Desperation

By Janet McNulty

A man is trapped on a crashed spaceship surrounded by aliens. Will he escape to safety before they eat him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Janet McNulty
• Release date: Jul 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476318554

Janet McNulty

I began construction on Legends Lost Amborese ten years ago while in high school. At the time it was merely a few pages of notes in a notebook. I continued working on the story of Amborese while in college in the hope of publishing it. That day came in August 2011 when the book was first printed. Most recently, I have published the second book in Legends Lost: Tesnayr. I keep myself busy writing the third and final novel in the Legends Lost trilogy: Galdin, which will be released in Summer 2013. You can learn more here: www.legendslosttrilogy.com If you prefer something more contemporary try the Mellow Summers Series. Mellow Summers moves to Vermont to start a new life only to discover that she has a acquired a new ability: she can speak to ghosts. Join her as she is pulled from one mystery to another. I have also published in the area of nonfiction: Illogical Nonsense. I had never planned on writing nonfiction, but when I had the chance to write a political commentary book, I took it. I enjoyed it and hope that it is insightful to any who read it. Besides writing I also read, hike, and crochet. Sometimes I just wander around doing nothing at all. Every once in awhile a girl needs a break and these are great past times.

Book preview

Desperation

Janet McNulty

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents within are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or location is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright © 2011 Janet McNulty

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Please do not engage in piracy by posting this on other websites or producing unauthorized copies. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Title

Note to the Reader

Desperation-Beginning

Thanks for reading!

About the Author

More by this Author

Solaris Seethes Free Preview

Prologue

Chapter 1 A Planet Destroyed

Chapter 2 A Prophecy

Chapter 3 Solon

Chapter 4 Alfric

Chaoter 5 Brie

Chapter 6 Tom

Chapter 7 Heroes Summoned

Chapter 8 At the Beginning

Chapter 9 Voice from the Past

Chapter 10 Hungry, Hungry Plants

Note to the Reader

This is just a short story and nothing more. It was never meant to be anything more than a quick, five minute read. I hope you enjoy it. Once you have read it, please consider leaving an honest review and letting others know your thoughts about it,.

Sweat pours down my oil and grease-stained face as I struggle to get out of the crumpled mess of a ship, and the only portion of it that wasn’t a pile of scrap metal, remaining, somewhat, intact. Wires drape across my back as I crawl through the narrow tube, scratching and cutting the skin as my shirt tears, while the flashlight clomps on the thin metal sheeting, producing hollow echoes with each movement I make. I know that the main exit hatch is this way, if I can only get there. The sweltering heat in this metallic oven is enough to fry an egg, and roast me as well. Too bad there weren’t any potatoes around: now, that would make a nice pot roast.

My hand brushes something oblong and gritty. Picking it up, I squint in the dim light and realize that it’s a potato. Great. So now fate is having some fun at my expense.

My path is blocked. Fumbling, I discover that it is a metal grate; I’ve reached the end of the workman’s tube. I twist the handle, but it doesn’t budge. Okay, so plan A did not work; time for plan B. With some careful maneuvering, I turn myself around so that my feet touch the grate and kick, forcing the door to pop off its hinges and clatter on the floor in a ear-piercing dance, and crawl out of my personal oven. I have found the main escape hatch, though, I hope that noise did not attract any attention.

How I ended up here, I will never know. Have you ever gone from one shitty situation to another? That seems to be the story of my life. All I wanted was a little adventure. Was that too much to ask? Guess so, since I ended up with more than I had bargained for.

Serve a year or two on a merchant ship, said my uncle, when I had told him about my desires for more adventure in life. I think he really just wanted to be rid of me.

Thanks for the bad advice, lard-ass. I hope you’re happy now, you fat bastard, sitting, feet propped up, in your easy chair; its stuffing and support springs squeezed out due to 20 years of supporting your gigantic butt, while you munched on oatmeal raisin cookies.

Of course, I followed his advice, like any adventure-starved, eighteen-year-old lad who wanted to get as far away from home as possible. This was the first ship to enter the space dock back home in three years and I signed a two year contract to work in the cargo hold. Though, if you lived on a dreary planet where the only entertainment was rummaging through the local dump, searching for anything that could be used for mischief making, you’d do the same thing just to get away. Okay… okay, so I had found a bike during one of my stints in the dump. Naturally, I thought it had been garbage—why else would it be at the dump? So, I took it and led the local authorities on a high speed chase, hence why I am really on this ship. If they can’t find me; they can’t arrest me. By the time I return home, they will have forgotten about my little bout of law breaking.

Things went okay for the first few weeks: early mornings, long shifts, and good, old-fashioned hard work. We had just entered sector 6, and were about to land on an exotic planet, whose women were known for their pleasures, when the trouble started.

The Klafka had blown a hole in the ship, ripping engineering to shreds with whole sections being jettisoned into space, forcing us to crash land on the nearest planet. Nasty beasts, the Klafka. Why they are called that is anyone’s guess, but mostly it means slimy monsters with tentacles. They’re scavengers, who love pursuing prey and eat their victims alive. Somehow, two of them had managed to board the ship before it had crashed, and survive of course, so you can understand why I’m desperate to escape. I don’t fancy being eaten alive. Would anyone? A little bit of ketchup might make anyone palatable, but I’m a little attached to my life.

I pop the paneling off a circuit relay I’ve spotted and flip the main switch. No power. Of course there’s no power. Guess I will have to open this door the hard way. My foot bumps something stiff and unyielding. It’s a crowbar. Ecstatic, I scoop it up and hug it as though it is an ancient relic worth more than all of the currency in the universe. To me, it is worth much more as it may mean the difference between me getting out of here, or dying in this crumpled, roasting pot. I kneel beside door (my throat desperate for a drop of water in this kiln) and jam a crowbar in the slit where the hatch should open, doing my best to maintain my hold as the crowbar slips in my sweaty palms. Juggling a flashlight, while trying to force an air lock door open is not easy. I had hoped to find other survivors, but it appears that I am completely alone; except for the two Klafka that had managed to board the ship before the crash. I hear distant sounds and screeching, telling me that I better hurry, unless I want to be dinner. Sweat stings my eyes as I try to find some leverage to force open the door. The crowbar slips.

A sharp echo sounds behind me. They’re close. They can smell my odorous stench—I probably remind them of a