Title

Young Adult to Adult. Science Fiction/Fantasy

Harry and Ferghal have been transported forward in time from a sailing ship from 1804 to 2205. Unable to return they find themselves in a world where sailing ships have been replaced by space ships. Their sailor’s skills and experiences are sometimes transferable. As a result of an illegal genetic splice performed by Consortium scientists in a previous adventure, the cybernetic implants given them by the Fleet, to cope with their move forward in time, allow them to work with computers in an unusual way. In this adventure they have returned to base in order to study at the Fleet College. Here they make both friends and enemies. Another Midshipman is a Consortium spy detailed to recapture them.

After completing their course at Fleet College, the pair are assigned to a vessel which takes them back to Pangaea so that the Fleet can complete its investigations of the facility where they were tortured. Here some of their ordeal is revealed. When they try to gain rapprochement with their former enemies it goes almost disastrously wrong. Next sent to the strange world of New Eden they are in a battle in which their ships are badly damaged. Temporarily stranded, some of Harry’s “outmoded” skills come to the fore and he is instrumental in saving the survivors when they are attacked.

Re-assigned to the cruiser DGK they find themselves sent as “prize” crew to a captured freighter. When the original crew try to retake their ship, it is Harry and Ferghal who turn the balance with their Napoleonic approach to dealing with such matters. (262)

Patrick Cox has recently retired from the Fire and Rescue Services after a career spanning thirty six years. During the latter part of his career he has been a senior instructor at a major training establishment and is the author of study guides, notes and technical books. He enjoys reading science fiction and history and naval history in particular. His hobbies include sailing, painting and writing. He writes for pleasure and is a Reader in the Church of England, currently on the ministry team at Tewkesbury Abbey. He is divorced, with three grown up children of whom he is inordinately proud.

Other published work includes: Out of Time, a precursor to the listed work, Marine Fire Studies; Institution of Fire Engineers, 1997; Out of Time; AuthorHouse 2006; and Short Stories published as E-Stories on Amazon.com including Facing the Banshee, Troubled Summer, Let him in constancy and Almighty Father.