Sliding Void (Book 1 of the Sliding Void Science Fiction Series)

By Stephen Hunt

DESCRIPTION

Captain Lana Fiveworlds has a hell of a lot of problems.

She's sliding void in an ageing seven-hundred-year-old space ship, scrabbling around the edges of civilised space trying to find a cargo lucrative enough to pay her bills without proving so risky that it'll kill her. She's got an alien religious freak for a navigator, an untrustworthy android for a first mate, a disgraced lizard for a trade negotiator and a deserter from the fleet acting as her chief engineer.

And that was well before an ex-crewman turns up wanting Lana to rescue a barbarian prince from a long-failed colony world.

Unfortunately for Lana, the problems she doesn't know about are even more dangerous. In fact, they just might be enough to destroy Lana's rickety but much-loved vessel, the Gravity Rose, and jettison her and her crew into the void without a spacesuit.

But there's one thing you can never tell an independent space trader. That's the odds...

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REVIEWS

Praise for Stephen Hunt's novels:

‘Hunt's imagination is probably visible from space. He scatters concepts that other writers would mine for a trilogy like chocolate-bar wrappers.’
- TOM HOLT

‘All manner of bizarre and fantastical extravagance.’
- DAILY MAIL

‘Compulsive reading for all ages.’
- GUARDIAN

‘Studded with invention.’
-THE INDENDENT

‘To say this book is action packed is almost an understatement... a wonderful escapist yarn!’
- INTERZONE

‘Hunt has packed the story full of intriguing gimmicks... affecting and original.’
- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

‘A rip-roaring Indiana Jones-style adventure.’
—RT BOOK REVIEWS

‘A curious part-future blend.’
- KIRKUS REVIEWS

‘An inventive, ambitious work, full of wonders and marvels.’
- THE TIMES

‘Hunt knows what his audience like and gives it to them with a sardonic wit and carefully developed tension.’
- TIME OUT

‘A ripping yarn ... the story pounds along... constant inventiveness keeps the reader hooked... the finale is a cracking succession of cliffhangers and surprise comebacks. Great fun.’
- SFX MAGAZINE

‘Put on your seatbelts for a frenetic cat and mouse encounter... an exciting tale.’
- SF REVU

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FORMAT

Novella - part 1 of a continuing, linked series.

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THE SERIES SO FAR...

Part 1 - Sliding Void
Part 2 - Transference Station
Part 3 is coming soon

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AGE ADVISORY

Age 15+ - mild violence and language.

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READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE THESE AUTHORS...

Douglas Adams
Neal Asher
Iain M. Banks
Jack Campbell
David Drake
Orson Scott Card
James S.A. Corey
Evan Currie
Peter F. Hamilton
Ric Locke
Dan Simmons
Charles Stross
David Weber

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GENRES

Science fiction (space opera)
Adventure (scifi)

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephen Hunt
• Release date: Jul 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781005340711

Stephen Hunt

Stephen Hunt is the author of several fantasy titles set in the Victorian-style world of the Kingdom of Jackals and is also the founder of www.SFcrowsnest.com, one of the oldest and most popular fan-run science fiction and fantasy websites, with nearly three quarters of a million readers each month. Born in Canada, the author presently lives in London, as well as spending part of the year with his family in Spain

Book preview

Sliding Void

Book 1 in the Sliding Void series.

Stephen Hunt

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Green Nebula

SLIDING VOID

Book 1 in the Sliding Void series.

First published in 2011 by Green Nebula Press

Copyright © 2011 by Stephen Hunt

Typeset and designed by Green Nebula Press

The right of Stephen Hunt to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on a subsequent purchaser.

To follow Stephen on Twitter: http://twitter.com/s_hunt_author

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For further information on Stephen Hunt’s novels, see his web site at http://www.StephenHunt.net

Praise for Stephen

‘Mr. Hunt takes off at racing speed.’

- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

‘Hunt’s imagination is probably visible from space. He scatters concepts that other writers would mine for a trilogy like chocolate-bar wrappers.’

- TOM HOLT

‘All manner of bizarre and fantastical extravagance.’

- DAILY MAIL

‘Compulsive reading for all ages.’

- GUARDIAN

‘An inventive, ambitious work, full of wonders and marvels.’

- THE TIMES

‘Hunt knows what his audience like and gives it to them with a sardonic wit and carefully developed tension.’

- TIME OUT

‘Studded with invention.’

-THE INDEPENDENT

‘To say this book is action packed is almost an understatement… a wonderful escapist yarn!’

- INTERZONE

‘Hunt has packed the story full of intriguing gimmicks… affecting and original.’

- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

‘A rip-roaring Indiana Jones-style adventure.’

—RT BOOK REVIEWS

‘A curious part-future blend.’

- KIRKUS REVIEWS

‘A ripping yarn … the story pounds along… constant inventiveness keeps the reader hooked… the finale is a cracking succession of cliffhangers and surprise comebacks. Great fun.’

- SFX MAGAZINE

‘Put on your seatbelts for a frenetic cat and mouse encounter... an exciting tale.’

- SF REVU

Contents

1. Planet of the Balls

2. World of winter, world of war

3. Sliding Void

4. The girl from nowhere

5. A gift on leaving

6. Continue the adventure

Chapter 1

Planet of the Balls

That was the problem with aliens, mused Lana. They were so damn alien . Not all of them, of course. The one sitting to her left, Skrat, looked like a man-sized lizard, but he might as well have been human compared to the two things swinging opposite them. The negotiators from the world Lana’s ship was currently orbiting were a series of mushy orange spheres joined together by flesh-coloured webbing. No eyes, no mouth, no ears she could see – just two ape-sized arms they could walk on or use to swing across the chamber from the various cables dangling from the ceiling. She didn’t know where to look, when a back was as good as a front. Their minds were so messed-up and off-the-scale, that Lana’s attempts at trying to win a cargo for the return leg of her journey were being answered by a stream-of-consciousness ramble from the translation stick linked into her ship’s computer. The chatter might as well be dub poetry rather than a serious attempt at negotiation for all that she understood it.

Lana flicked off the translation stick for a second and leant across to Skrat. ‘I don’t know what they’re saying, I don’t know the name of this world, I don’t know what was inside the sealed containers we’ve offloaded, and I don’t know what the heck we’re still doing docked to their so-called trading station.’

‘Patience,’ whispered Skrat. ‘There is a deal to be done here, old girl, I can feel it.’

Lana sighed. Given how shattered Skrat’s life had been before she had pulled him out of that scummy televised corporate gladiator pit, he sure was an optimist. She gazed across at the two delivery agents, one of them whirling about maniacally on the end of a rope, making dolphin-like clicking noises by pulsing its upper sphere in and out while simultaneously rapping like a drum. The thing’s friend was leaping up and down on one arm/leg (take your pick), and scratching the other’s underside. Is that grooming? Kissing? Indicating their thanks for the ship’s delivery; on time and on schedule?

Lana flicked the translation stick back on, a couple of seconds for the wireless connection to the linguistic computer on board the Gravity Rose to pick up speed, and then the speaker at the top of her stick started stuttering: ‘Joy comes from chance. Chance is all. Trade is chance. I am horny. I am dying. I am exclusive and taking a minute.’

‘To the solar winds with this,’ muttered Lana. She stood up and bowed ironically towards the two swinging collections of balls. ‘And I am so out of here. Take your minute and add a couple of decades before my ship comes within ten parsecs of your world again.’

The full effect of Lana’s outburst was slightly ruined by the bulky environment suit she wore to protect herself from the green gas that the balls had swirling around the visitor’s chamber as atmosphere. But what the hell, there had to be some privileges to being skipper of your own vessel.

Skrat was fast behind her, swishing his powerful tail in annoyance, the visor of his suit’s helmet misting up as he spat out his words. ‘That went well. Another hour, Lana, and we could have negotiated a really exceptional cargo to ship out-system. I’d guarantee it.’

Right now Lana was glad the environment suit covered Skrat. Out of the suit-skin he looked like a bipedal dragon – all shining green scales, solid muscles, sharp white teeth, a pair of eyes like burning coals floating on a chlorophyll-choked millpond – and nobody in their right mind wanted a humanoid dragon annoyed with them. In fact, dragon was one of the politer nicknames for Skrat’s race among humanity. Much like dragons, their kind was up for a fight if push came to shove, but they loved trading far more. His species would much rather get one over you in a negotiation than stick a dagger in your back.

‘What, with Mister I Am Dying and I Am Horny? Shizzle, Skrat. You were going to end up selling us into their local brothel is what you were going to do.’

‘System crash,’ squawked the translation stick, still active in her hand after she’d snatched it off the table. ‘Core rebooting. Fatal agglutinative group error.’

‘Ha,’ said Skrat, his magnetised boots cracking down the airlock tunnel linking the orbital station to their ship. The station corridors were low for Lana’s six-foot frame. Skrat was three inches taller and he had to stoop even more than she did as he strolled quickly after her. ‘I knew it. Language errors. We definitely should have given the dashed computer longer to adjust to their dialect.’

Lana tapped the side of her helmet. ‘It’s not their language, it’s what’s up here that counts. You’re aiming to service a planet’s demand-side needs, you got to understand how the locals think. What they got that anybody wants? Ass-scratching sticks? I told you when we took on the cargo, this would be a one-way job. Sealed containers always are.’

‘And to prove you’re right, we’re shipping out of here with an empty hold,’ sighed Skrat.

‘Empty hold on my ship,’ Lana reminded him.

They reached the ship’s airlock, and she leaned forward to let the small camera take her retina print. Scoring a match, the outer door hissed up into the hull. Polter was just visible on the other side of the airlock, eyestalks peering up through the inner door’s armoured glass. Next to their navigator stood Zeno, the ship’s android first mate. Polter’s fussy voice echoed through the little chamber as they stepped inside and closed off the lock. ‘Are we blessed with a return cargo?’

‘I believe you will need to address that question to the captain,’ sighed Skrat.

‘Sorry to say, but God has taken the day off,’ said Lana. ‘We’ll be running light until we hit the next system.’

‘Perhaps not,’ came Polter’s reply. ‘There have been developments, oh yes.’

Developments? That didn’t sound good to Lana. She was in charge of developments. Anyone else started developing shizzle and you just knew that trouble was going to come bouncing close behind. Lana’s helmet yanked off with a hiss of escaping air under pressure, and she flicked her mane of long blonde hair back as she reached for an Alice