Wanderer's Escape

by Simon Goodson

  She stopped, unable to continue. Lifted her hands then dropped them back into her lap. Jess sat uncertainly for a moment, then leaned in and hugged her. She hugged him back fiercely for a few moments then pulled away.

  “But no more!” she said, swallowing. “No more. And it's thanks to us. Most of their schemes they kept secret, the drugs they used on us were made on their ship. No one else knows those particular scams. I think we did something good, something truly good, by capturing them. Of course the Empire would have stopped them if we hadn't got in the way, but this is different. I spent hours talking to them. I've got details of all the places they've taken people to, at least all those they could remember, and of many of the places they've visited recently to kidnap people.”

  “So, what should we do with them?”

  “I still say hand them over. They've given me some locations which are large enough to deal with them and where they'll be remembered. We should take them to one.”

  “And the children? Do we just hand them over too, to be ripped away from their parents or to suffer the same sentence?”

  “No. Sorry, I'm so tired. I didn't tell you. Near the end, I asked them how old the children were. Such a simple question. The answer was that they didn't know exactly, they've only had them about three months.”

  “What?”

  “I know. The children aren't theirs. They stole them, as part of a raid, and decided to keep them. I know where from, we can take them home. I've already taken both children away, they are sleeping in my room now. So I couldn't have slept if I wanted to. Sleeping on the sofa in the same room as that lot didn't appeal to me, strangely enough.”

  “Here...” Jess stood, gesturing to his bed. “Get some rest. I'll keep an eye on things now.”

  Sal pulled herself onto his bed, smiling tiredly.

  “That sounds good. Oh...” She yawned. “Sorry. Before I fall asleep, Matt woke hours ago. He said he feels well, much better in fact, if a little sore. I brought him up to speed on everything that's happened. He nearly had a fit! The ship must have shot him full of something though because he soon calmed down, started falling asleep. He said he wants to speak to you though, soon as he gets a chance. Says it's important.”

  “OK. I'll let him rest but as soon as he wakes again I'll speak to him. Sal? Sal...?”

  Jess realised she was already asleep. Smiling he pulled the covers over her and quietly left the room, noticing the door slid open and closed more slowly and quietly than normal. He shivered at the reminder of how closely the ship watched his thoughts.

  “Space them! Throw them out the airlock, right now!”

  Jess stared at Matt's image on the screen speechless. The moment Matt woke again he had contacted Jess. The first words out of his mouth were these demands.

  “I mean it kid. They're trouble. More trouble than you or Sal realise. I've heard of gangs like this, hell, I've seen the chaos and pain they leave behind a few times. We need to space them now. Not the kids, but all the others.”

  “But... we can't just kill them in cold blood?”

  “What do you think they'd have done if they knew about me, eh? You were vital – their link to the ship. Sal is young, worth plenty to them. Me? I'd have been out that airlock before you could blink. These people are evil. Completely, totally evil. As long as they are on this ship they are dangerous. If they find a way around your barrier then they'll kill all of us, except you kid. You they might keep alive but god knows what they'd do to you. Oh – and that girl you were sweet on. They'll probably keep her alive to torture, to make sure you do what they say. The only way to be safe is to get rid of them. Get them off this ship.”

  “I can't... I need... you can't just ask me to do that. I need to think it through. Talk to Sal about it.”

  “God!” Matt shouted in frustration. “Do you have any idea what it's like to be laid back here, not able to move, knowing they could get free at any time? That I couldn't do a thing to stand against them. Kid... Jess... you must get them off this ship before they do something we'll all regret.”

  The ship pulsed warnings into Jess's mind, Matt's pulse had risen significantly, as had his blood pressure. He was also breathing hard, putting too much stress on his newly repaired lung. The ship wanted to sedate him, drop him back into a healing sleep. Feeling guilty Jess agreed.

  Within seconds Matt's eyes flickered and closed, his pulse dropped and the ship confirmed that his readings were back in the safe zone. Jess leant back in his chair, considering Matt's words. Knowing he was right in some ways, if the prisoners got free then they would wreak havoc on Sal, Matt, Ali and himself. On the other hand could he really kill them in cold blood? Murder them? Wouldn't that make him as bad as they were?

  He linked to the ship, focused in on the prisoners. They were all asleep, curled up together on the floor with blankets and pillows that Sal must have given them. They were near the airlock. If it had to be done then why not do it now? While they slept. A plan formed in his mind. Open both the inner and outer airlock doors, shape the containment field to protect the rest of the ship but leave the prisoners exposed. They'd be sucked out, dead in moments. Probably before they even realised anything was happening.

  It took Jess a moment to realise the airlock doors had opened, almost at the same moment he felt the containment field reshape and the air pressure around the prisoners start to drop sharply.

  “No! Stop!” he cried in horror throwing up a new field to hold the air in. “No. I was only... you can't... oh god...”

  Luckily he was linked to the ship's mind, making his reactions superhumanly fast. The air pressure had hardly dropped for the prisoners, none had even stirred. Feeling sick at what might have happened he secured the field around the prisoners again, then closed the airlock doors.

  Jess pulled back from the ship's mind, knowing that even so he would have to watch his thoughts carefully. At least one question was answered though. He wouldn't space the prisoners, wouldn't kill them in cold blood. He couldn't.

  Chapter Eight

  Sat in the pilot's seat Jess dwelt on the near death of the prisoners, or near murder as he saw it, for well over an hour – all the time keeping careful control of his thoughts in case something leaked out to the ship. The thought of what had nearly happened chilled him inside.

  Finally he made a decision. Once again he reached out for the ship's mind, but differently than before. Not to control the ship but to communicate with it.

  “What are you?” he sent.

  The reply was confusing – a mixture of images, thoughts, even a few words. Once he managed to absorb it all he felt he had the essence of the answer, which was simply “the ship”, though the answer was layered with levels of meaning.

  “Why do you need me?” Jess sent.

  Again the reply was a confusing mix, even worse than before. The structure was similar though. Eventually Jess thought he understood. The pilot was the core of the ship's mind. Without a pilot the ship's mind was empty. Growing up a prisoner Jess had occasionally seen people that had been lobotomised, shuffling shells missing the spark of intelligence, of consciousness. Reminders that there were worse things even than being a normal prisoner. Without a pilot the ship was lobotomised. It had no purpose, no direction. More than that it wasn't capable of having purpose or direction. The pilot was the spark that brought the rest of the ship's mind to life.

  It was more than that though. Jess struggled to understand but all he could make out was that the ship's mind itself became more with a pilot at the centre.

  “But why?” he sent. “Why do you need a pilot? Why are you crippled without one?”

  This time the reply was stronger and much clearer. An image of the ship blazing with power, and the pilot channelling that power. Judging where it should be used. Acting as the ship's conscience.

  Jess pondered the answers then sent another query, this time in images as well as words. The image of thinking about an action but not wanting it to happen. Somehow he f
elt the ship would understand that better than trying to use words alone.

  He was right. Immediately he was swamped with information, though the ship quickly slowed the flow to let him catch up. Some of it was general information on adding restrictions or confirmations to systems. Most felt different though, less dry than the information he'd had before, though there were several distinct feels to it. The ship sensed his interest and told him the reason. These were protocols that previous Captains had put in place. The feel came from each Captain's personality.

  That fascinated Jess. It was the first mention of any previous captain. Reluctantly he pushed it aside, focusing instead on setting up the restrictions he felt were needed. For the critical systems, including the airlock, life support and weapons, he added the requirement to consciously confirm any action.

  Wading through the information he had been fed Jess found many other useful ideas, though most he decided to return to later. One he would never have thought of was to ensure commands issued while he was asleep were ignored. That suggestion had a wry feeling to it, obviously the result of an interesting experience. Jess implemented the control immediately.

  Finally he pulled back from the ship's mind again, feeling both relieved and concerned. Relieved that he now had controls in place to prevent the ship doing anything drastic if he had a stray thought. Concerned as the depth of his and the ship's interdependence hit home once again. The fact it would be monitoring, and potentially reacting to, his dreams hit particularly hard. It felt like having someone continuously peering over his shoulder.

  Thinking of Sal sleeping in his room, Ali in Matt's and the children in Sal's Jess felt things were getting more than a little crowded, and that was before Matt was well enough to leave the sick bay.

  He wasn't happy with the main living area either. Having the captives in the corner, even safely contained, meant his skin crawled each time he had to pass through.

  Reaching out to the ship he sent a query about changing the layout. Forming requests for information was becoming easier, feeling more natural, as was interpreting the information he received. The answer seemed to be that within most areas of the ship the structure could be formed into whatever arrangement he wanted. The main exceptions were the flight deck and the engines. The flight deck could have superficial changes but the main layout needed to stay. The engine room could be changed but the restrictions were great and he didn't fully understand the implications and interactions.

  For the rest of the ship light and air would be supplied to every room he created without his needing to specifically plan them in. Water too, where needed.

  He dealt with the prisoners first – erecting walls surrounding the shields holding them in. He added a small toilet and sink in a tiny sub-room, and a small slot in the main wall to allow food to be passed in. There were no doors which solved two problems in one go – firstly shutting the prisoners off from the main living area, secondly greatly increasing security by creating a physical barrier they couldn't pass.

  With that problem sorted out he turned to the issue of living space and bedrooms. He expected to have to cut down on the living area to make more rooms but was surprised to see the space he had to work with was much larger than he'd expected. Larger than the size of the ship he was sure.

  He pulsed a query to the ship and received confirmation that the space could be made available, along with a sense of the ship stretching to provide the space. Other suggestions came back with the image. Changing the overall size of the ship whilst keeping its general shape. Creating additional shield generators and weapon mounts. Increasing the number of manoeuvring thrusters to maintain performance. Growing the engine room and increasing the number of engines to increase the power available.

  He queried the ship to find out how such changes were possible. The answer showed the ship harvesting materials from the destroyed corvette. Storing them ready for use.

  Initially Jess was tempted to perform a major overhaul, but then he considered how the others would feel to find the ship changing itself around them. He settled on adding an additional floor accessed from the living area by a small spiral staircase. He created four bedrooms, larger than the existing ones, each with a small shower area, toilet and basin. Two on each side of the corridor. He decided Ali's should be next to his, but thinking of her sent his emotions into turmoil. He realised having her so close could be a major temptation, it would be too easy to create a door between their rooms if he wanted. He changed the design to have Matt's room next to his, Sal's opposite and Ali's safely diagonally across the hallway.

  In Sal's room he added a cot for the baby and a small bed for the boy, both in a semi partitioned section. Sal had taken a shine to the children and he was sure she'd want to keep them with her until they could be returned to their family.

  He then turned his attention to the ship itself. It would need to grow a little to allow for the new rooms, he increased the size a little more to provide some space for future expansion. Then he focused on the shields, weapons and engines. With the ship's help he added enough shield generators to double the level of protection, and ramped up the ship's speed and agility by roughly thirty percent.

  He really went to town on the weapons. Some of the existing lasers were bulked up, their power increased and their cycle time between shots reduced while also improving their heat diffusion. The ship provided him with several other weapon patterns. He added a plasma weapon to each side. Much slower to reach a target than the lasers but devastating at close range.

  Two missile launchers were mounted either side of the ship, between them loaded out with a dozen fast attack missiles and six heavy torpedoes that carried a much larger warhead at the expense of speed and agility.

  Ion cannons provided the option of disabling rather than destroying an opponent. Something Jess was more than happy to add. He'd fight if he had to, kill if forced to, but he wanted to avoid it where possible. Now the heat of the moment was long past, and the problems with their prisoners resolved, he regretted destroying the Corvette, even though he knew it was their only choice. The Captain and Officers on the ship might have deserved to die for attacking the Wanderer, but what of the others? In particular the prisoners, slaves like he had been, who were certain to have been on such a large ship.

  Confirming the changes he sat back and watched through the ship's sensors as they began to unfold. He spent the next hour following the transformation, fascinated by it. The internal changes to the prisoner's area only took a few minutes. The rest of the internal changes – and those to the weaponry, shields and engines – had to wait for the ship to grow. He'd wondered if they would need to drop out of jump space while it happened but the ship told him no, that in fact the changes were easier to make in jump space.

  Ali was the first to wake. The Wanderer informed Jess when she tried to exit Sal's room. He quickly approved the request, then headed back to the living area to meet her. The new bedrooms were almost completed, he was looking forward to showing them off.

  He entered the lounge as she emerged from the original sleeping area's corridor. The look on her face when she saw him stopped him dead. She looked furious and crossed to where he stood immediately, shaking a finger in his face.

  “You don't trust me!” she shouted. “The room was locked. Don't think I didn't notice just because you unlocked it quickly. Do you really still think I might be with them?”

  She gestured towards the prisoner's area, seeming to notice the changes for the first time. She paused for a moment then turned to renew her attack, shouting into his face from close range. Jess realised with a start that she had tears in her eyes.

  “Really? You still think I might be like them? Do you think that badly of me? Do you have any idea how much that hurts? Do you?”

  Her tears were starting to flow now, she brushed them away with her hand angrily. Staring at Jess from only inches away. Despite her anger she looked beautiful to him. He opened his mouth, tried to answer.

&nb
sp; “I'm sorry. It's not that... it's... well, Sal set it in place and she felt it was best for now. I didn't want to argue...”

  “Pathetic!” She cut him off. “Not even taking responsibility for your own actions.”

  She started to turn away.

  “But I can't trust my judgement. I can't think clearly when you're near.”

  The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Ali turned back, shock on her face. Staring into his eyes. He felt his cheeks burning but couldn't tear his eyes away from hers. After a few seconds she grabbed his head and dragged him down into a passionate kiss. Jess froze for a moment, completely caught off balance, before doing his best to return the kiss. There hadn't been any girls near his age in his cell for several years. He'd never kissed like this before he met Ali. He had very vague memories of kissing her while they were both under the influence of the drugs but this was completely different. He felt a near electric thrill coursing through his body, was acutely aware of Ali's hands in his hair, her body pressed against him. Her scent filling his senses.

  He felt so overwhelmed that he reached out for the ship, guiltily. Asked it to check if he was being drugged again. The ship's reply was almost instant – no external substances had been detected, however his own body was releasing a cocktail of chemicals all within normal bounds for a heightened state of arousal.