Section 1
Section 2
Diversion To
Urasha
By Laura Hopgood
Copyright © Laura Hopgood 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or be transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
About the Author
Laura Hopgood, born October 14th 1988, grew up in and currently resides in Reading, UK. In the year 2010, Laura began work on her debut novel: 'Diversion To Urasha'. The book was published in April 2014. In this very same month, Laura has begun writing her second novel in this series, titled ‘Onto Nebowska’. Laura is very passionate about the Universe, and this has helped to inspire her series of books.
To contact Laura, follow her on Twitter: @LauraHopgood
Laura would like to give special thanks to both her wonderful parents. Her awesome brother and her best friend, Leah. As well as her lovely Auntie, and all other friends and family members. Thank you everyone for your continued support. Thank you Universe.
Chapter 1
Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la, laaaaaaa…
The early rising Christmas Day carol singers halted their hums, their mouths gaped open in shock and wonder as they watched the searing bright light crack straight through the sky.
The orange ball of flames appeared to grow brighter and brighter as it plummeted through the snow filled clouds.
Less than seconds later, the show was over. The light was gone. Whatever it was had landed somewhere in the snow.
Although it was Christmas Day morning, it didn’t take long for the authorities or the news crews to discover the strange occurrence. Helicopters whirred over the site of the fallen light, whilst army men and policemen cordoned off the area.
Eventually, word got out to the Prime Minister of Britain. The black receiver of his phone descended free from his trembling hand, being left to dangle helplessly beneath his desk.
An Unidentified Flying Object had just landed in London. The army and the police forces had the thing surrounded now.
Occasionally, strange unidentified crafts would hover over the sky. They would even cause a scene. They would even stir up the media’s cooking pot into a wild frenzy of juice. Yet each time, this bizarre craft would turn out to be something human. Or it would turn out to be one of those weird weather phenomenon that just looked abnormal to the human eye. Take that absurd ball lightning for instance, the electrical lightning would just literally float around in its ball, raising the eyebrows of all those who witnessed it.
This time was different. The Prime Minister had just been notified by his army that the object did not look human. It was a UFO. There was no way to explain what it was.
Although completely terrified, the British Prime Minister felt that it were his duty to at least cast his very own eyes on the eerie object himself. It was, after all, his job to protect his people, his family, and if by some crazy chance this object wasn’t human, it was his job to protect his planet.
After leaving his family with his subordinates, the Prime Minister left his home, entering his shiny black car with his driver and two of his body guards.
The inside of the car was cold. The Prime Minister could have easily mistaken this coldness for fear. However, each time that he breathed a nervous breath, he could see it blowing straight back out of his mouth, billowing all around him, proving that it was simply freezing cold in this car.
“Want me to put the heating on, Sir?” His driver kindly asked.
“No,” the Prime Minister replied, appreciating the fact that the cold gave his mind something else to focus on. “The craft landed not far from here. By the time the car warms, we won’t be inside it anymore.”
The drive seemed to last for hours, yet the destination was only a couple of short miles away. It was funny that. Time just always seemed to drag by whenever it was far more desirable for time to just speed on by. The Prime Minister was apprehensive. He was scared, and his mind was all over the place. The leader of Britain just wanted to see the craft for himself, so that his mind might just become that bit clearer about the situation at least.
At last, his driver pulled up adjacent to one of the army’s barriers. He unwound the window to speak to the officer.
As soon as the car window opened, the Prime Minister was hit with noise. His eyes searched through the window, scanning the faces of all the media, all the public who had gathered here today. They were all shouting, each of them confused, each of them desperate for answers. The Prime Minister wished that he could enlighten them. He wished that he had the knowledge to answer the questions of his people. Unfortunately, he did not. The leader of Britain was just as clueless as his people.
The army officer lifted the barrier, allowing only the Prime Minister’s car to enter the area of the fallen craft. It was at that point that the Prime Minister saw it for the very first time. There, landed on the ground was this huge chunk of bright silver metal. The thing had to be as large as a house (or two!), and whatever it was still appeared to be intact. The object looked like a craft. A craft not of this world, but a craft nonetheless.
The Prime Minister felt his muscles growing stiff, not wanting to move one single step outside of this car. The ship was so luminous, glowing too brightly to be deemed normal. The only thing relatively human about this vessel was its shape. The ship looked triangular. That did not make it human, however.
Although every single atom in his body made him reluctant to do so, the Prime Minister managed to step out of the car, feeling slightly comforted by his body guards, and the army men all around him.
“Has there been any movement since we last spoke?” Even those words were hard to articulate in this state of anxiety.
“No, Sir, nothing,” A rugged, chiseled hulk of a man answered. “We have it surrounded. We’re ready to initiate our weapons on your orders, Sir.”
The Prime Minister looked down to the ground thoughtfully for a brief moment.
“No, that won’t be necessary. If and I mean if… If something is in that craft, then we do not know its intentions. For all we know it could be friendly. Launching weapons on it might cause an unnecessary war.”
“With all due respect, Sir, we are under threat…”
“How do you know?” The leader of Britain boldly cut in, “how do you know? Yes, something seemingly alien has landed here. But think about it, if we managed to land ourselves on another planet, would we initiate an attack on the home species?”
The army officer raised an incredulous eyebrow, displaying his lack of faith in human harmlessness.
“Perhaps, Sir. Even if we went there with friendly intent, we might feel under threat if we actually encountered an alien species. The best form of defence is to attack.”
The Prime minister raised his own incredulous eyebrow, deciding already that he did not like this army officer very much.
“Well I beg to differ.”
The leader of Britain turned towards the silver craft, which lay seemingly dormant in the snow. He noticed now, that the thing had red lights, which strangely gave him a feeling of warmth on this harsh Winter’s day.
The Prime Minister longed to be back home, with his family in the warmth and safety of his house. How safe was his home now? How safe was anyone’s home? How safe was this planet? The courageous leader understood his duty. He had to be out here with this thing, this ship of some sort. He had to find out what had just landed in London.
With reluctance, the Prime Minister turned to the bulky army
officer he had already decided to loathe.
“Send me in,” the leader proclaimed.
“Excuse me, Sir? With all due respect, if you’re going to send anyone in, you need to send us in, that’s what we’re trained for.”
“No,” the Prime Minister disagreed. “You wish to go in with your weapons and your armour? That would only arouse an unnecessary attack. I will go to the ship. I will attempt to speak to whoever (or what ever) is in there, understood?”
“But, Sir…”
“These are my orders, and you must follow them!”
With reluctance, the army officer had no choice but to follow the wishes of his leader. He tried to insist that the Prime Minister wear some sort of body armour at least. Though the leader simply refused, reminding the officer of the fact that human body armour may be of no use against alien weaponry, should it come to that.
The Prime Minister turned once again to the ship which awaited him. There it lay, seemingly dormant, glowing ominously as it lay waiting.
Although every atom in his body fought to keep him paralysed on the spot, the leader of Britain began to slowly inch himself further and further towards the silver vessel. He realised that both his hands were now clenched tightly into a ball. He could feel the clammy sweat from his palms sticking his fingers to their fear like glue. If only the snow on the ground was glue. Maybe then it would stop his feet from moving. Maybe then it would stop anything being able to exit that ship.
The ship was growing closer and closer, and although the Prime Minister was fully clothed in his suit and long black coat, he felt very naked all of a sudden. Perhaps it was the cold biting his skin? Or perhaps it was the fact that the leader of Britain just felt so bare, so vulnerable, approaching this foreboding vessel all by himself? Maybe he should have allowed one or two army members to accompany him? They were all back there watching, yes, but it wasn’t the same as being enveloped within their actual safety.
Before the Prime Minister could take another step, he felt the ground vibrating beneath his feet, then he heard a loud, deafening horn-like sound coming straight from the ship!
The Prime Minister was paralysed now.
Almost as soon as the noise had gone off, the ground stopped shaking, and all fell silent, completely silent.
Before the leader of Britain could even muster the sense to comprehend it, an opening appeared on the ship. A silver ramp rolled out of the large black hole, which had formed on the craft. As his heartbeat completely paused, the Prime Minister watched, horrified, as three ‘beings’ emerged from the opening.
From this uncomfortable distance, it was not quite clear what these creatures looked like exactly. But one thing was for sure: they were not human. For a start, the beings were of an unusual shape. They had not two arms, but four instead. They stood, perhaps a foot or two taller than the average man, and their skin was a light shade of brown. One of the aliens wore what looked like a red tunic or robe, whilst the two to its side wore white equivalents.
For a while, no one moved. The Prime Minister was now quite literally frozen on the spot. Perhaps that snow had turned to glue at last. The aliens, meanwhile, remained the same. They too stood stationary, not daring to descend down the slope beneath them.
Then, without a moment’s notice, the three beings began to walk down the ramp on their two chunky legs. Once their bare feet reached the snow, they stopped moving once again. Their bulgy black eyes watched the Prime Minister, seemingly assessing him before they made their next move.
To his astonishment, and to his horror, the leader of Britain watched as the centre-most creature proffered out a hand, revealing a long forefinger which reeled backwards and forwards, gesturing for him to come towards them.
The Prime Minister’s heart thudded with a bang back into life. He could feel his temples throbbing, and his body growing weak. Yet despite this, the leader of Britain found his feet moving. Not willingly, but moving nonetheless towards these three, potentially dangerous creatures.
The courageous man eventually came to a standstill just several metres in front of the creatures. From this distance, their alien appearance had become very clear now. Their eyes were nothing but a black abyss, resting half way down their oily brown heads. What the Prime Minister could only assume was a nose rested just beneath the eyes, lying at the very centre of the being’s large head as two black slits. The mouth lay underneath the nose, a horizontal slit this time.
The leader of Britain found his wary grey eyes locking into the eyes of the central alien. It was looking straight back into his eyes, its eyelids blinking diagonally.
Once again, the creature extended out its long oily forefinger, catching a snowflake on the very tip of it this time. The alien watched as the little speck of ice melted away, and then it rubbed the liquid into its skin with its thumb. The being had three fingers and one thumb on each hand.
Again, the alien turned its eyes to the Prime Minister’s. Slowly, and perhaps somewhat cautiously, the being stepped forwards, whilst its two comrades remained still.
Now, less than a metre away from the trembling human, the alien gently placed both its forefingers on his rosy cheeks. The Prime Minister couldn’t help but gasp in fear. He felt his throat being choked. Not by the alien, but by his own extreme anxiety. As he stood quivering, the alien did something which completely shocked him. The thing spoke! And not just in any language either. The alien spoke in English!
“Creature of Earth,” its guttural, husky alien voice sounded, “I sense incredible amounts of fear in you?”
At this point, the Prime Minister was so overcome with fright, that he could barely articulate his words,
“I….I…this has never happened be-before. I am sc-sc-ared. For…for my people…for my p-planet!”
For some reason that he could not quite fathom, the leader of Britain noted that the creature looked upon him with a certain tenderness, a certain kindness. He felt his cheeks tingling warmly, almost pleasurably, and then the alien’s voice sounded again.
“You’ve no need to fear us. Let me show you.”
At that moment, the Prime Minister felt a warm surge of heat enter through his cheeks, creating a bright flash deep inside his brain. Then there were images, so many surreal images of….of aliens, so many different beings from so many different places. The Nebee, that’s what these creatures were, they were peaceful, they were noble. They traveled through the Galaxies, scouting for life on other planets. The Nebee were intelligent, they were aiders, helpers, enabling species to travel through outer space. They had seen so many different worlds. They had seen so many different Solar Systems and Galaxies. The Nebee were part of a community; the humungous community of life which made up the Universe!
The Nebee wanted to aid the humans, too. The Nebowskan Warrior was earnest, kind and genuine. These Nebowskans wanted Earth and its humans to join their community.
All of a sudden, the images stopped, and the Prime Minister watched the Nebowskan in front of him as it removed its fingers from his cheeks. He was gobsmacked. He didn’t know what to say. The Nebowskan broke the silence for him,
“Will you let us teach you? Will you let us welcome you to the Universe?”
This was all too much to take in. The Prime Minister could barely even speak. The only response which he was able to free from his trembling lips was a “yes.” Yes, he wanted himself and his people to become part of the ‘bigger picture’. The bubble of safety, or perhaps, the bubble of naivety surrounding Earth had vanished. Earth was part of something bigger than Earth. Earth was part of a Universe, and humans, they were part of a vast community of life.
At first, many people did not take too kindly to the leader of Britain’s decision. The people were shocked. They were scared. It’s funny that, how people are so terrified of the unknown, so instead of facing it, of searching for the truth, they sweep it under the carpet.
The fact is, the Universe is huge. And everyone on Earth knew it. Everyone on Earth knew that there
was bound to be something else out there. Yet they chose to ignore it until it smacked them straight in the face. The Nebee smacked the humans straight in the face, in the friendliest, most kindest way possible.
From the year 2017, to the year 2022, the Nebee spent their time on planet Earth teaching the humans all they had learnt so far about the Universe. They helped the humans to craft ships which could travel at super fast speeds. The Nebee showed the humans the billions and billions of wormholes, all scattered throughout the Universe, making space travel possible. The Nebee helped the humans to build gravity chambers underneath their ships, and by 2022, the first human space craft had launched itself up into the Universe.
Over the years, the humans had learnt to accept the Nebee. The humans had learnt to look up to the Nebee. The humans had learnt to love the Nebee like a brother species. So in the year 2050, when the humans were informed of the troubles over in Nebowska, they had to send out their best team of humans to help their allies.
This is where my story begins.
Chapter 2
James peered out of his car window, searching through the night for any sign of Lottie to emerge from her apartment. That woman took ages to get ready. Yet the funny thing was, she would make snidy little remarks at all those ‘fake’ and ‘vain’ women. Lottie would hate to be labelled as one of them.
James sighed, drumming his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. The truth was, his best friend since childhood was far from the falsely beautified stereotype. Lottie was a geek. She did not conform to the norm. Lottie was no sheep, and she hated to blend in. The girl was shy, yet she loved to stand out in her own creative sort’ve way. Lottie’s personality was filled with contradictions. She was complicated, and James loved her for that. Uncomplicated and normal was boring. James Joyce was drawn to complex personalities.
Perhaps his own personality was quite complex, too? James had suffered, put it that way. When he was just ten years old, his father was killed during a space mission. James had always looked up to his father. To lose his hero had quite literally obliterated his and his mother’s hearts. Lottie’s kind little heart had been pulverised too. The poor young woman had lost both her parents to a horrific car accident when she was just ten years old herself. At the time, Lottie had been living in the USA with her family. But because of the accident, she had been forced to move to Berkshire in the UK to live with her aunt and her uncle. Lottie still sounded ridiculously American. This was another thing that James loved about his best friend. It made her all the more nerdy and quirky.
Diversion To Urasha (Space Era Book 1) Page 1