The Paragon

Chapter Five

What woke me out of an already restless sleep was a sudden alarm blaring through the ship, the volume unlike anything I'd heard so far on such a quiet vessel. I jolted awake, immediately rolling out of bed and onto the floor. Landing on the soles of my feet, I was crouched and ready to run or fight, whichever was necessary.

A message started broadcasting in contingency with the alarm: "All essential personnel report immediately to the bridge; Repeat, all essential personnel immediately to the bridge." The message repeated itself a few times after that, the alarm going off all the while.

"Okay," I murmured to myself, standing up slowly, staring up at the intercom above the door where the message had come from. "That doesn't sound good." I grabbed my boots from the side of the bed, pulling them back onto my feet. I'd slept in the same clothes I'd put on yesterday evening, so I didn't need to change—I just grabbed my jacket from a hook on the wall and stepped into the hall, pulling it on as I went.

Out here, the alarm was accompanied with a flashing red light, which illuminated the hall in a strange way—changing the shadows and angles to make everything look different on every blink of the light. I looked to my left and saw Eli stepping out of his room next door, and Casp was exiting another door across the hall. They looked as disoriented as I felt. "Ah, so you heard the wakeup call, too?" Eli joked, glancing up at the ceiling.

"We should probably go see what's happening," I suggested, running my fingers through my hair, trying to free some of the relentless tangles.

Casp cleared his throat. "I may be wrong, but I doubt we're considered essential personnel," he said. "I don't think it's really our job to find out what's going on."

Holding my arms out to the side, I started walked backwards down the hall, still facing Casp and Eli. "Hey, they're the ones who started calling me Paragon. I'd say that makes me pretty essential in their eyes."

"I don't really think that's what they meant--" Casp trailed off as I turned around to face where I was going, and I heard him sigh behind me. "We have to follow her," I heard him comment to Eli.

Eli's footsteps were already behind me. "Yep," he agreed, and Casp groaned as his lighter steps jogged up to join mine and Eli's.

We followed the signs that pointed the path towards the bridge, taking a ladder up a level and then down the hall towards what I could only assume was the front of the ship. We didn't run into anyone else on the way there, and I was struck by how big this ship was and yet how few people seemed to be on it. Had it been designed with something else in mind?

"That must be it," Eli commented as we reached a set of double doors. They, like any other on the ship, opened up automatically as we approached, and we entered a room that was just a bit different from the rest of the ship. There was a large glass window in place of the wall, and I could see the dark night sky stretched out in front of us. The three of us stopped in slight awe at that sight, and that gave the occupants of the room time to notice us.

Wayfinder Nadia straightened up her posture from the holographic display she'd been leaning over. "Imogen," she said, sounding slightly surprised. "You shouldn't be here. Everything is under control."

"If you'll excuse me for saying it, but the alarm doesn't make it sound that way," I commented as I entered the room, walking down the two steps to join her at the display. I noticed a couple other people there with here, one of them being Phoenix. He looked surprised at my being there, though it was only in his eyes; the rest of him he kept as well-postured as always.

"In general, individuals must wait for permission to come aboard the bridge, rather than inviting themselves inside," Nadia commented. She looked a bit annoyed, but also conflicted; probably due to her impression that I was the Paragon. In her mind, I outranked her automatically, but she obviously didn't want to give up on any of her power despite that.