MENU

Up to CMP

Poison Fruit by Kevin A. Straight

Click on pages to see a larger view.

Poison Fruit - Page 1 - A Neapolitan space galleass chases a sloop. Box text reads: Deep space: Five days out of Palermo. Poison Fruit - Page 2 - Interior of the galleass. A couple of thuggish overseers force convict slaves to work harder. Poison Fruit - Page 3 - A confrontation between an overseer and a convict ends when a humongous stone cannonball rips into the ship and hits the overseer. Poison Fruit - Page 4 - The pirate captain (Lodovico Orsini) watches as the bombards he hid on an asteroid tear into the galleass. Poison Fruit - Page 5 - Lodovico orders his men to board the crippled galleass. Bosola is sucked out the hole into space, but catches himself on his neck chain. Poison Fruit - Page 6 - Bosola claws his way back into the ship and crashes to the floor as he reaches the artificial gravity zone. Poison Fruit - Page 7 - Sailors put an emergency patch over the hole. Bosola and the other convicts appear to be dead. Poison Fruit - Page 8 - The remnants of the galleass' crew decide to make a stand below decks. Meanwhile, Bosola has managed to get hold of a claw hammer and is trying to pry open his collar. Poison Fruit - Page 9 - The mercenaries await their fate as the pirates bash on the hatch. Poison Fruit - Page 10 - The pirates batter down the hatch and the final, desperate battle begins. Poison Fruit - Page 11 - The battle continues. Lodovico and the mercenary sergeant close off to fight each other. Lodovico trips and the sergeant moves in for the kill. Poison Fruit - Page 12 - Bosola stabs the mercenary sergeant from behind, then looks around to find the entire compartment full of pirates. Poison Fruit - Page 13 - Bosola dines with Lodovico and Safwan. Lodovico presses him to tell his backstory. Poison Fruit - Page 14 - Bosola describes the killing that led to his servitude on the galleys. Lodovico reveals that he used to be Roman count. Poison Fruit - Page 15 - Lodovico reveals that alcoholism lead to his downfall. Poison Fruit - Page 16 - Lodovico continues the story of his fall and exile. Poison Fruit - Page 17 - Lodovico offers Bosola a position on his pirate crew, but Bosola would rather seek justice in the Kingdom of Naples. Next chapter