A brief scream, a moment of weightlessness, a sideways wrench…Hal Spacejock awoke with a start, dragged from his vivid dreams by the Volante’s latest hyperspace jump. As his heart-rate slowed from frantic hammering to over-revved, he wondered whether it was too late for a career change. Anything other than the cargo business would do it. Primary school teaching, perhaps. Or law enforcement.
Hal Spacejock and his sidekick, the robot Clunk, have arrived on the planet Dismolle looking for some cargo jobs to make some quick credits and settle some debts. When Hal’s first customer turns out to be an attractive young woman, Hal decides his luck has changed. But soon, he and Clunk are living life at the same frantic (and chaos-riddled) pace as ever. Hal must decide whether to put his business or his beautiful new acquaintance first.
No Free Lunch is the fourth instalment in the hilarious Hal Spacejock. space-opera serial. With goodies, baddies, loads of life and death moments and, of course, plenty of laughs, fans of the earlier instalments will lap this one up, and those new to the series will be reaching for the earlier ones. And, as a bonus, those who missed the first instalment can now download it for free here.
Good stuff.
Hal Spacejock: No free Lunch, by Simon Haynes
Fremantle Press, 2008