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    Accident: A paranormal space opera
    Accident: A paranormal space opera
    Accident: A paranormal space opera
    Ebook356 pages5 hours

    Accident: A paranormal space opera

    By Charles G. Dyer

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    About this ebook

    Unhappy with his life of two failed marriages, Andy Shepstone has no children and no job satisfaction. He is invited to interview an alien in military custody. He is a trusted war correspondent and ex covert ops specialist.
    During the interview he learns that the alien is an apparently sexless marsupial named Naomran who reproduces by ritual meditation. A freak accident caused Naomran's ship to arrive in the solar system. Andy believes it to be female. On hearing of the experiments conducted on her, he fears for her life.
    As the interview progresses, he realises how hopeless she has become. His emotions get the better of him and he sympathises with her. With nothing to lose, he decides to try to rescue her from her predicament.
    This thrilling romantic adventure has many unexpected twists and turns.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCharles G. Dyer
    Release dateSep 21, 2014
    ISBN9781310055959
    Accident: A paranormal space opera
    Author

    Charles G. Dyer

    Charles Dyer is a consulting engineer, former senior lecturer and former technical magazine editor. He creates 3D models to help with visualisation and realism in his writing.

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      Book preview

      Accident - Charles G. Dyer

      Accident

      A paranormal space opera

      Charles G. Dyer

      Copyright © 2013 Charles G. Dyer

      All rights reserved.

      ISBN-13: 9781310055959

      Smashwords Edition

      License

      Thank you for purchasing this book. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents are products of the author's imagination. It remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to purchase their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

      It would be greatly appreciated if you could post a review on the site where you purchased this book. If you have any comments about this book, good or bad, you can write to me at cgd@telkomsa.net.

      CONTENTS

      Chapter_One

      Chapter_Two

      Chapter_Three

      Chapter_Four

      Chapter_Five

      Chapter_Six

      Chapter_Seven

      Chapter_Eight

      Chapter_Nine

      Chapter_Ten

      Chapter_Eleven

      Chapter_Twelve

      Chapter_Thirteen

      Chapter_Fourteen

      Chapter_Fifteen

      Chapter_Sixteen

      Chapter_Seventeen

      Chapter_Eighteen

      Chapter_Nineteen

      Chapter_Twenty

      Chapter_Twenty_One

      Chapter_Twenty_Two

      Chapter_Twenty_Three

      Chapter_Twenty_Four

      Chapter_Twenty_Five

      Chapter_Twenty_Six

      Chapter_Twenty_Seven

      About_The_Author

      CHAPTER ONE

      A man in his late-thirties sat alone in excited anticipation. His name was Shepstone and he thought, Is this the break I've been looking for? I'm so sick of my work and my life in general. Why did they choose me?

      He looked around the room. It was bare except for a small wooden table and two whitish plastic chairs. A double-bar fluorescent light emphasised the cold impersonal surroundings. A narrow ventilation grill high on one wall and the heavy door with a small Georgian glass observation window were the only openings in the blank ivory walls. The single remaining feature in the room was a surveillance camera mounted in a corner close to the concrete ceiling of the subterranean complex.

      The gate guards had thoroughly searched him. Deaf to his protests, they had taken his pen, notebook, tape recorder, camera, keys, wallet and cell phone from him when he entered the complex. He was amazed that they had left the watch on his wrist. He had nearly taunted them about it but now he was glad that he had not. At least it was something to look at while he waited.

      The Air Force officer who had interviewed him on his arrival had said that he had been chosen because his reporting of sensitive issues had always reflected his patriotism and presented the facts accurately. The officer had added that Shepstone's service record had helped too. Nevertheless, he still questioned why he, of all people, had been selected for this unique assignment. I'm a war correspondent for God's sake, he thought, this sort of interview should have gone to a medical journalist or maybe National Geographic. What do I know about aliens, or people for that matter?

      ~#~

      Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada had nearly three million acres of restricted area. The complex he was in was not part of the main base. He didn't know exactly where it was, but it had taken a long drive over a circuitous route in the back of a blacked out van before he arrived from the main gate.

      Waiting was the one aspect of life that Shepstone hated with a passion. It gave him time to dwell on personal matters and that was not his favourite subject. To avoid self-pity, he thought, There's always somebody that's worse off than me. I could fill a few books with the articles I've written and the pictures I've taken. Humph, and what good have they done? My words bounce off their eyes and never sink in.

      ~#~

      After a long wait, he heard the sounds of footsteps approaching along the corridor outside the door. A few muffled words were spoken and the prisoner was marched in and left standing opposite him. Surprisingly, the creature was naked except for some kind of strange loincloth. It was barefoot and devoid of any kind of ornamentation. Stranger still was the absence of manacles or any other form of restraint. The guard left and locked the door behind him. The alien stood nervously limp next to the chair it was supposed to sit on. It looked vulnerable, frightened and possibly worst of all, resigned to its fate. Shepstone turned on his chair. He had seen that look of lost hope more often than he cared to remember.

      He stood up, offered his hand across the table, smiled and spoke softly, I'm Andrew Shepstone. I believe you understand English.

      We do. The alien gently grasped his hand but did not attempt to shake it and that made him feel a little awkward.

      Shepstone sat down and gestured for it to do likewise. I'm a war correspondent, a journalist, but I hardly know where to begin.

      Nothing Shepstone had ever seen or heard could have prepared him for this meeting. He had always been a sceptical cynic and thought that the Area 51 stories were all hoaxes or, at best, the products of deranged minds. Now he wondered if the persistent UFO fraternity had been right all along. Do you have a name?

      The closest approximation of our name in your tongue would be Naomran. The alien blinked its big limpid brown eyes slowly. Shepstone was relieved that they were not bulging or in any way disproportionate to the face. The irises were somewhat larger than human, but the pupils and whites looked familiar.

      Naomran, Shepstone enunciated slowly, is that male or female?

      We have no genders, Naomran inclined its head slightly, we think that your word for us is androgynous although that is not strictly a true definition of what we are.

      I'm sorry, Shepstone ran a hand through his short grey-streaked black hair, until a short while ago, I didn't believe there were other people in the universe. What do you mean, no genders? How do you breed?

      Are all of your species so blunt? Naomran flicked its pale slender fingers in a dismissive gesture. We suppose it does not matter. Our life is forfeit anyway. Reproduction is not a thing to be taken lightly. In the first instance, we have to be mature enough, both physically and mentally. Then we contemplate and debate whether we are worthy of creating a child, or not. If that meditation is affirmative, then a further period of concentration is necessary to initiate the necessary changes in our bodies.

      Naomran touched its fingertips together. Those changes increase our appetites dramatically and we become more energetic. That enables us to search further afield for the different forms of nourishment our bodies require. Despite the exercise, we gain weight and about three weeks into the pregnancy, a single embryo develops into a zygote. There is a six-week gestation period, after which the immature child emerges from the womb and moves to one of two teats in the pouch. It stays attached to the teat for a further three months, during which time the pouch remains closed.

      Shepstone was amazed not only by the frankness of the disclosure but that it was not delivered with any malice, reluctance or deliberate coldness. In fact, he thought the alien would make a good lecturer, one that would have very few students sleeping through his or her presentations.

      At the end of that term, the child leaves the pouch, which has opened and it then lives independently. But it returns daily to suckle for another four or five months. At first, it eats only liquids but gradually, as its teeth grow, it begins to feed on solids. Then our metabolism returns to normal and the pouch closes over in a few weeks, much in the same way as a wound heals. Those of us who have had children can be seen by their scars.

      Wow! Shepstone shook his head and stared slack-jawed. In a nutshell, you just think of having a child? So, is there no friendship or courting or contact of any kind with anyone else?

      We retain whatever friendships we have, but they are not an essential part of reproduction. Naomran lifted one shoulder.

      ~#~

      His eyes skimmed over the slender curves of Naomran's body. The breasts were curved in the right places, for a human, but they were small and there were no nipples. It might not be endowed with sexuality but if it gives birth, Shepstone thought, it must be female. The dulcet tones of her voice are certainly feminine enough to confirm that for me. The interview was definitely not familiar territory for him. Gee, that's awful. You've no idea what you're missing. The ecstasy of love, the affection of your partner, the thrill of sensual contact and the shared joy of the child of that union are all things that make our lives worth living.

      At home, peace and beauty surround us and we are content. We also have friends and we enjoy each other's company. Naomran pursed her lips wistfully.

      You say you have no gender, well, I'm not a scientist but I know enough about the facts of life to conclude that you're definitely female. The fact that you can bear children makes you so by definition. Where do you come from? he asked.

      You are the first to voice such an opinion. Naomran blinked slowly. We have no way of explaining the location of our planet. The names you use for the stars and their positions are meaningless to us. Before we landed on this world, we were unable to recognise any stars. We will never be able to return home. There was a distinct quaver in her voice.

      Gee, that is sad. I'm sorry to hear that. Shepstone felt a little uneasy but he reached over the narrow width of the table and touched Naomran's hand. It was warm, silky soft and smooth. He had half-expected a more leathery or even a reptilian texture; this skin was as delicate as the proverbial baby's bottom. In places, a faint blueness of veins showed under the milky surface. The overall impression was a shade of pale grey that coincided with rumours and reports of encounters that Shepstone had previously dismissed as nonsense. Although the alien was of slight build and slender frame, there was nothing bony about the pale being or any hint of malnutrition.

      He thought that the little person looked terribly vulnerable and he tried to imagine how it must feel to be cut off from one's world and stranded on a planet full of hostile aliens. In the line of duty, he had experienced some frightening situations, but he could always cling to the hope of rescue or eventually working his way out of the mess and returning home. He rubbed his chin. Naomran doesn't seem to have a single thread of hope to hang onto.

      If you don't know where home is, Shepstone frowned, how did you get here?

      A thin pale brown eyebrow flickered. It was an accident or a malfunction at the transfer station. We were somehow sent to the wrong star, perhaps even the wrong galaxy. Our vehicle sensors detected a suitable atmosphere on this planet, so we came to have a look.

      You didn't know we were here? Shepstone said.

      No, she glanced to the left, we had no idea what to expect, except that the atmosphere was similar to our own. We presumed there might be vegetation and perhaps some life forms.

      Couldn't your sensors have told you that before you entered the atmosphere? he said.

      Oh no, Naomran turned her head sharply to the left, it is not a research vehicle. It is merely a casual runabout for day tripping.

      I haven't seen your ship, he said, why did you land when you surely saw signs of intelligent life?

      The sensors showed a pair of what you call aircraft approaching as we descended into the atmosphere. By then, we were travelling quite slowly and backwards. We heard them speaking on our receiver but then we were not familiar with your language. We told them so and they fired a missile at us. At the time, we believed that the explosion caused too much damage for us to safely return to space, so we had no choice but to land. Naomran's forefingers straightened and curled slowly.

      Not a nice welcome for you. Shepstone shook his head.

      It got worse after we landed. Naomran closed her eyes for a moment.

      Hmm, I guess it would've, he said. Shepstone felt compelled to touch the alien again. Her only reaction to his touch was to open her eyes. He smiled, Tell me about your people.

      Naomran's narrow nostrils flared slightly. We are but one of many. Judging from the interrogations we have endured, we suppose you want to know more than that. We all look very similar. There are no races or nations or any of the multitude of differences that plague your species.

      Our differences make us interesting, he shrugged, but I guess we could do with fewer variables.

      Naomran's eyes narrowed and that gave them a more human quality. Our captors have allowed us to watch some of what you call television and to read selected books. Your differences apparently are contentious issues amongst your kind. We have read stories of men abusing women, of murders over differences of race and sex. Not to mention national and religious differences that have apparently caused countless and seemingly perpetual wars. Your species is an abomination and a blight on the universe.

      Ouch, that's a harsh judgement. Shepstone grimaced.

      Naomran tilted her head to the right. A fitting one, from what we have seen. If we could return home and tell our people of your kind, we would not recommend any contact. How can you expect us to entrust you with advanced technology when we are certain that you will use it for military purposes? You do not even trust each other, so how can you think that a superior species will trust you? You are an anomaly in the peaceful order of things beyond your comprehension.

      ~#~

      Shepstone could imagine the kinds of questions that she had been hammered with and the methods of interrogation too. He rolled his top lip under his bottom one for a moment. I have to disagree with you on that point. Maybe humans should know better but we are not the only aggressive things around. Nature and the natural cycles of plants and animals can be extremely violent and brutal without any influences from man. A volcano or an earthquake is far more destructive than man is. The cycle of life is viciously cruel; the frog eats the fly and then provides a meal for a bird that is eaten by a cat. When the cat dies, fly larvae eat it. There are even some insect-eating plants on this world. Do you think your opinions are representative of your people? He jutted his chin forward.

      Naomran drew a deep breath and the curves of her body swelled appreciably. She swallowed, revealing a barely perceptible movement of her longer than human slim neck. As the only one of our kind present, we believe that we do. We seriously doubt your capacity or inclination to live in harmony with each other or with the environment you occupy. There are inherent traits in humanity that simply will not disappear. Arrogance, greed, jealousy, hatred and prejudice are but a few unsavoury characteristics that come to our minds. Can you honestly see humans changing their ways in the foreseeable future? We would not want to contaminate our kind by associating with your species.

      Wow, feisty hey! Shepstone leaned back in his chair. For a so-called peaceful people, you don't pull any punches. What do you eat?

      Naomran blew through closed lips to produce a sound somewhat reminiscent of a horse snorting. That is another thing that our people would find utterly abhorrent about your people. Your revolting habit of eating the flesh of innocent creatures that are bred in captivity for that purpose. It might be understandable if no alternatives were available but your planet has an abundance of arable land and a vast variety of vegetables and fruits.

      So, your people never hunted for food huh? He put his arms back on the table.

      Naomran looked to the left. No, we get all the sustenance we need from various fungi, fruits and nuts, as well as the leaves and roots from certain trees and shrubs. We do not need to farm as you do. The forests provide all. Indeed, the forests are all there are on our world besides the oceans that give us kelp and the rock outcrops that we use for our buildings.

      No grassy plains with herds of antelope, huh? What about predators? he said.

      The only life besides us, on our world, are the birds and insects. The diversity of life on this planet is astounding to us, Naomran said, and we have apparently only seen a tiny portion of what is here.

      Birds and insects could provide you with proteins and minerals that are probably absent from your dull diet, he said.

      A single finger straightened and curled. We doubt that very much. We do benefit from insects that produce something similar to honey.

      He drummed his fingers on the table. In other words, you don't eat meat because there wasn't any for you to eat and you weren't smart enough to hunt birds. Back in the bad old days, we had to hunt to survive. Many predators hunted us. We couldn't settle down and forage for mushrooms and nuts.

      Naomran blinked slowly but refrained from replying and Shepstone felt guilty about being mean to this lonely slip of a figure.

      So, is not eating meat part of your philosophy or religion? he asked.

      No, she turned to the left, and our opinion on matters of religion and philosophy do not reflect thinking on our world.

      Oh, and why not? he said.

      She said, Our first experience of such notions occurred on this world when some of our inquisitors talked about them.

      Humph, he frowned, so how do you explain life and all?

      Naomran's fingers straightened. We, that is this person, she pointed at her chest, believe that if an entity or group of them were responsible for creating the universe then they are either dead or have moved on to other projects. Our world certainly has no record of divine intervention. As for philosophy, we think that pondering the purpose of life is a waste of time. We would rather get on with our lives and endeavour to make some meaningful contribution to society.

      But surely you need some sort of purpose to go on living? Shepstone shook his head.

      She blinked. Life after death may or may not be a fact. Either way, we think that we are here to make the most of our lives. If this life is all that there is then we will have fulfilled our purpose. If there is life beyond the flesh, her eyebrows flickered, then we assume that such an existence could only benefit from the best efforts of the flesh.

      ~##~

      CHAPTER TWO

      The more he looked at the alien and the more he heard her speak, the more he thought of her as a woman. She might not have nipples that I can see in the right places, but she said a baby feeds off one, he thought. And her figure is certainly delicately feminine. She's not some kind of eunuch because they can't reproduce and if she was male, I guess that would be obvious so that leaves only one gender.

      Naomran leaned to the right. Our ancestors were clever enough to realise that the energy expended in hunting the tiny birds would not have been recovered by devouring the pleasant little creatures. Not to mention the effects it would have had on our mental stability. Instead, they applied their brains to the development of sciences and technologies that took your species several hundred times longer to discover. Fortunately, you are merely scratching the surface of knowledge and we think it will be thousands of years before you know what we know, if ever.

      Hey Naomran, I'm sorry if I'm upsetting you, he touched her hand again, I'm used to dealing with battle-hardened soldiers and merciless thugs, not visitors from other worlds. I know what you said about not having sex but don't you think of yourself as a woman? You know, being able to mother a child is not something a man can do.

      She blinked and considered his words and the changed tone of his voice. You have not upset us any more than this whole frustrating predicament has. We suppose that if we must compare ourselves to some other species, we might consider ourselves more feminine than masculine. From what we have seen, your females are generally more compatible with us than the males are, as far as behaviour is concerned. It is odd that your scientists, who have intimately prodded and probed us, did not arrive at the same conclusion.

      After another survey of the alien's skin, he could see no blemishes at all except for three neat pockmarks on each forearm. The marks were about a quarter of an inch in diameter and the livid mauve colour contrasted sharply with the rest of her skin. He immediately thought of the scarring rituals that were commonplace amongst many tribes in Africa. He touched one of the marks. Do all of your people have marks like these? Is there any significance to them?

      Oh no, she looked to her left, we do not deface our bodies in any way. Those marks are reminders of the first days we spent in this prison. The scientists were quick to remove samples of our tissue. It was not a pleasant experience at all and they were indifferent to the pain they caused us.

      Shepstone shook his head and frowned. I am sorry that they treated you like that. You keep talking about we and us. Were there more than one of you on the ship?

      We speak with one voice, Naomran blinked, but we think with two minds. Our minds talk to each other in silence. They often have separate interests or differences of opinion on a given subject. Your kind has no hope of ever matching us in any endeavour. You are only able to use a small fraction of your brain's capacity. Even if you could exploit it to its full potential, you would only be as good as half of one of us.

      He screwed his eyes up and rubbed his stubble. I take it then that you were the only one on your ship, huh? So, what you're telling me there are two brains in your head?

      This, Naomran touched her chest, was the only occupant of our vehicle. Anatomically, we are similar to your species. We have two lungs, one heart and all the other organs are essentially the same. The major exceptions are our reproductive system and our brains. Yours is split into two hemispheres but ours are two separate brains. Your scientists told us that our blood is identical to one of your blood types.

      ~#~

      Shepstone was out of his depth. Why did they choose me to interview her, he thought. A bloody doctor's needed not a war correspondent. What kinds of questions should I ask? What would readers want to know? Surely, it's obvious to anyone that she's not a military threat. Gee, from what she's said they probably don't even have any weapons. He stared at her large bald cranium. Yeah, he mused in silence, I reckon that it could easily accommodate two normal human brains. The height from crown to eyebrow is a fraction more than from eyebrow to chin and it's broader at the top than between the ears. Gee, it's sort of like an Egyptian queen's head. I wonder if they had long heads or if it was just their hairdos?

      Well, I'm not a medic and I can see lots of differences. The only hair I can see is on your eyebrows. You don't even have eyelashes and your eyes are more like a puppy dog than a human. As for your ears, gee, he grinned, they're like an elf and that is a mythical creature.

      Naomran tilted her head to the right. Mythology often has its roots in fact. It is conceivable that some of our kind once lived here. The shape of our ears is more conducive to audio reception than your peculiarly shaped appendages. If you were more observant, you might have noticed that the eye shapes of your species vary considerably. The climate of our world and our ability to control our metabolism has negated the need for hair.

      Humph, you seem to know a hell of a lot about us, he wriggled on his chair, just how long have you been here?

      Naomran blinked. About five of your months.

      And in that time you've learned to speak and read an alien language? His eyes widened. Never before had he heard English spoken with the same delightful inflections and accent that she used. Despite the fact that she had only been exposed to Americans, she had not adopted the typical nasal drawl and slovenly slurring of words that most people were inclined to favour. Her unaffected diction and clarity of speech would have made any linguistics professor proud. Somehow she made the language sound like music to his ears.

      She turned her head to the right. Your surprise confirms our superiority. We learn quickly, compared to you. We learned to read, write and speak your language in the first two weeks of our imprisonment. And, we are not even considered clever on our world. At the same time, we learned how to use your computers and other equipment. At home, we are quite ordinary. Here, we have learned everything they have allowed us to access. We have also shown our captors many errors and mistakes in their philosophies and their understanding of various branches of science.

      Have you been treated well? he asked.

      As well as any laboratory animal can expect. On our world, there is no such thing. Our dignity has been severely compromised. Many examinations and experiments have been embarrassing. Several sessions have been painful and debilitating. We are sure that many of the scientists would like to cut us open to study us further. The commanding officer, she fanned her fingers slowly, has firmly denied them that opportunity.

      And you still cooperate? He sucked on his top lip. I guess resistance wouldn't be a good idea. Didn't they give you any clothes? That skirt you're wearing looks, eh, well alien.

      At least they allow us to wear it, she blinked, most of the time. We seldom wear anything else. Our home world has a temperate climate and we adjust our metabolism if the weather is inclement. Tell us what life is like outside this prison.

      Gee, there's a lot to tell, he shrugged, what do you want to know?

      We have seen some television but we were told that those shows were mostly fiction. We understand that fiction is lies. Deception and lies are alien to us. The displays we saw were parts of experiments to gauge our reactions to violence, bad behaviour and the like. Is it as terrible as those scenes? We have read some history that confirms many of the stories or at least the principles behind them. We wonder if it is worse to be free than captive on this world. Naomran blinked.

      You're probably safer here than anywhere else. People are strange, Shepstone shrugged, they'd just as soon destroy something or someone they don't understand than take the chance that it might bite them in the bum. There are wars going on as we speak. People always find some excuse to kill each other. I don't know what you were shown but I've seen some bloody gruesome stuff in my time as a journalist and before that too. So, I guess that what you've seen is a fair reflection of what goes on. It's not like that all the time. Some countries are at peace and life can be good. He sucked his lip again.

      You do not sound convinced, she clasped her hands together and rubbed one thumb over the other, "we have never experienced war. The only violence of any form we have known is that one species of bird eats a certain annoying insect. This world is a terrible shock to our awareness and sensibility. There are no weapons on our world, we do not even have words to describe them. Vehicular accidents are extremely rare as most of our vehicles never travel on

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