Captain's Away! Master Index and iFAQ
Episode list and everything a new reader needs to get started
New Here?
Start with the Master Index below for links to all chapters of the complete novel of Captain’s Away! (chapters 1-60) in order.
You will also find the sequel to Captain’s Away! here. Just scroll (almost) all the way down. It’s called Captain’s Away! Robo Kun, and it’s also a serial.
I keep chapters free for the first six months. After that they move into the archive. To unlock the full archive of the original Captain’s Away! and support Donovan Street Press Inc, please consider a paid subscription. We would be, if not eternally grateful, thankful for a good long time.
If you’ve been a regular reader and the paywall on Captain’s Away! has caught you by surprise, just reach out and I will make sure you continue to have access.
Captain’s Away!
It’s one thousand years in the future. The Earth is a distant memory. And the Doucettes have seen better days.
It’s certainly not every day your space station is blown to bits beneath you in the opening volley of a senseless war. In the aftermath of this attack on their home, the Doucette family find themselves careening from one fantastic space adventure to another as their lives are upended in ways they can barely comprehend.
Hostile aliens, rebellious robots, murderous despots and more all stand in the Doucettes’ path as they try against all odds to reunite as a family while doing their best to help Akkadia win the war. Will they succeed?
Read the exciting space adventure Captain’s Away! to find out!
Captain’s Away! is classic space opera posted weekly as a serial adventure. I expect each installment to average 1500 words, though lengths will vary. The content is suitable for readers of all ages.
This is the Master Index.
To read the novel, click on the links below:
Act One: Refugees
Captain’s Away! Chapter One
Sympathetic Vibrations It’s an ordinary day on board the Akkadian space station Evangeline for the Doucettes and the rest of the station’s ten thousand inhabitants until the station is attacked by a Realm battleship.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Two
Life Pods While their space station Evangeline is under attack, the Doucettes wait for their chance to board an escape pod, but they’re last in line, and there may not be enough.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Three
The Northumberland The Doucette’s escape pod takes them to another Akkadian space station, The Northumberland, where they join hundreds of other refugees. While exploring this new space station, Marie-Josée and her brother Alain have a strange encounter with a uniformed official.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Four
Saito While the space station Northumberland itself is attacked by the same battleship that destroyed the Evangeline, Marie-Josée Doucette herself is attacked in the Northumberland's Great Hall.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Five
The Medical Bay Yolande tries to find her missing daughter in Northumberland Station’s Great Hall.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Six
Emergency Bunker Yolande leads her family to Northumberland station’s medical bay, toward potential safety… or certain death.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Seven
The Procedure Yolande is torn between separating the emergency bunker from Northumberland station before it’s destroyed or waiting for other survivors to show up.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Eight
Too Many People Alain Doucette decides to explore Northumberland Station at exactly the wrong time.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Nine
Lost in Space Yolande grapples with the consequences of being forced to separate the emergency bunker from Northumberland station, including the devastating loss of her son.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Ten
A Precarious Situation Bertrand struggles to accept his new, horrible reality: stranded in space with his son Alain missing and likely dead because he failed to keep Alain safe.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Eleven
Marooned Bertrand and Yolande Doucette take care of their unconscious daughter and fellow survivors in the emergency bunker as new challenges loom, threatening their survival.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twelve
The Captain Although the body of Marie-Josée Doucette is undeniably unconscious and in an emergency bunker with her parents, another part of her is having an entirely different experience.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirteen
A Waking Nightmare Unaware of the tragedy that has befallen the space station Northumberland and her parents and brother, Marie-Josée’s mind, it seems, has awoken elsewhere, on a starship called the Beausoleil, where she is being addressed as “Captain.”
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fourteen
The Bridge Commander Saito deals with the captain’s precarious mental state while witnessing the destruction of the Northumberland.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifteen
Raizada Navigator Raizada arrives on the bridge of the Beausoleil for his shift bereft of sleep and anxious about a possible confrontation with the Realm Battleship the Atul.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Sixteen
Performance Time Confined to the captain’s quarters, Marie-Josée decides that her only means of escaping this waking nightmare is to learn as much about Captain Khiboda as possible. By impersonating the captain, perhaps she will be able to find and employ the technology that was used to switch their bodies.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Seventeen
Performance Time Part Two After learning as much as possible (but not nearly enough) about the person whose body she’s inhabiting, Marie-Josée attempts to impersonate Captain Jane Khiboda.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Eighteen
Fusiliers Meanwhile, back in the emergency bunker, the survivors are about to be rescued. Or… are they?
Captain’s Away! Chapter Nineteen
Who’s the Captain, Anyway? On board the Beausoleil, having escaped her confinement from the captain’s cabin, Marie-Josée searches for the technology that can return her to her own body.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty
Crazy After the incident on the bridge, Commander Saito has a chat with the woman he thinks is his captain, Captain Jane Khiboda.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty-one
The Beausoleil Bertrand Doucette grapples with guilt over the loss of his son as he, his wife Yolande, and other passengers are finally rescued from the emergency bunker and transported via shuttle to an Akkadian military vessel, the Beausoleil, and an uncertain future.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty-two
A Decent Quack Yolande and Bertrand Doucette adjust to their new reality on board the Beausoleil with their comatose daughter, Marie-Josée, unaware that the mind of their daughter inhabits the body of the ship’s captain.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty-three
The Commander Bertrand and Yolande Doucette and their fellow survivors are welcomed on board the ship that’s rescued them, the Beausoleil, but it soon becomes clear that they’re not out of the woods yet.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty-four
A Bigger Problem Commander Saito grapples with the problem of the captain. Why is she behaving so strangely, and what can be done about it?
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty-five
The House Call Hiding in the captain’s cabin on board the Beausoleil, Marie-Josée receives an unwelcome visitor.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty-six
Acting Captain Posing as the captain of the Beausoleil, Marie-Josée finds herself in an acutely uncomfortable situation.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty-seven
Passengers Still posing as the captain of the Beausoleil, Marie-Josée meets the survivors of the destroyed space stations, including some people close to her.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty-eight
The Meeting Sub-Lieutenant Raizada attends a meeting with Captain Khiboda that he finds fascinating.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Twenty-nine
The Meeting Part Two Posing publicly as the captain of the Beausoleil in a meeting with senior officers, Marie-Josée finds herself way over her head.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty
Settling In During a meeting on board the Beausoleil with the rest of the refugees, Yolande is pressured to take on additional responsibilities.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty-one
Troubleshooting Yolande is asked to help solve a problem with the ship that proves more difficult than expected.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty-two
The Void Marie-Josée grapples with orders that don’t make sense to her.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty-three
Mathieu Marie-Josée endures an uncomfortable meeting with a representative of the survivors on board the Beausoleil.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty-four
The Void The crew of the Beausoleil prepare to travel through one of the most dangerous parts of the aether, a vast sea of unreality that without proper shielding drives crews insane.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty-five
The Shields Yolande Doucette works frantically with the maintenance crew of the Beausoleil to figure out what’s wrong with the ship’s shields before the Void through which the ship is travelling dives everyone on board insane.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty-six
Effects Yolande figures out what’s wrong with the shields, to Javad’s dismay. The Beausoleil deals with the aftermath.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty-seven
Admiral Steelclaw Having survived the Void, the crew and passengers of the Beausoleil find themselves in T’Klee space, inhabited by the cat-like aliens that constitute the only other sapient species humans have so far encountered in the galaxy.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty-eight
Dinner Marie-Josée deals with Commander Saito after having been inadvertently invited to a potentially hostile T’Klee ship for dinner.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Thirty-nine
Awake The Doucettes receive some startling news about Marie-Josée.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty
The Real Captain Jane Khiboda While Marie-Josée has been impersonating forty-year-old Jane Khiboda, the captain of the starship the Beausoleil, her own body has been languishing in a coma. Now, that body has woken up. But how is that possible if she herself is Marie-Josée Doucette?
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty-one
The T’Klee Marie-Josée is invited to join the T’Klee on their ship for dinner, an excellent opportunity to carry out her mission: convince the T’Klee to hand over their fleet. But how will the T’Klee react to such an audacious request?
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty-two
I am the Ship Marie-Josée attempts to carry out Captain Khiboda’s mission to convince the T’Klee to hand over their fleet.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty-three
Special Order Twenty-One Having failed in her mission to convince the T’Klee admiral Steelclaw to hand over its fleet, Marie-Josée Doucette must now face the consequences.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty-four
A T’Klee Always Pays its Debts Admiral Steelclaw seeks a word with Marie-Josée after narrowly escaping destruction at the hands of an Akkadian Task Force. Meanwhile, her father Bertrand Doucette practices journalism despite his current handicap.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty-five
A Change of Course Marie-Josée and the Beausoleil stumble upon something new and potentially lethal deep in the aether.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty-six
Necronians Marie-Josée and the Beausoleil find themselves in trouble deep in the aether.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty-seven
Part of the Solution Marie-Josée is forced to ask Saito for help when she finds herself in over her head.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty-eight
Trapped Attempting to save the Beausoleil, Saito receives a lesson in humility.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Forty-nine
Next Steps Javad considers his next steps as his health deteriorates to the point of no return.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty
The Padishah The Padishah comes knocking. Naturally, Marie-Josée doesn’t trust him. But what choice does she have with the Necronians breathing down her neck?
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty-one
Conversational Gauntlet Having assumed the identity of the Padishah, Javad negotiates an awkward conversation with one of his command staff.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty-two
Keshini Ghai Yolande is forced to chaperone a Realm technologist from the Atul, the same ship that destroyed the Akkadian space stations the Evangeline and the Northumberland, and very likely was responsible for the death of her son.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty-three
Preparations After finding out that her son might still be alive, Yolande Doucette has questions. Questions she figures only the captain of the Beausoleil can answer. Chapter fifty-three of Captain’s Away! Preparations.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty-four
Javidishah Marie-Josée and the crew of the Beausoleil prepare for battle.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty-five
The Shuttle Sub-Lieutenant Raizada is given the responsibility of spiriting the children of the Beausoleil away to safety in the Beausoleil’s shuttle with Necronians hot on his heels.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty-six
The Bad Guys Marie-Josée, the crew of the Beausoleil, the Akkadian fleet, and even the Realm engage the Necronians in battle as they threaten the Akkadian homeworld of Miscouche with overwhelming odds.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty-seven
Faux-Marie II Marie-Josée finally gets what she’s wanted all along. But is it still what she wants?
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty-eight
Herself Back in her own body, Marie-Josée must relive the events leading up to the attack on the Beausoleil.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Fifty-nine
The Necronian Investigating the sabotage of the brains of the Beausoleil, Marie-Josée does not like what she finds.
Captain’s Away! Chapter Sixty
Heavy the Head Back in her own body, Marie-Josée tries to help Commander Saito against impossible odds in the concluding chapter of Captain’s Away! A Strange Dimensions Book.
Captain’s Away! Robo Kun
Chapter One: Alain and the Robot
In Volume One of Captain’s Away! the Doucettes were forced to flee after their space station Evangeline was destroyed by a battleship from the Realm. Marie-Josée Doucette found herself in charge of an Akkadian starship, Beausoleil. Her parents became passengers on that ship, each tested in their own way, especially after the death of their son, Marie-Josée’s brother, Alain Doucette.
But Alain did not die.
This is his story.
Chapter Two: The Maharani
Plucked from space by the very ship that destroyed the space station he was on, eleven-year-old Alain Doucette meets an arrogant young Maharani.
Chapter Three: Alain
The Maharani challenges Alain to a game.
Chapter Four: A Name
Alain plays chess with the Maharani while Sebastian the robot plots its next move.
Chapter Five: Navi
Alain convinces the Maharani — whom he has started calling Navi — to show him around her battleship.
iFAQ (Infrequently Asked Questions)
What is this?
I am serializing my novel, Captain’s Away! here on Substack, in two volumes.
The first part, which is already complete, is called Captain’s Away!
And I have begun serializing the second volume, which is called Captain’s Away! Robo Kun. Each volume is accessible via this Master Index (see above).
New chapters come out every week (more or less). Comments and suggestions welcome as we go along. This page is the Master Index. It will include all published chapters of each volume of the novel as I gradually serialize it.
Why are you serializing Captain’s Away! and Captain’s Away! Robo Kun on Substack?
I think it will be fun! It’s an experiment. I want to see how it goes. Whether anybody will read it. Whether anybody will like it. And I would like help making it better. I appreciate any feedback.
Do you plan to publish Captain’s Away! conventionally later?
Yes. Both volumes will eventually be published as one novel called Captain’s Away! with the two stories intertwined.
Are these versions of Captain’s Away! and Captain’s Away! Robo Kun a first draft?
Far from it. I would never inflict first draft material on anyone. I’ve laboured hard over each of these versions. That being said, the book version may be subtly different. In terms of structure it definitely will be.
How much of Captain’s Away! have you actually written?
Captain’s Away! is complete. Captain’s Away! Robo Kun is about twenty pages short of completion, though I know what happens right up to the end. And it will be done by the time I get to that part in the serialization (knock wood!)
Why do you have an exclamation mark in the title?
I have just always visualized it that way. There are roughly 1378 books listed in Goodreads with exclamation marks. I feel like Ray Bradbury has implicitly given me permission to have a title with a question mark.
Do you hope to get rich and famous by posting Captain’s Away! here?
Nope.
Why is Captain’s Away! behind a paywall?
Because it’s done and I consider myself a professional. You can think of it as a real novel that you might purchase and/or download from anywhere. This version just happens to be the Substack version. All proceeds go toward funding my publishing company, Donovan Street Press Inc., which also publishes other authors and produces a podcast called Re-Creative.
Is Captain’s Away! your first novel?
A Time and a Place is my first published novel. I have also published a collection of short stories called Other Times and Places and a memoir about working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation called Adventures in the Radio Trade.
No offense, but I don’t want Captain’s Away! How do I opt out?
No problem! Go to your Substack profile (top right corner). Go to “account settings.” You'll see your subscriptions. Click “edit” next to either Assorted Nonsense or Captain’s Away! Uncheck the box next to whichever newsletter(s) you don’t want, and check the box next to the ones you do want.
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Also by Joe Mahoney: A Time and a Place
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