Alien Attraction - Scifi Alien Invasion Romance

By Emma Taylor

Twenty years ago an alien race known as the Astara came to Earth as a last ditch effort to escape their dying world. When the governments of Earth shot them down, those that survived were forced to live in camps spread out around the globe. 
Jamie Gettner, a reporter with a background in biology who works for the Gazette, a nationally renowned newspaper, has decided to go beyond the walls of an Astara camp and see what they are really like. Deep down she doesn't believe the propaganda spread by the government. Once inside she finds that they are the same as humans with the exceptions of eye and hair coloring. 
When a group of Astara attack her claiming justice for the wrongs done to them over the years, a male Astara named Bol intervenes, saving Jamie from a beating or worse. He looks after her as she recovers from a blow to the head she received in the scuffle. In the process he reveals to her that his people are sick and need antibiotics. She retrieves them and continues to get to know Bol better, but when the time comes for her to leave the camp and give her findings to the newspaper, she finds that she is torn between her duty to her boss, her promise to help the Astara, and her love for Bol. Which will she choose?

** Standalone short story, no cliffhangers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: American Science Fiction Romance Club
• Release date: Nov 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386269571

Emma Taylor

Emma Taylor is an avid reader and vivid writer who enjoys writing romance novellas, particularly in fantasy and paranormal subgenres. She wrote her first story at the age of 14 and has written continuously ever since, mostly for fun. She is now happily married to a wonderful man and has two great kids.

Book preview

Alien Attraction

CHAPTER 1

JAMIE GETTNER STEPS down from her SUV and looks around the surrounding area. Walls that are at least twenty feet high and made from everything imaginable, from car hoods to sheet metal, run along the perimeter of the Astara camp near Elk Ridge, Montana. A small shack sits beside the only door visible in the wall. A single guard stands beside the shack with an automatic rifle in his hands. Jamie notes that he is wearing a gasmask. She can’t believe that people still think that the Astara will somehow infect them. Her supervisor from the Gazette, Larry Davis, walks around the back of the car and stops beside her. He lets her take the camp in before he lays a hand on her arm.

Are you sure that you want to go through with this Jamie? I’ve heard that the Astara can be very aggressive toward outsiders. Especially if you belong to the race that has kept them in these camps for nearly twenty years.

I know that Larry, but I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself. She pats her purse and the small revolver inside. I just want to get a perspective on how they go about their daily lives. Maybe if we show the world that they are not dangerous... She lets the sentence go unfinished.

You know that the likelihood of the government ever letting these things out is a shot in the dark, don’t you?

"They’re not things, Larry. They are Astara. I hate when people say ‘things’. It’s like they’re saying that these beings don’t have souls."

Do you believe they do? Larry asks.

Look around you. They’ve built a society inside the confines of their walls. To build a society implies that they want to make something for themselves and their children. That is the very basic proof that they have souls. Wanting something better for yourself and those that you care for.

You can get as philosophical as you want. I still think that this is a really bad idea.

Jamie opens the back door of the SUV and grabs up her backpack. Inside are a few notepads, some pens, a laptop with charger, and a digital camera that she hopes to use to take a picture of all the Astara in the settlement. She also grabs a handheld digital camcorder to record footage. She pushes the ‘on’ button to make sure the digital camcorder is charged up. It comes on with a couple of beeps. She pans around the inside of the SUV to make sure that the picture is good and everything is still working properly. With a flick of her wrist she closes the camcorder. Turning around, she gives Larry a smile and places the strap of the camcorder around her neck.

Your opinion is duly noted Larry, but I’m still going in. You’re not changing my mind on this one.

Fine. He throws up his hands in defeat and walks with her to the small door set into the side of the wall. But promise me you’ll be careful.

A guard opens the door for Jamie and she steps inside. Before the guard closes the door she turns around and waves to Larry.

I’ll be careful. Like I always am.

That’s what I’m afraid of. Larry calls to her as the door swings shut.

The door closes with a resounding thud, and for a split second Jamie wonders if she has made a terrible mistake. Nonsense, she tells herself, you can always knock on the door, show your ID to the guard, and he’ll let you out. Now calm down and think about the reason you are here. You’re a reporter, so start acting like one.

Taking a step forward, she lets her eyes drift around the camp. Near the walls, the houses are stacked one atop another making them more like apartment building and less like shacks, but she can’t help but notice the material that the shacks are made out of. It all seems to be junk. Here and there a fresher piece of steel or tin shines like a diamond among the horde of rusted and junked metals. Clicking on her camcorder, she pans it around and gets a panorama of the surrounding area.

Young Astara run in all directions as they play some type of game that she can only guess is much the same as tag. The only difference between the small Astara children and human children is the hair