The Arrival by Adair Hart Read Free Book Online

Sally?
    Sally whimpered happily while walking up to Evaran. She nuzzled his left hand, then walked over to Jake.
    Jake hesitated before reaching down and patting Sally on the head. It was a natural reaction to him. He remembered having a dog before he was abducted, but did not recall too much about it.
    Sally barked at Evaran again.
    “Yes, very far. She is back now, though.”
    Sally whimpered.
    Evaran reached down with his right hand and patted Sally. He looked up to see Kathy and her parents staring at him.
    “Other than me, Sally doesn’t like guys, especially strange ones she’s never met,” said Kathy’s dad with narrowed eyes.
    Evaran nodded. “So she said. However, it would appear we have passed her judgment.”
    Kathy’s dad stepped forward. “Who are you two?”
    “He’s Evaran,” said Kathy, pointing at Evaran. She then pointed at Jake. “And he’s Jake. They saved me.”
    Kathy’s dad scrutinized Evaran for a moment. He glanced at Kathy, who smiled. He focused on Evaran. “Where exactly was our Kathy?”
    Evaran pointed up. “Very far away. What she will tell you is true. Do not dismiss it because it sounds unusual.”
    Kathy’s dad looked up, then back at a nodding Kathy. He faced Evaran with drawn-down lips and through gritted teeth asked, “Who took her?”
    “Someone who will be dealt with.”
    Kathy’s mom walked up to Evaran and extended her hand. “I’m Cassy. Thank you for bringing our daughter back.”
    Evaran studied Cassy’s extended hand and then shook it. “Not a problem.”
    Cassy extended her hand toward Jake.
    Jake hesitated, as his instinct was to avoid all contact with other humans. He exhaled slowly, and with furrowed eyebrows, he shook Cassy’s hand.
    Kathy’s dad walked up and stood next to Cassy. “I’m John.” He licked his lips and slowly extended his hand. “I’d like to shake the hand of the men that found our Kathy.”
    Evaran and Jake shook hands with John.
    “I … don’t know how to thank you two,” said John.
    Evaran raised a finger. “Do you have a computer in your house?”
    Jake chuckled as he thought about how unusual that must have sounded to Kathy and her parents.
    John wrinkled his eyebrows. “Yeah … you … need to use it?”
    “I would, if it is not too much trouble.”
    Kathy ran up to Evaran and gave him a bear hug. She stepped back and glanced at her dad. “Anything you need.”
    “Let’s get inside,” said John, gesturing toward the house.
    Jake noticed that Evaran did not give John any information that would lead to John taking action. Probably for the better. Greecho would be too much.
    Cassy held on tight to Kathy on the way to the house. As they walked, she looked around, then at Evaran. “Is whoever did this still around?”
    “No, but they will be in a few months, and they will be punished.”
    Cassy’s eyebrows raised as she looked at John.
    After a few minutes, they reached the house and entered it. John led Evaran over to a desk with a monitor sitting on it. A tower sat next to it, with wires linking them. Kathy and her mom stood to the side of Evaran.
    John pointed at the tower. “That’s it. I’ll need to log in.”
    Evaran extended a hand. “No need.” He stood next to the tower and placed his UIC on it.
    The UIC glowed for a bit, then emitted a stable blue light.
    Jake wondered how it would work on this ancient technology.
    “What the hell is that?” asked John, recoiling.
    “Something to help me access your system. It will only take a moment,” said Evaran. He looked around at his ARI, and after a few minutes of interacting with it, he grabbed his UIC and placed it back on his belt. “I have what I need. There is more information to download, but this is not the node to do it from.”
    “What were you trying to download?” asked John.
    “Information. There are other hidden networks I will need to access. I will download it from elsewhere. I just needed the basics,” said Evaran. He gestured toward