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    Unusual 1st Contact Stories
    Unusual 1st Contact Stories
    Unusual 1st Contact Stories
    Ebook143 pages2 hours

    Unusual 1st Contact Stories

    By Stephen Brandon

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Most 1st contact stories either lead to peace or war. The side annihilated depends upon the author.
    My three stories have some twist that I hope you didn't anticipate. Enjoy!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStephen Brandon
    Release dateJun 7, 2017
    ISBN9781370840984
    Unusual 1st Contact Stories
    Author

    Stephen Brandon

    I've loved westerns and science fiction since I picked up my first book at the public library. I've been writing on my computer for years. I never planned on any of my stories being published, just to be read by myself, family, and friends. The base journal is on forty spreadsheets with links to about a thousand files of short one day paragraphs plus other stories. {My claim to fame, written by someone else. Thanks.} "As an earthbound retiree, Stephen writes mostly science fiction and short stories. He is a voracious reader and has written for a few years, publishing his stories on Smashwords."

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      Book preview

      Unusual 1st Contact Stories - Stephen Brandon

      Unusual 1st Contact Stories

      By Stephen Brandon

      ~ ~ ~

      Copyright 2017 Stephen Brandon Smashwords Edition

      * * *

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-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’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ~ ~ ~

      Books Table of Contents (BToC)

      The Soldiers

      Children of Arth

      Fairie

      ~ ~ ~

      Author's Notes

      This book is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, incidents, and dialogue are from the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or other persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Real and fictional locations are used for background only.

      Corrected copy #2.

      ~ ~ ~

      About Stephen Brandon and his other books.

      {My claim to fame, written by someone else. Thanks.} As an earthbound retiree, Stephen writes mostly science fiction and short stories. He is a voracious reader and has written for a few years, publishing his stories on Smashwords.

      * * *

      Acknowledgments

      My wife has put up with me for over forty seven years. Without her support and love I don't know who, what, or where I would be, so I thank her from the bottom of my heart, and I dedicate all of my books to her!

      ~ ~ ~

      The Soldiers

      By Stephen Brandon

      ~ ~ ~

      Table of Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      ~ ~ ~

      Chapter 1

      Dr Lange, we've finally done it!

      Yes, Dr Wilson, we finally did it. After a hundred and seven attempts we succeeded. I wonder if it was your idea or just luck. Get that research intern in here.

      Miss Allen, I need you to research the complete history of an object.

      Yes Sir Dr Lange. What is it?

      The object is an old painting by Van Allen of his mistress painted in the early 19th century.

      But Sir, that's not the kind of research I've been doing. A painting?

      I know, but I think it may tie into our project.

      Yes Sir.

      Dr Lange, here is what I could find on that painting you requested.

      Thanks, just put it on my desk. Later he picked it up and read.

      The painting of Van Allen's mistress was actually painted by an little known artist named Stilton. It was one of two portraits he painted that later became famous. Stilton was commissioned to paint it by Miss Calhoun in 1913 as a birthday present for Van Allen. It was presented at a public birthday party on his fiftieth birthday on 12 June 1915. She disappeared two years later and he died six years later.

      One art critic that saw the picture commented that it rivaled the Mona Lisa. It was sold at an auction in 1922 to help settle Van Allen's estate debts. It sold for $300000 dollars to Jenkins Oil company. It was placed in their entrance way along with several other paintings in their London office. When Mr Jenkins died in 1931, the board of directors closed the office and sold the paintings. They were bought by several collectors.

      The next time the painting was recorded was in 1939. It went up for auction in New York in 1940 and was sold for $495000 to a Mr Callahan. He had a reverse of fortune, and auctioned it two years later where it sold at auction for $1.1 million to the grandson of Van Allen. He put it on display in the museum he built to honor his grandfather.

      The museum was vandalized in 1949. During the apprehension of the art thieves by the police a fire started. Six of Van Allen's pictures were partially destroyed. Miss Wilson's portrait and one painting by Van Allen were completely burned. The only portion of Miss Allen's painting recovered was a small triangle of the lower left corner. This corner was still in the frame held by three brass tacks.

      A picture of this portrait was found in Lost Art by a Stephen Flanagan published in 1951. A copy of page 301 attached.

      The next morning Dr Wilson called Miss Allen into his office.

      Jennifer, Your report was excellent. I have another research project for you.

      OK Sir.

      I want you to use Mr. Flanagan's book and pick two missing pieces of art. One should be something that can't be burned, like a statue or something. Then find me five more recent objects that were documented to have disappeared, the circumstances, and their last locations.

      But Sir, what does this have to do with the project?

      Follow me. Entering Dr Lange's office he walked her over to the closet.

      Sir something smells burnt.

      With a smile he opened the door and lifted out a rectangular object covered with a drop-cloth. Removing the cloth, he turned the object around.

      In shock Jennifer took two steps back and fell backwards over the couch in front of Dr Lange's desk.

      Dr Lange and Dr Wilson were both smiling when she recovered.

      Dr Wilson commented, Well Bill, looks like our accidental acquisition has a shock value greater than expected. When she recovers, we'll have targets to aim for.

      Yea, and this time everything will be documented completely.

      Three months later Jennifer handed Dr Wilson the finalized list while Dr Lange calibrated the machine.

      Ready yet Tim?

      Calibration complete, enter the first coordinates minus fifteen seconds. I want to check the time sequence against the time we pulled the first portrait. Then we'll back it up and pull Van Allen's portrait from the wall beside the other one. If it works we'll try the statue, and then the commemorative plate.

      Focus off a little, the smoke looks thicker than last time, adjusting.

      Bill, I got it! Give me a minute to get it out of the chamber. - - - Clear.

      Target two acquired. Retrieving.

      Got most of it Bill. Looks like the right arm didn't make it.

      Putting system on standby. Jennifer, help him get it out of there.

      Minutes later. There's the plate. What's that in front of it.

      Jennifer screamed, Its an arm. One of the firemen stated in his report that he thought someone ran into the building, but no body was ever found after the second explosion.

      The wall is collapsing Bill.

      You can't let him die Sir.

      We're not ready for people.

      It's laying on him, he'll be crushed.

      Tim, expand the horizontal to six feet from center and depth to three feet.

      "Reacquiring plate. There's blood on it. Dropping vertical one foot.

      "There's a face. Shifting focal center two feet at 130 degrees. Focal depth 1.5 feet.

      He's completely visible along with the plate. Energizing.

      Jennifer, call the clinic and tell them to get someone up here with a trauma kit.

      Bill the fans are on, get the door open while I shut down.

      They managed to get part of the wall off the individual and found that he was still alive.

      The clinic nurse kept him alive until help arrived to lift the wall section. Then they discovered that he was a she. Several ribs were broken and one lung penetrated. She was coughing up blood while the doctor struggled to restore breathing.

      The next morning Dr Lange and Dr Wilson were in the board room. The chairman wanted to know who authorized pulling a human being from the past, and demanded to know who she was and her ancestry and descendant line.

      Jennifer arrived as the chairman was winding down. Sir I have that information.

      Well, what is it! he screamed.

      Dr Lange held up his hand and stated, "First things first. You will listen to the report and watch the video of the test. After you watch the video you can make a judgment whether her retrieval was warranted. Then Miss Allen will give you the information on the female that we retrieved.

      Seal the room. Tim, start the recording.

      "See this oil portrait here. We researched and found that it was one of two that were destroyed in a museum fire. The one beside it we accidentally retrieved last month during a scanning test. After researching it, we found that one other portrait disappeared. We have both of them. Miss Allen researched and found several hundred physical objects missing. We selected half a dozen and did in-depth research. This second portrait, a small marble statue, and the commemorative plate were the three we chose to run this sequence of test on.

      "The portrait and statue we retrieve with no problem, except one arm was missing from the statue.

      "As we zoomed in on the plate we noticed what looked like an arm in front of it, as you can see in this section. Observe the wall as it buckles out and over the plate and arm. Adjusting the horizontal and vertical focus we located the person being crushed under the wall. See the blood on the shoulder and neck. I made a decision to retrieve the plate and person in one try. The research did not mention any missing persons, or any bodies retrieved by the emergency services. It did however mention another explosion that collapsed the building causing damage to two adjacent buildings.

      Now, would any of you turned your back on an injured person that you could probably save?

      The chairman looked around and then mumbled, I guess not."

      Jennifer, read the research you did on the person we retrieved.

      Yes Sir.

      The person retrieved was thirty-eight years old with one teenage daughter. The daughter was in school, and reported her mother missing two days after the bombing of the historical center by a terrorist group.

      The female retrieved was a member of an anti-terrorist group working for Homeland.

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