The Purification: Book 3 of the Evaran Chronicles (24 page)

“I agree with Evaran,” said Captain Laban. “I will abide by this council’s ruling.”

Evaran nodded. “That brings me to my third point. I want Captain Laban on the council. He has proven himself to be honorable and of sound mind.”

“He’s just a captain,” said Ira with wrinkled eyebrows.

“Perhaps, but he is trained in leadership, and has a battle bond with Delia and Lord Noskov, something neither you nor Cyrus have. That balance will be needed.”

“No problem here,” said Lord Noskov.

“Likewise,” said Delia.

“Same,” said Lord Vygon.

“Then it is settled. Captain Laban, do you accept?”

Captain Laban did a Helian salute. “I will do my best.”

“I know you will. That is all I ask,” said Evaran. “Point four. As you all may or may not know, I am a time traveler. As such, in future meetings, I am not to be made aware of any event I may have participated in, unless I mention it. A protocol will need to be established to deal with that.”

Dr. Snowden smirked. “The Evaran Protocol.”

Evaran nodded. “Yes. As I will be around this planet for some time, there is the possibility that I may interact with this council. Just ensure that if you meet me, do not volunteer information unless directly asked. If it appears I do not know of the event, assume I have not experienced it yet.” He eyed Lord Noskov. “It will get harder in time to remember that, but I wanted to at least put it in place.”

“Why’re you looking at me?” asked Lord Noskov.

Lord Vygon chuckled.

“Also, as part of this protocol, my involvement in any event should be scrubbed from the records,” said Evaran.

Cyrus jerked his head back. “Okay … I understand the first part, but why the second part?”

“As a general rule of time travel, you should not know what your personal future holds, and if it is recorded, it could be used against me.”

Cyrus glanced at Ira, who shrugged.

Evaran half smiled at Cyrus. “Point five. Communication will be critical. As such, I will update your communication technology. I do not typically interfere with technology in a given time period. However, since I will be here for a long time, I will make this one exception.”

“Our technology can already do that,” said Cyrus.

“Not securely,” said Evaran. “Nonetheless, I would suggest that Atlantis house one representative of each faction for a general assembly. The communication upgrade will allow the representatives to communicate back to their faction in a secure manner. Each communication channel will be specifically encrypted for that faction.”

“You think we’d spy, don’t you?” asked Ira.

“Of course. I have monitored your communications and have seen your spying apparatus at work. Also … it is not something that goes away apparently in the future.”

Ira snorted. “More of this time-travel ridiculousness.”

Lord Vygon smirked. “I just realized, he doesn’t know how Delia and Lord Noskov knew to come. We time traveled back three years to get them to consider it, then picked them up on the day the sentinels attacked. You may not believe in it, but the results are clear.”

Cyrus extended a hand. “It’s not that we don’t believe it isn’t possible, it’s just that we have never seen it and our research shows it to be impossible.”

“I will leave that up to Delia, Lord Noskov, or Lord Vygon to elaborate on should they choose to do so. The less people know about it, the better,” said Evaran. “My final point deals with slavery.”

Cyrus cocked his head.

“Alien slavers have been raiding this planet for a while. I know the Helians have been fighting them. As a cornerstone of this council’s new policies, I want to ensure that it is kept as a high priority. With the new communication technology, hopefully that will be easier to accomplish.”

Dr. Snowden smirked. He knew that in 1534, the Helians would sign a treaty with the Kreagan Star Empire on this subject. That was almost 4,169 years from now. He wondered what happened during that time, since from what he knew from traveling with Evaran, it was the Helians and them alone calling the shots. Given how volatile and ambitious this new council was going to be, he suspected there was a breakdown somewhere in that time and the Helians went at it alone. Evaran would know this as well, but maybe at least while this council is active, things would be better.

Cyrus nodded. “We will make it one of our priorities.”

The council members all nodded.

“Very good. I will take my leave then.”

“You’re coming back, though, right?” asked Lord Noskov.

“Yes. I will have to if Lord Vygon is coming with me,” said Evaran as he stood. “I will also check in to see how things are going. Is there anything anyone needs from me before I go?”

John and Leah shook their heads and stood. They crossed their hands against their chests and bowed.

“Thanks for being kind. We … are not used to that,” said John with misted eyes.

Leah nodded.

Evaran half smiled. “If I stop by your farm, I expect a vegetable soup.”

“You got it.”

Captain Laban stood and saluted Evaran. “Good journey. Fight well.”

Evaran saluted back.

Lord Noskov rose and shook Evaran’s hand. “Well … this’ll be interesting.”

“You can do this.”

Lord Noskov smirked.

Delia rose and bowed. “Travel safe, and may nature guide you. It was an honor to finally meet you.”

Evaran bowed. “The honor is mine.” He did a Helian salute to Cyrus and Ira. “Good luck, and I shall see you all again soon, assuming things go well.” He gestured for Lord Vygon and Dr. Snowden to exit the room. “Let us go find Emily.”

13

E
mily pulled out her PSD and turned on the illumination aspect of it. She jerked her head back as embedded light strips lit up on the sides of the ramp. Running her hand along the walls verified it was made of some type of metal. It reminded her of a space station, and the high-tech nature of it stood out to her.

The dust particles in the air made her sneeze when she took a few whiffs. Her head cocked and her breathing intensified at the sound of the pyramid sliding back over her after she was halfway down the ramp. The impulse to run back out swept over her, but she figured if the area had been designed to be a death trap, there would have been more effective ways do that.

Her breathing normalized as she continued down the ramp to a doorway. She peeked her head in and looked around a circular room with four doorways, two on her left and two on the other side. Her attention was drawn to the ceiling. It was made of a black glass-like material and reminded her of the black strips she and Dr. Snowden had seen when Evaran rescued them from an alien ship. They had been used for holographic technology. Maybe these served the same purpose.

As she approached the center of the room, a beam shot down from the ceiling in front of her. She jumped back and whipped her PSD forward as a hologram of a thin three-foot-tall beige humanoid with a dinner-plate-shaped head appeared in front of her. The wide black eyes were on the underside of the head, and a small mouth was just south of it. It wore a blue jumpsuit with silver lines and black boots. The top of the head looked armored with bumps, and the skin on the rest of the body was smooth. The being was similar to the one she had seen at the podium before. A second beam shot down and enveloped her, causing her to shudder. It disappeared as quickly as it came.

“Translation matrix has been initiated. Welcome to Coraanan research facility number thirty-four. I am the virtual interface, Kal.”

Emily stared at Kal with her mouth agape. After a few moments of studying it, she said, “Umm. Hello?”

“Hello.”

“What are you?”

“I am the virtual interface Kal.”

Emily shook her head. “No … I meant … what species are you?”

“I am modeled after a male Coraanan.”

“Okay … what is researched here?”

“The Coraanan researched specimens sent through the rift doors.”

Emily circled her hand. “Specimens?”

“Convicted offenders of Coraanan law.”

Emily grimaced. This research facility was a glorified watchtower. She walked over to the first doorway on the left. “Where does this go?”

“This door leads to the living quarters. It is composed of two levels, with fifty individual rooms each. Each room consists of a sleeping pod, a hygiene pod, an eating pod, and an entertainment pod.”

“Sounds interesting … ,” said Emily. She glanced at Kal, who stood staring at her. Although Kal was not real, she was glad to have something to talk to that did not want to murder or eat her. It was a nice change of pace. She walked up to the second door on the left. “Where does this one go?”

“This door leads to the specimen surveillance lab, which the Coraanan used to monitor incoming offenders. It consists of twenty workstations, each networked into the central database.”

Emily was beginning to get a feel for Kal. He seemed to have short descriptions of everything, but it seemed that in order to dig for more information, the right question would have to be asked. “What else is in this central database?”

“The central database contains records on each specimen. Audio, visual, and text is stored and identified by a specimen ID. Research, facility maintenance, and personal employee information is also stored.”

“And how many specimens are we talking about?”

“There are currently eighteen thousand nine hundred thirty-six specimen IDs.”

Emily’s eyes widened. It was obvious this was a large-scale operation. If this was a prison planet as it seemed to be, then the Coraanan were either prolific in sending people through or they had been at it a long time. “How old is this research facility?”

“This research facility is seven hundred eighty-nine years old.”

Emily paused as she digested what she had just heard. A quick check on her math revealed that to be about twenty-four specimens a year, or two a month. She had been on the planet just a few weeks away from two months, so there would have been two to three others. The one she had seen devoured where she had come in crossed her mind. Then there was Ezekial, and the other one that Kazaal had gone after when she escaped. Her mind focused on the Coraanan. “Are … there any Coraanan here now?”

“There are currently no Coraanan at this research facility.”

“When was the last time one was here?”

“The last Coraanan was here three hundred eight years ago.”

“Where did they go?”

“Unknown.”

Emily sighed. “Did they leave a note or log or something?”

“The central database contains many logs.”

Emily wrinkled her eyebrows. “Any on why they left?”

“There are three hundred logs with the word
left
.”

Emily snorted as she walked over to the other side of the room. The difference between V, an artificial intelligence, and Kal, a virtual intelligence, was much clearer to her now. She had a vague understanding of it before, but the conversation she was having now was illustrating it quite well. One thing that was a pleasant surprise was that the place smelled clean. “What powers this place?”

“This research facility is powered by both geothermal and nuclear power.”

Emily bobbed her head as she pointed at the first door on the right. “Where does this lead to?”

“This door leads to the specimen storage rooms. Specimens were brought in for study if they reached a certain distance from the portals. Native denizens of this planet were also kept here.”

“Certain distance?”

“If a specimen was able to survive and move away within a range threshold, they were brought in for study. Neurological and physical analysis was obtained.”

“And … how was that done?”

“The specimens were dissected and studied.”

Emily harrumphed. Not only were these Coraanan heartless, they were also unethical. She shook her head. What was it about highly advanced civilizations and their perversion of ethics? Maybe it was her view that was perverse to them. She pointed to the next door. “And where does this one go?”

“This door leads to the transportation system. Each research facility on a landmass contains a hub that is connected to other hubs at other research facilities. The hub at this facility is currently inactive due to breaches.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The transportation system tunnels are not functional. The tunnels’ exterior walls have been exposed to the surrounding environment. Multiple blockages were reported.”

“What caused it?”

“Unknown.”

Emily studied the doorway for a moment. She planned to check it out, but given what she had seen outside, it would be no surprise that something would have gotten into the subterranean tunnels. The fact that there were no Coraanan around and that their transportation system was busted probably meant something bad happened, something she would need to research. For now, checking out the living quarters and getting some rest, food, and water were on her mind. The thought of that creature outside gave her pause as she faced Kal. “Is this facility secure? I saw some pillars outside.”

“This facility is secured by guardian pillars. The two entrances to the facility are currently shut down.”