Strangers, Neighbors and Aliens. Oh, My! Book II

By Stephen Lay

Strangers, Neighbors and Aliens, Oh My! Book II; continues with another installment of easy read, character driven stories. In this volume, the writer introduces Mr. Deets. A character living in a paranormal world searching for the truth. His character will return with new adventures in future Strangers, Neighbors and Aliens. Oh, My! books. Humor and cultural differences were also used as a basis to create some of the new introduction of short stories in this collection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephen Lay
• Release date: Sep 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9780986219528

Book preview

Strangers, Neighbors

And Aliens,

Oh, My!

Book II

A collection of Sci-Fi and Fantasy

short stories

By

Stephen A. Lay

Strangers, Neighbors and Aliens, Oh, My. Book II ™

Stephen Anthony Lay

2014 Theonoread

Lay Entertainment LLC

2014 Lay Trust

First Edition

Distributed by Smashwords

ISBN 978-0-9862195-2-8

All Rights Reserved Under International and Pam American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Strangers, Neighbors and Aliens. Oh, My! - Is a registered trademark

Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com

Strangers, Neighbors and Aliens, Oh, My!, series should be considered fictional and any resemblance to individuals living or deceased is purely accidental.

Strangers, Neighbors and Aliens, Oh My! Book II; continues with another installment of easy read, character driven stories. In this volume, the writer introduces Mr. Deets. A character living in a paranormal world searching for the truth. His character will return with new adventures in future SNA books. Humor and cultural differences were also used as a basis to create some of the new introduction of short stories in this collection.

Acknowledgements

Writing in itself can be very difficult. Writing a story that entertains the reader can be even more challenging. If it were not for the support of my wife, my daughter Keri, my son Justin and my good friend Willy, the stories within this book would not be possible. Thank you everyone.

- Stories -

My World

Lucid dreams may not be all that lucid.

A Walk with Father

Inspirations sometimes come by way of dreams.

Contact

A stylus placed on a record could very well change the way we see the universe

Mr. Deets (Origins)

Life isn’t what it seems to have been

Mr. Deets Whitechapel

History did not repeat itself and that’s a good thing

Green Goo

A man without a family gains the world as his siblings

Halos

One tiny alien explorer can be a real pain

One Flu Away

I’m sorry, this is not the flu you were looking for.

A request from an unexpected source.

Confessions can be a bad thing.

- My World -

Dirk Kinser bolted straight up, drew in a gasping breath then threw the blankets to one side. He jumped out of bed and patted himself all over to be sure he was all there. Breathing rapid and hard, Dirk turned around and just stared at the bed halfway expecting to find something he didn’t want to see. His breathing was calming, his nerves were settling. He glanced at the window. It was still dark outside. A long slow look at the clock, it was three twenty-six in the morning.

Dirk eased away from the bed and didn’t take his eyes off of it until he backed out of the bedroom. The first thing he did was to get himself a glass of water as he tried to piece together what the hell had happened. His thoughts were scattered searching for an answer, an answer to something that should never have been possible. In his wondering, his eye caught a flash of light. A constant rhythm of, on, off, on, off. It was his telephone voice recorder. There was nothing unusual about the flashing light except he never remembered having heard his phone ring but given the circumstances of his night, Dirk now began to believed, anything was possible.

Glass in hand Dirk approached the phone. Gulping the last of the water, he set the glass down and readied himself for the first message. Almost fearing what he might hear, he hesitantly advanced the play button with an unsteady finger. A quick punch of his index finger, he engaged the playback function. A mechanized voice began an announcement. You have fourteen new messages.

Fourteen! What the hell, Dirk, blurted out.

The machine continued. Call number one came in at nine a.m. October 3rd.

Nine a.m. October 3rd! Dirk repeated. How can that be, that date and time has yet to come.

A young female voice came through the speaker. Um, Mr. Kinser, this is Miss Lenner from the office. I was asked to call you to see if you were coming in today?

The next message came from Dietrich, a partner from his office. Dirk, it is I Dietrich, it is ten fifteen, are you going to make it in today? If you are sick give us a call.

The next message was again from Miss Lenner. She called an hour after Dietrich had. There was considerable concerned in her voice. Dirk then raced to his cell phone. He had seventeen voice mails waiting. The calls were from office workers and family members and two from the police, all of whom were searching for him. Shaking his head, Dirk tried to get a grasp of what was happening. He then saw something out of the ordinary on the coffee table. A stack of envelopes. Someone had entered his apartment and placed his postal on the table.

Dirk paced back and forth, and then he suddenly stopped. A thought, no, a vision came to him. He was outdoors, close to water, then, he was traveling with a group. Wait, I was a prisoner. Oh, my God, I remember. I remember it all. It can’t be!

The phone rang, frightening Dirk. He went to the phone and looked at the caller ID. It was Dietrich. On the second ring he picked up the receiver then said, Dietrich, it is I, I am okay. Dirk, where the hell have you been? We’ve been looking for you for the past three days!

I’ve been…, Dirk hesitated. Searching for words that would validate his whereabouts without making him sound insane but he could not. Just give me some time and I will explain but I can’t do it now. Another vision. Dirk, Dirk, you there?

Dietrich, listen to me, I won’t be in today, there is something I must do. Just tell everyone that I am okay. I will see you all on Monday. Before Dietrich could say another word, Dirk hung up on him. He unplugged his phone and switch off his cell phone. Going to the front door, he made sure it was latched and secured, then wedged a chair against the knob. He needed time to think and to do so, he needed privacy. He set up a pot of coffee to brew then entered his home office. His disk top computer was already on. He sat in the chair and settled himself down. He calmed himself, focused and told himself to remember. To remember everything that happened to him in the last three days. At first it was difficult, none of it made sense. Visions of people here and there. He tried to clear his mind then he saw things, things that spurred his memory but they were all out of sequence. He stood up and went to the kitchen, poured himself a cup of coffee and returned to his office. Everything was falling into order. He sat back in his chair and let the memories flow.

The night he disappeared was like any other night he stayed at home. It began with an hour of exercise, he showered, watched a little television, checked over some work he might have brought home then checked his personal email. On the night of the event, Dirk went to bed early, he fell asleep rather quickly then he roused to the occurrence of an odd sensation and struggled to reach full consciousness. He remembered a bright flash then felt intense pain on his right shoulder. His surroundings were bright. His eyes hurt at the brightness and his vision was blurry. Dirk suddenly became aware that he wasn’t alone. He could make out sounds of conversations and saw quick action movements by somebody or something. Who or whatever it was, was moving fast and coming toward him then stopped short of where he lay. As his vision cleared, Dirk found himself in an awkward position in the corner of an unfamiliar room. A room with no roof and walls made of rose color marble. His vision adjusted for the light, and when it did, he saw six marble columns supporting trusses that crossed the middle of the room to which luscious plant life and blooming flowers hung. Directly in front of him in attack mode were a group of men all welding spears pointed directly at his chest. A woman parted the men and stood alongside them. As lethargic as he was, he was mesmerized by her beauty. Her sandy brown hair was tied back into a braid and she wore a jeweled studded silver tiara. Her blue eyes were rich and glowing and glisten like sapphires. Her skin was evenly tanned and smooth. Looking straight into Dirk’s eyes, she said. How is it, you come to be in my world?

Dirk was dumb founded. What did she mean, her world. He had no idea where he was or how he got to be in that room. All he could remember was, he was in his bed sleeping and in a flash, he ended up in a strange place. A strange place in front of a group of strange people lying on the floor in his underwear. Stunned, the only thing he could muster up to say was, English. You speak English.

His attraction for the woman quickly faded after he heard her command, Arrest this spy and for decency sake…, she paused, giving Dirk’s body a slow and studying once over, get him some clothes to wear.

Guards standing before him were dressed in uniforms unlike anything he had ever seen. They wore dark brown leather vest and matching leather pants. Their suede boots were appeared soft and subtle. Every guard had an arm band on their biceps. The design on the band Dirk assumed identified their rank. Two guards firmly grabbed him by the upper arm and easily raised him to his feet. The woman continued to eye Dirk. Another two guards approached with a white robe and a pair of white drawstring pants. Rather than handing the clothing to him, they tossed them at him. The four guards then stepped back and maintained their spears at ready, pointing them at his midsection while he dressed. Dirk took noticed of the spears and realized these were not spears used for piercing the enemy. Every guard had one hand wrapped around a trigger device about midway down the staff and the other hand was used to support the weapon. He then noticed an embedded lens at the tip of the spear. This strange new world had strange new weapons. Measuring up each guard, Dirk, a seven year black belt in Kung Fu, knew it was best not to bring a knife to a gun fight. For now, he would wait and allow for the moment of opportunity to come to him and possibly learn what the hell was going on. He began to logically assess his situation and tried not be obvious as he searched the room while dressing. The room, a parlor of some sort albeit large, was over currently crowed. Altogether, there was a large mixture of male guards and a few attending women. When Dirk completed dressing, two of the guards once again restrained him by the arms.

Your accent, said the woman, it is not familiar to me. What is your name and where do you come from?

I am Dirk Kinser. I’m a German. Germany is my homeland.

Germany? I am not familiar with this world. It must be one of the planets my sister has managed to gain a secret alliance. I have to give her credit. She has far reaching support than I was made aware of.

Germany is not a planet. It is a country on planet Earth.

Earth, you say. And where is this Earth located?

Dirk was puzzled. The line of questioning he was receiving suddenly made him fell as if he had somehow been placed into a room full of actors who were engaged in a role playing game until he saw a strange flying object being control by a young woman wearing an all-white outfit similar to his and having snow white hair. She was standing on a large flat disk. A single bar rose from the front edge of the disk and ended with a tee or handlebar. The young woman passed overhead slow and easy while peering down at him. Even at the height she was at, Dirk could see concern in her face.

Please excuse my ignorance but I am not even sure where I am.

The Princess stepped forward, And do all Germans have light colored hair and blue eyes?

No. Not all of us. Germans are a mixture of sorts.

Interesting. The woman turned to walk away. She’s good, I have to give her that one.

What do you wish us to do with the spy your Majesty? A guard asked.

Dirk turned to the guard who posed the question and said, Majesty? Another guard, one standing in front of him quickly spun his spear around and jabbed the butt end of it hard into Dirks gut. Speak when spoken to spy, otherwise remain quiet.

Dirk folded at the waist in pain and struggled to catch his breath. The guards lifted him to an upright position and as he struggled to catch his breath. His eyes glared with intensely, focusing on the man who struck him. He began to say something as he caught his breath but kept his thoughts to himself. His thoughts were, there would be a time and a place my friend and I will get even.

Bring him with us. We’ll show my sister that another one of her stupid plans has once again failed. Dirk would later learn that, Her Majesty, was Princess Simadi, rightful heir to the Amadia Galaxy. She was currently at war with her half-sister, Princess Iravanti, who managed to muster a strong support from her late father’s less than honorable advisors.

Simadi motioned to one of her attending maidens closest to her and spoke to her in a confidence. The maiden, while listening to the princess, kept a cautious eye on Dirk. When the Princess had finished, the maiden nodded and rushed from the room. Princess Simadi then ordered the entourage out of the room.

As she was exiting the parlor, additional guards inadvertently blocked her path as they came running in. Three of the guards were stunned by Dirks appearance, the forth seemed puzzled. He turned to Princess Simadi, Your Highness, are you okay? I heard you had been attacked.

I’m fine Mathese. My Sister sent me another gift and as you can see, her plan failed. She sent this one in broad daylight, directly into my dressing parlor, with no clothes or any weapons. One has to wonder what she was thinking.

Mathese bowed to Princess Simadi then looked in the general direction of Dirk with an expression of disbelief. Mathese was different than the other guards. Not only was he much older but it was obvious he was a seasoned warrior who had seen many battles. His leathery skin was tattered with scars along his arms and chest with a large one across the left side of his face. He approached Dirk and stood within an arm’s length. Mathese remained emotionless as his eyes wondered about Dirk’s face. Mathese tilted his head to look at Dirk’s neck then down into his robe. Mathese then reached out with his hand and lightly jabbed at Dirk’s chest.

How did he arrive?

Princess Simadi stood next to Mathese. He just materialized over there on the far side of the parlor.

Mathese circled around to Dirk’s backside and jabbed at his shoulders a couple of times. Just materialized, huh? And you all saw this happen?

Yes, Mathese. We all saw it as it happened, the Princess rolled her eyes.

Mathese reached up and slapped the back of Dirk’s head then appeared stunned.

Mathese, if you’re done kneading the prisoner, I wish to proceed. I am unharmed and the prisoner is secured. You can interrogate him as we walk. We need to go. I don’t want to be late for my rendezvous with the Salmanians. They have proven to be strong ally in my effort to defeat my sister and I don’t care to disrespect them by being late.

We can make up a few moments of time once we begin our travels, your Majesty. Mathese stepped back around to face Dirk. Why is this spy not handcuffed? Mathese turned to a group of the guards who had been in the parlor. One of you idiots better get a set of cuffs and secure his hands or you’ll be spending time in the dungeon if he gets free. A guard raced away for a set of cuffs.

What is your name spy?

He claims his name is Der-kinser.

With all due respect Princess. I would like to hear the prisoner speak it himself.

Dirk. Dirk Kinser. And with all due respect, I am not a spy. Dirk, said firmly.

After he spoke, Dirk noticed that Mathese seemed uncomfortable. He spent a second extended period staring Dirk in the face. It wasn’t until the cuffs were attached did Mathese take a led position and lead the guards in formation into a corridor.

The group made its way to the end of the corridor then entered an underground tunnel. In the tunnel three carriages were being tended to by men and woman who were waiting for the Princess’ arrival. The carriages should have impressed Dirk when he first saw them but after everything he had already been through, he was