Alien Invasion Stories

By Gary Kuyper

Six short stories telling of possible scenarios involving the Earth being invaded by Alien species from outer space. The stories are all entirely different from each other. Some scary. Some humorous. Some thought-provoking. But all are guaranteed to be highly entertaining.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Kuyper
• Release date: Jan 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005008154

Gary Kuyper

Gary Kuyper began his professional literary career writing self-help and general interest articles for Daan Retief Publishers who produced a monthly book for their woman’s club called Woman’s Forum. These articles would sometimes require research and had titles as diverse as The Human Brain and Body Painting!Being a professional photographer on a part-time basis Gary has also managed to have his articles on photography (With accompanying photographs) published in books and magazines. He has also done some free-lance photography and photojournalism projects for numerous local newspapers.Over the past four years he has constantly managed to be one of the top finalists in the Nova Short Story Competition (A competition for budding writers of science fiction and/or fantasy).Last year (2009) Gary had the pleasure of seeing The Devil's Little Tadpoles grace the pages of the local SF & Fantasy Fanzine Probe.He is an avid film buff and amateur film maker. A few years ago I managed to take first prize in the SA Ten Best Film Makers Competition with a short film entitled The Crimson Cobra - An action-packed martial arts / superhero movie using some of the very talented local artists.He is a qualified prosthetics make-up artist and has used this talent on both amateur and professional productions. He has also appeared on television in a youth program especially made for enlightening people in the art of special effects make-up.Gary has a rather excellent general knowledge being not only an avid writer but reader of any material that is able to stimulate him cerebrally.He taught himself Adobe Photoshop and has become adapt and proficient enough at utilizing the software to such a degree that he has managed to sell a number of creations to various institutes and organizations. He is particularly fond of a logo designed for the Krazy Mug Coffee Shop and several covers that have graced the front of Probe.Gary has a vast knowledge of music and has appeared on the local Television Music Quiz Show Note for Note where he was able to win a substantial amount of prize money.In 2008 he entered the SF / Fantasy Mini Radio Play Competition and took first prize with his The Adventures of Captain Max Power of the Intergalactic Police - an obvious homage to the early Flash Gordon radio series’. A number of skilled professionals are now planning to produce Max to CD and have it aired on a local radio station (SAfm).All his literary and photojournalistic accomplishments have been done on a part-time basis due to the fact that his full time career is lecturing mathematics as well as engineering science at a Technical College. Although this is a most fulfilling profession, it has long been Gary's ideal to become a full-time writer – especially of fantasy, science fiction and horror novels.He has recently published his first full-length fantasy novel - The Chronicles of Baltrath: The DARK WIZARDS.As a considerable amount of time and effort has been expended in building the world of Baltrath, Gary has begun work on a sequel to The Dark Wizards.

Book preview

ALIEN

INVASION

STORIES

Award-winning short stories

by

Gary Kuyper

This is a first edition

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

Copyright © Gary van Nikkelen Kuyper 2022

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

Smashwords Edition

An affiliate of the INKUBATOR© Group

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CONTENTS

Buggered

The History Lesson

Hive Mind

Far Side of the Sun

The New Neighbors

Chemical Creatures

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BUGGERED

Some call them the Mantis because, although shiny tar-black in hue, they have an uncanny resemblance to that particular insect. Others call them the Omega; I guess they see the end of humanity looming at the hands of these invaders (What the hell is the proper term for the arms and hands of an insect anyway?). Me, I call them bugs.

My name is David McGovern. Folks who know me well, especially my fellow pilots, call me Dusty.

I was in the barracks holding a full house, aces over ladies, when the call to scramble came in. The pot in the middle was big enough to clear my tab at The Right Stuff and then some.

Hell, no! I had lamented in grief and despair. "A drill? Not another goddamned drill now!"

Of course it wasn’t a drill. It was a waking nightmare of extreme proportions.

They came with little or no warning. Thousands of shiny ships that landed around the Earth in an obviously well planned, synchronised and co-ordinated attack. When the hatches opened they swarmed out in their tens-of-thousand; arthropods with natural armour-plating that easily withstood or repelled our bullets, bats and barbed wire.

Although it was an invasion by invaders from outer space the sight reminded me of those scenes I had seen of the Allies landing along the beaches of Normandy in the Second World War; D-Day they had called it. What would they call this day? Would anyone remain to give it a name?

The bugs effortlessly scaled the outsides of tall buildings. They used only the weapons that nature had given them – razor-sharp scythes that were part of their long raptorial forelimbs. These cut through bone as easily as they did soft flesh.

The creatures, to my relief, although able to leap great heights and distances, were incapable of flight. And though I and my fellow pilots were able to take out some of them with our jets’ weaponry I was unable to distinguish any change in their vast numbers as they swarmed across both rural and urban settlements alike.

I wondered why these creatures, whose technology was obviously far superior to ours, had chosen to attack in such a...medieval fashion. Why had they not simply bombarded us from the safety and convenience of space? Perhaps they knew that their sheer numbers and physical makeup was sufficient to not only overcome us but to wipe us out completely? Perhaps they relished in butchery and bloodshed? Yes, perhaps disposing of their enemies up close produced some sort of perverted pleasure and gratification.

Whatever the reason, they were, as they must have surmised, mostly unstoppable – a juggernaut mass of swarming creatures that moved swiftly and unrelentingly as they cut a swathe of death and destruction without mercy or respite.

Below me was a most unsettling sight. It was more than just the routing of humankind – it was the beginning of what could only be a genocide.

When my ammunition was spent I returned to the base to rearm and refuel, but to my horror and dismay the bugs were already swarming over the runways and buildings.

I was reminded of a sight I had once seen when a caterpillar had crawled too close to a nest of fire ants. It had been swiftly disposed of by the fearsome insects.

As I circled above that frightful sight I heard Lieutenant Granger’s awful scream over the radio. He was a tough bastard who had done two tours in the gulf.

After that the base was silent.

I sent an all-points message to other military installations and got the same response – dead static.

Shortly after that one of my fellow pilots, Daniel Delaney, who we called The Duke, informed me...us...the pilots still in the air that he was ‘Heading home.’

Mary...Sarah! I blurted. Why had I not given them a thought till now?

My wife and six-year old daughter could be in dire danger. Hell, everyone’s friends and family were facing this unexpected peril.

We had all expected the enemy to