HUD where he could see not only where they were headed, but any life-sign scans V was showing.

At the first T-junction, they turned left. A patrol of eight regular guards had rushed into the hallway they just entered but were immediately bowled over by Organic Emily’s repulsion blast. Nanobot Emily and Dr. Snowden fired their stun beams on the fallen guards. When they reached a large room, several entrenched positions with a small cannon faced their direction. A complement of heavy guards along with several strikers guarded each cannon. Regular guards were scattered around the room.

Dr. Snowden shook his head. “This is a trap.”

Organic Emily smiled. “I know.” She faced V. “Generate a distraction at the back of the room. We’re going to take one of those cannons and turn it on the others.”

“Acknowledged.”

Dr. Snowden jerked his head back. “Uhh … are you serious?”

“Of course.”

Dr. Snowden sighed. “Great.”

Nanobot Emily squeezed his right arm. “We can do this.”

Organic Emily pointed forward. “V, go!”

“Acknowledged,” said V. He flew to the back of the room and projected a mass of Helians entering the room and firing.

The startled guards began to rotate the cannons toward the back. The regular guards rushed toward the distraction.

“Now!” said Organic Emily. She rushed along the left wall, with Dr. Snowden and Nanobot Emily behind her. When she reached the first cannon, she stunned the striker and two heavy guards. As they fell to the ground, she got behind the cannon and began to fire on the other cannons.

The confused guards began cross-firing on themselves.

Dr. Snowden crouched behind the left cannon mount’s raised sides. He used it to peek out and shoot a mix of stun and repulsion blasts.

Nanobot Emily did the same, except on the right side.

Dr. Snowden’s blood chilled when he saw one of the strikers fade away. “The strikers have stealth!”

Organic Emily smirked. “To the visual senses maybe.”

Dr. Snowden raised his eyebrows as his palms sweat. Organic Emily was enjoying this. He watched as the remaining guards fell one by one. He relaxed a bit as the last one crumpled. Organic Emily had jumped off the cannon and ran to the middle of the room. She struck what he thought was just air, but the hit connected with a stealthed striker.

As the striker fell, Organic Emily extended her PSD into a staff and raised it to bash the striker’s head in.

Dr. Snowden ran out. “What are you doing!”

“Ending the threat.”

“You … want to kill him?”

Organic Emily stared at Dr. Snowden for a moment, then sighed and retracted her staff. She shot the striker with a stun beam. “Look around. What do you think the cannon I was firing did to those guards?”

Dr. Snowden’s blood ran cold. “What did that prison planet do to you?”

Organic Emily snorted and glanced at Nanobot Emily, then back at Dr. Snowden. “You weren’t there. I’m the same Emily you’ve always known. I just refuse to be prey anymore.” Her voice rose. “Not to these animals, or anyone else!
Never again!
” Her eyes smoldered.

Dr. Snowden saw Nanobot Emily look down. He sighed. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Organic Emily exhaled from her nose. She looked away. “Fine. Let’s go.”

They exited the room.

Dr. Snowden’s mind went over the discussion they just had. He understood that there would be some impact, just not this severe. While he only knew the highlights, he figured the close brushes with death caused Organic Emily to reevaluate her thinking. He wondered if he would do the same; then again, his anger had ballooned out of control in just two outings with Evaran. With a sigh, he focused on the rest of the journey. He appreciated the narrow confines of the hallway when they ran into other groups of guards. Between V’s distraction and their repulsion and stun blast combinations, they were unstoppable, and more importantly, no more had to die. His eyes had popped open when a guard hit Nanobot Emily. Her wound shimmered for a moment, then disappeared.

They reached the main rift crystal room after ten more minutes of traversing. Once there, they disabled the few guards present and removed them from the room. V placed the UIC on the console door, and after he contacted Evaran, the doors sealed. In the center of the room was a cylindrical light-blue shield. Inside it was a large, smooth stone in an oblong shape floating in midair. Around the shield at both the top and bottom of the room were circular golden stepped bases. To their right along the wall was a raised platform with two advanced workstations. A large rift controller sat between them.

Dr. Snowden walked over to the first workstation. “So … I guess we need to disable that shield somehow.”

Organic Emily tossed one of the orbs Evaran had given her at the shield.

The shield fluctuated for a moment, then changed to a light-yellow color.

“What was that about?” asked Dr. Snowden.

“The shield had an exotic energy component. Couldn’t you sense it?” asked Organic Emily.

Dr. Snowden shook his head. He had been so distracted by the previous discussion that he found it hard to focus.

“Well … now we just need to disable this shield. V?”

V flew over and placed Evaran’s UIC on the workstation. “I will inform Evaran the shield needs to be removed.”

After a moment, the shield dissipated.

Organic Emily tossed another orb at the floating stone, causing it to vibrate. She tossed the last one.

The stone’s vibrations shook the room.

After it stopped, Organic Emily morphed her PSD end into a hammer. “Now we need to smash it. C’mon.”

Dr. Snowden and Nanobot Emily complied. When they all tried to smash the stone, it had no effect.

“We might have a problem … ,” said Dr. Snowden.

Nanobot Emily placed her hands on the main rift stone. “We won’t be able to smash this. It’s pretty resilient. There’s … something odd mixed in with it.”

“So … what do we do then?”

“I guess we wait for Evaran,” said Nanobot Emily. “Until then, I’m going to see if I can interface with it somehow.”

Dr. Snowden nodded and then slumped against the wall. The main rift stone was unbreakable, and Organic Emily had changed. His fear that the prison planet had altered who Organic Emily was seemed to be coming true. He wondered what Evaran would think of this. With a sigh, he hung his head in his hands.

After several minutes, V flew over to Dr. Snowden and then projected a hologram. “This is the composite view from the visual feeds of the landing pad on the other side of the base. The Hadryn spawn has arrived.”

Dr. Snowden studied the projection. The landing pad it showed was similar to the one that they had landed on earlier. A ship he had never seen before sat in it. The landing pad door was closed, and in the middle of the room was Evaran and Lord Vygon. They faced a seven-foot-tall muscular male humanoid wearing only sandals, a kilt-like metallic covering hanging off his waist, and an elaborate golden headband with a large crystal in the center. The cobra mane structure on his head reminded Dr. Snowden of an Egyptian striped head cloth. The man held a black staff that ended in an oval shape with a crystal held in place by silver strands. It was the overlord he had seen from the South American base hologram.

Surrounding the overlord were four heavily armored guards in black and gold that were different than any of the guards he had seen. The main difference was their size. Standing around nine to ten feet tall, they towered over the overlord and wore black face masks with holes for their eyes and noses. The mouth area had a grill appearance, and the red Purifier symbol stood out around the eyeholes. Another difference from the heavy guards was their weapon load out. They had the same forearm weapons, just much larger. On their shoulders sat two rectangular crystals with a steel-like mount.

Dr. Snowden gulped at the swords they carried on their backs. They were at least as big as he was. He figured these four must be the overlord’s personal guards. Around the bodyguards were five heavy guards, two strikers, and ten regular guards. He shook his head. Although Evaran had sealed off the landing pad to just that ship, it carried a formidable force. He exhaled through his nose as Nanobot Emily and Organic Emily crowded around to watch Evaran speak.

21

“
Y
ou must be the overlord,” said Evaran.

The overlord smirked and in a deep, purposeful voice said, “And you, the foolish Evaran …” He gestured at the closed landing door. “I see you have gained control of my systems here. Quite unexpected.” He glanced at Lord Vygon. “However, I do appreciate you bringing me a snack.”

Lord Vygon narrowed his eyes and scowled.

Evaran raised a finger. “Hadryn spawn should not be able to come here.”

“Things have changed, plane traveler.”

Evaran wrinkled his eyebrows. “Even so, the plane would not have allowed your passage.”

“And yet, here I am,” said the overlord. He tilted his head. “I don’t suppose you’ve come to accept my offer …”

Evaran shook his head. “No. I cannot allow you to exist here. Your use of the rift doors to enact genocide on nonhumans is unacceptable. You must be removed.”

The overlord laughed. “So righteous! You never change, no matter what form you’re in.” He waved a finger at Evaran. “You know, the last Evaran I met failed miserably. Oh … she put up a good fight, but in the end, she learned what you will today.” He gestured outward. “You may be godlike in the plane system void, but here,” he said, pointing downward and with a raised voice, “in this plane, you are my
equal
.”

“I do not know of this other Evaran that you speak of.”

The overlord smirked. “You don’t … need to worry about her anymore. Thanks to her, I could sense you the moment you stepped out of your ship.” He raised his right arm at a ninety-degree angle. “No matter. Your time has come, and I will consume you and your abilities, whether you’re dead or alive.” He waved his hand forward. “Kill them.”

The four bodyguards rushed forward and began to fire heavy bursts of energy fire. The other guards moved to the left and right behind the overlord and began to fire. The overlord angled his staff at Evaran and fired a purple beam.

Evaran stepped back and raised his forearm shield. The impact of the incoming fire sent him sliding backward. He snapped his head at Lord Vygon. “Guards, go!”

Lord Vygon streaked out to the right side. With his blunted blades, he struck both strikers before they could stealth and five of the regular guards, sending them flying. Two of the heavy guards peeled off from firing at Evaran to focus on Lord Vygon. Lord Vygon rushed the first heavy guard, and after a flurry of blows, the guard crumpled to the ground.

The overlord turned toward Lord Vygon. He stepped forward and knocked Lord Vygon back.

Lord Vygon flew into the second heavy guard. He crumpled against the wall along with the unconscious second heavy guard.

The overlord looked at the remaining three heavy guards and five regular guards, then pointed at Lord Vygon. “Finish him.”

Evaran pulled out his utility handle and extended it into a baton with a glowing white end. He swept it in front of him and to the left.
Boom!
The five remaining regular guards went flying back and slammed against the wall. Several of them hit the heavy guards that were advancing on Lord Vygon. Evaran’s repulsion blast only knocked the overlord’s staff away. Other than that, it had no impact on the overlord and his bodyguards, as they had leaned forward and braced themselves.

Lord Vygon crawled under the unconscious heavy guard nearest him as the other heavy guards stood up and opened fire. The body took the brunt of the incoming fire. Lord Vygon tilted the now-dead heavy guard’s head. After sinking his fangs into the heavy guard’s neck, he began to drink. After a moment, he reared his head back and let out a loud growl. With red eyes and fangs extended, he tossed the body he had fed on at the other heavy guards, bowling them over. He streaked over to the regular guards who were just beginning to stand up and knocked them out with his blunted blades. He then proceeded to do the same to the three prone heavy guards.

Evaran tapped at his utility handle, causing the baton to extend into a staff, with glowing blue ends. He stepped into the first personal bodyguard and swept his legs. With a tap on the chest as he fell forward, the bodyguard stopped moving. Blue arcs danced around the unconscious bodyguard. Evaran rolled to the side as the second bodyguard did an overhead swing with his massive sword. As the sword embedded itself into the floor, Evaran hit the midsection of the second bodyguard. The bodyguard fell to the ground as blue arcs washed over him.