The Cloudy Skulls (Cloudy Sandbox Book 1) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Eva Harper
the entire suite of bedrooms and meeting rooms all to myself. As the door closed behind me on my quarters I wondered if that was a good thing, it would be really quiet without anyone here.
The single bag I’d packed was waiting for me on my bed where I’d dumped it earlier, some of the contents were spilling out as I’d dug through it to find the combats and tank top I’d changed into. I’d already checked and one of the store rooms housed plenty of uniforms ready for distribution tomorrow. Just because I was an officer didn’t mean I was going to wear the starched shirts and skirts befitting of my rank. There would be no other officers here to see it, and I wanted to be prepared in case we were ever under attack, so I was going to wear the same as everyone else. I also planned to go on missions myself, though I hadn’t told Parker that.
After I’d put away the underwear and other few clothes I’d brought, along with a few personal effects, I went and sat at my desk. It was a simple affair of brushed metal that matched the rest of the room perfectly. The walls were panels of light grey, the ceiling was the same but chequered with luma panels. The floor was carpet at least, but also grey. It wasn’t a big room but it was private so I had to be thankful for that at least.
I took the item I’d found behind the hangar out of my pocket, and set it down on the desk. Now that I had better light I could see that it was some kind of device that had charged but fried itself in the process. There were no engravings to mark it as UR tech, in fact it looked like a homemade job, something that had been cobbled together with mismatched parts. Probably why it had burned out and melted. I could guess what it was for, but I had no proof at all, so instead I set the lump of plastic aside and switched on my PCD and began running through personnel files, so I could at least address people by name tomorrow.
The device was always in the back of my mind, though. Since there had been several of them and they’d been hidden under the gravel, I could only assume that whoever put them there didn’t want them to be found.
-
The bang woke me up, but then there was such still silence afterward I stalled in my reaction and just sat there for a long moment as if waiting for another sound to confirm I hadn’t been dreaming. I’d fallen asleep at my desk with my head pillowed in my arms, but I was wide awake now with my ears straining for any little sound, which wasn’t good because the next thing that happened was the siren right above my desk screamed to life. I was still dressed so all that remained was to jam my feet into my boots and grab a jacket. I met another officer as I left my bedroom, but everybody else was still getting changed it seemed, because when I ran out into the main courtyard where the posters told us to assemble, all I could see were lines of sleepy soldiers. They were in varying stages of dress but they were there. It took three minutes for all the officers to arrive, though I noticed Parker at least looked awake and alert.
‘What happened?’ yawned the officer whose immaculate blonde hair had yesterday been in a ponytail, but now hung limp down her shoulder. Her tie was crooked, too.
‘It’s an emergency alarm,’ I told her. ‘Did you really need the tie?’
She frowned but said nothing and stood up a bit straighter. I ignored her and turned to the amassed soldiers. ‘I’m glad to see my soldiers at least know how to follow emergency protocol. This is not a drill, so I want everyone to stay out here until the incident is under control. Sir?’
Parker nodded at me and we broke away from the group back inside the base. We were followed by the blonde lady and another man that I’d already forgotten the name of. I didn’t speak as I led them toward the officer's meeting room. There wouldn’t have been any point anyway, the sirens would have made speaking tough. Parker tried, though, and I heard him
The single bag I’d packed was waiting for me on my bed where I’d dumped it earlier, some of the contents were spilling out as I’d dug through it to find the combats and tank top I’d changed into. I’d already checked and one of the store rooms housed plenty of uniforms ready for distribution tomorrow. Just because I was an officer didn’t mean I was going to wear the starched shirts and skirts befitting of my rank. There would be no other officers here to see it, and I wanted to be prepared in case we were ever under attack, so I was going to wear the same as everyone else. I also planned to go on missions myself, though I hadn’t told Parker that.
After I’d put away the underwear and other few clothes I’d brought, along with a few personal effects, I went and sat at my desk. It was a simple affair of brushed metal that matched the rest of the room perfectly. The walls were panels of light grey, the ceiling was the same but chequered with luma panels. The floor was carpet at least, but also grey. It wasn’t a big room but it was private so I had to be thankful for that at least.
I took the item I’d found behind the hangar out of my pocket, and set it down on the desk. Now that I had better light I could see that it was some kind of device that had charged but fried itself in the process. There were no engravings to mark it as UR tech, in fact it looked like a homemade job, something that had been cobbled together with mismatched parts. Probably why it had burned out and melted. I could guess what it was for, but I had no proof at all, so instead I set the lump of plastic aside and switched on my PCD and began running through personnel files, so I could at least address people by name tomorrow.
The device was always in the back of my mind, though. Since there had been several of them and they’d been hidden under the gravel, I could only assume that whoever put them there didn’t want them to be found.
-
The bang woke me up, but then there was such still silence afterward I stalled in my reaction and just sat there for a long moment as if waiting for another sound to confirm I hadn’t been dreaming. I’d fallen asleep at my desk with my head pillowed in my arms, but I was wide awake now with my ears straining for any little sound, which wasn’t good because the next thing that happened was the siren right above my desk screamed to life. I was still dressed so all that remained was to jam my feet into my boots and grab a jacket. I met another officer as I left my bedroom, but everybody else was still getting changed it seemed, because when I ran out into the main courtyard where the posters told us to assemble, all I could see were lines of sleepy soldiers. They were in varying stages of dress but they were there. It took three minutes for all the officers to arrive, though I noticed Parker at least looked awake and alert.
‘What happened?’ yawned the officer whose immaculate blonde hair had yesterday been in a ponytail, but now hung limp down her shoulder. Her tie was crooked, too.
‘It’s an emergency alarm,’ I told her. ‘Did you really need the tie?’
She frowned but said nothing and stood up a bit straighter. I ignored her and turned to the amassed soldiers. ‘I’m glad to see my soldiers at least know how to follow emergency protocol. This is not a drill, so I want everyone to stay out here until the incident is under control. Sir?’
Parker nodded at me and we broke away from the group back inside the base. We were followed by the blonde lady and another man that I’d already forgotten the name of. I didn’t speak as I led them toward the officer's meeting room. There wouldn’t have been any point anyway, the sirens would have made speaking tough. Parker tried, though, and I heard him
Readers choose
Michael Chatfield
Delilah Devlin
Julia Crane
Cathy Cole
Sonja Yoerg
Carl Hiaasen
TERESA HILL
D. Hamilton-Reed
Joshua Cohen