The Dark Zone by Dom Testa

Author:Dom Testa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

15

It wasn’t until the ship’s lights began to dim for the evening that Gap realized he was famished. The buzz of the morning’s activity had kept him wound up for the rest of the day, and lunch simply had not happened. He had carved out some time in the late afternoon to hit the treadmill in the gym, followed by some extended stretching exercises. Now, after a quick shower, he rushed into the Dining Hall, determined to eat everything in sight. The dinner crowd had thinned considerably; he quickly filled his tray and turned to survey the room.

Triana sat in her usual spot in the back, alone. She made eye contact and waved.

“Am I intruding on deep thoughts?” he said, pulling out the seat next to her.

“I would welcome a break from the deep ones,” Triana said. “How was the rest of your day? Hard to measure up to the morning?”

Gap wasted no time hefting a portion of salad to his mouth. “That’s for sure,” he said, chewing. “Pardon my lack of manners, I’m starving. Uh, my day. Well, things are running fine in Engineering; some of the usual scheduling issues since we’re about to start a new work cycle, but I think everyone’s starting to get used to that for the most part. Um … what else? A workout. Not much besides that.”

“Did Channy wear you out?”

He shook his head and jabbed a wedge of apple into his mouth. “Did the treadmill. She had just finished a dance class. Seemed out of sorts, if you ask me.”

“In what way?”

“I don’t know, just not her usual Channy self. I tried to talk to her for a minute, but she acted like she had a lot on her mind. Probably nothing. But never mind my day, tell me what happened in Sick House.”

Triana leaned on the table and crossed her hands. “I’ve been sitting here trying to process all of it. There’s lots.”

“Really?” Gap said. He shoveled in another mouthful of greens, chewing vigorously. “Tell me, tell me.”

Triana smiled and indicated the corner of her own mouth. Gap took the hint and wiped a smear of dressing off his face with a napkin.

“Well, our guest certainly came back to life with a vengeance,” she said. “It’s quite active. And you know, as frightening as it is, it’s really … I don’t know, beautiful, I guess you could say. There’s something about the shape, the movement, the power. I have to admit, I’m fascinated by it.”

“That’s cool. I’ll have to stop by tomorrow and check it out. Did Lita and Roc find out anything yet?”

“Oh, you could say that,” Triana said. “You of all people will appreciate this. Roc thinks the vultures are powered by dark energy.”

Gap stopped in midchew, his gaze boring into Triana. “What?”

Triana smiled. “Yeah, I knew you’d like that. Apparently these things are built to absorb energy of all sorts, but their power comes from the universe itself.” She filled him in on the other details.

“That’s incredible,” Gap said, setting down his fork.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.