Outer Zone

By Durand McGowen

Dorothy was distraught about moving. She was leaving the friends she had known for years. Her uncle’s new job promised financial freedom, but all Dorothy could think about was leaving everything she knew. Until a chance encounter and kidnapping with Crow changed everything. Now Dorothy was in the outlying systems known as the Outer Zone, which was ruled by different factions. One was a jeweled kingdom. And another was ruled by a jaded witch. All are fighting to rule and tame this hostile land. Can Dorothy and her rogues—the soldier tinman, the Firan labelled as coward, and the spy Crow—survive this hostile land?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781684568888

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Outer Zone

Durand McGowen

Copyright © 2021 Durand Mcgowen

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2021

ISBN 978-1-6624-3254-5 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-68456-888-8 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

It was already 3:00 a.m., but Dorothy was still not sleeping. She stared at the ceiling, thinking about how boring her life would become. The argument she had with her Aunt Emma was nothing short of a complete blowout. The new job her uncle got as an atmospheric system engineer would move them to a rural system where a new colonization was taking place and that would mean her friends would be far, far away. It would take a week just to get a communication through, so much for having a life. But for her aunt and uncle, it would mean more money and a plot of land the size of a small city. Ugh! Dorothy put her pillow over her head and felt like screaming why her. She thought why couldn’t her uncle have a normal job like everyone else. The next morning, Dorothy got dressed in a hurry and ran downstairs, hoping to be able to see her friends one last time before she had to leave for the port station. As she was dodging the steam droids that were busy packing and moving their belongings, she saw the shuttle arrived to take them to the port.

Great. Just another disappointment in a string of disappointments, Dorothy thought.

Dorothy, Aunt Emma called out, don’t go too far. We’ll be leaving for the port soon.

Fine, Dorothy replied as she stepped outside to see her friends standing there with withdrawn looks on their faces.

Why do you have to go? Andre asked. Couldn’t you ask if you could stay with Tiff for the rest of the school year at least?

Dorothy already ran the idea to her aunt with no luck. Aunt Emma said there aren’t any shuttles leaving from the port for a long time, so I wouldn’t be able to get to the colony. But don’t worry, I’ll write you every day. Who else is going to keep you sane? Dorothy said.

Tiff just stood there looking heartbroken, so Dorothy got a wild idea in her head.

Hey, let’s do something so we’ll never forget after each other like what Andre stated. Let’s get tattooed. Come on, I’ve always wanted to get one, and they only take a few minutes. We have about an hour. We can jet to city. We’ll be back before Aunt Emma knows we’re gone.

That’s great, Tiff suddenly stated with so much enthusiasm that it startled Dorothy. I have just the design. I drew it last night. I was going to give it to you as a going-away present. They took the jet into the city. The jet was a type of tube teleportation technology that had been around for one hundred years. Certain planets had magnetic fields at times that could scatter atoms across the planet. So a sort of tube was invented to contain the atoms and would still allow people to travel at near light speed to get to their destination. The propaganda videos all stated that it was safer than taking the arc tram or traveling by light blimp, but the old timers all still remember the accidents that were covered up before the jet became truly safe.

Dorothy arrived in the city with her friends. They took a bus into downtown to the tattoo parlor. That’s when she first got a look at the drawing that Tiff had made. It was a ambigram in the shape of a circle with four hearts in the middle, like a four-leaf clover. Dorothy thought, This is the perfect tattoo. They walked up to the tattooing machine, inserted their money, designated where they wanted the tattoo, and stepped into the scanning device. The machine printed the tattoos on their bodies with pinpoint precision and detail old-fashioned guns hadn’t been used in centuries. It took a long time. It was painful and unsanitary. There was a novelty that had resurfaced with people using tattoo guns secretly. Dorothy had three tattoos that had been done by gun. She wanted to experience how tattooing used to be done and had gotten addicted. Tattoos nowadays took seconds and were completely safe, so the laws were changed—from eighteen years old to seventeen. They didn’t need parents’ permission to get tattooed. Dorothy had eight; Tiff had four; Andre, six; and Shonda, four. It was just a way of life, no different than changing of styles and could be removed or altered just as quickly. Now she had something she would treasure from her friends, and she would never forget the four friends that were like family to her. They took the jet back home. When she stepped out, she saw her aunt Emma standing in front of the house, waiting for her to come along.

Dear, her aunt called out.

She gave her friends hugs, said goodbye, and stepped into the shuttlecraft that would take her to her new life of perpetual boredom after a stop off at the space port.

After thirty minutes, they arrived at the port. It was one of the largest in the system.

At least this will be a bit of entertainment, Dorothy thought.

As they stepped off the shuttle, she saw the station for the first time. It was like a floating mall. All the travelers were heading for different points. She thought about all the places she dreamed of going, and the realization came back to her about where she would be going. Her bus would be leaving in thirty minutes, so she took the opportunity to do some shopping before they left for nowheresville.

As she was buying some new rings that she thought were very punk, she saw two men who didn’t look anything like the people she was used to standing in the corner and forcefully discussing something. Curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to watch them, when a man sitting on a bench, seemingly reading the newspaper, stood up and yelled, Republic police!

One of the men rushed through the crowd and tried to make a run for it. The other man closest to her, realizing he was trapped reached for the closest thing to him which happened to be Dorothy.

Don’t do it, the man yelled while grabbing Dorothy in a hold and slowly backing away.

He dragged her back to the docking ramp and told her if she stayed calm she wouldn’t get hurt. They got as far as the ramp. When the police caught up with them, he tried to let Dorothy go and run for the ramp. When they started firing, I guess her safety at that point was irrelevant. They seemed to be shooting at both of them, so Dorothy did the only thing she could that seemed safe, which was to follow the man into the docking bay. She jumped in just as the pressure lock was closing. She stumbled as the ship rocked while taking off. She made it to the bridge and saw the man setting coordinates. She felt fear and uncertainty about what to do next, so she did what she always did when she’s afraid. She put on a forceful act, hoping the man would give in.

Drop me off, she screamed, which startled the man who didn’t realize she was there.

He stared at her, wondering how he should react after what seemed longer than it was. He asked, Why are you here, little girl?

Dorothy started to answer when she thought he was reaching for a gun. Dorothy panicked and lunged at the man. She hit a lever, and the ship jumped forward. The man hit his back on the control console and was unconscious.

Dorothy was being tossed around like a rag doll. She hit her head, and her vision was going fuzzy. She saw a yellow light as she lost consciousness. Dorothy shot awake. When the man was waking up, she was able to see what he had in his hand. It wasn’t any kind of gun she had ever seen. She noticed the location chart displayed on one of the screens. It didn’t look like anywhere she had seen in school. Dorothy wondered how she got in this position. It looked like some backwater planet but this. This was a totally unfamiliar zone of space that she had ever seen. Her assailant was regaining his facilities. He looked at the instruments and had a relieved look on his face. Made it back, he said. Dorothy was about to demand him to take her back to the station when she noticed that his face didn’t look quite right. He was starting to look pale. His face began to bloat. A moment later, he grabbed the side of his face underneath his chin.

Dorothy looked with quiet horror as he started to rip away his face large chunks. In fact, Dorothy was horrified as he was mutilating himself. What made it worse was he started to ask Dorothy questions about herself as he continued with his horror show. Dorothy didn’t know how to respond. This situation was completely absurd. She attempted to respond as she retched. Crow, on the other hand, was absolutely elated to see this girl going through such heightened state of discomfort watching him quite literally tear his head off.

Serves her right, he thought.

This, of course, was a superficial layer that his people called the bark layer, and Crow figured after seeing her face that she hadn’t been around with any Syltarians.

Who can grow another face by growing a new face or outer bark? Dorothy thought.

Crow got tired of watching her squirm, so he quickly finished it.

Where are you taking me? Dorothy said. My family doesn’t have any money, so you’re out of luck.

Yeah, kidnapping isn’t my thing, girly, so I’m dropping you to the first place I can find.

You’re just going to dump me somewhere after you kidnapped me? Dorothy exclaimed.

You were a way out, and you’re not part of the plan, Crow said. Matter of fact, I don’t have time to find the perfect place to drop you off.

Well, then I’ll just have to go with you, Dorothy said.

Crow looked annoyed. What would make me take you with me and or keep me from jetting you out of the waste shoot? Crow turned and looked at Dorothy with a cold look in his eyes. Dorothy thought he was serious until he started laughing. Crow being a spy was no stranger to killing, but he figured that his first reaction was too harsh, and a hysterical girl was the last thing he needed, besides what could it hurt.

The small craft reached the planet where he was meeting the rest of his team. As Dorothy looked, she saw something that she could never imagine existed—a metal planet!

What is that? Dorothy asked.

You don’t get to the outer zone much, do you? Crow said. That’s Tarsis.

The planet is a giant factory, the entire planet, Dorothy said.

Yep, said Crow. The manufacturing center of the galaxy and home of the Tu’vari.

How do they live there? Dorothy quizzed. Where do they stay?

Well, nowhere and everywhere, replied Crow. The Tu’vari live in a virtual world.

Dorothy wondered what kind of life that would be. Crow got permission to dock. The air lock led directly to what Dorothy thought was a hotel room. There were strange pod like beds. Dorothy began to walk into a promenade when Crow stopped her.

No, said Crow pointing at the pods. That’s where we’re going. It’s going to be disorienting at first, Crow said. It’s a virtual neural link. It connects you directly into the world. You feel, taste, touch, and hear everything. Nutrients are absorbed through the padding directly into the skin.

Crow put the headset on her. The next thing she knew, she was standing in a field. There were clear blue skies. She could feel the sun on her face and feel the breeze. She saw Crow. He waved her over to the vehicle. He had been waiting for her. She took one last look at the fields of red grass as she boarded the carriage. Crow told Dorothy that they were in a starting zone. Basically, if they were put in a populated area that would cause loading problems, so they were loaded in a nonpopulated area.

Where are we going? Dorothy asked.

There, Crow pointed.

Dorothy saw a huge crystalline city. It was the most beautiful thing Dorothy had ever seen. She thought that species existed in a computer would have a more technical, bland-looking city.

I didn’t think it would look like that, Dorothy said. I thought it would be more…robotish.

The Tu’vari aren’t robots, Crow said. "They’re one of the most advanced races. Thousands of years ago, they were dying of