the adventures of Bill Troy outlaw of the future

short story

        Everything started out great, but then again, they always do in these stories. I had just successfully captured 1476 and was three days into my trip back home. While passing through the "Lamp Shade" (which is just space's version of the Bermuda Triangle) and coming around planet G67.4, a discarded thrust engine hit the starboard side of my ship. Normally this would have just bounced off and made some racket, but because of my rush to leave on a mission I had skipped some much needed repair. Thus, the thruster lodged into the exposed pipes and wires. The pipes were glued back together with super glue by yours truly, and of course, disintegrated upon impact, spraying fuel into space, and all over my ship. This, along with the now large air leak, and my rocket on that side caused an explosion to rock the ship, and my port engine became the only thing pushing, causing me to turn right. The wires were also destroyed in the explosion, rendering the controls useless, and leaving me as just a passenger on this ride of certain death.

        I awoke to see that my efforts to survive the crash were successful. Obviously, I'm telling you the story. Where was I? Oh yes, I woke up and looked at where I was. Which was about 250 feet from the ground, hanging from my belt that had gotten caught on a I-beam sticking out from the part of the hull I was in. Fires smoldered below me and around me in multiple places. As I caught my breath, I took an analysis of my injuries. I had a most likely dislocated shoulder, a deep cut across my chest, and couldn't feel my left leg. I reached up my good arm and with no small amount of struggle, pulled myself up and sat on the ledge.

       I took several deep breaths in preparation for what was to come and flopped backwards onto the floor of the ship and jammed my shoulder back in with a pop and a grunt. Then, I rolled out of the opening and plummeted towards the ground. Now ,I know what you're thinking "why in the world would you roll out?" I'll tell you why, to avoid being stabbed by 1476. Pretty good reason, right? As I fell, I grabbed onto a cable that was hanging from another piece of my ship and gritted my teeth as my palm was shredded. It worked to slow my fall. I was able to swing over to a tree and grab hold of a branch, but there was no time for rest. I immediately started to move to the opposite side of the tree, as 1476 opened fire. Bullets flew past me and chipped away at the wood behind me as I sat there waiting for him to run out of ammunition. "I'll kill you Bill! You-" Well, I'll cut it off there, you really don't want to hear the rest of what he said.

       I sat there for a few moments. The plasma rifles I had on my ship had about 400 shots per charge and a firing rate of 80 rounds a minute so I had some time to wrap a quick bandage around my hand and load my own pistol, an old thing I picked up out of an antique shop. As the firing stopped, I leaned around the side of the tree and placed the sights on 1476, and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew the distance and hit the stock of my rifle that he was holding, stopping it from hitting him. He ducked behind the broken wall before I could get another bead on him and I heard pounding footsteps as he retreated back down the hall. Moments later, I saw a small escape pod take off towards the east and a beeping could be heard coming from the shadows of the remnants of my ship. My eyes widened as I realized he had left a bomb in his wake and hurriedly made my way down the tree as fast as I could. The explosion blew a ball of fire into the treetops as the vines and limbs holding the ship off the ground started to break, and like that scene from the old movie "Jurassic park" it was a race to the ground.

        I don't remember exactly what happened on my way down or immediately after. All I remember is stitching up the wound in my chest by a small fire, and heating some food after dark.

        I never serviced the escape pods, neither did I ever change out the fuel, so it most likely didn't make it far and knowing the direction he was traveling gives me a starting point to find and capture him once more and I can also use the emergency beacon in the pod to call for help.