Approaching Storm (Alternate Worlds Book 2) Read online

  Alternate Worlds

  Book Two

  Approaching Storm

  by

  Taylor Leigh

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Five-hundred years ago, Victoria Yassim and Andrew O’Neill landed on Scrabia.

  Their story is not yet over,

  there is simply more to add to their tale.

  ~

  Chapter One

  Samantha Turner closed her eyes and turned up her music with a sigh as a loud burst of excited laughter bounced from the back of the shuttle. In the confined space, the noise was amplified. At the moment, she didn’t much care to hear other people enjoying themselves; and the only way to escape it was to drown it out.

  The reason for her irritation—other than the journey itself—was due to a certain passenger now seated in the back. Instead of following the unspoken rule of quietly sitting, obediently lost in private boredoms, everyone had seemed to have forgotten this; thanks to this one man.

  Sam hadn’t noticed him when he’d boarded at the last moment. No doubt no-one had; but since then, he’d turned out to be the most bloody social person on the planet. No sooner had the transport taken off than he was out of his seat, engaging complete strangers in conversation. It was not long before the entire shuttle was laughing at his jokes, telling him their life stories and being counselled by him for their problems. In less time than it took to leave the atmosphere of her planet behind, he’d managed to turn the shuttle from an assembly of business men and tired strangers to a group of students on holiday.

  She’d never seen anything like it.

  Another bout of laughter came from several rows back and Sam made a face, sinking lower in her seat. So far, she had managed to avoid him. She’d kept still with the volume turned up and had done all she could to make herself as invisible as possible. She wasn’t in the mood. She wanted no part of it.

  Instead, she turned her attention to out the small window, to the space beyond.

  Outside shone two great orbs: one green, the other red. Scottorr and Scrabia: the sister worlds. One was home, the other was unknown.

  The planets were close in their different cycles round the nearest sun and the relatively short distance between the two was the high peak of travel season. Now with the gap closing the space had become cluttered with shuttles.

  The particular shuttle Sam was reluctantly on was just finishing its long journey and it wouldn’t be flying back.

  Samantha stared at her blurry reflection in the thick glass of the window. Her morose expression gazed back; full lips pulled down into a pout, hazel eyes turned into the black of space. She’d been a typical proud resident of the thriving city of Flotsen. Now she was an alien.

  The green-blue surface of Scottorr was growing more distant by the second and Sam had to press her forehead against the freezing pane just to keep it in sight. Her mates, flat, city and planet were shrinking behind her, along with all hopes of this transfer not actually happening. She still couldn’t believe her father had talked her into it.

  The diminutive green world finally eclipsed out of her line of sight. From now on the only way she’d be able to see it would be by looking up. The familiar, bright glow of the planet disappeared, only to be replaced by the pinkish shine of the new planet they were jetting towards.

  Scrabia. The desert world. The hot, dry, sandy, ugly world. Sam could have gone on, but any other adjectives would border on rude. She turned her head forward to watch the planet approaching with dread.

  To add to her lists of complaints, Sam would have to return to school. She’d finished on Scottorr at the age of sixteen—as all did—but on Scrabia, it was required law that everyone moving to the planet under the age of twenty must attend the final year. Probably as a way to indoctrinate everyone, she supposed. Sam was one year short of not being required to go. She couldn’t help but be a little irked at her father for not holding off one more year before the move. The combination of new school and new world was not something that was going to be kind to her, she was certain of that.

  A familiar chuckle came from behind and Sam chanced a glance back, suppressing a groan. Her father—who had since abandoned his seat next to her for one near the back—was talking to the stranger now, and in deep conversation. She was somewhat shocked, her father was a serious man, and not open to many people, but he must have forgotten that fact, for he was chatting it up now.

  She narrowed her eyes. It didn’t feel very fair that he was enjoying himself. This whole damn move was his fault, anyway. She watched in indignation as her father leant back in his chair, laughing.

  Sam attempted to catch her father’s attention, to give him a sour look and let him know she was not pleased, but he was too involved with the skinny man. The two of them leaned a bit closer and started talking in earnest and Sam had a horrible thought that they just might be talking about her.

  The words ‘filtration system…’ drifted up to her and she relaxed slightly. He could never stop talking about the filters.

  The stranger smiled broadly, nodding his head to whatever her father was saying. Yet, as Sam watched, his attention began to drift and then, suddenly, the man’s dark eyes slid her direction. They locked eyes and she found herself frozen in a deep stare she couldn’t manage to break. A twinkle sparkled in his eyes and a coy smile—nothing to do with what her father was chatting about—crossed his lips.

  Sam quickly turned back around in her seat, inexplicably flustered by the stranger’s stare. She felt herself flush. What the hell was wrong with her? Sam was mortified to find her heart beating faster. She bit her lip in irritation. It was true she often caught the attention of the opposite sex; Sam wasn’t about to deny she was attractive, but never had she been ruffled by a mere glance. The man’s brown eyes continued to burn into her brain; she couldn’t shake it away.

  The shuttle crossed through Scrabia’s atmosphere, bumping violently, jarring Sam out of her ruffled state. Then they were shooting into the cloudless sky and flying over the jagged landscape far below. Sam watched the change in scenery with growing agitation.

  Giant plumes of what looked like white smoke burst up sporadically through craters in the earth. Sam recalled from her brief study of the planet—that her father had insisted upon—that this was from the subterranean oceans that covered the planet.

  Scrabia’s main source of employment was water mining. The jobs were dangerous and they were always hiring. That was why Sam and her father were here. When the water was collected beneath the surface, it was brought up to cool and sent through several large water filters that sorted out all of the dirt and toxins. Mr Turner was one of many who worked for the largest water filter company on either Scrabia or Scottorr.

  For as long as Sam could remember, her father would travel to Scrabia on his own for routine repairs and updates on the system. Now things were different. Fuel prices were rising, and it was growing much more expensive to ship parts down to the other planet. Money was being lost. Brock Turner’s superiors had made the decision to relocate him down to Scrabia; and that decision had turned Sam’s life upside down.

  They had had a year to prepare for the move. Their possessions had been sold, the bags were packed, the tickets were purchased, and the new flat they were to move into was ready. Everything was set save for Sam.

  Sam did her best to be happy about the move, for her father’s sake. It was
useless to complain, there was nothing she could do besides go. She and her father were all they had. But so far her fake enthusiasm hadn’t been able to convince her yet.

  Sam’s last night on Scottorr hadn’t gone as she’d envisioned. The romantic, tearful goodbye to her boyfriend, Darius, with promises to remember and love for ever hadn’t happened. In the end, it was nothing but an awkward agreement that a long-distance—or rather planet distant—relationship would never work. It was sensible, Sam told herself, but breaking up with him had made her exile all the more final. She was not coming back.

  The minutes passed by in a blur of sound and keeping from being motion sick. Sam was lost in a brooding trace till she felt an impact on the seat in front of her.

  Her eyes snapped open. ‘Oh, no.’ She watched with dread as the man popped his head up over the top of the seat and gave her a large, crooked smile.

  He wasn’t considerably handsome by Sam’s standards. He had a rough look; freckled, unshaven, weathered, yet boyish. She found his age not possible to guess; older than her, but by how many years she didn’t know. A mess of brown hair stuck from under a blue knit cap swallowing his head, which did little to improve his rumpled clothing.

  ‘Hello!’ he said brightly, in a somewhat high voice. He had a Scottorrian accent, she noted with slight approval.

  Sam’s lips pulled back into a tentative smile. ‘Hi.’

  The man, taking her response as an invitation, swung around in his chair and crashed into the seat next to her, offering another large, winning smile. ‘Enjoying the trip?’ he asked, crossing his thin arms over his chest.

  Sam shrugged and pulled the music player from her ear. ‘It’s definitely been one of the more lively ones I’ve been on.’

  The man nodded. He had a long, pointed nose that slanted to the side, as if it had gotten off track on his face, giving his whole countenance a slightly skewed appearance. ‘Yeah, well, that’s the only way to travel. Never know when the shuttle’s engines might burn out and you have to rely on your fellow passengers to stay alive! Good to make friends!’

  Sam bit her bottom lip. ‘Right.’ She couldn’t tell from the shine in his eyes if he was joking or not.

  He leant back in his chair and put his battered trainers up against the seat in front of him. ‘First trip to Scrabia, then?’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘You’ve been talking to my father about me, haven’t you?’

  He looked affronted. ‘No! Well, maybe a little. He mentioned you weren’t too happy about the move.’ He had eyes so very dark and warm; they had a bit of a hypnotising effect on her. There was too much behind them. She felt an indescribable urge to complain to him about it all. Wasn’t that exactly what everyone else had done? Perhaps she was already falling under his spell. ‘It’s just hard,’ she said flatly. ‘Leaving all my mates.’

  He nodded in gentle understanding. ‘Partings can be difficult. Worst part of journeys, in my experience.’

  Sam wanted to get off the subject. ‘So, what about you? It’s not your first trip to Scrabia, I take it.’ She flicked her blonde hair off of her shoulder.

  The man pulled his lips down thoughtfully. ‘I’ve been a few times. Well, more than a few. More like several hundred.’

  Sam couldn’t help but laugh. ‘You’re joking; you’ve been to Scrabia several hundred times?’

  He shrugged, sharing a slight smile. ‘More or less.’

  She grinned. ‘Bet you get lots of friendly flyer points.’

  The man’s brow came down slightly. ‘Oh?’ Then he laughed. ‘Oh, yes!’ He cocked his head to one side. ‘Sorry, I don’t think I caught your name.’

  ‘Samantha Turner.’

  He smiled pleasantly and said in a voice a little too loud for the shuttle, ‘Well, nice to meet you, Samantha Turner!’ His eyes lit up and he leant over to look out the window next to Sam. ‘Oh, look! We can finally see the planet’s surface!’

  She found herself struggling to tear her gaze away from him. He was near enough for Sam to smell the open-air, fresh scent of his wrinkled clothes. It was a good smell. Beneath the forgotten shave, she could make out more freckles and the occasional scar.

  Almost reluctantly, Sam pulled her eyes from him to the window. She wasn’t sure she liked what she saw. Splotchy patches of green, like mould, dotted the landscape here and there. Sam was dismayed to realise those were probably the forests she had been told grew here. A stark difference from Scottorr, where towering evergreens covered kilometres of land. Sam wondered if she’d ever stop comparing.

  An automated female voice began to point out supposedly interesting spots in the landscape. Ancient ruins, the Bone Vault, craters. Steam vents and lava flows, giant spires of rock, so tall Sam thought the shuttle would brush against a few of them.

  The man leaned across her again and jabbed his finger at the glass pane. ‘See that? That’s the tower of Aabul, where Sirmeer conquered the nomads eight-hundred years ago. Rather exciting time there.’

  Sam eyed him.

  ‘And down there, that’s the pyramids of Muhurmata.’ He pointed.

  Sam frowned sceptically. ‘That’s not what the speaker said.’

  ‘Well,’ the man allowed, ‘they get it wrong every now and then.’

  He must have known every inch of the planet the way he didn’t hesitate to share his knowledge. Sam’s head spun as he grew more excited.

  ‘Sorry, I’m forgetting myself,’ he said, after a moment.

  She frowned. ‘What?’

  He suddenly was scowling. ‘Am I bothering you? I noticed you’ve been keeping to yourself this trip, didn’t really consider if you’d rather be left alone.’ He made a face.

  Sam mulled that over for a moment. ‘You did catch me off guard.’

  He smiled. ‘Quite! Sometimes I just let my curiosity run away with me.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I should probably find my own seat.’

  Sam studied him. He pushed himself to his feet and she made a decision that surprised her. ‘No, you can stay. You’re not bothering me.’

  He sank back in his chair and nodded, forcing a wry grin into hiding with expert ease. ‘Ah! Much obliged.’ He crossed his long legs. ‘So, what do you do, Samantha Turner?’

  ‘Do?’ She shifted in her seat. As a girl who had failed out of placing a spot in University and was now faced with a dull life of one of the “Alien Jobs” Scrabia offered to all non-natives, she didn’t have much to look forward to. She found her cheeks flushing red with embarrassment at her prospects for an interesting life. ‘Just a student, mostly. What about you?’

  The man let out a deep breath and scratched his stubbly cheek. ‘Oh, well, that’s a tad difficult to explain. Historian, archaeologist, peacekeeper, inventor? I’m a traveller of sorts. Like to help out where I can. Volunteer, I suppose.’

  She blinked, impressed, and more than a little jealous. ‘Wow. Bet you’ve seen all sorts of amazing things.’

  He stretched out. ‘Yeah, you could say that.’

  Her eyes strained against the dirty window as the voice announced their approach to the city of Layers, her future home. Sam was reminded of a giant, ugly, brown cake spiked with red icing when she saw it. Shimmering around the city was a purple barrier of energy which was only broken by a large mountain range. This tower of rock overshadowed half the city, throwing it into a perpetual night, despite the sun still being high in the sky. To Sam, the city looked like a prison, and with such heavy restrictions on leaving, it might as well have been one.

  At the top of the city was the royal palace. From there on down, layer by layer, the neighbourhoods got progressively worse. Sam and her father were living near the bottom, in a company community called Bone Ridge. She had only seen projected images of the neighbourhood so far, and it did not impress her. Orange rock, black buildings stacked on top of one another and spongy plants. Nothing like home.

  ‘Nearly there!’ her companion reported brightly. ‘This is where the fun begins!’ He rubbed his hands together
in eager anticipation.

  She sucked in a deep breath, her stomach knotting. ‘If you say so.’

  The shuttle slid into its dock with a slow shuddering. To Sam it sounded like the top of the craft had been ripped off by the hanger roof. She made a face. At least they’d survived the trip.

  The automated voice chimed happily to the passengers after a brief pause. ‘Thank you for flying Transworld Shuttle. We hope you enjoyed your trip and please have a safe stay on Scrabia.’

  The peeling door swung open and a blast of hot, dry air chased away the freezing atmosphere of the shuttle. The passengers blinked and shielded their eyes until the wind died down, then dazedly began to collect their things. Sam felt drowsy and lazy after the long trip and the thought of another long ride to bring them to her final destination made her groan inwardly.

  The man’s wristwatch let out an insistent beeping and he glanced at it before popping out of his seat as if he were spring loaded. ‘Well, I suppose this is where we part ways!’

  Sam was surprised to find herself disappointed as he stood. ‘Guess so,’ she said numbly.

  A gentle, wry grin pulled at the man’s face. ‘You will be fine. Don’t be afraid to try new things and you’ll do splendidly.’ He gave Sam’s hand a firm shake before the crowd pushed him away from her. ‘Find mystery and adventure while you’re here, Sam!’ he cried over the crowd, straining to look back at her. ‘In a desert, all sorts of things are buried in the sand!’

  Sam couldn’t help but smile. ‘Oh? So sure of that, are you?’

  ‘Of course! I helped bury most of them! Promise me you won’t just rust away!’

  Sam grinned. ‘’Kay, I promise! Oi! You!’ She could hardly see him through the crowd any more. His blue-capped head bobbed up over the others. ‘Don’t waste your life, either!’

  ‘Never!’ He grinned widely. Then the crowd swept him away and Sam saw him no more.

  She let out a breath, feeling strangely hollow. Now that her companion and his overwhelming energy were gone she felt drained, he might as well have sucked all of the life from her when he’d left. It was disconcerting. Sam didn’t know it was possible to feel that way about someone—especially a complete stranger. Only went to show just how out of sorts she truly was.