Second Earth: The Complete First Novel (Second Earth Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  L.D.P. Samways

  Second Earth

  The Complete First Novel

  L.D.P. Samways

  Second Earth

  Part One

  (Second Earth Serial, book one)

  Table of Contents

  Second Earth

  Part One

  Log One:

  Chapter One

  Log Two:

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Second Earth

  Part Two

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Five

  Second Earth:

  Part Three

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Second Earth:

  Part Four

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Second Earth:

  Part Five

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Log One:

  I just know there’s something out there. There has to be. Law of averages proves it. Out of the billions and billions and billions of galaxies, we can’t be the only ones. It’s just not possible. No matter how you sugar coat it, it doesn’t fly with me.

  For years people have been calling me crazy. Crazy to think that anything other than us exists in the universe. But I didn’t stand for it. I didn’t take no for an answer. I carried on with my work. I gazed at the stars. I logged every detail, big or small, when it came to the constellations.

  I did my math. Counted. Subtracted. Divided.

  Stars. Planets. Suns. Moons. Galaxies. Star systems.

  And then it became too much. Way too much. I lost count if I’m being honest. I thought I had an inkling of a clue as to how big the Universe was, and then, like thin air, it vanished. My hopes and dreams of unlocking the mysteries of the vast space that surrounded us was gone.

  Gone forever. Lost in the darkness of deep space. Years and years wasted.

  It became too big a project. Too much work for one man. It drove me to drink. A bottle of wine a day at first. Then three. Then five. And then, finally, I’d graduated to alcoholism. What a state. Hair grown out. Beard untrimmed. Mouth stinking of spirits. A belly hanging over my belt.

  I became an outcast. The people of our settlement didn’t want anything to do with me. They’d sneer at my name. Spit on the floor, and twist their foot in the dirt, just to make a point. I was a pariah in my own colony. A man that made a mockery of the Gods. For the people believed in a different form than me. They believed in the sun.

  The universe to them was the blue print of their so called God’s work. And I was trying to wreck it. You’d think that when I came up short and wasn’t able to prove my theories they’d be glad. But you’re wrong I’m afraid. The only thing they did was slander my name. Force me out of their group. To live in the hills. The outskirts. In what used to be my lab. But now it’s my home. A home I share with nobody. A home that never gets visitors.

  It is a place where I planned on drinking myself to death. Maybe it’d be fast. I mean, let’s face it, I already managed to do plenty of damage over the years to my internal organs. But unfortunately for me, my dreams of ending my life quickly didn’t come to fruition. Instead, I was destined for many more years of living. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t end it. Maybe I was a coward. If I truly wanted to get the job done, I should have just shot myself in the head with one of their laser weapons. But, instead, I sat there, drinking, reading and contemplating my downfall, deep within the hole I called home. And once called my lab.

  But my downward spiral didn’t last for too long. I guess in some ways I touched a few people. People that when the time was right, and most of the colony had forgotten about me, paid me a visit.

  It was a visit that had some form of hope attached to it. They’d told me that they had been carrying on my work in secret. The colony knew nothing about it. They continued with their lives, oblivious to the fact that four scientists were working on my theory.

  The theory that we were not alone. The theory that there was a second Earth somewhere. Deep within the universe. I didn’t know where, but I knew that it existed. That there were beings that looked like us. That talked like us. That evolved like us.

  But the difference between us and “them” was simple. Like twins in the womb, born minutes apart, they look the same. But in reality, they are different. Separate forms of life. Separate personalities. Separate preferences. They shared the same womb, but one of them grew larger than the other. It was better nourished. Advanced quicker. Grew quicker. Packed on more weight. Had the lions share of the oxygen. While the other starved. It grew weak. And at birth, it was noticeable. One was much bigger than the other. The other was a shadow of its twin. A dwarf planet.

  And that’s what we are. A fact that I stand by. A fact that I believe to be wholeheartedly true. But the colony does not. They refuse to even acknowledge that there may be life out there. Life similar to ours. Let alone us, but bigger, better and more advanced.

  It’s a fact that drove me to drink. To drown my beliefs in hard liquor while everybody else mocked me for even believing in such a thing. They’d tell me that the God’s themselves would strike me down for proclaiming such things. And that I would be banished to hell.

  And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe they were right. If I was even close to my theory, that there was another planet like ours, deep in space somewhere, then surely that planet would be inhabited by beings very similar to us. Beings that believed in sun Gods. Beings that worship men in the sky.

  But I refused to believe it. I know there’s somebody like me out there. Somebody that walks upright. Talks with a similar dialect to mine. Looks like us. Breeds like us. Even smells like us.

  The day that the rogue scientists came to my hole and told me that for the last three years they’d been working on my theory, I’d told them to get lost. That the cause itself was lost. That the people of our colony refused to believe in anything scientific. I ended up dressing them down. Telling them to get on with their lives. That there was no hope. We were destined to be the only thing in space of any significance. At least to us.

  They looked at me disappointedly. They stared at the ground as I shouted and cursed them out. One of them even began to cry. These four people believed in what I believed so badly, that they were willing to risk being outcasts like me. But that didn’t change my mind. I wanted nothing to do with them. As far as I was concerned, I wanted nothing to do with anybody.

  But of course, that all changed when some sort of flying vehicle crash-landed onto our planet.

  Chapter One

  Dr. Randy Gustoff was fast asleep in his “hole” when he was disturbed by the big bang. At first, he thought he was dreaming. But as he jumped out of bed, searching for his glasses, there was yet another big bang. Like an explosion. Two explosions at first. Separated by five second intervals. Staggered destruction.

  “Good God,” Gustoff muttered to himself as he put his clothes on.

  He’d never heard explosions like this before. Being a scientist, he had the fortune to work in certain conditions that allowed the combustion of chemicals. So he’d heard small explosions. Controlled explosions even. But never big explosions. There wasn’t much opportunity when it came to blowing stuff up on the colony. His
people … well, the people he lives with, or used to live with, don’t use anything that can react in any way to cause an explosion. They are very simple people. And they live very simple lives. So the fact that things were going bang in the night scared Gustoff. It scared him something silly.

  “April?” he said suddenly.

  A young woman was standing in the doorway to his bedroom. Gustoff was bare chested as he was attempting to slide on his pants. This was officially the first time a woman had seen him in a compromising position since his wife died of the “rot” a few years ago. Gustoff felt his cheeks flush red as he scrambled for a shirt, and draped it over his naked torso.

  “Sorry for barging in like this, sir. There’s been some sort of incident. Something fell out of the sky!” she said, not even attempting to look away as the scientist scrambled to get himself dressed. Truth was, she liked what she saw. And she wasn’t going to cover it up. She was young, attractive and smart. There was absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in her opinion. Gustoff may have been a little out of shape, due to the drinking and the general self destruction he’d been party too for the last couple of years, but he was still a man that she found fascinating. In more ways than one.

  “What are you doing here? How did you get in? This is my home!” Gustoff sounded off as he put his shoes on. April ignored him and continued to stand at the doorway unchallenged.

  “Something fell out of the sky, Randy. I thought you’d want to know,” she said, still standing, still staring.

  Gustoff got up and shook his head. He grabbed his bag and stood up straight.

  “What do you mean something fell out of the sky?” he said, finally listening to what April was saying.

  “I don’t know what it is, but it’s big. Really big.”

  Randy remained where he was, and stared at April. At one point, he’d found her appealing on both the eye and the brain. But somewhere down the road, she’d grown too arrogant for his own liking. It was as if she believed everything that came out of her own mouth. Randy knew that any scientist needed to be objective and unbiased. So someone who believed their own crap wasn’t someone that the good scientist wanted to waste time on.

  Even if she was the prettiest woman he’d ever seen.

  “Really big? That’s all you have for me? Surely you can do better than that?” Randy said as he approached her. She stood aside so he could get past, but he stopped dead in his tracks and looked her up and down. She was wearing her nightgown. It flowed freely down her. Her legs stuck out and he noticed how bronzed they were. She wasn’t wearing much underneath her gown, or at least that’s what it looked like to the man. Not wanting to run the risk of seeming like a pervert, he decided to question her attire.

  “Why the hell are you in your gown?” he asked, staring at her, looking directly into her eyes.

  “I was asleep, so I didn’t have time to get dressed before I came here,” she said, smiling.

  Randy sighed.

  “Whatever. That’s not what the issue is here. The issue is, you need to be a little more explicit when it comes to describing what fell out of the damn sky. I don’t want to ask you again.”

  April shrugged her shoulders.

  “I don’t know. But it landed on Aston’s house. Flat out crushed it. Unfortunately, Aston was inside. And so was his family.”

  Gustoff titled his head to the floor and clenched his fists.

  “You’re telling me that you have no idea what flattened out somebody’s house? How about using your eyes! Damn it!”

  April held in the urge to whimper, like an animal being scolded by its owner. Not that she was owned by Gustoff of course. But she certainly felt like his pet at times. Running errands. Talking to the colony. Passing on messages. She was his only line of communication with the others since they’d exiled him into the mountains. He was no longer welcome there. And he knew it. That was why he was always so acidic in tone. He hated everybody. He felt like everybody had let him down. Dismissed him and his intentions as evil. While in actual fact all he wanted to do was help them. Help everyone reach a better understanding of where they came from, and what was out there.

  Not that it would ever make a difference. What was done was done.

  “We need your help. The others told me to go and get you,” she said, starting to feel a little self-conscious in her flimsy robe.

  “Help? They want my help? I thought “people like me” weren’t allowed in the colony? I thought “people like me” worship the devil and bring misfortune to the wonderful people of our settlement?”

  April started to smile.

  “Surely you don’t believe that?” she asked.

  “No, I don’t. I don’t believe in any of that horse crap that they believe in. I think that’s where the problems start.”

  April blinked a few times and then pointed at Gustoff’s bag in his hands.

  “You want to help. I can tell. You always want to help, no matter what they say about you. That’s why the colony elders told me to grab you. They know that you’re an expert.”

  Gustoff frowned.

  “An expert? On what? Unsavory beliefs?” he snapped.

  April shook her head and walked toward him. She gently grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

  “You’re an expert on many things, Randy. Being a scientist is important. They may not see it, but I do. And so do many others. There are a lot of people who keep their mouths shut around here. Many who believe what you do is important. Many more who believe the same things we do. But the elders are a louder voice. A voice that refuses to be silenced. But now is your chance to silence them for good.”

  ‘How?” he asked, April still holding onto his hand.

  “By proving that whatever fell out of the sky is proof that we aren’t alone,” she said.

  Gustoff let go of her hand and took a few steps back. He had a look of confusion on his face. His skin was pale and clammy. His face was still flushed.

  “What fell out of the sky? Tell me! I need to know,” he pleaded.

  There was a moment of silence.

  And then she spoke.

  “Whatever it is, it isn’t normal.”

  ***

  Gustoff and April reached the crash site after a four-minute jog from his “hole” in the mountains. They’d made their way down a small dirt track that meandered its way toward the colony. From his mountain-top retreat, he could see the vast dwelling of homes below him. And once he was outside, he could see a bright orange light coming from the north side of the colony. They followed it. And finally, after some exertion, they reached the burning light. Everybody in the colony was there. And it was a state. A bomb site … literally. As they both approached, a congregation of onlookers turned around and stared at them. They wore blank expressions on their faces. They muttered amongst themselves. Probably quips about the scientist that stood in front of them.

  It didn’t matter what April said before, he could tell that a lot of the people around him were surprised to see him. And that could only mean that April had lied about them requesting his attendance. But what was done was done. And he was there. So he might as well help. At least that’s what was going through Gustoff’s mind. Among other rapid fire thoughts as he gently pushed his way through the sea of people that surrounded him. April had fallen back and was watching him wade his way through the concentration of humanity. He finally reached the source of the bright orange light and was aghast at what he saw.

  “Good God,” he said, standing back from the blazing inferno that was raging in front of him.

  A few of the colony’s elders were standing at the blaze. They were staring at it, as if it held some sort of message within its burning core. But when one of the elders spotted Randy, he swayed his attention from the flames, to the scientist standing next to him.

  “And what do we owe the pleasure?” the elderman said, a blank, detached look in his eyes. He showed no emotion toward the exiled scientist. He did not greet him with anger or relief. He ju
st greeted him.

  “I heard an explosion,” Randy said. “Well, two,” he continued.

  “Ah, that’s what dragged you out. Had nothing to do with the fallen star?” the elderman asked.

  Randy creased his face.

  “The fallen star? What are you on about?” he asked.

  “This, this burning … this thing that crashed onto Aston’s house … may he rest in piece … is a fallen star. It has consumed him and his house. Taken him to the ether where his family can join the many people they have lost. It’s a blessing. A blessing from the stars. The Gods have given us this gift. And we shall cherish it, much like we cherish each other.”

  Randy nodded his head. It was all he could do. Standing so close to the inferno, all he could see were bright orange flames. He dared not look into the smoldering heat in front of him for too long. But whatever was causing this sort of heat and fire, was not natural. It just couldn’t be. Besides, Randy knew that the stars above them may appear to be small, way up there in the deep vacuum of space, but in reality, they are massive. Bigger than anybody down in the colony could possibly imagine. So he wasn’t going to assume that this, whatever this was, was a fallen star, that’s for sure.

  “How did this happen?” Randy asked. He spotted the elderman’s eyes widening. Randy quickly understood what sort of response he was going to get. So he changed the wording of his question.

  “I mean; how did it fall? Did anybody see it falling?”

  The elderman shrugged his shoulders.

  “I’m sure the only person who saw it fall, was Aston and his family when it came crashing into their quarters.”

  Randy nodded. There wasn’t much else he could say or do. The thing was burning so bright, there was no way to get to it … whatever it was. So he decided to bid the elderman farewell and make his way back through the crowd.

  “Excuse me,” he said a few times as he waded through the stiff postures of the colony members. None of them made way for him, so he stopped saying excuse me and just pushed his way through until he reached his desired destination.