Journey to Terraclease

By Allan Horton

From the dusky blood-orange skies looming over the barren new desert of the Usk Valley in the near future to the icy wastes of the planet Mars, this lively collection of stories and essays will take you across space and time - and beyond. Along the way, there will be Romans in Caerleon, Status Quo at Crystal Palace and droids in Blaenavon. Plus: tales of holiday disasters, time travel, ghosts, eternal damnation - and more. So, buckle up, it's going to be quite a ride...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daric Books
• Release date: Sep 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386819868

Book preview

Dennis And The Origin Of The New Desert

CADELL’S GREAT-GRANDFATHER had told him about Dennis and the origin of the New Desert. Dennis had been a rock promoter in the days when they still had live bands. He had spent years battling against the council and local opposition in his quest to promote an outdoor festival. Finally, in the year 2008, he achieved his goal and held his first event.

Dennis had become legendary in his battles with the council and had built one of the largest and most well-equipped garden sheds in Wales. Eventually, this shed became a live music venue hosting some of the most famous bands in Europe. The festival, originally held in Talywain soon became so big that a new venue was needed.

The Usk Valley, nearby, had become plagued with hot southerly winds which made it too difficult to farm; so here was the ideal place for the biggest event that Dennis would ever promote.

Much of the money from previous festivals was used to start Dennis Cabs, the first of their kind. There was no driver needed in these vehicles so Dennis had had robots modelled on his own likeness and character. You stated the destination and the robot would always say, ‘Where the fuck is that?’

The day of the festival in 2014 was particularly hot and windy following three very hot and dry summers. More than half a million people turned up and were camped in the Usk valley. On the second day, Dennis walked on the stage to introduce the final band and to congratulate the crowd on their behaviour. The clouds were black and ominous and as Dennis proudly held the microphone he was struck by one single bolt of lightning. He seemed to glow and shouted, ‘Rock and Roll! Rock and Roll!’ And then fell to the stage still smoking!

The crowd clapped, whistled and shouted for at least ten minutes, they thought it was all part of the show. But, the lightning had set fire to the stage and people started to panic and leave the site. Most survived but because of the combined effect of the hot weather and two days of occupation, the valley was even more parched and soon all was burning.

The valley never recovered and suffered from continuous dust storms, which developed the Newport banks and turned the sky a sinister and permanent dusky tinge of blood-orange The famous rise and fall of the Usk river was no more and by 2015 the Usk didn’t even leave the Brecon Beacons but disappeared below ground. Hence the new desert, the Dennis desert.

When Cadell got home he sat and reflected on what Anne had said about the First World War, he recollected a story Lorde had told him about Jack the farmer’s first wife who had died eight years earlier. He’d said that for months after the funeral people had reported her at different locations, and on many a dark night she had been seen staring at the isolated pig farm. Jack’s first wife was Bulgarian; they had met in London where they were married. Valentine never spoke a word of English (probably so she wouldn’t agree to sex with strangers) and was rarely seen in town; but they did have many visitors at the farm, mostly people from far away.

On Cadell's next meeting with Anne, he told her he wanted to take her somewhere special, which might explain what makes us human. He had decided to destroy one of the only people he has truly loved.

When they arrived at Snowdonia they took the train to the summit. They stood in the stiff breeze and admired the view. Anne turned to Cadell and told him not to be afraid as she knew what he must do. But first, she must show him something. Two people appear in front of Cadell. Anne smiled and said, ‘I think these are your birth creators.’

Cadell fell to his knees in shock. His father lifts him to his feet, and they all hug for what seems like an eternity, but it was only a minute, and then both his parents disappeared, again. Cadell turned to thank Anne, but she was gone. Anne had jumped! Cadell was very sad and called the mountain rescue so they can at least retrieve the body. Later that evening they called Cadell and informed him that Anne had been found dead, but that her twin had survived.

Cadell and Lorde Davies

I THOUGHT I SHOULD give you some background information on Cadell and Lorde. It was their parents who appeared with the Charlie Baldson Band as guest singers at the reunion gig at that fateful festival. We were being introduced by Dennis when both he and the stage were struck by lightning. I can't remember there being a cloud in the sky that day, it hadn't rained at all for months. No one reported any thunder, all said the same thing, it seemed to be just one bolt of lightning, which I still believe could have come from the object and not something which struck the object.

Anyway, we all managed to escape from the stage, except Dennis of course, who had been fried. All who were on stage at that time including sound engineers and roadies would experience psychological problems in the future, but this was put down to the trauma of the incident. None of us has ever been ill at all to the best of my knowledge. All of us except Cadell's parents and grandparents have lived to a ripe old age, myself coming up to my 100th birthday in July of this year.

I can't give you the name of Cadell and Lorde's parents because of a government gagging order. You may say, why would I worry about that at my age? Especially considering some of the controversial things I've written in the past; well I still have my descendants to consider and I don't want them working as enforced tour guides on the Moon.

Cadell and Lorde's parents and grandparents all died on the same day in 2045, but at different locations. Nothing was read into that at the time, but we didn't know then what we know now. Cadell told me that scientists were now of the opinion that the object found at The New Desert (known locally as Dennis Desert) wasn't a spacecraft. They believed it to be more of a monitoring device. All attempts to access it had failed, they hadn't even managed to scratch the surface. It was emitting a signal, much like you would expect from a crystal, but nothing you could decipher. It had been there for at least 170-200 million years, as calculated by pollen samples and fossils trapped beneath it, and dust samples which probably originated from Mars.

The plan now was to encase it in a concrete tomb, as it didn't seem to pose a threat, and it was hoped that more would be discovered on Mars itself. Strangely enough that particular field in Usk was identified on the Tithe Map of 1841 as Coed Sibrwd, translated as Whispering Trees.

Both Cadell and Lorde were archaeologists who graduated at the age of fifteen, but who had also been gifted in many other subjects. The supposed spacecraft was uncovered by shifting sands, years after the Usk festival fire of 2019; in fact, officially exposed in 2036, but there had been rumours long before this because the site was fenced off and considered a no-go area. I managed to get in there once with Cadell.

The object looked like a black pyramid sticking out of the sand. Cadell and Lorde originally worked at the Usk site, but because strong evidence suggested the craft had come from Mars, Cadell was put in charge of the Usk site whilst Lorde travelled to Mars.

The Usk Festival Fire Enquiry 2019

THERE WAS AN ENQUIRY into the cause of the fire and the number of people that died that day and in the following months. Although fingers had been pointed at Dennis, the enquiry concluded that the incident couldn't have been predicted and all fire regulations and other demands from the council had been strictly adhered to.

There were also too many witnesses who saw what happened and spoke in his favour. There was some bizarre information in the footnotes of the report, which normally no one bothers to read. The incident wasn't unprecedented.

Evening Express 24th September 1901

The Silent Thunderbolt

Bradford and the surrounding district had an extraordinary experience yesterday afternoon in what is described as an electrical discharge, unaccompanied by thunder, resembling a silent thunderbolt.

A monument was broken and seventy glass cases containing wreaths and flowers were destroyed. In Horton, the visitation took the form of a whirlwind.

Journey to Mars

Since Mars was first observed people have always wondered if life existed there. When we first started sending probes, there wasn't any indication that there had been, until the discovery (not reported) of footprints in a cave in 2017. The prints were millions of years old, except for the one print showing the owner had been wearing a pair of Clarks shoes (just joking, even a ninety-nine-year-old man can have a