by Richard Dee
The man walked to the bottom of the gangway, where he showed a slip of paper to the crewman. Allowed past, he climbed the steps and repeated the procedure at the top, pushing his way towards his targets. He arrived in front of them. “I’m so pleased to see you both,” he said. “It’s been quite a journey to find you. Can we go somewhere private, we need to talk urgently.”
The male looked him straight in the eye. “Mr Fairview,” he said, “according to Langdon, we are supposed to be on a leave of absence, what can be so important?”
“It’s not just a leave of absence,” the woman added. Dark haired and intense, she fixed the man with a steady gaze. “We are on our nuptials.”
“My apologies Jessamine, Jackson,” the man replied, unflinching. “The safety of the Realm is at stake. I’m sorry, you are required.”
The woman gasped, put one hand to her mouth and grabbed her man’s arm with the other. “Not again!” she exclaimed.
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Thank you very much.
Richard Dee.
Also by Richard Dee
The Dave Travise Series
Freefall
Myra
The Balcom Series
Ribbonworld
Jungle Green
The Lost Princess
Steampunk
The Rocks of Aserol
A New Life in Ventis
Tales from Norlandia
Andorra Pett
Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café
Andorra Pett on Mars
Andorra Pett and her Sister
Stand Alone
Life and Other Dreams
Survive
Short Stories
Flash Fiction
Non-Fiction
Creating a Sci-fi World
Richard Dee.
Richard Dee is a native of Brixham in Devon. He left Devon when he was in his teens and settled in Kent. Leaving school at 16 he briefly worked in a supermarket, then went to sea and travelled the world in the Merchant Navy, qualifying as a Master Mariner in 1986.
Coming ashore to be with his growing family, he used his sea-going knowledge in several jobs, working as a Marine Insurance Surveyor and as Dockmaster at Tilbury, before becoming a Port Control Officer in Sheerness and then at the Thames Barrier in Woolwich.
In 1994 he was head-hunted and offered a job as a Thames Estuary Pilot. In 1999 he transferred to the Thames River Pilots, where he regularly took vessels of all sizes through the Thames Barrier and upriver as far as HMS Belfast and through Tower Bridge. In all, he piloted over 3,500 vessels in a 22-year career with the Port of London Authority.
Richard is married with three adult children and three grandchildren.
His first science-fiction novel Freefall was published in 2013, followed by Ribbonworld in 2015. September 2016 saw the publication of his first Steampunk adventure The Rocks of Aserol and of Flash Fiction, a collection of short stories. Myra, the prequel to Freefall was published in 2017, along with Andorra Pett and the Oort Cloud Café, a murder mystery set in space and the start of a series featuring Andorra Pett, an amateur detective.
He contributed a story to the 1066 Turned Upside Down collection and is currently working on prequels, sequels, and new projects.
He can be found at https://richarddeescifi.co.uk
and contacted at [email protected]