Wanderer’s Odyssey Books 1 to 3
Simon Goodson
Dark Soul Publishing Ltd
Copyright © 2013 Simon Goodson
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover images © 2013 Andrew Goodson, Susan Mullan
Proofread by Frank MacDonald
First Published 9th January 2013.
Published by Dark Soul Publishing Ltd,
v20190811
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Contents
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Wanderer’s Escape
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Wanderer - Echoes of the Past
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Part II
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Part III
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Part IV
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Part V
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Part VI
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Wanderer Tainted Universe
I. The Crashing Wave
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
II. Hunted
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
III. The Quarantine Zone
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
IV. The Taint
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
V. Staring Into The Abyss
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
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Also by Simon Goodson
Wanderer’s Odyssey
Wanderer's Escape
Wanderer - Echoes of the Past
Wanderer - Tainted Universe
Wanderer - Origins
Tagrale Universe
Tagrale - Gateway to the Stars
Dark Soul Chronicles
Dark Soul Silenced - Part One
Dark Soul Silenced - Part Two
Short Story Collections
Last Sunrise & Other Stories
Tales From the Starflare Universe & Beyond
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Wanderer’s Escape
Chapter 1
“You! Get over there!” the guard barked at Jess, clouting him on the side of the head for emphasis.
Jess stumbled forwards, then broke into a reluctant jog. He’d seen the guards whip and beat other prisoners for not moving fast enough. Ahead, several guards in heavy armour waited with two prisoners, and the remains of a third. They all stood near the side of a small spaceship which was a hundred metres long and thirty wide at its widest. It was only high enough for a single deck.
The dead prisoner had been ordered to open the ship’s airlock but had set off a booby trap. Stuck at the front of his group of prisoners, Jess had seen far more than he wanted of the death. As the man had manipulated the door controls a blast of electricity had been unleashed, ripping through his body. At least it had been fast. Over the past four days Jess had seen many of his fellow prisoners die as they set off traps, most quickly but some lingering in agony until a guard grew tired of the noise and put a bullet in their head.
They were working their way through a series of vast hangars each filled with ships, from tiny one person flitters through to immense mining vessels. At least that’s what some of the prisoners said they were called. Jess had been born a prisoner, grown up a prisoner. At sixteen he knew he’d die a prisoner. Like most of the others his aims in life were to avoid being punished too often, to get enough food to survive, to keep going.
Not everyone felt that way. A few tried to escape. Normally those who hadn’t been born prisoners, who had memories of freedom. It was hopeless. Every prisoner was fitted with a control collar. At the slightest sign of a revolt any guard could activate the collar of every nearby prisoner. Jess did
n’t know how they worked, just how it felt. Like a million insects biting and burning their way down every nerve. Some people screamed, some couldn’t. All dropped to the floor writhing in agony.
Distance offered no safety, the guards just increased the range until the running prisoner’s collar activated – in the process taking down every other prisoner within range. The punishment for those trying to escape? Other than the pain from the collar, nothing. Nothing from the guards. Punishment was left to the other prisoners, to those who’d suffered when the collars activated. Few tried to escape more than twice. Repeat offenders were almost always killed or crippled by the other prisoners, who valued avoiding punishment from the collars far above a fellow prisoner’s freedom.
It wasn’t all stick. Sometimes there were rewards, like now. A month on special rations for anyone managing to help make three ships safe. Meat for every meal, even real vegetables. A feast compared to the prisoners’ normal fare.
Not as easy as it sounded, though. Jess had no idea who the previous owners had been, but they’d been determined to protect their collection of ships. Many groups of prisoners were working to gain access. Hundreds had died already, just that Jess had seen or heard of. Now it was his turn to step up.
Walking past the guards he studied the two prisoners already by the ship. The closest was an old man, powerfully built despite his age. His face and arms were covered in scars and burns. Life expectancy for prisoners was thirty to thirty-five. The man looked well past that already, which probably meant he’d been captured in the last few years. The other was a woman maybe eight or ten years older than Jess, dirty face already creased with wrinkles.
Jess stopped by them, trying to ignore the charred and still smoking corpse on the floor. A guard stepped forward and shoved him towards the ship.
“Open it!” he told Jess.
Jess glanced at the other two. The girl looked away, the man spread his hands.
“We’ve already cleared one ship,” he said. “You’re the trap fodder at the moment, like barbecue boy was before you. They’ll save us for the tricky traps inside.” His face softened slightly. “Be careful, kid. Take a little extra time. You look like you’ve got more smarts than the last one. Use them. You’ll need his pry bar.”
Jess nodded. The bar was needed to open jammed doors and, in theory, to deflect any electrical blast safely into the floor. The body grasping the bar showed how well that worked. Jess took a deep breath, stepped to the smoking corpse and, with a shudder, prised the metal bar from charred fingers. It came free easily; if it hadn’t Jess was sure he’d have lost the meagre contents of his stomach. Standing, he turned to face the airlock.
The ship seemed different from the others Jess had seen in the hangars. Where most were blocky, often with garish paint jobs, this one was smooth, streamlined, and silver all over. No access panels, no warning signs, no external pipework. All that broke the side he looked at were the faint outlines of the airlock and a lock panel to the right of it. The panel where the booby trap had been set.
Jess peered closely at the lock panel, taking care not to touch it. It was a standard looking access system, with a number pad to enter the combination and a display above. Wires ran from it to a cracker unit which showed a long series of digits. Had the last prisoner just got unlucky? Mistyped a number? Jess reached out to start typing, then paused. Somehow the panel looked wrong. It seemed to jar with the rest of the ship.
Stepping back a little he studied the ship’s side again, following the outline of the airlock. To the left, at shoulder height, he found a slight indentation in the hull. He reached out gingerly and pressed it, body tensed.
Nothing happened. Jess let out a shaky breath. Then he noticed that the outline of the door seemed a little clearer, and as he watched the entire door slid sideways revealing a small airlock.
“Well done kid,” said the older man, stepping forwards and clapping Jess on the shoulder. “Plenty of room for the three of us. The guards won’t come in with us, not until we’ve finished clearing the main traps from inside. Come on.”
The man stepped into the airlock. Jess stepped in to his left, the girl to his right. The outer door closed quickly, leaving them in darkness.
“Matt!” the girl’s voice snapped out.
“Sorry,” muttered the man, Matt, flicking on an electric lantern. “Wasn’t expecting the door to close that quick. Hope the inner door opens soon, the air in here won’t last long.”
“Yeah, thanks Matt. Like this doesn’t suck enough without thoughts like that.”
“Sorry, Sal.” Matt turned. Jess could just make his face out. “Hey kid, what’s your name?”
“Jess.”
“Jess. Well Jess, I’m Matthew, Matt normally, and this is Sal. You seem to have some smarts so maybe you’ll be around long enough for us to need your name. Or stuck in this airlock long enough to need it.”
“Matt!” hissed Sal. “You know I hate the thought of getting trapped on one of these ships. Can you please shut up!”
Before Matt could reply the inner door drew back smoothly, so quickly that Jess, who had been leaning on it, stumbled out. Matt stepped out next, holding the lamp up, followed by Sal.
Jess looked around in wonder. The only ships he’d been on before were prisoner transport barges, all bare metal and dirt, stinking of fear and filth. This was a different world. The room they were in was the width of the ship and about twenty metres long. It was sparklingly clean and completely empty, lit by gentle lighting in the ceiling. A door to their right led towards the front of the ship, another to the left led towards the back. Matt turned off the lantern.
“Be careful,” Matt said. “Just because it looks empty doesn’t mean there can’t be traps.”
They took a few tentative steps, then a sharp beeping made Jess freeze in place.
“Relax kid,” laughed Matt, pulling a radio off his belt. “We’re in,” he said into it.
“What took you so long?” came the crackly reply.
“The inner door didn’t open for a while. We just got into the main ship.”
The radio stayed silent for a few seconds. Suddenly burning pain slammed through Jess’s entire body. As his muscles all convulsed he dropped to the floor. He lay there for several seconds before he realised that the collar had turned off almost as soon as it had been activated. As he climbed back to his feet the radio crackled into life again where Matt had dropped it on the floor.
“Just a reminder that you aren’t safe in there,” came the guard’s voice. “Now get on with it.”
“Bastards!” muttered Sal.
Jess climbed back to his feet and glanced at Matt for guidance. The old man gestured right, to the front of the ship. Jess started to walk towards the door, taking each step carefully. He reached it without incident and stood studying it. This time there were no obvious controls, nothing like the fake number panel by the airlock. Looking closely he made out a small indentation to the left. Taking a deep breath he reached out and touched it. With a soft hiss the door slid open, revealing a short passage with another door at the end.
“Hang on, kid,” Matt said. “There’s something strange here.”
Jess turned to look at him.
“Too clear?” asked Sal.
“Yep,” replied Matt. “Every other ship has been littered with traps every step of the way. We should have found at least a handful already. This ship is different. Why?”
“Maybe because they couldn’t get in here,” said Jess thoughtfully.
“Sure. And yet you walk up, press the wall and the ship just opens up for you?” Sal said scornfully. “Right.”
Jess shrugged, not saying anything. He still felt he was right. Matt stood deep in thought, Sal paced edgily backwards and forwards. Finally Matt sighed.
Wanderer's Odyssey - Books 1 to 3: The Epic Space Opera Series Begins Page 1
