Peyton's Myth: The Cambria Code, #1

By S. M. Schmitz

When a mysterious spaceship appears above Cambria, Zoe remains skeptical that it’s anything but an elaborate hoax. By the time the first spaceship is joined by two others, Zoe reluctantly admits that Earth has been invaded, even though it’s a pretty lame invasion: the aliens look remarkably human and keep to themselves. From what humans are able to learn about them, they seem incredibly arrogant and boring anyway.

After meeting Peyton, one of Earth’s newest residents, Zoe feels an immediate attraction to him although she is reluctant to become involved with someone who isn’t even human. But she soon discovers that these aliens are far more dangerous than they’ve led everyone to believe, and the secrets they are hiding may signal the destruction of her entire planet. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. M. Schmitz
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536532098

Book preview

Chapter 1

Zoe dropped her purse on the desk in her office cubicle and peeked over the divider into the cubicle next to hers. Mia, her friend and coworker, was already logged on and staring intently at her computer monitor. Zoe looked around quickly to make sure their boss wasn’t around to notice she was late.

Hey, I brought kolaches, Zoe whispered.

Mia didn’t look away from her monitor. Zoe wasn’t even sure she’d heard her, so she clutched the small bag and walked around the divider to put a sausage kolache on Mia’s desk. Mia still didn’t look up at her.

You’re welcome, Zoe snapped.

Mia finally glanced at her. What?

Zoe raised an eyebrow at her and pointed to the pastry on her desk. Mia glanced at it too then went back to reading whatever was on her computer monitor.

Thanks, Mia mumbled.

For God’s sake, get off Facebook and at least pretend to work like the rest of us.

Mia shook her head. Not on Facebook.

Zoe finally walked behind her friend’s chair to see what had her so riveted. Zoe only got through the first paragraph of the news story when she stopped reading and laughed.

It’s a hoax, Mia. You can be so gullible.

Mia spun around and glared at Zoe. It’s on every news site, but there’s so much traffic, I can’t get the live streams to play. Let’s go to the break room and watch it on TV.

Zoe tossed the rest of the kolaches on the desk and threw her hands in the air. "There’s nothing to watch! Space ships don’t suddenly appear in the sky, and aliens aren’t invading. If there were anything out there, our telescopes would have picked it up long before it was close enough to land. And besides, this whole thing is ridiculous. There’s no such thing as aliens."

Mia scooped up her sausage kolache and ignored her friend. I’m going to the break room.

Zoe stared at the maroon fabric covering Mia’s back for a few seconds before her curiosity as to how many other coworkers had been conned triumphed over her indignation that people were being conned in the first place. She grabbed her bag of kolaches again and followed Mia into the break room. She had to wiggle through the crowd that had gathered around the television to reach Mia’s side.

Ok, I’ll admit, Zoe said, this is still better than working.

I heard that, her boss responded. Zoe turned around and smiled at him then handed him the bag of breakfast pastries to apologize.

Zoe turned her attention to the newscaster on the screen who talked about the spacecraft that would be entering the Earth’s atmosphere soon. It had slowed considerably over the past hour, which made experts think the spacecraft was manned.

Who the hell are these experts? Zoe asked.

The entire room hushed her.

Zoe crossed her arms defiantly and scowled at the television.

The cameraman zoomed in on a small, bright object in the pale blue morning sky. Mia shot Zoe an I-told-you-so look, but Zoe rolled her eyes and whispered, Airplanes reflect sunlight, too, Mia.

You’re just being stubborn, Mia whispered back.

I’m being realistic, Zoe insisted.

The room hushed her again.

The spacecraft is in our atmosphere now, and we should have an idea where it’s heading within minutes, the reporter said, looking far too serious about the most elaborate hoax the media had ever pulled, although Zoe had to hand it to her: she was a good actress.

Area 51, Zoe told the TV.

Everyone in the room groaned.

Zoe just shrugged.

Her boss tapped her on the shoulder and handed her the bag of kolaches. Here, eat these. It’ll keep you from talking.

Zoe scowled at him, too, but took her kolaches back.

The cameraman zoomed in on the mysterious object in the sky, but it was reflecting too much sunlight. Zoe wanted to make another offhand comment about it just being a weather balloon or something, but she had a mouthful of cheese and sausage kolache.

The reporter announced they were cutting away to an affiliate in Cambria because if the spacecraft stayed on its current trajectory, it would land outside of the city.

Zoe lived and worked in Cambria.

She choked on the mouthful of kolache and Mia patted her on the back without looking away from the screen.

When Zoe stopped coughing, she chastised her friend. You’re not supposed to do that if someone’s choking. It can only lodge the food farther down their esophagus.

You are such a dork.

"You’re the dork who thinks a UFO is about to land outside the city."

Shhhh, the room hissed at her again.

A familiar news anchor appeared on screen, his normally handsome face looking ashen and shaken. He announced news crews were on their way to the most likely site for the UFO to land – except he didn’t call it a UFO. He insisted on calling it a spacecraft, which still made Zoe want to laugh.

Well, how considerate of our alien invaders, Zoe said. They’re heading to the airport.

She got kicked out of the break room for that.

Zoe wondered if her boss would even notice if she went home. She walked back to her cubicle and grabbed her purse, but as she glanced out of the window of her seventh floor office, she noticed the congestion on the streets below, the people who had stopped in the middle of the street to watch the sky – or more accurately, the strange object descending in the sky toward the Cambria International Airport.

Zoe dropped her purse and caught an elevator so she could go stand in the streets to watch the UFO, too. It was almost nine in the morning now, and as she watched the huge, not-at-all-disc-shaped-spaceship loom larger, she felt someone tug on her elbow. Zoe jumped and jerked around to see Mia’s face pointed toward the sky, one hand shielding her eyes from the bright sun.

Still think it’s a hoax? Mia asked.

Zoe studied the odd shape of the… whatever it was… and nodded. "It looks like an oversized stealth bomber. How can you not think it’s a hoax?"

Because who would spend that kind of money just to laugh at the world after freaking us all out?

Zoe shrugged and eyed the dark metal shape as its nose dipped toward the airport.

Just wait. The financial aspect of this is coming. Maybe they’ll charge to see what’s on board, like a pay-per-view unveiling. And then they’ll sell t-shirts and coffee mugs on eBay that claim, ‘I wasn’t fooled,’ even though I’m apparently the only one who wouldn’t be lying.

Mia smiled and shook her head as they both watched the oversized-stealth-bomber disappear behind the skyscrapers.

Zoe, you’re the only one who’s going to be saying ‘I was wrong.’ And for once, I’ll finally get to be right about something.

Zoe extended her hand and smiled back at her friend. "It’s a bet then. And when I win, you’re buying the kolaches for a week."

Mia snorted and looked back in the direction where the spacecraft had landed.

Let’s just hope we’re both still alive to enjoy those kolaches, no matter who’s buying them.

Chapter 2

Zoe felt vindicated when absolutely nothing happened after the dull gray UFO touched down at the Cambria airport, but since everyone was so convinced something really exciting or terrifying was about to happen, she got the next day off. And the day after that. On the third day, though, her boss decided he couldn’t keep his office closed indefinitely and she had to return to her tedious job as a corporate paralegal, which meant filing tedious paperwork with tedious government offices for tedious attorneys who didn’t appreciate the gridlock the supersized stealth bomber landing had caused throughout the city.

Every news agency in the world had descended on Cambria and on the day her boss insisted she get back in her cubicle to make sure Brown & Marvin, LLC could do business as The Cambrian Martian Bakery, Zoe came really close to handing in her resignation right then. She wondered how many businesses in Cambria were suddenly going to do business as alien bakeries and dry cleaners and sushi restaurants now.

She was never shopping anywhere in Cambria again.

The stupid spacecraft didn’t even do anything. It had landed at the Cambria International Airport three days ago and the U.S. military had quickly followed it. Since then, they’d sealed off the entire area and the damn space-plane just sat on a runway not doing anything. No doors opened. No aliens waved hello or shot at the soldiers surrounding it. No voices boomed from invisible speakers. No one beamed down from some invisible portal beneath the ship.

It was the lamest alien invasion Zoe could imagine.

Mia sat in her cubicle glued to her computer screen just watching the live coverage like a green-scaled-tentacled monster was going to slither down some gangplank that mysteriously dropped from the side of what Zoe still thought was a U.S. Air Force plane on steroids.

Wasting your time, Zoe whispered over the cubicle wall.

Mia waved a hand in the air as if Zoe were an annoying fly she could shoo away.

How long are they just going to stand out there watching an airplane? Zoe continued.

Mia glanced at her then turned her attention back to the screen.

Until the aliens on board make the first move. We don’t want them to assume we’re aggressive.

Zoe snorted and shook her head. We’ve got a million guys out there with guns and rocket launchers. Pretty sure we’ve already sent that message.

Mia just shrugged. "We have to defend ourselves in case they’re aggressive."

Zoe sighed and walked around the cubicle wall, tossing the file for Brown & Marvin, LLC on her friend’s desk. It’s not manned. There’s no one on board to be aggressive. And file this for me before I lose my mind.

I’ll do the Martian bakery if you want to do the Neptune bar.

Zoe groaned and said a silent prayer that the bar she would now have to boycott wasn’t the only one in the city that knew how to make a decent Biltmore martini.

Have you seriously been staring at your television for the past three days and watching a parked airplane? Zoe asked. She peeked inside the bar file and sighed in relief when she didn’t recognize the name.

I’ve kept it on, Mia said. "I don’t want to miss it when something does happen, and something will. Someone flew that spaceship here, Zoe, and calling it an airplane doesn’t make it less of a spaceship. What it means is that we finally have proof there’s intelligent life out there besides us."

Zoe held up the bakery file and arched an eyebrow at her. Besides us? I think you meant there’s intelligent life out there off this planet.

Mia rolled her eyes but Zoe saw her boss approaching and quickly flipped the file open to pretend like she was asking a question. And her boss didn’t fall for it just as he didn’t fall for it any other time she got caught standing around not working.

She wasn’t really sure why she hadn’t been fired yet.

Zoe, he sighed. Get the Certificate of Assumed Name form filled out and filed. And Mia, turn off CNN. Nothing’s happening.

Told you, Zoe told her friend. Even Mr. Robeson agrees with me.

No, he argued. "I just want you to work before we lose our clients."

Yes, Sir, she mumbled. She flipped the file closed and Mia moved the cursor across the screen to close the live streaming of a reporter standing the minimum allowable distance from the strange aircraft that had been parked on a runway at the Cambria International Airport for three days.

Oh, my God, Mia whispered.

Even Mr. Robeson turned around and stood closer to Mia’s computer, who reached over to the speakers and turned up the sound.

Oh, how thrilling, Zoe smiled. It’s making an unusual sound.

Again with the sarcastic comments? Mr. Robeson sighed.

He sighed at her a lot, too.

There’s no such thing as aliens or alien spaceships, Mr. Robeson. But if you’d like to send us home again just in case, I won’t complain.

Mr. Robeson shook his head. "That’s the one thing you wouldn’t complain about."

Shh, Mia hissed.

Instead of looking surprised that one of his paralegals had just told him to be quiet, Mr. Robeson actually shut his mouth and leaned closer to the computer monitor as if his proximity to the screen would allow him to see what was going on around the entire airport.

A door’s opening, Mia gasped. She shot Zoe a quick I-told-you-so look and Zoe crossed her arms angrily. She just knew this whole thing had to be some huge con and she wasn’t falling for it.

A dull gray footbridge lowered from the side of the airplane and hit the pavement of the runway with a shrill screech. Zoe cringed but didn’t unfold her arms. Admittedly, it was a huge airplane, but still an airplane.

The camera angle cut away to a reporter who was going to be allowed to accompany General Edward Kensington to greet whomever – or whatever, according to the anchorwoman – was coming off the spaceship. General Kensington and a small squad of soldiers began approaching the ship carefully and slowly, and every time the reporter spoke, which wasn’t often, Zoe could hear the nervousness and abject fear she was trying to conceal in her voice. She suspected if the camera panned across the faces of the General and his soldiers, those same feelings would be betrayed, no matter how tough they thought they were or were pretending to be.

The camera, though, never left the mouth of the doorway that had opened. A narrow hallway filled with yellow-white light, much like the regular incandescent lights on Earth, stood behind the opening and nothing else. Zoe wanted to tell Mia I told you so, but part of her was hoping something even remotely exciting would happen.

Maybe her boss would let her go home again.

Movement at the rear of the hallway caused the entourage of soldiers to stop. The cameraman zoomed in even closer and a dull gray figure finally appeared on the screen, quickly followed by a second then third until a long line of equally dull gray figures began descending the footbridge.

Zoe exhaled irritably. Are you kidding me?

They looked completely, ordinarily human.

Definitely the lamest alien invasion ever.

Sh, Mr. Robeson and Mia hissed.

Zoe rolled her eyes.

She wasn’t sure how many men descended from the plane, but a small group of them approached the General. Aside from the guy out front being extraordinarily handsome, he was boringly human.

There was no way Mr. Robeson was going to send her home now.

The man leading the small group from the plane stopped in front of General Kensington and looked him over quickly.

I assume you’re in charge here? he asked.

A boring human who spoke English.

This lamest of alien invasions kept getting lamer by the minute.

The camera didn’t pan away from the beautiful man dressed in dull gray just like the ship he’d deboarded, but she heard General Kensington’s voice respond.

I’m in charge of this immediate situation. And we’ve been hoping to ascertain why you’ve come here.

Zoe rolled her eyes again. She could have written a better script than this.

I’m only head of security. Once we confirm it’s safe, you will meet our president and he can answer any questions you have. But we have nowhere else to go, and I assure you, we’re not here to cause problems.

Zoe heard General Kensington exhale slowly then his body appeared on the screen as he approached the handsome man who was supposedly head of security of the worst-alien-spaceship-and-invasion-ever. The General extended his hand and offered the man a small smile.

In that case, welcome to Earth.

Chapter 3

Instead of going home, Zoe was shuffled back into the break room where everyone in the law firm had crammed in order to watch the meeting between General Kensington and this president of an alien race that looked and sounded suspiciously human. Granted, the gorgeous man spoke with a hint of an accent Zoe couldn’t quite place but there were hundreds of languages on this planet; she didn’t even know the names of most of the languages, let alone what accented English might sound like for each of them.

Her coworkers had groaned when she entered the break room and Mr. Robeson had to assure them she would keep her opinions to herself this time. She wasn’t sure she was capable of doing that, but she actually liked Mr.