Science Fiction Short Story - Part 3 of a Serial.
Please take a look at this fun short read which is designed to be read on your phone during a break or on your way to work and put a smile on your face.
âThey landed in California, in Sequoia National Park. See Blake over there,â Jasmin looked to where a group where locked in a heated discussion in the large board room. âThey are deciding what to do. Houston is involved and NASA, and the military and everyone really.â
âHold on! This is my discovery!â Jasmin shouted. Why had they left her sleeping? She had spotted the aliens first. Now they had landed and she had missed it.
This tale harks back to the Golden Science Fiction age of the 60s.
Escape with me amongst the lost groves filled with gigantic age-old trees of Sequoia National Park as we play hide and seek with aliens.
Science Fiction Short Story - Part 3 of a Serial.
Please take a look at this fun short read which is designed to be read on your phone during a break or on your way to work and put a smile on your face.
âThey landed in California, in Sequoia National Park. See Blake over there,â Jasmin looked to where a group where locked in a heated discussion in the large board room. âThey are deciding what to do. Houston is involved and NASA, and the military and everyone really.â
âHold on! This is my discovery!â Jasmin shouted. Why had they left her sleeping? She had spotted the aliens first. Now they had landed and she had missed it.
This tale harks back to the Golden Science Fiction age of the 60s.
Escape with me amongst the lost groves filled with gigantic age-old trees of Sequoia National Park as we play hide and seek with aliens.
At precisely 2:04am, a red light lit up a distant control panel. A notification also appeared on Jasminâs phone.
Please God. Just one momentâs peace she thought, as she slapped it quiet.
As the mechanical noise faded, so the sounds of the night amplified. Insects in the shadows chittered, a distant toad called for a mate, and the wind whispered as it passed through the Allen Radio Telescope Array, âthe so-called eyesâ of the US Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). It was as if the vast field of equipment had a human breath. Now with a click and a groan of steel all 42 dishes turned as one to scan a new area of the night sky, a brand new vista to explore and dissect, thousands of as yet unknown stars and systems to discover.
The only person watching is me, Jasmin thought as she leant on the railing of the deck.
âAlways just me,â she spoke aloud to the emptiness. Was this it? Was this her life now? Years of standing watching a field of satellite disks pointing up. At what?
I love you, Jasmin, the memory of her sisterâs voice seemed to echo on the nightâs breeze.
I hate this, she thought. I hate myself. Why did I do it?
In a blink of her eye, she was plunging, hair whipping across her face as her faceplate snapped open. No, she heard herself scream but at the last moment she snapped her teeth shut as with practiced discipline she stopped herself remembering the concrete floor below.
Itâs over. Itâs past. This is it now. Standing alone in the cold, this is what you get.
Her phone jiggled in her pocket.
What now?
The screen lit up with her twinâs photo. Jasmin pressed âanswerâ.
âShort Arse!â She had meant to be funny, but tonight she sounded spiteful..
May must have noticed the tone as well, because there was a pause before she replied:
âPeg Leg!â the nick name was punctuated with a nervous laugh. Jasmin nodded and joined in. Forced laughter was still laughter, wasnât it? Jasmin wondered as her ghost leg tingled, and she looked down to check. Yes her leg was gone, she wore a long prosthetic from her hip to the floor.
Smack! There it was: the memory of her crashing onto the smooth hard concrete. A fall that had ended her astronaut training and landed her amidst the Allen Telescope Array. The worst part was that while she fought her way through grueling physio just to walk again, her twin sister had hop, skipped and jumped through the tests, examinations and panel assessments until tonight she served as Science Officer on the International Space Station. She glanced up at the constellation Ursa Major, the ISS would be coming from that direction tonight.
Okay. So her sister had made it. How much longer could she resent her?
Be normal. Act nice.
âHowâs the view?â Jasmin said at last.
âI took some photos,â May replied. âI sent them to your phone.â
True enough, there was an unread message. Wish you were here, read the title.
For crying out loud, Jasmin despaired. So dreadfully unoriginal. And May was supposed to be a genius and a superwoman, that was the definition of an astronaut, no? Okay so May always said she had become an astronaut for her sakes. But had she really? All the striving, competing, just to prove one of them, the twins, the two Asian sisters, one of them was good enough? Now May had made it and with her success came endless âwish you were hereâ messages.
Did May really think any of hers success could make up for what Jasmin had lost?
âWe just flew over Italy,â May said. âIt really does look like a glittering boot.â
âWe just moved the Array, â Jasmin intercut, but May ignored her.
âYou know if more people could see Earth from space,â May continued, and even as she spoke Jasminâs phone buzzed and jiggled. Her attention drifted. âWe would just appreciate our home planet so much more.â May finished but Jasmin peered again at a red flashing notification at the corner of her screen.
âSorry May, itâs one of the system alarms.â Jasmin said. âIâm the only one on duty, I canât ignore it.â
âSure thing,â Mayâs reply had a hint of forced chirpiness to it, like she knew she was being dismissed. Jasmin felt a pang, why did she behave like that with May? âGo do your thing , Jasmin. Youâll do great, you always do.â
Jasmin paused. How did one response to such impeccable niceness?
Jasminâs phone beeped again, this time May heard it too.
âSounds like itâs urgent - maybe itâs aliens.â She laughed lightly.
Jasmin is working an extremely early shift at the Allen Telescope Array, remembering the accident that ended her training as an astronaut and her jealousy for her sister who currently lives on the International Space Station. A system alarm cuts through the silence, notifying her that there are unexpected visitors. Aliens from outer space have landed in Sequoia National Park in California and Jasmin has been made the official head of first attempts at contact with extraterrestrials. Jasmin is going to have to battle her own imposter syndrome, issues with her prosthetic leg, and the boss she can't stand. Oh, and why are the aliens trying to steal a Redwood tree?
Sally Ann Melia's work feels more polished in this latest edition of her Aliens saga. Just as in her previous book, Aliens in Paris, this book includes photographs and also acts as a little bit of a travel guide for those who may not have ever been to the Sequoia National Forest themselves. I love that Sally Ann Melia also makes sure to give you a recommended soundtrack for this book, so you can put on just the right mood music. Aliens in Sequoia National Park, like her previous short work Aliens in Paris, this is not meant to be an entire novel, but rather a short story that can be read on breaks or after a long day.