The Sirens of Space
Read The Sirens of Space Online
Authors: Jeffrey Caminsky
Tags: #science fiction, #aliens, #scifi, #adventure, #space opera, #alien life forms, #cosguard, #military scifi, #outer space, #cosmic guard
The Sirens of Space:
A Novel
by Jeffrey Caminsky
The Guardians of Peace, Book One
Published by New Alexandria Press
PO Box 530516
Livonia, Michigan 48153
www.newalexandriapress.com
Smashwords Edition
March 2012
License Notes
This ebook edition is licensed for your
personal enjoyment only, and may not be sold or given away to
others. If you would like to share this book, please respect the
author’s hard work and effort, and purchase an additional copy for
each recipient.
This book is a work of fiction. The names,
characters, and events portrayed in this book are entirely
fictitious, and are the product of the author’s imagination. Any
resemblance to any actual person–living, dead, or otherwise—is
entirely coincidental.
Copyright ©2009 by Jeffrey Caminsky
All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without
the prior written permission of the author. For information on
obtaining permission for excerpts and reprints, contact
[email protected]
.
The quote attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche
first appeared in 1885, in the book
Beyond Good
and Evil
.
ISBN: 978-0-9790106-6-8 (Hardcover
Edition)
ISBN: 978-0-9790106-3-7 (Softcover
Edition)
ISBN: 978-1-60915-010-5 (Smashwords
Edition)
LCCN: 2008934583
Quantity discounts are available on bulk
purchases of print editions this book Special books or book
excerpts can also be made available to fit specific needs. For
information, please contact
[email protected]
or
send written inquiries to New Alexandria Press, PO Box 530516,
Livonia, Michigan 48153.
To Mom and Dad, with love and
gratitude....
Contents
A Select Gazetteer of Obscure Heavenly
Bodies
The Guardians of Peace, Book
One:
I swear upon my sacred
oath
to renounce all bigotry, racial and
religious; to forswear for my term of service all planetary
allegiance; and to serve Humanity as a guardian of peace, dedicated
to preserving human life wherever it wanders. I swear to uphold the
laws of the Terran League and all its member planets, and to
conduct myself at all times in a manner consistent with integrity
and justice. I pledge to serve my superiors faithfully and obey
their lawful orders, and to treat any discretion that befalls me as
a sacred trust not be abused, nor perverted for personal gain or
aggrandizement. And I pledge full devotion to all of my appointed
tasks, no matter what the cost to myself.
To fulfill my duties to Humanity, and to the
Cosmic Guard, I pledge my name, my life, and my honor.
CosGuard Oath of Allegiance
He who fights with monsters must take care
not to become a monster. For if you stare long enough into the
abyss, the abyss will stare back at you.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Old Earth Philosopher
1844-1900
Peace comes from self-discipline and
self-awareness, from enlightenment, and not from power. In much the
same way, Science can give us numbers and books can give us words,
but we must each must supply our own thoughts.
P. J. Hollander
Isitian Poet and Sage
2295-2393
“WHAT’S THAT, GRANDPA?”
Tom Cook looked at the screen and felt his
heart freeze in mid-beat. Instantly, he knew what it was. He’d seen
the anomaly once before and it scared the wits out of him that
time, too. He didn’t like the thought of facing it again,
especially not with his grandson on board.
“
Grandpa?”
Tom wasn’t paying attention. All he could
think about was staying out of the way. He trimmed the engines,
veered hard to port, and prayed to God that the object would miss
the small sloop. All the while, he couldn’t keep from watching.
Frightened as he was—and as terrifying as it must be for the
youngster—his eyes were drawn to the eerie light stream bearing
down upon them, dead to starboard. Some pleasure outing, he mused.
Even if it didn’t kill them both, it might be enough to make the
boy’s parents forbid him from taking the lad sailing again. And
that, the old man thought, might be worse than dying for both of
them.
He peered through the observation window.
The approaching object was bright blue, streaked with white,
trailing a wispy tail like a comet. It streaked toward them like an
ion storm, at speeds that would leave a star cruiser foundering in
its wake. Passing the sloop off the starboard beam, the object
swerved suddenly, passing in front of them—then behind them, in a
tight spiral of light, swirling around them like a spiraling eddy,
inching closer and closer, until it was so close that it seemed Tom
could reach outside and touch it.
Then, suddenly as it came, it sliced past
the ship’s stern and off into the blackness, leaving the small
craft shuddering in the energy waves it left behind. Though never
prone to space sickness, Tom felt his stomach weaken under the
strain, and he entertained the passing notion of making a dash to
the head before it was too late. But first, he wanted to reassure
his grandson. He turned, only to find young Roscoe giggling and
grinning from ear to ear.
“
Grandpa!” The boy ran to the stern
porthole and rested his chin on the ledge, gazing out into the
space beyond the fragile hull of the ship. Putting the controls on
automatic, Tom walked over to the boy and knelt beside
him.
“
Roscoe,” Tom began.
“
It was the Ancients!” Roscoe
exclaimed, his eyes bright with wonder. “We saw them! It was the
Ancients, wasn’t it Grandpa?”
Tom smiled and placed an arm on Roscoe’s
shoulder, wondering how to explain it. People had been seeing these
same anomalies since interstellar travel began. Four hundred years
had passed since then, and still nobody knew what they were.
“
Well, maybe you’re right at that,” he
said at last. Leaving the boy aft, Tom returned to the controls and
set course for home. He’d had enough excitement for one outing, he
laughed to himself. And he counted himself lucky that a six-year
old didn’t know enough to realize how frightened he should
be.
The old man looked to see his grandson still
gazing out into the darkness astern. An hour later, the boy would
still be there, curled on the window ledge and fast asleep,
dreaming of myths and magical adventures.
* * *
From the UMN Trans-Terran Dispatch,
28January2547:
ALIENS ESCAPE SITE OF MASSACRE
by S.L. Yang
COVINGTON, New Babylon
January 28, 2547
With shock waves resounding across Terra from
news that humanity’s first encounter with an alien race has led to
a bloody massacre, the government of President Mikos Sarkisian is
reeling from allegations that the actions of the Cosmic Guard
permitted the aliens to escape responsibility for the
slaughter.
Initial reports released yesterday by
Central Command portrayed efforts by a squadron of frigates near
the Hawkins Star system as instrumental in saving a large number of
civilian craft from attack by alien warships. Interviews with the
spacers themselves, however, suggest that the frigates actually
interfered with pursuit of the aliens by those who had witnessed
the encounter, allowing the aliens—whom CosGuard now calls
“Crutchtans”—to flee the region and escape to the east.
“We are going to get to the bottom of this,”
promised Admiral Winthrop W. Weatherlee, commanding officer at
Demeter Command and a member of the hastily convened board of
inquiry that will be investigating the incident. “CosGuard exists
to protect people, and heads will roll if we discover that any
officer of the Cosmic Guard willingly allowed the perpetrators of
the massacre at Hawkins Star to escape justice.”
Citing military protocol, Weatherlee
declined to release the names of anyone involved in the preliminary
inquiry. Senior military sources speaking off the record identified
the squadron leader as Lt. Commander Roscoe Cook, who is serving
his second tour of duty in the Hodges Sector. Cook, a native of
Planet Isis, was unavailable for comment
Meanwhile, in the Senate, leaders of the
opposition Tory Party demanded that the President appoint an
independent special prosecutor to conduct a thorough inquiry into
the circumstances of the Hawkins Massacre....
THE CROWD WAS BOISTEROUS AND ROWDY. Clinking
glasses and bawdy laughter mixed with scuffles and shoves, and the
air reeked of lager and sweat. At the bar, the patrons jostled to
fill their steins with the chilled, intoxicating brew that warmed
their nights and made life on the cold, arid planet bearable. Men
from a dozen worlds drank and sang, churning the room with their
stories and songs. Lights glowed warmly through the frosted
windows, and laughter and music floated beyond the walls to be
scattered by the wind.
