Wanderer's Escape

by Simon Goodson

  “Where are you? What are you doing?” the voice sounded worried, panicked even. “Get down here and open the airlock now. The ship has just started to vibrate. Get down here now or else!”

  With a grin Matt replied. “You sound a little concerned out there. I'm afraid we're quite happy in here, and it'll be a cold day in hell before we let you in. Oh... and don't bother with the collars. We've taken ours off.”

  They heard splutters of disbelief at the other end, before Matt turned the radio off.

  “Boring bunch,” he said with a grin.

  He sat down in the left hand seat behind Jess, gestured for Sal to sit to his right.

  “Right kid, get us out of here.”

  Jess was still sitting stunned, barely aware of his surroundings. He felt dizzy and... strange. Heavy. He couldn't put his finger on it exactly but he felt... well wrong. He jumped as Matt's hand rested on his shoulder.

  “Sorry to hurry you kid but they're shooting at us, and they're bringing up some serious firepower. I can see a plasma cannon and heavy-duty laser cutter already.”

  Jess grabbed the joystick, tried pulling it back. Nothing. Forwards, sideways. Still nothing. He started to panic. The other two were depending on him and he couldn't do it. Looking at the screens he could see a heavy-duty wagon being turned so that the device on its back pointed towards them, towards the flight deck he guessed.

  “I can't do it!” Jess wailed. “It won't respond. I'm sorry.”

  Matt tightened his grip on Jess's shoulder.

  “It's OK kid. It's OK. You've already done wonders. At the least we've given them a good scare, and when they fire that thing they'll wreck this ship. Not bad for three lowly prisoners.”

  “He's right.” said Sal softly. “It's not your fault Jess.”

  She leant forward, kissed him on the cheek. Jess felt his heart skip a beat. Realised how much his two fellow prisoners meant to him already. How much he wanted them to survive. Watching the screen he saw the weapon powering up, preparing to fire. He wanted to protect the other two, wanted to throw himself in front of the blast and shield them. The weapon fired.

  Jess felt the blow as if it had struck the side of his head, a mild stinging. Looking at the display showing the ship there was now a glowing outline showing green around most of the ship but yellow around the flight deck. The stinging had already subsided, as it did the glow around the flight deck faded back from yellow to green. He realised the display was showing the status of the shields.

  “What is this ship?” Matt almost shouted. “That was a plasma blast. A combat ship ten times this size wouldn't be able to deflect a blast from that close. Damn. Look.”

  Sal and Jess looked where he pointed, several large ships were flying down the hangar towards them.

  “Raptors. The weaponry on those things makes the plasma cannon look like a pinprick. It'll probably vaporise everyone outside the ship too. Even the guards. Shame.”

  Jess stared at the approaching ships as Matt's words sank in. He wanted to get away, get his new friends away. The closer the ships came the more he wanted to get away. Suddenly the floor lurched, Jess was pressed down into his seat by acceleration, and the view on the front screen swivelled around. Another surge of acceleration and they were moving.

  “Well done kid!” yelled Matt. “I think I've figured out what this display is.” he continued, pointing at a cluster of moving points near the left side. “It seems to be showing other ships. The smaller dots are the Raptors. God, there's at least another twenty closing in. And those larger dots... what the?”

  Jess glanced over his shoulder. Part of the cabin had flowed out in front of Matt to form a board, and displays were coming on across it. Matt's expression went from puzzled to a huge grin.

  “I like this ship.” the old man muttered. “Let me see... that's the scanner, this looks like a viewer. If I do this... yes... oh... oh no. That's bad.”

  “What?” Jess asked, focus back on the screens in front of him. Several of the Raptors had opened fire and he was jinking the ship to avoid giving them an easy target. He was using the joystick but was getting the definite impression the ship was responding to his thoughts before the physical action. He wasn't going to start experimenting whilst being shot at though.

  “There's some much heavier ships moving in, some of them barely fit in here. They're really serious about stopping us. We're caught in a ring of ships. If we try to break out they'll chop us to pieces.”

  “This thing got any weapons?” asked Sal.

  “No use.” said Matt. There's way too many of them, and some of those ships are monsters. I can see hundreds of ships closing already. Shame. This has been one hell of a ride. Still, better to die free than live a prisoner.”

  Jess wasn't so sure about that. Matt was an old man, Jess still had a lot of life left. Prisoner or not he'd been counting on a lot more years. He felt a sharp pain in his leg as a Raptor's blast caught the rear of the ship. Felt a tingle as another blast just missed. Shouted as two more blasts struck the ships shields.

  Almost without his realising more and more knowledge of the ship had been filtering into his mind. Now he became aware of the flow he realised it was the cause of his dizziness, of his not quite feeling right. Then something new came through, a way out. An exit. Four or five more shots struck the ship despite his best efforts, twenty or thirty passed nearby. Jess didn't hesitate. He reached out and grabbed the exit, dragging the ship through.

  The screens went blank for a few moments then flickered back into life. All showed the same thing, a deep blue mist with wispy strands of a lighter blue all lit by a soft internal glow. Every few seconds a crackle of lightning discharged.

  “Holy shit!” Matt swore. “We're in jump space. It's just not possible. You can't jump from inside a gravity field, or inside a station, it's impossible.”

  “Then we've done the impossible.” laughed Sal. “Don't you understand? We've made it, we're free!”

  “Not yet. I spent most of my life on ships. They'll have tracked our entry vector. Ships will soon be following us, not the ones that were chasing us but they must have more outside of that place. Their sensors won't work here but the moment we punch through to real space we'll leave behind a huge disturbance which they can detect. They'll drop into real space right behind us.”

  “So? We'll just change direction.”

  “Not possible. The jump engines shove us through into this... I don't know, whatever this is. I just know it as jump space. I never learnt the theory behind it. As well as breaking through they give us a kick in the right direction. Once the ship is in jump space the thrusters are useless. The jump drive too, its only purpose is to break us back to real space when needed.”

  “Can't we drop out and quickly jump again, before they can turn up to track us?”

  “No. Sorry. It won't work. Each jump damages the skin of real space, it can take days for the damage to vanish. Until it does it's like a signpost pointing the direction we took. It's like a fingerprint too. Each ships drive leaves a different pattern.”

  “But we can stay here? They won't find us?”

  Matt smiled sadly.

  “Yes. For the moment. But with no food and water we can't stay for long. Also we don't know which direction we jumped in, the longer we stay the farther we go and the harder it will be to work out where we emerge. We might end up stranded in the void between the stars. We've got no star charts, no idea where to go.”

  Several quiet minutes passed, each of them sunk in thought. It was Matt who broke the silence.

  “That's odd. The scanner is still working. Look.”

  Jess glanced at his copy of the scanner. Matt was right, he could see the dots representing ships on the scanner. Thirty or forty at least. All following behind them. Some of the dots were immense.

  “Well aren't we the popular ones?” joked Sal. “They really want us back.”

  “Or this ship.” muttered Matt. “Or more likely both.”

&nbs
p; Jess studied the scanner. Matt was right, all the ships were following. They all seemed to be travelling at the same speed too. If Matt was right and the sensors on the other ships didn't work here then it would be so simple to lose them – if only they could change direction. A ninety degree turn to the left would do it, would leave the ships heading in completely the wrong direction. As soon as the thought formed Jess was pressed into the right side of the seat as the ship's nose swung left. A few seconds later the pressure eased off. A glance at the scanner confirmed what he had felt, the pursuing ships were now shown to their left, but were dropping behind. He could sense Matt and Sal tensely studying the display too. Neither said a word for the next few minutes as the chasing ships moved further and further away without deviating from their original heading. Finally, as they started to disappear off the scanner, Matt let out a whoop of delight.

  “We've done it! My god, we've done it. Do you understand?. We're free. Free.”

  He broke down, tears running down his face, sobs racking his body. Sal moved to comfort him, while Jess sat dazed. He couldn't really take it in. When very young he'd dreamed of escaping, of getting free. As he grew older those dreams had been crushed out of him. Now it had happened and all he felt was numb. It was too much. He couldn't take it in yet.

  After a few minutes Matt regained his composure.

  “Sorry kids. I dreamt of getting free, being able to live again, every night since they took me prisoner. Actually achieving it is almost too much to bear. Come on, the ship will be fine for a while. Let's go explore, see if there's any food or water on this thing. Then we can decide what to do.”

  Jess went to stand up, to lean forward, found that he couldn't. His back and head were stuck to the chair.

  “I'm caught on something. Can you see what?” he asked.

  Sal leaned forward to look then let out a cry.

  “My god. Matt, look.”

  “What?” Jess asked, scared. “What is it. Why can't I move.”

  Matt let out a curse. Jess started to try to pull free, but Matt quickly took hold of his shoulders to hold him in place.

  “Don't move boy. Please. Hold still for a moment. There's some sort of web between you and the seat. Now don't panic, but it looks like some strands are going into your head. Like you're being linked to the ship. How do you feel?”

  Jess took a ragged breath, trying to slow his hammering heart. “A bit dizzy. My head has been tingling. I've been feeling pain when the ship was hit. And I seemed to just know things about the ship. What's happening to me?” He started to struggle again, but his head was locked firm. He could turn to the sides a little, but not move forwards.

  “Steady. Steady!” Matt's hands pressed down on his shoulders again. “If those are connected into your brain then ripping them out could kill you. Take it easy.”

  Jess felt himself relaxing. Not at Matt's words. A warm feeling was spreading through his body, easing the tension from his muscles as it went. He felt an image, a feeling, pushing into his mind. It wasn't his thought, wasn't trying to disguise itself as coming from him. It came from the ship he was sure. The image was of him being held safely. Being cared for. What was happening was to help protect him. He relaxed some more.

  “It's OK I think.” he said. “Really. It's a bit scary, but I'm sure the ship doesn't want to hurt me. It's doing this for me, to help me somehow.”

  Sal gently stroked the side of his face, studying him closely.

  “You sure?” she asked. “It's definitely you saying that?”

  Jess went to answer, then closed his mouth again. Gave the question some thought. Then nodded, as much as he was able.

  “Yes. I'm still me. The ship is... reaching out to me I guess. It's trying to connect me and it, but no more. It's not trying to control me or anything.”

  She stared hard at him for another few seconds before nodding.

  “OK. But I'm not leaving you on your own. Matt, go explore. Tell us what you find. I'll keep an eye... I mean, I'll keep Jess company.”

  As Matt headed back to the main room she crouched down, reached out, taking Jess's right hand in both of hers. The way she looked at him brought a lump to his throat. He only remembered his mother vaguely, but he remembered her using that look. He gave Sal a smile then closed his eyes, letting the rush of information from the ship wash over him again.

  Chapter Two

  Jess blinked his eyes, waking from a pleasant dream. He'd been floating in warm water, in a deep blue sea, with a warm sun beating down on him. A strange dream as he'd never been on a planet, never even seen a lake let alone a sea.

  He stared blankly at the screens and displays in front of him for a few seconds before remembering where he was. He glanced at the displays again and they seemed to snap into focus, he knew what most of them were at a glance. Scanner, ships status, generator flux. Some he still looked at with no understanding but he felt they weren't important, not yet anyway. He reached a hand up to the back of his head slowly, paused, then touched. He felt the web of strands still connecting him to the chair. They were warm to the touch. Not slimy as he'd half expected. Slightly rough. Touching them caused a tingling in his head, not painful but a little unpleasant. He let his hand drop down again. The process didn't scare him so much now. He understood it was necessary, part of the ships efforts to bond with him.

  He heard steps behind him, looked over his right shoulder to see Sal approaching, carrying a steaming mug.

  “Here. Take this.” she said. “Careful though, it's hot. It's also delicious. Hot chocolate Matt calls it.”

  Jess twisted and took the mug from her. As he did so he realised his head was no longer held against the back of the seat.

  "I can move.” he said.

  Sal smiled at him. “You've been out of it for quite a while, four or five hours. The web has grown some more. I don't think you can get off the seat but you should be able to move around more. It doesn't seem to be stuck to your back any more either, just to your head. How are you feeling.”

  She was still smiling but Jess could see the worry in her eyes, in how she held herself.

  “I don't feel too bad. Actually I feel pretty good. Well rested. All this still feels a bit strange, but I'm sure the ship doesn't mean any harm. It's doing this for a reason.”

  He paused to take a sip of the drink. Delicious sweetness filled his mouth, together with a slightly bitter undertone. He quickly took a larger sip, burning his tongue.

  “Wow! Ouch!”

  Sal chuckled. “Careful. I burnt my tongue three times trying to drink it too fast. It is something special isn't it?”

  “Where did you get it? Are there stores at the back of the ship?”

  “Not quite. We've had an interesting few hours.” Matt's tone was dry as he joined Jess and Sal. “First of all you won't recognise the main room. Ah... that is... umm... sorry...” he stumbled to a halt, remembering that Jess couldn't leave the chair he sat in.

  Jess chuckled. “You'll just have to describe it to me.”

  “Um... yes... well, when I went back before you fell asleep it was still just an empty area, and the rear door wouldn't open. I spent a few minutes looking for any hidden doors or controls but there weren't any. Just the same indentation the other doors have, and that didn't do anything. I came back to tell you both but you'd already fallen asleep. I explained to Sal, decided to go take another look and found the door from the flight deck wouldn't open. We were stuck.

  Must've been in here ten, maybe fifteen minutes. I was starting to consider waking you up but Sal was against it. She thought you needed the rest. Then, suddenly, the door slid open. I went back and the far door opened too. I stepped into the main room and couldn't believe my eyes. It had completely transformed. There are two big, comfy sofas and four chairs, all facing a large screen. A big table and chairs with space for twelve. It's narrower though, most of the right side – opposite the airlock – is sectioned off now. A door leads into a small corridor which has three s
mall rooms each with a bed, side table and lamp. There's also a small toilet and shower area. Each of the rooms had a few clothes, nothing special but a damn sight better than prisoner overalls.”

  Jess noticed for the first time that Sal and Matt were wearing different clothes, dark blue trousers and shirts. The colour wasn't that different to the near rags prisoners normally wore but the clothes were clearly clean and new.

  “And in the main area there's this device that... well... it seems to create food and drink somehow. I've never even heard of anything like it, but it's made us several drinks and a meal already. I don't see how it could have stored the fresh food we had anywhere. The hot chocolate seems the most popular so far.” He added with a smile.

  “It's wonderful.” Jess said, sipping some more.

  “Speaking of which, that was supposed to be mine. I'm going to go get another,” Sal said, heading back.

  “You're looking well kid,” Matt said. “Especially considering...” he gestured at the top of Jess's head, words failing him.

  “Especially considering the ship has decided to wire me in?” asked Jess with a grin. “Don't worry. Please. I'm sure it doesn't mean me any harm.”

  “You think it's alive? Conscious? Aware?” Matt stared intently at him.

  “I'm not sure about alive, but aware? Yes. Though not exactly. It's hard to put into words. It's like there's a large chunk of it missing, the part that decides. The part that takes action.”

  “And is that part going to be you?”

  Jess nodded. “I think so, yes. Not in a sinister way though. It needs a pilot, was designed to obey the needs of someone. It's not trying to take me over or force me to be a part of it. It's more like it's trying to make itself an extension of me.”

  “And that doesn't scare you?”

  “Scare me? It's bloody terrifying. But I don't feel like I'm in danger from the ship.”

  They sat in silence staring at the blue mists floating past the screens. Jess sipping his way through the chocolate. Sal came back with her own mug, but didn't break the silence.