by Adair Hart
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 alon
g 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.
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.
