Heaven's Call: A thrilling military science fiction book (LUMINA Book 3) I.G. Hulme (audio ebook reader .TXT) 📖

a faint blue luminescence, and Ryann could make out endless rows of drone ships docked into the walls. He looked up to see the rows disappearing off into the heights above. There must be thousands upon thousands of still and silent craft, he thought to himself.

The woman had seated herself upon the floor opposite him, her knees pulled up beneath her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. Ryann could see the glimmer of her dark eyes behind her visor.

“What’s your name, how did you get here?” he asked quietly.

The woman jumped, looking up at him as though suddenly aware of his presence.

“Hey, it’s alright. You just saved me remember?”

The woman gave a nervous smile. Ryann could see her shoulders fall as she released some of her tension with a deep sigh.

“My name’s Eve,” she said at last, and her voice trembled as she spoke. “Eve Ellissonne. I was first-officer on a ship — it, it seems like a lifetime ago now, I can barely remember.”

She hung her head once more as though reliving painful memories.

They sat in silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts.

And then, with a sigh, the woman began to speak, as though it were a confession.

“Our ship was captured, and we were all taken. They, they held us prisoner, and it felt like I was paralysed — they kept me there — I don’t know how long for — it seemed like forever. I could see the rest of my crew — I could hear their voices, crying out for help. But I couldn’t move, there was no way to escape. I thought I’d be trapped there forever. But then the ship started to break apart and somehow I managed to get free.” She fell silent, seemingly exhausted by the effort of recalling her story.

“Do you know if any more of your crew survived?” asked Ryann, leaning forward. Eve merely shrugged and turned her face away.

“They’re not on the ship — I, I don’t know,” she sighed at last.

After a long, uneasy silence Ryann asked, “What the hell did I just see back there? I mean, I’ve seen some crazy stuff since I came aboard this ship, but that, that was…” His voice trailed off as he tried to find the words to describe all that he had witnessed. “I’d thought I might be able to find some answers here — my dad, he saw things through the Lumina. But, I don’t know — I don’t know what I expected to find, but it certainly wasn’t this.”

“It’s like a dream from which you can never wake up.” Eve’s desolate whisper was so faint, Ryann barely caught the words.

“Exactly. It’s all some crazy dream, I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t here.” He shook his head wearily. “I just want to get off this wreck and back to the Defiance.”

Eve turned away as though pondering some difficult decision.

Eventually she murmured, “In a way you’re right, they are all trapped in a dream. Everyone aboard — it’s like they’re lost in their fantasies, unable to wake up. They’re all prisoner to the queen. And to Locke.” She spoke the last name with a shudder.

“Locke?” asked Ryann, looking up. “You mean James Locke — captain of the Battleship Oak?”

“You saw him. The Queen called for him. She rules this ship and everything on it, but Locke rules over all the ships.” Her face fell and she gazed off into space as she spoke. “He controls everyone — he, he’s terrifying, no-one can resist him. He’s everywhere — everything — even the Queen is powerless against him.” Her voice was rising in panic as she spoke.

Ryann shuffled closer in an attempt to comfort her.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said quietly. “We’ll find a way off this ship and neither that queen or Locke will be able to reach you. It’ll be okay.” He went to reach out to her but she leaned away, turning her face from him to hide her tears.

“No! You don’t understand! I can’t get free of him! No-one can! I’ll never be free of him. Ever!”

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said softly. “I’ll find us a way out of this, I promise.”

Eve bowed her head, her sobs slowly dying away.

“Well, we can’t stay here anyway,” muttered Ryann at last, gazing around the hangar. “I wonder if there’s a way we could get one of these drone ships flying?”

“Don’t you have a ship?” she asked in surprise. “I thought you came from the one moored a little way off — I was signalling to it for help; I thought you’d come to rescue me.” The panic began to creep back into her voice.

“I did come from it,” muttered Ryann, a little embarrassed. “Just not by ship. I, er, I jumped.”

Eve turned to him with a look of astonishment.

“It’s a long story,” he muttered with an awkward grin.

He took a deep breath and began, recounting everything that had befallen him, all the way back from the creation of the Defiance, right up to the events during the war with the mysterious golden fleet that still raged on above them.

As he came to the part in his tale where he had leapt across the void from the Defiance, Eve could scarcely believe what she was hearing. A smile began to form on her lips, and at one moment she actually laughed out loud as he recounted flying out over the gulf.

“Well, when I was hoping for someone to rescue me, I never thought that they’d need rescuing themselves!”

For a brief moment Eve’s face lit up behind her visor, and all the fear seemed to fade away. In that instant, Ryann was struck by how beautiful she was — she had such a curious, unearthly aura about her that seemed to set him at ease. He found himself smiling along with her.

She looked up at him with those dark and sorrowful eyes, whispering, “Still, I’m grateful you’re here nevertheless. My reckless and brave