Empire Reborn (Taran Empire Saga Book 1): A Cadicle Space Opera A.K. DuBoff (guided reading books TXT) 📖

path. After checking inside a few doors, they located the desired room. In short order, they got the lights and air filtration online, as well as the terminal for security monitoring.

“All right, we have a map!” Saera declared as she looked over the information on the screen. “Let’s see how this compares to the records Raena shared with us.” She projected a map from her handheld.

Wil compared the two images. “Looks pretty accurate. She may have actually gotten the map from here.”

“The question is, if you were a secret storeroom, where would you be?” Cris mused.

“Bottom level?” Saera suggested.

“Might actually be the opposite,” Wil said. “We’re looking for the most ancient records here—perhaps even things members of the Priesthood had forgotten about themselves. Generally, if you need to expand an underground structure, you’d keep excavating downward. So, the oldest areas are probably those at the top.”

“Good point,” Cris agreed. “Except, everything in the central core is probably newer or has been disturbed, so we should focus on the perimeter.”

“What about these hallways that seem to go to nowhere?” Saera suggested, pointing to several points on the map.

Wil nodded. “As good a place to start as any.”

“Do we split up to cover more ground or stick together?” Cris asked.

Wil smiled. “You should know by now, never break up the party.”

He chuckled. “All right. Lead the way.”

The air quality was already improving, and the corridors were decidedly less claustrophobic with proper lighting. Still, there was an ominous energy to the surroundings that set Wil on edge. The satin finish of the stark, white walls reflected the light without adding too much shine. It made the atmosphere feel clinical and impersonal. He supposed that utilitarian design was fitting, given how the Priesthood had operated; relentless efficiency in the name of ‘progress’.

His discomfort wasn’t from the interior appearance alone, though. Energy could linger in a place, like events burned into the walls themselves. The atrocities committed in the facility had left a stain that time alone wouldn’t scrub clean. The upper levels, where the young family and their supporters had focused on spreading messages of hope and love, had been cleansed. Down here, though, the badness had been sealed away where it had festered in the dark.

It seemed he wasn’t alone in that perception. Saera and his father held tension in their shoulders and their gazes flitted around the hallways like they believed they were being watched.

“I feel it, too,” Wil said.

Saera shuddered. “I hadn’t expected this when we talked about coming down here.”

“Yes, definitely not going to suggest this as a good place for a guest suite.”

Wil tensed as their path took them by the shattered remains of glass-walled rooms. The Priests had once held captive women in those cells—surrogates forced to gestate genetically altered clones of the Priests themselves. Though just one of the many crimes perpetrated by the Priesthood during its corrupt reign, it was certainly among the most heinous. If nothing else, Wil took comfort in the knowledge that those cells were only empty now thanks to his family’s interventions.

“All right, I think we’re looking for more of a false-wall than a hidden-door kind of situation,” Wil said as they approached the end of the first corridor they had identified on the map, mostly to break the eerie silence.

“Any guesses about what this hidden archive might look like?” his father asked.

“A storeroom, maybe? There might be data saved to crystal backups, but I’m thinking of something akin to a treasure room.”

“Finders keepers, right?” Saera joked.

“I’ll sit on the sidelines for that debate and watch you duke it out with our daughter.”

“In all seriousness,” Cris interjected, “we should evaluate any items we find on a case-by-case basis to determine what should become of the artifacts.”

Wil cast him a sidelong glance. “Of course, Dad. Just trying to lighten the mood.”

“Right, yes.” He sighed. “Sorry, I just really thought I was finished with Priesthood business.”

“Oh, me too. Believe me, this is one of the last places I thought I’d find myself again.”

They reached the dead-end that had seemed like it could lead to something not pictured on the map. Wil began inspecting the surface of the wall, looking for any obvious seams. To his surprise, there did seem to be a groove where a door might be.

“Scratch that previous comment about hidden doorways. Look at this.” He traced his finger along the edge.

Without waiting for further input, he used his senses to reach out beyond the door, feeling for an open space on the other side. Sure enough, there was a void back there, not a stone wall as one would expect to find in a place with nothing to hide.

Cris’ expression brightened. “All right, that’s a good start!”

Wil searched for evidence of electrical signals to indicate where wiring might lead to a control panel, but he didn’t detect anything. Of course not. The Priests all had telekinetic abilities. They’d just swing open the door like we would.

He tested out his hypothesis. Without any resistance, the wall panel swung toward them, pivoting on a hinge that left just enough clearance from the floor to avoid leaving a scuff mark to give away its presence. The odor of death returned stronger than before.

The area beyond was shrouded in complete darkness, except for what illumination the lights from the hallway offered. The three of them shined their handhelds inside. One of the lights caught a switch on the wall, and Wil flipped it.

Another hallway illuminated, with doors at three-meter intervals lining both sides. Unlike the outer area finished in clean white paneling, this corridor was all poured concrete and metal fittings.

“Definitely older,” Cris commented.

“Or at least not a place designed to impress anyone,” Wil said.

Saera frowned. “I don’t like it.”

Wil took the lead down the hall