Jack Strong and the Prisoner of Haa'drath Read online

  Jack Strong and the Prisoner of Haa'drath

  By Heys Wolfenden

  Copyright: Heys Wolfenden, 2015

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Other books in the Jack Strong Series:

  Jack Strong and the Red Giant

  Jack Strong and the Prisoner of Haa’drath

  Forthcoming Jack Strong books:

  Jack Strong in Dreamland (2017)

  Jack Strong: Dark Matter (TBC)

  Jack Strong and the Last Battle (TBC)

  Dedicated to the people of South Korea and China

  Contents

  Contact and Blog Details

  Acknowledgements

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: Dragon Mountain

  Chapter 2: Flight

  Chapter 3: Space Safari

  Chapter 4: The Rubber Forest

  Chapter 5: The Plateau

  Chapter 6: Spaceship Down

  Chapter 7: Space Slalom

  Chapter 8: The Armoury

  Chapter 9: Sphere

  Chapter 10: The Best Game in the Universe

  Chapter 11: The Prisoner

  Chapter 12: The Fight

  Chapter 13: A day in the life of Padget Pen'argon

  Chapter 14: Battle Stations

  Chapter 15: Pursuit

  Chapter 16: Fight and Flight

  Chapter 18: Breakout

  Chapter 19: Captured

  Chapter 20: Escape

  Chapter 21: Different Destinations

  Chapter 22: Fire and Blood Part 1

  Chapter 23: Descent

  Chapter 24: Flood

  Chapter 25: Predator/Prey

  Chapter 26: The Prisoner of Haa’drath

  Chapter 27: The Birthing Room

  Chapter 28: The Hidden Door

  Chapter 29: Fire and Blood Part Two

  Chapter 30: A New Enemy

  Chapter 31: Vacuum

  Chapter 32: Trapped

  Chapter 33: Corkscrew

  Chapter 34: Singularity

  Chapter 35: Gravity

  Chapter 36: Space Rescue

  Chapter 37: Event Horizon

  Chapter 38: Impossible is Nothing

  Chapter 39: Tomb

  Chapter 40: An Old Enemy

  Chapter 41: Ripples in Space and Time

  Chapter 42: Homecoming

  Chapter 43: The Search

  About the Author

  Contact and Blog Details

  Blog

  http://heyswolfenden.blogspot.com/

  Facebook

  https://www.facebook.com/HeysWolfendenAuthorPoet?ref_type=bookmark

  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-Strong-and-the-Red-Giant/1399837736948643?ref_type=bookmark

  Twitter

  https://twitter.com/wolfenh1000

  Others

  https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/26851636-heys-wolfenden

  http://wolfenh1000.tumblr.com/

  Acknowledgements

  I want to thank my family and friends both in the U.K and around the world (you know who you are!) for their continued support and friendship. Writing can be a lonely, stressful business sometimes and your kind words and encouragement often helps me to put up with all those rejection slips and to keep on writing and dreaming. I couldn’t have done it without you.

  I also want to give special mention to all those people who not only bought the first edition of Jack Strong and the Red Giant, but who also gave it such glowing praise on Amazon and Facebook etc. It’s great to know that there are people out there who not only believe in Jack’s journey as much as I do, but who also for the best part of a year have been looking forward to the second volume of Jack’s intergalactic adventures.

  Well, here it is – in all its starry, black-hole infested glory.

  Enjoy…

  Prologue

  The boy sucked in air as another wave crashed down on top of him.

  The cold rushed all over him, coursing through his body like electric snakes.

  A torrent of salt water gushed down his throat.

  He coughed and spluttered, his body spasmed.

  More salt water. More coughing.

  He was going to drown.

  His arms and legs kicked and struggled.

  Still the sea swirled, its anger unrelenting.

  A sudden upsurge of seawater propelled him upwards, his head cracking against the ice.

  His mouth searched for an air pocket.

  There was none. Desperation now.

  His fists flailed and pounded against the ice, as all around him the sea seethed and yearned.

  Crack. Crack. Crack.

  Still his fists pummeled away.

  Crack. Crack. Crack.

  His chest was about to burst. Nothing left now. So tired.

  He was about to return the cold’s embrace when the ice exploded into splinters, the freezing air whooshing around his bleeding knuckles.

  Oxygen flooded into his lungs. Salt water spewed out. More oxygen. More vomiting. Panting. Panting. Panting…

  Arms aching, the boy reached out and thrust himself up onto the ice sheet, the sea a seething grey mass behind him.

  “Tomen!” he shouted. “Tomen!” All around him the blizzard raged and howled. “Where are you? Tomen!”

  Nothing but the shrill cry of the wind.

  He had to find him. He had to. It couldn’t end like this. Not now. Not after everything they had been through.

  He stumbled and staggered across the ice, slipping and falling, slipping and falling.

  Something shifted in the distance.

  “Tomen!” he shouted. Running now. “Tomen! I'm coming. Stay where you are. Don't move.”

  Out of the white came a big silver head, followed by a long silver body, its iron jaws gnashing at his legs.

  Dodging the Nagwhal’s razor-sharp teeth just in time, he leapt to the side, tripping over something on the ice.

  He span around expecting another one of the Nagwhals to come darting out at him, all teeth and claws and tongues, only to see two large bloodshot eyes instead.

  “Tomen!” he shouted.

  Slinging Tomen over his shoulder, the boy staggered to his feet as a silver blur launched itself at his shaking body.

  Diving out of the way at the last moment, he ran as quickly as he could, the long silver streak slithering after him. Nothing was going to stop him now. Nothing.

  He looked up at the huge wall of snow and ice and shivered. Running along its base, he desperately searched for a path up, whilst all the while the Nagwhal slivered and howled, getting closer and closer.

  He was exhausted – it was going to catch them, there was no way up, they were going to die.

  The Nagwhal was almost on him when a large, black mass loomed out in front of him, swallowing him up.

  Scrambling through the cave, he ran as fast as he could, the Nagwhal following, howling for blood, howling for him.

  He saw what looked like a light glimmering in the distance and sped towards it.

  His muscles ached and throbbed and begged for rest, but still he fought, still he ran, the Nagwhal almost on him.

  The light got bigger and bigger until a snow-lined cavern reared up all around him, a pile of fire rocks dumped haphazardly in the middle.

  In one fluid move he dropped his brother, ripped off his coat, scooped up one of the rocks and then swung it at the silver tide that poured in after him.

  The fur sparked into flames instantly as he flung it at the mouthful of teeth, striking it repeatedly on the head. A smell like burnt hair radiated the cave as the
Nagwhal slivered, hissing and squealing back down the dark tunnel.

  Tossing what was left of his smoldering coat to the floor, he turned towards his brother. “Tomen!” he shouted, scrambling over the cold, wet rock. “Are you okay? Tomen?”

  He stared at his brother’s ice-like eyes and slumped to the ground, the orange pool of blood next to his head already as hard as stone.

  The boy shivered and waited for the Nagwhal to come again.

  Chapter 1: Dragon Mountain

  The wind whooshed and rattled as Jack stared down at five thousand feet of bare, boy-crushing rock.

  “Come on!” yelled Vyleria, her voice humming out of the implants in his ears. “Hurry up, you're taking all day!”

  “I'm… I'm coming!” he replied, slowly inching up the rock like a human caterpillar.

  Jack felt the mag-boots and mag-grips on his hands and knees one more time to make sure they were still working and then looked around. If it wasn't for the fact that he was scared stiff of heights he would be enjoying the view right now. He was on a towering precipice of rock that undulated from horizon to horizon, extending up to ten thousand feet in the air at its highest point. This was why they had named it Dragon Mountain: when the clouds were low its rugged ridge looked like the scaly back of some huge dragon slithering amidst the clouds.

  “Come on Jack!” Vyleria hollered again. “Don't make me wait all day.”

  “Okay, I'm coming!” he yelled, looking up at her distant speck as it dangled from the rock face like some kind of space fly. “I was… I was just taking in the view.”

  “Is that what you call it?” she chuckled. “I'm starving. If you move a bit quicker we can have lunch at the top. It will be beautiful up there in the afternoon sun.”

  The top. Another five thousand feet of cold, hard, slippery rock. He gulped at the thought of it.

  Jack took one look down as the fuzzy white clouds swirled about him like giant sheep and moved his arms and legs slowly up the cliff face. These things better not stop working, he thought, as he took in another hurried gulp of air.

  By the time he reached Vyleria, she was stood completely horizontal to the rock, her feet stuck fast to the cliff face as her body swayed in the wind, her curly, red hair ruffled by the breeze.

  “Are you still having trouble with the mag-boots and mag-grips?” she asked.

  “Yeah a little,” he said, returning her smile. “Well, a lot actually. I still can't get my head around them. No matter how much I tell myself I'm not going to fall, I'm still worried I will.”

  “Don't worry about it,” she said. “You'll get the hang of it eventually. It just takes a bit of practice, that's all.”

  “Yeah I suppose so,” he said, “though it still feels a little weird to me. Not actually gripping the rock is very unnerving. And as for the lack of a safety line…”

  “Well I'll tell you what, instead of running off again I'll hang about with you for a while. Perhaps if you're talking to me it'll take your mind off the mountain and allow you to get used to it.”

  “You don't have to if you don't want to, Vyleria,” said Jack. “I don't mind if you want to go quicker. I'll catch up with you eventually.”

  “Nah, I've practiced running up and down this mountain long enough. I want to hang out with you for a while. That is of course unless you'd rather be alone?”

  “No, no, no, no… of course not,” he said, his face turning a bright shade of red. “I'd… I'd love it.”

  “Okay, great – just five thousand more feet to go!” she said, pointing towards the cloud-ringed summit.

  It took them a little over an hour to get there, Vyleria jumping onto its narrow, snow-lined summit first, followed by a relieved-looking Jack.

  Jack pulled himself to his feet and then looked around. A hundred feet below them was a sea of white clouds that extended for as far as the eye could see, whilst huge flocks of giant Kuleo birds pierced the deep blue sky, their long, red feathers trailing behind them like the tails of comets.

  “Jack, look around – can you believe it?”

  “It's beautiful,” he said. “I've never seen anything like it. Have you?”

  “No, well not on my planet at any rate. You've seen our cities and buildings: they cover the entire planet – even the oceans! Perhaps it was like this once, years and years ago, but we ruined it. What about Earth?”

  “Well yeah, we do have Mount Everest I suppose.”

  “What's that?”

  “It's our highest mountain. I've never been there though - not many people have - it's very expensive to go and it's quite dangerous too – people die there all the time. Still with our spaceship we don't need to go there in person and it would be a lot easier and a lot safer too.”

  “Sounds perfect, next time we are on board we should give it a try. Besides, the more experience you get with using the mag-boots and mag-grips the better.”

  “Yeah, you're right,” he said, returning her laugh. “I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually. Okay, after we've finished-up on this planet let's do it.”

  “You've got yourself a deal!”

  After eating several plate-loads of fish and chips, together with a flask of ice-cold Vimto they surveyed the scene one more time and prepared for the ten-thousand-foot descent. Jack had just about summoned up the courage to clamber over the edge when suddenly Vyleria turned her back to the gulf and jumped.

  “VYLERIA!” he shouted, as she plummeted through the clouds. “VYLERIA!”

  There was no response.

  What was he going to do?

  He looked down into the seething white sheet, his heart pounding like a cannon. There was only one option left.

  He jumped.

  “VYLERIA!” he yelled, as he pierced the clouds like a knife. “VYLERIA!”

  “Yes Jack,” said Vyleria as she flew up behind him.

  “What… what are you doing?” he asked, still falling.

  “I was going to ask you the same thing,” she chuckled. “Are you going to fire your rocket boots any time soon or do you want to see how big of a splat you can make when you ram into that forest face-first?”

  Ordinarily, Jack didn't forget about such important, life-saving things like rocket boots, especially when he was falling uncontrollably towards his death, but whenever Vyleria was around him (which was often these days) he found that he couldn't think straight. She had a way of putting him on edge (and keeping him there).

  “Oh… oh yes,” he said finally, firing his rocket boots as he swooped through the sky, a whooping Vyleria following soon after.

  “Hey, let's go up there,” she said, pointing at a flock of the red Kuleos.

  “Why? What else do you have planned?” asked Jack warily.

  “Come on, I'll show you,” she said, as they swung upwards in a giant arc towards the birds.

  “Now what?” asked Jack.

  “Now we become birds!” said Vyleria.

  With that she flew towards one of the Kuleos, its large yellow eyes giving her the slightest of glances, and flew-up next to it.

  Jack followed soon after, his arms and legs outstretched, as he took up a position next to her in the clouds.

  “Isn't this amazing?” she said.

  Jack nodded speechlessly as they cut a swathe across the bright orange sun, thousands and thousands of squawking kuleos following in their wake.

  Chapter 2: Flight

  Jack swooped and twirled through the air, Vyleria next to him. They had followed the flight of birds for hours, diving and climbing through clouds, soaring over mountains, rivers and lakes, before finally they swept down towards some steep, snow-capped fjords.

  Jack landed softly by the narrow shore only to see Vyleria twist and pirouette in the air like a gymnast at the Olympic games and then plough through the surface at hundreds of miles per hour.

  Vyleria had always been his best friend, but now he found himself wanting more. Now he wanted to be closer to her, and to spend more time with her (this
was why he'd agreed to go mountain climbing in the first place). He'd considered telling her his true feelings a hundred, if not a thousand times, but on every occasion that he'd managed to drum up enough courage to talk to her about it he'd gotten all sweaty and clammy and changed the subject.

  He secretly hoped that Vyleria would do all the work for him. But she hadn't asked him out like he dreamed she would, indeed she hadn't said anything that indicated she even remotely shared his feelings. She probably just wanted to be friends. Isn't that what all the girls say when they don't like a boy? Sometimes when he pictured himself asking her out (always on some sunny beach or at a fancy restaurant in the sky) he saw her face crease-up in disappointment and her viper-like tongue sting him with “How can you have been so stupid Jack? You've ruined everything. Our friendship will never be the same again!” The feeling that he would somehow disappoint her was what bothered him the most. He was afraid that if he asked her out he would reveal himself to be different than the Jack she thought she knew…

  The explosion of water at the surface announced Vyleria's return.

  “Where were you Jack?” she asked, her spacesuit drying instantly. “I thought you were going to come down for a swim! It's so deep down there – almost a thousand feet according to the depth monitor – and there were all kinds of fish and eels and snakes. One of them was as flat as one of your pancakes and half as big as the spaceship. And then there were these flashing turquoise and purple corals, and these huge silver snakes with no eyes that would launch out from their dens and grab unsuspecting prey.”

  “I'm sorry,” said Jack. “It sounds amazing, but I…”

  “Yes?”

  “I was enjoying the view,” he said, fidgeting slightly, as he pointed towards the horizon. The shimmering waves looked like a pool of molten gold for miles around. “I don't think I've ever seen a sunset like it, but then I always say something like that every time I come to a new planet. Each one seems more beautiful, more fantastic than the last.”