Heat Seeker
Page 19
"The deflectors!" He kept his hands on the controls and his eyes on the ground, waiting to see if the pulse cannons had been enough.
"Got it!" Sarah sounded lost, but she came through for Jake still.
Just as the nose of the ship hit the asteroid, Jake was rocked by explosions all around him. The bridge integrity held for the moment, but the force of the massive blasts knocked him from his chair. Glancing up briefly, he saw only dust and exploding debris on the view screen. Rapid thunderous quakes sped ever closer to him from beyond the back of the bridge. A second later, he was being thrown across the room from the force against the outside of the bridge. His head hit the floor and everything went black.
Chapter 35
"Jake?"
Am I? Sarah? Did she make it?
"Jake?" Sarah said again.
He slowly opened his eyes, only to feel the sting of the blood trickling down from his forehead into one of them. He blinked a few times, then, despite a massive headache and confusion, slid his arm across the floor and lifted his hand to wipe the blood away.
"Sarah?" Speaking brought a pain to his chest. He knew from past experience, he'd broken at least a few ribs.
"I'm here, Jake," Sarah said, sounding calm.
Jake girded himself to deal with the pain, then rolled over onto his back, so he could look up at Sarah's camera. "We..."
"We made it. You did it. Your plan worked."
Jake, still having a hard time taking it all in, turned his head to look around the room. "The ship?"
Sarah chuckled. "You're looking at it. Mostly. No core engine. No cargo bays. We still have half the lounge, but...it's missing the outside wall."
"But you," he said, getting his head a little clearer. "You're okay?"
"I am."
Jake smiled, despite the pain riddling his body. "Tiffin and Dewey?"
"I switched on the shuttle's comm system just before we hit the asteroid. The shuttle can get us out of here. They know we're in here."
"In here?"
"Inside the asteroid. The shots worked. You weakened the surface just enough for the front of the ship to get through without..."
"Without killing us," Jake said.
"Hm. Yeah. I don't know how, but we made it."
"The General?"
"Jake, you've been unconscious for three hours. If he thought we'd survived, he'd have found us by now. I'm sure he's gone. We blew up enough of the ship to convince him the impact with the asteroid did us in."
"My plan actually worked." Jake sounded pleasantly surprised.
"I never doubted you," Sarah said. "But..."
Jake knew what was on Sarah's mind. It was on his mind too. "You're wondering about what he said."
"Yes. Is it true?"
Jake hated that Sarah found out this way. Given that he thought there would never be any possible way to restore her full human existence, he had decided long ago that it would be best for her if she didn't know the full truth. He'd saved her after the General's ruthless attack many years ago, yes, but at a great cost. The A.I. matrix integration was the only thing capable of protecting her...of keeping her alive...at least in some way. He never performed the full memory reintegration, because he feared the knowledge of what had happened to her would be too much for her to handle.
"You..." He took a breath and resolved to tell her the truth. "You are the same Sarah I have loved since the first day we met."
"But am I human?" Sarah spoke tearfully.
"Yes," Jake said. "You have always been human."
He went on to explain what had happened in the mercenary raid long ago, one conducted by men he once worked alongside. He told her how he held her dying body in his arms, and how it was the General's ship, with the advanced A.I. matrix that helped him understand what he could do to save her. With no other choice, and unwilling to let her go, he performed the integration procedure, guided by the ship's original A.I., which afterwards dissolved itself to allow her full control of the A.I. matrix.
By the time he was done telling her all that had happened, Sarah was in tears. She collected herself enough to ask, "And Solace?"
Jake had never heard of a place called Solace. He wondered if the General simply made it up as a last wicked taunt. "I don't know."
"Could it be real?" Sarah asked.
Jake shook his head slightly. "I'm not sure, but..."
"But, what?" Jake could hear the anticipation in her voice.
"If it is..." He looked straight into Sarah's camera above him. "We'll find it."
The End.
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Acknowledgments
To the wonderful team at Deranged Doctor Design, particularly Milo, Kim, and Darja, thank you for sharing my vision for these works and for bringing them to life through your wonderful cover designs. It's been great working through the whole process with your team.
The Jake Mudd Books
TANGLED PERIL (A Jake Mudd Tale)
DEADLY CARGO (A Jake Mudd Tale)
TRIPLE THREAT (Jake Mudd Starter Library)
FORCED VENGEANCE
(Jake Mudd Adventures Series, Book 1)
HEAT SEEKER
(Jake Mudd Adventures Series, Book 2)
BROKEN SOLACE
(Jake Mudd Adventures Series, Book 3)
LOST HUMANITY
(Jake Mudd Adventures Series, Book 4)
then, maybe more…
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About the Author
My innards were stitched together with Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, childhood dreams, unbound possibilities, and all of the great 80’s movies. I think Frank Frazetta’s art is tops, and Conan the Barbarian and Flash Gordon are good role models.
I’ve enjoyed stories all my life—some in books, some in movies… some in my head. What can I say? Life is great, but so is imagination.
I’ve worked as a bookseller, a research library assistant, a computer network expert, and in a dozen other jobs over the years—some down the street from my childhood home, others which took me across oceans.
If I’m not reading or writing, I’m probably enjoying time with my family or friends, or hiking or Netflix-ing.
I’ve stumbled just enough times to give me some perspective (and character to my stories), but never so badly as to keep me down—for too long.
I believe in being decent to people just because, and going for what you want even when it seems really hard or almost out of reach.
Readers, keep in touch.
https://scotcmorgan.com