Intergalactic Terrorist (New Dimension Book 1) (36 page)

Chapter 59

The orange glow flared outwards, surrounding the shuttle. Charlie could see the hole once again and had piloted the craft towards it. Being inside the Enveloping Effect could only be described as an eerie experience at best. The last time Charlie had been in this position it had been quick, over in a flash as the orange glow had enveloped him. This time however,
he
was in control. He was inside the glow, yet not quite touching it.

    Everything was silent, except for the music coming from the speakers that trailed off in an echo and sounded very, very distant. Charlie could hear his heart beating.

    The tear grew closer and closer, but was also growing smaller and smaller as it began to close. Charlie panicked. He brought up a reading on the touch screen, which confirmed his fear. The hole was too small. The shuttle would not fit through!

    He looked around the room, desperately trying to figure out what he could do. With luck, Charlie just happened to feel the inside of his trouser pocket. There was a small, disc shaped object sitting inside. He took it out. It was a molecular expanded stretchy thing, one that Charlie had put in his pocket for good measure when he had destroyed the first Mechanoid. God, that seemed like an eternity ago.

    Moving on impulse, and it should be added very much like a pro, he headed to the torpedo launcher and flipped the lid open. He removed the torpedo inside and flung in the molecular expanded stretchy thing. Sitting back in his seat he took aim with the shuttle’s weapons system and fired.

    The molecular expanded stretchy thing rocketed from the torpedo launcher and hurtled through space towards the rapidly closing hole in the Enveloping Effect. With a slight
puff
it attached itself to the side of the hole and just in time too as the shuttlecraft was directly behind it.

     The shuttle and everything inside it, which included Charlie, began to distort as all of the molecules began to give way for the tiny disc stuck to the side of the Effects hole.

    It was a very uncomfortable feeling, one that Charlie could only describe as the way a sausage would feel being wrapped in its skin.

    But it had worked. The shuttlecraft was through the gap, travelling inside a long tunnel, like some sort of vortex. The music from the speakers crackled as the frequency was lost, yet another song was taking its place, being picked up from one of Earth’s satellites. ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ by Rainbow. One of Charlie’s favourites. Many a night had Charlie bounced around his bedroom with his air guitar, his messy hair flapping up and down. Hearing the song now made him smile.

   And then Charlie saw it. A gap up ahead showed a small green blue planet that, compared to some of the other places he had seemed, looked distinctly average.

    Earth.

    A million thoughts bubbled inside Charlie’s brain, and it worried him to find that most of them were negative. Negative thoughts towards Earth. An empty bed in an empty flat. That was what awaited Charlie back home. In fact not even that as he had managed to destroy the city that his flat occupied.

   He had a lot of explaining to do on his return. And even if he should get away with the destruction of his home city, what did he have in store for him. No job, no money, no family, no friends. Just a whole lot of sadness. Sadness that Charlie had felt all of his life. On Earth his life had been pointless.

    He looked back, through the airlock window. At the other side of the vortex he could see the new dimension, the Overseer’s judgement ship a tiny fleck amongst the stars. Back there was excitement. Back there was adventure. In front of him was boredom.

    He reached down and pulled sharp on the handbrake. The shuttle screeched to a stop. Charlie had to think and he had never been very good at doing that whilst moving.

    If he went back home, would he always regret his decision? Would he die wishing he had the courage to just turn back? However if he did turn back what awaited him there? The unknown.

    In Charlie’s mind the unknown seemed a hell of a lot better than regret. There was no doubt about it. He hit the reverse button on the controls. The shuttles thruster’s changed direction and slowly the craft and Charlie began to back away from Earth and back towards the new dimension!

Chapter 60

    “What’s he doing?” shouted Rufi as the shuttlecraft appeared back on the judgement ship’s screen, leaving the Enveloping Effect.

    “Maybe something went wrong,” said An’ishia concerned.

    “No,” muttered Fungust panicking and shaking his head madly, “no nothing could go wrong! Nothing at all!” He hoped. His reputation was at stake.

    “
Allow him to dock,
” growled the Overseer. “
Let’s see what he has to say for himself.
”

    They all watched as the little shuttlecraft docked with the large judgement ship. Behind it, the tear in the Enveloping Effect finally closed and sealed itself up, never to open again. The golden glow began to fade until eventually it could not be seen at all. All that remained on the screen was space. An eternal space that would forever be made up of stars and planets from a mixture of random dimensions that didn’t really belong together.

    The docking port doors opened, Charlie stepped out and instantly a number of highly charged weapons and two wands thrust into his face.

    “Would you care to tell us what the hell happened?” growled Rufi, a mad glare in his eyes.

    Charlie took a deep breath and puffed out his chest proudly. “I changed my mind,” he said confidently. An’ishia smiled and found Professor Amirous giving her a wink.

    “
Changed your mind
?
” roared the Overseer. “
You
changed your mind
?
”

    “The way I figured it,” Charlie continued, “back on Earth I was a nobody. Here… I am somebody.”

    “
A dead somebody is what you are!
” screamed the Overseer, his voice making hearts attempt to commit suicide. He gripped Charlie roughly and threw him in to the centre of the room and onto his knees. The Overseer reached behind him and drew out the meanest, nastiest looking weapon in existence. Imagine something so horrific that your heart would actually succeed in committing suicide when you looked at it and you might just begin to be able to visualise this weapon.

    It was called the obliterator and it was famous throughout the Overseer's galaxy. Those that had been killed by that gun could still be heard screaming in pain. The Overseer pointed it at Charlie’s head.

    “No!” cried An’ishia as she pushed through the guards towards him, Vegora Vrall joining her. They were blocked by a stream of blue flame that emitted from the end of Rufi’s wand.

    “
You have made a brutal mistake Human!
” the Overseer yelled. “
I clear your name of your crimes, I let you avoid Reformatory, allow you to return to your own dimension, your own world. I even give you my shuttlecraft to travel in… and this is how you repay me? We are now trapped forever in this new dimension!
”

    “I will not apologise for my actions,” Charlie said defiantly.

    “
Perhaps not… but you will die for them!
”

    “Dying here is better than my life on Earth!”

    “
Very well! Charlie Pinwright… your time is over!
”

    The Overseer’s finger pressed the trigger. A bolt of pure malevolence fired from the gun, but even as it did, Charlie’s body began to shimmer and glow as he began to teleport away. The bolt passed through him harmlessly, hitting the other side of the room in a great explosion.

    The Overseer and Rufi screamed in anger. An’ishia cheered.

    Charlie, half transparent from the teleportation, heard her cheers. He turned to her and smiled. In that face, that pasty, messy haired, forgettable face, the Princess had a startling revelation. She was in love with him also!

    “Charlie!” she shouted amongst the noise from the room. “Charlie there is something I need to tell you!”

     “
Block that teleport signal!
” yelled the Overseer to his workers. But it was too late. It could not be traced.

    “The baby Charlie,” shouted An’ishia. “My baby… the father Charlie…”

    Rufi and Fungust tried desperately to bring the Human back using magic. They sent wave after wave of vibrant coloured jets over him, but it was no good. Charlie Pinwright had gone.

    An’ishia fell to her knees, tears flowing down her pretty face. “It’s you,” she whispered. “Somehow... it’s you.”

Epilogue

An ending is always a time of great reflection. The end of a life, the end of an era, the end of a vindaloo. Of course there are many emotions being thrown around at an ending. Happy that you are fulfilled, sad that it is over, confused as to what there is to do next, annoyed that perhaps what you have just done wasn’t quite as good as you hoped it would be. Perhaps an ending doesn’t have to be an end. Perhaps it could be classed as a new beginning. A new start.

    The only problem with new starts is that one has to begin all over again. Take the end of a good book for example. Once read it is time to move onto the next. To take the time to get to know and love the new book’s characters as you had the last. What if this new book is not as good? What if it is better? Making a new start is a risk we all have to take.

    Charlie Pinwright knew that he had taken the biggest risk of them all. By choosing to remain in the new dimension, his new start was not so much a new book but a new bloody set of Charlie Pinwright chronicles, providing he lived that long! Was it the correct choice? He guessed that only time would tell (another saying that Charlie did not understand. He had met many clocks in his time and not a single one of them had told him what was to come other than the next second).

    Charlie opened his eyes. Teleportation was a horrific experience. He quickly checked his body parts to make sure they were all still there. Thankfully, they were. He breathed a sigh of relief.

    He looked around wildly and focused on the smiling face staring at him. The face was grey, slightly plump, had yellow eyes and, at the top, had a ridiculous antennae bobbing up and down.

    “
You
!” he gasped.

    The smile widened even further. “Hello Charlie my friend!” Greebol said jovially.

    “
Of all the people
…”

    “Charlie,” Greebol continued tutting, “I just saved your life. Surely you cannot still be angry at me?”

    “If you’ll let me finish,” said Charlie. “Of all the people… I am glad it’s you!” He rushed forward and embraced the Gumthar so hard he almost popped.

    Greebol patted Charlie on the back, this hug was lasting slightly too long. A hug, especially between two men, should either be;

a)
     
A brief, manly shoulder nudge with a quick slap and a nervous cough afterwards, followed by a pint

b)
     
Completely non-existent

    Greebol and Charlie were more of option ‘b’ sort of men, yet at times, and this seemed to be one of them, an option ‘a’ was perfectly acceptable. At the moment, Charlie was doing an option ‘c’, forcing Greebol to peel him off.

    “Very good,” he said moving over to the steering square. A thousand little lights flashed on and began to twinkle in the electrical like Christmas lights.

    “But how did you do it?” Charlie asked.

    “I was at your trial my friend,” Greebol explained, “in disguise as a Waabba. I slapped a transport pad onto your back… just in case.”

    Charlie reached around. Sure enough, there, on the back of his filthy shirt, was a small transport pad. Charlie smiled. “Thank you Greebol.”

    “No need to mention it,” said the Gumthar. “It is the least I could do for my partner.”

    Charlie frowned. Partner? He had never said that. But then… he was a wanted man now. No doubt the Overseer would be searching for him. As would the Wizards. No doubt the crazy priests and the animal-people would still be holding a bit of a grudge. What difference would being a bounty hunter make now? At least here he had a roof over his head and, potentially, food in his belly. Plus he could imagine a night in one of the stasis canisters would be the best sleep of his life. Much better than that lumpy bed filled with sweaty Turks back home.

    “Very well,” he said at last, “you have your partner. But there are going to be a few changes around here. Like no killing!”

    “
No
killing?”

    “I mean it!” He really did. There had been far too much death for a man whose only experience of death had been his pet hamster. Even then he was never truly sure if Fat-Cheeks had actually died being sucked into that vacuum cleaner.

    Greebol smiled. “I shall see what I can do.”

    “You know,” Charlie had to add, “this doesn’t mean I like you.”

    “I would not dream of thinking you did,” Greebol chuckled.

    He entered the key into the ignition and the King George powered up, a low rumble vibrating through the ship that would happily pleasure the kind of girl who enjoys sitting on a washing machine. He plotted a new course.

    “So what’s on the agenda?” Charlie asked, clapping his hands together, eager to get ahead in his new line of business.

    “We head towards a nice little planet unfortunately named Wet-Flaps. A rich duke there has asked us to get rid of his mother-in-law. Seems the old bird cannot help getting involved in his marital affairs and this time she went one step too far; accused him of being too selfish in the bedroom!”

    “Sounds simple enough,” said Charlie. “How difficult can one old lady be?”

    “You haven’t seen this species before Charlie. Their females are twice the size of their males. And they increase in strength with age. I shall tell you my friend, the old aged citizens there are
actually
lethal with their walking sticks.”

    “Now when you say ‘get rid’ of the old lady, what exactly do you mean?” Charlie asked in concern.

    “Oh you know… pop her off,” came the response.

    Charlie sighed. “That doesn’t really fit in with our new rule now does it?”

    Greebol huffed and put his hands on his hips. “I can see you are going to cause me problems,” he said. “Very well… maybe we will not kill the old dear… how about we just slap her about a bit? Tell her to leave the duke alone? Maybe kick her in the dentures if she refuses?

    “A little harsh,” said Charlie, “but acceptable.”

    The Human took a seat and looked out of the porthole as Greebol began to steer the electrical out of the system. Had he made the correct choice in staying here? He guessed he would find out in due course. Probably on Wet-Flaps whilst having his balls broken by a macho granny. One thing was for sure… everything was going to be different from now on.

    A giant boot on a large metal leg extended from the top of the King George and swung down, kicking it up its backside. The electrical, Greebol and Charlie Pinwright were thrust, faster than light, through space into the expanse of the new dimension. 

    The new dimension which, like Charlie himself, was here to stay.