Want to Go For a Ride In My Spaceship?: The Nathan Daniels Saga: Act 1 (Parts 1, 2 &3)

by Sam Lippert

“I have been waiting exactly twenty-three minutes for you to achieve deep trance, child.” Omany spoke to her from the spirit plane. As she attempted to expand her perception outside of the confines of her body, the excitement of the contact from her mentor almost disrupted her trance. “As you are once again safely aboard the Nola, I can only assume that your lack of peace is due to my current predicament.”

  “You are correct, teacher.” Remi kept her 'voice' slow and steady so as not to disrupt the trance. She did not know when the next time she would be able to talk to her mentor would be.

  “I am well, my Princess, or at least as well as can be expected,” the perception of the old man corrected himself. “I have not been harmed physically, and I believe that will continue to be the case, however it is far too dangerous for you and the illustrious Captain to attempt any form of rescue. Provided he has found a way for you to do so, you should leave Rand as soon as possible.”

  “That is precisely what Nathan and Winnette said after our attempt today went sour.” Remi replied. “But I don't feel comfortable leaving you behind. That is what has me so agitated.”

  “You have already made an attempt?” Remini saw the briefest flash of concern cross her mentor's spiritual face. “Then it is imperative that you leave this planet. My captor does not seem like the type to take something like that lightly. Better for you to be gone before he can manage to find you.

  “I am surprised but pleased to learn that Winnette is with you. It is good that you will still have a 'family' member to help keep you safe.” Omany's presence flickered ever so slightly. “It is taking far too much effort for me to remain this far from my corporeal self. I cannot stay much longer.”

  “Winnette has notified the Elite on Verstat of your situation and that of your brothers who have been turned by The Collector. All things considered, I would think they will do something fairly quickly.” Remi could feel a tear streaming down the cheek of her unoccupied body.

  “Fear not, my Princess. This is not where our journey together ends.” With that the priest's presence faded away.

  CHAPTER XIX

  The journey from Nexus to Rand was one of the worst Jeremy had ever experienced. First, he had no company. Unlike Nathan who very rarely chose to fly with passengers, and when he did it was usually for a fee, Jeremy had a habit of finding some poor lost female who dreamed of starting over again on a new world, and was willing to share his bed in order to have that chance. More often then not they were at each other’s throats by the end of the trip, but even the fighting broke up the monotony of space travel.

  Secondly, because of the lack of diversion, he had far too much time to contemplate the situation he had found himself in. There was a very real possibility that he was going to have to kill Nathan Daniels. Jeremy was not above killing, in fact he had done so more than once in his lifetime, the first time when he was only twelve, but it was always because of a 'kill or be killed' situation. Granted it was that way now, but in a very different way than being jumped in a back alley.

  Jeremy still remembered the day that he had discovered a young Nathan hiding among the cargo of his mentor's trading ship. Jeremy himself was a brash young lad who had recently turned seventeen, and when he had discovered the filthy, unkempt twelve year old after they lifted from New Rome, he had marched him straight to Nikolai, at gunpoint, not realizing at the time he was playing out a scene identical to when he had first come aboard Nikolai's ship...

  * * *

  “You know what we do to stowaways, don't you?” Jeremy could see the boy was terrified, he was shaking so bad he could barely walk as they made their way to the control room. “We Space 'em. Pop 'em in the airlock without a suit, open the outer door, and fwop they get sucked out. Problem solved.”

  The kid's eyes got wide, but he still did not say a word, inspiring Jeremy to try harder. “What happens to you after that depends a lot on where we are when it happens. But, I'll tell you this much, none of them are very pleasant. Most of the time every fluid in your body tries to freeze and boil at the same time. Freeze because it is just so damn cold in space, and boil because you are in a vacuum, so there is no vapor pressure to keep it liquid. Meanwhile you are suffocating because there is no air. Finally, before you become unconscious, you just explode from the internal pressure, and frozen chunks of you fly in all directions.

  “And that's just if we dump you in regular space! I hear it's different if we are at FTL. Not any less painful, mind you, just different.”

  “Pppppplease,” the boy finally said. “I didn't know... I just had to get away. I couldn't take it there anymore.”

  “Save your pleading for the Captain.” Jeremy continued to toy with the kid. “The final decision is his. If it weren't, you'd have been breathing vacuum already.” Of course, Jeremy was bluffing and full of bravado. While he had killed before, he wouldn't shove a defenseless pre-teen out an airlock. Nikolai had taught him better than that, but it didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun at the boy's expense.

  “Well, well, what have we here?” Nikolai asked as they entered the control room. The Captain was old, just how old Jeremy didn't know then, and still didn't even to this day. He just knew that by the time he had come aboard, five years before, the man had reached that point in the aging process where he did not grow any older in appearance, just in feebleness.

  “Stowaway, sir.” Jeremy replied. “Found him lurking with the crates in the cargo hold. I can only assume he sneaked aboard at New Rome. Want me to Space him?”

  “Hold on,” the captain turned his gentle brown eyes to the scared boy in front of him. “What do you have to say for yourself, son?”

  “I couldn't take it there anymore, Captain sssir.” The boy didn't look like much, but he was at least polite. “New Rome isn't even my home. I was brought to an orphanage there after my mother died. I know there is something more for me somewhere in the universe, I just need to find it!”

  “Oh, you'll find it all right,” Jeremy interjected. “Right after I shove you out the airlock!” The fragrant smell of urine filled the control room. The boy had literally pissed himself! He had obviously not grown up on the streets, and in that respect his life had been easier than Jeremy's had been when he had found his way onto Nikolai’s ship.

  “Enough of that, Jeremy.” Nikolai had said. “Show some compassion. It wasn't so very long ago that you were standing in this lad's shoes.”

  “Yeah, but I didn't wet myself at the thought of being spaced!” Jeremy waggled the gun in the boy's direction, laughing a little.

  “Maybe that is because Stephan was not nearly the tormentor you are.” The captain turned to the younger orphan. “What is your name, boy?”

  “Nathan, sir.”

  “Nathan, as you can see I am an old man. The life of a trader has been good to me, but it is a difficult life for an old man. I can no longer do it alone, as I could in my youth.” Nikolai paused to wheeze and cough. “Jeremy here, though still rough around the edges, as you have seen, will be leaving me soon to embark on his own adventures. Luckily for you, this leaves me in need of an apprentice.” Jeremy could see Nathan's eyes grow wide, as he was sure his had done five years earlier. The boy opened his mouth to agree.

  “Do not be hasty, young Nathan,” the ancient captain interrupted the not yet vocalized assent. “This will be a commitment to a minimum of five years. You will assist me, and by assisting me you will learn to Trade. The work will be hard, yet rewarding. We also manage to have a little fun.”

  Once again, the boy almost managed an assent, but was stopped by Nikolai. “You do have other options, of course. You could pay for your passage, but I have a feeling if you could do that, we wouldn't be here talking right now. Or, I can let Jeremy here toss you out the airlock, as he so obviously wants to do.”

  “I'll do it, sir,” Nathan finally managed to say. “I'll take the apprenticeship.”

  Nikolai reached out and firmly grasped the boy's hand. “Welcome aboard, Nathan. You a
re now a 'son of Nikolai,' which means you once again have a family. I have many former apprentices trading throughout the galaxy, and all of them are now your family, including brash young Jeremy here.” The old man tousled the teen's hair. “Our single most important rule is that we treat each other as family, so that even though we travel alone throughout all of known space, we are never truly alone.”

  It was the same speech Jeremy had been given when he had taken his apprenticeship, and it was the reason he had warned Nathan by passing a message on through Tranda on Nexus. It was the least he could do to honor the old captain who had saved his life.

  * * *

  By the time Jeremy entered orbit around Rand, he was in a genuinely foul mood. Entirely too much time spent in contemplation generally did that to a man, especially one who's life was as checkered as Captain James'.

  He worked his way through the usual spaceport contracts, looking for the subtle things that he knew would cause his brother to select one port over another. He had been inundated with news of the Revolution since leaving FTL, and found particularly interesting the fact that the Revolution had managed to ground all off planet traffic leaving Rand. This could mean Nathan was still dirtside, although he hoped not, as he was counting on his brother to devise a way out of their predicament, and James was sure such divination would take more time.

  Jeremy finally settled on a small, independent spaceport just outside of a secondary city. The 'port really didn't have anything to recommend it other than knowing Nathan's habits it would be easy to justify it to that damn Sokolov, but on Rand there were easily a dozen spaceports that fit that criteria.

  Jeremy held his breath as he brought the Equinox in for a landing. If Nathan were still here on Rand, the last thing that James wanted was to have, quite accidentally, actually selected the 'port that the Nola happened to be at.

  Once the ship was down, Jeremy found a breather and stepped out into the air of Rand. Even with the pollution the air coming through the breather was fresher than the canned stuff on board his ship. As he stepped out onto the tarmac he heard the distinct whine of Rico-Sanchez engines throttling up for take-off.

  Captain James couldn't help but smile, glad that Sokolov couldn't see his face.

  * * *

  “Shit! Nola, we need an orbital take off vector, now! And, by now I mean yesterday!” When Remi had slunk off to the passenger suite after losing the argument about staying on Rand, Winnette had taken up the copilot's position in the control room helping Nathan and Nola prepare for take-off. The trio were only about half done when Nathan had spotted a Piper 2245 coming in for a landing.

  “What's the rush, Nathan?” Winnette asked. “Prescilla has our beacon and has cleared us for take-off anytime in the next thirty minutes.”

  “The rush is that!” Daniels said, pointing to where the Piper 2245 that he just knew was Equinox had landed. “That gaudy, tweaked out ship that has just landed belongs to one Captain Jeremy James, I am sure of it. We need to be gone before he spots us.” Of all the spaceports on this rock, Nathan could not believe that Jeremy had managed to pick the one he was actually at.

  “Orbital vector ready, Captain.” Nola's twelve year old avatar said, while sporting eighteenth century pirate regalia. “Engines have been warming ever since you said the s-word. Ready to punch it and leave this rock whenever you are!”

  “Give me control, please, Nola.”

  “Aww, come on Cap'n, you know I can fly this boat twice as smoothly as you can!”

  “Now, Nola! We don't have time for this!” Nathan saw the autopilot light switch off, and immediately punched the throttle and headed for orbit.

  * * *

  “Sister,” Remi said. “There is something I have been meaning to talk to you about.” The pair had just finished working out in the gym and were going through some cool down stretches. On their first day after leaving Rand, they had caught Nathan watching them with far too much enjoyment, and had subsequently banned him from the gym during their workouts.

  “Ooooohhh, great, girl talk!” Nola said. Her avatar always joined in their workouts, even to the point of virtual sweat.

  “Sorry little sis.” Remi had gotten into the habit of referring to the AI as 'little sis' because it pleased her so much, and everyone knew how important it was to keep an AI happy. “This is something that has to stay between Winnette and me.”

  “Are you saying I can't keep a secret?” The girl on the monitor pouted. “I think I am offended!”

  “What she's saying,” Winnette said in a very soothing manner. “Is that if Nathan were to order you to tell him something, you would have to tell him. Right?” Nola nodded. “Whereas, with my KII training, even the most skilled torturer in the galaxy couldn't get a secret out of me. Are you less offended now?”

  “I suppose.” The AI was still pouting.

  “So, can you please put the gym in privacy mode?” Remi asked.

  “Oh, all right.” Nola harrumphed and killed all the cameras, mics and screens in the gym.

  “Now, what's so important Sis?” Winnette asked.

  “It's Nathan. I think he's in love with me.”

  “You're just now figuring that out?” Winnette laughed. “Sis, that has been obvious since Nexus!”

  “Of course it has! Actually it was before that, but that doesn't make it any less of a problem.” The Princess' face held a look of genuine concern. “We still have eight months to go before we get to Rathshelliam. I don't want him to be heartbroken once we get there.”

  “What about you, sister?” Winnette asked. “It is obvious you feel the same way about him.”

  “I have been trained all my life to put my kingdom and my people before myself. I will survive, but I don't want to put Nathan through any more pain than is absolutely necessary.

  “At first I thought it would be okay, and his lust for women would do the job for me, but it hasn't! He didn't even bed Prescilla, when it was obvious she wanted it! Winnette, the man needs to get laid, so that maybe he will have an easier time letting me go when the time comes.”

  “So, why tell me this? What do you...” Winnette stopped. “Oh, Hell no!” The wicked grin on her sister's face said it all.

  * * *

  It was midnight when the buzzer on Nathan's cabin door sounded. He hadn't been quite asleep, but he was drifting off.

  “Come,” he said, not bothering to get out of bed. If he had gotten up, he would have had to wrap something around himself anyway. Much easier to just stay in bed under the covers.

  A figure stood silhouetted in the doorway, just as she did in the best of his dreams. She opened her robe and let it slide off her body to the floor as the door closed behind her. He still had not gotten a clear look at her. She could be anyone, but he knew in his heart who it was.

  She lifted the blankets and climbed into bed with him.

  “But...” Was all he managed to get out before her mouth was wet against his.

  End of Act One of The Nathan Daniels Saga

  Hold on to your hats, folks! The Nathan Daniels Saga: Part 4 is on its way! Available for pre-order now for delivery to your Kindle on 4/9/2017!