Poor Man's Travel

By Patty Jansen

Jas Grimshaw works as a mining pilot for the ice harvesting operations at New Jakarta Space Station. In his free time, he's a mindbase traveller. His mind travels on a bullet probe to other parts of settled space to swap bodies while other people occupy his.

Normally, it's a great way of seeing the galaxy, but one of his swaps is about to go very, very bad. The swap mind, a brilliant scientist, has no intention to return to his body, which he's left in a tight spot. And Jas, laid back, poorly-educated, is not the best person to cope with the tense situation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patty Jansen
• Release date: Sep 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781513037769

Patty Jansen

Patty lives in Sydney, Australia, and writes both Science Fiction and Fantasy. She has published over 15 novels and has sold short stories to genre magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact.Patty was trained as a agricultural scientist, and if you look behind her stories, you will find bits of science sprinkled throughout.Want to keep up-to-date with Patty's fiction? Join the mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/qqlAbPatty is on Twitter (@pattyjansen), Facebook, LinkedIn, goodreads, LibraryThing, google+ and blogs at: http://pattyjansen.com/

Book preview

Poor Man’s Travel

Poor Man’s Travel

A Story in the ISF-Allion World

Patty Jansen

Capricornica Publications

Contents

Poor Man’s Travel

Poor Man's Travel

About the Author

More By This Author

Poor Man’s Travel

Patty Jansen

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First published in the Anywhere But Earth anthology

Poor Man's Travel

The mindbase exchange office at New Jakarta Space Station was like a second home to me: its fake wooden panels, the perpetual smell of engine oil, and Rina, with her soft brown skin and dangling golden earrings.

I drummed my fingers on the armrest of my chair. Power tools whined outside, used by the ship maintenance crews on the docks.

So. You want another swap, huh? Rina said, glancing at my drumming fingers.

I’m bored. There are only so many times flying a shunt out to harvest is interesting.

I would sit out there for hours watching my cargo--two hundred human harvesters--float to the ice rings and gather chunks of the stuff into the hold. As human construct, I had been created to become a pilot and overseer, but it was boring, boring, boring. Even Saravati’s cloud-swirled beauty and her majestic blue ice rings no longer enticed me.

Rina shot me a worried look. Jas, if you want to talk—

Just tell me what you got. No, I did not suffer from space madness.

She sighed and tapped a few commands on her screen. I have a swap request for Lunar Base—

I’ve already been there. The place is crawling with zealots who try to convert you to their brand of worship. Would you want to go there?

She shrugged. I guessed not.

What about Artemis?

I’ve been there, too. ’S okay, but—

"Omega Station--oh no, I get it. Not another bloody