Stranger Read online

  Praise for M. B. Wood

  Stranger: … a well-told … superior second installment of an intriguing dystopian saga.

  —Kirkus Reviews

  Book Description

  Taylor MacPherson, a survivor of Earth’s apocalyptic collapse, witnesses a strange light in the night sky, little realizing a leftover space-based rail gun has crippled the alien Qu’uda’s giant spaceship, stranding it in an unstable orbit. The Qu’uda send one of their own down to Earth to make repairs. The resulting interaction with humans comes at a terrible cost to each.

  In the battle between the humans and aliens, Taylor MacPherson captures a Qu’uda alien. From the prisoner, the humans gain the Qu’uda fusion technology and learn the aliens intend to return and bomb them into a stone-age condition. Taylor knows the alien technology is key to ease their primitive condition and provide a means to survive the coming conflict.

  Stranger

  Clash of the Aliens

  M. B. Wood

  Contents

  The Story so Far …

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  About the Author

  If You Liked …

  Other WordFire Press Titles by M.B. Wood

  Stranger

  Copyright © 2018 Faucett Publishing LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright holder, except where permitted by law. This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously.

  The ebook edition of this book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. The ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share the ebook edition with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  * * *

  EBook ISBN: 978-1-68057-049-6

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-68057-048-9

  * * *

  Cover artwork by Michael J. Canales

  Kevin J. Anderson, Art Director

  Published by

  WordFire Press, LLC

  PO Box 1840

  Monument CO 80132

  Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta, Publishers

  WordFire Press eBook Edition 2019

  WordFire Press Trade Paperback Edition 2019

  * * *

  Printed in the USA

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  The Story so Far …

  A brushfire war in the Middle East—fueled by ancient hatreds and fought with modern weapons—spreads globally. Islamic fanatics paralyze the industrialized nations with massive electromagnetic pulses, then follow up with decapitating missile attacks.

  Chaos rules as the US financial system fails. Credit cards, checks, order entry systems—everything stops working. Food, medicine, fuel … everything necessary for human survival becomes scarce. Soon enough, the people with guns are the ones who make the rules.

  Taylor MacPherson loses his wife, Vivian, in a nuclear attack on Washington, DC. Taylor’s troubles mount when thugs murder his neighbor and attack him in his home. Conditions deteriorate, and Taylor, fearing for his life, flees to the Cleveland Metropark to take refuge until order returns. Chris, a teenage refugee, tells him how her father was killed and her mother, Franny, was raped by Knuckles, a motorcycle gang member who loves classical music. Taylor, realizing that others are suffering, takes in Franny and her children. More refugees arrive and their group grows.

  Even though grief-stricken by his own loss, Taylor organizes the refugees, building shelter and defenses. They settle on a hill in the Rocky River gorge in the Metropark and turn it into a stronghold.

  Meanwhile, the alien Qu’uda learn that their exploratory ship, the Star Seeker, had a disastrous encounter with an alien species they call “Hoo-Lii.” The Qu’uda are a long-lived, hermaphroditic species. Gender change is a survival characteristic brought on by living on a planet subject to periodic catastrophes. In response to the Star Seeker incident, the Qu’uda set up a space observatory to warn against any approaching aliens and receive a faint television broadcast—Nixon’s resignation speech, from far-off Earth. Using a small asteroid, the Qu’uda build a huge interstellar spacecraft to travel to the solar system.

  On Earth, during the long, hot summer, Taylor and his companions fend off a major assault by a gang. Such difficult times forge these refugees into an extended family, the Clan, whose name reflects Taylor’s Scottish heritage. Franny comes out of her shell and uses her accounting skills to become Taylor’s right hand in managing their scarce resources on the road to self-sufficiency. Over time, Franny learns of Taylor’s loss. She consoles him and realizes he is more than a friend. During their first Christmas together, a pale imitation of seasons past, they become lovers.

  More refugees arrive at the compound as starvation tightens its grip on the land. Gangs coalesce under Skid Vukovitch, who appoints himself mayor of Cleveland. Taylor rebuffs Skid’s demand for tribute. Using an army of conscripts, Skid besieges the Clan’s stronghold. In the battle, a sniper shoots Franny, who dies in Taylor’s arms. He continues to fight and is wounded.

  Franny’s daughter Chris recognizes Skid as the man who killed her father and raped her sister. She leads a band of horsemen after Skid and kills him. With the gang’s stranglehold loosened, trade begins once more and a measure of prosperity returns.

  Taylor, heartbroken and suffering from his wounds, begins to deteriorate. Concerned about his health, his friends recruit an attractive young widow, Noelle, to be his housekeeper and take care of him in every way possible. Recovering, Taylor resumes leadership of the Clan and sets out to rebuild civilization from the wreckage of the Collapse.

  Meanwhile, the Qu’uda asteroid ship is halfway to Earth when they detect the electromagnetic pulses from the nuclear bombs. Even though their race regards those who use such weapons to be insane, they cannot turn back. The Qu’uda must continue on to the world of madness.

  Chapter One

  A dot of light in the cold, moonless sky brightened, stretched, and expanded into a line of white fire.

  Taylor McPherson stopped, transfixed, as the line slowly crept east across a black sea of stars.

  What the hell is that? Taylor shivered.

  It was moving far too slowly to be a meteorite. For just an instant, he thought of the space craft his world had once lau
nched. Could it be a rocket climbing into orbit? The harsh reality of life after civilization’s collapse extinguished all hope of that. It had to be something else.

  Moments later, the line faded away. The night sky again became a black veil sprinkled with multi-colored stars.

  A worn but still functioning rail gun platform orbiting near the North Pole, a solitary leftover from before the Collapse. Heat from the fusion engine of the enormous alien spaceship aroused the platform’s infrared sensors.

  The rail gun platform’s gyros spun into life. The platform rotated slowly and lined up on the infrared flare of the alien ship’s engine. When aligned, the solid-state relays discharged a massive current flow into the electromagnetic coils of the rail gun.

  A depleted uranium slug, jacketed in a tough tungsten-steel alloy, accelerated along a hundred and fifty feet of rail to a velocity of twenty-five miles per second.

  The gyros had rotated the platform too far. The slug struck the alien ship’s iron-nickel hull, producing a brief flash of blue-white light.

  The platform’s gyros re-oriented the rail gun and its pitted solar cells recharged the capacitor banks. It was ready and the sensors locked onto the fierce fire of the ship’s fusion engine.

  It fired.

  Taylor glanced at the bare trees and shadows that concealed the squat homes huddled on top of the hill. This fortified community, located within the Rocky River valley, was a refuge against the savagery of the society that had emerged.

  For twenty years, chaos had ruled. Now warfare and worry made the world a primitive place, stuck at the level of a pre-industrial society.

  Taylor was sure the strange light in the sky was an unknown cosmic event. He rubbed his eyes and looked again at the sky to find some trace of what he’d seen.

  Maybe I just imagined it.

  As he turned to resume his way home, the world brightened and his shadow grew sharp, distinct. He glanced back at the sky to see a glowing ball of white fire brighter than a full moon. It faded fast. It was where the strange line of fire had lingered.

  What in God’s name was that?

  Chapter Two

  The Egg-that-Flies orbited above the bright blue planet with its abundant and fertile continents. It was truly rich with life and a prize worth the long trip. Now it was time to refuel before taking possession of the planet, eliminating its mammalian life, and establishing it as a new home for a colony of Qu’uda.

  Something struck the side of the ship, the Egg-that-Flies, making a sound like a hammer striking a giant gong.

  Cha KinLaat DoMar, the ship’s navigator, swept scanners over the exterior of the hull.

  Nothing. Maybe it was a meteoroid. He re-oriented four of the ship’s particle beam defenses on the forward section to cover its fuel tank. They normally swept debris from the ship’s path while underway.

  Cha KinLaat ignited the Egg-that-Flies’ fusion drive and the ship accelerated. He set the course through the planet’s gravity well so the ship could take advantage of the planet’s rotation.

  The ship’s course would head toward the outer part of the system. There they would get fuel from a gas planet for its fusion drive. Then they would return.

  Cha KinLaat expanded the scanner’s field of view to reveal a long, ungainly satellite. More space debris, he thought. This planet is so rich that its inhabitants had metal to waste. He saw a flicker of light on the satellite.

  The ship’s beam weapons stuttered, emitting multiple pulses. The defense system reacted to a fast-moving slug.

  The beam weapons were too late.

  Even as the satellite flared into incandescence, the slug reached its destination and ripped through the outer cooling coil on the ship’s drive. Polycarbon containment exfoliated in a cloud of glittering black flakes, driven helter-skelter by jetting coolant.

  The drive’s cooling system’s pressure drop initiated an automatic shutdown.

  Gravity failed as the flaring fusion drive winked out.

  Cursing, Cha KinLaat lost his grip and cartwheeled through the air. He caught a handhold and scanned the readouts. He saw a major pressure drop in the drive’s cooling system.

  In the zero gravity, Cha KinLaat floated, disoriented. Alone in the navigation station, he had total responsibility for running the computer operating the ship’s drive system. He propelled himself back to his station and gave the command to replay what had happened.

  On a monitor, a data set overlay a jerky image of a smooth projectile. It was small and moving very fast.

  The monitor brightened as powerful beams flashed out. The projectile remained on its original trajectory.

  Oh, so that’s what hit us.… Cha KinLaat thought.

  “Cha KinLaat.” It was Mata ChaLik, leader of the Defenders of Qu’uda, the comm-net.

  “Why did the drive shut down?”

  “We have a superconductor coolant pressure warning.”

  Cha KinLaat queried the drive computer. “What caused the pressure drop?”

  Drive failure this close to a planet demanded immediate action. The Egg-that-Flies had no capability of landing on a planet—deep space was its only home. A strong gravity field would tear it apart. The ship was a giant fuel tank with living quarters at one end and a fusion drive system at the other.

  “Major gas breach, external line,” the drive computer said. “High gas flow rate. Shutting down affected system.”

  A second, higher pitched chirp caught his attention. It was the navigation computer.

  “Navigation, yes?” Cha KinLaat said.

  “Gas leak causing course change. Ship will enter atmosphere in one-eighth of an orbit. Shutting down affected gas distribution system.”

  Cha KinLaat knew they needed a sustained burn from the engine. “System status, can fusion sequence be initiated?”

  “Low coolant pressure mandates system lock out,” the drive system biocomputer answered. “Repair required.”

  “What’s going on?” Mata ChaLik said. “Well?”

  “The drive shut down. We may enter the atmosphere.”

  “May?” Mata ChaLik’s voice rose. “Find out, and now.”

  “I’m doing that.” Cha KinLaat calculated the new course. The pulse of gas from the leak had turned the ship toward the planet. “It’s going to …” He rechecked the figures. They were headed toward the atmosphere.

  Fear gripped him like a predator.

  Cha KinLaat knew if the Egg-that-Flies crashed into the planet, the explosive impact would be like that of an asteroid.

  “Atmospheric impact imminent.”

  The navigation image showed the Egg-that-Flies touching the outer edge of the atmosphere, a cool, green object changing to one of flashing white.

  Cha KinLaat anticipated the searing heat of the impact dissolving him into his constituent atoms. Is this is how I die? he thought. This should not be happening.

  The ship vibrated with a roar that turned into an insane shriek. It shuddered and banged like a giant cymbal. The deck creaked as though about to break. Gravity came back with a surge for an instant under the deceleration from hitting the top of the planet’s atmosphere.

  Cha KinLaat slammed headfirst into the forward bulkhead. Pain exploded in a red haze.

  I’m still alive, Cha KinLaat thought, surprised.

  Once again, he floated freely in zero gravity.

  The navigation screen showed the Egg-that-Flies had touched the upper atmosphere at just the right angle and had bounced off. Free from the clutches of the atmosphere, the ship coasted high into the cold safety of empty space. As the ship cooled, it pinged and crackled.

  “Display course and projected course,” Cha KinLaat said.

  I’m astonished the Egg-that-Flies didn’t break up under those stresses.

  The navigation display showed the ship had a highly elliptical orbit. The apogee reached far into space, but the perigee dipped back into the top of the planet’s atmosphere.

  “Mata ChaLik,” he called on the comm-net.
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  “Yes?” His voice was faint and distant.

  “We’re in orbit around the planet.”

  “Are we safe?” Mata ChaLik sounded relieved.

  Cha KinLaat hesitated. “No.”

  The image of the Egg-that-Flies being consumed in a fiery dive into the atmosphere still haunted him, for the navigation computer projected that lay ahead.

  He cringed.

  “What? You have something else to tell me?”

  “We will enter the atmosphere on the next perigee pass. We must boost the ship’s orbit.”

  “Do it.”

  “Options for emergency drive startup?” Cha KinLaat spoke to the drive biocomputer.

  “Diversion of reserve fuel to increase cooling system capacity. Not known if coolant pressure can be raised to operate drive system. Leak cause and status unknown.”

  “Emergency override,” Cha KinLaat said. “Blow down one-half of reserve fuel through the cooling system.”

  He-3 fueled the on-board power supply as well as the fusion drive.