excerpt from 2017 NaNoWriMo

An excerpt of this years NaNoWriMo novel. This is from story one. It's science fiction and takes place in the far future.

To find out more on nano go to nanowrimo.org

 A couple of years a go I discovered in NaNo's rules that we can do short stories with two stipulations: have to go together and they all equal at least 50,000 words. So this year I did The Adventures of Lance J. Starhammer five stories that equal 54,600 and some words. Someone has cursed him to live in interesting times and he has to find out who and stop them.

Lance is a Jack of All Trades who do many things for money, usually loners they can con, rob, smuggle, race, do unusual jobs. Some are little better than pirates but others have some scruples and will only go so far. Lance has run blockades to get food to people, and conned dishonest politicians among many other Jobs. 

I will be publishing the Lance Starhammer stories which is why I am changing the NaNo ending by adding to it. I didn’t have time to do the ending I wanted so I am doing it now. And I will also be adding a couple of little things here and there. I thought of two things while writing the last story that I need to add earlier. I hope to have it out in Jan or Feb. Three of the stories have been revised and I don't plan on adding to it beyond what I have stated.

In story one, Lance is transporting five very large creatures for a certain company using one of their ships. Someone has been releasing them. Lance and a Nancy works for the company full time has been trying to figure out who let out the first one. Then this happens.

Enjoy:

Lance hit the intercom button, spoke, “Potential escape of Number Three, bring the sedative for it and the correct way to administrate it. Now!”
He thought of saying, “This is no drill”, but they hadn’t had that many drills, and he thought they should be able to figure that out with what they got paid. And with two men missing, dead, those six would earn their pay if that creature got out.
Nancy said, “What did you see?”
“I don’t know but something is not as it should be, I trust my instincts.”
He had called for the emergency response without thinking. He wasn’t even sure what he had seen. A flicker much faster than last time?
At another thought he hit the intercom button again, “Watch out, it could smoother you. Check out the bulkheads and ceiling outside the cage and inside. It likes to climb.”
In his mind he could see Jorge whispering that he knew that, while Tony would agree.
Lance decided he better go see what was happening but he told Nancy, who still seemed to want to go with him, to drive the tram. This way he could rewatch the door scenes and maybe see what had hit his subconscious.
He thought there was a very slight flicker but it hit him just before Nancy stopped the tram and said, there were there: the door looked the same in both recordings. It shouldn’t if the second recording had been taken from another angle. Shadows and blemishes should look different.
By the time they arrived, gotten out of the tram and walked the rest of the way to where the cages were, the creature, a giant being that looked like a half formed curving of an insect, It even creaked like stone when it moved, had been shooed back into its cage. Not the one he thought had escaped but it had been out. His men were having problems getting the door down and shut.
Lance was glad this worked out easy for the insect statue liked to walk up walls, but they had gotten it back in while it was still on the deck. Easier than he thought it might be. In its native habitat it walked on huge trees where it laid eggs and ate of the bark and leaves of that tree. It did eat other plants, and even some smaller insect type creatures that didn’t get out of the leaves it was eating, but it didn’t hunt or otherwise search for meat of any type.
A moment later though he looked at the door again,
He raised his voice, “Wait guys.”
They looked at him, he said, “Wrong cell.”
Tony said, “What? It was the one that was open.”
Lance shook his head, “I recognized the type of door it had. And checked the older recordings. Its cell is the one to the right of it.”
They looked at the doors in confusion.
Tony turned back to him and said, “Which creature was in that one?”
“The long, skinny blob, looks almost like a short, thick transparent snake.”
“And it likes to climb too.”
At just the right moment with what he said, a shadow moved on the deck near his feet. Again Lance grabbed Nancy and took off running toward the other bulkhead. Something wet sounding and large made a plop behind him.
Yeah, they like to climb walls but don’t always do a good job of it. I was right they can smoother you though if they land on you.
Nancy screamed this time. Maybe it had to do with the smell of the thing: unusual crap, dried mud, decay all mixed together, with how close it was.
Lance said, “Don’t worry, they don’t hunt meat or people. They are careless though. They don’t care you are there or are not intelligent enough to understand about getting out of the way of others.”
One of the other workers said, “How do we get the insect out this one’s cage?”
Lance said, “Take leaves from its cage and lay a trail to its cage,” as he ran toward them.
At least they had some form of stuff to knock this one out. Five of the men went to get the leaves. Very large with a rounded end and a stick at the other end that you did not want to touch. It was covered with tiny thorns and hooks. Not deadly even with its size but they still hurt.
What to do with the snake blob though? Even knocking it out was not the answer unless it was inside the cage.
His feet hit the deck hard this time, of course this part of the ship was reenforced with armor. Which made it harder when he hit it with any part of his body. He arrived where the one man was, Jaried, he thought. He wore a tank on his back which had a hose that led to a strange smaller rifle in Jaried’s hands. Next instant Lance identified the weapon. Not a gun but a spray nozzle set to spray out what was in that small tank. Another tank, hose, sprayer lay next to Jaried. Its user would be with those with the leaves.
At that moment two came around a corner. They each carried six of the leaves. Each one reached from the man’s fingertips to way past the man’s elbow and were wide enough to carry with both hands, like some type of huge meat platter shaped like a leaf. They were brown and reddish with a bit of what looked like blue throughout each one.
They left two in the doorway then placed one every couple of feet until the path led into the insect’s cage. A dozen had been placed inside on the deck.
Lance hoped they got it in and the door closed because it stunk in there. He decided to check on how often it had been cleaned out. Or for that matter if it needed to be. A very likely possibly existed that their natural den stunk that badly.
He wished for some gum to clean out his mouth. And by the look on her face Nancy had the same idea. The team didn’t seem to be bothered all that much. Maybe they were used to it, or stinks didn’t bother them that much. That might be one reason they were hired.
It took ten minutes to get the statue insect back in its own cage. Maybe that is why they had to force it into the other one. It knew it was not the correct den. This door closed as easily as it should.
Good something worked.
Now to get the long blob back into its place. At least that cage didn’t smell as bad. All of the stink had been absorbed by the creature, he thought. Even though it didn’t smell as bad as the insect’s cage or other stinks Lance had smelled over the years.
It had climbed the bulkheads and fell five times that he counted, while they had worked on getting the other one in its cage. How do you get this one in its cage?
First though…
“Let’s get the door to close.”
Tony tried it and this time it came down as it should.
Each of the team stared at it.
Lance said, “Maybe you pressed the button for the other door on your tablet when you thought this cage was the insect’s. This one didn’t close because you pressed the one already closed.”
Two of the team nodded as if that made sense. They tried the food trail again, once they figured out what this one wanted. But it didn’t seem interested. Full maybe? It didn’t like to eat outside its den? It didn’t really eat but undulates over the food to absorb it which is why it always had that decay smell.
Maybe they should use slight shocks. They had electric stun weapons on board. Start with the lowest setting and go up and have five of the men use them. They might use the crane deigned to carry huge beasts once it lay there out, even though it could harm this one. So could the shocks but they had to use something.
He ordered Tony to go get five stun weapons. The man looked at him for a moment but turned to leave. It shouldn’t take him long for there was a lounge with an emergency locker, which included these weapons, nearby. If not there was also a full armory two levels higher and over a section.
He looked at the other men and said, “Any ideas on how to get this fellow back in his home away from home without the electrical shocks?”
They all thought and they all shook their heads. It would be a good mark on his record f one of them could think of something, but there might not be another way.
One of the men said, “We tried food, we got out of the way, we yelled at it. Put hot sauce on the walls?”
 Lance said, “It might like it and it would take a whole lot of hot sauce.”
The man said, “Yeah, it would but I was kidding about that part.”
“I know, but I would try it anyway if I knew it could work.”
Lance waited for Tony to get back and thought some more. That much hot sauce would definitely smell up the whole passageway. It might even cover the stinks made by the open doors.
A new thought hit Lance. It is too perfect in here.
How about heat or cold. Would either chase it back into its den? He didn’t know. But more than likely one would. He rushed over to the master cage block menu, fed it his passwords when they were asked for. them
He found the correct menu. A movement caused him to look behind him. Tony stood there with the five shock weapons. His eyebrows went up, they looked like stub nosed small versions of the typical U-6 laser rifle. Someone didn’t have much of an imagination when it came to weapons.
“One moment, I am trying something else.”
Nancy was at another terminal, she sent a note to his that stated she was looking for the perfect weather for these snake-blobs.
He nodded, he would need that.
A moment later a new note formed. So that cold? Hmm.
He set the temperature level to cold enough for ice to form. He saw her stare at him with what might be confusion on her face. He looked up at her than her second note.
Damn, thrice used air filters.
He switched menus as quick as his fingers moved. There that second note had come from a different terminal. He resisted the urge to look up at where the closest camera was located. Someone had to be watching them and following their moves via computer probably via tablet.
A quick change again this time he waved his little finger over the spot for security protocols to begin.
He looked up suddenly said, “Damn, did that again what is with my little finger?”
A quick search through a list of tablets someone had hooked into the computer. There were seven in altogether. Almost like a miniature internet, he thought.
Two were needed, and used all the time, so he assumed it would not be them.
Another thought came to mind. If it turned out to be his, he would scream, hit his head on the monitor and punch someone hard, fast and continuous.
Lance found his but even though hooked in, it was on stand by which made him let out a breath of relief. A moment later he found two more. Looked closer at both. One watched movies his tablet held on the large screen set in that person’s cabin. He looked closer at it. No, no porn. He thought it would be porn and half afraid it would child porn or worse, but no just a regular movie. An old one in fact converted to this format.
He moved on to the next one. It had been disconnected but he was able to get a reading on it and send it to his tablet.
Nancy waved at him, got his attention. She pointed to his screen and made a writing motion with her hand. He got back to the temperature menu and saw that she had sent a note.
So heat would be better?
Not surprising.
Lance raised the air temperature.
Out load he said, “It's going to get very hot in here in a minute or so. Leave if you have to but it won’t last long,” he added to himself, “At least I hope so.”
Soon the air got hot, than hotter still. The creature bopped up and down and made a strong noise. Finally it moved toward its cell. Lance found the cell controls, made its cage cooler and blew air from it, like a strong breeze.
The snake-blob looked at the cage three times. Either it hated being in there, or it was just plain stubborn. He bet on the last and made it even hotter.
Sweat rolled down the back of his neck. Not so much under his arms though. The jumpsuits were heat and cold resistance. But his feet were out of them and now hot.
His own smell got worse, he licked his lips and came away with a salt flavor.
Two of the men took off their shirts, the creature looked uncomfortable.
Two other men moved closer to the snake-blob’s cage. He hoped it wasn’t too close for that might make the thing not want to go in. But then again it didn’t seem to notice people, or other animals or care if one was around.
A wet bounce made him look. It had fallen from its wall spot and bounced. That didn’t seem good. But it recovered and moved toward its cage. When it hit the cooler air coming from the opening, it moved faster. Within seconds it was inside. Evidently it could move fast when it wanted to. Someone hit the close button and the door came down.
Good, he got the right one.
Even before the door closed Lance had the temperature come down. He wanted to melt in relief but no time to relax. He grabbed one of the shock rifles and headed out the door. Soon he saw that Nancy had one and was with him. Tony wasn’t too far behind them. Back-up was good but did they know what they were letting themselves in for? No time to explain though.
He ran to a tram started it and gave it a heading and emergency speed, but didn’t get in. When Tony looked at him and the tram Lance shook his head. The little car took off like it would if someone drove it. Now if no one else saw it and tried to stop it.
He ran to the jefferies tube connection slipped in through a barely opened door. The elevator maintenance people used wasn’t connected to the main menu like the tram was. This elevator was basically only three feet wide, three deep with walls that ended at waist level. All three got in and up they went.
Once at the right floor it stopped and Lance got out, the others followed. Before they went through the hatch way he said, “This could be dangerous, I don’t know the motivation of the person who released the gagturid, I assume he did the other two to create confusion, but I don’t know. He might be crazy, he might be some form of animal rights terrorist, or someone who just likes to cause problems for other people. He may react calmly when I approach him, he may get violent, or sneaky and just pretend to cooperate. He may have helpers or he may not. Or a something set up already to trap or harm us.”
Tony said, “We get the picture. We know the danger already.”
Lance nodded and opened up the hatch out of the jefferies tube. No one was around. Lance wiped sweat off of his face. He had expected someone with a weapon.
When they went through the hatch Nancy said, “I was wondering how long you were going to talk us out of it.”
“I don’t want any harm to you on my conscious.”
“That’s nice, but we made up our own mind. But what about you?”
“I’ve been in violent situations before. And I am angry at this guy. He is responsible for the deaths of two men and of endangering this job.”
“Were you in the military?”
“I did a stint as a fighter pilot, found it wasn’t for me, but by violent I meant in fights with Crime bosses and other Jacks of all trades. Some are no better than pirates.”
She would know some of this already if she had read his files or talked about him. He let out more than he had wanted to but as he said he was angry.
A pause then, “Now we can have the rest of this discussion later, quiet from now until this is over.”
They both nodded. He was surprised by how well and fast Tony obeyed.
He set his shock rifle on the medium level, that way even a near miss could slow the man down. They walked on until they got to a certain door. He motioned the other two away from where the outside camera could not see them. He tapped the tiny square next to the number pad to alert the person or people inside that they had company.
To his surprise the door open. No one stood there. He peeked in and no one stood or sat, even close to the door.
He looked around the passageway just in case someone snuck up on him to harm him, or push him inside and lock the door. Belatedly he thought that of course Nancy and Tony were there to stop anyone or scream if someone showed up and surprised them.
He pulled out his tablet and speed checked where everyone was. According to the ship the person he wanted was in here. The sensors could be tricked of course so just as well go in and see. He walked in and found himself in a living room. His tablet had been set for detecting anyone close and would chime and buzz even with it in its holder.
No one hid behind the couch or in the closet. He walked to the bedroom and wondered if he would find a dead body but his tablet would detect one of those too.
He pushed open the door hard enough to slam into anyone on the other side but it just hit the wall. He went in with Nancy, Tony stayed on the other side.
The first mate sat at a computer desk. He turned suddenly and stared. “Oh, you’re here already.”
Lance said, “We made enough noise.”
“I was concentrating.”
He rolled the chair all the way around to face him. It took Lance two-seconds to see the hand gun The second mate held.


end excerpt