Return to the Traveler (Free Trader Series Book 9)

by Craig Martelle

  He hit the flames of the doorway at a dead run. The intense heat scorched his bare forearms as he passed. He yelled into his mask as he slid to a stop in the middle of the space, looking for survivors. A Rabbit lay under a terminal, an ugly scorch mark cut across his white fur, leaving blackened hair around burned pink flesh underneath. The Rabbit moved – Briz was alive.

  Cain slid him from under the melting terminal. The Rabbit was dense and blocky, half Cain’s height, but the same weight. Cain pulled an equipment cover off the back of a chair. He took it and wrapped it around the Rabbit’s head and over as much of his body as he could, then hefted him, trying not to touch the injury. Cain lumbered toward the hatch, ducked his head, held his breath, and jumped through the flames. He deposited the Rabbit in the passageway and raced back into Engineering. Ellie was in there somewhere.

  He should have been alarmed that the flames didn’t seem to hurt as much this time. The next victim was a Wolfoid, horribly torn apart from the force of an exploded containment vessel. He saw something odd about the way the Wolfoid’s body, bigger than a human’s was laying on the floor.

  A pink-fleshed hand snaked out from underneath the heavy gray fur. Without remorse, Cain heaved the Wolfoid’s shattered body to the side. Ellie was dazed, but seemed to be okay. The Wolfoid must have taken the full force of the rupture, protecting her. Cain’s breath caught as he looked at her silken black hair, the ends curled and brittle from the heat that had passed over her.

  He pulled her to him as blue lights started to flash within Engineering, signaling the imminent flooding of argon gas into the compartment. He kneeled, rolling her from a sitting position over his shoulder. He stood without much effort. She wasn’t heavy and laid easily over his shoulder as he hurried for the hatch. The flames had died down somewhat, but he still ran through, hoping speed would keep them safe. Once through, he stopped, took off his hood and breathed deeply of the better air in the corridor. The hatch to engineering closed.

  The klaxons stopped as someone helped Ellie from his shoulder. He looked at the closed hatch. Anyone still in the space would be denied oxygen, just like the fire. The argon gas was supposed to be flushed in a matter of seconds, but it would be too late. He was surprised that he didn’t know how many people worked in the space. Three? Four?

  “Holy Rising Star, Cain! You shouldn’t have gone in there. Why the hell would you do something like that?” the Captain’s words were harsh, but his eyes were grateful. As the older man looked at the two survivors in the corridor, he added, “but I’m glad you did, son. Looks like you saved two lives, irreplaceable lives.”

  The two Hillcats waiting for Cain and Ellie in the corridor couldn’t have agreed more. Carnesto yowled in pain as Ellie came back to her senses. The burns on her lower body attacked her with waves of agony. He put a furry paw on her head to help her through the worst of it.

  Why had Cain risked knowing what his death would do to his ‘cat, to his family? He had no choice. It’s who he’d always wanted to be. It’s who he was. He’d spent his short life trying to live up to one man, the Space Exploration Service Captain who showed him how a hero acts.

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZINJEP

  Postscript

  If you like the Free Trader and would like to see the series continue, please join my mailing list by dropping by my website www.craigmartelle.com or if you have any comments, shoot me a note at craig@craigmartelle.com. I am always happy to hear from people who’ve read my work. I try to answer every email I receive.

  If you liked the story, please write a short review for me on Amazon. I greatly appreciate any kind words, even one or two sentences go a long way. The number of reviews an ebook receives greatly improves how well an ebook does on Amazon.

  Amazon – www.amazon.com/author/craigmartelle

  Facebook – www.facebook.com/authorcraigmartelle

  My web page – www.craigmartelle.com

  Thank you for reading the Free Trader!

  Author Notes

  I call the Free Trader my flagship series. It is my science fiction adventure series that I can escape to. I wrote it because I’m a fan of the roleplaying games designed by James M. Ward – Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World. That’s why the ship in this one is called the Warden, in honor of my friend Jim Ward.

  Thank you to the best fans anyone could ever ask for! When I need anything while writing a story, they are here, ready to help.

  What about Free Trader 9? That is going to be another action packed romp through the Traveler. High speed action with your favorite characters. Well, not Brandt. I couldn’t figure out how to get the greatest of all Aurochs on board the Traveler, or once there, how he would fit through any of the corridors, so he’ll have to hold the fort on the planet while the others return to space.

  What secrets will they find? Holly knows all, but he doesn’t. They’ll be looking for what he doesn’t know, which he’s not sure he doesn’t know, but needs to confirm his lack of information by gathering more information.

  And then they’ll do what they have to do to realize their vision of humanity reaching back toward the stars.

  You’ll note that the creature that was eating machines was called a rusty monster as an ode to Gary Gygax’s creation, the rust monster from Dungeon’s and Dragons.

  Peace, fellow humans – I’ll see you back on Vii when the time is right.

  Here’s a picture of James M. Ward and I in the Elkhorn McDonalds from 2016. I was just getting started and Jim was very helpful with some plot suggestions and focus.