The Berserker and the Pedant (18 page)

"Yes, you," Penelope said. "There's nobody else here!"

Harold crinkled his brow. "You just step out, Penelope, the cord will let go."

Penelope stepped out of the tube, and the monofilament cord released her.

"Thanks," Penelope said. "But my name's Pellonia."

Harold shook his head. "Nah, that was your name on M4D-058, your 'fantasy name,' if you will.'" Harold did air quotes with his fingers. "Your real name's Penelope."

"Oh," Penelope said. She stood there for a minute, then said, "What's your name?"

"I'm Harold Douglas, System Support Administrator slash Analyst slash Engineer. Seventh grade."

She nodded toward his desk. "What's that?"

Harold looked at his desk. "You mean my desk?"

"No, not your desk." Pellonia crossed her arms. "The rectangular image on top of it."

"You really haven't been on the ship before, have you?"

"Nope."

"That's called a screen; it's part of the computer."

"Oh, of course. Makes sense. Yup. What's a computer?"

"Wow, you've got a lot to learn. Leon's gonna have fun with you. He loves to torment greenies, and given how he died on M4D-058, he's not especially happy with you."

"You heard about that, eh?"

"Oh, everyone's heard about that. It's all over the ship. I think it's all over the galaxy - well, at least everyone in this system knows about it."

Penelope scratched her head, frowning. "Can you use the screen to help my friends?"

"Sorry, we can't help anyone on planet. The ship left orbit as soon as you and Melanie got on board. No one wants to wait around here and see how things play out with the Phage. Your friends are on their own."

"But we'll be back in five years, right?" Penelope asked.

"Do you mean five years planetside? I doubt it, Penelope. The battle didn't exactly kick off well. All-Mother will probably just abandon the planet an-"

Penelope crinkled her brow. "My name is Pellonia. I don't care what this All-Mother thinks. We will come back."

Harold smiled. "Heh. If you say so, space elf. Welcome to the Awakening."

Afterword

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The Berserker and the Pedant
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Dragon Apocalypse
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Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you again soon!

The Berserker and the Pedant

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About the Author

JOSH POWELL, wielder of the Sommerswerd, destroyer of the thread, expeditioner to Barrier Peaks, discoverer of his magic talent, and venturer into the Tomb of Horrors is known for having survived a harrowing adolescence full of danger and fantasy. He's gone on to write
The Berserker and the Pedant.
He is frantically scribbling away at the sequel,
Dragon Apocalypse
and working on several other novels,
Vagabond Necromancer
,
Space Elf
, and
Primacy: Exile
.

He also spends some not inconsiderable amount of time wiggling his fingers over a keyboard as a software engineer. He lives with his wife, Marianne, and two amazing children, Liam and Chloe, in sunny California, where winter is, most decidedly, never coming.