Another fear was far stronger, though. Fear that the vortex would collapse before they reached it, that they would be left stranded where they were, forced to chase the Wanderer through normal means without knowing if it was even in the same universe.
As they crossed the threshold into the vortex, Vorn gripped his console tightly. He could feel the difference immediately. The Starslayer seemed to be being pulled forwards. Almost imperceptibly at first, but faster and faster until the vortex swallowed the Starslayer and every ship in the fleet.
Chapter 56
Forty minutes after the explosion destroyed Greenseed, Clay got the peace he wanted. The few fighters that could have closed for a fight had kept their distance, then headed back to the fleet. The heavily damaged destroyer had been evacuated and then blown apart by several frigates, while the rest of the fleet had systematically destroyed all Greenseed’s remote defences.
The fleet had reformed, collecting the surviving fighters, then nothing happened until moments before when, without warning, the fleet left, disappearing into jump space. Clay immediately changed course, putting himself on a significantly different bearing. He planned to make random course changes at least twice more. Just in case.
In truth he knew he was safe now, safe and alone. For the first time in what felt like weeks he was at peace. He was in his beloved fighter drifting through the cool, clean darkness of space. What more could he possibly want?
At the moment, nothing. That wouldn’t last. His body would need water and food. The ship had a small supply of each. With no jump drive he was stuck in real space, where travel between stars took years even for light. He could survive a few days in slight discomfort. A few more days after that if he chose to suffer.
He suspected he wouldn’t. The ship was still rigged to overload the engines. If he chose to trigger the explosion while still aboard it would all be over in an instant. Dying in his fighter, surrounded by nothing but the void. He could think of far worse ways to go.
That was for the future, though. A smile spread across his face as he relaxed in his chair, simply drinking in the feeling of peace, the knowledge that he would never again be forced to obey orders he vehemently disagreed with, that he would never again have to worry about the Tainted. If dying was the price for such peace of mind, then it was a price he was glad to pay.
* * *
Sal sat quietly aboard the Dark Shadow, thinking about the future, about the Quarantine Zone. It was time to spread the Gift to the other half of the Empire. The Dark Shadow’s stealth abilities would make breaching the Quarantine Zone a breeze. Then the unique abilities she had gained would make it easy for the Gifted to establish a strong foothold, one which could never be destroyed. That was critical. As long as half the Empire remained free of the Gift Imperial forces remained a major threat, in potential at least.
After that… after that she would return. She had unfinished business with Jess, with Teeko, and most of all with the Wanderer.
* * *
Jess stared in amazement at the shimmering tunnel that the Wanderer was diving through. The Wanderer had no more idea of what the tunnel was than he did. They weren’t in jump space, that much was for sure, and they were travelling safely despite having no shields.
Whatever the tunnel was, the Wanderer had brought it into being. This was what the instructions had been leading them to, and what had been sapping all the power from the ship. As soon as the swirling tunnel entrance drew them in, the Wanderer’s engines had started to output power again. Apparently the process was self-sustaining, or it was finding energy from somewhere else.
The Wanderer might not know what the tunnel was, but it was certain of its destination. The tunnel was carrying them to the Wanderer’s home system, and at breakneck speed. A journey that should have taken them months even in jump space was going to take a mere seven hours.
Jess couldn’t help grinning. This was amazing! In just seven hours he would finally get to see the Wanderer’s home system!
The story continues in…
Wanderer - Origins
Wanderer’s Odyssey: Book 4
Hunted by a powerful Imperial fleet, his friends infected by the Taint, Jess has only one place to turn — the homeworld of his amazing ship, the Wanderer.
But his journey will reveal the origins of far more than just the Wanderer, and both the Empire and the Taint will be ready to pounce at any moment. Jess expects to learn how things started, but what he learns might also point to how everything will finish… and just how close that may be.
Click here to get your copy now!
Read the first chapter from Book Four
Jess sat lost in wonder as he soaked up information from the Wanderer’s sensors. Since escaping slavery on the Wanderer he had grown used to travelling through the swirling mists of jump space, but this… this was something else.
Jump space existed alongside normal space, though it was very different. Ships travelled far faster in jump space but with no way to change direction or speed. Other ships were never seen and sensors couldn’t penetrate the mists at all. Normally. The Wanderer was the exception to both rules, being able to change direction in jump space and detect other ships. Even so, when travelling through jump space Jess was always aware that they were somewhere very different from real space.
Jess had believed jump space was as fast as any ship could go. Now he knew differently. The Wanderer was moving far faster than was possible in jump space. A journey which should have taken months would now take less than seven hours.
And yet the Wanderer wasn’t moving, by some measures at least. Compared to nearby space the Wanderer was stationary. Local space was moving just as quickly as the Wanderer, heading for the same destination.
Jess felt a presence in his mind, nudging for attention. The Wanderer. The presence had stopped feeling strange not long after his connection to the ship was forged. Now he couldn’t imagine life without the link. Without taking his attention away from the amazing display outside the ship he absorbed what the Wanderer was trying to tell him.
He gazed at the wonders surrounding him a little longer, then sighed deeply and tore his attention away. The Wanderer was right, there were things to be done. The ship was in terrible condition after the most recent run in with the Imperial fleet that had dogged his footsteps. Every shield and weapon was down. The hull was smashed open in several locations and cracked in many more. All thrusters were out of action, as were the jump engines. And those were just the most pressing matters.
Jess didn’t know whether the Imperial fleet had followed, but he thought it was likely. They had already chased the Wanderer across a number of systems and even through the Quarantine Zone. Jess still didn’t know quite how the fleet had been able to track the Wanderer, but they certainly had. He was pretty certain the fleet wasn’t far behind.
Even if they weren’t he couldn’t count on a peaceful reception at the other end. While the jump engines were down the Wanderer would be trapped in normal space. With no thrusters the ship would be a sitting duck. With no weapons or shields it would be a dead duck.
The running battles with the Imperial fleet had taken their toll on the Wanderer’s supplies. Any repairs would be fuelled by cannibalising other parts of the ship. Given enough time the Wanderer could completely change its shape and structure, forging a complete but smaller ship out of the partly wrecked form it now had.
But there wasn’t enough time. It would take the Wanderer at least a day, and probably closer to two, which was far too long. He would have to prioritise the most critical repairs and oversee them himself.
Where should he start? The jump engines were a must. Without them the Wanderer could be hunted down by fast interceptors which would inflict more damage and bring her down. Fixing them wouldn’t be enough to see him safe. The fleet’s uncanny ability to track the Wanderer through normal and jump space meant nowhere was safe for long.
But in jump space the pursuing fleet couldn’t draw
closer. In fact the Wanderer would be able to increase the separation. And all the while further repairs could continue.
The jump engines were top of the list, along with getting some shields online. Not for defence against hostile ships, though that was a useful side effect, but to keep the ship safe within jump space. Without shields the Wanderer would be obliterated within seconds of jumping.
Weapons were less critical. Jess wanted to get a few online for point defence against missiles and other debris, but other than that they could wait. Thrusters were another matter. Currently the Wanderer would be adrift in space when it reached the end of its amazing journey.
Jess had no idea whether the ship would gently exit at rest compared to the local system or be flung out at immense speed. Whichever it was, or if it was something in between, the ability to manoeuvre and avoid dangers would be critical.
The hull… that was a whole series of issues. Some areas could be patched up. Others needed major repair work, especially if the ship was to withstand combat. Then there were hundreds of damaged subsystems which the main systems relied on. Even focusing on just the most critical issues there was enough work to keep dozens of people busy.
Jess didn’t have dozens. Just himself. It was more than enough though. With a thought Jess linked to the Wanderer, the implants in his head both providing the link and accelerating his thoughts massively. It was second nature now, something he not only took for granted but relied upon heavily.
With his thoughts running so much faster than normal Jess could oversee all the critical repairs. Time was no longer a constraint, or time to plan wasn’t at least. The time until the Wanderer reached its destination remained a problem, as did the lack of resources. Jess could allocate both in as efficient a manner as was possible, but he couldn’t work miracles.
Still, it would make a massive difference. When the Wanderer emerged at the other end it would have shields, thrusters, jump engines and even a handful of weapons. The hull would be reinforced at critical points. Not air tight and not fully repaired, but strong enough.
Finally Jess was satisfied that everything was underway. He allowed his mind to slow back towards normal speeds, though he kept himself somewhat accelerated. Issues and queries kept popping up but he had plenty of time to deal with them now. And between them he was able to study the marvel the Wanderer travelled through once more. The interruptions prevented him becoming fully lost within the spectacle, but he still made a valiant effort.
* * *
An hour passed slowly by. Jess found himself feeling more and more restless. He couldn’t keep his thoughts from what had happened and where he might be going. Both sets of thoughts carried their own pain.
He felt the need to talk, but there was no one he could talk to. The Wanderer was an incredible ship with a personality of its own, but it had its limitations. He certainly couldn’t have a conversation with it. Its communication involved images, feelings and information, but not words.
That left Teeko. Jess hardly even noticed how different Teeko was anymore. He had grown used to having the alien around, despite Teeko’s odd appearance — it looked like a walking, brown-furred table with four short legs on each side. The alien’s long flexible neck and two spindly arms jarred with that image. It had a narrow head with a small mouth and two sets of eyes. One set close together, the other set wide on its head.
Jess would happily have talked to Teeko but the alien was shut in its cabin, lounging in a warm bath. Asleep or close to it. Teeko had been spending longer and longer shut away in its room recently.
Jess longed to talk with Ali. He’d only known her a few weeks, yet it felt like a lifetime. And it was in some ways. He’d met her just after making his escape from a life of slavery. Just after finding the Wanderer and escaping on it. Just after his new life had begun.
They’d fallen for each other heavily, and the need to keep her safe had given him the energy to keep going. But now she was gone.
No; not exactly gone. It would be easier if she was. She had fallen to the Taint, and from that point she had become someone else… or something else. Jess only found out when she tried to infect him, attacking both directly and through her own link to the Wanderer. Dash and Sal had both been infected too and launched an attack on Teeko and Ben, the young slave boy who had become inseparable from Teeko. Teeko managed to escape, but Ben was lost to the Taint.
The battle had been fierce and Jess would have lost it without help from Teeko and a not inconsiderable amount of luck. In the end he’d managed to repel the attack and subdue Ali and the others using an ancient trick he’d pulled from the Wanderer’s systems. Curing them was beyond the ship’s abilities, but by forming a special shield around them they were neutralised.
Unable to bear looking at their faint forms within the shimmering shields, Ali’s especially, Jess had reformed the ship so the shielded figures were shut away from sight. It helped, but not a lot. Jess knew they were there and that Ali was within touching distance.
The temptation to free her, to speak with her, was strong. He knew it wouldn’t really be Ali. He knew she would attack immediately, trying to gain control of the Wanderer and Jess himself. Even so, he was still tempted.
The temptation was made worse by knowing that Ali, the real Ali, still existed somewhere in there. Or she had at least. When things had been at their worst, when Jess was fighting the Taint in the virtual world of the Wanderer’s systems, he had been overwhelmed by traps. With his strength rapidly fading and no way to free himself he had known it was all over.
Then she had come. Ali. The real Ali. She had taken the pain into herself, freeing Jess to do what needed to be done. And then she was gone. He didn’t know whether she had survived and returned to whatever corner of her mind she had been hiding from the Taint in, or if the effort had caused her to be destroyed. He longed for it to be the first, but feared it was the second.
So he was doubly tortured. Firstly by how close Ali’s physical body was. Secondly by knowing that maybe, just maybe, the real Ali still existed somewhere, and he had no idea how to save her.
Jess felt a gentle nudge on his attention. The Wanderer needed guidance on the repair work. The ship could have made the decisions itself, but without Jess’s input it was incomplete. The ship had been designed to be closely tied to its pilot, and Jess was now that pilot. Welcoming the distraction, Jess connected with the Wanderer once more.
To read on just click here and buy
Wanderer - Origins
Grab your Simon Goodson Starter Library right now - just click this link to get four novels & six short stories absolutely free…
www.simongoodson.com/library
Wanderer's Odyssey - Books 1 to 3: The Epic Space Opera Series Begins Page 92
