16

Dr. Snowden watched as the room cleared. Usually when Evaran wanted to talk in private, they did it in the Torvatta. Even now, Dr. Snowden was unsure if they were truly speaking privately. If he was thinking about it, then he knew Evaran had already taken that into account. He eased back onto the couch. “What’s up?”

“Your nanobots are up,” said Evaran. “I took a scan of them when they were migrating back to your body. The first one that provided some detail.”

“Hopefully … good detail?” asked Emily.

“You have nothing to worry about. However, I found it interesting that your nanobots are definitely enhanced. There is a trace of cosmic energy in them. I had assumed that they made a physical change and that the re-formation energy Levaran gave you was gone. That is not the case.”

“How’s that possible?” asked Dr. Snowden. “Does this mean they have a dimensional overlay, like how your cosmic energy does on your form?”

“I am not sure. If so, then the nanobots would be persisting a copy of themselves in that overlay. I am unclear if that is occurring,” said Evaran with a smile.

“This excites you, doesn’t it?”

“It is a new experience, and it is always good to have something to research.”

“Well, we’ll be your guinea pigs then,” said Emily.

“I appreciate that,” said Evaran. He raised a finger. “However, I have made another set of observations since your nanobots have transformed. You already know of the enhanced awareness, such as understanding animals. The other more puzzling observation is that your growth rate seems to have slowed as well. Based on my calculations, and verified by V, you both are now aging two weeks every year, instead of five.”

“Whoa,” said Dr. Snowden.

Emily’s eyes widened. “So we’re going to live much longer.”

“It would seem so. One year, in your time, is equal to twenty-six years. A century will pass and you will have only aged four years,” said Evaran. His eyes settled on Dr. Snowden. “The other discovery is more obvious. Did you feel any pain after Ramos and the guards had perished?”

Dr. Snowden wrinkled his eyebrows as he tried to recall. “I … I don’t remember any pain afterward, actually. I figured it was just adrenaline masking any sensation. I do remember the pain of getting slapped really hard.”

“Your regeneration rate is much faster. I suspect we will learn more.”

“Having the Torvatta would help.”

“Yes, it would.”

Evaran eyed Dr. Snowden. “I am curious. I saw that you could sense them inside the dead bodies, but did you feel as if you could control them?”

Dr. Snowden shook his head. “To be honest, I wasn’t even thinking about that. It was just … a sense to reach out.”

“I had a sensation like that with the PSD. I had dropped it on the prison planet, and it was like it tugged at me,” said Emily.

“Intriguing,” said Evaran. “We know the nanobots have evolved some, and it would appear they have taken another leap. I am guessing when you sensed them and reached out, they understood that subconsciously, you wanted them back.” He extended a hand out to Emily. “May I see your PSD?”

“Sure,” said Emily as she complied.

Evaran placed the PSD on a table on the other side of the room. “Can you sense it?”

Emily focused her gaze on the PSD. “Yeah, it’s sort of like … a feeling that it’s there.”

Evaran swiveled his head toward Dr. Snowden. “Can you sense it?”

“Only in the general sense. I’m guessing because it uses dimensional mechanics.”

Evaran ran a hand across his mouth as he studied them. He looked down for a moment.

“What’re you thinking?” asked Dr. Snowden.

“I’ve seen this before. Control of nanobot swarms outside the body and a general sense of awareness of dimensional activity.”

“Oh,” said Dr. Snowden. “Being on the Torvatta may have affected them too.”

“That is possible. We have a start at least.”

“Where exactly did you see this before?”

“In the far future in regard to human evolution. We will worry about that if we cross it.”

Dr. Snowden’s eyes scanned Evaran. “Do you have notes on this?”

“They are on the Torvatta. We can look it up together.”

“We can all look it up together,” said Emily.

“Of course,” said Evaran. He looked around. “That was all I had. I have some data I would like to retrieve while I am here and will see you in the briefing room when Manager Zed arrives.”

Dr. Snowden nodded. “Sounds good.” Although he would have liked to go along, Evaran wanted to be alone. Dr. Snowden knew that whatever Evaran had seen in the future was bothersome. Hopefully it was not too bad, but Dr. Snowden would focus on that once they had the Torvatta back. He tapped Emily’s arm. “Let’s find Jake and Robert and see what they’re up to.”

“Let’s do it,” she said, standing.

Emily surveyed the briefing room. Manager Zed had arrived and taken a seat. She was not sure what to expect initially, but realized that when Lee had said that the managers had robot bodies, she thought that meant they would look all the same. That was not the case with Zed. He wore a business suit and sunglasses and had crisp black hair and tan skin, as opposed to Lee’s dark skin. His face also looked younger, and his nose and chin were more pronounced.

Dr. Snowden sat to her right along with Jake and Robert, while Evaran and Commander Darius sat on her other side.

Darius looked around for a moment, then said, “Thank you everyone for coming.” He gestured to his left. “This is Manager Zed. He’s Manager Lee’s son and is aware of the situation. He has some questions.”

Zed sighed. “I understand that you all were with my father when he died.”

“We were,” said Evaran. “He was a shining example of your species.”

“Did he die with honor?”

Evaran nodded. “He did. His last act was to offer himself for torture to free the others. He also told me to tell you that you were a source of inspiration for him, and that he loved you.”

Zed looked down for a moment as he clenched his jaw. “I … appreciate it. Offering himself to save others is something my father would have done. He always said … if you’re going to go, do as much good as you can before you do.” He looked back up.

Emily was surprised to see that Zed was capable of more facial emotions. His eyes looked like they were on fire.

“I hear Count Boris killed him,” said Zed.

“That is correct,” said Evaran. “Apparently there is a special device used to kill managers. It was the same one used outside Safrica and on Lee. His death was quick.”

Zed gulped. “I also understand Count Boris is below.” His eyes narrowed. “What do you intend to do with him?”

Evaran raised a finger. “After Caltorus is dealt with, I plan to send him where he can no longer hurt anyone.”

“He doesn’t deserve to live.”

“Perhaps not. However, if he lives in a place where he is isolated, he has the rest of his natural life to think of it.”

Zed slowly swung his head from side to side. “Not good enough. In my culture, if you attack family, or kill them, the family owns the punishment delivered. In this case, I’m asking for you to hand him over to me so I can serve justice.”

“And what would you do with him?”

“A life for a life.”

Evaran shook his head. “I cannot condone that.”

Zed exhaled through his nose. “Why do you get to decide his fate? It was my father that was killed.”

Darius shook his hands in front of him. “You know that we are honored to have your species here, but this is Evaran. Special rules apply. We’re simply holding Count Boris and the others for him. Besides, you remember the Blake Brown incident.”

“Of course I do, and I disagree with that ruling. Blake Brown killed a member of my species, rogue or not. That family deserved justice, and Blake Brown should have been killed. Instead, he was exiled before anyone could get to him.”

Darius cast a sidelong glance at Jake and Robert. “And we avoided a full-on war with Lord Noskov and the other ancient vampires.” He glared at Zed. “Is that what you would have wanted? To start a global conflict that would lay waste to Earth? And for what?”

Zed balled a fist for a moment, then unclenched it. “These rules …”

“If you’re going to have an issue fulfilling your father’s role, then I need to know now. I can get someone else to replace you. I assigned you per the protocols of your species in regard to kin taking over duties.”

“I’ll do it. I … I need some time to think, and I want to see my father’s remains.”

“They’re in the morgue. His organic aspects have been removed from the body.”

Zed’s face twitched as he stood. With an intense gaze aimed at Evaran, he said, “You should really consider letting me have Count Boris.”

Evaran drew his lips flat.

Zed stormed out of the briefing room.

“That went well,” said Darius. “We’ve had some issues with managers sometimes taking things into their own hands. I don’t think there will be an issue with Zed, though.” He stood. “I’ll head down and talk to him. Hopefully he just needs some time.” With a slight bow, he exited the room.

Evaran faced the others. “Was I wrong?”

Jake shrugged. “Rules seem pretty clear to me but … I know if it was Dad that had been killed, I might not be in the right state of mind.”

“I know that feeling, except it was you,” said Robert, glancing at Jake.

Dr. Snowden ran a hand over his mouth. “I can understand his anger, but I agree that issuing a death sentence is not always the best approach.”

“But we have before,” said Emily. “Well … Evaran has at least. Billozein was left to fly in a ship at the end of time. With nowhere to go, he died alone on that ship. Seeros was killed when we helped the Fredorians, and the overlord was killed when we fixed Earth’s timeline.”

“Good points,” said Evaran. “However, those were timeline and planar threats. That is not the case here.”

“Are you sure? It sounds like rift doors are involved, and if Count Boris is part of Caltorus’s group, he is guilty by association.”

Evaran rubbed his chin. “We can revisit this once Caltorus has been captured and my Torvatta has been recovered. For the time being, we will let Zed have his space. When he is ready, he will come to us. Everyone take a break until then. We have been through a lot since yesterday. It would be good for you all to take a day off. I will be in the command center.”

Emily contemplated going with Evaran, but figured she would spend some time with the others. As everyone got up to leave, she said, “I think it’s lunchtime.”

Jake watched as Dr. Snowden and Robert took off from the cafeteria after having lunch. Dr. Snowden had mentioned that he wanted to see what Evaran was researching. Robert decided to join Dr. Snowden, leaving Jake and Emily at the cafeteria table. Although he wanted to go too, Emily wanting to stay and hang out a bit was an opportunity he was not going to miss. Being around her was exciting.

“I’d go, but sometimes I just need to unwind from things,” said Emily.

“Yeah,” said Jake. “When I need to relax, I usually go to the hangar bay, at least, back at my base.”

Emily stood and looked around. “Let’s see if they have one here.”

Jake’s eyes lit up. “They have one nearby. I checked out their base design a bit earlier.”

“After you.”

They dumped their lunch trays into a receptacle, then exited the cafeteria. It did not take them long to reach the hangar bay.

Jake’s muscles relaxed as he found a small storage container out of the way to sit on. The familiar smell of various ship fluids caressed his nose. The sounds of technicians and mechanics working on the various vehicles and ships soothed his ears. He let out a content sigh as he clasped his hands in front of him.

Emily took a seat next to him. “Kinda noisy down here.”

“Yeah. I feel at home in places like this.”

“I remember Evaran telling us about the space station you lived on.”

Jake grinned. “Yeah. It was a great place for me. Jells, my caretaker, kept me busy by teaching me about ships and other systems. I spent a lot of time in a much smaller bay.”

“You and Jells were close.”

“Yeah … and I do miss him. Evaran takes me, Robert, and Kathy out there once a year.”

Emily tilted her head. “Huh. Did you go this year?”

“Yeah, in January. I’m guessing Evaran hadn’t met you or your uncle by that time.”

She nodded. “That was a month before me and Uncle Albert’s abduction. Your abductor wanted you as a slave, ours wanted us for experiments.”

“That sucks.”

“The funny thing is, we learned about the whole humans-being-abducted-for-slavery thing when we went to Kreagus.”

“You’ve been to Kreagus?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, it was the first place we went after Evaran let us travel with him. Also got to see Fredoria. They’re a full trading partner with the Kreagan Star Empire now.”

“Huh,” said Jake. “Before I met Evaran, Fredoria had nothing like that.”

“Well, we helped them find the Arkaron.”

“No kidding?” he asked.

“Yep. That was our first outing, voluntarily, with Evaran.”

“That’s so cool. Just having Evaran in your life means things will change, and usually for the better.”

Emily swatted a strand of hair out of her face. “I take it Kathy doesn’t live at the base.”

“Nope. She goes to a college nearby, though. I shoot in and visit her from time to time.”

“Probably best then that she isn’t involved in all of this.”

Jake nodded. “That’s my thinking too. One day I’ll marry her, something that … I hadn’t even thought possible before coming to Earth.” He pulled out a wallet and showed a picture of Kathy.

Emily grinned. “You two make a good couple.”

“That’s what Dad says.”

A muted alarm rang across the hangar bay.

Jake fell off the container he was sitting on.

Emily stood and helped him up. She opened her PSD and contacted Dr. Snowden. “What’s going on?”

“Base looks like it’s under attack. Come to the command center,” said Dr. Snowden.

Emily looked at Jake, then back at Dr. Snowden’s holographic projection. “We’re on our way.”