Betrayed

the 32^nd sector. Amazing, Ava thought, never felt a thing. She had heard stories about earlier jumps when travelers felt as if they were being pushed through the floor. Modern jumps had thankfully advanced to the point where dimension shifts were unnoticeable.

Ava followed the odoriferous man from the ship, through many hallways, and portals, until she stepped out into a sight even more amazing than the transport station on Earth’s moon. A sprawling city, alien in nature, stretched before her like a scene from a movie, only this scene was real, and she was part of it. The buildings before her were not tall, rising no more than twenty stories; but what they lacked in height they made up for in mass. Some were as long as three football fields while others were no larger than a satellite banking facility. All were made of a material unfamiliar to Ava, and ranged in color from dirty white to deep bronze. Looking over the city from her vantage point on the docking station’s balcony, Ava noticed the city expanded from that point and radiated out like the spokes of a wheel, with the buildings getting smaller in the distance.

Wow,” Ava murmured under her breath.

Turning, she scanned the interior wall of the docking station. Iron ramparts ascended high above, and stretched far on either side. Multiple levels of docking ports dotted the wall, each opening onto a platform spanning the length of the wall and interspersed with glass-enclosed lifts within which Ava could see people zipping up and down.

A burst of light caught Ava’s attention and drew her eyes upward. A meteor shower was in progress. As the meteors hit the protective shields of the complex, they were repelled, emitting an array of spectacular colors and drawing ohhs and ahhs from observers.

As the stellar show ended, Ava continued gazing up, marveling over the unseen force that protected the living beings within its shelter. Invisible to the eye, the shield could deflect massive projectiles from the outside while maintaining an artificial environment within. These force fields had a strange quality; they allowed nothing to move them from the outside but were completely flexible from the inside. It has not been determined to what degree a shelter could flex, as the maximum had not yet been reached.

Ava noticed that vids in the area were offering information about the jump site and the surrounding city. She stepped near and jacked her headphones. Watching the vid she listened to the commentator. Pisk placed his ear next to hers so he could listen too. They learned how the station dealt with waste of all kinds, turning it into useful material, including fuel for ships and supplementation of the city’s power supply. Businesses offering a range of goods and services from the practical to the whimsical, including hotels, entertainment venues, and souvenir shops from multiple galaxies, stood ready to meet the needs of the interstellar traveler. Information kiosks were situated throughout the terminal.

Scanning ahead, Ava looked at the different views of Tangerine. One shot showed the planet from deep space. She thought it resembled a big dip of sherbet hung suspended in blackness, its huge moon a generous dollop of cream, and its second smaller moon a mere dot. Although uninhabited by “intelligent life,” the planet offered a variety of indigenous flora and fauna that would fascinate and intrigue any scientist.

Ava disconnected from the vid, and looked skyward again. Floating above the city, like an oversized balloon, was the planet Tangerine. Gazing at the glorious shades of orange, Ava felt strangely drawn to visit the planet now, but that wasn’t to be. While Tangerine was on her list of assignments, she wouldn’t visit it until later. Her first mission was in the galaxy, Alfea, four jumps from her present site. The first stage of those jumps was being announced now. She took one last longing look at the planet before she and Pisk entered the portal to the transporter to make their next jump.

Arriving on Xenorel’s moon, Ava took possession of her ship and was cleared for flight. Pisk settled into the co-pilot’s seat, his large eyes on Ava. Following the coordinates given her by flight command, Ava maneuvered away from the moon station. Moving past large barges and ships smaller than her own she gloried in the feel of being in control; of having no one to answer to directly, at least not here and now.

After exiting the main congestion, Ava found nothing but space in front of her.

“Look at that, Pisk,” Ava breathed in awe. “All that space just waiting for us.” She and her companion soaked up the view for a few minutes. Finally, Ava asked, “Ready?”

Pisk nodded in agreement.

Ava programmed the coordinates for their first stop, hit a button, and the ship entered hyper speed. Leaving Xenorel’s moon behind, she began her new career hurtling through a blaze of stars, with new experiences waiting to be found.

Enjoy this preview of Half-Bitten by PJ Hawkinson

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Prelude

“I’m bored,” a young woman, by appearance maybe eighteen years old, said for the hundredth time. “Why can’t we move, we’ve been here more than long enough.

A boy who appeared to be the same age as the girl agreed with vigor, “Come on Damien, it’s time to go somewhere new. These hills have lost their appeal,” he referred to the hills near the surrounding city of Edinburgh, in Ireland, where they lived in luxury in a smallish castle.

Damien looked at the two complainers, and then turned to the third member of his family, “What about you? Do you want to leave also?”

A boy, around the same age as the other two, or at least by appearances, glanced up from his studies of Divinci’s art with mild confusion. “Leave,” he said, “and go where?”

“Spin the globe Damien,” the girl suggested. “It’s my turn to close my eyes and stop it from spinning. This will be fun; I know I’ll stop it at a good place.”

“Sure,” the first boy said with sarcasm, “and if your finger lands in the middle of an ocean are we suppose to go there?”

“Ha, ha,” she laughed falsely. “Come on Damien, what do you say?”

Damien sighed and rose from his position at an exquisite grand piano. He had been playing a haunting tune when his oldest two children had rudely interrupted him. Now, he moved to a beautiful globe centered on an ornate mahogany stand. Reaching out a long finger, he gave the globe a nonchalant spin. The young girl closed her eyes, stuck out a finger, and stopped the globe from spinning.

“Where are we going?” asked the first boy.

She squinted at the globe, and then frowned, “Spin it again, Damien,” she demanded.

“Nope, that’s not the way it is done,” said the first boy. “Where are we going?” He moved forward and looked, “Oh lord,” he groaned. “She’s right, spin it again.”

The second boy came to look and said with a laugh, “You know the rules. As long as Damien spins the globe, where it stops is where we go. Peering at the globe, he said, “And it looks like we are off to the center of the United States of America. Better start packing.”

Damien frowned and then sighed hugely, “I’ll contact movers, and find us a place to live.” Turning, he was gone.

The center of the United States of America was the home of a young girl who was exactly the age she appeared. This girl was living her live in a decent way, going about in the ways of fifteen year old girls, but for the last year she has been teetering upon turning a corner of life; the wrong corner.

As she moves towards this corner, another family moves towards her; a family that could mean her salvation; or her death. Let’s meet her and find out…………….

CHAPTER 1

My name is Gertrude Penelope Purdy. I know, terrible hunh; I’m named after both my Grandmothers so I honestly can’t complain, at least not aloud.

I’m not much to look at; I’m 5’6” tall, 102 lbs, built on the slight to medium side. I’ve got pretty nice tits and my ass isn’t big, but, I wish my waist was smaller. My eyes are liquid green. I have heart-shaped lips and a slight crook to my nose.

My hair is plain old brown, wavy, and tends towards curly when the weather is damp; I usually iron it when it