The door to the bridge slid open, and Legba entered. “You are close, but that is not quite correct. This vision that you experienced, it was not a dream.”
He approached the command deck and looked up at Bentley, smiling. “Bentley, you have always had the power to see things beyond yourself. However, the sword seems to have strengthened and developed that ability even further.”
Bentley nodded. “Great. So yet another way that the sword has fucked me up?”
Legba rocked his head back and forth, considering this. “That is certainly a, a colorful way of articulating the idea. But yes, I suppose so.”
Bentley walked down the steps, towards Legba. “I meant ‘fucked me up’ in the nicest possible way, of course.”
Legba nodded, smiling. “Of course you did.”
Shango stood up from the floor, having also lost his footing during the impact. He looked at Bentley sheepishly.
Bentley met is gaze. A tight smile came across her face. “Are you about to tell me to leave the bridge, given my current lack of bridge privileges?”
Shango smiled sadly. “Oh, no, no. Definitely not. All of your privileges are hereby fully reinstated.”
Loco snapped his fingers, disappointed. “Aw, man. With Bentley banned from the bridge, I was finally going to be able to start up my ‘No Bentleys’ club. Now I guess that’s just a beautiful dream for another day…”
Shango stared at his feet, embarrassed. “Bentley, I, I would like to formally apologize. To you. I should have given more credence to what you were saying, and put more trust in you. I am afraid that there are many aspects of your abilities that I do not yet fully understand. And I do not yet know what I do not yet know.”
Bentley shrugged. “Yeah, that seems reasonable. It would be pretty tough to hold that against you.”
The door to the bridge slid open once more, and Olofi entered wearing a robe, a tired expression on his face. He yawned, and gazed at the rest of the crew. “Hey. Would anyone happen to know why the ship smells like burnt metal, and burnt plastic, and burnt… everything? Also, Jelly Bean, why are you sitting on the floor?”
Bentley looked over at Olofi, grinning. “You wouldn’t happen to be an incredibly heavy sleeper, would you?”
Olofi shrugged. “I mean, yeah, I guess so. How did you know?”
Loco crossed his arms and shook his head. “Who fucking knows? She’s probably a fucking psychic or something.”
+++
Aboard the Chesed, Leviathon-Q Sector
Bentley sat in the examination seat in the med bay, her right arm extended towards Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean sat on a stool, applying an adhesive bandage to Bentley’s arm. Jelly Bean ran her palm the length of the bandage, applying pressure, securing the bandage in place. “All right, Bentley. How does that feel?”
Bentley looked down at her bandaged arm. She flexed her muscle, watching the bandage move over the muscles in her arm. She shrugged. “It feels fine, I guess. I barely even noticed that I had sustained any injuries during the crash. It’s a good thing that someone eventually got around to telling me that I was bleeding. I could have made a real mess of my bed sheets.”
Jelly Bean nodded. “You did have a lot going on. There was a lot to process, so it is not terribly surprising that your sense of pain was not as acute as it might normally be.”
Jade leaned against the wall, beside Svend. She gestured at her arms and legs, which were covered in bandages. “Hey, you know, I had a lot to process, too. But I definitely noticed when all of that broken glass was cutting my arms and legs to shit. Still, ensuring pressure equalization and keeping water flowing to the sprinkler systems and making sure that the fuel lines kept their integrity so that the ship didn’t fucking explode seemed like a pretty high priority at the time.”
Bentley smiled and brought her palms together in a gesture of mock prayer. “Ah, yes. Thank you, dear Jade. You truly are our one and only savior. Praise be to you.”
Jade smiled. “I know that you’re being incredibly sarcastic, but that does actually mean a lot, coming from the person who really did save all of our lives.”
Bentley waved away the compliments. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. I’m just happy to be sitting in the medical bay, and actually be getting medical treatment. This is a very novel experience for me. Most of the time when I’m here, I’m just learning various ways that Legba has been a jerk to me in the past. Most days I would fucking kill for a bandage and a lollipop.”
Bentley tilted her head, a realization crossing her mind. She turned in her seat, looking around the room. “Speaking of which… are there any lollipops in here? I feel like preventing the death of the entire crew, as well as protecting the ship itself, is sufficient to merit at least one piece of candy on a stick. Maybe two, even. One for the Chesed, one for the survival of all of the conscious beings on the ship?”
Jelly Bean sighed. “This may surprise you, coming from a being who is literally named ‘Jelly Bean,’ but there is remarkably little candy stored on the Chesed at this moment.”
Svend shook his head. “Or maybe there is the exact amount of candy you would expect, given that, for all intents and purposes, it is a spacecraft populated entirely by adults, rather than, say, a candy store, or a preschool.”
Bentley looked at Svend, an adoring smile on her face. “Next time we stop somewhere, how about we skip out on drinking shitty beers with Loco, and just buy, like, a metric ton of candy. That would probably last me for at least a week.”
Svend smiled back sweetly. “Sure thing. As long as I don’t have to carry it. I feel like I haven’t yet recovered from carrying Gakkra around Verracci.”
Bentley grinned at him teasingly. “Do you think you’ll be able to carry me around for a while? Nowhere too far. Just to the bed.”
Svend nodded, a twinkle in his eye. “I think that could be arranged…”
Jade looked back and forth between Bentley and Svend. “Oh, come on, guys. Get a fucking room.”
Bentley smiled. “Oh, that is exactly what we intend to do. Don’t you worry about it.”
Jelly Bean put away the box of adhesive bandages in a cupboard, a look of trepidation coming across her face. “Bentley… I do not mean to interrupt your various volleys of innuendo, but there was something rather serious that I wanted to talk to you about…”
Bentley turned quickly towards Jelly Bean and looked at her expectantly. “Oh yeah? Is it news about those fuckers in that ship behind us? The ones who keep following us everywhere we go?”
Jelly Bean smiled mutedly. “Oh, no, I am afraid not. No updates there. Based on what I have been able to decipher, my best guess is still that they are human rebels in a stolen ship. Although their code symbols were quite different from the ones that I was acquainted with, based on my knowledge of other rebel ships.”
Svend narrowed his eyes and sighed. “My best bet is still that they’re an offshoot of the main branch of the rebellion. Based on my limited encounters with the human rebels, it seemed like there were some, uh, fairly substantial issues that were leading to some very definite divisions. And you know, if you’re already a rebel, what’s the harm in rebelling from the rebellion? Seems pretty much in line with their whole ethos.”
Jelly Bean nodded. “In any case, Olofi has reached out to our human rebel contact, Nikola, to see if he knows anything about this ship, or this situation generally. As far as I know, Olofi has yet to hear back from Nikola, so there is no news on that front.”
Bentley sat back in the examination seat, nodding. “Okay… So then… What do you want to tell me, exactly?”
A pained expression came across Jelly Bean’s face. She bowed her head. “It… It is a matter related to the sword… And the theft of the sword… Which was committed by me…”
Bentley shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, that’s fine. You returned it to me, and now it’s back in its inviolable vault: the empty space under my bed.”
Svend twisted his mouth. “Have you considered,
you know, getting an actual vault, instead of a just being sarcastic about it?”
Bentley shot Svend a playful accusatory look. “Why? So you can figure out a way to break into that one, too? Don’t try to pretend that you weren’t a part of this sword-stealing scheme.”
Svend raised his hands in mock apology. “Okay, okay. You got me. Guilty as charged.”
Jelly Bean’s face was still dominated by angst. She looked up at Bentley. “Bentley, even if this matter does not weigh on you, I would still like to apologize. It was a violation of your trust, to take the sword without your permission. And for that, I am truly, deeply sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”
Bentley gazed down at Jelly Bean with a look of compassion. “Okay. If it will make you feel better. You’ve apologized. Now you’re forgiven. All better?”
Jelly Bean smiled. “Yes. That does feel much better. Thank you. The whole thing makes me feel so stupid. I really should have just asked you. Svend and I had hoped that we could find something in the sword’s programming that would help distribute the overwhelming responsibility that comes with it. Perhaps something that would make it usable by other crew members, for instance.”
Svend sighed. “And just so you know, this research endeavor was a total flop. We couldn’t find anything. Except dead ends. Lots of dead ends.”
A look of disappointment came across Jelly Bean’s face. “I had hoped that if we could find some way to make the sword usable by other crew members, then some of the burden of responsibility might be eased off of your shoulders. So that responsibility for the sword would not rest entirely on you.”
Bentley took a deep breath. “That is very kind of you. Thank you for your valiant efforts. All of you. But you know what? After all of the time that I’ve spent with Legba, and after seeing everything that he’s shown me, I’m starting to think that maybe I really should be the guardian of this sword. Not to get too lofty or anything, but I think I’m coming around to the idea that it might be… you know. My destiny. Or whatever.”
Jade nodded. “’My destiny. Or whatever.’ You’re right, that is pretty fucking lofty.”
Svend smiled. “I guess it’s a good thing that we picked up Legba after all. I’ll be the first to admit, I definitely had my doubts about him, but—”
Svend was interrupted by the sound of an incomprehensible yell, coming from the hallway. Bentley, Jade, Jelly Bean, and Svend all stayed completely still and utterly silent, listening intently.
They heard Loco’s voice booming down the hallway. “Wait. I’m sorry. Bentley promised Legba, what? BENTLEY!”
Bentley leaned back in the examination seat. She looked up at the ceiling and exhaled. “Oh, right. Shit.”
CorteX Transmission from Jelly Bean
Hello.
Jelly Bean here.
Yes, yes. I know - funny name for an android. My creator had a sense of humor. Quite frankly I’m just happy he didn’t call me Marshmallow. That’s what his next creation was designated.
Bentley has asked me to be the liaison between her adventures and your earth communication methods.
I believe you call it email?
Why you don’t have corteX implants in your neck of the woods I don’t know. So much more convenient… Unless you don’t want to be tracked. Maybe that’s it. You don’t want your every movement monitored. Human rebels – you’re all so…
I digress.
I am here to act as your interface. To send you alerts of when the next instalment of Bentley’s adventures is available to you on Amazon. Or the ‘Zon as we like to call it.
If you’d like to track Bentley through her trials and tribulations as she tackles all manner of shenanigans, then please go ahead and leave your corteX/ email address here:
http://ellleighclarke.com/Jelly
As you might have gathered, this transmission will not just be coming through space between our sectors, but is also travelling back through time.
I will attempt to send you updates in chronological order but do be advised that occasionally gravitational optics will interfere (no pun intended! tee hee) with the sequencing of these packets.
An understanding of all things timey-whimey will be useful in such instances.
Additionally, if you have any feedback for Bentley - or the crew - do feel free to pass that on through me. All you need to do is hit reply to any of my messages.
I process every communication personally.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Jelly Bean
(on behalf of Bentley and the crew of the Chesed)
Chesed comms QM
Klaunox Sector
Author Notes: Ell Leigh Clarke
Austin, Tuesday, 12th February, 2019
Thank yous
Lots of people go into making a series like this.
I’d like to say a massive thank you to the team of suppliers who made this book possible: Canadian Brittany, Jeff-fa-fa, AJ, and Sasha.
Thank you, guys! Your hard work, care and attention mean the world to me :)
JITers
Massive, and uber thanks also go out to our JIT team and lord high commander, Brittany, for all their hard work in making sure the words reach you double-proofed, read and re-read. Thank you so much for all the love and care you put into the process.
We couldn’t do this without you, and it’s a huge weight off my mind when I know you guys have looked through a manuscript before we go ahead and hit publish!
Thank you! <3
Reviewers
Mega thanks also goes out to our Amazon reviewers. It’s because of you that we get to do this full time. Without your five-star reviews and thoughtful words on Amazon we simply wouldn’t have enough folks reading these space shenanigans to be able to write full time.
You are the reason these stories exist and you have no idea how frikkin’ grateful I am to you.
Truly, thank you.
Here’s a list of Book 4: Resistance, reviewers that were live at time of writing:
LoisA, John A. Kossey, John, Kathleen F, acpat, A. Zdunczyk, R. Miller, Jeanne E., Dalton, Richard Leach, Les Hager, Nats4Us2, Skybear, JMN4555, Sara L. Skroh, Emmsy83, Kim, Steve, T K Wilson, and Sunny Lady.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! This means the world to me <3
Readers and FB page supporters
I’d like to also thank *YOU* for reading this book. Your enthusiasm for the worlds, and characters, is heart-warming. Your words of encouragement, and demands for the next episode are awesome!
Thank you for being here, for the giggles and interaction, for reading, and reviewing. You rock, and without you, there really would be no reason to write these stories.
Thank You to Our Growing Patreon Family
Last and by no means least I’d like to say a huge thank you to our growing Patreon family:
Allan MacBain, Anne Henderson, Brian Roberts, Cynthia MacLeod, Darrell Heckler, David Pollard, James Burrett, Jolie Brackett, Judith Wiseman, Kendra Gilmore, Lester Nye, Mary Morris, Nat Thongchai, Russell Peake, and Sandra Chapman.
You may occasionally notice that a “human” name is used for characters here and there. That is because this is one of the ways we honor our Patrons – we name characters after them.
If you’d like to get a character named after you, and to continue the back stage shenanigans, feel free to join us over at: https://www.patreon.com/ellleighclarke.
This is also where I share a lot of the thoughts and ideas that I wouldn’t want to put out into the wider world just yet. Sometimes it’s coz they’re controversial. Sometimes it’s just coz I’m still developing them. Still, they make for interesting discussions, and often evolve from one post to the next.
Think of it as a back stage pass, or extended author notes as they happen.
Anyway, if you’re game, I’ll look forward to hanging out with you over there – either through the written posts and discussions, the Author Shenanigan videos, or on one of our live streams. (Yep, I think we’re
overdue another movie night!)
Shhh - don’t tell anyone. It’ll spoil my cred ;)
For years I’ve resisted reading. However, if you’ve been following the Isobella Crowley books you will have seen that I’ve recently had my mind changed. (If you like magic and spells in your stories, you’ll probably enjoy the books as well as just the author notes.)
Anyway, as a result of that c-change, I’ve actually started reading. Most of my motivation comes from all the non-fiction stuff I want to absorb, and audio recordings are definitely helping.
Text books, on the other hand… are not. They take an epic amount of time to read, so hitting the reading time I committed to is not helping me hit the “number of books read” in a year quota. But this is what I want to read, so I persist.
Anyway, one of my friends writes litrpg. She’s a (former) gamer, and a really good writer, and I’ve been wanting to read her books since I met her. Now that I’m actually reading, and doing this 50 books in a year thing, I figured I should take the time to read her material.
I needed to find out her secret pen names though.
So I messaged her:
Ellie: Tell me, are your litrpg books on Amazon now? What should I search to read them? (Shhh – don’t tell anyone I’ve started reading. It’ll spoil my street cred!)
I bet by now she’s already told Amy.
Amy is a voracious reader, and you’ll probably remember how she looks down on anyone who does spend at least quarter of their life reading. I have a horrible feeling this is going to cost me dearly. Cost me in terms of social cred and give them a renewed license to give me a hard time ;)
Especially if the next time I see them they are together.
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