Alienne Mine: A Prequel to Dragon Dawn Read online

  ALIENNE MINE

  A Prequel to Dragon Dawn

  Deborah O’Neill Cordes

  For a wonderful multitude, the CR Sisters, especially two of my fellow authors, Dottie Taylor/Lillie J. Roberts and Joanna Lloyd. Thank you for your help with Alienne Mine and for your friendship.

  And a special note for the other members of that marvelous and caring group, who mean the world to me. You are my comrades-in-arms against the caprice of the publishing world, my steadfast band of Sisters.

  ~Deborah O’Neill Cordes

  Preface

  This prequel to Dragon Dawn, Book One of the Dinosaurian Time Travel Series, mostly takes place in the Dragon Dawn human universe before the first manned landing on Mars in A.D. 2029. With the exception of brief appearances by Gus Granberg, the Dragon Dawn cast of characters is missing, for I chose to explore this story from two new and different points of view, that of a sentient being from a far-flung galaxy, Alienne, and her Chosen, a human astronaut named Edward McAdams.

  I crafted this prequel as a stand-alone work, so that it can be read either before Dragon Dawn or afterward. Please stay tuned for the next novel in my series, titled Dawn of Time, to learn the fates of the characters from Alienne Mine and Dragon Dawn as they join forces to grapple with conflict and find love in two universes, one human and the other dinosaurian.

  Best wishes, Deborah.

  Ye Gods! Annihilate but space and time,

  And make two lovers happy.

  Alexander Pope, Peri Bathous

  PART ONE

  Chapter 1

  For she had eyes and chose me.

  ~ William Shakespeare, Othello

  A.D. 2022

  He was a man of science, yet things beyond his ken could still raise shivers along his spine.

  Edward McAdams felt someone’s gaze on him, despite the fact he alone manned the asteroid station. Get a grip, he told himself as he tried to shake off his paranoia.

  His fellow astronauts had left a few hours before to explore the asteroid’s cave system. He planned to occupy himself by crunching numbers, comparing the mineral ratios of test samples retrieved from different locations on the asteroid.

  As he worked the weird feeling of being watched persisted. For the most part, such feelings were rare. Sure, everyone experienced it occasionally in outer space, the sensation of being alone, yet not alone. Some said it was caused by being closer to a watchful God in heaven, but he didn’t believe in such things. Stuff and nonsense. Space paranoia came with the territory.

  Let it go, he told himself.

  Ed looked at his watch. 0:1047. The other astronauts would return at 0:1700, or as near to that as possible. He’d be manning the com-link for another six hours.

  His stomach rumbled. Lunch time. He rose and headed for the galley, but stopped when he reached the port window, his gaze riveted to the Earth. The pull of home was tangible, something felt by virtually everyone who traveled to outer space. The planet appeared to float just beyond the window, serene in the velvet dark. A half orb now, mostly blue and white, with the continents of the southern hemisphere showing as swaths of brown. The asteroid took an elliptical path around Earth, its present location nearly twice the distance to the Moon.

  Ed watched the Earth a moment longer, then went to the galley to brew some coffee. That’s when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

  He swiveled and stared. What the hell?

  * * *

  She’d shadowed humans since 1969, when she followed them to the Moon. The Apollo astronauts saw her spacecraft and reported it to Mission Control, but this was little known among the rest of humanity, even though some of the crew members revealed strange UFO sightings in the decades following the moon missions.

  She’d waited many of their Earth years before deciding to make contact. This human would be the first, because he intrigued her. He was a mechanical engineer and highly intelligent, something she could discern with her ultraviolet vision, for the aura surrounding him whirled and sparkled with silver light. His aura was tinged with violet-gold, too, the color combination one she’d never seen before.

  In her many years of observation, she’d gotten used to the basic physical appearance of humans, similar to her species in size and overall body plan, but boring for the lack of variety in their skin and hair colors. Although this man had the usual monochromatic flesh tone and medium-brown hair, she nevertheless found him compelling, not only because of his aura, but also because his irises sparkled with life. They were a deep violet-blue, not the milky hues of his home world as seen from space, but the bright color of new stars.

  There was also a regularity to his features that reminded her of her own reflection. One of the reasons she’d decided to observe the human race was because of their faces, which were comparable to her species. It was not necessarily so in other parts of the universe. Many alien races looked strange – even ugly – to her, especially if they were not bilaterally symmetrical bipeds with two eyes, ears, and nostrils in their heads.

  His brain aura suddenly expanded and whirled around his head like a silver tornado, and she knew he sensed her presence. As he turned to face her, she saw his startled gaze. But his aura also sparked with intrigue and excitement, the silver now edged with a tinge of white-blue.

  A rush of joy flooded her senses, happiness rising after being so long denied, and she raised a hand in greeting. “Peace be with you. My name would be difficult for you to pronounce.” She took a step toward him. “Please, call me Alienne.”

  * * *

  He looked into her exotically slanted eyes, as blue as a tropical sea. She was slim and tall, about five foot nine to his six foot three, and dressed in a jumpsuit of silver mesh. The exposed skin of her body was covered with glittering scales, the color mirroring the hue of her eyes. Her face lacked scales, however, the skin smooth and colored metallic turquoise-blue with wisps of green veining. Instead of hair, she had a headful of what looked like silken dreadlocks. They softly shimmered with rainbow colors and begged to be touched. Weirdly beautiful.

  Am I dreaming? He frowned and tried to make sense of this. If it wasn’t a dream, then he’d gone off the deep end. Maybe he needed some time with the station’s doc. He was certain she’d recommend remote sessions with one of the psychiatrists back at Mission Control.

  “Your name is Edward McAdams. I have been watching you.” Her voice was softly accented, with a lovely, breathy timbre.

  She moved closer, and Ed caught the scent of spices, reminiscent of a mingling of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. She smelled a lot like Christmas.

  Okay, this is crazy. I have to be dreaming.

  Beneath her jumpsuit, she had curves in all the right places, except she didn’t have breasts. Whoa. He was impressed with his abilities to conjure such a body. The lack of breasts did actually fit quite well with her appearance, because she looked a bit reptilian. But she wasn’t creepy. In fact, she was drop-dead gorgeous. He recalled the holidays were only a few days off. Nice present to himself. All she needed was a big red bow.

  Happy holidays, Ed, ol’ boy!

  She smiled, revealing a lovely set of teeth, not exactly human-shaped but close enough, an even swath of white surrounded by luscious blue lips. Her gorgeous eyes were distinctly alien, though, because the pupils were square.

  “What... Hey, I know I’m dreaming,” Ed said, “but I’ve got to ask – what do you want?”

  “You.”

  Jesus, this dream’s getting better by the minute.

  A voice erupted from the com. “Ed, do you copy?”

  He turned and grabbed his headset, fumbling to put it on. “Copy—”<
br />
  “Ed, Granberg here.” The commander’s Texas drawl sounded clipped, tense. “We’re transmittin’ to you on the Department of Defense encrypted channel. We’ve alerted Mission Control of a sighting.” He hesitated. “Helluva thing, Ed. Bogie on our right...eleven o’clock high.”

  Ed glanced at Alienne, then tempered his answer to Gus Granberg. “I’ve seen no unusual spacecraft.”

  “Roger that. Keep us informed if you detect any irregularities. Over and out.”

  Ed took off his headset and looked at the alien. “Now what?” He frowned as his sense of reality took hold. “Is this a dream, or isn’t it?”

  * * *

  She saw the change in his aura, the silver gone, replaced by gray-green. Suspicion. His face mirrored this, a serious look that made his jawline tighten. His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her reply.

  “What’s this all about?” Ed asked her. “Don’t tell me you’re going to abduct me.”

  “No,” she said. “I mean you no harm.”

  And that was true. Her real name was Drajulal-kishah. Long ago, on the ancestral planet, her species had survived by eating raw flesh and the marrow of prey. Actually, Edward’s ancestors did much the same before they tamed fire in their ancient Stone Age. The irony of her given name being so close to the humans’ fictional Dracula made her vow to use great caution with Ed. Her intentions toward him weren’t food-stalking predatory. She could never consume human flesh or drink their blood, nor would she in even the most desperate circumstances. She much preferred vegetarian food.

  Despite what many humans believed about alien visitations or threats by the “Greys,” it was a fiction invented by Earth governments to deflect observations of their own secret military activities. Humanity’s solar system was located on the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy, and as far as she knew she was the only one who watched them now. Had other aliens observed them before? She had no way of knowing this.

  She’d traveled alone for what seemed like a lifetime to find this place, watching humans for years with scientific detachment until she felt the overwhelming urge to mate. The pull of Edward’s aura compelled her to make contact with him. If he was willing, she would make him her own, her Chosen.

  There would be no offspring produced by coupling with him, however. Their DNA was too different, completely incompatible. Her observations of human culture extended to their television programming, and she’d watched Star Trek with interest. The series was fantasy, of course, one example being that the half-breed children, like Mr. Spock, could not happen in the real universe.

  Not that she needed offspring. Companionship and sexual pleasure were her only goals.

  She was very lonely.

  * * *

  The com-link suddenly erupted with, “Ed, do you copy? We’ve got visitors! We can see a craft in orbit. Do you copy?”

  “Damn it.” He guessed this was wake-up time and imagined himself in the next moment sputtering out of his dream.

  But Alienne still stood there watching him in silence and waiting. For what? I must be awake. This is real.

  “I cannot delay, Edward,” she said. “I must leave. I fear what would happen if they captured me or took my ship. I would be stranded.”

  The implication hit home. Like everyone else, he’d heard whispers of secret facilities where aliens were held for study, while their UFOs were reverse engineered. Places like Nevada’s Groom Lake, Russia’s Kapustin Yar, and Fort Hood, Texas. Until now he’d dismissed such things as part of the vast conspiracy theory rumor mill, but here, right before him, was proof of alien life.

  What would happen if they got their hands on her?

  He searched her face, wondering if this could be some sort of trick on her part to capture him. But her gaze did not waver, her eyes wide with fear. He felt a surge of protection, the rush of his blood unmistakable. She was in trouble.

  “You may come with me, Edward. If you wish.”

  Alienne reached out to him. His mind shouted a warning, but his heart resisted the urge to pull away, the need to help her overpowering. He took her hand.

  Then everything fell away, careening into darkness.

  Chapter 2

  When I saw you I fell in love,

  And you smiled because you knew.

  ~ Arrigo Boito, Falstaff, an opera based on the Shakespearean play

  Alienne teleported with Edward to her ship. He’d lost consciousness at the start of the transfer and was still out as she left space-time to get away from the asteroid. She gave the order to travel beyond Mars, the asteroid belt, and Jupiter, to Saturn’s frigid moon, Titan. She hid the ship beneath Titan’s thick atmosphere, on an island surrounded by a liquid methane lake.

  The landing was uneventful. Alienne sat in her pilot chair, watching Ed sleep. He was a tall human, so large he entirely filled her bed. She almost laughed at her next thought, but caught herself, not wishing to wake him. He was now, truly, an abductee, she his alien abductor.

  What would he think of her?

  When he stirred, she braced herself. Teleportation was usually rough on first-timers. Ed might feel dizzy and nauseous. She grabbed a regurgitation bag, just in case.

  He groaned and rubbed his forehead, then opened his eyes. “What happened?” he muttered as his gaze focused on her face.

  “How are you?” she asked.

  He rose from the bed and scrubbed his face with his right hand. “Pretty hungry.”

  Relieved, yet surprised by this, she put the regurg bag down. “I do have food. I will share it with you. It is human.”

  He frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I teleport supplies from Earth from time to time, without anyone’s knowledge, of course. It is not stealing, however, for although I have no bank account to pay for my needs I always leave something in exchange. The last time I left a pearl, which I teleported from a shipwreck.” She touched her head. “I must be creative in order to find payment for what I take. Now please join me, because I’m hungry, too. I have what you call vegetarian fare.”

  “You know, when you said human food...for a minute I thought...”

  "I know what you thought,” she said, smiling.

  He glanced at the window. “Where are we?”

  “Our present location is on the moon you call Titan.”

  “What!”

  She watched him go to the window. The orange atmosphere of Titan was foggy, but she knew he could see the shoreline through the haze, with its breakers of liquid methane. A stiff wind whipped the waves into orange froth.

  Edward whistled. “Teleportation is still a dream for us.” He looked at her ship’s console. “What is your method of propulsion?”

  “It is machashli, the method of folding space and traveling in its wake in what could be described as a slipstream. With this method, I have the ability to move outside the fabric of space-time, and for all intents and purposes, travel instantaneously from one part of the universe to another.”

  Ed shook his head in amazement. “How far did you come to reach this solar system?”

  “That is difficult to say, because I folded space to reach you. To put it in the perspective of your method of calculating distance, my home planet is 577 million of your light years away from Earth.”

  He gaped. “Then that means...”

  “My world is in a galaxy far from here, well beyond your Local Group. This method of transportation was state of the art technology when I left, but I’ve been away so long I’m certain my ship would be considered antiquated by now.”

  “Do you know what I’d give to see the schematics for this vessel?” He gestured toward the window. “I’m the first human to have landed on Titan.”

  “Yes, I know,” she said.

  He stared at the methane lake. “Is there life out there?”

  “Yes. It is not sentient, but consists of primitive creatures that swim in the rivers and lakes. Because it is so cold here, metabolism
is slow. Organisms on Titan have long lifespans when compared to yours.”

  “How long?”

  “Millions of your Earth years.”

  He glanced back at her. She appreciated the look on his face and his aura, now emanating a violet-white glow. Intense fascination, mingled with curiosity and awe. Humans could be so compelling.

  She watched him and smiled, feeling for the first time how thrilling it would be to introduce him to all she knew, to the very stars.

  * * *

  Ed couldn’t believe it – he was having hummus and pita bread on Titan, along with some beer, a stunning alien sitting across from him at the table. He smiled. Alienne liked vegetarian food and Samuel Adams Octoberfest. He considered the bottle and chuckled.

  “It is to your liking, then?” she asked him.

  He nodded and took a swig. But his smile faded as he pondered this new reality. What had he gotten himself into?

  He frowned. “I’m not a prisoner, right?”

  “You are not. If you wish to go back, I will send you.”

  He held up his beer. “Despite your hospitality, I have duties. I can’t just disappear and then pop up again whenever and wherever I like. I’ll have to explain something to everyone back home. I’m not exactly sure I know how to handle this.”

  Alienne smiled benignly at him. “By my calculations, your crewmates will not get back to your station for another three of your hours. That gives you time before they discover your absence.” She indicated the food scattered on the table before them. “Perhaps we can talk and share more food. Are you still hungry?”

  He smiled. “I’m always hungry.”

  She laughed. It sounded like water running over pebbles.

  “Edward McAdams, you...intrigue me.”

  He looked into her eyes. Her square pupils dilated slightly at the sides, becoming more rectangular. “I’m not exactly sure what you mean...”