Another Being

By Claude Joseph

On holidays with her family in the Canadian alps, twelve-year-old Monique gets a fright when she is confronted by an alien being. Determined to be taken seriously, Monique submits a painting of it to a competition that sparks the interest of the organisers, Wilson and Jessica. Together, they find the alien has assimilated into our domain. The tables are turned when they enter headfirst into the aliens domain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: May 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514495506

Claude Joseph

Claude Joseph studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of New South Wales. He then started his career as an engineer in the Overseas Telecommunications Commission in the satellite and data engineering branch. Later he studied Food Business Management at Monash University. More recently he project managed major power system upgrades and portal development projects at Woolworths. Claude is married with two daughters in university and lives on the NSW Central Coast on the Bouddi National Park peninsula. His interests are in astronomy, the environment and playing tennis.

Book preview

ANOTHER BEING

Claude Joseph

Copyright © 2016 by Claude Joseph.

Front Cover Illustration Copyright © 2016 by Claude Joseph.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

730875

CONTENTS

Chapter 1—Southern Cross Constellation, 2157

Chapter 2—Apex Mountain, Canada, 2157

Chapter 3—Apex Mountain, Canada, 2157

Chapter 4—Merritt Island, United States of America, 2157

Chapter 5—Vero Beach, United States of America, 2157

Chapter 6—Merritt Island, United States of America, 2157

Chapter 7—Vero Beach, United States of America, 2157

Chapter 8—Spokane, United States of America, 2157

Chapter 9—Vero Beach, United States of America, 2157

Chapter 10—Apex Mountain, Canada, 2157

Chapter 11—Spokane, United States of America, 2157

Chapter 12—Apex Mountain, Canada, 2157

Chapter 13—Spokane, United States of America, 2157

Chapter 14—Merritt Island, United States of America, 2157

Chapter 15—Cape Paterson, Australia, 2157

To my mother, Yvette.

Earlier books from the same series

by Claude Joseph:

Cape Paterson

The Milk Run

The Robotoid Spy

CHAPTER 1

Southern Cross Constellation, 2157

The room was round and vast. As it was on the top floor of the shimmering white edifice, you could see from each window the canopies of the tall majestic trees which forged upward in the tropical climate. The presence of the towering trees was the consequence of a simple development regulation. Buildings could be built to any height so long as there were neighbouring trees occupying the same amount of space taller in height.

Luminous wall tiles featured schematics and blueprints of rockets and robots that the famous Mendome scientist, Professor Bigthought, invented 100 million years ago. The Southern Crossers copied all the technology from the Mendome knowledge tablets that they acquired from the Gliesans. The wall tiles paid tribute to the technological mastery of the rocket scientist from another world.

The Supreme Council of the Southern Crossers sat on strawlike mats in a circle with their oblong-shaped heads tilted forward in concentration. The subject under discussion that day was their friends and rivals, the Gliesans, who were mounting a mission to Earth. The Crossers never wanted to be left behind in any exploits. What was the reason for the trip? Was it because the Gliesans thought an earthling planted the blue flag on planet Mendome that had the stars of the Southern Cross on it? That issue had turned into a dispute as the Southern Crossers had been mistakenly accused of planting it. Their own Southern Cross flag had their constellation on a black background, not blue.

The order of the council was for the mother ship to make for Earth, somewhere in the tropics where they would be more acclimatised. The Southern Cross astronauts would observe what life forms existed and try to intercept any transmissions from the Gliesans to see what they were up to.

The plan was to remain unseen. They didn’t want to irritate the Gliesans any more after having been caught pilfering operational transmitter parts from planet Mendome. It had resulted in the communications link between planet Mendome and Gliese 581 g being down for three years.

• • •

The mother ship returned from a trade mission and, as it always did, parked itself in orbit around the Southern Cross planet for easier departure. It was too heavy to lift itself from the planet were it to land there.

Flying saucers were guided into racks in the hold, which looked like the inside of a loaded dishwasher. The shape of the flying saucers was meticulously designed to be just right for slowing down sufficiently when entering a thin planetary atmosphere, while the shape of the mother ship was designed for easy transfer of the scout saucers.

When the last saucer was ferried inside, the transfer doors snapped shut. The commander energised the propulsion system, which made the mother ship vibrate. With an initial lurch, the mother ship blasted off its orbit.

The Southern Crossers hibernated for most of the four-month journey to reduce their food and air consumption. Their mother ship streaked so fast through the void that they arrived at the solar system two months ahead of the Gliesans whom they were supposed to be monitoring. From the edge of the solar system, the aliens released a scout saucer with two astronauts, who steered it to Earth. One astronaut was a representative from the orderly and low-key Crossers of their lowlands, the other from the restless and highly strung Crossers of their highlands.

The mundanity numbed the highland astronaut. He was tired of using the exercise machines and being cooped up in a two-seat saucer. For a lark, he fired at a distant asteroid to watch the explosion.

‘What did you do that for?’ asked the lowland astronaut, slapping his partner on the edge of his square head.

‘Target practice,’ replied the highland astronaut, shrugging his shoulders.

‘You numskull! That’s the last time you’ll do anything that departs from our plan, not even by a wrinkle on the wart festering on your sticky skin.’

‘You want to settle this the old way, do you?’ challenged the highland astronaut, thrusting his head forward and up. ‘Do you?’ he repeated louder.

‘Calm down, no need to work yourself into a tizzy.’

‘Don’t you browbeat me. If there were something to do on this flight, I might not have felt so inclined. No harm done anyway.’

‘You think so?’ said the lowland astronaut with one eye looking at the viewscreen. ‘There’s a rock coming straight for us!’

The highland astronaut cocked his head sideways to see.

A rock that had torn off the asteroid and maintained its initial impact speed