Free The Awakening: Book 1 of the Evaran Chronicles by Adair Hart Page A

white robes with dots on some of the bodies, though. But the stench was different here. It smelled like burnt flesh.
    “Looks like a fight happened down here. Are these other aliens with the white robes some of the specimens?” asked Dr. Snowden.
    “Most likely. That is a specimen-specific robe. Some were other alien species who were traveling with the Krotovore it would appear,” said Evaran. He approached one of the corpses and scanned it with his ring. “Interesting. These were killed by energy weapons.” He looked around.
    “The mercenaries?” asked Dr. Snowden.
    Evaran nodded. “Possibly. We are exposed here. Come on.”
    They followed Evaran down the walkway. A noise behind Dr. Snowden caught his attention, and he turned around. He did not see anything but was sure that if he heard it, then Evaran would have heard it. “Evaran, do you hear something?”
    “Yes. A group of small creatures is following us. It is not the krall. One of the specimens I am sure, although I am unfamiliar with the scent. They have decided not to show themselves. I think if they were aggressive, they would have made a move by now. They have been following us since we got off the elevator,” said Evaran.
    “They prolly saw all them aliens get blasted and bailed,” said Jay.
    “Maybe,” said Dr. Snowden, shrugging. Apparently, Evaran was not too worried about it, so he did not give it a second thought. Emily had skipped ahead of him to walk with Evaran. Apparently, she did not want to be the last in line.
    Emily studied the bodies as they walked around them. “Evaran, why aren’t there more humanoids ?”
    Evaran stopped and glanced at the bodies Emily was standing by. “The humanoid form is actually common among the stars. What you see here is but a tiny fraction of the advanced races in their time period and region. These just happen to be mainly nonhumanoid. Unlike your galaxy, theirs has very few humanoid species.”
    Dr. Snowden glanced at Emily and then paused for a moment to reflect on Evaran’s words. He tilted his head at Evaran. “I thought the chance of a species arising with the humanoid form and our level of intelligence or greater would be rare.”
    “I read that too,” said Sanjay, glancing at Dr. Snowden.
    “You are correct,” said Evaran with a half smile. He turned back around and continuing to walk toward a large hallway entrance.
    “Wait a minute! How can the humanoid form be common, yet the chance of it arising be rare?” asked Dr. Snowden, walking briskly to keep up with Evaran.
    Evaran raised his finger up and out and shook it. “That is the right question to ask, and something I would like to know myself. I have encountered far too many humanoid species, including yours, for it to be merely coincidence. Tracking it all down takes time, but is on my list of things to find out.”
    Dr. Snowden nodded at Evaran. It was oddly assuring to him that Evaran, despite his apparent knowledge, did not know everything. On the other hand, he did wish that he could have answered that. It must be greatly satisfying to travel through time and space and resolve mysteries like this one. After a few minutes, they reached the large hallway entrance. It was arched, like the main bridge concourse, but a lot smaller. Unlike the main bridge concourse, this entrance looked heavily guarded. Turrets protruded on every other segmented block.
    “Some pretty interesting stuff, huh?” said Sanjay, turning toward Dr. Snowden.
    “Yeah. I’d love to research all this,” said Dr. Snowden.
    Jay caught up to them and turned to Sanjay. “Hey, man, about back there …”
    Sanjay raised his hand. “It’s okay. I deserved it. I just panicked. I was thinking of myself instead of the group. I won’t—”
    Zzzt! A beam hit the back of Sanjay’s head, punching a perfect hole through it. His face shot out, hitting Emily in the back. She stumbled and turned around. She screamed as she swung her arms wildly to scrape off the bits and