Alpha Rising by G.L. Douglas Read Free Book Online

cumbersome crank with
both hands, each turn inched the ramp farther downward to slowly
reveal the golden, moon-like world beyond. His nervous crewmates
stood there breathing heavily. He stopped halfway to rest. Then,
minutes of agonizing anticipation ended with the door fully open
and the earthlings face to face with the mysterious planet.
    Bach and Deni stepped a few
feet out onto the ramp. He looked left, then right, and for some
reason his mind rewound to one night as a kid when his big brother
took him into a Halloween haunted house on a full moon. The mix of
anxiety and titillation was the same now as then—almost
unbearable. Get over it . Swallow your apprehension and do
the same thing you did that night. Go forward bravely.
    By the time the two stepped off the ramp,
Kaz had wrung her hands and bounced from foot to foot a dozen
times. “Bach, come back! Please….” The world outside the door
seemed to absorb her voice. As her crewmates moved farther from the
ship, she rushed to Lynch in the cockpit. “What’s going to happen
to us?”
    The commander smirked. “Face it, Kaz, we’re
in an astral hinterland. We got no chance of survival.”
    “ Don’t say that.” She
walked away then rushed back, leaned into his face and focused on
his beady blue eyes. “Why?”
    “ It ain’t quantum physics,
Kaz. We’re lost in space on a desolate, moon-like
planet.”
    “ But it’s not the moon, so
where are we?”
    Ignoring her, he stared straight ahead.
    She darted back to the ramp. “Something
bad’s going to happen, I feel it, I—”
    “ Listen, Kaz,” G.R.
interjected, “Earth has deserted areas and is inhabited by
millions. This place is probably the same. In my opinion, it’s just
a matter of time until someone comes for us.”
     
    On return to the AstroLab, Deni held onto
Bach’s shoulder to navigate the soft sand. “I’m amazed that we
haven’t heard a sound other than voices from our ship,” she
said.
    Bach entered first and announced, “We’ve
washed up on a deserted celestial shore. Don’t know if it’s good or
bad news, but we didn’t see anybody.”
    Deni added, “It doesn’t seem an ideal
habitat for anyone.”
    Kaz peeked outside. “Well, in G.R.’s
opinion, someone is going to come for us.” She looked at G.R. “Now
who might that be?”
    Lynch stared at the control
panel and replied for G.R. “A little green man—for you.” His
sarcasm ended when a gauge flickered on the console and grabbed his
attention. He watched as it transformed into a glowing yellow
energy form pulsing in and out in the golfball-sized circle. A face
materialized, and within seconds the apparition’s hypnotic,
copper-colored eyes weakened the commander’s mental processes.
Lynch reacted by trying to touch it, but a scorching pain shot
through his hand and arm and moved his senses further from reality.
The disconcerting face whispered, “Welcome,” then dissolved away.
Lynch’s throat tightened and he started to sweat. Maybe he was in shock.
    “ What else is out there?”
asked G.R.
    “ We couldn’t see too far
with the lighting—it seems deserted except for the lake,” Bach
said. “There’s a partially submerged, flat-topped boulder in it as
big as a bus. No vegetation visible anywhere, but plenty of sand.
The space station’s dug into it deep.”
    Deni nodded. “There’s no sound or movement
in the distance. No stars or moon. The sky is pure black, but that
beautiful glow-in-the-dark gold illuminates everything from the
ground. And no signs of habitation; we may be the first of a new
breed.”
    “ Oh, no,” Kaz
whimpered.
    “ Our biggest concern right
now is food and water,” Bach added. “There’s enough to stretch out
for one, maybe two weeks, but we’ll need more water for sanitation.
I’ll try to restore the space station’s hydroponic gardens and
merge the electronics and hardware from both the station and
Wizard—see if I can’t get something up and running. First, I