A Scent Of Man: Sci-Fi Sizzlers, #8

By Craig A. Falconer

When science runs amok, nature steps in...

For thousands of years, man has reigned supreme over nature.

But deep in the African jungle, at the edge of Genusphere's controversial research facility, a challenger rises.


Broken fences. Smashed cameras. Unusual tracks in the mud.

The locals talk of apes behaving strangely.

Sarah O'Leary, leader of the genetic research team, rubbishes their warnings...

... until the first bodies are found.


The Genusphere compound locks down amid a media blackout, but the villagers fear it could already be too late.

Some of them don't buy the official story.

They don't think O'Leary and her colleagues are worried about something getting into the genetic research compound.

No.

They think she's trying to cover up whatever got out...


__________

A Scent Of Man is the latest in a new series of Sci-Fi Sizzlers: standalone short stories from international bestselling author Craig A. Falconer. These stories can be read in any order — dive in today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Craig A. Falconer
• Release date: Nov 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223507314

Craig A. Falconer

Craig A. Falconer is a sci-fi author from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Book preview

A Scent Of Man

A SCENT OF MAN

CRAIG A. FALCONER

A Scent Of Man

© 2021 Craig A. Falconer

This edition published November 2023.

The characters and events herein are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Some of the locations herein are also fictional while others have been liberally adapted.

Contents

Books by Craig A. Falconer

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1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Megaton Murphy

Author’s Notes

Books by Craig A. Falconer

THE EARTHBURST SAGA

Last Man Standing

Into The Fire

Operation Starshot

The Anomaly

Reason To Fear

The Last Horizon

Echoes Of Destiny

The Reckoning

All Or Nothing

NOT ALONE SERIES

Not Alone: First Encounter (Prequel)

Not Alone

Not Alone: Second Contact

Not Alone: The Final Call

~ Contact Trilogy box set ~

Not Alone: Fractured Union

Not Alone: Leap of Destiny

Not Alone: Revelations

~ Discovery Trilogy box set ~

Not Alone: The Awakening

Not Alone: Hidden Wonder

Not Alone: Endgame

~ Evolution Trilogy box set ~

Not Alone: Origins

TERRADOX SERIES

Terradox Zero: Before The Crash (Prequel)

Terradox

The Fall of Terradox

Terradox Reborn

Terradox Beyond

~ Worlds Away collection ~

~ Terradox Quadrilogy box set ~

CYBER SEED SERIES

Sycamore

Sycamore 2

Sycamore X

Sycamore XL

~ Cyber Seed Compendium Box Set ~

SCI-FI SIZZLERS

Wanderlust

Bound For Glory

Sunset Stays

Arise With Us

Whence They Came

Replica

Megaton Murphy

A Scent Of Man

Yester Year

Too Good To Be True

Happy, Inc.

Pamela 2.0

Funscreen

Pumpkin Splice

When Santa Slays

~ Chasing Tomorrows 15-Book Box Set ~

Seedling

Empty Nesters

A Savage In The Future

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1

You’re really asking two different questions here, Chase Burns said, carefully studying every aspect of the scene before him with increasing unease. "First of all: could an ape do this? And second: would an ape do this?"

In front of Chase, a tall steel door hung uselessly from its upper hinge only. Buckled by an evidently formidable force, the swinging of the door allowed him to see beyond to a far less formidable chicken-wire fence.

A litter of puppies, old enough to be fairly loud and more than a little inquisitive, greeted Chase’s eyes on the other side of the fence.

It was trying to get to them, the dogs’ owner said.

As a trader who made his living selling and repairing shoes, the man had lived in this area in the heart of Central Africa for all of his thirty-nine years. His local region was famous in much of the western world as one of remarkable biodiversity, and most of all as home to uncommon concentrations of both chimpanzees and gorillas.

Never before had the man felt threatened by their proximity, but the state of his metal door seemed to speak for itself. He remained grateful that the puppies’ mother had made enough noise to alert him of the danger, just in time for a series of warning shots — fired at the dark starry sky — to frighten whatever creature it was that had seemed all set to sweep the chicken-wire fence aside.

Chase Burns, on the other hand, born in New York to an African American father and a Nigerian mother, had only lived in the region for four years.

Chase’s work as an anti-poaching ranger and his involvement in fundraising with NGOs made him far better-liked among the locals than many of the westerners who stopped by from time to time, and certainly more so than those who worked at the nearby and highly controversial Genusphere research complex.

Few people in the world regularly found themselves in closer proximity to wild great apes than Chase, and his experiences with the majestic creatures who called the area home made him highly doubtful that an ape had caused this damage.

"But what do you think was trying to get them? Chase asked. What do you really think did this? Because those two questions I mentioned have different answers. Could a gorilla knock a door that thick off from a hinge like that? Yes. Would a gorilla do that to get at your dogs?