Worlds Revealed Read online

  Worlds Revealed

  A Worlds Away Short Story

  By

  J.L. Hendricks

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright (c) 2016 J.L. Hendricks

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy.

  First Edition December, 2016

  All rights reserved. Copyright © 2016 J.L. Hendricks

  Editor: Rebecca Reddell

  Illustrator: Victoria Cooper

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Epilogue

  Newsletter

  Other Books by J.L. Hendricks

  Prologue

  Present day, Zeleron 10

  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon on Zeleron 10. Natalie and her V’Zenian mate, Captain Zelan, were enjoying a rare afternoon with their closest friends, Paris and Commander Venay. All four were lounging pool-side in the newly created community pool, lovingly nick named, “The Plunge.”

  Both Paris and Natalie were humans who had mated with the V’Zenian warriors that had abducted them from Earth a few months back.

  “Commander Venay, are you ready to tell us about the Roswell incident yet? I really want to know if what you alluded to was a joke, or if your grandfather really was there.” Natalie had asked this question before, but the Commander had refused to share.

  The Commander looked into the deep green pool, while considering Natalie’s request. Water is clear no matter what planet you are on, but not all pools have a blue bottom. The cement used to create the shape of this pool had a green tint to it, so the pool will forever have a light green shade. Natalie felt that the water looked a bit off, but Zelan thought it looked clean.

  “You will not leave me alone until I tell you my story, will you?” the Commander asked. About a week after he had abducted approximately 200 men and women from Earth, their enemy, the Zateelians, had attacked them. Which forced them to crash land on Zeleron 10.

  “Sir, you did say you would tell us one day soon. Your new ship is almost here. How much longer are you going to make me wait? Growing up, all humans heard about the Roswell crash. So many books and television shows have been created around that myth. Most believe it really was a weather balloon. What is the truth?” Natalie and Zelan had speculated on what might have happened, but without Venay’s story, they would never know the truth.

  “The truth is out there alright. If I tell you, will you help me to convince Paris to tell her truth? About her parents and what happened?” Commander Venay got up and went to put his feet in the pool.

  Natalie stood up and followed him. She sat down on the warm, greenish concrete that looked more like hard moss than a sidewalk. “Yes, if you tell me what really happened, I will try to get Paris to tell us her story.” Natalie looked over her shoulder and smiled at Paris.

  “Wait, do I get a say on if, or when, I tell my story?” Paris grumbled. “I may not be ready to relive those memories.”

  “Paris, he said I have to help him convince you, not that you actually have to tell your story. Although, I do think it would be beneficial for you to tell your story and not keep it all bottled up inside.” Natalie leaned down to the water, put both hands inside, and splashed Paris.

  She squealed from the cold water and jumped up. “Hey, what was that for?”

  “You looked a bit too warm. I thought you might like to cool off just a bit,” Natalie laughed.

  Unbeknownst to her, Commander Venay had quietly moved behind Natalie and then quickly picked her up and threw her to the deep end of the pool.

  She spluttered as she broke through the water and took in air. “That wasn’t fair, I barely got any water on Paris!”

  Zelan had been watching from his lounge chair and quickly grabbed Paris and threw her into the water next to Natalie. “There, now you are both in the water.” He then did a cannonball into the end of the pool and splashed water all over the far edge. The only one who was mostly dry, was the Commander.

  “Come on Venay, join us and then you can tell us all about your grandfather and what a wonderful warrior he was.” Paris started to swim towards her mate. Before she could get to him, he jumped up high in the air from the top step he had been standing on, did a flip, and landed lightly on his feet in the center of the pool.

  The other three in his party whooped and hollered. “Alright, I will tell you. First, we should all get out of the water and dry off. This is a long story.” The Commander paused. “Maybe I should tell it over dinner tonight instead.”

  All three yelled, “NO!”

  The Commander smirked, got out of the pool, and then walked to his lounge chair and dried off with his towel. “Don’t complain in three hours when you are hungry and my story is not completed.” He arched an eyebrow at Natalie.

  “Don’t look at me, I brought snacks. If your story is half as good as I think it might be, I can wait for dinner.” Natalie sat down on her lounge chair and looked over to the Commander and gave a slight nod to him.

  With the exception of a few attacks by the Zateelians, an insectoid race that is a cross between a mutant cockroach and a grasshopper, they have had a relatively nice time on this planet. Everything would change once a replacement ship arrived for Commander Venay, but until then, he had decided to go with the flow.

  “My grandfather, First Admiral Nayven, was a young warrior when he took maybe his third trip to Earth. This was the trip where he met my grandmother…”

  Natalie interrupted. “Commander, what is a First Admiral?” She tilted her head and scrunched her forehead.

  Venay sat up straight and lifted his head so that he was looking down on them. “A First Admiral is the highest rank any warrior can achieve. In fact, the only one who outranks the First Admiral, is the President himself. It is similar to your Joint Chiefs, only we don’t have many branches of military.”

  “Oh, that’s cool. He must be proud of you, following in his footsteps and all.” Natalie smiled.

  “He was. My grandfather passed away during my first mission to Earth.” Venay put his right fist over his heart and bowed his head in salute to the memory of his grandfather.

  Paris put a hand on his shoulder and said, “I’m sorry for your loss. Were you close?”

  Venay leaned back on his lounge chair and said, “We don’t mourn our loved ones the way you do. Especially when they have lived a very long life… Now, do you want me to tell the story or not?”

  Everyone nodded their heads and quieted down as Commander Venay prepared to share his story.

  “It was Earth’s 1947, I believe it was your summertime in North America. My grandfather, who had just been promoted to Commander, and his crew were making what should have been a simple trip to gather slaves and some supplies. My species enjoys a few Earth delicacies, like wine and goat cheese
. We don’t have anything like goats on any of our worlds.” Venay looked to Paris before pulling her into his lap.

  “Hey, I thought you were telling a story?” Paris yelped as she was dragged into her mate’s lap.

  Venay laughed, “Oh, I am. I just remembered that bottle of wine we shared on our honeymoon to the spa in the Zargeiin Mountains.” He nuzzled Paris’ neck while she giggled and squirmed.

  “Come on, we have company. Save it for later.” Paris kissed his cheek and went back to her chair.

  “Right, they were preparing to leave orbit when the Science Officer noticed that another ship had entered Earth’s solar system.”

  Chapter One

  Earth, 1947

  “Commander Nayven, Sir, I see another ship entering this solar system.” Captain Voken was the Science Officer aboard The Zeleron who had been monitoring the satellite they kept near the edge of the human’s solar system. They were in orbit around Earth preparing to leave with their cargo.

  “Whose is it? We don’t have another ship scheduled to arrive yet, do we?” The Commander walked over to the comm station. “Captain Temek, have you received any communications from that ship?”

  “No, sir. They have not reached out to us, yet. Should I send them a message and request they identify themselves?” Temek responded.

  “Not yet.” The Commander stepped a few paces to his left and was behind the Science Officer. “Voken, can you tell the type of ship from this distance?”

  “I am trying to identify it now, sir. It isn’t one of ours, or else I would have received a ping as soon as they were close enough to our satellite.” The Science Officer zoomed in on the image, which was still just a speck on the screen.

  The beings on this ship were not from Earth. They were all from another galaxy, far, far away. These beings hailed from a planet called, V’Zenia Prime. Earth was a sort of warehouse for them.

  “Can you access the satellite’s imaging array? See if you can get a better picture directly from the satellite.” The Commander pointed to the other screen, which was labeled ‘Earth Satellite Pluto’, it showed an image of empty space. The V’Zenian’s had placed a satellite in orbit around Pluto, it assisted them in keeping an eye on the solar system, as well as helped to relay messages faster to their home world when they were in that area.

  The Science Officer focused on the satellite imaging controls and locked onto an image of a saucer style ship. Commander Nayven barked, “Red Alert! Temek, send a comm to Admiral Zoken, notifying him that the Q’Tueliens (QT’s) have entered Earth’s system.” He walked back to his chair in the center of the bridge and sat down. His eyes were narrowed and his voice had a note of hardness to it.

  “Sopok, position us behind that moon. The QT’s don’t have the ability to see us from this far. I want the element of surprise when they get close enough for us to attack them. Be sure to keep us out of their possible line of sight as well as their sensor range.”

  The Commander pulled a tablet out of the side of his chair and changed the images around so that he could get a good look at the QT’s ship.

  Temek turned around in his seat to look at the Commander, “Sir, I have a response from Admiral Zoken.”

  “Good, send it to my tablet.” Nayven changed the app on his tablet to the communication module. As he read the orders from his commanding officer, his mouth turned down, then his eyes drilled onto his pilot, Lieutenant Sopok. He slammed his fist down on the armrest of his seat.

  ‘For the love of Z’Girguan’s! We have been ordered to stay in the shadows and watch the QT’s. The President wants to know what they are up to. Unless they attack our warehouse, we are to take a watch and see approach.” He stood up and walked to his pilot.

  “Sopok, use the moon to hide our ship. But don’t stay so far away that we can’t scan them.” He put his hand on his pilot’s shoulder for a moment before moving away.

  The Commander walked to the science station. “Voken, can you access our satellite around Mars?” Even though this was not their solar system, they used the human’s names for the planets and had placed satellites in the orbit of several other planets in this solar system, besides Pluto.

  “Sir, I should be able to ping a visual off the Mars satellite. Give me just a moment to get the imaging array synced to our systems.” The Science Officer quickly went through the protocols for tapping into one of their satellites and created a link between their ship and sensor array in orbit around Mars. “I have a visual of the QT’s ship, Sir.”

  “Where are they?” the Commander barked out.

  “They entered orbit above North America. The sensors do not show that they have sent a ship down to the planet, or even used their transporters yet. They appear to be scanning the planet. Would you like me to try and intercept their scans?” The Science Officer’s fingers were moving madly over his display while he hacked his way into the QT’s systems.

  “Yes, keep a close eye on everything they are doing. Can you get a hidden link into their systems that will allow us to see everything?” the Commander asked.

  “I have not found a QT system, or ship, that I have not been able to hack into.” Voken smirked as he puffed up his chest and finished loading the Trojan Horse virus. While the QT’s were busy trying to figure out what was happening with their systems, Voken was able to get inside and tap into everything they needed to determine what the enemy was up to.

  “I am in, Sir. We can now see what they see, and even listen in on their comm’s.” Voken was very proud of what he had done. He held his head high and puffed his chest out.

  “Good job, Captain. Now tell me what they are up to. Why are they here in our area of space?” The Commander looked at Voken and raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, Sir.” Voken looked back down to his display and thought to himself, ‘not even a minute to enjoy my win’.

  Chapter Two

  Captain Temek intercepted one transmission from the QT’s ship. He worked on the translation for less than a minute. Temek was a wiz with languages and had helped to program the latest universal translator they were now using.

  The last attempt to implant the human slaves with the universal translator did not work so well. He hoped on this trip back to V’Zenia he would be able to work with their ship’s doctor to perfect the new technology. The last few humans who had been implanted ended up dead before they reached their home planet.

  “Commander, I have translated a message the QT’s sent to their homeworld. They are here to see what we are up to. It seems they want human slaves as well.” The V’Zenians made an annual trip to Earth and abducted humans to be their slaves back home. Some of the women also became mates to the aliens. This had happened for over 150 years and the poor people of Earth have had no clue as to why some people vanished without a trace.

  “That cannot be right. They are not compatible with humans. Why would they want them as their slaves? Do they not have plenty of lesser species to use in their own sector of the universe?” Commander Nayven got up and walked over to the Communication Officer’s workstation. His eyes narrowed while he read the translation himself. He did not believe that is why the QT’s had invaded the V’Zenian space.

  A long time ago they signed a treaty and this part of space had been claimed by the V’Zenians. The QT’s never objected since it was so far away from their homeworld. It would take about nine Earth months to get to the QT’s homeworld from there.

  “Sir, they are an insectoid species. Maybe they want to find a new food source?” Temek replied.

  “Hmm, maybe. But this is a very long trip to obtain a new food source. There are many more planets which are close to their system that could provide what they need. No, I think it is something more. Keep listening to what they are saying. Have they decided to go down to the planet yet?”

  “Not as far as I can tell, Sir. They have been scanning North America. But it seems their scans are focused on the Southwest quadrant of what is known as The United States of America.”
The Comms Officer scratched his head and furrowed his brow.

  “What is it? What are you scowling at?” Nayven peered over Temek’s shoulder and read what the Communication Officer had translated.

  “They are focused on the last area we were at, Sir- Roswell, New Mexico.” Temek looked up to Nayven quickly before looking back down to his screen.

  “How could they know where we were on the planet? Have they been watching us?” Nayven wondered aloud.

  The Science Officer found something of interest. “Commander, I think I found some technology that should not be here. I doubt this is their first trip here.” He pointed to a map on his screen once the Commander stood behind him. “That is a QT tower in the state of New Mexico. My sensors are also picking up another one in the European continent. The QT’s have been monitoring us and our activities here for quite some time.”

  The Commander barked, “Temek, send a comm to the Admiral letting him know what Voken just discovered. I think it is time we showed ourselves to our new neighbors.” The Commander’s face twisted in a cruel grin as he walked back to his chair and pulled his tablet out to review the video and audio from their Trojan Horse.

  “Sir, the Admiral would like to video chat with you. Do you want it on your tablet?”

  “Yes.” The Commander sat up straight and prepared to speak with his commanding officer.

  The message showed up in a 3D model above the tablet’s screen. The Admiral’s bust was displayed in a full-color image hovering above the twelve-inch screen. The Admiral was a tall man, over seven feet tall, but you couldn’t tell from the hologram.

  You could tell he was not human, like all of the warriors on this ship. The Admiral had veins that pulsed different colors of the rainbow according to his mood. Right then, his veins were pulsing a sharp, black color in the 3D hologram. “Nayven, what are those slimy insectoids doing on our planet? We have a treaty with them that they will not enter our space without permission from us. How long have they been coming to our planet?”