Wanderer's Escape

by Simon Goodson

  Two tenths of a second and the shields flickered back into life – just in time to deflect another pummelling. They held this time, but only barely. Pretty soon they were going to fail completely. Jess silently pleaded with the ship to hold together, to last just a little longer, to manage to make the cripplingly tight turn.

  One tenth of a second and he started to think they'd make the shot. The shields were holding out somehow and the turn was going to get them in place just in time. Now there seemed to be a chance of making the shot he worried whether it would work, and if it did whether they could get clear. The closest missiles were estimated to strike only forty-two hundredths of a second after he could take the shot. What if he missed? What if it worked but the field took time to collapse? Realising there was nothing more he could do he shoved his worries down, focused completely on the impending shot.

  Zero. He took the shot. Even with his mind accelerated the window during which the weak spot lay between the Wanderer and the Queen Elizabeth's engines was fractional.

  Zero plus five hundredths. He thought the shot had hit cleanly, a concentrated burst penetrating the armour. There was no sign of a reaction yet and jump space was still unreachable.

  Zero plus ten hundredths. An explosion was starting to rip through the Queen Elizabeth, flaring out from her engines. Jump space remained impossible to reach. Jess targeted the closest missiles, managed to take three down which bought them another few hundredths of a second.

  Zero plus nineteen hundredths. A volley of incoming fire caused the Wanderer's shields to fluctuate wildly. Jess could tell they couldn't take any more punishment.

  Zero plus twenty-five hundredths. The Queen Elizabeth was being ripped apart by huge explosions. Jump space was still out of Jess's reach but felt different now, ripples flowing through the sense of stickiness the tar pit created.

  Zero plus thirty-two hundredths. A volley of fire collapsed the Wanderer's shields for good, punching through and smashing into her hull. Forward sensors, all exposed on the outer hull, were knocked offline along with some weapons. Jess was suddenly nearly blind to the front of the ship. He knew the closest missiles would reach them in twenty-two hundredths of a second, if nothing else changed. Desperately he had the Wanderer claw at jump space but it couldn't get a grip. The effects of the tar pit were dissipating but jump space was taking time to revert to normal.

  Zero plus forty-two hundredths. They'd be dead already if Jess hadn't knocked out the first waves of missiles. It wasn't going to matter. They had at most twelve hundredths of a second to go.

  Jess stopped watching the countdown, focusing everything he had on trying to find a way into jump space. Suddenly the jump engines found something to grip, a tiny stable patch amid the chaos. Without hesitating Jess dragged them in. The ship bucked like a dinghy going over a waterfall, Jess heard at least one scream of pain from behind him. It was a short flight, less than two seconds later they were dumped back into real space again, the ship unable to stay in the twisting and compressing world of jump space any longer. It was enough. They were clear of the missiles, clear of the remaining two ships. Not massively so, only a few minutes of normal flight, but a breathing space.

  Jess turned the Wanderer directly away from the pursuing ships and piled on as much acceleration as the ship could handle without stressing it further. The shields were still offline, forward sensors and weapons were out of action and a number of structural warnings flashed despite the limited turn of speed. The hull breach had almost finished leaking the cabin's air. The room had automatically sealed, there wasn't anything else he could do. It was the cabin Ali had been using. Despite the situation the thought of sharing his cabin, his bed, with her flashed through his mind, causing a tightening in his chest.

  A moment later it was gone as the two remaining enemies started to manoeuvre. The rear sensors were still intact allowing him to monitor them closely. The Wanderer's brief jump had taken her well behind the two ships which now had to turn sharply to begin pursuit. They'd been quite slow to respond, allowing the distance to open up even further, but now they piled on all the power they had. Jess studied them closely for any sign they planned to jump, a move that could cross the distance in fractions of a second, but none came. Clearly the chaos unleashed by the tar pit's demise was still churning the structure of jump space.

  Jess needed two things. Firstly the shields to recover, at least to a basic level, as the ship was warning him of the dangers of any jump manoeuvre without shields. They'd got lucky before as far as he could tell, the short distance they'd travelled meaning they'd survived without shields. Secondly he needed jump space to settle so they could jump clear. Neither looked like happening in the immediate future so he turned to check on the others.

  “Is everyone OK?” he asked. As the words left his mouth he realised they weren't. Sal was holding her left arm, its wrist on her lap but bent at an unpleasant angle, and her face was deathly pale. Elizabeth had a cut and the start of a large bruise on her temple. Ali had no obvious wounds but looked scared. None of them answered for a moment, each too stunned by what had happened.

  “OK, stupid question,” Jess continued. “We managed to destroy the tar pit and make a short jump but that's all we could manage, jump space is still shaking around like crazy. The ship's pretty beat up but holding together... just about. Good news is we've put some space between us and the remaining two ships and it's going to take them at least another ten minutes to get in weapons range. We've got time to get you patched up.”

  “Bugger that!” responded Elizabeth. “I've just had a knock on the head. Nothing's fallen off. I'm seeing this out right here.”

  Jess found himself leaning away from the force of her statement. Rather than push the point, something he found himself slightly scared to do, he focused on Sal.

  “Sal, your wrist is badly hurt. I think it must be broken. We need to get you to the medical bay.”

  Sal continued to stare into the distance for a few moments before she seemed to take in what he'd said. Her eyes slowly focused on Jess.

  “Not a chance.”

  She barely spoke above a whisper. Jess shuddered inside at the pain in her voice.

  “Staying here... want to... see this through,” Sal gasped out. “If... I'm gonna... die... I want... to see... it coming.”

  He opened his mouth to argue then stopped himself. The ship was in bad shape, they couldn't jump yet and the other two ships were closing fast. Maybe they were going to die here. He put himself in Sal's position and realised he'd do the same. They'd both spent all their lives shut away, kept from knowing what would happen to them, from controlling their fate.

  “If we're going to die you want to face it free?” he asked gently.

  “Yes!” she gasped out, smiling through the pain.

  “I understand. Please let the ship give you a something for the pain though. Just something local, it won't make you sleep.”

  She studied him for a moment then nodded, too exhausted to speak. Jess had her seat's morph out to wrap around her arm just above the damaged wrist, securing it in place. It blocked all feeling from the wrist and hand then injected several chemicals to help boost her body and ward off shock. She relaxed immediately, still looking pale and exhausted but without the aura of intense pain. Jess smiled at her and she smiled back tiredly. Then he turned to Ali.

  “Ali, are you hurt?” he asked.

  “No. I'm not hurt. It's just...”

  She stopped, unable to continue. Tears forming in her eyes. Jess reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing hard.

  “It's all right to be scared. I was terrified, really, and I had loads to distract me. You just had to sit there and watch, and put up with my poor flying.”

  She held his hand tightly, grabbing it with her other hand too. Smiling at his poor attempt at humour.

  “Maybe, but you were linked into the ship. That means it seemed to last much longer for you than it did for me. But your flying was pretty awful. If
I had any belongings in my room they'd be all over the floor now.”

  “Ah – not exactly. Actually they'd be floating through space. We had a hull breach by your cabin.”

  As he said it he cursed himself, he'd meant it as a flippant remark to cheer her up instead he saw the fear return to her face.

  “Hull breach? My god, is the ship going to break apart?”

  “No, no. Sorry. It's not that bad. We had to really pull some sharp turns and the structure gave way there. The room is completely sealed. We can't use it but there's no danger.”

  “Oh smooth Jess... real smooth.” Sal's voice wasn't strong but was much improved, the booster meds and the lack of pain already making a big difference. “Sorry babe – your cabin's got a hole into space. You'll have to share with me.”

  Jess immediately felt himself turning bright red, he tried to answer but choked instead. Ali started to blush too, stared at him as he choked, then burst out laughing. Elizabeth was smiling too. Jess buried his head in his hands.

  “I give up. There's nothing I can say to that is there?”

  “Smart boy!” said Elizabeth. “Quit while you're a long way behind.”

  Jess looked up and smiled fondly at Ali and Sal. He still felt embarrassed, and knew this type of teasing would always continue, but he was starting to feel more comfortable with it. They were teasing him, no more. He realised he actually quite enjoyed it.

  The laughter had reduced the tension they all felt. Sal was no longer in pain, though still clearly badly hurt, and Ali seemed less nervous. A grim determination settled over them all, a desire to face whatever was coming head on. Jess brought up a display showing the Wanderer and the following ships, together with an estimate of when they would enter weapons range. While still minutes away the time was ticking down quickly. The ship's shields were still offline and jump space was rapidly settling down.

  “Jumps will be possible again soon,” Jess said quietly. “Still nothing from the shield generators. The ship is trying to repair them but they took a real beating.”

  “What do we do if they manage to jump?” asked Ali. “They'll be right on top of us. Do we try to fight? Try to dodge? Blow up the ship and try to take them down? Can we try to jump without shields?”

  Elizabeth winced. “A jump without shields is suicide. How the hell we survived that last jump I don't know, we can't have been in jump space for more than a second or two. Anything more and the ship would be ripped apart. Though... they might never know what had happened to us. The wreckage would be spread across a huge area. At least we could inconvenience the bastards, make them go searching for us.”

  “It's a choice.” Jess said. “Fighting isn't, unless someone wants to stand in the airlock and throw things at them. Same goes for trying to evade them, the ship just can't take any more stressful manoeuvres – she'd tear apart. Overloading the engines is a possible, but they'd have to be pretty close for us to take them down. I doubt they'll make things that easy for us.”

  “I vote for making a jump,” said Ali. “At least we'll be escaping, kind of.”

  “Me too,” said Sal.

  “Works for me,” added Elizabeth.

  Jess nodded.

  “That's agreed then.” said Elizabeth. “We've only just met, but I have to say I like you folks. You've got spirit.”

  “I'm sorry,” said Jess, overwhelmed as the reality of the situation finally hit. Tears starting to fall. “I should have avoided this. I should have found a way to get us through without losing the shields. I should have...”

  He broke off as Ali's open hand rushed towards his cheek. At the last moment she slowed it, delivering a pat rather than a full on slap. Then she grabbed his face with both hands.

  “What did I tell you about taking on too much responsibility?” she asked him, eyes locked on his. “You did your best. That's more than enough.”

  He grinned sheepishly, went to answer then jumped as an alarm blared out both in his head and out loud in the flight deck.

  “What is it?” asked Sal urgently. “Have they jumped?”

  “No,” answered Jess with a huge grin. “We've got shields back. Minimal shields. Really, really low power – but the ship confirms they'll be enough to keep us safe during a jump and that it can maintain them. Let's get ready to get out of here.”

  The others stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds, then whoops of joy rang out. He turned the ship, aiming towards the nearest star other than the system they were fleeing. Aiming right towards it, a collision course. He stretched out with the ship's senses, judging the state of jump space around them. While still turbulent he was pretty sure they could make a jump stick, then twenty or thirty seconds flight would take them far beyond the disruption. Still he held on, wanting to be sure.

  His mind was made up as the two ships pursuing them suddenly disappeared then reappeared almost on top of the Wanderer. Already linked to the ship his reactions were near instantaneous. He launched the Wanderer into jump space, desperately hoping they could ride out the disruption.

  It was milder this time. Still rough but controllable. Fifteen seconds into the jump the shaking had slackened to a mild vibration. Twenty seconds in and jump space around them was completely normal.

  The two enemy ships had jumped almost immediately, the scanner showed them coasting along behind the Wanderer – matching its speed as all ships in jump space did. Almost all at least.

  “Well they're right behind us and we can't shake them off in jump space.” said Elizabeth. “I'm looking forward to seeing what tricks you've got up your sleeves. I'm an old dog but I still like learning new tricks.”

  Jess turned and grinned at her.

  “Well,” he said. “We can do this...”

  He had the Wanderer slew to the right, swinging round to a heading ninety degrees away from their original course. The two enemy ships soon shot past, still on course for the star and waiting to see the distinctive patterns as the Wanderer ripped a hole back into real space.

  Elizabeth's jaw dropped. For several moments she was speechless. Finally she found her voice.

  “That's... that's not bloody possible! No ship can do that. You're screwing around with me ain't you?” Jess noticed that her speech became even more clipped when she became agitated.

  “No. It's for real,” he answered. “Don't ask me how, I don't have a clue, but it's on the level. Our friends will be chasing after where they think we've gone till they give up and figure we went straight into the star. Or maybe they'll push it too far and get fried themselves. Either way, they're not our problem now.”

  “That's one hell of a trick! What's next? Pulling a rabbit out of a hat?”

  “What's a rabbit?” asked Jess.

  “What's a rabbit? Really? Small fluffy animals that kids love for about two weeks then ignore?”

  Jess shrugged. “I grew up a slave. We didn't see many animals, those we did were normally treated better than us. Anyway, my next trick is finding somewhere quiet to stock the ship up on raw materials. It can manage some critical repairs but that's all. And we need to sort the Wanderer out before taking on anyone else that doesn't like us, which seems to be an ever growing list.”

  They studied the local charts and found a star a few hours flight away which had virtually no human presence and an asteroid belt. The belt was too sparsely populated for commercial exploitation, but with the Wanderer's ability to scan real space as it flew past in jump space they could quickly locate useful targets.

  Chapter Twenty One

  With the flight to the asteroid belt under the ship's control they set about patching up Sal and Elizabeth, then started to relate their stories to Elizabeth. Explaining the ups and downs since their escape from slavery, how they'd encountered Ali and then Matt's betrayal and their escape. They held nothing back – she had already seen several amazing things that the ship could do, and would see it repair and rebuild itself once they reached the asteroids.

  “That's quite a story,”
Elizabeth said as they finished. “If I hadn't seen some of it for myself I'd doubt it was true. This ship is amazing. Truly incredible.

  You've been completely honest with me, now I need to do the same with you. There's one thing I want and one thing only – a ship. Don't worry, not this one. I couldn't control it anyway and I think it's going to catch a lot of attention wherever it goes. No, I want a new ship. The Queen Elizabeth Two I guess. I don't expect you to do anything illegal or even to go too far out of your way, but I think you need my help for a while. You're all far too... how can I put it... trusting. Too straight. You don't know enough about the world out here to avoid getting stung. I can help with that. And at some point I'm pretty sure we'll come across a ship. One we liberate from pirates, one we find abandoned, something like that. Or maybe we'll put together enough money to buy one, though only if one of those asteroids turns out to be pure gold.”

  “I'm curious,” said Sal. “How did you get the Queen Elizabeth? Did you inherit her?”

  Elizabeth smiled at them, sat back in her chair and took a deep drink of her beer.

  “Well now, that's a story. No – I didn't inherit her. I used to wait tables in a star port dive. Years ago, when I was young. I wasn't stunning but I could turn a head or two, especially as I mostly wore short skirts and tight tops. That got me a lot more tips, though a lot more hassle too.

  Then one day there's this guy in there drinking. Casual looking, cleaner than most in that place. Had a man mountain sitting next to him – could only be a bodyguard. I get him his drinks a few times then he asks me when I finish. If I'd like to join him for a drink. I'm a little uncertain but he seems OK, kinda good looking. I figure why not. My shift ended half hour before anyway so I join him straight away.

  Pretty soon he's got me drinking the hard stuff. Cocktails with Vodka, Gin, Whisky and god knows what else. Glasses of champagne too. He says he's heading off to the casino, would I like to go? His shout he says, and I can keep what I win.