L.D.P. Samways
Second Earth
Part Two
Text © 2016 by Luis Samways
All rights reserved.
Cover Design by The Purple Book Co.
Luis Samways has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
eBook Edition first published in February 2016
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Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Five
Thank You For Reading
Chapter One
Randy Gustoff’s eyes were glazed over. He had no idea where he was, or what had happened. The last thing that he remembered was doubling over in pain. A sharp, hot, severe piercing pain had ruptured through his core. But that was then, and this was now. And now he was in a daze. Randy could hear people’s voices. From afar, but they sounded near enough. They must have been in the room. In the same room that he found himself in at that very moment.
But the question remains: what happened?
Gustoff wasn’t usually a frightened man. In fact, he thought of himself as a brave man. Not quite heroic, but he’d never backed down from a fight in his life before. But it seemed as if the fight was over. And this was the aftermath of the fight. Something didn’t feel right at all. Gustoff knew something bad had happened. Why else would he be in such a confused state? For all he knew, he could actually be dead. Maybe he was close to being dead? On death’s door, moments away from breathing his very last breath. But it turns out that he was alive and well. His breathing was shallow but consistent. He could feel his heart beating faintly in his chest as he lay there on the bed staring up at the ceiling. He was still in the colony. In one of those huts that the Elderman had built.
“What… What am I doing here?” Gustoff wheezed, searching for the right words but finding it increasingly hard to get them out as he lay there in pain. All Gustoff could see were shadows. And they were closing in on him. From his left, and is right. It was as if they were descending on him from above. Like a flock of blackbirds swooping down toward him.
“He’s awake,” a voice said as someone's head craned into view. The person was staring at Gustoff. They had a pitying look on their face. As if for some reason they felt guilty. Like they were the reason that Gustoff was lying on the bed, writhing in pain.
“Can you hear me?” The shadowy figure said as it bent in closer toward Gustoff. Randy could smell a strange odour and it was getting stronger and stronger. Like a burning log. Right under his nose. It was a familiar scent. A familiar smell. And then he remembered. It all came crashing back to him, like an untamable torrent birthed from the sea. Its waves of memory crashing against his cranium. Bringing light to the darkness that filled the void inside his head. Things were becoming clearer with every second that passed. The burning smell was from the Aston family’s home. The hut that was destroyed by the so-called fallen star.
“You… You are from the fallen star,” Gustoff said, trying to sit up. But a gentle yet firm hand held him down, attempting to stop him from rising to his feet. The shadowy figure now had a face. A human face. A woman's face. But that’s where the similarity ended. He didn’t recognise this face. And he’d been in the colony long enough to know who was who. And he’d definitely been in the colony long enough to know all the adult faces. It wasn’t as if people just turned up out of nowhere. But this woman, this woman had come out of nowhere. Or at least, that’s how it seemed to Randy.
“The fallen star… what an idiot,” Gustoff said, ignoring the gentle hand on his chest and pushing himself up into a seated position on the bed. He looked around the room and noticed a few unfamiliar faces. They were staring at him, uncertain and untrusting. They appeared just as frightened as Gustoff.
“The fallen star?” The woman asked, gently pulling her hand away from his chest. She had a caring air about her. Like it was her job to look after the infirm or the sick. But Gustoff was not infirm or sick. He’d been shot. With a gun. And according to the last thing that he remembered, it wasn’t from one of his own people. The bullet had come from somebody else. And he had a feeling that the somebody else he had in mind was in this very room.
“Yeah, the fallen star, what a stupid thing to say. I’m not usually such an idiot, but on account of me being shot and waking up in a strange room with strange people I don’t recognise, I’ll put that stupidity down to tiredness or a momentary lapse of judgement,” Randy said as he clicked his neck and stretched on the bed. The people in the room still had untrusting looks on their faces. They still had an air about them, an unfamiliar air about them. And it seemed as if they shared Randy’s ill-conceived notions about the company they were keeping.
"Where are you from?" One of the unfamiliar voices asked him. The strange voice belonged to a face that was just as strange to Gustoff. That face was getting closer to him, the sound of footsteps gently echoed off the walls around him. Gustoff’s eyes widened as a man came toward him. The man was wearing some sort of fancy spacesuit. A spacesuit that Gustoff had read about in an instructional manual that he’d found in one of those crates. The crates in the church. The same place where they kept all the other relics of the past. Gustoff’s heart began to pound in his chest as the realisation of what was happening to him came crashing down, much like the so-called fallen star on the Aston families hut.
“Where am I from?" Gustoff said, staring at the man as he approached him. Randy’s fists clenched tightly at the thought of getting within a hair’s breadth of the approaching man. Gustoff was nervous. And the nerves were getting the better of him. What was he to do? Just sit there and allow this unfamiliar person to get close to him?
“It doesn’t matter where I’m from; all I need to know is where the hell you guys are from. You’re not from our colony. I haven’t seen you guys around. You’re from that ship. The fallen star. The one that crash-landed on one of our huts killing a family of four. So it doesn’t matter where I’m from because I don’t have any explaining to do. Remember, you’re the guys that came crashing into our colony. So the question is, where are you from?" Gustoff said, getting off the bed and coming face-to-face with the unknown man staring at him.
Gustoff looked the man up and down. He took in every inch of the guys clothes. The weird flag on his right arm. Embodied and stitched into the fabric. But, that wasn’t what was catching Gustoff’s attention. The only thing that was gnawing at Gustoff was the fact that he was the only one in the room. The only one that he recognised, which was silly really, because it’s not like you can just recognise yourself. But Gustoff was fully aware that he was the only one from his colony inside the hut. Everybody else was foreign to him. Three people. Two men, one woman. Three alien beings. They may have looked like Gustoff, but Gustoff knew that they were not like him at all. Not one bit. They were imposters. He was sure of it.
“We don’t mean you any harm," the female said, the one that had been tending to him as he’d woken up. She had a strange accent. Come to think of it, they all had a strange accent. Everything about this was strange. The way they spoke, the way they walked and the way they seemed to be hiding something.
“If y
ou don’t mean me any harm, then tell me where the hell April is," Gustoff said.
The woman looked at him and grimaced. At least, Gustoff thought she’d grimaced. But their faces were hard to read. It was like they were wired differently. They had a certain way about them. A way that deeply disturbed Gustoff.
“We don’t know anybody called April. In fact, we don’t know a whole lot about this place. You’re right, we did crash-land onto your colony, but we did not intend to do so. Our ship lost power above your atmosphere. Before we knew it, we were hurtling toward the ground. We did all we could to avert disaster, but we were certainly not expecting to see a colony of living beings on this planet. Especially a colony of creatures that seem to be just like us," she said, walking toward Gustoff and sidling up beside the man in the spacesuit.
None of this was making Gustoff feel any better. As far as he was concerned, they were all untrustworthy. Usually, Gustoff didn’t have much trust for the people of the colony. And to make things worse, these people, these so-called people in front of him, the ones that look and talk like him but act so differently than him and the people that he’s used to cohabiting with, these people were even more untrustworthy. Randy couldn’t just trust anybody. There wasn’t a magical switch that he could turn on for these imposters. They’d have to prove themselves to him. Show that they were telling the truth and that they truly didn’t mean him no harm.
“This doesn’t make any sense. Are you telling me that you are not from this planet? That you look like me, talk like me, but aren’t the same as me?" Gustoff asked, taking a few steps back. He felt a little woozy. He couldn’t think straight. The room seemed to be spinning. Was this it? Was this first contact?
“I’m not sure," the man in the spacesuit said, he took a few steps toward Gustoff and extended a hand. “But, whatever this is, whatever you are, we are going to get through this together. We mean no harm. You mean no harm. It is clear to see. As clear as day. And honestly, it would be a shame to ruin such a monumental occasion as First Contact."
Gustoff looked at the man in the spacesuit. He didn’t have any head protection on. His face was visible. Gustoff could see the small wrinkles on the corner of his eyes. Crows feet flowing up his cheeks. Deep indentations of time passing him by. A blueprint of history on his face. A map of the past. The man still had his hand out, extended for a shake. A handshake that Gustoff was not sure whether he could partake in. He didn’t trust these people. He had no reason to. It could be a trap. The colony itself was small, throughout the years, the colony had been all that Randy knew. The colony had been all that anybody knew. For no one in the colony or outside of the colony, if there really was an outside, had met. Gustoff didn’t know if there were more people out there. In the past, a few individuals had explored the region. But the colony itself was on some sort of Island. Quite a large island, but not so large that there were unknown locations. Every inch of the place had been scoured for life. All that remained were the seas. The high seas that surrounded the island. But the mass of land was on a cliff. A four hundred foot drop was what stood in between the colony and further exploration of their home planet. It was the perfect fortress. A fort that protects them from the unknown, and, unfortunately, it also protects them from progress.
“You say that you mean me no harm. That you come in peace. But you shot me. I took a bullet. A bullet that was fired from one of your weapons. Please explain to me this; if you mean me no harm then why bother shooting me?"
The man nodded his head. He smiled. His hand was still extended for a handshake. But, instead of waiting for Gustoff to reciprocate, the man put a gentle hand on Gustoff’s shoulder and squeezed tightly. He was trying his darnedest to instil some sort of confidence in Randy. He was fully aware of the situation that they faced in front of them. No fuel cells. No backup generators. No way to get back to the Orion Traveller. So they were stuck. Stuck on a planet inhabited by people that acted and looked like them. Human beings at the far end of the Andromeda Galaxy. The first ever humans found outside of the Milky Way Galaxy, outside of Planet Earth at that! How did they get there? Who was responsible for them? And what would become of them once Earth found out?
“I apologise; I did shoot you. But our weapons have been taken away from us. It was agreed that we remain disarmed if we are to stay here. The eldermen have been welcoming to us, even though they seem to be a little out there in their ridiculous beliefs. They appear to think that we are angels of some sorts. But we’re not. We only have one mission, and that’s to get back to our spaceship. It’s stationed in orbit above your planet. But we’ve lost contact with them. And with your help, hopefully, we can get in contact them. Once we do, maybe, just maybe we might be able to figure out what the heck is going on here, because I know for a fact that this is big. Finding you here on this planet, and all the people outside, outside these walls, these primitive thatched walls, means that there may be more of us out there in the Universe. More humans. More planets. More chances of finding the missing link," the man said, extending his hand once again.
Gustoff stared at the man’s hand and then as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he sighed.
“I guess we may as well shake hands. Today is a big day - today we find out we’re not alone - today we find out that there is more to life than just us. Today, a new era of knowledge begins," Gustoff said, embracing the man’s hand in a firm shake.
“My name is Randy, Randy Gustoff. I’m a scientist here. The only scientist on this planet in fact. Pretty much the only man that believes that there is more out there. Now I have proof, proof that I’m not crazy. I’ll be ever so glad to help you on your quest to get back on board your spaceship."
The man smiled, he let go of Gustoff’s hand and relaxed.
“Good, my name is Timson, and I’m the Commander of the pod ship that crashed on your planet. Our mission directive was to track down signals coming from time capsules that the government on Earth had sent out to various locations a couple hundred years ago. In these time capsules, there were books and other relics of human history. The purpose of the time capsules was to communicate with whatever lifeforms may come across them. To brief them on the essence of what it is to be human. And honestly, it’s good to see that at least you have learned a lot from us. Millions and millions of light years away, and it turns out that Earth has a baby brother. A Second Earth. And we are ever so glad to meet finally."
Both men nod their heads in agreement. It indeed was a monumental day. Gustoff had finally found purpose in his life. And that purpose was grand. Grand in the sense that finally he knew without a reasonable doubt that the colony wasn’t the only thing floating in space. But the question remained, how would Earth react to such a finding? Would they embrace their baby brother? Or would sibling rivalry destroy them both?
Chapter Two
Commander Williams and his men are feeling nervous as they approach the Orion Traveller. The medium-sized ship they are in rattles and shakes as they slowly approach the blackened and darkened craft. The Orion Traveller is quite an impressive beast. A hulking piece of machinery floating high above the mysterious planet where the survivors lay in wait for their rescue. But before Commander Williams and his men can get to the survivors, they have to find out why the Orion Traveller isn’t responding to their communications.
It appears that their communications are down as well. Commander Williams has put it down to the fact that they went through the Jump Gate and whilst doing so, unfortunately, the comms on the medium-sized ship were zapped and frazzled. The only way that they were going to get their communications backup is if they boarded the Orion Traveller. Hopefully, there’s somebody on board that can help them fix their problem.
As the Commander approached the darkened ship, a gut feeling was making itself known within the pit of his stomach. And that gut feeling was the feeling of complete and utter fear. A fear so deep that it seemed like it was escaping every pore in the Commander’s body. His skin felt tight. L
ike it was suffocating him. Constricting tightly. Williams wasn’t the only frightened one. The men on board were also frightened. Scared of the unknown. And the unknown was becoming even closer by the second. The Orion Traveller was no longer a blip on their radar, or a ship in the distance. Now it was real. Real close. Close enough to touch. And that’s exactly what they were about to do. Boarding the Orion Traveller would be difficult. They didn’t know how the people on the ship would react to them. Space had its protocols. Just because they were from Earth didn’t mean that they would all get along. There were many sectors and many different companies out there. The all fell under the same umbrella of The Company Corporation, but the subdivisions would always remain divided, such was the nature of humanity, segregating each other since the dawn of man.
“That thing’s massive,” the recruit said, pressing his face against the porthole. He stood there gasping at the grandness of the Orion Traveller. He’d never seen such a magnificent looking ship before. It was the biggest he’d ever seen.
“Yeah, it’s pretty big. But let’s not get carried away here, it’s just a ship. A ship that we need to board as soon as possible. If we don’t get our comms unit in order; then we might not be able to get this mission started. Plus, no comms means the people at the Jump Gate can’t communicate with us. And if they can’t reach us, then that means we won’t be getting through the Jump Gate and we’ll be stuck in the Andromeda Galaxy for the rest of our bloody lives," Commander Williams said as he steadied the ship. His radar started to ping. A beeping sound followed. It was the trajectory sensors. It sounded off as the crew approached the Orion Traveller. The beeping would become even more consistent as they got closer to the ship. And once they reached the Orion Traveller, the trajectory sensors would help them align the vessel with the docking station.
Second Earth: Part Two (Second Earth Serial Book 2) Page 1