The Last Horizon (The Earthburst Saga Book 6) by Craig A. Falconer

Author:Craig A. Falconer [Falconer, Craig A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

28

I freeze on the spot.

Beside me, Driver does the same.

After so many discoveries and revelations that have pointed in one direction and another, we finally know that we’re not alone here.

There’s someone in this room. Someone — not only speaking in a human style but in English words and an American accent. It makes less than no sense, but we both heard it.

“Who’s there?” Driver booms. As she yells, I see that she’s pressing the button on her suit’s right sleeve that projects her voice outwards from her helmet.

For a few seconds, there’s no reply.

As my eyes adjust to the bright light and my visual focus returns following the initial shock of the voice, I’m able to take in a lot more details about our surroundings.

This room is no bigger than the last, where we found so many dead aliens and learned something was alive in here, but it’s a lot more… furnished.

There are three pillar-like objects which look very much like the tall screen where we saw the dots, and in front of each of them there are some things that I think are benches. Stools might be a better word given how narrow they are, but their position in front of the screens does very strongly suggest they’re used as seats. They have no back supports, which seems strange. But again, I suppose a small difference like that — like the difference in the aliens’ arms and facial features — is far less remarkable than all the similarities.

The screen in the middle of the room looks like it has four sides rather than two, judging by the stools I can see to the left and right. I can also make out some kind of physical control interface on a shelf-like surface that sits slightly higher than the stool.

It’s nothing as recognizable as a keyboard or a joystick, but from here it looks like there are surface-level indentations for two hands, perhaps to perform more complex and precise gestures than a touchscreen interface could allow.

Again, as has often been the case here, I’m stunned by how almost familiar so much of this is.

“I said who’s there?” Driver replies, pressing the voice projection button again to speak before raising her blade.

And although my eyes have been taking in the various new sights while my ears were waiting for a reply, this is really the only question that matters right now.

Who else is here? Maybe just as pertinently… how are they here? And Why?

“Don’t be alarmed,” the voice eventually calls back. There’s an odd melodic quality to the way it rises and falls, like a stage actress hamming it up. “We’re all on the same side here. No one needs to be scared.”

Driver grips her blade only more tightly, her eyes scanning the room to gage where the voice is coming from. Because that’s another strange thing that only becomes apparent in this second, longer reply: the sound seems to be coming from everywhere, rather than one focused spot.

Our helmets are excellent at allowing sound in.

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