Dawn of Extinction

By F Henry Catmull

The plot of this book is about aliens communicating with earth people and trying to make atomic energy to power their spaceships and eventually make an atomic bomb.
“I know it seems weird but that explains why the caretakers, who were really aliens looked like us,” Bill answered. “Somehow they have learned how to take a human body and transform their bodies into ours”.
Bill discovers a way to exterminate them, and just as he thinks they have been eradicated, he is beamed up by a spaceship.
The alien introduces himself as Bodar and begins by saying, “We are facing a desperate situation because our sun is not putting off enough energy”. “Next to the planet Juno on one side is Zenok and on the other side is Alexis.” “This planet is closer to the sun.” “Since we formed an alliance with the planet Zenok, the two planets have decided to take over the planet Alexis.”
With this introduction, Bill finds that they need him to create an atomic bomb. To persuade him they tell him his three children’s bodies were taken from the earth to the planet Zenok to be changed into aliens. They will help him get them back if he helps them.
Who is going to be extinct? You find this out at the end of the book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781984581181

F Henry Catmull

The author, Mr. Catmull has published four books including this one over a span of thirteen years. He has a wonderful wife, several children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He started his career in retail and was included in the 1984-85 edition of “Who’s Who in Arizona”. His lifetime profession was a Controller for over twenty-three years. He is now retired and volunteers to do wood touchup and repair in one of those white buildings mentioned in this book. Over the past three months during the stay at home requirement of COVID19 he has put together several puzzles and finished his book.

Book preview

LIFE CHANGES FOR

THE WORSE

B ill Branson was raised in the South in a small community. His family owned a farm and he learned to work hard before school, after school, and on weekends. Since he spent most of his time outdoors, he looked up into the sky often. The clouds made odd shapes and he imagined them to look like familiar objects. One night when he was walking in the dark with his friend Ron, he said, I wonder how long it will be before some Alien takes over our planet? Do you really believe in Aliens? Ron asked. Well, if you listen to the news, they are always talking about someone spotting a UFO. I guess it wouldn’t be hard to believe in them, Bill replied. Just like when Christopher Columbus discovered America, some Alien could go out exploring and find us. All it would take is the right spacecraft and you could go anywhere. Ron hadn’t thought about anything like that and was still doubtful. He just let the idea die by saying, I don’t think we will ever see a spacecraft or an Alien in our day.

During High School, ‘War of the Worlds’ was shown in Science Class This movie stimulated an actual landing of Aliens on the earth. A radio news flash announced this as if it really happened. It was so real that it caused mass panic and chaos. After the movie, the class was assigned to read the book and do a report on it. This experience had everyone taking about flying saucers and extra-terrestrial beings. Bill was very motivated after this to help develop a spacecraft that would break through the atmosphere and carry a man into space.

As Bill approached eighteen-years-old, he made an appointment with the Selective Service. The recruiters from all branches of the military had visited his school as well as the National Guard. He was told that if he got married or attended college, he would be excused from the draft. At the time, Bill had been dating Bev and it was likely they would get married. However, if this didn’t happen, he was going to college anyway. As the summer months passed by, he spent many nights alone with Bev on lookout mountain looking at the sky and talking about their future. One night he announced to Bev that he had been accepted into Northwestern University in the Engineering program. Bill had never felt a compelling desire to enter a new life in the big city as he enjoyed the farm life. We could get married, and I could go with you, she replied. It was the intent of most High School graduates in their small town to go to the big city, enjoy the nightlife, and make it big. Their wedding plans were set, and theirs was a wedding on the farm with hayrides and barn dances. Guests were shuttled to the farm on a horse and buggy. Cousins, aunts and uncles, and relatives from all over came. Bill wanted them to remember this time, so he planned a big hunting party. The meat that night was dove breasts and baked beans.

Prior to marriage, Bev had not been aware of what it was like on the farm. The farm chores had to be done every day. This took Bill away from Bev more often than she would have liked. In fact, it took most of Bill’s attention as they lived in a little cottage behind his folk’s house for a short time before school started. Bev learned to love being outdoors and took a real interest in work around the farm. Every morning she helped Bill’s mom gather the eggs, feed the baby calves with a bottle, grain the horses, clean the stalls, and pitch a fork of hay to each of the animals.

Of course, there were also a few cows to milk. As she watched, Mr. Frank the hired man squirted her with milk. Would you like to learn how to milk? he asked her. It looks like fun, answered Bev. You have to strip the milk from each tit by starting at the top and working down. First you squeeze with your top finger and thumb and then progress with the rest of your fingers, sort of like going down a ladder. Bev tried it and then practiced each day until it became natural. Then she was given the job of milking the goats. Mr. Frank said they weren’t as mean as the cows. Of course, after the milking, the cats always got a bowl of milk. Cats on the farm kept the mice and rodents under control.

During those summer months, Bill often went hunting with his family. They hunted pheasant, dove, quail and grouse. Bev was introduced to eating wild game and adjusted to the taste quickly. Bill often took her with him and soon she was shooting a shotgun as well as he did. Bill loved hunting, fishing, and camping, and felt comfortable in the outdoors. And just as quickly as Bev had learned to shoot, she learned to love the same things Bill did. Wouldn’t it be great if we could spend the rest of our lives living in the outdoors and going on special hunting and fishing trips, Bill remarked one day.

College was a memorable time for the newly married couple. They bought a double-wide trailer and were proud of their new home. Bev planted petunias and zinnias in the flower garden next to the front door. Bill was studying most of the time, but they looked forward to their evening ritual of walking down to the Dairy Bard just before it closed at 9:00 PM for a nutty bar ice cream. This was their time to talk about the day and what they were going to do on the weekend.

Of course, weekends were filled with camping and hiking through the trees. They became very familiar with Vienna Sausages and Spam. Bologna sandwiches were just made for hunting and fishing trips. In the Fall when hunting season opened, Bill spent weekends hunting. One time he even killed a deer, and this provided meat for the table all through the school year.

When Bill graduated from college, he joined the Air Force in the OTC program. When he got into the program, they tested him and recommended he train to be a pilot flying the SAC bombers. These were the newest airplanes the air force had.

For the next several years, he flew missions all over the world, many of them which were top secret. He didn’t have much time with Bev, but the time together was often spent at some resort with lots of personal attention. During his time at Auckland Air Force Base in Houston, the government was just introducing the space program. He got to meet several future space pilots. As he flew aircraft, he often thought what it would be like to travel at a speed faster than light.

During his enlistment in the service he and Bev had two boys, Billy and Stevie. As the children grew older, Bill was focused on teaching his sons to love the outdoors as much as he did. When Bill got the time, he took them hunting and fishing. One time they were fishing on a big river where the water was moving very rapidly downstream. Bev had just gone to the car when Stevie put his pole over his head to cast out the line and he lost his footing and fell in. Bill ran along the bank and pulled him to the shore. Fortunately, it was a cool day and the boys had on their coats. When he fell in, his coat acted like a lifejacket and kept him afloat. Bill took him to the car for Bev to take care of, and on the way back to the river, Billy fell in just like his brother. Again, Bill ran along the bank and pulled him to shore. That was the end of fishing that day.

Bill always thought what life would be like if he had lost both of them. I wonder if this is trying to tell us something, Bill asked Bev. It certainly shows how careful we need to be all the time around water, Bev exclaimed.

He was anxious to get out of the service so he could spend more time with his family. Oh, how life has its fleeting moments when we actually think that day will someday come. The only trouble is that as we wait for that time to come our children grow older and become more involved with their friends. One day towards the end of his military career, he was home on a weekend leave and he noticed this.

I wonder if I have missed out on something being away from the kids; they are growing up, Bill said.

Yes, they are, and very quickly, Bev replied.

Sometimes I feel all alone when they are going their own ways. We will have to try harder to be together when I get released.

When Bill got out of the military, Bev was pregnant with another child. He got a job working for the government in nuclear energy. His job seemed to be on the edge of cutting technology. He was anxious each day to get back to his job.

One day, Bev asked him, Do you think life will ever slow down?

I often wonder, he replied.

When the baby was born, Bill held her in his arms and told Bev she looked just like her mother.

I hope one day she will know how much I love her as I do her mother, Bill said.

As the kids grew older, one day Bev remarked, I remember when you said she looked like her mother, but I think she has your personality.

Bill had been working for the government on a special undercover project with a big bonus at the end of the job. Bill was just completing the project and anticipating a new assignment that could mean a move.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could move wherever we wanted to? Bill asked.

Bev agreed and suggested maybe he could take a sabbatical leave, and they could have that time together as a family they talked about. They decided to start looking at possible locations they would like to move to.

What if we move to Michigan? Bill suggested.

Why do you want to go to Michigan? Bev asked.

Wouldn’t it be nice to live somewhere very remote and close to nature? Bill answered.

They looked at a map and found Splinterville. The thing that caught their attention was the remote location and the fact that there was only one road going into the town. They were going to find real seclusion and peace living there.

As they anticipated the move, it was Bill’s desire to wander off and try to find the cabin his uncle lived in while trapping in Michigan. Maybe he could re-live some of the experiences his uncle had told him about.

Then one day at work, he got a call from Bev. She asked him if he had heard the news about Hurricane Aubrey. He of course was unaware of anything around him, working in a cement room with no windows. She told him that the hurricane had picked up speed and was about to hit the coast somewhere close to where they were living. People who had been waiting the day before to evacuate were now being ordered to take cover. Bill asked her where the kids were. She said the buses had just brought them all home to pack up and leave. Bill suggested that she take the kids into the basement and wait it out in the bomb shelter they had made for defense. He would leave work as soon as he could and meet them there.

The trouble was, he had at least an hour’s commute from work, and when you shut down a nuclear reactor, it takes a while. He immediately left the isolation room and turned on the radio. The radio was telling everyone to take cover and not go outside. In fact, they were telling people to get to high ground in case of a flood.

When he walked outside the building, he could see the dark clouds and hear the fierce winds. He tried to call Bev back and tell her that maybe she should take the kids and go to a government approved shelter. He also wanted to tell her he wouldn’t be able to come home. His phone call never went through.

This is something he thought about every day as he sat in traffic—the fear of not being able to get home in time if something happened. All he could do now was pray for their safety.

As he listened to the radio, he heard the weather forecasters tell about the direction of the hurricane and the intensity and power it held. It was moving slowly and at first looked like it would break up before it hit their town. Then suddenly, it moved quickly and headed directly toward them. The wind blew furiously, and it shook the building. Bill was back in the isolation room, so he felt pretty safe from the storm. His office was on a hill, so he wasn’t afraid of flooding. Eventually, the radio went dead, and he got a weird feeling that his family was in trouble. Over and over, he thought of his work schedule and wished he had spent more time with them.

In the daylight hours of the next day, he got in his car and started down roads with water running over them. As he got closer, his greatest fear became a nightmare. The whole city was now underwater, and he hadn’t been able to get there in time.

He went back to the office and called a friend who was a pilot and asked him if there was any way he could get a helicopter to fly him over the area. That afternoon, it had been arranged and with sorrow in his heart, they flew over the area where his house had been located. The house was gone and water was running at a pretty good speed. He was sure his family was gone.

Later as the storm subsided, he was able to go to the home site and find the house gone but the basement was still intact. Making his way to the bomb shelter he found, huddled up on the floor, his three children and his sweetheart, Bev. Uncontrollable sobbing took over, and for a while, he felt his heart would burst. They had done just what he suggested, and it cost them their lives. If only he had made the door to open inward, maybe they could have gotten the door open. He was heart stricken as he thought about the loneliness without Bev. His life was over. As he stood looking at them, he imagined Bev standing there, a little off the ground, telling him, "Don’t ever take me out of your life, I will be there with you always."

And so, it was from that time she was with him. He could see her and talk to her but she had no physical body. It was like she came back from the dead to be with him. His wish to spend more time with her was now fulfilled. He was now with her all the time. He drove back to the office and packed up all his belongings. He found a place in a makeshift shelter and began helping others. Bev was so good at comforting others.

A few weeks passed and eventually a temporary bank was set up. There was a limit on how much money you could withdraw, but Bill was