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 to 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. His memories of his mother were vague 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 2
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, ship’s 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 ship’s efforts to bond with him.
He heard steps behind him and 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 there leads into a small corridor which has three small 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 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 anywhere. The hot chocolate seems the most popular so far.” He smiled.
“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. 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 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 as Jess sipped his way through the chocolate. Sal came back with her own mug, but didn’t break the silence.
By the time Jess finished the mug his eyelids felt heavy and his head started nodding forwards. Matt took the mug and Jess was asleep again within seconds.
* * *
Jess was woken with a start by a rasping snore. Turning in his seat he saw Matt sprawled behind him, head back, mouth open and snoring loudly. Jess smiled at the sight, and sounds, feeling tension drain out of him.
Turning back, he started to run his eyes over the displays to check the ship’s status. Then realised he didn’t need to. Closing his eyes he reached out, feeling the status, seeing it in his mind. The ship was functioning, but in a very low power state. It had depleted most of its reserves at some point in the past. Powerful as it seemed to Jess, it was only a pale shadow of what it could be.
Stretching his thoughts out Jess felt the ship respond, felt it mesh perfectly with his mind. He wiggled the course back and forwards slightly just by thinking about it. Felt the powerful jump engines as they did something Matt had thought impossible, almost as if they were his legs. Felt the strong tingling of the shields around himself, and the weaponry come online. Aiming felt like moving his arms, the weapons locked to where he pointed.
Opening his eyes, he pulled hi
mself back with some reluctance. He was still aware of the ship, of its status, but now he was back in his own body. A body that was decidedly stiff. Stretching, he pushed himself up, turned and took a couple of steps. Then he froze. The web! It was gone!
He reached up and touched the back of his head. Hair. Skull. Nothing else. No stickiness, no holes. Yet he could still feel the ship in his head. Closing his eyes he reached out for the ship again, linking with its limited mind. He called up a view of the cabin and saw himself standing as if in a trance. With a thought the view changed, was overlaid with temperature and other scans. Now he could see into his head, could see the silvery threads and nodes that formed an intricate lace netting interwoven with his brain; linking him to the ship without the need of a physical connection.
Now he understood. The web had been a temporary measure, allowing limited linkage and forming the bridge for the permanent connection to be grown. Jess marvelled at how calmly he was taking this. He realised it wasn’t new to him. He’d been made aware of all this whilst he slept. Still, finding it out, facing up to it, was quite a shock.
With a thought his vision shifted to Matt, studying the old man. Matt’s brain was completely free of the growths. Whatever was happening was reserved for Jess alone, apparently. Fascinated, Jess studied the flows of electricity across Matt’s brain as he slept, panicked for what felt like seconds when he realised there was no heartbeat before the ship sent a soothing wave with the knowledge that he was thinking far, far faster than normal. What felt like long seconds later this was confirmed as the old man’s heart gave a lazy beat.
Jess let his new senses range further over Matt, finding himself drawn to the left lung, to a fist sized mass that seemed wrong. Cancerous, the ship confirmed through the link. Likely to be fatal within a few months.
Jess pulled back into his own head with a start, tears blurring his vision. He was already fond of the old man. Did Matt know? Could he not with such a large lump? Jess stumbled past, towards the main cabin. Both doors opened at his approach, closing quietly behind him.
The main cabin was pretty much as Matt had described. Sal was asleep on one of the sofas, a soft grey blanket pulled over her. The lights were dim, though they started to brighten as Jess walked in. Without thinking how he did it he dimmed them again, not wanting to wake Sal. Stomach grumbling he made his way over to the food dispenser.
It was a large, rectangular, white box positioned against the wall and standing from floor to ceiling. Controls in the lower area of the machine offered choices and a large door stood above. As Jess approached the machine started to hum. The display flashed up ‘Pilot’s Special’ and the door slid upwards revealing a large, steaming mug. Jess took it out and made his way to the dining table, settling into a chair at the end and resting the mug.
He sniffed the mugs contents cautiously and caught the wonderful smell of hot chocolate, but with other smells he could only half identify. He felt a gentle prod from the ship to drink up. The ship warned him that most of the changes made to him had come from his body’s own resources, and that he urgently needed to replace them. With a shrug, he started to sip the drink.
Chapter 3
“Hey, you’re awake. How are you feeling?” asked Sal.
Jess turned in the pilot’s seat and smiled back at her. She had the grey blanket draped over her shoulders. Matt was still sleeping in the chair behind, though thankfully the snoring had stopped.
“I’m fine. I was just watching the mists. They really are beautiful. They change all the time. You start to see shapes in them after a while.”
She walked up next to him then stopped, a shocked look on her face.
“The web! It’s gone!”
“Yeah, I had noticed,” Jess said, grinning.
“So… are you and the ship… not connected now?”
“No, I mean yes, we’re still connected. It did something to my head. I can feel the whole ship if I want to, control it too. I think that’s how it’s designed to work, with a single pilot who in some ways is part of the ship. I’m still coming to terms with it.”
She studied him in silence for a long time. Jess started to worry. Though he’d only just met them he suddenly realised how much he needed both Sal and Matt, needed their company, needed them to help him through what was happening. He hadn’t thought about how they might feel. He’d been so caught up in his own worries. Now he realised how he must seem to them. Something different, not fully human any more. A monster maybe. He wanted to speak up, tell her it was still him, but he couldn’t find the words so he sat there waiting for her to speak. Waiting for her to pull away in fear or disgust, to make her feelings clear. Finally, she spoke.
“Does it… does it hurt?” she asked, reaching out to touch his arm.
Jess broke down. Everything that had happened came crashing in at once, the enormity of the changes to his mind, his worries about what Sal was thinking and the obvious concern in her question for him, as a person. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him. Rocking him. Reassuring him. For the first time since he’d been separated from his mother aged nine, someone held him while he cried.
He took a few minutes to cry himself out. Sobbing cries subsiding to snivels and finally stopping altogether. He stayed where he was, enjoying the feeling of being held for a few more minutes, before pulling away. He was surprised to see that Sal had been crying too. He smiled at her.
“Thank you,” he said.
It seemed to be enough. She smiled back.
“Does it hurt that much?” she asked gently, obviously still concerned.
His laugh surprised her. He shook his head.
“No. It doesn’t hurt. It’s a little strange at times but that’s it. I was so sure you’d see me as a monster, as something disgusting. I was so scared you’d want to leave me.”
She shook her head.
“Something strange has happened to you. But you’re still the same scared looking kid that got singled out to help us de-trap this ship. Nothing’s changed there.”
“Same goes for me, kid,” said Matt, stretching in his seat.
He winced, rubbing his chest where Jess had sensed the cancerous growth.
“Getting too old to be sleeping in chairs,” he muttered.
“Matt,” Jess said softly. The old man looked up, waiting for him to continue. “Matt… it’s more than that. I saw… through the ship. There’s a lump.”
Matt’s face tensed. He nodded sharply. Grimaced, sank back in his seat.
“I worried it might be. It’s been getting worse for weeks. Not much I could do about it, though, the guards wouldn’t have cared. Not till I was too ill to work, then it would’ve been a bullet to the head. Not much more I can do about it here, though I guess I’d rather know than worry about what it might be.”
Sal moved to stand by Matt, hand on his shoulder, lost for words.
“So, did this wonderful ship say how long I might have?” asked Matt.
“The Wanderer. It says its name is the Wanderer, or that’s the closest translation it can get,” replied Jess.
“The Wanderer. Nice name. Now… how about answering my question?”
“A few months. Maybe a bit more, maybe less,” Jess said quietly.
“Could be worse, I suppose. Can get a lot of living into a few months, especially now we’re free. Hell… might even be able to find a doctor that can cure it, if I had the money.”
Jess felt a gentle nudge in his mind, the ship’s way of bringing things to his attention. As he absorbed the information a huge smile spread across his face.
“Well don’t you look like the cat that got the cream,” said Matt. “What’s up?”
“The back section, the area you couldn’t get into. It contains the engineering deck like you thought. But more than that. There’s a medical bay. The ship seems to think it can remove the lump and reconstruct the damaged area of your lung.”
Conflicting emotions fought their way across Matt’s face. Fear, hope,
resignation, concern, relief.
“Are you sure? Really sure?”
Jess’s gaze lost its focus as he pushed his awareness out into the ship’s mind, checking. It snapped back again almost instantly.
“Yes. I’ve checked and I’m sure. In fact… please don’t take this the wrong way, but the ship seems to feel it’s quite trivial. Compared to what it did to my mind, that is.”
“When can we start?”
“Now. If you want. The process will take a few hours, then you’ll have to stay in the chamber resting for a couple of days while you recover. We’ll be able to speak to you, but not come in. The room has to be kept sterile.”
“Well then. No time like the present, is there?”
Matt stood. Sal glanced between the two of them.
“Are you sure? We know hardly anything about this ship, and you’re going to risk letting it operate on you? How do you know it’s even right? Maybe you don’t have a growth, or it’s not cancerous.”
Matt placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes.
“Sal, it’s cancer. It’s in my family, something in the genes. I’ve known for weeks, months, whether I wanted to admit it to myself or not. I’m old, nearly seventy, and for months I’ve felt this pain in my chest grow worse and worse.”
He leant forward, kissed her on the top of her head.
“This is my chance. I have to take it. Do you see?”
She nodded, smiling sadly at him. He turned and walked back to the living quarters, Jess and Sal following. When they reached the rear door Matt pressed the pad to the side. Nothing happened.
“Sorry,” Jess said, reaching out for the ship’s mind again and making changes. “Now you should have access to all areas of the ship. Be careful of the engine room though.”
Matt reached out again. The door slid open as he touched the pad. They stepped through into another short corridor, this one with a door to each side and another at the end.
Wanderer's Odyssey - Books 1 to 3: The Epic Space Opera Series Begins Page 3