Read The Awakening: Book 1 of the Evaran Chronicles for Free Online Page A

the main bridge concourse, Dr. Snowden could barely see the end of it. “This is a pretty big room. How far to the bridge?”
    “Approximately one mile , ” said V.
    Dr. Snowden flinched as V appeared next to him. He had forgotten V was flying around. “Umm … thanks, V.”
    V glowed a bit brighter and flew to Evaran.
    “V, map the concourse,” said Evaran.
    “Acknowledged. Mapping mode engaged , ” said V. V flew off toward the end of the main bridge concourse, emanating a two-dimensional circular red light that expanded to all sides of the room.
    “When V gets back, we will have a three-dimensional scan of the room. I just want to make sure it is clear before we proceed,” said Evaran.
    “You think there might be other specimens in there?” said Emily, watching V fly down the main bridge concourse.
    “Possibly. It is a large area, which has some tactical disadvantages for us,” said Evaran, raising a finger.
    “What else would V be scanning for,” said Sanjay, looking at Emily.
    Emily shot a look at Sanjay. “I don’t know. That’s why I asked.”
    Sanjay ducked away to the other side of the arched entrance.
    Dr. Snowden walked over to one of the segmented blocks on the entrance border. An interface projection appeared in front of him. It displayed the unusual alien symbols, but this time, he understood what they meant. It was a map interface for the main bridge concourse.
    “Hey! I can understand this!” said Dr. Snowden, turning to look at Evaran.
    “Ahh, good. The universal translator has kicked in.”
    Sanjay, Emily, and Jay gathered around Dr. Snowden.
    Sanjay studied the map interface. “Are the nanobots doing this?”
    Evaran gazed down the main bridge concourse. “They are involved. I was able to get them to accept translation requests from my ship. I was unsure of how long it would take to kick in, but it appears they have completed integration.”
    “Translation requests? You mean we are connected to your ship through our supposed nanobots?” asked Dr. Snowden with raised eyebrows.
    “Yes, the supposed nanobots can communicate with the ship’s universal translator. Typically, I would offer you a temporary set of nanobots. As you already had nanobots inside you, I decided to see if I could interface with them, and it appears to have worked. Your nanobots now have a new protocol to check with the ship’s universal translator if they cannot translate something. If it cannot translate something directly, it will use the nearest term, even if it is slang,” said Evaran, turning to look at Dr. Snowden and Emily.
    “Does it make others who don’t have universal translators understand us? Like, if I were to speak to a French person, would it come out as French?” asked Emily.
    “Yes, and your lips would move to compensate. Although you would still see French in text and the other person’s lips move in sync with French, you would understand what it meant,” said Evaran.
    Dr. Snowden snorted and shook his head. “I find that very unlikely.”
    Jay shook his head. “That’s messed up.”
    “The evidence is staring you all right in the face,” said Evaran.
    “Does this mean the ship has access to our thoughts then?” asked Sanjay.
    “Temporarily during the translation it does, but it does not keep an audit trail. The universal translator protocol came with the ship, and other than knowing how to access it remotely and configure some of it, that is all I know about it,” said Evaran.
    “So it has some privacy security built in. I like that,” said Sanjay.
    Dr. Snowden could see that Sanjay was a sharp kid. He couldn’t bring himself to so easily believe what Evaran was saying. He was not as secure about his conclusion in the medical lab as he was now. He watched as V flew back. V had said that the bridge was one mile away. He calculated that since V was not gone long, V must be able to either fly quickly or skim across the top and be able to scan forward as opposed to the sides