The Knowledge Bank: The Alien Gun, #2

By Len Streeper

When Master Flint took Ishiko to the Knowledge Bank, a place of great learning, neither of them expected their trip to take a deadly turn. Instead of learning the new skills Ishiko came here for, she gets abducted. The technician she was entrusted to, Gareth-14, has a plan of his own and Ishiko has the final pieces he needs.
One thing Gareth-14 didn't factor into his plan is the level of violence and determination Master Flint wields in his search for Ishiko. Gareth-14 finds himself staying one step ahead of Flint in a race for unimaginable wealth. Despite Master Flint's dogged pursuit, Gareth-14 had a long time to form his plan. It soon becomes apparent to Ishiko she must find a way to free herself instead of waiting for her master to rescue her.
She engages in a battle of wits against a person educated beyond anything she ever encountered. Ishiko only has two tools at her disposal. One is her ability to read the hidden emotions and intentions in a person's voice. The other is her skill at sexual manipulation she used to survive as a slave. Will those skills be enough to win a battle of wits with a person whose knowledge seems to know no bounds? If she's not up to the task, Gareth-14 will take away everything she is; her spirit, her skills, her experiences. Even if she survives his cruel intentions, the dark secret behind the knowledge bank's success will swallow her whole and spit out the useless remains.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Len Streeper
• Release date: Mar 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781393111412

Book preview

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The Knowledge Bank

The Alien Gun Book Two

By

Len Streeper

Other Works by Len Streeper

The Drunken Dragon's Tavern Series

The Virgin, the Dragon and the Tavern (Book One)

The Wizard, The Assassin and the Preacher (Book Two)

The Drunken Dragon's Tavern Patron Stories

Leland the Dragon Slayer

The Alien Gun Series

The Soldier and the Slave (Book One)

The Knowledge Bane (Book Two)

Other Works

Beta Reader Blues - A beginners Guide to Beta Reading for New Writers

A Map to Desire - An Anthology

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Want to contact me directly? If you have questions, comments, or want to keep up with my next release, you can find me at Len Streeper  on Facebook.

The Knowledge Bank © 2018 by Len Streeper

All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and/or retrieval system, or dissemination of any electronic version, without the prior written consent of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review, and except where permitted by law.

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

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Published by Len Streeper

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Cover design © 2018 by Leonard Streeper

Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Dedication

To Jordyn

Acknowledgements

My thanks go out to Nathan Streeper and Kay Oliver for their usual insightful help in making this book be the best I could make it.

I want to give Kay a special thanks for reading more drafts than any friend should have to. She went above and beyond the call of duty and soared above the call of friendship. Thank you.

Table of Contents

Title

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

About This Book

About the Author

Chapter One

Ishiko wandered the halls of the strange ship, exploring her new home. She ran her fingers along the bumpy surface of a wall. The bumps looked like bubbles in a boiling pot. Some were as small as her knuckles and others larger than her hand. Her eye detected no pattern to the bumps, and the smooth, brassy surface emitted a faint warmth. The color should have made the ship dark and feel claustrophobic, but the bright lighting and shine of the surfaces minimized shadows. Perhaps this created a sense of home for the aliens whom this ship was originally built for.

Everything was scaled slightly larger. Counters sat at a height with her breasts. She was small compared to her master, but the dimensions of the ship made even him seem small. He might fit if he grew another quarter meter or so.

From what she learned during her first week here, the ship only needed one person to run it. It was built to hold several people, yet Master Flint managed it by himself for over four hundred years.

Several rooms designed as living quarters filled one floor with a dining room seating perhaps ten people at a time. Another floor was devoted to laboratories, but her Master had no idea what they did. This ship held so many mysteries and Ishiko hoped someday to solve them all.

Another mystery of this ship was its lack of machinery. Every day Ishiko searched all over the four stories - Master Flint called them decks, but Ishiko never remembered to call them that - and never saw a hint of what created the food or what made the ship fly through space. She assumed the motor fit between the walls - Master Flint called it a hull - but she couldn't be certain. She never got a good look at the outside so she didn't know how big the ship was.

The bottom floor was one huge room, the largest by far on the ship. Master Flint called it a cargo hold. When he explained what a cargo hold was, Ishiko thought she understood, but made a mistake. She said, So, this is where the slaves are kept. Master Flint's hard lips twisted into a scowl.

Master Flint believed in freedom like a religion. He did not like her to speak of slavery, to remind him she was his slave. If he had his way, Ishiko would be on some planet enjoying her freedom. He kept her to stave off the crushing loneliness imposed by the alien gun. She saw more than once how the gun took over his body and killed at the slightest provocation. Sometimes the word no was enough to set the gun on a killing spree. She needed to be smarter if she wanted to continue living.

Ishiko remained alive because she learned to be a good slave and took the lessons to heart. She never told a Master no, which is why her slip made her so angry with herself. Master Flint needed her for his very sanity. He treated her with great respect and she thanked him by reminding him he owned her. The very thought of owning a person disgusted him, but he couldn't escape his need for her. Being cursed with years of solitude damaged his sanity. Sometimes it slipped away until the gun brought it back somehow. He told her he felt it slipping away again before he met her. People weren't meant to be isolated and even as he rescued her body from Master Wong, her previous owner, she rescued his mind from the gun that was his Master.

The next day when he came to talk, she asked about turning the cargo bay into an exercise room. He told her about the rooms on the floor above the cargo hold, the second floor - deck 3 is what he called it, where the laboratories were. Master Flint didn't know what most were for, but one was an exercise room. The equipment was strange, designed for alien physiologies but some of it, like the treadmill could be used by humans. The floor above that - deck 2 - is where the living and dining rooms were located. The last floor at the very top of the ship held all the controls - the bridge or deck 1. Flint explained the navigation, flight controls, and communication to her which left several other panels her Master had no idea about. Even after four hundred years, he failed to figure out their function.

Today Ishiko explored a lab, trying to figure out its function. The room was empty except for a row of inactive screens lining one wall. A cursory glance showed no obvious way to turn them on. Still, something about the room, the trace of an odor perhaps, or the quality of the lighting, made her think of the place slaves were taken for medical exams.

I left something out of my report yesterday, said Master Flint.

Ishiko turned expecting to see him in the door behind her, but no one was there.

Master?

That's unlike you, said a second voice. Ishiko recognized it as Master Flint's contact at the mercenary company. He provided Master Flint with information and job assignments. Only yesterday, they spoke in a different language and Ishiko didn't understand their words. Today, for some reason, they spoke in her language and within her hearing. Is something wrong?

No, nothing's wrong. In fact something happened that gives me hope. Master Flint's voice sounded fragile, as if he feared the hope he spoke of. Ishiko knew she had exceptional skills in hearing the nuances in a person's voice. This skill kept her alive and helped her excel during her life in the slave pens. It served her in this new life as well, although in different ways.

I don't understand. Hope for what? asked the second voice.

Ishiko wandered into the hall looking for Master Flint. Until now he always spoke to people on the bridge; she didn't think communication equipment was installed anywhere else. Does this have anything to do with the girl you rescued?

I think so. I can't be sure yet, but I think she's the key. Something was odd about the way Master Flint spoke. Ishiko heard all the subtle nuances in his voice expressing the emotions he felt, but something changed.

The key to what? Can you finally enjoy a woman? Ishiko frowned, the stranger had sympathy in his voice, but something else as well. I thought the gun wouldn't let you be with a woman. Condescension, the man didn't believe Master Flint's gun stopped him from being with a woman. From his voice, he believed a less masculine reason prevented Master Flint from accepting a woman's pleasures.

It doesn't, but something happened on that planet. Even a deaf person could hear the excitement in Master Flint's voice. Ishiko smiled, she doubted her tortured master got the chance to be excited very often. He wasn't in the labs on this level, so he must be on the third floor, deck two. But from past experience, she shouldn't hear anything from another floor.

It sounds like someone had a good time. Did this miracle girl live through it? Ishiko's lips compressed into a hard line. Even Master Flint should hear the disdain in the other man's voice. It wasn't right for a man claiming to be her Master's friend to treat him so.

Knock it off. Some tension eased out of Ishiko. Master Flint did hear the insult and responded to it. This is more important than getting laid.

I'm sorry. The other man sighed. It's been a long day dealing with too many young people. They must be rubbing off. He sounded bored and struggled for patience, as if talking to her master was an unpleasant chore. Ishiko stiffened and sucked in a breath. How dare he? If he felt put out for having to tolerate her Master's emotional outbursts, he was not Master Flint's friend.

Ishiko quickened her pace, she had to stop Master Flint before he confided in someone who deceived him. It didn't, however, take a person of her skills to hear what this man really thought. He didn't try to hide his true fillings or even give her Master his full attention. How could Master Flint not know what this man was?

It's fine, said Master Flint, letting his excitement brush away the insult. He was too eager to share his information to let someone else get him down. Do you want to hear what happened or not?

Sure.

Again, Ishiko quickened her pace, almost to a full run. She believed she knew what Master Flint wanted to tell this man and all her instincts warned against it. Honored ancestors, don't let me be too late. She wanted to break into a run, but dared go no faster. If she came upon her Master too fast, the gun might interpret her as a threat and force Master Flint to shoot her. Her death would be quick and merciful, but Ishiko knew the guilt and grief would drive Master Flint to insanity. She called out to him as loud as she could force her voice to go. Master, wait! A lifetime of training to be calm and quiet was hard to break and she feared her voice barely carried three meters.

I dropped the gun. Master Flint's excitement and pride echoed down the hall. Then Ishiko realized what made Master Flint so eager to share his news. His crushing loneliness made him vulnerable to anyone who listened to him. Master Flint didn't understand what most people considered basic. He spent too much time alone. It made him desperate for a friend, any friend, even a bad one.

You...what? The other man sounded like he didn't understand the relevance of Master Flint's words. For anyone else, dropping a gun wouldn't be such a monumental announcement. For Master Flint, to lose the constant connection to the weapon changed everything. Right now, the gun wielded Master Flint instead of the other way around.

Did you find a way to let go of the gun? Something in his voice sent a chill down Ishiko's spine. He was suddenly too eager for Master Flint's answer. If not for his earlier behavior, she might have passed his eagerness off as a friend hearing good news.

No, not yet. It's more like I found a set of perfect circumstances, but it's a start. Ishiko heard the regret mixed with hope in her master's voice.

Her master wasn't in his room so Ishiko ran to the dining room but found no sign of him there either. He must indeed be on the bridge, which made no sense, especially when it sounded like they were in the same room.

Now that Ishiko knew his location, she ran as fast as she could. She needed to stop Master Flint before he revealed too much. She had no idea what the other man was capable of, but Ishiko doubted it would be to her master's benefit.

I want you to give me a complete report of what happened. The other man's voice grew more intense. Ishiko knew that tone all too well. How often had a Master sounded like that before he did something to a slave that left her crying and huddled in a corner? How many times did the slave need medical attention after a Master punished her after using that intense tone? Think hard, don't let any detail, no matter how small, go. If you can remember how many hairs Wong had on his head, include it.

I've been doing just that. Master Flint sounded irritated that the other man felt the need to tell him what to do. She had no doubt Master Flint constantly recounted the events of that day looking for a way to be free of the gun's possession.

I'm sorry, of course you are. I know better than to tell you what you need to do. He sounded contrite, which surprised Ishiko. I got caught up in the excitement. You need to let us help you, though. I realize there are no experts on the gun, but I have some very smart people working for me. If they have more information, they can solve this problem. You've carried that burden for too long. Did Ishiko make a mistake? The other man spoke with complete sincerity. He meant every word he just said, he wanted to help Master Flint rid himself of the alien gun. Perhaps something about the way the voices carried through the ship distorted the other man's meaning.

Ishiko slowed her pace and closed the distance to the bridge in calm, measured strides. She entered the bridge quietly and caught her first glimpse of the other man. The screen showed a man's head and shoulders. He looked older than her master, balding, with a softness to his face suggesting a once fit man who stopped exercising. What little hair he had was peppered with gray among the dark brown. Ishiko couldn't tell anything else from the sharp angle of the screen.

No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. Master Flint rubbed his pale blue eyes then glanced at Ishiko through his shaggy hair. He still looked gaunt and tired, not having fully recovered from the ordeal on her home world.