Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Report of the Anthropological Expedition to the Planet Known as Kal-Fa
    Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Report of the Anthropological Expedition to the Planet Known as Kal-Fa
    Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Report of the Anthropological Expedition to the Planet Known as Kal-Fa
    Ebook71 pages1 hour

    Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Report of the Anthropological Expedition to the Planet Known as Kal-Fa

    By Lorinda J Taylor

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In this dark and edgy first-contact story, a team of anthropologists discovers a species of truly bizarre intelligent lifeforms called the Kal. The team consists of the leader, an experienced, highly respected female Professor of Xenoanthropology and Linguistics; a young female biomedical specialist; and a still younger male, an expert in alien artifacts. As each team member reacts in a different way to the Kal, the story builds toward a disturbing climax and a conclusion with an unsettling twist of perspective.
    This novella is best suited for the mature and thoughtful reader.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLorinda J Taylor
    Release dateFeb 3, 2012
    ISBN9781465829528
    Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Report of the Anthropological Expedition to the Planet Known as Kal-Fa
    Author

    Lorinda J Taylor

    A former catalogue librarian, Lorinda J. Taylor was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and worked in several different academic libraries before returning to the place of her birth, where she now lives. She has written fantasy and science fiction for years but has only recently begun to publish. Her main goal is to write entertaining and compelling fiction that leaves her readers with something to think about at the end of each story.

    Read more from Lorinda J Taylor

    Related to Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder

    Related ebooks

    Psychological Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Our Library

      Oct 28, 2019

      For choices involving dramatically new experiences, we are confronted by the brute fact that we can know very little about our subjective futures. This has serious implications for our decisions. If we make life choices in the way we naturally and in

      2 min read

    • Article

      Our Attitude Toward Aliens Proves We Still Think We’re Special

      Aug 2, 2018

      “How many kingdoms know us not!”—Blaise Pascal, Thoughts (1670) One summer’s day in 1950, the great Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi was having lunch with the physicists Edward Teller, Emil Konopinski, and Herbert York at Los Alamos when the c

      7 min read

    • Article

      Farewell from Cassini

      Sep 18, 2017

      If you're reading this message, there's no need to burn it. For it and I have already been burned beyond recognition. It was good knowing you and a great trip while it lasted. I danced through the sparkling rings of you earthlings' neighboring planet

      3 min read

    • Article

      New Astronomy And Space Titles Reviewed BOOKS

      Jul 13, 2023

      Lawrence M Krauss Head of Zeus £20 • HB In astronomy there are things we know we don’t know about – the known unknowns. These are often what get scientists the most excited as they hold the potential for a new discovery. In cosmology, there are many

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Alien-Haunted World

      Feb 15, 2021

      The Alien-Haunted World
      6 min read

    • Article

      Writing Between Ape and Human

      Nov 3, 2022

      I’m pleased to have this opportunity to highlight certain features of my recent book, Between Ape and Human (2022), which may be of particular interest to a cryptozoological audience, and to reflect on how the book was written and the circumstances t

      14 min read

    • Article

      Missing Stars And Alien Engineers

      May 20, 2021

      Schulze-Makuch specialises in astrobiology – the science of possible life elsewhere in the universe – at the Technical University of Berlin’s Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. As an astrobiologist, how do you make predictions about the possible

      2 min read

    • Article

      Why We Hunt For Alien Life

      Nov 1, 2023

      Why We Hunt For Alien Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      Chris Packham Versus The World

      Jul 27, 2023

      Chris Packham Versus The World
      6 min read

    • Article

      Extraterrestrial

      Dec 1, 2019

      Extraterrestrial
      7 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 22, 2021

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      What Made Early Humans Smart

      Jun 30, 2021

      Talking to Jeremy DeSilva about human evolution was so fun. As was reading his recent book, First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human. I learned something new and fascinating on every page. Do you picture our hominin ancestors as hunters? I did.

      12 min read

    • Article

      Written In The Stars

      Nov 15, 2020

      Written In The Stars
      6 min read

    • Article

      Awe You Can Count On

      Aug 12, 2023

      Awe You Can Count On
      2 min read

    • Article

      Books

      May 20, 2021

      Books
      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Sep 8, 2022

      An account of the Angels of Mons appears in Great British Ghosts by Aidan Chambers in the chapter “Ghosts at war”, along with the following account by a (unnamed) British lieutenant-colonel: “On the night of 27 August 1914, I was riding along in the

      7 min read

    • Article

      From The Editor

      Nov 26, 2020

      It turns out our Solar System is a pretty hospitable place. That’s been one of the major narratives of the last decade as probes and rovers have stretched out across space and got to know the planets and moons that surround us. Clearly Earth is somet

      1 min read

    • Article

      Talk About the Passion

      Aug 9, 2023

      Talk About the Passion
      19 min read

    • Article

      The Library

      Nov 24, 2022

      The Library
      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Nov 19, 2020

      Stuart Clark Guardian Faber £14.99 • HB What is it about the sky at night that has captivated human beings for centuries? This is the central question driving Stuart Clark’s excellent book. While there are many popular science books charting the hist

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder

    5/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder - Lorinda J Taylor

      Monster

      Is in the Eye

      Of the Beholder

      Report on the Anthropological Expedition

      To the Planet Known as Kal-fa

      A Science Fiction Novella

      by

      Lorinda J. Taylor

      This is a work of fiction. All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return toSmashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Cover illustration by the author.

      Published by Lorinda J. Taylor at Smashwords

      Copyright © 2011 by Lorinda J. Taylor

      For Elly Clark-Bloemsma

      who has helped me out immeasurably

      and who has been in on this from the beginning

      When the lamp is shattered,

      The light in the dust lies dead –

      When the cloud is scattered,

      The rainbow’s glory is shed.

      When the lute is broken,

      Sweet tones are remembered not;

      When the lips have spoken,

      Loved accents are soon forgot. …

      … O, Love! Who bewailest

      The frailty of all things here,

      Why choose you the frailest

      For your cradle, your home, and your bier?

      Its passions will rock thee,

      As the storms rock the ravens on high:

      Bright reason will mock thee,

      Like the sun from a wintry sky.

      From thy nest every rafter

      Will rot, and thine eagle home

      Leave thee naked to laughter,

      When leaves fall and cold winds come.

      – P. B. Shelley

      Proceedings of the hearings

      Before the Special Commission Established by

      The Office of the President of Earth

      To Investigate the Incident

      On the Second Planet

      Of the Chu-sneian System

      (Known as Kal-fa)

      Submitted to the Global Council of Planet Earth

      And to the Governors of the Confederation of Four Planets

      On the Date of 8.20.246 (3001 old cal.)

      [Editors’ Note: This report consists of incomplete expedition reports, extracts of neural interface journals, and testimony from the Hearings. It has been edited to provide the most coherent narrative of the events occurring during the period of the first two weeks of October in the year 245 (Earth Standard Time) on the planet called Kal-fa.]

      Prologue to the Official Report

      Of the Anthropological Expedition

      To the Second Planet of the Chu-sneian System

      by

      Prf. Kaitrin Oliva, Expedition Chief

      Fourteen years ago the Confederation of Four Planets first made contact with the inhabitants of Chu-sneia, the third planet from an Earth-class star in the constellation Hydra, approximately 56 light years from Earth. During the millennium that members of the Confederation have been exploring the near galaxy, no species with a closer genetic kinship to Earthers has ever been encountered. Theoretically, Chu-sneians and Earthers might be capable of interbreeding, although this has never been demonstrated in practice. Except for a green coloration of the hair and eyes (the result of pigmenting chemicals in the planet’s soil), Chu-sneians would easily pass without notice on the streets of Okloh or New Washinten.

      Because of this evident relationship, all the anthropological evaluation teams that have worked on Chu-sneia have been composed exclusively of Earthers. The current team consists of eight members, the principals being the following:

      Prf. Kaitrin Oliva of Shiras-Peders University of Xenological Studies, NWQC, Okloh Precinct (Prof. Spec. Xenoanthropology and Linguistics), Interim Team Leader.

      Narike Ghito of the Central Universities of Mileno, Prefecture of Talia (Asc. Spec. Medical and Genetic Xenoanthropology).

      Hart Pross of the Southwest Quad Governors’ Colleges, Bunair Precinct (Ast. Spec. Xenological Artifacts), a recent addition to the project.

      The Chu-sneians are an agrarian society with an unusually peaceful cultural bias. Their Tech Development Level is ranked at 16.5; they can travel within their own solar system but lack interstellar capability. Their technology has been static for some 200 years; for most of this time they have maintained small settlements on their system’s fourth planet, which is 85% ocean and has produced plant life but no vertebrate land-fauna. They exploit this planet for minerals and ocean products.

      The second planet from the star (the subject of our study) is small, possesses an oxygen atmosphere, and is about 60% ocean, with widely dispersed continents. The daily rotation is 21.9 Earth hours and a solar revolution requires about nine-tenths of an Earth year. The orbits of the second and third planets are separated just enough to prevent the larger from pulling the smaller into its gravitational field. (Electromagnetic anomalies in the second planet’s ionosphere prevented a detailed scan of surface features. Reports from the Planetary Survey Division describing the star and its system are available through the Interquad Data Base.)

      During our eleven-year relationship with the Chu-sneians, some of our informants have hinted at the existence of a set of revered beings somewhere within their sphere of influence. The assumption has been that these were mythical beings; our investigators have not pursued the matter because of the Chu-sneians’ reluctance to discuss their religious beliefs and practices. Then about six weeks ago we learned that these beings were in fact physical entities inhabiting the second planet. It has been observed that the Chu-sneians visit this planet frequently, but they have always maintained that there was nothing there of interest to anthropologists. My current informant in these matters is

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1