The Adventures of Lance Starhammer

By L. E. Doggett

  It is starting to look like someone has cursed Lance to live in interesting times. As a Jack Of All Trades danger is not stranger to Lance, but events that could lead to his death have been increasing like never before  

            The first indication of something strange happened when a giant swamp creature escaped its cage on the ship Lance was captaining. It killed two of Lance's men while it stomped down the same passageway Lance had gone to check out a problem. Next a Lance's  starship loses coolant and he has to set down on a farm owned by cannibals. When he gets home he is told that a law enforcement agency has placed a bounty on him for a crime he didn't commit. After that a crime boss chases him down for another theft Lance didn't do. His ship's computers are compromised, warbots attack him as well as other dangers.

        Lance Starhammer—not his birth name—is well known in some circles, even though many of his jobs he keeps secret. He has run cons, hauled passengers and freight, done special jobs, ran blockades, a bit of smuggling, computer crimes and other jobs that he feels need doing.

        He has been beaten, gone on military missions that have gone bad, but has never been in a period of his life where so many things went wrong one of the other. He has to figure out, among many, who cursed him. The chances of his survival to accomplish that goal are getting slimmer, headed toward zero. Along the way Lance finds himself slipping into melancholy when he finds the task is near impossible. Which is a dangerous mood to be in when someone wants to play with you then kill you. He finally ends up in a battle with stealth ships crewed by a law enforcement agency who have been tricked to believe he is responsible for the deaths of their fellow agents. Even with his ship, tricks and quick thinking his chances for survival have slipped to near zero.  

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: L. E. Doggett
• Release date: Apr 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393353232

L. E. Doggett

I am an older writer and Indie publsiher. I write both short stories and novels, in various genre.  Soon to be four novels published.  I live in Central California where it is Hot during the summer and many times we have Fog: thick pea soup or Tule fog. 

Book preview

FOREWORD:

This doubles as my Acknowledgment page for this book.

First, I want to say thank you to the cover artist who goes by the name of billwyc on SelfPubBookCovers. He did the original cover but then modified it at my request. A great job. I had searched for many hours trying to find a cover that fit what I wanted, Lance’s ship. This isn’t it though. I decided it would work as one of Lance’s enemies so it is still a scene from the book-toward the end.

Also I want to thank my editor. Ashley Olivier. You can reach her at Thecrazycateditor.com. Not bad with her prices.  She did an excellent job and with my writing that is not easy for there are a lot of corrections needed. I may have sent her an older copy of my manuscript whether than the one I had made my own corrections on. That made her work even harder, but she did it. Because of that mistake I did some revising as I corrected the many mistakes she found. As well as correct punctuation, misspelled words and such she also deleted a few sentences she didn’t think were really needed and in other ways made suggestions for alternative sentences. Many times I took her advice but not every time. 

I originally wrote this novel in 2017 for NaNoWriMo which is an organization who wants everyone to write a novel. They also help with literacy programs. November is National Write a Novel month and they encourage everyone to write an at least 50,000 word novel during November. Any genre is okay. The idea is just to write during the month. Any editing that will be needed is for the next month. I as surprised to learn that various pro writers take part every year. I have taken part of for seven years. They have certain rules to follow, such as you need to have a beginning, middle and conclusion. They also allow you to cheat if you follow their cheating rules. Such as you can do a series of short stories as long as they all relate to each other and all equal at least 50,000 words. In 2017 I decided to take the short story route. So I wrote five stories of about 10,000 words each. The total amount for Lance Starhammer was 54,600 and some words. After November I revised it and added another story. Now it is a total of 75,396 words long. Short for a novel but it still full of action, suspense and is a fun read.

Other books by L. E. Doggett

The Vibration series - A Urban Fantasy series:

Above My Pay GradeX2

Learning CurveX2

A young woman with special abilities wants to help but keeps getting over her head.

Tommy Tuckernocker: Shadow Warrior

Steampunk and Special Ops fusion

The Courier

A steampunk adventure about a young woman has adventures working at building her rep to the best Courier.

Seven Fantasy short stories

Look out for other incoming Novels

and anthologies due out in 2020 and 2021.

EACH AT THE USUAL SITES online.

Chapter One

First Event: giant swamp creature on the loose inside ship. A memory.

Lance ran down the extra wide passageway. Most space vessels had narrow corridors, as his private ship did, but this one had been made big. Large enough so it could serve as a street in some cities he had been in, yet it barely allowed room for the creature behind him to run. His way 

The panels under his feet shook. He had to leap to clear some that rose up under him.

He had to find some way to stop it. Not only to save his own life but if got killed or damaged Kulom’s, the person who hired him, special ship too much he may not get paid for this job. As a Jack of All Trades he needed the payment. His ship needed some work and he liked to eat.

Loud thumps interrupted those thoughts and indicated that the something much larger than him would catch him soon. And by their increasing loudness, it would get to him before he got to safety. Those deck panels didn’t have enough space for him to be safe from this thing’s huge feet.

He sighed. The side walls all looked the same gun-metal gray. All humans seemed to like that color for their official star craft. His had more of a blue-gray interuia with brighter spots here and there. He wanted the red that led to the medical bay or the bright yellow lines that indicated a side passage to show up soon. But the grey walls looked unbroken by side corridors or any colored lines. Even the black and red for danger would mean a way out.

A blasted broom closet would get me out of this being’s way.

Lance’s one piece blue jumpsuit would soon be covered by red blood and his guts. The green shoulder tabs to express that he had experience in a spaceship, did nothing to slow that thing down. Except maybe attract the thing. It followed him for some reason.

Sweat matted his medium length hair, long but still fit into a suit helmet. 

Maybe that vent for life support.

If I could get the vents off in time to jump in that is.

He saw that it sat too hight up. Sweat dripped down his face, he wiped it off, but his hand brushed his mouth. A salt taste showed he had breathed in his own perspiration.

The thing’s scent had grown too: decayed water and a kinda of vinegary odor.

A sudden heavy pulse vibrated through the deck and almost knocked him forward on his face. A bleeding nose just before he got squished would be a fitting end to this. It showed that the thing had rounded the corner he just had and now came his way even faster for it had a straight line.

How in the hells of seven planets had this gagaturid get out of its cell anyway?

It had already killed two crew members when it stepped on them as it stepped from its cage. Somehow that thought increased his speed not that it would make much difference. Another thud and even more powerful vibration went through the deck. Of course he chose the one area of the ship without side passageways or doors of any type.

Its scent grew.

Oh oh.

That meant it had narrowed the distance between them. Again the stink surprised him as it had the first time he smelled it. Didn’t these things take very long baths when the laid in the sun in muddy water, on the planet they were from? Not on this ship though, come to think of it.

A giant round foot slammed the deck, quickly followed by another.

Oh no, don’t tell me it wants to run.

He stumbled, tilted himself so that he would hit the side bulkhead. It had what looked like a built in railing—not sure what good that was.

Lance hit the bulkhead and railing with his hip, slid. Somehow he managed to use his hands to push himself up and into a balanced running stride.

Oh, oh who’s that?

He again increased his speed, and when he passed the middle aged woman who just stared at the gagaturid, he grabbed her arm. His arm that held her jerked and pulled on him but the woman started her run He knew her as Nancy Kilmen the representative of the people buying this beastie. She also wore a one piece ship uniform, but her name tag was green and she had only a small green button on her shoulders.

She made a noise that could have been a yip but she also started to run on her own.  Lance pulled her along and said, Run! That thing doesn’t pay attention to where it’s stepping and those feet cover most of this passageway.

Lance worked out every day but this had become a marathon—a fast one.

A few seconds later she said, What does it want?

I don’t know, or how it escaped.

It shouldn’t try to eat us, people are not part of its diet.

I think it wants something else and doesn’t care that we are just in its way. Those big feet can stomp us where ever we are in the passageway.

He decided not to tell her about the two men it had already killed, it might freak her out. The idea that it wanted something though stayed in is head. Why had it left it cell? And why run?

The gagaturid couldn’t want a companion, they like living alone unless it happened to be mating time. But that shouldn’t be now. Maybe the change of temperature confused it?

She added, It shouldn’t be hungry for anything, the people who designed the feeding and watering of these beasts knew what it liked. They even had included toilet facilities for it.

He thought, But had something made it sick and it needed to vomit? He didn’t know enough about them to know if they did, or where it wanted to vomit.

Lance couldn’t wrap his head around its motivations. Did it have an itch or needed more water? Water? He remembered that it liked swamps and to relax in them.

Run faster, there’s an emergency control panel up ahead around a corner.

Can that get us out of here?

No, but maybe something else to distract it.

They ran around the corner, Lance skidded to a stop. He almost fell but recovered, backed up to a long thick bar with a round spot above it. He placed a hand on the circle said, He’s a Jolly Good Fella, Jolly Good Fella in trouble.

She stared at him for a moment with confusion on her face. He just shrugged his shoulders and pushed hot spots that had become active. There were the usual colors and holographic buttons with titles but he pressed at places not shown.

The deck vibrated hard. It didn’t stop before the next step hit. The thing had moved much closer.

Hurry!

As if he wasn’t.

Another menu appeared and he said, Gorgeous 2 guys and 7 gals touched two more buttons, slid his hand across one long green graph. Water streamed out of the vents and with a sudden surge of noise and water pipe connections burst. That included above the console he worked at. Water soaked his hair, got in his mouth and down the collar of his jumpsuit. It repealed water, the liquid from still slipped in-between the bottom of his neck and the cloth.

The gagaturid must have stopped for no more of its footsteps. But he thought he heard an unusual noise. He broke something in the air changer?. No, from the angle and height that noise came from the gagaturid. That must be its breathing. And he smelled that scent too as well as Nancy’s perfume—not bad but not that good either.

Oh oh, its just around the corner.

Just like he had predicted to himself the water ran down the passageway, for the deck slanted slightly here. It tugged at his feet and rose up his shins. The coverall legs had become soaked within seconds. He glanced at Nancy. The surface of the water rested higher on her legs than his. Still not bad for her as long as it didn’t get much deeper.

He pushed wet hair away from his eyes then flicked his hand over another part of the monitor. A picture opened. It showed a huge open bay. A second look showed water filling it. He nodded and watched the live video feed. When it look deep enough he pressed the same hotspots as he had earlier.

The water flow stopped; it didn’t slow but just stopped.The ship would repair the broken connectors within an hour. Within half a dozen heartbeats the flow around his legs ceased.

A movement of air showed that the gagaturid moved again, but much slower.

Lance said, You better hug this panel as if your life depended on it for it does.

He reached his hands up and pressed his front against the controls in front of him. A glance sideways, showed she did the same thing.

The control panels were in a slight indentation in the walls. Not much but maybe just enough.

A giant foot eased around the corner as if the gagaturid looked for something. That slow motion saved their lives for the foot on that side missed them by inches. Air from the foot’s downward motion rolled down on him. It landed next to his body.

Nancy made a sound. Of shock? Or anger? Of how close that foot came to squashing them? He didn’t care why.

Lance refused to turn his head, but he looked through the corner of one eye. A large, round, solid round appendage stood inches away from him. He swallowed hard, it stunk: water, sweat, the odor got in his mouth. A gag sound made him realized that Nancy experienced the same thing.

That gray and charcoal black skin reminded him of some of the crawlspaces he had hid in as child and later teen. He had endured bugs on his arms, dust and mold on his skin to escape those who wanted to beat him up[ or to cancel himself so he could steal something. Once the other wall had been that close to him and it had been covered with thousands of nasties. as alive as this one. He shuddered. Nancy made a harsh breathing sound.

The elephant shaped leg lifted, moved on. The one on the other side came along and repeated the process, but further away. Water splashed on them.

Once it continued down the passageway, he followed it, motioned for Nancy to come too. He wondered if she was okay or not but the gagatured was still loose.

Lance looked down at his feet. His shoes looked dry yet his socks were soaked all the way through for water had filled his shoes. In fact some splashed out when he put his foot down hard. He gave himself a weak shrug. Life sometimes did that to you. He didn’t have time now to stop and deal with it, not that he could do much except empty his shoes anyway, until he got back to his cabin.

Sweat dropped, his breath came in gasps. That had been too close. He had experienced a lot of close calls in his chosen profession—and before, but he never got used to it and this one had one of the worse.

He glanced at Nancy’s feet, she hadn’t complained or requested a stop to empty her shoes. Oh, they were an open toe sandals-full shoes fusion. Yet they still could expand and wrap around her feet automatically in case of a pressure drop. His shoes did that. He had been in a ship that had a sudden hull puncture, by a blaster shot, and lost most of its air, twice. The first time took only a few seconds for the ship to seal it, and life support to refill the air level back up to where it should be. The Dictator Juum’s ships were well taken care of if old. But the second time had been very bad. He still dreamt of it. He almost lost his feet and other body parts when his half suit inflated to protect only sixty percent of his body. As the air had been suck out he went with it and had slammed into a door frame, and something else, he never found out what. Finally he dropped to the deck when the auto systems managed to seal the hole. He had bruised ribs, a broken arm and very badly sprained knee. In only hours the ship’s med center made him good as he had been. Still he had hurt for days. Now he always wore full protective gear. No matter how new the ship was.

Hopefully neither his nor her shoes switched on due to the water that soaked his socks.

The gagaturid had slowed to a fast walk then slowed again. Maybe it was tired, or maybe it could smell what it wanted. Could the thing have panicked when it realized it had no water to rest in? Enough to survive but its type liked water, for more than drinking. Maybe it needed it for its skin, or some part of its external physiology, absorbed the water?

Whatever the reason they better make sure this worked or it might go on another temper tantrum because it didn’t have what it wanted, or ran amuck out of fear.

Lance followed the very large creature. A glance back showed that Nancy went with him. Maybe to make sure those she represented got what they paid for, or maybe just curious?

The sound of its footsteps sounded further away then they stopped. He heard a large splash. Good, that meant it now sat in the water in the bay. But when they neared the entrance to the bay another splash followed by smaller ones that produced a rain.

Oh oh, it doesn’t like the water for some reason,

He thought some more then looked at the water they waded through. Maybe it didn’t like luke warm water. It felt cold to him, but maybe not to it?

Wait, it came from a world swamp. This water looked clear not muddy, nor did it have plants and such in it. The water would taste okay to a human but this creature wasn’t a human.

Near the entrance to the bay he found another computer excess point. He waved his hand over hot spots and gave his password again. This time he instructed the ship to dump some of the botanicals, including some of its food, mixed in with their dirt.

Within minutes small robots with fork lifts built in, came out of panels hidden in the walls. They had been designed to bring in supplies but he had given them different orders.

Still it made noises and got up, moved over and sat down again. He shook his head; something still wasn’t quite right. The water looked muddy to Lance and probably had a dirt and plant flavor to it. But it needed something else.

** A thought popped into his mind o dump and pump garbage into the bay. After a few seconds of convincing the ship’s computer to do that, they still had to wait for minutes before it started to show up. The gagaturid stepped around like it looked at the water. While it stomped around the garbage and dirt was mixed up when it poured in. But it still didn’t seem satisfied. It looked at the entrance as if it thought about leaving and searching elsewhere.

What else got in the water there?

Oh, that too.

Lance said, Turn around I need to add something to this recipe.

She looked at him, What?

Something isn’t quite right with the water here I think I know what it is. Something biologicals do.

An expression of puzzlement crossed her face, but then light showed. She said, Oh, and turned around.

He turned to face the wall, unsealed the front of his jumpsuit and proceeded to add a different water to what was there. He made enough noise for his bladder had become full this whole time. Once done he sealed the coveralls back up and turned around. His face heated a bit but he in his childhood he had become used to doing that in public.

Your turn.

She looked up at him, What?

We need fresh fertilizer in the water. This is a lot of water so we need all we can get.

But it’ll be different from what it’s used to.

He nodded, Yes, but not that different. A trace might be all that is needed. We need him to settle down and relax, go to sleep maybe.

She sighed, looked at him with an aspirated expression, then, Okay. But you turn around and no turning back until I say so.

He nodded and said, Of course.

Lance turned around to face the bulkhead. After a long moment he heard her unseal her jumpsuit and two or three splashes while she moved her feet. She may have to remove one jumpsuit foot, he thought.

A  few seconds of silence then a small sound of water on water, after a couple of smaller splashes she sealed her jumpsuit again. Good her bladder had also been full.

After more seconds she said, Okay, turn around.

Her face showed red from embarrassment even though her posture said defiance.

As long as she did it, he thought.

He waited, she grew angry probably thinking she had to do that for nothing.

After what seemed like a number of hard minutes the large beast sat down in the muddy, dirty water. It leaned back against the wall and seemed to relax. It made a sound Lance took to be a sigh of relief, or a verbal Damn it all, I will take what can get or even just a breathing noise that meant nothing.

He turned to Nancy, Looks like it has settled down, so now we can go change and meet in on the bridge. It may have a recording on how it broke out of its cage.

She nodded and turned to head back up the passageway. With one more look at the creature from the muddy lagoon, Lance headed off to his cabin. He was tired of wet feet.

The trip back to his cabin didn’t take long. He stopped back at the cages and called for his men to get the bodies to the med center. They were dead but they could handle dead bodies, place them in status or some such. He thought that Jorge would say, Why us? but would do it anyway. Someone had to do it and they knew the routine for the dead.

After the call he took off again. He found a small side passageway design to get crew from one area of the ship to another, one with a tram. He sighed he could have used this passageway minutes ago but must have missed it  panic.

Once he sat in the topless mini vehicle he programed its course for a spot near his cabin.  He thought about one of the other ten creatures he was in charge of transporting. That thing with the tentacles that covered its long, sort of tube shaped body. Larger than the average aircar,  it looked dangerous but it was the supposedly docile gagaturid that had killed two of his men. Not out of anger, or because it was hungry, but because of carelessness. It didn’t seem to notice the little people around its feet. That made little sense. Those cages had been designed for each creature.

When the tram stopped he got off and headed down a small walkway. It took only seconds to get to his cabin. Once inside he got out of his wet clothes and shoes. Dried himself and sat on his bed. He thought the two dead men didn’t have any family, but he couldn’t be sure without looking up their records. That would happen after he spend some time processing the-what? Accident? It hadn’t done it