The Outer Worlds: Book One of the Epherian Chronicles by E J Gilmour Read Free Book Online

fighter. I’m sharp with my
pistol, and I’m not afraid of anything. You can send me into any
situation, and I won’t buckle under the pressure.’
    ‘ You’re really not afraid of anything?’ asked
Michael.
    ‘ Nothing at all, Captain. I have nothing to lose, so I have
nothing to be afraid of.’
    ‘ If you are really not afraid of anything then you won’t mind
telling us the real reason you want to join my crew,’ said Michael.
Cynthia lowered her eyes, and a few moments passed in silence.
‘That’s what I thought. I’m sorry, Cynthia, we don’t have any room
for you on our ship.’
    ‘ Wait, wait; just give me a second. The real reason; I’ll tell
you,’ she stammered. ‘The real reason is because I’m stuck on this
space station. X5126 is the worst place in the galaxy; just take a
look around; there’s nothing here but shadows and misery. They say
the aliens are coming. I don’t have any money, I don’t have a
family, and nobody has any friends in a backwater like this. If I
can’t find a crew I’ll die when the aliens sweep through and
destroy this place.’
    ‘ We’re not running a charity,’ grumbled Ajax.
    ‘ I don’t want your charity. I just want a chance to prove
myself, nothing more.’
    Michael stared
up at Cynthia for a long moment and wondered if he should give her
a chance. He knew what it felt like to be trapped, and he felt
sorry for Cynthia; nevertheless, a lot of people were in the same
situation. There were billions of people trying to escape the
advance of the aliens across the galaxy. He knew the life of a
station girl wasn’t one to be proud of. Life on a space station
like X5126 was one of hunger and hopelessness. He could fully
understand why she wanted to join his crew. She stared at the crew
with hopeful eyes.
    ‘ I’ll give you one mission and then it goes to a crew vote. We
will drop you off at the next civilised stop if anyone votes
against you. You have to prove yourself as you said you would. Do
you understand?’
    Cynthia’s eyes
lit up and she looked as surprised as she was happy. ‘I won’t let
you down,’ she said enthusiastically.
    ‘ Take a seat. I’ll introduce you. This is Ajax; he’s our heavy
gunner. Sara is our pilot. Ivan is an android, but you better treat
him like he isn’t a robot; and this is Ethan, he’s our mechanical
engineer.’ Dog-Two barked at Michael. ‘Oh, I nearly forgot; this is
Dog-Two.’
    **
    The Out
Drifter powered away from X5126. Michael was sitting beside Sara in
the co-pilot seat. He stared through the viewing panel at the faint
stars in the distance.
    ‘ Captain, I’m plotting a course through the alien battle zone
to Zeno Par. I hope we don’t regret this decision.’
    ‘ We won’t.’
    She hit the
ship’s internal communicator. ‘Ethan. How is everything looking in
the engine room?’
    ‘… All systems are functioning reasonably. The engines are at
eighty-five percent and increasing. The pressure release valves are
stable…’
    The pressure
release valves almost overloaded on a previous mission, which would
have destroyed the entire ship. When Michael had upgraded the
engine he hadn’t upgraded the release valves, which meant that they
were frequently at risk of exploding due to the large increase in
pressure. Ethan had welded several reinforced alloy sheets over the
valve casings, but they all knew that it was a patch job that could
not last. Michael felt a fair degree of anxiety each time they
switched to the interstellar engine, which required the reactor to
be at full power.
    ‘ We are almost ready for interstellar speed, Captain. I’ve
plotted the course. Twelve days to destination.’
    ‘ Let’s do it.’
    ‘ Switching engines now. The underlying two-dimensional field is
distorting. I’m developing the curve in three-dimensional space. We
have a stable trajectory. Here we go.’
    Sara turned on
the internal communicator. ‘Be ready for the gravitational
adjustment.’
    She reached
forward and