“Well okee-dokee then,” Ralph said, climbing into the truck.
Giving the truck gas, Luther shifted through the gears. Carolyn was in for a surprise, but she was a people person, and he knew she would love Ralph. Suddenly, Ralph’s hand shot out and he thumped himself on the side of the head.
“How could I be so stupid?” Ralph said.
“What’s the matter?” Luther asked.
“I forgot my friends. Can they come, too?”
“Friends?” Luther said, stopping the truck.
Looking through the rear window, Luther saw people coming out of Bill Miller’s wheat field. A big man in a silver suit like Ralph’s led the way, and behind him came a ragged looking mix of sailors and civilians. There were two dozen on the road now and still more coming through the wheat.
“Hope you got lots of pie,” Ralph said.
Dramatis Personae
SHIRLEY ANDREWS—Mother of Anita.
ANITA ANDREWS—Seven-year-old dreamer.
DR. BIRNBAUM—Ralph’s guardian and parapsychologist, who is confined to a wheelchair.
LEN CHAIKIN—Engineer who built the mind-melding computer.
JOHN COBB—A Special with the ability to generate and conduct electricity.
KARLA COMPTON—Field agent with the Office of Special Projects.
ROBERT DALY—Sixty-year-old trustee of the Kellum Foundation.
ROGER DAWSON—Sailor from the USS Norfolk; transmitter of the dream.
ROBIN EVANS—Scarred survivor of an earlier incursion into Pot of Gold; agent with the Office of Special Projects.
ELIZABETH FOXWORTH—Social worker; collaborator of Wes Martin.
GERTIE—A Special with psychokinetic abilities.
NATHAN JETT—Field agent with the Office of Special Projects; team leader.
JASON JETT—Nathan Jett’s twin brother.
WANDA JOHNSON—Seventy-six-year-old chain smoker and one of the dreamers.
DR. WALTER KELLUM—Colleague of Albert Einstein; pioneer researcher in television, radio, and resonant magnetic fields.
MONICA KIM—Korean-American social worker who first brings the dreamers to Dr. Martin.
DR. LEE—Director of the secret government facility code-named “Rainbow.”
DR. WES MARTIN—Experimental neuropsychologist, developer of the mind-melding software.
LAYTON McNAB—Chief petty officer, whose psi ability allows him to manipulate the minds of others; calls himself “Prophet” and is cult leader of the Crazies.
SHAMITA PATEL—Indian-American engineer, designer of the hardware for the mind-melding computer.
JIM PETERS—Field agent with the Office of Special Projects.
RALPH—Retarded adult male, with a unique spatial ability and immunity to some psi powers.
ROBERTO—Civilian inside Pot of Gold, and one of Kellum’s people.
JERRY RUST—A Special with pyrokinetic abilities (the ability to create heat and fire).
BILLY THOMPSON—African-American field agent with the Office of Special Projects.
MARGI WINSTON—Thirty-year-old dreamer.
OSCAR WOOLMAN—Director of the Office of Special Projects.
BY JAMES F. DAVID FROM
TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES
Footprints of Thunder
Fragments
Ship of the Damned
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
SHIP OF THE DAMNED
Copyright © 2000 by James F. David
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
BOOK DESIGN BY AMANDA DEWEY
eISBN 9781429911214
First eBook Edition : March 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
David, James F.
Ship of the damned / James F. David—1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 0-312-87203-8
1. Teleportation—Fiction. 2. Dreams—Fiction. 3.
Ships—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3554.A9155 S55 2000
813’.54—dc 21
00-024486
Ship of the Damned Page 41