Alien Breed: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance Read online

  Alien Breed: A Dark Sci-Fi Alien Romance

  Penelope Woods

  Contents

  About the Author

  Prologue: Naomi Adams

  1. Naomi

  2. Naomi

  3. Naomi

  4. Turin

  5. Naomi

  6. Turin

  7. Naomi

  8. Naomi

  9. Turin

  10. Naomi

  11. Naomi

  12. Turin

  13. Naomi

  14. Turin

  15. Naomi

  16. Turin

  17. Epilogue: Naomi

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  Penelope’s Dungeon

  About the Author

  A Penelope Woods Production

  About the Author

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  Penelope Woods is a top 100 Amazon author who writes dark sci-fi, horror, fantasy and uniquely gothic romance novels. When she learned about smut, it was like a light bulb clicked on in her head. She started writing in 2016 and has never looked back.

  Prologue: Naomi Adams

  Audio transcription:

  Hello? Testing. Testing.

  I have little time to speak, so I’ll make it quick. He found me, the wretched, alien beast.

  The alien you helped create...

  All of this is what you wanted, wasn’t it?

  Congratulations. How did you know we’d fall for your sick plan?

  How did you know he’d take me?

  [Muffled footsteps.]

  Oh, God. No...

  [Inhuman growl.]

  Shit. He’s coming. I have to leave.

  I’m sorry for everything. I failed the Avalon expedition. Worst, I’ve failed myself. To everyone back on Earth: You don’t know what’s out here. What they’re doing to us…

  If this gets leaked to the press, don’t forget our names. We are Starship Tera-Earth 373, the second team to land and die on planet Avalon.

  [Door creaking]

  Okay. This is it. There’s nothing else left to lose.

  He has me cornered.

  It’s breeding time.

  One

  Naomi

  System Announcement: Welcome to Avalon. Prepare for landing.

  Year: 2093

  Location: Avalon’s Orbit

  We discovered planet Avalon in 2065.

  To most of Earth’s population, it was just another rock, floating a million light years away. NASA published a new high-definition planetary photograph every month.

  The discovery didn’t make international headlines.

  Within a year, it was the number one story. They unveiled more data, information that changed the course of history forever.

  The planet’s atmosphere conditions were fit for life. One hundred percent positive. This was a place we could establish a second Earth.

  The entire world went through a consciousness shift over that simple, floating green planet.

  There were tests, rover expeditions. Crude machines analyzed soil samples. With the facts confirmed and in the public eye, NASA received thousands of applications to arrive and build a base. People were ready to make the journey.

  Glued to their tablet screens, we watched in awe as a team of competent scientists and engineers blasted through the cosmos. Earth celebrated. After experiencing so much strife, the entire world came together, unified toward progress.

  There was hope of a better future. To infinity, eyes toward the heavens.

  That was the first expedition. Our crew is the second.

  We’ll meet the others on planet Avalon. We’ll drop off the supplies and start building a new tomorrow. Then, like the noble pioneers of the past, we’ll watch the future grow.

  The flight is just a routine expedition, added humans to start the construction of a new planetary habitat. It requires five of us to give up our lives for the greater good. No big deal. Just a standard twenty-year round trip…

  We won’t have to work again. We can retire in glory.

  Surprisingly, none of us care about any of those things. The crew doesn’t want infamy. We’re all searching for something else.

  I’ll admit it. The mystery turned us on. We wanted to know why our lives were so difficult. We left because we wanted something other than ourselves.

  That’s not what we got. Space makes one introspective. It alters the perception of one’s life.

  We circle through Avalon’s orbit. The only thing I’m wondering is why I ever signed up to do this.

  It has been eight months, and the first half of our journey is finally coming to an end. We’re nearly there. But are we prepared?

  The closer we get to the green planet, the more I want to understand it.

  In the final weeks before leaving, NASA revealed to us something remarkable. The first expedition found life. Microbiology. Things you can’t actually see.

  Nothing to worry about, they said. There are a team of scientists studying the samples.

  There might be more to Avalon than meets the eye.

  Leaning my head against the cold window, I stare in awe, eyes watering.

  I’ve never experienced love. Not when I was younger. Not as I aged. I never gave it a second thought.

  As Avalon pulls us inside, it’s the only thing on my mind.

  Who knows if I’ll ever find someone who understands me? After this expedition, everything will be different. And that’s only if we make it back in one piece.

  Can a planet’s atmosphere cause such an emotional disturbance in a human? No, I decide. I’ve been sleeping too much. That’s the reason.

  Everything is going to be fine…

  Halloway, the captain of the ship arrives at my side. He’s not a great leader, but he’s a decent man. Still, I wish he took the time to bring the crew closer together.

  “The cosmos is endless,” I say.

  “It won’t be long until we land,” he says. “You thinking about home again?”

  “Somehow, I’m always thinking about home,” I mutter.

  “Well, you don’t need to worry. Earth is the same place we left it. Doesn’t matter how far away you are from home. Life goes on,” Halloway says.

  I nod. Life always finds a way.

  Leaning over to look out the window, his eyes glow with wonder. “We should celebrate, right? We made it. Avalon… Look at her. Isn’t she exquisite?”

  To my right, Fassbender leans near the door, his blonde hair, combed back, gel glistening. There’s a dark twinkle in his eyes, and his lips arch like horns.

  “You’re wrong, you know. Life doesn’t just go on,” he says. “Avalon rests near a black hole. You’ve felt it. Depression. Madness. We have all experienced it. Unfortunately for us, time works at a faster rate out here. One hour here is years back home.”

  My jaw drops. “You’re not saying…"

  He nods. “When we get back, it’ll be the future. Our families will be dead. The institutions we hold dear will have changed or crumbled. Everything we have come to know and love will alter.”

  Well, so much for staying positive...

  Next to him is Roy, another member of the weary crew. Running his hand through his peppered, unkempt beard, he gives a gruff laugh and shifts his weight to one side. “Good riddance.”

  My throat feels tight. “Does any of this matter?” I ask. “We lost communication to Earth months ago when our relay interceptor died on us, remember? We are one day away from touching base on Avalon. Whatever you think about time as a concept is meaningless to the job at hand. We have instructions to mee
t with the first team. We’ll go over the briefing together.”

  “And what, pray tell is that mission, Naomi?” Fassbender asks.

  The condescension in his tone is just enough to drive me crazy.

  “Construction,” I say. “We’re building a new tomorrow. That starts with a heavy sample and land analysis. We have the chance to hold a deeper understanding of this universe. With our help, people will live on Avalon. They’ll give birth and start families. Cultures will blossom. It’ll be marvelous.”

  He can scoff all he wants, but it’s true. We’re the ones who are laying the foundations for the new world. Historians will write us into the history books.

  Maybe that doesn’t matter.

  On Earth, no family waits for my arrival. I used to have people, but I let them all go.

  At any rate, I like to tell myself I let them go. An accident stole them away from me. Nothing extravagant. Just a simple car crash.

  I remember the impact. White powder caking and stinging my eyes. I remember blindly reaching out for my parents as a man pulled me from the backseat.

  The flashing lights. The tears. The understanding that it was all going to end.

  Our peaceful little family was in shambles.

  The vehicle’s steering chips malfunctioned. Impeccable automation led us right into oncoming traffic. It was a miracle I survived, but it felt like a curse.

  I spent years in therapy. There wasn’t a foster family that could understand my pain.

  They tried, I’ll give them that.

  Everyone wanted to fix me, but there was nothing to fix.

  The company recalled the vehicle and gave me a small relief fund. I was lucky enough to receive it when I turned eighteen. I had to fight real hard for that, but that’s another story.

  I used the money for school. Some of it went to other things I didn’t need but wanted. A fancy dress or two. Things to make me happy. Things to make me forget.

  I proved I could be the best in my class. I was going to travel to the moon and back.

  I grew up. I flew to Avalon.

  Today marks the twentieth anniversary of their death. It’s not something I’ve told the others. Frankly, it’s none of their business. It’s something I bury deep within my chest.

  From my peripheral, I can see Halloway staring at me. His eyes dart as soon as I motion my head.

  “What is it, Captain?” I ask.

  “It’s nothing. Just pre-landing jitters, I suppose,” he mutters.

  He suddenly appears sick with dread. He’s the captain, but he’s not always so great at keeping his cool. Hell, I don’t blame him. This journey has been difficult.

  They won’t write about space madness in the history books.

  Halloway leans his head against the narrow window near his cot. It’s not a good sign to have a captain worrying like this. He should be in the control center, preparing for the landing. I need to make sure he keeps his cool.

  Outside our starship, the green planet rests next to its three moons. When we first saw them, we were in awe. Now, the monoliths haunt everyone.

  The other four crew members of the Starship Tera Earth-373 have described an increase in nightmares. They attribute the affectation to the triple moons.

  No one can be sure of anything anymore.

  “You’re hiding something,” I say.

  Halloway breathes forcefully. “Boy, do I wish that were the truth,” he says. “Just a bad feeling, is all.”

  Great.

  Roy jerks forward. “Halloway, don’t fuck with us. Not now. Not this far into the mission,” he says.

  Halloway growls. “Hey, I’m the captain, remember? Everything I do is for the good of the crew. Just remember that.”

  Something is on his mind. Whatever it is must be big, but we don’t have time to get it out of him.

  Fassbender circles the room. A straw from his juice packet wags from his teeth. “Well, captain, tell us about this good,” he says. “What exactly are we going to find when we touch down on Avalon?”

  Fassbender is so intelligent, he is always one step ahead of the captain. He’s a showboat, but overall, he hasn’t been too much of a pain.

  Captain Halloway wipes the sweat from his temples. He digs his thumbs into two pressure points, sighing with grief. “You tell me, Fassbender. You always seem to be one step ahead of me,” he sneers.

  Fassbender grins. “That’s because I know how to do my job,” he says.

  Halloway’s face turns a darker shade of red. “You don’t have an ounce of respect for me, do you?” he asks.

  I can’t speak for the others, but I’ve never experienced tension between crew members. I’ve traveled through the outer atmosphere of our Earth to our moon, and I’ve orbited around the dead planet Mars.

  I’ve received numerous awards for some short stints at the international space station. Not sure how many podcasts I’ve been on, but it’s more than I can count on my fingers.

  That’s why we were picked for the job. We were the best in the academy.

  “Turning on one another gets us nowhere,” I interject. “We all have a reason to be here.”

  Fassbender is the computer guy. Roy deals with the mechanics. I’m a medical officer. Halloway is, of course, the captain.

  And then there’s Hugh.

  Hugh differs from the rest of us. He’s a little too overqualified for the job, but tragedy forced him into enlisting.

  Four years ago, doctors diagnosed him with Guillain-Barré syndrome. It bound him to a wheelchair, paralyzing his body from the waist on down. He lost his job, his wife, and every penny of his savings went toward paying his debt to the insurance companies.

  He’s a quiet hero.

  Most of the time, he keeps to himself. But every Friday night, he likes to join the crew for a drink.

  It’s Thursday.

  The sound of his wheelchair startles me. “What’s everyone arguing about now?”

  I nod over at Fassbender. “He was just about to announce the bad news.”

  Hugh rolls to the center of the room. Sighing, he tenses. “Without me?”

  “Announcement?” I ask. “Guys, what’s going on?”

  I look from Fassbender to Hugh who both share an awkward glance.

  “He would have missed it if it weren’t for me,” Hugh says.

  Fassbender scratches his neck. His skin glistens with sweat. Tossing the plastic juice container on the ground near the captain’s boots, he says, “All right, brace yourself.”

  “Trust me. We’re braced,” I reply.

  He clears his throat. “I believe Discovery Base on Avalon has been destroyed. Must have happened a few years ago,” he says. “There is no trace of survivors, but no evidence of death either.”

  Roy grabs a metal bar above his head, using it to sit up straight. “Bullshit...”

  “Excuse me?” Halloway asks.

  My face feels hot. He’s wrong. It can’t be true. “We receive monthly audio recordings from Discovery Base,” I argue. “They are making progress with the samples. They’re waiting for us to land.”

  There was one playback from a few weeks ago. They were making headway in the lab. Something about a new scientific breakthrough. The team sounded ecstatic.

  “I know. I can’t explain it either,” Fassbender says, threading his fingers through his gelled hair.

  Hugh scoots past him. “If the academy’s top astronauts knew what this mission was really about, no one would have signed up,” he says.

  My heart races. “What’s the mission, Hugh?”

  “The mission is we die,” Roy interrupts.

  “I want none of that talk on my ship,” Halloway warns.

  Roy bites. “Jesus Christ, Fassbender. How long have you been sitting on these doubts?”

  Hugh chuckles, but he looks terrified. “If it weren’t for me rolling by at the right time, he’d have never brought it up,” he says.

  Halloway stands and leans over Roy’s cot. “Fassben
der is lying. End of story.”

  I glance over at Fassbender. He looks as freaked out as the rest of us.

  “It doesn’t matter. We’ll breach the planet’s atmosphere shortly. We’ll find out soon enough,” I say.

  Halloway is frozen, but I can see his eyes twitch.

  On a mission like this, I expected some minor disruptions. But this news changes expectations.

  If what Fassbender is telling us is true, we’re landing on foreign terrain with no added supplies. Within a few days, we’ll run out of the necessities.

  We’ll all die.

  I’m a medical officer. I don’t know how to hunt.

  This is like Robinson Crusoe times a thousand.

  Fassbender glances at each of us. “Now’s not the time for mutiny. That’s not what I’m advocating, Captain. Trust me, I don’t find pleasure in showing you my findings.”

  Roy grabs Fassbender’s shirt, forcing him against the wall. “How long have you known about this?”

  Fassbender chokes. “One day,” he squeaks, palms out. “I needed to know if what we found was the truth.”

  The crew is silent except for me. “Show us what you found,” I say. “Roy, set him down.”

  Roy smooths out Fassbender’s shirt, but the two stare at each other like a couple of pit bulls.

  With a careful look of trust, he jogs to one of the many screens. Leaning forward, he runs through a series of commands. He pulls up a group of photographs.

  “The rover shots,” I mutter, recognizing them from our entrance interviews.