My Return to Planet Earth
Copyright © 2015 by the Author. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of the author/publisher or the terms relayed to you herein.
Author: Peter Lewis Atkinson
e-mail: [email protected]
United Kingdom.
My Return To Planet Earth
by
Peter Lewis Atkinson
Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1 - Goodbye Earth
Chapter 2 - A New World and a New Life
Chapter 3 - My First Return to Planet Earth
Chapter 4 - Our Own Cargo Ship
Chapter 5 - I am coming for you, Sister
Chapter 6 - An Unfolding Disaster
Chapter 7 - Scary Happenings Are Afoot
Chapter 8 - First Contact
Chapter 9 - An Interview and Some Fun Time
Chapter 10 - The Big Speech and Alarming News
Chapter 11 - Goodbye Earth Again
About the Author
Acknowledgement
Chapter 1
Goodbye Earth
My name is Jake. I was unaware at the time but I was about to embark on the most unbelievable incredible adventure, an adventure that no other human had ever undertaken or was ever likely to. After our mother died, my sister and I were left orphans; our father had left us many years ago and could not be traced. My Aunt Julie and Uncle Jack were willing to take in my sister Rachael, who was twelve years old at the time, but unfortunately for me they only had a two-bedroom flat. Rachael was to share a room with our fourteen-year-old cousin Mandy, as Rachael had always got on well with her so this was not to be a problem. Although I had been put up on the sofa for a fortnight at great inconvenience this could not last, there was no room for me and, after all, there was no way I would be allowed to share a room with the girls.
I was still just under seventeen and classed as a minor, so it was to be council care for me. We had always lived out in the countryside with wide open spaces some distance away from the nearest town, so it was quite an unpleasant experience for me when I found out the only place available was in a large town many miles away. The place was awful. It was occupied with troubled teenagers, who were there due to their disruptive behaviour, and who had started to pick on me the moment I arrived. I had no idea what the council had in mind for me, but I was adamant that I was not going to stop in this place for long, so started on a plan to do a runner, so to speak.
I had arrived with a backpack along with a suitcase; now I had to decide what I needed most to take with me. It would only be possible for me to take the backpack, which would mean essential things only: a change of clothes, spare shoes that could hang from the backpack, food, drink a torch and small battery radio. Also, since I was intending to keep in touch with my sister, I would require some stationery items: envelopes, writing paper, pen, stamps, some sticky tape and of course my phone, which incidentally I would leave off since I had heard you could be traced. In addition, I needed to maintain the battery life as I had no means to recharge it. I also had a pen knife hidden, which if the care home knew I had it, would have been confiscated in an instant. So, all I needed now was a sheet of plastic which could double as a ground sheet or shelter, plus some food and drink.
Having looked around I noticed down the side of the home were a number of old bikes, and covering them was a sheet of plastic, which was just what I needed. As for getting some food, unfortunately the food at the home was locked up to stop anyone from helping themselves which did not surprise me, so my first stop would be to withdraw some money from my account and purchase some food from the supermarket. That evening I had managed to smuggle out and hide my backpack under the plastic sheet where the bikes were without being seen.
The next morning after breakfast I went round the side of the house, took out my backpack, rolled up the plastic sheet and packed it under the straps on the backpack to hold it securely; now I only had to climb over the side fence. I checked that there was nobody looking and then I climbed over the fence and was off. After withdrawing a fair amount of cash I visited the supermarket, and purchased some food and drink, which was just enough to fill the only space I had left in the side pockets of the backpack.
I made my way towards the edge of town which seemed to take ages. I wondered how long it would be until they started looking for me, but concluded they would at first start in the town centre, and after that at my aunt and uncle’s flat. The month was August and the weather was good; in fact, it was going to be warm all week according to the weather forecast. I had made good progress; I was heading towards the coast, but I was following road signs as I had forgotten to take a map. By late afternoon my feet were aching. I now needed to look out for somewhere to stay for the night.
Not long after that I was passing a field which had a sunflower crop. That was a bit unusual; their heads had seen better days and they also looked like they were ready to harvest. There was a large oak tree at the side of the field, and next to it was another tree that had been cut down. Most of the branches had been cut off and removed, with just some of the thicker ones remaining. That looks a good place to stop for the night, I thought, so I went over to the trees and found a good spot between them. I unrolled the plastic sheet and positioned it so I could lie on it and partly cover myself. I was hungry by this time but I needed to ration the food a little, so did not eat too much. I was thirsty too, and would need to get some more water tomorrow. I spent the evening listening to the radio; as it got dark, I gazed up at the sky and observed the stars, wondering if any had planets orbiting them, and if so, if there was any life on them.
The stars always looked so much clearer without any light pollution. It soon got dark—very dark—and I could just make out some objects from the starlight as the moon was not visible at this time. I had my torch if I needed it, however, after a while I became very tired and soon fell asleep.
As the sun rose the following morning, I was awakened by the sound of voices nearby. Unable to understand what was being said, I thought that it might have been some migrant farm workers. I peered over the fallen tree and I could see three girls that looked about my age. Further away I could see another three that looked older. They were mostly hidden by the sunflowers, and were reaching up, removing the sunflower heads. I watched them for a while, and then the three girls came towards me. I ducked down behind the fallen tree; they had not spotted me, they then sat on one of the large branches which had not been removed and continued chatting and laughing.
Why am I hiding? I thought. I got up and went and sat on the end of the branch near them. When they suddenly realised I was there, their faces had then turned to the look of fear and they froze. I wanted to show them that I was friendly so smiled at them at the same time giving a little wave, then touching my chest saying my name is Jake. One girl seeing and thinking perhaps I was not a threat to them smiled back and gave me a little wave. One of the other two, seeing what she had done, did the same, but the third girl was on her feet and about to bring my presence to the attention of the older three women. The first girl as quick as a flash stopped her pulling her, back down. She then said something to the other two with them nodding at her as their gaze switched contin
uously between her and me. What had struck me was that their eyes were very blue almost dazzling in appearance; I had not seen eyes this blue…even their pupils were very dark blue and not black. I thought perhaps they were wearing contact lenses. They also had jumpsuits of grey to charcoal in colour with a diamond pattern that shimmered in the early morning sun and were somewhat figure-hugging. Their hair was dark; it was styled into two ponytails at the sides on the top of their heads just above the ears. These ponytails came up then down until they almost touched their shoulders; they also had a fringe at the front…talk about hair being perfect not a hair was out of place.
The girl who did the talking started fiddling with something which looked like a bangle on her arm, then suddenly a screen was projected with writing and symbols which I could not understand. She waved her hand over it, stopping occasionally. When she had finished the projected screen disappeared. She then spoke into it. Next she held it towards me and a voice was heard from it in English saying, ‘‘Hello, my name is Alenna. This is Jenna and this is Minty, we are sisters.’’ Alenna now had moved closer to me and beckoned me to speak into it.
I did by saying, ‘‘Hello,’’ and again I said, ‘‘My name is Jake,’’ adding: “You do have very pretty eyes,” which made the girls giggle a little. This bangle device was great. I had not seen anything like it. Later I discovered it was called a personal information device, also known as a PID for short; it also doubled as a communicator, something that resembled a mobile phone.
It was at this point I noticed they all had webbed hands up to the first joint on the fingers. Thinking to myself how strange that was, now I had this odd feeling that something was not quite right here. We continued having turns speaking into this device. After telling them that I was an orphan and had nowhere to live, they seemed to get excited, but at this time I was not sure why. I asked them tentatively about their webbed hands and where they had come from. Alenna spoke to the other two, who nodded, and she then told me something that I did not expect; she and her sisters were from another world called Alkarr. It knocked me back a little but something told me to believe my eyes: the webbed fingers, the very advanced personal information device and those blue eyes. Alenna, who was definitely the dominant one of the three, then asked if I wanted to go and live with them. Since I had nowhere to live—and something again inside me was saying go—I just replied, “Yes please” without thinking. Had I thought about it, I may not have gone with them at the time. Little did I know Alenna had a long-term plan; in fact, she had dreamed of this plan since she was around ten years old, a plan that in fact she was putting into practice the moment she realised I was not a threat to them. She now needed to smuggle me aboard their spacecraft without the older women, who incidentally turned out to be their mothers, witnessing what they were doing. Alenna sent Minty to distract their mothers from turning around and seeing me, while Alenna and Jenna had the job of leading me to their spacecraft. I grabbed my backpack, and then they led me to an open area that looked empty; however, as we approached a spacecraft appeared. It had some sort of cloaking device which bent the view which was behind it so it was in front of it; this system did not work when you got too close. It was known as the illusion field. The spacecraft was actually their shuttle the size of a coach but twice as wide. It was standing on six undercarriage struts; strung underneath were these pods, two either side. Through grills in them I could see two large spinning discs, which every so often would speed up ever so slightly before slowing again making a humming sound as they did.
I was taken inside; there were five rows of six seats plus two at the front for the pilot and the navigator. I did not have time to look around as Alenna beckoned me to get into a long locker under a row of seats, so I squeezed my backpack in one end, then I rolled in. There was a small vent which I could just see the door through. Alenna knelt down next to the vent and translated through the pid, “Do not make a sound. Wait for me to let you out on the mother ship.” She then got up and left with Jenna. I was left on my own thinking it’s a good job I am not claustrophobic, my thoughts now turned to my sister. I must let her know that I am alright. Reaching into my pocket to retrieve my mobile phone, I knew that turning it on would give my position away should they be looking for me but I hoped we would have left by the time any action was taken. I turned on the phone with some anticipation. Would I have a signal? I was out in the countryside and it may not be a good place, but to my relief I had a signal albeit a weak one, so I typed a quick right to the point message to Rachael as follows: ‘I am alright but I am going to a place that I may not be able to contact you from and you may not hear from me for a very long time, love you Jake.’
I sent the message and then switched off the phone. Still thinking of Rachael, I convinced myself she would be safe with our aunt and uncle and that I was doing the right thing by going with these girls. I waited; what seemed like a long time was only minutes. All I could hear was a faint pulsing sound, which was in fact the shuttle’s power source, two small pulse fusion reactors.
Soon the girls returned with their mother; they were all carrying boxes, which they stored behind the rear row of seats. After a couple of trips each they had finished loading them on board; the door was closed, they then took to their seats. The pods that were strung beneath created an anti-gravity field. At the same time they also gave gravity within the ship. They could be heard now as they started to spin up, faster and faster, not so loud that you could not talk but you were aware of the hum vibrating through the ship. I felt a small jolt as we lifted off, then I could hear the undercarriage struts being retracted and the nose of the ship being lifted upwards as we gained altitude with an ever increasing speed. This was not like an Earth rocket where the astronauts would be subject to a lot of g-force; it was hardly noticeable.
The girls started singing; at first I assumed this was a ploy in case I made a sound it would be masked by their singing but the mothers joined in as well. It was later that I discovered that Alkarrens were always singing when they had the chance.
It was not that long before I heard the undercarriage struts being deployed and a slight judder as we touched down. They waited for a minute or two before opening the door. The three mothers got out but before they left they had instructed the girls to store all the collected boxes in a larger container in the cargo bay, which was next to the shuttle bay, through an internal door. This container had an airtight seal as it had to go through a decontamination procedure at its destination. As soon as the mothers had left, Alenna let me out of the locker and onto the mother ship. Alenna delegated Jenna to do as their mothers instructed while Minty and she had the task of getting me to their cabin without being seen. We had to go up two decks and past the galley, which was a problem as the girls were told to report there after they had done the unloading and cleaned up. This meant that the others on the ship would probably be there as well. They had managed to get me as far as the corridor before the galley, when Minty went and had a peek around the corner to see if indeed there was anybody in the galley. Sure enough two of the other adults on board were there along with four younger sisters, which Minty reported back to Alenna.
The entrance to the galley had a wall of glass from top to bottom, so anyone passing would be seen. Alenna now had a plan to distract all of them; she would go up to a food dispensing machine against the far wall and say she had an announcement to make. As soon as they all were facing away from the doors, Minty would take me straight to their cabin. The three of us crept up to the corner. Alenna went in, Minty peeping around the corner. Alenna now drew their attention and, as she did, Minty rushed me past the galley; it had worked and we were soon in the girls’ cabin.
It was a short time later Alenna her distraction done had arrived there as well. Minty asked her, ‘‘What did you say to them?’’
Alenna looking at her sniggered saying, ‘‘I told them that we three girls w
ere now married.’’
Minty also sniggered asked, ‘‘What did they reply?’’
Alenna said, ‘‘Our sisters laughed and said I was quite mad and our mothers also laughing said where is your husband then as we would like to meet him. I just said you will see him soon and then I left.’’
I was unaware at this time to how she had distracted them as she had not translated it to me but instead she asked if I found them attractive and wanted to marry the three of them. I was also unaware of the significance of what they had done and its only possible outcome; marriage was not on my mind but I played along with her by stating that, “I would be so lucky.” I was keen to ask them about what would happen to me if their mothers knew I was on board and surely they would find out at some stage. Alenna told me not to worry and that she had planned to tell them all within three days when their journey home was almost complete. She said that they would hide me until then. Alenna also informed me that I would need to learn to speak Alkarren and she would be bringing an education unit to the cabin later. What is an education unit? I wondered. Just then the door opened and we all jumped in surprise; however, it was only Jenna. She had finished unloading and repacking the sunflower heads. ‘‘Now,’’ said Alenna, ‘‘we have to go to the galley as instructed,’’ saying to me, ‘‘stay quiet and here.’’ She beckoned me to the wall where she slid across a shutter, there was a port hole. Wow what a sight! I could see Earth and the moon just floating there in space. The girls then left. I just stared at earth. My thoughts now turned to thinking about my sister again; she was going to miss me and be very upset. I then turned on my mobile phone but as suspected there was zero signal so turned it off again and put it in my back pack. I now just muttered under my breath goodbye Rachael closing the shutter then I sat on one of the bunks and waited.
Chronicles of Jake 1: My Return to Planet Earth Page 1
