Dusk of Defiance (The Era of Ensemble Book 1) Read Free

“Hello?” Again there was no answer. A second shiver raced along his spine, as he waited for a response. A loud shriek echoed from another part of the spaceship. The figure who stood in the doorway, returned the shriek and ran off in the opposite direction from Luke. Its footsteps loudly slapping on the metal floor beneath its bare feet as the doors re-closed. Luke’s heart pounded, he didn’t know what was going on, and he didn’t know if he wanted to find out. Maybe I should just get back into the cryogenic chamber and resume my deep sleep? He thought, I'd be safe there, but then he remembered. What about Elizabeth and Megan? He couldn’t go back into deep sleep now. He needed to know if they were both safe.
    Luke slowly edged towards the door. He pressed the touch pad on the wall and the door slid open. Luke tentatively placed his foot at the edge of the doorframe and carefully poked his head out around the corner. His dark hair swayed across his foreh ead as he looked both ways. He stepped out of the cryogenic chamber room, and then shouted out again. “Hello?” There was no response, but he heard footsteps, and other strange noises he couldn't identify in the distance. His survival instincts were warning him not to shout again. A door opened further down the corridor. Luke turned quickly to face the noise. There was silence for a brief period, and then there was the sound of another door opening further down the passageway. Luke moved quietly and slowly, as he edged towards the door that had most recently opened. He stepped closer, the door hadn’t closed yet. He heard the footsteps again. They emanated from beyond the door. His eyes found it hard to see the movement in the, abnormal and eerie, backup lighting of the ship. Luke swallowed, building up his courage. He reached the door, and as he was about to glance through it closed. Damn . He took a deep breath, and then opened the door. A stairwell resided beyond the door. The silhouette that had run through couldn’t be seen. Luke heard the noise of another door open a few storeys below him. He took another deep breath and walked into the stairwell. What am I following? Luke questioned his own motives. Why do these shadows run with no acknowledgement to me?
    The backup lights were floor level, either side of the stairs in a line, lighting up the bottom of the stair s. The majority of the steps were in complete darkness. Someone must have broken most of the backup lights. He took tight hold of the railing, it was surprisingly cold and it made him jump. The heating system must be on the blink. He took a few seconds to compose himself, and then he continued to follow the mysterious figure. A door closed on the floor below him. He took his time climbing down the steps to reach it. A dark, sticky liquid was smeared across the door, but he couldn’t identify what it was. He touched the control pad. The door rapidly slid apart and allowed him passage into another corridor. He stepped through the door. It was drastically different to the previous hallway that he had been in. The floor was wooden and didn’t ping when Luke stepped on it with the metal soles of his shoes. The shoes needed the metal soles in the unlikely event that the gravity failed. The soles would become electromagnetically charged to enable the wearer to walk across the floor of the ship. My steps no longer ring aloud, they are noticeably different. Will the shadows hear my approach?
    The walls were painted a light cream, which made the corridor feel much brighter. Luke remembered various styles of the different parts of the ship. It was to allow the brain to absorb different colours and textures. To keep everyone stimulated, fresh and alert. There were a lot of things which changed aboard the ship on a regular basis to keep everyone stimulated. The food menu was always chosen randomly from day to day, it was never a fixed schedule of what you were going to eat. There were hobby classes in the