Pilgrim

By S.J. Bryant

Think it's dead? Better be sure.

Nova is a renegade bounty hunter in need of cash. The target: a colonisation ship that went radio silent more than a hundred years ago.

Easy.

But Nova's search for salvage soon becomes a desperate fight for survival. The colonists aren't quite dead; they've evolved--mutated--and even darker secrets lurk beneath this planet's surface.

If you enjoy plasma pistols and non-stop action, then you'll love this space adventure. Get it now and dive into your next bounty hunter mission.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Saffron Bryant
• Release date: Apr 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310060977

Book preview

PILGRIM

S.J. Bryant

Copyright 2015 Saffron Bryant

Published by Saffron Bryant at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. 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 enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Contents

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Journey Continues

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CHAPTER ONE

Leela woke with a start, her eyes snapping open. The silence of the night crept into her tent, accompanied only by her slow breathing, creating plumes of mist. Cold tendrils whispered across her skin as she stared vacantly at the roof of her tent.

She sat up and turned to the side, her legs falling over the edge of her low bed. Her feet were heavy on the ground. Her brown hair tumbled over her shoulders in tangled waves. She stood and shrugged out of her tunic, her pale bare skin shining in the moonlight. With dream-like movements, she folded the garment and put it on her shelf.

Leela turned to the tent flap and stepped out into the moonlight in a trance, wearing nothing more than a necklace made of twisted wires. She walked with confident steps away from her shelter, passing other tents but their occupants remained silent. Crickets chirped a loud chorus but fell silent as she passed. A swarm of mosquitoes buzzed about Leela’s ankles, leaving a trail of bites.

The welcoming arms of the forest spread across the horizon, surrounding the field and the small collection of tents. Her bare feet didn’t feel the rocks and sticks, which dug into her skin and left red gouges. She also didn’t notice the branches whipping her face or the cold seeping into her bones.

Even after the morning sun lit the trees, Leela kept hiking. The branches were so thick that the morning light barely shone through the leaves. Animals hurried away from her feet and even the birds were silent as she made her pilgrimage.

She continued on, further than she had ever been from her village. She walked until her path joined a stream that bubbled along by her side. She walked upstream in a trance, completely unaware of her surroundings, or her imminent death.

CHAPTER TWO

Watch it, Nova said. She gazed out of the glass window of her small ship as it landed. The grass rose up to meet them as the ship, Crusader, connected to the ground with a rough bump. The craft was a rusted-out cargo ship with living quarters big enough for one person.

As you might remember, I asked you to replace the depth detectors over a year ago, the ship replied in a crisp female voice. The artificial intelligence running the ship was generations old but it suited Nova just fine.

Just go slower next time, Nova said. I really can’t afford to be stranded on an outer galaxy planet.

Of course, Crusader replied with all the sincerity of a used-car salesman.

How close are we to the crash site? Nova asked.

It shouldn’t be too far away. A few kilometres at most, a new voice said.

Nova turned to look at the spherical robot. He had smooth panels that covered his round exterior. He was the size of a soccer-ball and had come with the ship, a Class-4 Labourbot, or ‘Cal’ as Nova affectionately knew him. He had a single camera lens that functioned as an eye. Cal hovered over and floated level with Nova’s eyes.

Outside of the front window a swampy patch of ground spread out, dotted with stunted trees. Mist floated amongst the branches and across the grass.

What does the Cloud say about this swamp? Nova asked. She referred to the massive information network that spread between the human colonies, across the vast distances of space. It was said that the Cloud contained every piece of information known to the human colonies.

Cal’s lens moved about the landscape as he spoke. The planet is known as Taive. When the colonisation ship crashed, the survivors tried to set up their colony here. Reports suggest it was initially successful. Much of the introduced flora and fauna took root.

Nova nodded. She knew most of what Cal was saying. It was obvious that many of the animals and some of the plant species she could see and hear had been introduced from old-Earth stock.

However, later reports indicate some kind of failure in the human colony and communication with them ceased approximately one hundred and fifty years ago. All colonists were presumed dead.

Pity for them. Nova continued to study the planet. A thick mist crawled over some of the swamps, further hiding the watery traps. Good for me though, hopefully they still have what we need. Maybe they’ll even have a working depth detector we can use.

When first settled, there were no sentient life-forms. The planet mostly consisted of swamp-land plantation and some insectoid species, Cal said. Every discovered planet had at least one entry in the Cloud and it was intergalactic law to document every life-form found on new planets, independent of its determined sentience.

Here’s hoping we’re the first bounty hunters to get here, otherwise the whole trip will have been for nothing, Nova said, thinking about the precious warp converter she was hoping to find.

Cal hovered to Crusader’s main screen and scanned the topographical map.

Nova massaged her right foot, working her hands over her ankles in a desperate attempt to ease the ever-present ache. Most of the time she could ignore it but today was especially bad. In a way, she was grateful just to have a foot at all, but on days like today when the bone-deep ache throbbed in time with her heartbeat she felt like chopping it off herself.

She’d never been the same since her run-in with the Ancients. Cal had done his best and the money they’d made from the salvage had paid for most of her medical expenses but it was outer planet healing. She couldn’t risk going to the Confederacy, not when Codon could be looking for her. She hoped that her warning was enough to keep him away but there was no way to be sure, and she’d spent the last six months looking over her shoulder, expecting to see Confederacy cruisers on her arse.

She squeezed her ankle and the pressure distracted her from the pain for a few blissful seconds. She knew that her paranoia was only partially due to the Confederacy; the rest of it was thanks to the voices that plagued her head. It had taken six full months of careful meditation and practice to bring the visions under control. She’d shut herself off from the rest of the world and with Cal’s help had spent every waking hour working on keeping herself sane.

Eventually, the blood, sweat, and tears had paid off. Now the screams and voices were dulled and she could ignore them. It was only when she lost control of her emotions that the visions surged back and overwhelmed her. She hadn’t dared test her ability to reach through time for fear of falling through and never finding her way back again. As far as she was concerned, the most important thing was staying sane and that meant staying in control.

Alright, strap up. We’re out of here, Nova said. She pulled her boot over her throbbing foot and jumped down from the swivelling pilot’s chair, grabbing a bulging satchel from the floor. She marched to the loading bay. Cal floated right behind her.

The loading bay coupled as the engine room. It was small and cramped with equipment. The metal floor was polished to a sheen. The walls were lined with equipment blinking intermittently. A cage took up the far corner of the room, perfect for holding fugitives and other bounty that might cross her path.

Nova punched her fist into a green button set into the wall and a section of the ship slid out and across to reveal the planet beyond. She glanced around and jumped to the ground with a thump.

Don’t wait up, she called to Crusader with a chuckle.

Cal hovered to Nova’s shoulder and the metal door slid shut behind him with a hiss.

Nice place, she said, observing the small clearing surrounded by stunted trees.

There was a smell in the air, like rotten vegetation or overturned dirt. It emanated from the swampy marshland spread out between the trees. The murky waters were barely discernible from the solid ground under her feet, both surfaces being covered with the same green, grass-like vegetation.

She reached up and pulled a long stick from the nearest tree; she was damned if she was going to fall into a murky pond.

The forest and swampland were eerily quiet. A few crickets and birds chirped between the trees, but it was mostly still and silent. The air hung heavy with a humid heat that soon had Nova sweating through her layers of clothing. She wouldn’t take them off though; she could already see insects swarming towards her, landing on her thick clothing and attempting to puncture their way through.

She swatted at a large mosquito flying straight for her face. It curved around her hand in a lazy arc and flew a few metres away.

Cal, let’s get some insect repellent, she said.

In response, a hatch in Cal’s side lifted and a metal arm extended holding a small can. The robot sprayed the air around Nova’s body. The mosquito swarm lifted off and moved away.

Well, let’s get exploring, Nova said. She strode forward, tapping her stick on the ground before taking each step.

Scanners detect some large life-forms in the bigger swamps, probably crocodiles, Cal cautioned.

She got the message: don’t step into the water or you’re likely to get eaten. The thought sent a shiver up her spine. She’d never admit it, but under-water predators were one of her greatest fears. After-all, humanity had conquered the land and they had conquered space, but the water still eluded them. In the water, she was slow, clumsy, almost blind, and unable to breathe, practically a sitting duck for any water-dweller.

She tried not to think about the monsters lurking just to her right where an especially large body of water stretched between the trees.

Only a colonist would bring crocodiles to a new planet, she said through gritted teeth.

Maybe they evolved here independently, Cal said.

Nova snorted.

The pools varied in size from little more than puddles, all the way up to lakes. All of them were covered with the same green, grass-like plant. The trees were the same in all directions; twisted and misshapen. The wood of the trunks bent around themselves, like pieces of rope. Branches stretched out, bent at odd angles.

Shrubs bunched together on the ground, their green leaves reaching for sunlight.

Nova’s stick poked through the ground and straight down into a pool of water. It was ripped from her hands with such force that her shoulder twisted and she cried out. Her arms pinwheeled as she desperately tried to stay upright and keep from falling headfirst after her stick. She grabbed the nearest tree and hauled herself away from the murky depths

She watched with horrified fascination as the stick she had been holding was shattered into shards by the snapping jaws of some large swamp-creature. Nova caught little more than a flash of sharp teeth and the thrash of a fin or claw before the thing disappeared back below the water, and the ripples died away. All that was left of the beast’s sudden emergence was the area of water suddenly free of the green grass and the few pieces of floating bark remaining from her guiding stick.

She stood very still lest the beast leap from the water and take her in its jaws. The water stayed calm as she turned her head side to side, alert for any movement. Cal had the sense to keep quiet until they could back away from the large pool and the dead-end spit of land.

This is turning out to be more difficult than I expected, Nova said.

Scanners detect an aggregation of more than ten life-forms less than a kilometre from here, Cal replied.

She raised an eyebrow at the robot. What do you—

They appear to be human, Cal cut in.

Her eyebrows rose even further. Humans on a planet thought to be completely abandoned were definitely worth investigating.

Well, lead the way then.

Cal hovered away to the left. Nova stared at the ground with narrowed eyes before taking a new guiding stick from the stunted tree beside her. She tapped the ground in front of her once more as she followed Cal’s reflective silver shape.

Luckily, she had no more close calls as she followed the robot. The swampy pools became fewer, the further they travelled. Soon, she was walking on solid ground, which stretched at least ten metres to either side of her. Ten minutes later, she couldn’t see any more murky pools, although she didn’t stop tapping the ground with her stick, knowing how well the murky depths could be hidden.

A new sound took over from the buzzing insects and frogs. At first, she wasn’t sure what it was but smiled as the source came into view: a river. The stream flowed fast and clean with no sign of grassy growth. The water was clear and bubbled over rocks with careless abandon.

The aggregation is just up ahead, Cal said, moving across the river.

Nova had some difficulty jumping from rock to rock, but she made it to the other side with barely a drop of water on her clothes. She crept between the trees, taking care to stay in the shadows.

Cal hovered in the dark patches where the sun wouldn’t reflect his metallic surface. Their stealth routine was something both of them had had ample time to practice. Nova remembered at least a dozen bounty hunts where their very lives had depended on staying hidden.

The two companions came to a larger tree with thick green branches. They halted. Beyond the tree, the woodland stopped and gave way to fields. The morning sun lit up the open grass with a warm glow that contrasted with the dark swampland behind them.

Nova stared out from between the leaves; eager to see how humans would live on a planet such as this. She was careful to move the leaves only slightly. Who knew what manner of people might be on the other side? They could be violent, using Taive as a base of gang operations. Or they may not be human at all. A pack of anything could be dangerous for lone travellers.

Her mouth dropped open at what she saw. Tents gathered together in the middle of the field. They were made from what looked like animal skins and were draped at ragged angles. In the centre of the group of tents was a single wooden building. It wasn’t made of planks or even logs; a rough collection of sticks had been tied together to form four walls and a flat ceiling.

Nova’s brow furrowed at the primitive structures. People walked amongst the tents, carrying baskets and hunks of meat. They called to each other and Nova heard a child’s laugh.

But as she continued to observe, she noticed something missing. Her gaze darted about the encampment, searching for a reason but there was none. The whole village was made up entirely of children, there were no adults.

CHAPTER THREE

Nova stepped out of the trees. Waving her hand for Cal to stay behind, she strode forwards. She