June 2015 The letter wasn’t thick. It was addressed by printer, the type neat and spare. The words were frustrating. “Alec.” Alec Freeman looked up from the report he’d been checking to see Ed Straker’s face set in grim lines. He wondered what it was this time as he took the letter and skimmed it. “I’ll take care of it,” he offered, his tone polite and non-judgmental. The letter wasn’t…
Author’s note: The following takes place at the very end of Timelash. A kaleidoscope of blurred and unrecognisable faces appeared, voices echoing and distorted, but he could make out the words. ‘It could open his mind or destroy it.’ And he retreated to the only safe place he knew. Tall iron gates formed a barrier against uninvited travellers or casual tradesmen and he paused, wondering whether he had…
He knew he was dreaming; there was a part of him that was separate, watching from the sidelines as the young boy sat beside the fireplace opening the present from his parents then looking up at them, his eyes wide with delight. He saw the young officer polishing the silver napkin rings at the table, his elderly parents sitting beside him, chatting about work and friends, delighted to have him…
The main control room, and yet it was not. So different, so very different. Oh it was SHADO, there was no questioning that, but these people were not his, this was not his Control room. His SHADO was not a jumble of burnt out and wrecked consoles, of exhausted and filthy staff clustered around the few remaining machines that still seemed to be active. Wires and cables looping from broken…
By the time she told him to slow down he was shaking with cold and heat and fear. He pulled the car over to the side of the road, switching on the hazard lights. They had not seen one other vehicle on the roads since leaving… leaving… He opened the door, desperate to get out, tangling his arm in the seat belt for a frantic moment. He made it to…
The house looked strangely familiar, the white gate in the fence giving a familiar and welcoming creak as he pushed it open, the path curving around the bole of a heavy tree. He stopped, fearful, his heart pounding now, not from exertion, but dread. ‘Come with me.’ She was there beside him, her fingers on his elbow, guiding him, gentle hands leading him towards the windows with their bright lights…
A UFO Story by LtCdr All usual disclaimers apply Copyright Jan 2013 Keith Ford looked around the refectory with a frown; the busiest time of the day and no tables free. He didn’t like sitting with the medical staff who had a tendency to talk shop while they were eating. There was one table where he might sit; a table for four yet with only one place occupied . It…
A UFO story by Lightcudder Chapter 1 The roads were busy with revellers heading into town to celebrate, noisy groups of party-goers filling the evening with their shrieks of laughter and the once pristine snow covering the carpark when he arrived three days ago was now little more than a thin covering of slush spattering the windscreen with clods of brown half-rotted ice. Straker flicked the radio on, more in…
Eine UFO Erzählung von Lightcudder translation by Toria Keith Ford sah sich mit gerunzelter Stirn in der Mensa um; um die Mittagszeit aßen die meisten Kollegen hier und es war kaum ein Tisch frei. Er hatte keine Lust, sich mit dem medizinischen Personal zusammenzusetzen, die eine Vorliebe dafür hatten, sich während des Essens über ihre Arbeit zu unterhalten. Es gab noch einen Tisch, an dem erst ein Platz besetzt war….
First posted in Lightcudder’s World: Dec 2013.) ( I don’t normally do fluff. I hate fluff. So does Straker now.) ‘Go away Colonel. You can see I’m busy.’ Alec Freeman let the large box rest on the edge of the desk. ‘Just for tonight. I borrowed it from FX for the party at Janice’s and I’m going to Moonbase in a couple of hours. No time to take it home….