The Chronicles of Aallandranon - Episode One - Ant-Lion Read Online Free Page B

the
ship, ” she glanced at him over her shoulder as she filled up a
glass of beer for one of the other patrons.
    “ Security to Doctor Tabith, ” someone said over
Jonathan ’ s communicator, startling him. “ You might want
to come to Engineering. It ’ s about
William. ”
    “ On
my way. ” He said through his communicator as he slid his bar stool
back. He dropped a few dollars on the counter and headed for
Engineering.
    “ Night. ” The bartender said.
    Jonathan entered Engineering. Ralph Vidar, the head of
Security, met him near the reactor alcoves.
Jonathan ’ s eyes flicked to the black band on
Ralph ’ s arm as Ralph matched Jonathan ’s
stride.
    “ Sorry to bother you, but Chance Trillian reported some
disturbing behavior on William ’ s part. When we got
here, we stopped him from detonating one of the
reactors. ”
    Fear
bubbled inside Jonathan ’ s chest. He and William had trained in the Venus
Academy together twenty years earlier. The two
weren ’ t best friends, but he couldn ’ t imagine why William
would try to sabotage the mission just as they were getting
started. “ Did he say anything? ”
    “ Said he would only talk to you. He ’ s in the
Lock-up. ” Ralph said.
    “ I’ ll go find
him. ” Jonathan said, starting to leave.
    “ Before you go, there ’ s something else you
should see. ” Ralph motioned for Jonathan to follow.
    Ralph
led Jonathan to the reactor alcove nearest to the back of the
Engineering hall, and shined his wrist-light onto the wall beyond
the reactor. “ It ’ s over
here! ” He yelled over the whir of the reactor ’ s incessant
ionization.
    Jonathan surveyed the area Ralph ’ s light revealed.
Written upon the wall were complex physics
equations – some, Jonathan recognized, involving variables from their
current course. A lot of it looked like chicken-scratch because
he ’ d
obviously written it frantically, but some parts looked like the
coordinates to a specific location. Jonathan ducked out of the
alcove.
    “ He
could have killed us all. ” Ralph said.
     
    “ Another five minutes and he might have. ” Jonathan found the
nearest terminal and investigated the settings.
They ’ d
been rebooted to an earlier checkpoint, probably by Chance. He
watched the video feed from the last two hours, and watched as
William Mason used a terminal to input potentially lethal settings
for the back reactor. He looked calm and steady, like he knew
exactly what he was doing. Chance entered Engineering when the
Reactor reached three-quarters of the way to overheating, having
heard the computer ’ s warning.
    Jonathan stepped away from the computer and turned to
Ralph. “ I need to talk to William, but first take me to
his room. ”
    Ralph
led Jonathan to William ’ s room and opened the door using his master
key-card. The room was militantly clean. The only oddity was the
blinking red and white light at the top right of
William ’ s computer terminal, indicating that he had both missed a
crucial appointment and had unread messages. Jonathan stepped
inside, inspiring the lights to turn on. He paced the room, pausing
with his back to the interface terminal. Ralph remained in the
doorway, observing Jonathan ’s
interest.
    “ Dreamscape: connect. ” He said. The lights dimmed as the
program loaded. The ceiling became a neon white bulb. “ Show me everything for William Mason. ” Two files appeared on
the omni-screen. “ First
file. ”
    The first file was from six days prior. A
green mist floated over the endless blackness of space as numbers
and quandaries rushed through the air too quickly for Jonathan or
Ralph to see. The sound of a violent river crashed through the room
from the speakers in the walls. From the mist, the narrative
focused on the face of a man with rugged unkempt facial hair
sprouting from his cheeks. His eyes were a piercing gray as he
concentrated. He clutched his hand to the side of his head in an
attempt to focus harder.
    “ You
must....