“OK. I can get the ship to format some basic controls so you can manoeuvre, dock if needed. Weapons and combat will take a lot longer to learn and we'd need to be in real space for that time.”
“That's fine kid. Can we get started now? I've been sitting around doing nothing for far too long.”
“Sure. Let's get up to the flight deck.”
Matt quickly learnt the controls – he said they weren't that different from other ships he'd flown. For Jess the lessons took his mind off Sal and Ali, and off the reception they were likely to get at Stone Snake. Before long he was back to worrying though. Trying to find any flaws in Matt's plan or any areas he could improve. He didn't find any.
Jess was a solid knot of tension as they neared Stone Snake. Matt had decided they should drop into normal space a long way out. Despite Matt's assurances that they could pull this off Jess wasn't sure.
“I'm so glad you're with me,” he told his friend. “I couldn't do this without you. Couldn't have come up with this plan. Thanks.”
Matt patted Jess's shoulder.
“You're welcome kid. You're young, still quite naïve. Nothing wrong with that – especially growing up a slave. There's lots of people out there that would take advantage of you, run rings around you. I aim to make sure that doesn't happen, not to mention getting Sal and Ali back as soon as possible.
We've got a few minutes till real space then things are going to get intense pretty damn quickly. I'm going to grab a drink now, you should too. What do you want?”
“Just a juice please.”
“Sure. Back in a minute.”
Matt returned just in time for the return to real space, handed Jess's drink over and settled into his seat. As Matt had predicted the mining complex was huge, with a number of bulk freighters docked and many smaller ships and shuttles on the move in the area.
“Damn. Sometimes I hate being right. Right kid, better drink that quickly. Things are going to get real busy for us.”
Putting action to his words Matt downed his own drink in one. Jess followed suit. Suddenly the cabin started to spin around him and the floor felt like it was dropping away.
“Matt, I really don't feel...” he started to say. Then everything went black.
Chapter Twelve
Jess groaned and struggled to open his eyes. Blinking against the light the first thing he saw was Matt's face peering down at him. Not the most pleasant of sights, but one that was incredibly welcome.
“What... what happened?” he managed to croak out.
“You're OK? I was getting worried about you there for a moment. Take it easy.”
Jess struggled into a sitting position then just stared at his surroundings. They were in some form of cell, his life as a prisoner meant he had no doubt about that. The room was about three metres by two with a hard bed that he lay on, a toilet that was little more than a hole in the floor and nothing else. The floor was stone as was the ceiling and the walls. A solid metal door was set into one wall with no window or bars. Two small gaps in the ceiling supplied stale seeming air to the room.
“What happened?” he asked again. “How did we get caught?”
“We didn't. You did. By me.”
Matt looked sheepish as he spoke. Jess just stared at him in disbelief. After a pause the old man spoke again.
“You're too trusting kid. Much too trusting. And too naïve. Someone was going to get the ship from you or get you, and so the ship, under their control. And it was probably going to happen pretty soon. Look what happened to Sal and Ali. So if someone was going to get control of the ship I decided it should be us.”
“Us? What us?”
“I know Stone Snake well. I operated from here for years. I know the people. They are the closest thing to a family I've got. The place is more than a mining complex, much more. It's also a base for an organisation that gets involved in some less than legal actions.”
“What? Piracy? Slave trading?”
“Yes, and more. I told you before kid – this is a tough universe. The Empire makes sure of that. The rest of us make do as best we can. You and the ship are too good an opportunity to miss. And if it makes you feel better at least this way the Empire will never get control of the ship.”
“Nor will you. Do you realise what this means? Sal and Ali are going to be killed. And it will be your fault!”
“No they won't. They're safe. About the only chance of them being killed was if you'd started shooting up the station and hit the section they were in. Threatening to kill one of only two hostages is useless, a sign of amateurs. If they were serious the threat would have been to hurt them, maybe cut bits off. Something that put pressure on you without wasting a hostage.”
“What? But you said they were in danger. That we had to come here and... oh.”
“Exactly. I needed you to come here. You were kind enough to teach me the basic controls on the Wanderer so once we dropped into normal space I gave you a drugged drink. As soon as you were out I contacted the station, explained about the ship and flew her in. For some reason the ship wouldn't cycle the airlock with anyone else in it so I had to drag you out myself. No fun I can tell you with the way I'm still feeling. Once outside the others took you, brought you down here to this cell – which is fully shielded I should tell you. Your link to the ship is cut. We don't want it powering up weapons or anything else unfriendly like that.”
Panicked Jess reached out for the ship but found nothing. It hit him harder than he could have guessed. He'd become so used to the ship being a mere thought away, enhancing and extending his abilities, that the absence was a huge shock. He reacted angrily.
“So you've got a useless ship that no one but you can get onto and you can only handle basic flying. Well done you. Ali and Sal are safe and I don't care what you do to me.”
Matt smiled, shaking his head.
“Afraid not. Ali and Sal are safe for now, but not for long. We know they are your weak spot. Know that we need them. So a freighter launched for Glory Falls a little while ago packed with the prisoners from that place, accompanied by a number of fighters and larger combat ships. The good people of Glory Falls are going to get a chance to get their friends and families back. All they have to do is turn Sal and Ali over to my friends.
To make sure they comply their people will be loaded into containers and shoved out in a variety of directions. Far too many for Glory Falls small fleet of ships to recover in the time available because the containers will have limited oxygen. Very limited. And because any ship attempting to reach them will be blown out of existence by the fighters.
So, soon after arriving one of our ships will pick up Sal and Ali then they will all return here. As for the people in the containers... well, they'll be left as an example of what happens when people try to threaten us. Who knows, the station may be able to rescue one or two groups. If they're lucky.”
Jess stared at Matt as if he was a stranger. Discussing the deaths of so many people, many of them children, so calmly.
“So is this what you always planned? Right from the start?”
“No. You saved me from captivity. I owe you for that. Then you saved my life by removing the cancer. I also owe you for that. Unfortunately I can't repay you. Funny, lots of people seem to be saying that to you recently.
You brought this on yourself you know. First off you picked up the kidnappers and nearly let them take over the ship. That gave me a worry I can tell you. Two of them knew me and would have told you the sort of company I used to keep. Spacing them from the airlock would have made problem go away but you were too soft.
Then at Glory Falls you let Ali and Sal fall into the hands of the governor, let them be captured so they could be used against you.
I could see you were never going to retain control of the ship. Someone was going to take it from you, and soon. The moment Stone Snake was mentioned I knew what I had to do. You might not appreciate it kid but I'm looking out for you. Your life won't be so bad. They need yo
u to pilot the ship. As long as you cooperate Ali and Sal will live safe lives too.”
“And if I don't?”
“You don't want to go that way. Trust me. First off it'll be broken bones. Fingers, toes, arms, legs. Then burns and other torture. Then if necessary cutting bits off. Ears. Toes and fingers again. Then they'll get inventive. None of this for you of course, they need you whole, this will all be done to the girls.”
Jess slumped down, head in hands. Wishing this was a bad dream and he could wake up.
“You've got a lot to think about,” Matt said, standing. “I'll leave you to it for a while.”
He walked to the door and banged on it. It opened to reveal a short corridor and another door. Jess sat slumped in silence long after the door to his cell hid all sight of Matt from his eyes.
Jess had no idea how long he'd been sitting when the tickling in his head started. Time had little meaning in the silent cell. No one had come to see him, no noises reached him. He'd given up trying to reach the ship some time before.
It started as a slight tickle, feeling like it was in the centre of his mind. It quickly progressed to an annoying itch and then very briefly he felt like something had stabbed into his brain. The pain went as fast as it arrived – leaving in its place something that he couldn't believe. Once again his mind was linked to the Wanderer.
He received an image of his being closed off, shielded away, somewhere unknown. In the image both the ship and he were trying to communicate. All efforts were blocked by the shielded barrier. Then something changed about him, a change to the implants he realised. The image seemed to shift in a new direction and while the barrier remained strongly in place it now had a limited height. The signals between the ship and Jess simply passed over the barrier. Additional information with the image told Jess that in reality the communication was via a series of higher dimensions. There was more but he was unable to grasp it. What mattered though was that he and the ship were now in contact again. He no longer had to sit helplessly waiting for someone to decide his fate. To decide the fates of Ali and Sal. He smiled for the first time since waking in the cell.
Contacting the ship was one thing, getting out another altogether. The ship was able to pinpoint his location by their connection and fed a map into his mind. He was deep in the station, near the centre. Even if he could escape the cell he would have to find his way through miles of corridors to reach the ship, or any point where it could reach him. The ship suggested that if could get near the outside of the station then precision weaponry could sever that section, leaving it floating free for the ship to grab. He had no illusions that he'd make it anywhere near that far. Even getting out of the cell seemed impossible.
Blowing sections of the station up to demand his release was a non starter. The moment it started to happen they'd be likely to drug him again. Even without that, the Wanderer could only do limited damage to the station – definitely not enough to intimidate a ruthless bunch of pirates who were holed up safely inside.
How else could he get free? He couldn't think of any way and his initial joy at feeling the ship's presence in his mind faded into despair. He considered sending the ship away, maybe even killing himself, to prevent the pirates gaining control of it. The thought of Ali and Sal stopped him. The pirates were unlikely to free the girls if he did deny them the ship, and even if Jess was dead they might torture them. Kill them. He remembered Matt's casual mention of leaving the prisoners from Glory Falls to die in the containers, as an example to the station.
A thought pushed itself into his mind from the ship. This felt different than normal. Tentative. He sensed the ship was uncertain. As he absorbed the idea he could see why. In essence it was simple, whilst also being astoundingly audacious and quite probably suicidal.
The ship had huge control over its entry into and transition through jump space. Over a short distance it could thread the eye of a needle. It was certain it could pass through the section of jump space that correlated with Jess's location.
On its own that wasn't particularly useful. Any attempt to emerge in the same location as another physical object would be strongly resisted by the jump engines – both due to programmed restrictions and because the matter in the real universe would act as a physical barrier. It was possible to override the controls and overwhelm the barrier but then the moment the ship made it into real space a devastating explosion would ensue as particles tried to occupy the same space and annihilated each other.
The ship's plan was very different and, in its own estimation, far from certain to work. The recent changes to the systems in Jess's head did more than just allow him and the ship to communicate. They also offered the chance to fling Jess into jump space – acting as a miniature jump drive. But jump space was no more hospitable to an unprotected human than the vacuum of real space, if anything it was even less so. Jess's jump would have to be timed precisely to match the moment the ship passed by. An exceptionally tricky manoeuvre due to the speed the ship would be moving at. There would be a window of a few milliseconds at most. The final problem would be trying to jump to occupy the same space as an object already in jump space. Once again the attempt to make two objects occupy the same space created a barrier that would need to be crossed. The ship thought it could ensure both its and Jess's jump fields were in phase which should remove that barrier. If not he'd be blocked for the milliseconds that the ship passed before being dumped into jump space with no protection.
When asked for the chances of success the ship warned there were many variables that could greatly change the results but that the overall chance of success was around twenty percent, one chance in five. Most of the risk was around getting the timing right, matching the phases correctly and the chances of Jess's body being able to withstand the jump. It was almost certain his implants could throw him into jump space, meaning that almost every possible failure led to his death.
Jess decided to go for it. It was the only chance he had of taking back control. Of rescuing Ali and Sal. He told the ship to start. Immediately he felt a tingling as arcs of green energy started to writhe over his body. A countdown from the ship appeared in his mind, starting from twenty seconds. The ship suggested curling up on the floor so he did.
Heart hammering and breathing in short gasps he watched the countdown drop. With three seconds to go his body was covered in a web of green energy which stung him all over. Time seemed to slow down for him. The two second mark seemed to take an age to reach, the one second even longer. Then the cell around him started to waver and twist, pulsing faster and faster until suddenly... darkness. Excruciating cold, complete blackness and a feeling of complete nothingness around him. He could feel the air in his lungs being dragged out by the emptiness.
Realising the attempt had failed he started to panic but the cold and the nothingness sapped his energy quickly and he almost welcomed death as it overtook him. At least it wasn't as painful as he'd feared.
The next moment something crashed into him. Light, sound, pressure all returned in a blinding flash. As did intense acceleration. After a few moments the acceleration eased off and he became aware of his surroundings. He was in the living area of the Wanderer, suspended in mid air by a force field.
From the ship he gained the image of the ship grabbing him and using the force field to cushion his body against the immense acceleration needed to bring him up to the ship's speed. He also learnt that he had spent only three milliseconds in jump space before being grabbed by the ship. Enough time to do some nasty exterior damage but generally he was in good health. The ship lowered him to the floor and secured him in place, medical devices already deploying to heal his skin, ensure his lungs were undamaged, review his internal health.
He closed his eyes and linked with the ship fully, losing all sense of his own body and replacing it with the ship. He could swear there was a slight hint of smugness to the ship's thoughts at what it had achieved. He decided the ship deserved to feel that way. Now he was fully linked i
n he could appreciate just how difficult a trick it had pulled off. Having tried the experiment the ship now rated the chances of success at around eight percent, much lower than before. It certainly wasn't anything Jess wanted to try again in the future.
He felt great though. He was back in the Wanderer, he had power again. He could chase after the pirate fleet, overhaul it and somehow rescue Sal and Ali. To do that the ship was going to need a lot of resources – and in the process of getting them Jess intended to start extracting his revenge. He pulled the ship round in a sharp turn – heading back towards the Stone Snake mining complex.
Chapter Thirteen
Jess had the Wanderer drop back into real space almost on top of the mining complex. He had no doubt that Matt had already told his collaborators about the ship's amazing abilities so there was no need to hide them. He blasted a message at the station across all frequencies.
“Matt – I'm going to stop your fleet and rescue Sal and Ali. Then I'm going to come back here and finish the job I'm starting now. I'm going to rip this place apart around your ears. And you know I'll do it – there's no one here to tell me not to any more. He betrayed me and left. Now it's payback time.”
Jess had the start of a plan forming in his mind. One thing was clear – the ship would need more resources, a lot more resources, for what he had in mind. The mining complex was the perfect place to get them. The ship had already identified numerous storage bays and unmanned freight shuttles containing materials it could use. He needed to be quick – both to avoid a response from the station and to allow him to catch the pirate fleet before they spent too long at Glory Falls. A thorough plundering of resources was out, he needed to hit many sources and grab what he could on the way through. A course of action that would lead to far more damage to the mining station's operations. That thought put a large smile on his face.
Wanderer's Escape Page 9
