JAMES - CHAPTER X - Stranded (Sample of Book 3)

I was floating there in the depths of space. Like I was floating in a turbulent lake. The blackness around me feeling like a blanket smothering my pain. My arm still hurt from the sudden evacuation I had to perform off of the ship. I had my eyes closed, trying to imagine I was somewhere else, other than among this debris of dead starships.

I was wondering what was going to happen next. Knowing the enemy was still here, with me. Should I commit suicide before getting caught? I feared the consequences of getting caught more than you know. But I was still fearing death more. Even though there have been countless times where I have been resurrected, the thought of death still brought a chill up my spine.

Perhaps it was because I had experienced it so much that made it even more fearful. I mean, would I miss anything else if I were to die? What if I wouldn’t be materialised until far into the future when there was nothing left of the Milkyway other than broken planets and machines?

This war was relentless. I craved moments of being back on The Liberty, with my house and having a nice cold beer in the garden. Ahh, what a dream.

I saw a flash through my eyelids. Open my eyes just in time to confuse me by the arrival of The Liberty. Its rail guns firing all at once as it came out of warp. The particles gathered during its warp now destroying the ships that laid in front of it.

It gave me goosebumps as I saw nuclear explosions happening all over the battlefield. The brightness of them all blinding me. I could not believe the ship was there, I swore it was dead. It warped out of the battle again. Leaving behind a lot of destruction. The enemy ships within the battlefield began warping out in a different direction to The Liberty. To get away from the debris, mayhem and radiation left behind by the attack.

I knew at that point I was going to die and how I wished I had connected with The Liberty and uploaded myself into it. To materialise onto that ship would be a dream come true. The explosions were still expanding and attempting to blind me when my wish came true.

The Liberty once again warped in. Once again, the particles picked up by its warp rained destruction on any ships that remained. Once again they fired all their rail guns. This time, I connected to The Liberty. I downloaded myself into it and happy to see the download was successful.

I relaxed as I prepared a signal to be sent out at the event of my death along with my last memories. Then I vented my suit into space.

REHEW WOMAN - CHAPTER X - Bar Fight (Sample of Book 3)

This ship was not what I expected. I hoped we would find other Rehew when we arrived. But we find these Rehew wannabe Humans. They're so weak and pathetic.

The Tuhingans don’t seem scared of us either. Not like back at home, where they would cower in our presence. There is one thing that impresses me, however, it’s the fact that this Rehew ship survived and thrived for all this time. It was so nice to get into the centrifuge and find ourselves in a city. It almost felt like we were on a planet.

As soon as we went there, I knew what my crew needed. So we headed for the nearest bar to drain it of all its beer. We wanted our presence to be known. We wanted to Tuhingan to fear us. So we made an entrance, banged the door open. Demanded the beer.

They asked for some type of currency called ‘energy credits’. I told them I didn’t have any, but I had my gun. He still announced he needed energy credits and so I grabbed his shirt, pulled him towards me and pushed my gun into his chin. He smiled that annoying Tuhingan smile using only his eyes. So I shot him.

The Tuhingans in the bar got up and made for the exit. Announcing loudly, I said that I would shoot any Tuhingan that attempts to leave. They sat back down, however they weren’t as scared as I thought they should be. It confused me. The Tuhingans back home would have done anything to avoid this conflict.

“I see you are new here!” A Tuhingan said to me in a kind manner. “I know you are Rehew and therefore I tell you this! There is security on its way and you will die. I wanted you to know that next time, don’t show any aggression at all and I am sure you will love it on The Liberty!”

I pointed my gun at this annoyingly kind Tuhingan. “Come again?”

“This is what I mean! Make better decisions otherwise you will not come back to us. That, for me, would be very sad!”

At that moment, almost as if it was on schedule. The guards came in and shot one of my crew, instantly dead. A fire fight ensued as we began hiding behind the bar and shooting back. A Tuhingan was crouching behind there as well.

“It’s no use!” She said. “They will kill you anyway, may as well allow them!”

I shot her for even suggesting such a thing. None of them seemed afraid of death. It amazed and scared me at the same time. It was like I was in some type of horror as guard after guard came in firing at us. We continued killing, destroying and blowing up the bar.

It was a real mess, with the bodies piling up at the door. Yet there were still Tuhingan just relaxing and drinking their beer. Other wandering past the guards back out into the street, no problem, no sense of terror.

“I don’t want to die again! I hate it”, another Tuhingan said as he hid behind the bar to avoid the flying plasma from our weapons. Looked at him, I was astonished.

“Why aren’t you all terrified?” I asked.

He looked at me, confused. “Because we know we will materialise younger after we’re killed! Some people want it.”

“What?” I asked, completely befuddled by this information. “How is this possible?”

“You’ve been scanned, haven’t you?” He asked me, in a panicked way, as if fearing for my life.

“I don’t know!”

“But didn’t you arrive on The Liberty before it was destroyed?” he asked me.

“Eh, yeah!”

“Ah, you’ll be fine then!”

There was a moment of silence as we stopped firing to talk to this Tuhingan. Just as he said, “you’ll be fine then!” he got up and walked casually towards the door. Busca had a grenade and I nodded for him to throw it. Off it went and exploded, bringing the building down at the front, sealing the entrance.

“Did you make that grenade more powerful!?” I shouted.

“Maybe, I think I may have used the wrong grenade!” He said stupidly.

“Eh!” I said as I went over the bar to see nothing but rubble and the building coming down on top of us. “How are we going to get out of this?” I said as the rubble fell on top of me.

Thankyou for sticking with this story. It’s been tough writing it for a year and a half, spending most of my time doing it on a train. While you are reading this, I think I would have already had started one of my many other projects I want to do. There is more I can do with this novel, but for now I am concentrating my energy elsewhere. I am just happy that you read it and hope you enjoyed it. Please take the time to tell me if you did.

It would mean a lot to me to know you appreciated it. You could even ask what else I am up to. I’d love to talk to someone who has similar interests as me. Or even check up on the Starjump.nu website to see what I am up to, I will keep it updated.

I hope it’s not years before I come back to this. However, it may well be. But, maybe I will dabble with Star Jump from time to time.

I have finally finished writing on the 27th December 2020 and finished editing on the 1st February 2021.