The Expanding Universe

by Craig Martelle

  “Um… no.”

  “Okay. I’ll be back later.”

  With a swish of the plastic curtain, he was gone. I turned back to Mom, to her static form. What the hell had I done? Why had I turned up the speed on that infernal machine to twenty? Or even used something that was still in the prototype phase?

  I sat by the bed, held Mom’s hand, and stroked her hair. Everything around us ceased to exist. I closed my eyes and tried to channel my life force into her somehow. If only I could swap places with her, to have my recklessness put me in a coma instead.

  * * *

  The clock on the wall said it was ten. The last three hours had passed in a blink. I was aware of being hungry and thirsty. I took out my phone. There was a message from Joanna: Get it back to the office, OK?

  Crap. I’m at the ER with Mom. Can you come and get it? I replied.

  OMG what happened? Is she OK?

  She’s in a coma.

  Joanna went silent. Ten minutes later I heard her feet clip-clopping towards the bay, and then saw the shock on her face as she pulled back the curtain and looked at Mom. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “Nobody knows.” I sighed.

  Joanna moved in beside me, and then stopped as she saw her bulging backpack on the floor. “You don’t think…?”

  “I don’t know,” I said sadly. I didn’t want to say yes, but then I figured I should confess. “I cranked the speed up higher.”

  “What?”

  “I set it to twenty QPS.”

  “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “I wish I was, but no.”

  “Oh, Jesus.” Joanna closed her eyes, holding onto the bed rail to steady herself. The beeping of machines and Mom’s gentle breathing was all I could hear for at least a minute.

  “I hope it doesn’t do that at ten QPS,” Joanna said, eventually. “We’ll have to slow it down to five and increase it cautiously.”

  “Of course.”

  “I’d better get this thing back to the office.” Joanna grabbed the backpack by one of its straps and left.

  Why on Earth had I pulled her and the company into this? My feverish, greedy desire to download all of Mom’s mind. That’s why. I was fiercely angry with myself. If Mom never came out of this, I wouldn’t forgive myself.

  * * *

  I stayed by Mom’s bedside the next day. She had been moved up to a regular ward. CT scans revealed nothing amiss in her brain, thank God, though I doubted any damage at the neuron level would show up on a scan anyway. Her breathing, pulse, and blood pressure remained steady. I held her hand when the nurses weren’t attending to her. “Come back to me, Mom. Don’t go.”

  Maeve was right all along. I shouldn’t have worried about trying to capture her mind, but just enjoyed the time with her instead. I hit my lowest point sitting there in that room. Mom’s avatar could never replace her warmth, humanity, and spirit. I thought about the mind map files on my hard drive, and the great cost to obtain them, even before this happened. I’d used up many precious hours trying to capture and bottle that which could not be translated into mere bits and turned into a TV channel that was “all Mom, all the time.” Was DROP even worth doing at all? Probably, for some people. But not for us. Then I realized that Mom had also been willing to pay the cost to do what, for her, was completely foreign. She’d just trusted that I knew what I was doing. Was it driven by guilt on her part? I didn’t know, but the fact that she was willing meant everything, and I’d rewarded her with a seizure and a coma from which she may never recover. I sighed. If I kept fixating on this thought I would drive myself insane, and she wouldn’t want me to do that. All I could do now was be emotionally present, and I couldn’t do that if I was wallowing in guilt and self-pity.

  What was her favorite book? I could read to her. I didn’t know because I’d never asked her outright. The answer was probably buried in the mind map, but I didn’t feel like touching that. I knew she liked detective stories and romance novels. Or maybe a mashup of the two, something with a bit more grit than Mills & Boone, and less likely to make me throw up! I easily found such a book on Amazon and began to read it aloud from my phone. It took my mind off things a bit, but more importantly, it may have stirred something within her.

  Joanna came by that night. I braced myself for an onslaught of anger and judgment over my misuse of the mind probe, but it never came. In typical fashion, she was just there, open-hearted and compassionate. She held Mom’s other hand for a little while.

  My searching had turned up a few extended family members, none of whom were in her life or on her emergency contacts list. Hence, there was no one else to support her through the cancer treatment before I reappeared in her life. I was about to kick myself again for not finding her sooner, but then something became clear: this was how it was meant to be. I didn’t know why, but a peace came over me. I think God had heard the cries of my heart, and was telling me it would all be okay.

  * * *

  Mom’s eyelids began to stir and flutter a little. I pressed the nurse call button immediately and then held her limp body. “Come on back, Mom. I’m here,” I said. I scarcely noticed the flurry of medics entering the room. “Come on back,” I repeated. Her eyes opened. “Mom, it’s me, Pete. I’m here.” Her pupils contracted and she focused on my face.

  “Peter!” She smiled.

  I hugged her tightly. She weakly put her hands on my sides. I don’t remember much after that, except for reconnecting with her through a blur of tears.

  * * *

  Mom grew stronger quickly. The doctors said there seemed to be no lasting damage. Within two days, she was back at the nursing home. We talked about her coming to live with me, but soon agreed that she needed more care than I could provide. She was better off where she was.

  My workplace was one of the few with an “unlimited vacation” policy. Nobody was ever quite sure what the practical limit was, but I told them I would be back “at some point.” If anyone would find out the actual limit, it would be me.

  I spent every day with Mom. We talked, played board games, watched silly TV shows, and caught up on all the missing details of each other’s lives. The chemo treatments were stopped. We both agreed this was the right decision, since it wasn’t working anyway. She would be as comfortable as she could in the time we had left.

  * * *

  Ten years later

  I’d left DROP years ago, and moved on to other avenues in software engineering. I was scanning the news after work one day, flipping through the articles on a glowing midair display, when I saw a piece mentioning DROP. The latest speculation from futurists was that brains could soon be scanned at the atomic level, and how combining this with mind maps would reveal how memories were actually stored in the neurons. Within ten years we would have people who were completely digitized, as an unimaginably complex map of their entire brain contents was run on a supercomputer, thus yielding the prospect of a new class of digital beings who would have all the rights of their human counterparts. It sounded like pure fiction—except that we were already three quarters of the way there.

  My eldest son Joshua’s face appeared through the translucent display, and I switched it off. “I have a school project, Dad. I have to write three paragraphs about each of my grandparents.”

  I nodded. “Well, I only knew one of them on my side, but there’s plenty to tell.”

  Joshua had his tablet at the ready. “What was her job?”

  “She started out as a librarian, but then got bored with that and became an airline stewardess.”

  “So she went all over the world?”

  “Yes.”

  Joshua typed busily for a minute and then looked back up. “What’s the main thing you remember about her?”

  I suddenly felt a rush of love and gratitude, both for this kid who was interviewing me like some overly serious reporter, but also for Mom. “I think it was her infectious laugh,” I said.

  “What’s the biggest thing she laughed about?”


  “Having wrestled a gator and won!”

  More About Andrew Broderick

  Andrew's most recent series is The Lost Colony, in which 100 people, the first scientists to colonize the planet Epsilon, make it there and then promptly vanish! John Rees, a neurotic yet brilliant man, who bears the guilt of a terrible transgression, is desperate to fly on the mission which will find out what happened to them. As mentioned earlier, Andrew writes relatable characters, driven by human need. His stories are gripping from the start, fully engaging the reader. They are aided by fantastic futuristic technology, often set against a backdrop of war and political unrest, and full of unpredictable twists and turns. You can find his books at:

  You can find his books at:

  http://www.andrewcbroderick.com/amazonbooks. Some of them are free. May you enjoy them all!

  Genre: Science Fiction Adventure

  Worlds Revealed by J.L. Hendricks

  This is a brand new story in the Alpha Alien Abduction Tales series. It starts out with the couples we know from the first two books in the series, Worlds Away and Worlds Collide. But it quickly goes back to the summer of 1947 when a spaceship crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. Venay’s grandfather was the Commander of the ship that was involved in that nightmare. But it wasn’t the V’Zenians, or even the Zateelians, who crashed on Earth! You can expect to learn the true story of the Roswell Aliens, and who they really were.

  Earth has had a long history of aliens visiting her, but no one really knows for sure if they have interacted with real aliens or not. Mostly because of a mind altering technology the V’Zenians aren’t afraid to use on us humans. Do you have periods of memory loss? Or a distant dream that you met an alien? It may not have been a dream.

  Prologue - Present day, Zeleron 10

  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon on Zeleron 10. Natalie and her V’Zenian mate, Captain Zelan, were enjoying a rare afternoon with their closest friends, Paris and Commander Venay. All four were lounging pool-side in the newly created community pool, lovingly nick named, “The Plunge.”

  Both Paris and Natalie were humans who had mated with the V’Zenian warriors that had abducted them from Earth a few months back.

  “Commander Venay, are you ready to tell us about the Roswell incident yet? I really want to know if what you alluded to was a joke, or if your grandfather really was there.” Natalie had asked this question before, but the Commander had refused to share.

  The Commander looked into the deep green pool, while considering Natalie’s request. Water is clear no matter what planet you are on, but not all pools have a blue bottom. The cement used to create the shape of this pool had a green tint to it, so the pool will forever have a light green shade. Natalie felt that the water looked a bit off, but Zelan thought it looked clean.

  “You will not leave me alone until I tell you my story, will you?” the Commander asked. About a week after he had abducted approximately 200 men and women from Earth, their enemy, the Zateelians, had attacked them. Which forced them to crash land on Zeleron 10.

  “Sir, you did say you would tell us one day soon. Your new ship is almost here. How much longer are you going to make me wait? Growing up, all humans heard about the Roswell crash. So many books and television shows have been created around that myth. Most believe it really was a weather balloon. What is the truth?” Natalie and Zelan had speculated on what might have happened, but without Venay’s story, they would never know the truth.

  “The truth is out there alright. If I tell you, will you help me to convince Paris to tell her truth? About her parents and what happened?” Commander Venay got up and went to put his feet in the pool.

  Natalie stood up and followed him. She sat down on the warm, greenish concrete that looked more like hard moss than a sidewalk. “Yes, if you tell me what really happened, I will try to get Paris to tell us her story.” Natalie looked over her shoulder and smiled at Paris.

  “Wait, do I get a say on if, or when, I tell my story?” Paris grumbled. “I may not be ready to relive those memories.”

  “Paris, he said I have to help him convince you, not that you actually have to tell your story. Although, I do think it would be beneficial for you to tell your story and not keep it all bottled up inside.” Natalie leaned down to the water, put both hands inside, and splashed Paris.

  She squealed from the cold water and jumped up. “Hey, what was that for?”

  “You looked a bit too warm. I thought you might like to cool off just a bit,” Natalie laughed.

  Unbeknownst to her, Commander Venay had quietly moved behind Natalie and then quickly picked her up and threw her to the deep end of the pool.

  She spluttered as she broke through the water and took in air. “That wasn’t fair, I barely got any water on Paris!”

  Zelan had been watching from his lounge chair and quickly grabbed Paris and threw her into the water next to Natalie. “There, now you are both in the water.” He then did a cannonball into the end of the pool and splashed water all over the far edge. The only one who was mostly dry, was the Commander.

  “Come on Venay, join us and then you can tell us all about your grandfather and what a wonderful warrior he was.” Paris started to swim towards her mate. Before she could get to him, he jumped up high in the air from the top step he had been standing on, did a flip, and landed lightly on his feet in the center of the pool.

  The other three in his party whooped and hollered. “Alright, I will tell you. First, we should all get out of the water and dry off. This is a long story.” The Commander paused. “Maybe I should tell it over dinner tonight instead.”

  All three yelled, “NO!”

  The Commander smirked, got out of the pool, and then walked to his lounge chair and dried off with his towel. “Don’t complain in three hours when you are hungry and my story is not completed.” He arched an eyebrow at Natalie.

  “Don’t look at me, I brought snacks. If your story is half as good as I think it might be, I can wait for dinner.” Natalie sat down on her lounge chair and looked over to the Commander and gave a slight nod to him.

  With the exception of a few attacks by the Zateelians, an insectoid race that is a cross between a mutant cockroach and a grasshopper, they have had a relatively nice time on this planet. Everything would change once a replacement ship arrived for Commander Venay, but until then, he had decided to go with the flow.

  “My grandfather, First Admiral Nayven, was a young warrior when he took maybe his third trip to Earth. This was the trip where he met my grandmother…”

  Natalie interrupted. “Commander, what is a First Admiral?” She tilted her head and scrunched her forehead.

  Venay sat up straight and lifted his head so that he was looking down on them. “A First Admiral is the highest rank any warrior can achieve. In fact, the only one who outranks the First Admiral, is the President himself. It is similar to your Joint Chiefs, only we don’t have many branches of military.”

  “Oh, that’s cool. He must be proud of you, following in his footsteps and all.” Natalie smiled.

  “He was. My grandfather passed away during my first mission to Earth.” Venay put his right fist over his heart and bowed his head in salute to the memory of his grandfather.

  Paris put a hand on his shoulder and said, “I’m sorry for your loss. Were you close?”

  Venay leaned back on his lounge chair and said, “We don’t mourn our loved ones the way you do. Especially when they have lived a very long life… Now, do you want me to tell the story or not?”

  Everyone nodded their heads and quieted down as Commander Venay prepared to share his story.

  “It was Earth’s 1947, I believe it was your summertime in North America. My grandfather, who had just been promoted to Commander, and his crew were making what should have been a simple trip to gather slaves and some supplies. My species enjoys a few Earth delicacies, like wine and goat cheese. We don’t have anything like goats on any of our worlds.” Venay looked to Paris before pul
ling her into his lap.

  “Hey, I thought you were telling a story?” Paris yelped as she was dragged into her mate’s lap.

  Venay laughed, “Oh, I am. I just remembered that bottle of wine we shared on our honeymoon to the spa in the Zargeiin Mountains.” He nuzzled Paris’ neck while she giggled and squirmed.

  “Come on, we have company. Save it for later.” Paris kissed his cheek and went back to her chair.

  “Right, they were preparing to leave orbit when the Science Officer noticed that another ship had entered Earth’s solar system.”

  Chapter One

  Earth, 1947

  “Commander Nayven, Sir, I see another ship entering this solar system.” Captain Voken was the Science Officer aboard The Zeleron who had been monitoring the satellite they kept near the edge of the human’s solar system. They were in orbit around Earth preparing to leave with their cargo.

  “Whose is it? We don’t have another ship scheduled to arrive yet, do we?” The Commander walked over to the comm station. “Captain Temek, have you received any communications from that ship?”

  “No, sir. They have not reached out to us, yet. Should I send them a message and request they identify themselves?” Temek responded.

  “Not yet.” The Commander stepped a few paces to his left and was behind the Science Officer. “Voken, can you tell the type of ship from this distance?”

  “I am trying to identify it now, sir. It isn’t one of ours, or else I would have received a ping as soon as they were close enough to our satellite.” The Science Officer zoomed in on the image, which was still just a speck on the screen.

  The beings on this ship were not from Earth. They were all from another galaxy, far, far away. These beings hailed from a planet called, V’Zenia Prime. Earth was a sort of warehouse for them.

  “Can you access the satellite’s imaging array? See if you can get a better picture directly from the satellite.” The Commander pointed to the other screen, which was labeled ‘Earth Satellite Pluto’, it showed an image of empty space. The V’Zenian’s had placed a satellite in orbit around Pluto, it assisted them in keeping an eye on the solar system, as well as helped to relay messages faster to their home world when they were in that area.