The Accidental Adventures of Mariska Arisia by Thomas J. Bradley

Stellar Hermes was her home, even if it was a little ragtag. Mariska cursed the other captain under her breath. All of which lead to some muddy memories. During the rapid descent, her mind was in shock, her adrenaline was pumping, and her vision was blurry. The two ships swerved to avoid each other, careened down to the planet’s surface under little control, where they finally smashed into the ground several kilometres apart. Everything had been humming along QX, when another ship flashed out of nowhere on her port side. Mariska couldn’t remember very many distinct details. The whole nearly-plummeting-to-her-death event was fuzzy. Of course, all this was immaterial when standing beside her recent wreck it definitely wasn’t going to improve her reputation, even if it was a respectable crash landing. She couldn’t wait to install the new ionizer on her ship! This high-paying courier job to the outer rim would earn her enough credits to purchase the much needed component for Stellar Hermes. Mariska had been saving up for months to buy the new capacitive fluxeon ionizer. But NAN-C did sometimes talk too much-at least there was a mute button when Mariska needed some silence. Thankfully NAN-C didn’t usually bother her like live beings. Mariska had had time to review the schematics for the capacitive fluxeon ionizer she was waiting to buy time to study some of the star maps for The Old System, which she hadn’t yet travelled and lots of alone time. She was beginning to worry about her pristine reputation. There had been too many interruptions recently: equipment failures, rogue gravity wells, and space pirates. Chapter 1 Bed of BasidiomycotaĪll Mariska wanted was a quick jaunt to the outer system with a few days of much needed solitude, just her and NAN-C, her sometimes too matronly computer. The delivery should have been like every other-but it wasn’t. The Stellar Hermes had been blasting towards the outer rim of The First System, closing on its destination.

The Accidental Adventures of Mariska Arisia by Thomas J. Bradley