No Port to Land

By Ioana Visan

Nia is one of the few souls left aboard a drifting tomb known as The Pacific. The spaceship carries a deadly plague, and by the time they receive a distress call from an approaching shuttle, they are all close to losing hope they might ever escape alive. When the will of the shuttle crew and that of the survivors on The Pacific clash, Nia has to pick a side to save what she holds most dear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ioana Visan
• Release date: Sep 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370182084

Ioana Visan

Award-winning writer Ioana Visan has always dreamed about reaching the stars, but since she can't, she writes about it.After fighting the apocalypse aftermath in "Human Instincts", she played with shapeshifters in “Blue Moon Café Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks”, she dealt with vampires in “The Impaler Legacy” series, and then she designed prosthetics in “Broken People” before tackling longer works like a fantasy trilogy and a science fiction series.Aside from publishing short stories in various Romanian magazines and anthologies, she published a Romanian short story collection “Efectul de nautil” and the Romanian edition of “Human Instincts”.She received the Encouragement Award from The European Science Fiction Society at Eurocon 2013.For more information, please visit http://www.ioanavisan.tk

Book preview

No Port to Land

Law and Crucible Saga 1

IOANA VISAN

Copyright © 2016 Ioana Visan

All rights reserved.

Smashwords Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

No Port to Land

Law and Crucible Saga #1

Copyright © 2016 Ioana Visan

All rights reserved.

Illustration by Gil Geolingo

https://www.fiverr.com/glass84

Typography by TheBookLady

https://www.fiverr.com/thebooklady

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 use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

First eBook Edition: December 2015

Nia is one of the few souls left aboard a drifting tomb known as The Pacific. The spaceship carries a deadly plague, and by the time they receive a distress call from an approaching shuttle, they are all close to losing hope they might ever escape alive. When the will of the shuttle crew and that of the survivors on The Pacific clash, Nia has to pick a side to save what she holds most dear.

Table of Contents

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Acknowledgements

About the Author

Books by Ioana Visan

1

Nia slipped out of the nest when the alarm started. Behind her, Gart muttered something. It was too early for him. Lucky for her, Nia could function with little sleep and was intrigued by the reason the alarm had started. It wasn’t an emergency alarm that would have all the ship’s passengers panic, but a simple notice something had happened and those who wanted could go and find out more. She was definitely interested.

She arranged the bandages on her arms before walking out into the main corridor, leaving uncovered as little skin as possible, and blinked under the strong lights. Several people were heading in the same direction, among them Adette, so she joined them.

What happened? she asked with half a voice.

They caught a shuttle, Adette said and pulled the blonde strands over her ear to hide the gray crusts, her other hand resting on her rounded belly.

Caught?

It was sending out an SOS signal while heading straight at us. Adette smiled widely. They caught it before it hit us.

Around them, people commented about the news, but Nia dropped her shoulders. A damaged shuttle was no use. They would never leave this damned ship.

The second disappointment came when she saw the alleged shuttle, more like a rescue module at this size. And the modules rarely had a guidance system, even if they had suffered damages less serious than this. It had been brought onto a platform near the entrance, where mechanics armed with blowtorches struggled to open it. Considering the way they pulled on it, chances were it would never fly again. Given the life expectancy of the passengers, it was better for them to be dead.

The crowd gathered around staring, exchanging the latest gossip in whispered voices. Cherevic stood under the walkway with his partner in crime and threw dark glares from a distance. More mouths to feed. Farther afield, Sarezez’s head rose above the crowd, his tall silhouette surpassing most. Nia hid behind Adette, avoiding the man’s dumb smile. She didn’t feel like dealing with him.

Papa Ote’s ticking cane announced his arrival several seconds before he set foot on the walkway. The cane’s blows itched like hell, and her childhood memories made Nia’s ears instinctively prick despite having not received one in a long time.

The old man paused at the edge of the walkway and supervised all the action from above. His lips tightly pressed together showed he had no illusions either, but his lively eyes missed nothing.

With a screech that pierced their ears, the mechanics managed to open the shuttle’s door. Three bodies tumbled out, their faces cyanotic because of the lack of oxygen. Nia narrowed her eyes, but she was too far away to see if they were still breathing.

They’re alive! one of the rescuers shouted. And armed.

There’s one more inside, said another voice.

When they pulled out the last one, a big, heavy man, he was still batting an arm. They took their weapons and laid them on the floor where doctor Hossek leaned over them.

Four men and all in their prime. The initial irritation was replaced by concern. What if they all survived? At the last board meeting, they had announced there was only enough food supplies left for two more people above the existing head count, and as the ship deteriorated, the food supplies decreased quicker than the population.

Take them to the sickbay and see if we can recover anything, Papa Ote said.

The big one is mine. Adette elbowed her gently.

Nia shook her head. Gart’s nest was better than any amusement the new