The Awakening: Book 1 of the Evaran Chronicles Read Online Free PDF Page B

interrupted him. The shields covering the front entrance to the room were beginning to turn transparent and flicker.
    “I will explain it later. For now, it is time to go. Just stick close to me,” said Evaran.
    Dr. Snowden cleared his throat and cocked his head at Evaran. “I don’t think we’ve established that we’re going anywhere with you. I’ve listened to your explanation, and I’m not buying it. Now you want us to follow you.” He shook his head and raised his eyebrows. “To who knows where.”
    Evaran sighed. “The bridge is where I was headed. We need to change this ship’s trajectory there by adjusting the thrusters. Otherwise, the ship will crash into the planet. We have two hours to do it. After that, we need to turn on the main engines in the engine room.”
    Sanjay gestured at Evaran and glanced at Dr. Snowden. “Well, I’m going with him. He’s the one with answers.”
    Jay crooked his thumb at Dr. Snowden. “I’m with Doc and Hot Pants. If they ain’t going, I ain’t.”
    V flew over to Emily and shot a yellow beam over her pants. “Correction. Emily has pants within an acceptable temperature range.”
    Sanjay chuckled as everyone else stared at V. Emily glared at Jay, and then at Sanjay. V flew back to Evaran.
    Evaran shook his head and looked at V. “I thought you were in silent mode.”
    “Acknowledged. Silent mode engaged.”
    Dr. Snowden sighed and then faced Jay. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call my niece Hot Pants, and again, my name is Dr. Snowden, not Doc.”
    Jay raised up both hands toward Dr. Snowden. “All right, all right, damn, man.”
    Evaran interacted with his ARI. A large creature appeared on the screen. He pointed to it and looked at Dr. Snowden. “This is a dungol. It is an apex predator on the planet it comes from.” He pointed toward the door. “It was two hallways over from here, and the shields to its room are down. That means it is wandering around somewhere out there.” He then pointed at Dr. Snowden. “How will you deal with that?”
    Dr. Snowden studied the dungol. He noted that it looked like a large boar, with a huge mouth and a rhinoceros horn. “If it isn’t real, then I won’t have to.”
    Emily tugged at his arm. “Uncle Albert, I think we should go with him.”
    “What? Why?” asked Dr. Snowden, furrowing his eyebrows as he snapped his head toward Emily.
    “Because it’s what Dad would do. You told him there were those who research and those who do. He was a doer, and so am I. If we sit here doing nothing, what do we gain? If we are to go out, I think it’s safer to explore what’s out there as a group instead of split up.”
    Dr. Snowden sighed. She was right about Dan. He would have slapped Evaran on the back and taken this as a challenge. Dr. Snowden could see it in Emily as well. He was not used to her questioning his decisions. Maybe it would be better to have numbers in an unknown situation. He dipped his head and flung his right arm up. “Fine. We go.”
    Evaran paused to look at Emily, then slowly nodded at her. “To the bridge we go then. V, scout mode.” He grabbed the UIC from the console on the wall and put it into the cardholder on his belt. He strode toward the entrance but stopped just short of it and turned to face V. “V?” He sighed. “Silent mode off. I really need to get that fixed.”
    “Acknowledged. Scout mode engaged , ” said V.
    Dr. Snowden noticed Evaran walked with confidence, his head held high and shoulders squared, as if this was an everyday thing for him. They followed Evaran to the doorway. The light-blue smoke over it had dissipated. V flew to the doorway and shimmered briefly before vanishing.
    Dr. Snowden was not surprised at V vanishing. Impossible was becoming routine to him.
     

02

T hey walked out of the medical lab behind Evaran.
    Jay waved his hand in front of his face. “Damn, smells like a wet dog up in here.”
    “The Krotovore probably had a similar reaction entering