Doctor How and the Deadly Anemones
Page 28
Read on for a preview of Doctor How and the Alien Invasion.
Preview – Doctor How and the Alien Invasion
Atruk was lying in wait, certain that the enemy hadn’t seen him dive for the cover of a stack of sandbags. His pulse was racing and he was filled with hatred and thoughts of revenge. But he knew the most important thing he could do was stay still.
The last of the invaders concentrated its blaster on an infantry carrier. The vehicle was racing for the cover of a pill box that had been taken out half an hour earlier, when there had been three of the bipedal alien invaders. Eliminating the other two had been a bloody struggle, and Atruk had lost almost a battalion of his own warriors. This last one was proving to be a fearsome fighter, and he was threatening to reach the innermost citadel of his culture. This wasn’t the first attack they’d experienced, and from the style of its fighting, Atruk was fairly certain of the alien’s name.
He watched as the rounds burst onto the armour plating of the vehicle, desperately hoping it could take his comrades to cover in time. For a moment it looked as if the driver had made it but, against the odds, the tenth round caught the rear of the vehicle and it erupted in a massive explosion, killing the squad of infantry it had been about to disgorge.
Atruk knew that the enemy’s rapid burst of fire would have depleted its weapon, and that it would take a few moments to recharge. He leapt up and let off the maximum three consecutive rounds from his blaster, cursing the limits of his culture’s technology. The enemy saw the glowing balls of energy flying at it across the wasteland of bodies, infantry carriers, ruined buildings and craters. It pointed its weapon at Atruk and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened – the weapon was still recharging. The alien juddered as the first round hit, then twisted as the second made its mark. One bolt of energy escaped the alien’s blaster and went harmlessly into the sky as Atruk’s third round hit. The alien vaporised. Suddenly all was still.
“Captain Atruk reporting,” he spoke into his helmet microphone. “Latest assault defeated, Your Highness.”
“Too close this time, Captain,” came the Emperor’s voice in his ear. “They will be back. Again. And again.”
“We must rebuild, Your Highness.”
“I’m tired of rebuilding. As soon as we rebuild, they come back and destroy us. I cannot bear to watch any more of my brave warriors slain by these aliens. One day they will break us. That day will come soon.”
“But Your Highness, what can we do? They appear from nowhere. Their technology is far superior to ours. Their blasters fire ten rounds to our three, and their rounds travel twice as fast. It takes just one shot to kill one of our men, but three in quick succession to kill them. We are never able to capture their weapons because they vaporise as soon as they die. We don’t know who they are, where they come from, or why they attack us. All we know is that they wish to destroy us.”
“Our technicians have been working on this, Captain Atruk. We have found a weakness.”
“A weakness?”
“Yes. A connection to their home planet.”
“Can we destroy this connection, Your Highness?”
“Alas, it is not in our power to do so.”
“I do not understand.”
“Another civilisation holds open the connection between our two worlds.”
“Then what can we do?”
“We must take the war to them, Captain Atruk. We must kill those who would kill us.”
Atruk surveyed the destroyed landscape. “And you are looking for volunteers to go on this mission, Your Highness?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“It would be my greatest honour to serve you on this mission, Your Highness.”
“Thank you, most loyal captain. This mission breaks many of the Agreements of the Pleasant universe.”
“I understand, Your Highness.”
“We will have complete deniability. You will be the only warrior on this mission, Captain Atruk.”
“Your Highness?”
“Alone, but not unaccompanied, Captain. Our technicians have prepared a surprise for the enemy. If all goes to plan, you will be able to direct operations from a safe distance.”
“When do I leave?”
“The connection will close again in under a minute. We will transport you to your ship now.”
“I understand, Your Highness.”
“Their gods are writing the list of fallen in the sky.”
And so it was. In the grey, smoke-filled sky above Atruk he could make out a list in an alien alphabet. There were ten lines of red characters; what his civilisation interpreted as a list of the alien dead in order of their bravery in battle. It had taken them weeks of programming time to decode the basics of the alien language in a desperate bid to understand the repeated assaults.
“They taunt us every time, Your Highness. As if our casualties are meaningless and theirs are immortal. And they are immortal – it is mostly the same warriors reincarnated who come back to destroy us.”
“You will end this, Captain Atruk. You must kill their best warriors. But you must hurry. We have sent ahead an advance party. It will test the alien defences and gather intelligence for you. You will take longer to travel.”
As he boarded the transporter that would take him to the gateway, Atruk glanced up again. The list of names was burnished on his memory. At the top was the most hated of all, and it was flashing proudly yet again.
KevT1994
The hatch of the transporter slammed shut and he felt his body push against his armour as the craft accelerated.
“KevT1994 must die,” said Atruk.
Doctor How and the Alien Invasion is book three of the Doctor How series and will be out in late 2015. Probably.
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About the author
Mark Speed finished writing his first novel at the age of fifteen. His comedy writing has appeared in newspapers as diverse as the London Evening Standard and The Sun, and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra. He performed his solo comedy, The End of the World Show, at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2011 and 2012.
Amongst other postgraduate and professional qualifications, he has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from City University, London. In 1995 a chiropractor told him he’d never run again. Sensibly, he gave up chiropractors, and has since completed several marathons and a couple of Olympic-length triathlons. He occasionally does irresponsible things like scuba and skydiving. NLP founder Richard Bandler publicly called him a ‘polarity responder’.
Other works by the same author:
Apocalypse Later: A guide to the end of the world by Nice Mr Death
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0957320485
Britons in Brief (anthology): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AD5LS9O
More about him is available from these sources:
Amazon Author Central: http://www.amazon.com/author/markspeed
Author information and more writing: www.markspeed.co.uk
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Lynda Thornhill for proofing. Thanks to ace beta-readers Ian Sturgeon and Suzanne C. Cope TLP CBT for early feedback and encouragement. I’m grateful to Ulyssa MacMillan for advice on the cover art. Thanks also to Nathan Van Coops, author of an excellent time travel series: http://www.amazon.com/Nathan-Van-Coops/e/B00FJDAZVM/
Copyright Notice
Copyright © Mark F Speed 2015
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-0-9573204-9-9
The right of Mark F Speed to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanica
l, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and publisher.
This is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Apart from those who are major historical figures, any resemblance to real persons – living or dead – is purely coincidental.
Published by Terra Supra Limited
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For the avoidance of doubt, this is a work of parody.
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