Ouroboros 3: Repeat Read Online Free PDF Page B

the same instinct, he knew she was there too.
    He wasn’t mad. He hadn’t imagined her.
    She was alive.
    Just as that conclusion rang through him, shaking away his indecision, the door chimed from behind him.
    He spun on his foot as fast as he could, but not fast enough to stop the door from unlocking. Instead, it simply pulled open as none other than Travis and Admiral Forest walked in to see him.
    He stood back in surprise. ‘What?’ He began.
    ‘ Something has come up,’ the Admiral snapped, her face uncharacteristically drawn with fear. Her cheeks were pallid, her eyes open wide, and her jaw set at a determined yet fragile angle.
    Travis shook his head, clapping a hand over his mouth, his surprise evident. ‘Carson, we need you.’
    Carson shook his head again.
    This was happening too fast. To go from considering Nida’s fate to having two people barge in on him was too much to handle.
    ‘ We received a report a few minutes ago,’ the Admiral said ominously.
    The way she said it and what she said were enough to reach right inside Carson and to make him pay attention. He stood stiffer, his back lengthening as his arms dropped by his sides. ‘What’s going on?’ He asked instinctively, his heart pounding in his chest.
    He tried to hold onto his determination to find Nida  . . . but it just . . . it just melted away.
    As the situation heated up, it was as if smoke clogged his mind. It pushed away his resolve, making it insubstantial, until he stood there in front of the Admiral and Travis, his confusion claiming him.
    ‘We have no idea,’ Travis cut in before the Admiral could say anything. ‘But we need you,’ he added, his voice pitching up and down.
    ‘ He’s right,’ the Admiral agreed with a low nod, yet one that did not extinguish the fear playing in her eyes, ‘we need you. And I need to know that I can rely on you,’ she suddenly added as she took a step back and lifted her head, her gaze darting up and down as she surveyed Carson in full. ‘I need Carson Blake back. The leader of the Force.’
    Though his heart still pounded in his chest, and his ears were ringing, he forced himself to nod.
    His training took over. His years of being a lieutenant, his lifetime of serving the Galactic Coalition Academy. ‘What’s going on?’ He stammered.
    And he blinked. Rapidly. He tried to force the confusion from his mind; he tried to focus.
    He tried to hold onto his determination to find Nida, his suspicion that she couldn’t be dead, that it was a mistake. That the scene around him was a mistake, that it was broken, that it was wrong.
    Yet as soon as he thought of that, the fog descended further through his mind, confusing him even more.
    The Admiral stepped forward too, her gaze suddenly blazing and her movements snapped and quick. ‘Carson Blake, we need you,’ she repeated, her tone so loud and forthright that it could not be ignored.
    It distracted him from his thoughts and worries. Again, it appeared to reach deep inside him and conjure up his years of training, pushing away his resolve until he nodded automatically.
    He was a lieutenant in the Galactic Coalition Academy, and he had a duty to his Admiral, he remembered. Yet for the briefest of moments, the memory did not feel like his. It felt alien. Implanted. A fake.
    Yet, once again, as soon as that mutinous thought arose, it was banished by a quick move of the Admiral, and an even quicker spike in the confusion claiming his mind.
    ‘ At 0:800 we received a report detailing an attack on 10 United Galactic Coalition worlds,’ the Admiral said gravely.
    Carson’s once stiffly held hands opened with surprise, his fingers jerking open as he held them crooked against his legs. ‘What?’ His pounding heart now beat even faster. So fast, in fact, it felt as if it would burst, taking his chest with it.
    The harder it beat, the more serious the situation felt. And the more serious the situation felt, the more he forgot about Nida. The