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The Alien Embrace - Pt 1
by Frances Pauli
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The following is an excerpt from The Alien Embrace - Pt 1. “So I’m the last ditch effort?” Jo said. Somehow, it explained a lot. “I’m not telling you this to put pressure on you, Jo. I want you to understand that we aren't taking this lightly. We’ve given the little guys as much opportunity as we possibly could.” “And now their time has run out?” She hated the idea, though somehow the captain colored the situation a slightly different shade of gray. “We’ll wait and see what you can come up with—hmm?” He rose and crossed to her side of the table. Patting her quickly on one shoulder, he leaned in and whispered, “Personally, I’m rooting for you.” It happened so fast she nearly toppled from the bench. He stood tall and square once more, smiled and shook his head. “But if you call me on that, I’ll deny it.” He left her there. The clatter of the kitchen crew preparing for the next meal punctuated his departure. The captain’s perspective, and his explanation of his position disturbed her. While he seemed reasonable to Jo, he’d painted a less than optimistic picture of the warbler’s future. Echoes of the harsh tune she’d unconsciously titled “feeding music” haunted her. She couldn't shake the image of the energy beam and the slick black face leaning against it. She moved from the mess hall and drifted along the corrugated hallways. Without intending to, she headed in the direction of the large entrance and the passage that would take her outside. The crisp air soothed her nerves, though the chaos around the makeshift buildings and landing platforms was not the scenery she longed for. Keeping close to one ruffled wall, she skirted the building away from the comings and goings of sleds, ships and busy people and made for the slope of native terrain that lay behind the structure. A few uniformed guards patrolled the edge of the complex. She nodded politely to them as she passed, but continued without pause until the pavement gave way to rough grass, which changed into shaggy green blades as the hillside rose under her booted feet. By the time she crested the little summit, the native fauna had regained a purchase and she found herself relaxing amidst scraggly shrubs. The suns descended rapidly and bathed the vista beyond the hill in bluish silhouettes. She could still hear the sounds of activity below, but she allowed them to fade into the background. She breathed deep chilly lungfuls of alien air and let her shoulders fall back into a relaxed posture. It had been one hell of a few days. The longer she stood gazing at the landscape, the quieter the world around her became. The warbler’s feeding song played over and over in her memory. She focused on the notes until they seemed to sing out loud, reverberating through the still evening. It wasn’t until the first beam flashed, blazing a bright laser beyond the trees, that she realized the music was outside her. Another followed almost immediately, and another. The horizon flashed a symphony of electric towers. They blinked in and out, dancing across the landscape accompanied by a chorus of warbling tunes—discordant, randomly played and in perfect compliment to one another. Jo clenched her jaw against the threat of tears. She failed to turn when soft footsteps crunched their way up the slope to stop beside her. It wasn’t until Hilary spoke that she identified the woman standing in the dark next to her. “Feeding time,” Hilary said. “Is it . . . is it always like this?” Jo’s voice quavered. “Yes. It was the beams that first gave away their presence here. Oddly enough, no one seemed to notice them until after the base was installed.” “Odd.” There was no missing the implication, but Jo had no interest in pursuing it. She cared little for politics, for sides and technicalities. She longed, instead, to stand here alone, surrounded by shadows and the flashes of electric music. These free warblers, however, were no more cooperative than their captive counterpart, and the beams already slowed. The sounds of the natives’ songs faded into the distance with the last few flashes of living lightning. Jo sighed. “Let’s start earlier tomorrow,” she said. Turning without waiting for Hilary’s answer, she moved quietly back toward the shimmer of metal buildings. Excerpt from The Alien Embrace © Copyright 2009, Frances Pauli
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© Copyright 2010, Zefram Media LLC |
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