Dark Running (Fourth Fleet Irregulars Book 4) Read Online Free

the survival dome. The place they picked was one of the moons around the second largest of the gas giants.
    ‘Geologically stable, moderate temperature range, easy access for shuttles – ideal,’ Andi told him.
    ‘But…’ Jermane said, staring at the information she was showing him, ‘it doesn’t have an atmosphere.’
    ‘None of them do.’ Andi pointed out. ‘Not one you could breathe, anyway. Actually, it does have some atmosphere – just a bit of methane. Nothing to worry about, though, you’ll be fine in the dome.’
    ‘And I’ve found you a great place,’ said the first mate, eagerly. ‘Incredible views. You’ll love it.’
    Four hours later, they had finished putting up the dome. It was a four-man survival dome; self-inflating, with a built-in life support system. There were air-tanks, and fifty litres of water in a recyc unit. It came with survival rations for four people for five months, but the Chanticleer also provided supplies from their own stores.
    Andi showed him round, assuring him that he didn’t need to worry about life support.
    ‘This is one of the most reliable systems on the market,’ she said. ‘It’s got triple redundancy throughout, so it’s got backup on the backup. In the unlikely event that there is any kind of problem with any of the tech in the dome, the system will diagnose and talk you through what to do about it, but you needn’t worry about that either, it’s designed for civilians to be able to use, even without previous technical skills.’ She gave him a little grin. ‘They sell a smaller version of this for people to carry on starseekers, okay? And we’ve put it on the lowest tech-skill level for you, so you’ll find it all very easy to use.’
    She was right, at least in the sense that the screen layout was familiar and the controls intuitive, very similar in style to the kind of environmental controls you might find in any modern house, with heating and air conditioning, water temperature and so on. There were lots of reassuring green lights, and a voice interface which Andi set to a calm female mode.
    And with that, having checked that he had everything he needed, Andi shook hands with him, wished him the best of luck, and left him there.
    When he tried to call the Chanticleer about ten minutes later, there was no reply. They had already gone.
    Jermane took stock of his new environment. It was open plan, but arranged in three sections. The area with the table near the food store and flash-oven he thought of as the kitchen. The area with the inflated banquette and holoscreen would be the lounge, and the bunks, lockers and shower would be the bedroom. There were only two bunks - presumably if four people really were living in here they’d have to take turns using them. Once he’d unpacked and decided which bunk he was going to use, he was pretty much settled in.
    It was at that point that the silence began to creep in on him. Even on the Chanticleer, there had been the ever-present background hum of engines and technology. Here, there was nothing. He had to go right up to the life support unit and put his ear against it to hear it making any hum at all. He tried turning the shower on and off, and discovered that the only sound with that was the running water, too. No whooshing tanks, here.
    Feeling a little unnerved, Jermane went over to the window, hoping to distract himself with the promised incredible view.
    The window wasn’t glass, of course, but it was a genuine transparency in the dome, intended to combat claustrophobia. It made Jermane feel cold. The ground outside was dark grey, a bleak rocky landscape with a ridge about half a kilometre away which had a slight, odd shimmer in the light from the dome. The horizon was brightly lit – there’d be planet-rise in about an hour, the first mate had told him, with obvious expectation that Jermane would enjoy that. If he craned right round he could just see the corner of one of the cargo crates, landed