Science Fiction
Date Published: February 11, 2019
Publisher: Chandra Press
When an alien named Zinka drops into Thaddeus Kinglsey’s life, he finally gets the adventure he’s been waiting for. Zinka is an exiled Aldinian who is being pursued across the galaxy by the evil tyrant Derask. She crashed on Earth and needs help repairing her ship. Thad jumps at the chance to do something extraordinary and begins an adventure he will never forget. Unfortunately, Derask learns of Thad’s involvement and destroys the Earth to punish him.
When an alien named Zinka drops into Thaddeus Kinglsey’s life, he finally gets the adventure he’s been waiting for. Zinka is an exiled Aldinian who is being pursued across the galaxy by the evil tyrant Derask. She crashed on Earth and needs help repairing her ship. Thad jumps at the chance to do something extraordinary and begins an adventure he will never forget. Unfortunately, Derask learns of Thad’s involvement and destroys the Earth to punish him.
Can this oddball team find a way to take down the galaxy’s most powerful dictator? Does ‘winging it’ ever really work? Can you find love on a planet full of mercenaries? These questions and more are answered in this whimsical romp across the Milky Way.
Excerpt
She raises an eyebrow at me and looks me up and down. I'm guessing, it's to see if any of my body language gives off a liar vibe. Either that, or to find the best place to punch me. It’s about 50/50 right now. The best place to punch me would be either in the throat or genitals. I don’t want her to do either, but that is my analysis.
"Why?"
"Why, what?" I ask.
"You would help me?" She asks after the momentary awkward silence of us just looking at each other. Well, her looking at me and me looking everywhere but her to avoid the awkwardness of it all.
"Of course."
"But why?"
"‘Cause everyone needs a little help sometimes. Now, to show you I am sincere, I have a little present for you." I rummage through my uniform’s pockets. "I know I have it here somewhere," I mumble to myself.
She stares at me skeptically. My hand continues to fiddle in my pockets to try and find what I’m looking for. I feel my hand touch the round object. I pull it out and hold it in the palm of my hand.
Her eyebrow raises as she looks at the thingy that came from the carnival. She takes a few moments to stare at it, trying to calculate what to make of it.
"What’s that?" She questions as she pokes the snow globe.
"Well, I have no idea what it actually is, but it looks a lot like Earth. I won it at the carnival. The reason I picked it is because of how close it looks to Earth. Just a little reminder to me of where I came from."
"Holy shit. It does look like Earth."
"Yeah, yeah it does," I say as I still gaze at the object.
I look up to see her staring at it with a melancholy expression. My eyes go from the trinket to her face. I repeat this over and over again. She hasn’t removed her eyes from the snow globe. I make a snap decision, which seems like a great idea.
My free hand gently grabs her wrist. I turn her hand palm up and place the tiny thingy there before simultaneously removing my grip on the sphere and her wrist. She gawks at the sphere then looks up at me, waiting for some explanation. I hate explaining things. Explaining things is hard.
"Wh…why?"
"Because." I reply before pausing to carefully think of a response. This is a very delicate situation. "Look, I wanted this to remember my home by, but I will always have my memories. Maybe having something that resembles the Earth will help you. If not, then just look at this as a personal promise from me. It’s my promise that I will help you. You can go ahead and keep that and when, keyword when, we get your memory back, you can give it back to me."
I suddenly feel two arms surround me in an unexpected embrace. My mind doesn’t know what to do here. Hugs are awkward. Do I hug back? When is an appropriate time to let go? Do I pat her back? Do I do the rub her back in comforting circles? Is that awkward? I never thought this would happen. My arms hesitantly go back around her in a friendly, if not awkward, hug.
"Thank you," she whispers just loud enough for me to hear before she releases.
"Anytime," I reply.
The hallway is engulfed in a pleasant silence. A question pops into my mind.
"Why did Danny call you Pancreas? I mean, it’s not usually a name. I know that much."
"It’s Pangaea, not Pancreas."
About the Author
C.T. Fleck is the pen name of Corey Hofecker. After dropping out of college, for the second time, he discovered the joys that are inherent in both reading and writing, and that his previous distaste of said subjects was just a lack of freedom to read and write what he truly wanted. Being a firm believer that there is beauty in the absurd, he quickly became obsessed with the sci-fi genre. In it he saw the vast possibilities and the probability of how weird our universe can get. Corey lives in rural West Virginia where he occupies his time with reading, writing, video games, and tabletop RPGs. He is an unashamed feminist of sorts and an avid supporter of LGBTQ+ rights.
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