The Outer Worlds: Book One of the Epherian Chronicles Read Online Free Page B

under his breath as he lifted his
wrist-com. ‘Sara. I want you to fire the Out Drifter’s rocket
launchers at the storage hold’s space door.’
    ‘… You want me to what?...’
    ‘ Fire rockets at the storage hold’s outer space door,’ he
repeated.
    ‘… but, Captain, I…’
    ‘ Sara, fire the rockets. That’s an order.’
    Ajax shook his
head and wiped his brow. ‘If we survive this I’m going to buy you a
trophy,’ he said, a grim smile crossing his lips.
    ‘ Get into a sleeping pod! We’re going to make it.’
    ‘ I’ve always admired your overconfidence, Cap,’ said Ajax as he
reluctantly hopped into one of the sleeping pods; Ethan had already
slid into another.
    ‘ Seal your pods,’ shouted Michael.
    ‘ What about you, Cap?’
    ‘ I’ll be the last one in.’
    Both Ajax and
Ethan hit the operation lever inside their pods. A moment later the
pods sealed and they both immediately fell asleep.
    An explosion
rang out which was followed by two additional blasts. Within
moments the artificial gravity dissipated inside the shipping
container. Michael lost his footing and was floating in zero
gravity as the container was sucked out into space through the
gaping hole in the side of the space station. He half expected the
shipping container to decompress as it drifted away, but the door
seal maintained its integrity.
    ‘ Sara, pull us in with the gravitational harpoon.’
    ‘… Captain, how will I get you on board the Out Drifter? I can’t
open the shipping container in space…’
    ‘ Yes you can,’ said Michael. ‘We will be contained in vacuum
proof sleeping pods. Program one of the Out Drifter’s external bots
to open the container. When we float out you can pick each of us up
with the external robotic arm and load us into the
airlock.’
    ‘… It’s a crazy plan, Captain, but I think it will
work…’
     

CHAPTER
TWO
     
    Ivan’s body
was lying on the workshop table in the cargo bay. It had taken
several hours to locate him floating in space after he had been
sucked out along with everything else in the space station’s
storage hold. The lasers had destroyed his internal battery and
damaged a large part of his hydraulic motor.
    Michael
brought a power cord and connected it to the power outlet which was
hanging out of his chest. Ivan instantly opened his eyes.
    ‘ Captain, I have sustained severe damage to my battery and my
alternator will need to be replaced.’
    ‘ I’m glad you are still alive,’ said Michael.
    ‘ Technically, most people would say I am not alive,
Captain.’
    ‘ What I’m really trying to say is that I am glad your
processing unit and memory circuits are operational.’
    ‘ I comprehend your meaning, Captain.’
    Sara walked
into the cargo bay. ‘We’re travelling at interstellar speed and
should arrive at Timber 5 in eight days, but we still have nothing
to sell to the scrappers,’ she said.
    ‘ We have to change course for Zeno Par,’ said
Michael.
    ‘ Zeno Par,’ repeated Sara, her eyes narrowing. ‘That would take
us through the alien battle zone. We could go the long way around,
but we probably wouldn’t have enough fuel to make it back to Timber
5. The reactor fuel level is below thirty percent.’
    ‘ The aliens won’t be able to intercept us if we are travelling
at interstellar speed.’
    ‘ Don’t bet on it,’ she said soberly. ‘I was once in a battle
convoy of thirty ships travelling through alien controlled space.
We thought there was no way they could stop us, but they used a
sophisticated gravitational technology to draw some of our ships
out of interstellar speed. They destroyed those ships before we
even knew what was happening.’
    ‘ It’s a risk we have to take,’ he said.
    ‘ Why Zeno Par?’ she asked.
    ‘ There’s someone I need to find.’
    ‘ I thought we were a salvage crew, not bounty hunters,’ she
said, crossing her arms.
    ‘ I’m not after a bounty,’ he said.
    ‘ Then what are you after?’ Michael