The Awakening: Book 1 of the Evaran Chronicles (18 page)

Evaran interacted with his ARI and then pointed to the screen. The screen showed V in the medical room buzzing around the krall and Jay, who were on slabs. Several robot arms attached to the slabs were moving around them, attaching tubes and scanning. Digital readouts hung off to the side of them in the air. “V, krall status.”

V stopped and turned toward the screen. “The krall is in good condition. The front leg is being mended, and all traces of the paralyzing toxin are being purged. Several bruises on the ribs have been healed. The collar has been removed. Recovery time is five minutes,” said V.

Evaran nodded. “Jay status.”

V tilted its head. “Body has stabilized. Regeneration has been accelerated. Full recovery is one month.”

Evaran narrowed his eyes. “Interesting. Come to the front when the krall is healed completely.”

“Acknowledged.”

He interacted with his ARI, and the screen went back to showing outer space.

Dr. Snowden raised his left eyebrow and tilted his head. “Umm … how is that room possible? I saw the size of your ship, there’s no way that room could extend out like that.”

Evaran nodded at Dr. Snowden. “Dimensional mechanics. You will just need to take my word on that.”

Dr. Snowden wanted to know more about dimensional mechanics, but it seemed Evaran did not want to discuss it. The effect was obvious, though. Having six doors that can lead to other rooms on a small ship, yet not affect the overall exterior size of the ship would be a huge advantage.

Evaran half grinned at Dr. Snowden. “We have about five minutes before the krall will be ready to move. Then we can take her home. This would be a good time to go over some things. Now, you both have seen a lot. Others must never know about it. Dr. Snowden, you publish papers. You cannot describe any of this in those papers. Emily, you play sports. If you get hurt, you will need to avoid any type of medical interaction. That goes for both of you in that regard.”

“I doubt anyone would believe us anyway,” said Dr. Snowden.

“That is not the issue. You will be investigated if anyone of power finds out you have this type of information. While the knowledge is in itself not critical, the presence of your nanobots are. If your nanobots are found, they will be extracted.”

“How would they know how to take them out?” asked Emily.

“Whether you are alive or not as they figure that out would most likely be of little concern to them.”

Emily gulped and looked at Dr. Snowden. “What groups should we be looking out for?”

“If you keep this information to yourselves, you will not need to worry about it. There are too many groups to mention. I cannot stress this enough. I know you have some questions, so now is a good time to ask them.”

Dr. Snowden glanced at Emily, then at Evaran. “Is this what you do? Travel around, help people, and serve justice? If you hadn’t showed up, we would’ve been toast.”

Evaran eased back into his chair and put his hand on his chin. “Even with my presence, we still lost Sanjay. Nonetheless, I travel and observe wherever I land. The Torvatta can detect rifts, and I usually investigate them. I only involve myself in an event if I feel there is a severe injustice or something needing fixed. If other issues arise from my interference, then I deal with those as they come. In your case, I felt it would not be right for your lives to have ended in the way they would have. So I interfered,” said Evaran.

“Well, we appreciate it. I’m sure Jay and the krall feel the same way,” said Emily.

“Where will you go next?” asked Dr. Snowden.

“Back to Earth to study it across time. After that, I am not sure. I like to visit ruins and then go back in time to visit the culture that built them. I also find it fascinating to live in cities across the timescape for a short while, absorb their culture, and interact with the natives,” said Evaran.

Dr. Snowden sighed. “I wish I had the opportunity to do that.”

“Me too!” said Emily.

“You mentioned you have been studying us for a while. Was that just out of curiosity then?” asked Dr. Snowden.

Evaran ran his hand though his hair and paused before speaking. “Not quite. Regarding those groups I spoke of, there are many of them, more than should be on your planet. The Daedrould, for example. Typically there are several hundred, maybe several thousand in a galaxy. On your planet, there are hundreds of thousands. That is an anomaly. I am unclear as to why that is. It is … intriguing, so I am investigating.”

“It’s still hard to believe there are vampires and who knows what else on Earth,” said Emily.

“Fortunately for the both of you, you can detect them as I mentioned earlier. My suggestion is to avoid them.”

“Don’t you get lonely traveling by yourself?” asked Emily.

Evaran half smiled at Emily. “Due to the nature of being able to do what I do, it comes with the territory. I made V not only as an assistant, but also as a companion. I will say that I have enjoyed your company, more so than I expected, even if we did have to go through a ship full of deadly creatures and mercenaries.”

Dr. Snowden and Emily laughed. Dr. Snowden wished he could spend a few more days on this ship. What he could learn! He cleared his throat. “What’ll happen to Jay?”

“He will stay here for a month. When he is fully healed, I will drop him off a bit after I drop you two off.”

“And Sanjay?” asked Emily.

Evaran pursed his lips. “I am not sure what to do there yet.”

Dr. Snowden looked down. Poor Sanjay. Would he just show up as a missing person after they got back? He planned to watch for it when he returned.

V walked up to the bridge with the krall in tow. She walked over to where Dr. Snowden and Emily were sitting. Emily jumped out of her chair and hugged her. Dr. Snowden stood and scratched her behind the ears. She blinked slowly.

“The krall is at one hundred percent operating capacity,” said V.

Evaran nodded. “V, take us to these coordinates I found on her collar.” He interacted with his ARI.

V walked to the front console which projected a set of layered interfaces at a thirty-degree angle a few inches off the front console. V interacted with it, and the front screen split in two, with a view outside on the left and, on the right, a galactic map. V pressed another control, which zoomed into a section of the map showing a solar system view. A green outline appeared around a planet.

Dr. Snowden heard a winding-down sound. He watched as the outside shimmered to pure darkness. The sound reversed, and the outside shimmered back. “What the heck was that?”

“We just went back one hundred ninety-four thousand years. Now we go to the planet,” said Evaran.

Dr. Snowden watched as the screen faded and a gold beam shot out from the front of the ship. A circular portal opened up with a thin silver border. The interior was light blue with a rippling pattern. It reminded him of the surface of a lake, with a light wind causing ripples. The ship moved forward toward the portal and then flew through it. The ship was in a tunnel that had semitransparent walls. He could see what he thought were stars appearing, then disappearing. The ship exited the tunnel above a planet with a reddish tint. He rubbed his eyes.

“We just traveled three hundred twenty light-years,” said Evaran.

“Was … that a rift you created?” asked Dr. Snowden as he walked up to the front guardrail and looked out the window.

“Not quite. It was a portal through another dimension. The Torvatta is capable of creating these portals and is unique in that regard,” said Evaran.

Dr. Snowden sighed. “I suppose that’s something that requires more time to understand.”

Evaran smiled. “You are an inquisitive being. I am glad to see this event has not dampened that.”

The ship broke cloud cover on the planet and descended toward the outline of a forest. It landed on a patch of orange-colored grass. The soft impact caused the krall to walk over to the window. Her skin turned light orange as her eyes widened.

Dr. Snowden looked out. The ship was sitting at the edge of a forest of unusual-looking trees. He shook his head. “I’m honestly not surprised that we time traveled and jumped all those light-years, given everything I’ve seen so far.” He exhaled sharply. “My first alien planet.” Emily walked beside him and grabbed his arm.

“In this time period, the Grimlyn Empire has already fallen. This planet was one of the few that still had kralls on it. She will be able to live out her life without fear of being captured for service.”

Evaran stood up and walked over to the ramp leading to the back of the ship. He clapped his hands, and the krall walked over to him. Dr. Snowden and Emily followed her. They walked down the side ramp to the entrance. Evaran walked down the angled entrance ramp leading outside.

The krall walked down the ramp toward Evaran, pausing to look back. Dr. Snowden wondered if she was thinking why they were not coming. She looked forward and walked down the ramp toward Evaran. Dr. Snowden and Emily walked over to the edge of the ramp to watch them leave. Emily grabbed his arm. When he looked at her, he saw her eyes were misting. She was as attached to her as he was.

The krall stopped again and looked back directly at Emily. Her eyes softened as she looked at Evaran, who nodded. She turned around and walked up to Emily. Emily wrapped her arms around the krall’s neck. Her tears flowed freely, dropping onto the krall’s big paws. The krall reacted by nuzzling the side of her head. After a few moments of Emily sniffling, she stood back and smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes.

The krall turned and walked over to Dr. Snowden. She looked at him as if expecting a hug as well. The look stirred something in him. She had saved his life, and his pent-up emotions burst forth. He bent forward and hugged her. She nuzzled the side of his head as tears flowed down his face. He didn’t like crying, but he’d done it more in the last day than he had all his life. He was losing a good friend. She had survived, as he did, against all odds. After a few moments, he stood back and wiped the tears off his face. She looked at them both, then turned and walked back down the ramp toward Evaran. Dr. Snowden sighed as he watched them walk down the ramp and out of sight.

After Evaran and the krall had left, Dr. Snowden and Emily rushed to the front of the ship. Evaran and the krall walked a bit away from the front of the ship. They watched as Evaran put his fist on his chest and then moved his arm out, pointing forward. Evaran opened his hand as the krall fixed her gaze on his hand. She then pointed her head down. Evaran put a hand on each side of her head and placed his forehead in contact with hers.

“What’s he doing?” asked Emily.

“Saying good-bye,” said Dr. Snowden with narrowed eyes and a cracked voice.

The krall stood back up and looked at the ship as if able to see Dr. Snowden and Emily through the window. She then turned and ran off into the nearby forest. Evaran turned to look at the front of the ship before he walked back. After a few moments, he walked up the ramp and into the command area.

“She said to say good-bye and good travels and hoped you get better,” said Evaran.

“Get better?” said Dr. Snowden, looking at his hands and arms.

“She could smell the nanobots on you. They produce a certain smell via your sweat,” said Evaran. He tapped at his ARI. “V, take us to these coordinates.”

“Acknowledged.”

The ship took off and headed toward the sky. After a few moments, they were back in space. V pulled up the galactic map and swiped at the controls, causing a new galactic map to appear. V pressed on a region, causing the map to zoom in. The map then focused on a solar system.

Dr. Snowden recognized the solar system as home. He watched as the outside shimmered like before. He then saw the same gold beam as before shoot out. The circular portal appeared, and they went through. He knew there would be points of light appearing and disappearing on the walls inside the tunnel, so he focused on them as the ship traveled through the tunnel. He couldn’t make anything out of the points of light since they appeared and disappeared rapidly. The ship exited the tunnel above Earth.

Evaran glanced off to the side and tapped at his ARI. “V, stealth mode.”

“Acknowledged. Torvatta stealth mode engaged,” said V.

A smaller screen off to the right of the large screen showed the Torvatta go from a textured view to a wire outline. Underneath it were some statistics.

Dr. Snowden scrutinized the display as the Torvatta descended. The Torvatta was powerful. It could go through space and time, cloak, and who knows what else. It also had dimensional rooms. It was clear to him that Evaran with the Torvatta and V possessed immense power, yet he didn’t believe Evaran was corrupt. That could just be him projecting the notion of power causing corruption. Maybe that was a human notion and not a universal one.

The Torvatta descended to a dark patch of highway I-70. Dr. Snowden could make out the outline of a car on the side of the road. The Torvatta landed off to the side of the car.

“We are now on Earth by your car, one hour after your abduction. It is time to go,” said Evaran.

They followed Evaran off the bridge and down the side ramp to the entrance. They then walked down the ramp leading outside. Dr. Snowden recognized his car sitting quietly on the side of the road. He checked to make sure his car keys were still in his front pocket. They walked over to the car, and he unlocked the passenger’s front door. “Well, that’s my car all right.”

Evaran walked around the car. When he was on the other side, he bent over. Dr. Snowden heard a clinking sound, but when Evaran stood up, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Evaran walked back around the car. “Your life is now free to continue as it was. I will stop by, let us say, in three months, on May 5, 2012, at 6:00 p.m. I want to make sure you both are doing okay, and I should have enough information to extract the nanobots should you so desire.”

Dr. Snowden nodded. “We’ll definitely be looking forward to seeing you again.”

“Remember what I said about keeping this to yourselves,” said Evaran as he extended his hand to Dr. Snowden.

Dr. Snowden shook Evaran’s hand and then pulled him into a hug. He felt Emily hug both of them. He was going to miss Evaran. This abduction was one of the roughest moments of his life, and Evaran had stood with him. He had been fair to them, more than was required. He was one of those people who just stuck out, not because of what they wore or what they said, but what they did. Dr. Snowden stepped back, wiping his drenched eyes. Emily grabbed his right arm and wiped her eyes.