A Talent for Rescue: Three Stories from the Salvage Title Universe: Three Stories from the Salvager Title Universe

By Robert E Hampson

It was just a bunch of junk...

...but the millennia-old emergency suit was anything but junk, and Petekil Ekil has to figure out how it works. 

Three linked short stories from the Salvage Title Universe introduce Pete and his friends Orlin, Jinx, and Jerry. They have a tendency to get into trouble, b

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brain and Brain Ink
• Release date: May 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781961172081

Book preview

A Talent For Rescue

Three Stories in the Salvage Title Universe

Robert E. Hampson

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Brain and Brain Ink

Copyright © 2023 by Robert E. Hampson

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact Brain and Brain Ink (http://REHampson.com).

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

Book Cover by Robert E. Hampson

Contents

Dedication

Additional Copyright Information

THE SUIT

CHEATING THE ODDS

RESCUE OPS

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Books by Robert E. Hampson

The Wrogul's Oath

For Ruann, the love of my life; for Mom, my first fan; and for Dad, my hero and role model.

Additional Copyright Information

This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events, or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

These stories take place in Kevin Steverson’s Salvage Title Universe. All rights to that universe and setting are retained by Kevin Steverson and Chris Kennedy Publishing.

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The Suit by Robert E. Hampson, copyright 2019 by Robert E. Hampson. First appeared in Salvage Conquest: Tales from the Salvage Title Universe, edited by Chris Kennedy & Kevin Steverson, published by Theogony Books, Chris Kennedy Publishing.

Cheating the Odds by Robert E. Hampson, copyright 2020 by Robert E. Hampson. First appeared in Through the Gate: More Tales from the Salvage Title Universe (The Coalition Book 3), edited by Chris Kennedy & Kevin Steverson, published by Theogony Books, Chris Kennedy Publishing.

Rescue Ops by Robert E. Hampson, copyright 2021 by Robert E. Hampson. First appeared in It Takes All Kinds (The Coalition Book 9) edited by Kevin Steverson and Chris Kennedy, published by Theogony Books, Chris Kennedy Publishing.

Cover art by Robert E. Hampson. A portion of the artwork was derived from Midjourney.AI (paid user).

THE SUIT

Authors note: This is my first story written in the Salvage Title Universe. When I first read Kevin Steverson’s book Salvage Title, I was struck by how the characters reminded me of the old Boy’s Life tales from my youth. The stories emphasized curiosity, ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and an overall positive view of the world. Thus, Pete, Orlin, Jerry, and Jinx are based on the ideal of Scouting when I was growing up. Here then, is the first tale of Pete Ekil, a young man with a talent…for rescue.

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So, what are you going to do for your Maker Merit Badge? Orlin was digging through the pile of discarded mech components. He’d told his companions all about his plans to build his own mech, ‘just like Harmon Tomeral’ and was now trying to figure out how much competition he was going to have from the other members of his patrol. Even though Tomeral had long left the Tretra system, he was still a hero, particularly on Joth, where he’d grown up under circumstances much like Orlin and his friends.

I don’t know, replied Pettekil—Pete to his friends—flipping his tail back and forth with nervous energy. I think everyone wants to copy him and build mechs. I want to do something different. He turned back to his desultory sorting through burnt motivators, exhausted power cells and damaged sensors. There’s nothing of interest in this junk pile.

We want to build… started Jerry.

… a fighter! finished Jinx. The twins usually finished each other’s sentences. They often talked about becoming fighter pilots because they assumed that their ability to coordinate their actions would provide an advantage in combat.

Of course you do, said Orlin with a sigh of resignation. It’s all you two ever talk about.

Hey J— called Jerry.

Yeah, J— replied Jinx.

There’s a thruster…

…over here..

Wow, two…

…at a time? How lucky—

—is that? completed Jinx

Can you two please stop that? asked Pete. Do you know how annoying that is? Especially when the rest of us haven’t found jack… uh… diddly.

Just because—

—you can’t look with four eyes—

—doesn’t mean we can’t!

The irony was that ‘Pete’ was a Caldivar, an anteater-like creature with three eyes. He had an advantage over the human twins, and even Orlin, who was a lizard-like Prithmar. Joth was home to many races, and it was not uncommon for them to mix in both social and occupational settings. The four boys were all in the same Troop, and even the same Patrol—the Crockables, named for a leathery-winged scavenger bird common to the vast deserts of Joth.

You have one more eye than I have, so I wouldn’t call that much of an advantage… he started, but was interrupted by Orlin.

A-HA! Got another knee joint, here. Now I just need a couple of hip joints and the lower limbs are set.

You guys have all the luck, Pete grumped.

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Alright guys. The troop as a whole is going to be working on the Maker Merit Badge this month. Since you’re all on school break for the next three weeks, you should be able to spend all the time you need during that time period. Remember, merit badge rules say that you can work individually, or in teams up to the size of a patrol, however, to earn the badge, your team-mates must agree that you contributed significantly to the overall project. I’ve arranged for you to have access to the Farnog Corp printers, and the Rinto Scrap Yard will let you pick through the unsorted salvage. The rest of it is up to you. Build it, program it, salvage it... Just make sure that it is a functioning device of value to Joth society, because we’ll be entering them in the Joth Maker Faire next month.

Troopmaster Zentto was Prithmar, like about one-third of the kids in the troop. Another third were human, and the remainder was a mix of Caldivar, Yalteen, Pikith and even a couple of Leethog. Xenophobia was rare on Joth given the number of different races present on the desert-like world. The variety also made the Crockables’ troop quite successful in the various planet wide youth competitions like the Maker Faire. Residents of Joth were always inventive and self-reliant, but the popularity of build-it-yourself projects and competitions had really taken off after Joth’s favorite son, Harmon Tomeral, had won the Top Fleet Marine competition. The fact that Tomeral ended up saving the entire system from the Squilla hadn’t hurt either. Inventive, unorthodox, self-reliant, heroic—Tomeral was an example to all. Thanks to his example, every young resident of Joth wanted to be the next to make their mark on the universe.

The only problem was that Pete still didn’t know what he was making for the competition. Orlin had most of an exoskeleton together and was starting to fashion armor plates. Even if it wasn’t a full mecha, he’d already proven its worth by using the augmented strength to improve the searches in the salvage yard. Jerry and Jinx had affixed their thrusters and motors to a hover frame that the quartet used to transport their finds back to the workspace that the troop had arranged for their members to finish projects. The other three were well on their way to completing the merit badge and even had a chance of scoring well at the Maker Faire. Pete was the only one without a project of his own.

Of course, he could always work with his patrol-mates on their projects. He was helping them with programming anyway, so there was no question but that he was contributing significantly. It’s just that he wanted something of his own.

Hey, what’s this— started Jerry

—it looks like armor—

—but soft—

—and no joints, ended Jinx.

The device in question did look vaguely like something a bipedal could wear. There were four tubes roughly the size and shape of humanoid arms and legs. There was also a much larger, clamshell that looked like it would fit the torso of Yalteen. It was much too large for a human, let alone a Caldivar or Human. There didn’t seem to be anything joining the separate pieces into a suit or armor, although there were some damaged tubes that might have connected the various pieces at one time. There was also no evidence of a helmet or joint protection.

If it’s a Mecha, it’s missing anything practical, observed Orlin. I suppose it might be some sort of an add-on, like ablative armor.

Not armor—

—too soft. Jinx held up one of the tubes. It might have been a sleeve, with a semi-flexible elbow joint, but Pete agreed, it was much too soft. The material was almost a fabric, it seemed as if the only reason it even held its shape was more tubing inside.

Could it be some sort of reactive material that can be programmed to be rigid in one state and flexible in another? Orlin