C.M. Simpson's Blog

Wednesday's Verse - A Deathly Lullaby Tuesday's Short - Lord of the Vortex

Carlie's Chapter 5 - Dear Tiger: Don't Look Back

LAST WEEK, Simone revealed she had found new allies in the form of a group called Odyssey. This week, Tiger reveals he's safe, but grounded on a planet.Chapter 5 – Hunted

Dear Simone

Got your letter. Can’t tell you where I am, or where I’m going to be, but that’s because I just don’t know. FedExplore tried to nail me down once they knew I’d gotten off Deskeden on the shuttle, but then they got too busy to move me.I got myself out of the holding cell, and into the orbital before they even knew I was gone.Those things down on the surface? They haven’t made it up here, yet. I’m not even sure they know how.All I know is that FedExplore are trying to work out if they can send down the marines. There’s a mercenary group they like to use when things go bad on a world. I never knew that.Well, now I do.I hack into their feeds at least once a day… or I was doing that. It’s getting harder to do now I’m not on the orbital any more. I got myself onto a freighter.The captain wanted to put me out an airlock when he found me, but the crew said there was a GalPol ship in-system, and he’d get caught. It gave me enough time to show him I could be useful, so he hired me.We’re heading in to where he can sell his cargo, but he’s not sure how far in that is. Good news is he says I’ve earned my passage. Bad news is he says I can’t stay. He’s got all the crew he needs, and can’t add any more.I’ll be dirt-side in another day cycle. Your people want to catch up with me, that’ll be the time.Thing is, I won’t be down there any longer than I have to be. The idea of being planetside scares ten kinds of star dust out of me. I’ll be running at the first sign of a temperature change, even if it’s just stepping out of the air-con.I’ve never been this scared in my life, Sims.Oh, and FedExplore are on my tail. Captain warned me they’d sent out a couple of missing person notices on the broadwave. Got my picture on them and all. Apparently, I’m ‘lost’—as in, ‘may have boarded the wrong ship by mistake’, not ‘run away from home’ or ‘wanted for questioning’.Which is nice of them. At least people won’t be throwing me in chains the minute they see me.Anyway, I have to get my stuff packed. The captain gave me permission to print off a few sets of clothes using the shipside replicator, and the crew donated a communicator. It’s a start, and I’m grateful.I really have to go. Packing, and then a work shift; I said I’d stick around until they got the ship off-loaded.Stay safe, Sims.Wherever you are.Better yet, stay in space. You’re safer out there.You tell Odyssey that.
Hugs
T.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The complete series is available as short, individual ebooks, and will become available as an omnibus, later this year. In the meantime, you can find them on this blog, until one week after the last chapter in the last book of the series has been posted, at which point this series will be taken down, and a new series serialised on site.