The Awakening: Book 1 of the Evaran Chronicles (17 page)

A shot hit the containers being stacked, knocking them down. Evaran ran to the containers and raised his forearm shield. “Get the next four out and then get the hover slab and yourselves into the container!”

“Why’re we going in there?” said Emily.

Evaran half turned his head. “To keep you safe if this docking bay decompresses and flushes everything out into space. These shipping containers are essentially automated space-worthy ships. They are built to carry both cargo and animals. The cargo can fly itself from ship to ship or ship to port. I have programmed it to take you out to a safe distance if it gets flushed out. It may be a rough ride initially, though.”

Dr. Snowden raised his eyebrows. “What?”

Another shot rang out, hitting Evaran’s shield. He stumbled back a bit. “Just trust me on this. Go!”

“This is nuts,” said Dr. Snowden.

They pulled out the next four cargo boxes over the next few minutes as Evaran deflected shots. The shots stopped at the end of those minutes. They pushed the hover slab in on the right side. Emily moved in on the left side. Dr. Snowden took a last look down the pathway to the entrance.

Goran was standing in the pathway on the right side of the entrance they came from. He was shooting at the draug. A large claw broke through the wall and grabbed him. It shook him, then pulled him through the hole in the wall. The draug swarmed in through the hole.

Dr. Snowden’s stomach churned. “Oh, crap! It’s that big thing!”

Evaran rushed to the shipping container and ushered Dr. Snowden in. He grabbed an illumination orb and activated it. He tossed it into the shipping container between Dr. Snowden and Emily. He then grabbed another orb and tossed it in. “The illumination orb will give you some light, more than the container will provide, and the other is a remote viewing orb, which you are familiar with. It is tied to my chest piece, so you will see what I do. This is so you are not in the dark.”

Dr. Snowden removed his glasses and wiped them with his shirt. He swallowed hard. “You sure about this?”

Evaran glanced to his right, then back at Dr. Snowden. “Absolutely. It is about to get chaotic.”

Emily jostled past Dr. Snowden, stepped out, and bear-hugged Evaran. “Good luck.” She then hopped back into the shipping container.

Evaran nodded at them and interacted with his ARI. The shipping container door closed.

Dr. Snowden scrutinized the projection. The illumination orb lit up the enclosed space just enough so that the projection was clear. It showed the shipping container door closed and then Evaran grabbing his UIC off the console.

Evaran ran over to Jahl and tossed him over his shoulder.

Dr. Snowden’s left eye wrinkled as he half grinned. Despite everything going on, Evaran was still trying to help, even if it was a mercenary. Evaran could’ve left him, but he chose not to. Thankfully for Jahl, he hadn’t crossed Evaran’s line.

Evaran jumped on top of the shipping container to get a better view. The draug were pouring into the room. The lower right was swarmed, and the remains of Goran were nowhere to be seen. A massive barrage of weapon fire from the upper left of the room shot out as Evaran turned to see Doran advancing toward the lower right. His hip-mounted weapon was shredding the draug in its path. When Doran got to the entrance, he let out a primal scream and charged into the hallway.

Dr. Snowden jumped as the projection showed the same claw that had grabbed Goran reach out and grab Doran. It proceeded to rip him in half. The massive creature came fully into view. It shook Doran’s halves like a salt shaker, sprinkling Doran’s entrails onto the floor, where the smaller draug competed for it.

Emily turned away and dry heaved. Dr. Snowden winced as he thought about how that could have been them. What a horrible way to go.

Evaran aimed his staff at the ceiling in the center of the room. A yellow beam shot up and flattened out when it came in contact with the ceiling. He tapped on his utility handle and was pulled upward at an angle. He pressed another button when they were airborne and about halfway to the ceiling, which stopped the upward pull. He used the momentum to swing to the far upper right corner of the room. When he landed, he ran along the back upper right wall to a hatchway. He placed his UIC on the hatchway console and interacted with his ARI. The hatchway opened, and he tossed Jahl into it. He then turned up the pathway to where Jerzan was. He rushed to the container that Jerzan was standing on and jumped up behind him.

Jerzan turned around with wide eyes. “You!” He turned his weapon toward Evaran.

Evaran knocked the weapon out of Jerzan’s hand with his staff. He kicked Jerzan’s legs from underneath him and then grabbed his vest. He tossed Jerzan off the container toward the hatchway. He then jumped off the container, landing next to Jerzan.

Jerzan coughed up blood and squinted hard at Evaran. He clawed at the ground in an effort to move away.

Evaran grabbed him by the vest and dragged him to the end of the pathway.

Jerzan struggled to release Evaran’s grip. “Get off me, you son of a bitch!”

When Evaran was close to the wall, two draug soldiers appeared. One had climbed on top of the container, and one was on the ground. He slung Jerzan toward the wall and repulsed the first draug soldier on the ground. The one on the container jumped at Evaran. Evaran stepped to the side, dodging the downward swipe of its claw. When it landed, Evaran side kicked it in the chest, sending it flying down the pathway he and Jerzan just came down. He then turned back to Jerzan.

Jerzan was sprawled out and breathing hard. He laughed and held up a device. He licked the blood from his lips, then gritted his teeth. “Looks like you’re a bit late. If I go, you’re going too. I’ll see you in the nether realms, asshole.” He pressed on the device.
Boom!
The lights dimmed, and the docking bay’s outer shield began flickering as the proximity mines detonated.

Evaran shook his head. He rushed to the wall where Jerzan lay, planted his right foot against it, then grabbed Jerzan by his vest with his left hand. He swung Jerzan in a 180-degree arc, which ended with Jerzan being launched into the hatchway. He looked in at a startled Jerzan. “I am not allowed in the nether realms anymore. Enjoy your stay in a Bilaxian prison.” He interacted with his ARI, and the hatchway door closed. A whooshing sound was heard as the life pod launched away.

The projection showed the room then the wall cyclically as Evaran tumbled toward the now-open docking bay door. After a few moments, it showed space, and the Krotovore ship moving away, leaving a trail of cargo.

Dr. Snowden slipped backward as the shipping container was flushed out of the docking bay and into space. Emily tumbled into him. He heard the clanking of other objects hitting their shipping container. After a few moments, there was silence.

Emily righted herself. “Are we in space?”

Dr. Snowden straightened himself up and pushed up his glasses. “I believe we are. I would’ve thought we’d be floating, unless these shipping containers have some type of artificial gravity. I would guess they would if they are space-worthy. ”

Emily gasped as the projection blinked out. “What happened?”

Dr. Snowden exhaled sharply “I’m not sure. Evaran’s projection showed him getting flushed out too. Maybe it’s a distance thing. I’m not sure if that was part of the plan or not, though. If it was, how the heck can he survive out here?” A tingling sensation ran through him. He rubbed the goosebumps on his arm. “I hope he can find us, assuming he survived.”

He stretched out an arm to Emily. She crawled over to him and put her head on his chest. If Evaran didn’t survive being flushed out to space, would V be able to find them in this shipping container? Evaran had said he sent V to prep the ship, but he had no idea what it looked like or where it was. He sighed.

After five minutes, a loud clanking sound echoed throughout the shipping container. Dr. Snowden looked around with wide eyes and parted lips. They should have been far enough away that nothing was hitting the container. The door extended out and then up with a whooshing sound. A robot with fibrous mesh arms and legs covered partially by transparent silver armor stood in front of them.

Dr. Snowden leaned forward, with his left arm shielding him and Emily. “Who are you?”

The robot tilted its head at Dr. Snowden. “I am V. This is my full-body mode.”

“V!” said Dr. Snowden as he exhaled and relaxed his muscles. He glanced at Emily, who jerked her head back.

“Evaran is waiting for you on the bridge,” said V.

V grabbed the hover slab and began to pull it outside. “It is good to see you both are safe.”

Dr. Snowden motioned for Emily to exit the shipping container. He was aware V had system modes, but not physical modes. He stepped out of the shipping container behind Emily and onto a light-blue walkway leading to a ship. It stood out in contrast to the dark space around it. He exhaled from his mouth. “How can we breathe out here?”

“There is shielding around the ship that has a breathable atmosphere within,” said V.

He was going to ask more about it, but V had already gone into the ship. He took a deep breath and looked around. He steadied himself as he turned, looking out into deep space. He wondered if this was how astronauts felt. It was beautiful, yet he knew how menacing it truly was. He looked around and noticed Emily was gone. She must have already gone ahead with V through the light-blue doorway at the end of the ramp.

He studied the ship. It reminded him of a hockey puck sitting on an upside down cymbal. He figured it was probably about fifteen feet tall and thirty feet wide. He shielded his eyes when looking at the white, slightly angled bottom. As he walked up the light-blue ramp that seemed to be made of light, he noticed the fine black fiberglass-like mesh that wrapped around the middle section of the ship. He faced the door and paused. It was semitransparent, with a hex pattern covering it. He pushed his finger through it and then yanked it back out. He shook his head and took one last look around outside. It was an amazing-looking ship, if a bit small. He wondered how it was going to get them home.

He paused to look around when he stepped into the ship. The flooring was dark blue, and the walls were a mix of dark gray, silver, and white. Looking to his left, he saw three doors along the curved wall. A ramp past the doors led up to a walkway that ran along the wall to another walkway. Looking to his right, he saw three more doors along the curved wall, as well as a ramp farther up that led to the same walkway as the left ramp. He walked toward a table with replicator pads. Resting his hands on the cool metallic table, he studied what looked like an elevator entrance behind the table. He walked over to it and ran his hands along its sleek surface. He wondered where it went. Looking up, he saw a white ceiling that went as far as the walkway. After the walkway, it looked like glass with several support beams on the outside.

He walked to the right and peered into the first door. V had pushed the hover slab into the room and was interacting with the console. Given the dimensions of the ship, the room should be impossible. He surveyed the space. The room was large, with side rooms branching off every side. The center of the room had several pods in various sizes. To the right of the pods was a console station. There was a table with replicator pads on it to the left of the pods. Behind the pods was a series of sleek stainless-steel-looking cabinets with several large matching containers to the side of it. This was definitely a medical bay of some sort.

He continued up the right side, ascending the ramp to a walkway separating the entrance area from the rest of the ship. Three people or so could walk comfortably next to each other on it. What appeared to be a command area extended beyond it. Evaran was sitting on a large chair just inside the area with two ramps on either side, allowing access. Emily was to his right, looking around. To the sides of the ramps were guardrails that extended out. The area stood out from the rest of the ship, as the ceiling over it and the curved walls surrounding it seemed to be one glass-like surface. It had various support beams running across it on the top that stretched down to the front of the ship. This gave a good view of what was outside.

The large chair had arms packed with various consoles and gadgets. Along the front of the ship was a large console that stood out several feet from the front glass-like wall. The console was essentially a large U-shaped fiberglass-like desk with two legs. A large screen outline was on the front wall. It had nothing on it at the time, so he could see through it to the outside of the ship. He was impressed that he could see so much outside the ship. To the left and right of the ramps were U-shaped seating areas, with a table similar to the one in the front of the ship. This was unlike anything he had ever seen. Emily ran up to him when he walked over to where Evaran sat.

Evaran turned toward them. “Ahh, there you are. Welcome to my ship, the Torvatta. Please, come and sit.” Evaran motioned to them to sit in the U-shaped area to the right of his chair.

They walked over to the seating area and sat down, facing Evaran.