The Saa'ar Chronicles

This series traces the fortunes of a small group of talented young people who have been invited to accompany aliens back to their home planet, Saa'ar. Each story will be a stand alone but features characters introduced in the first book.

Stranded on an alien space station at the edge of the Solar System, Dr Dana Sinclair has never felt so alone in her life. While she and her fellow travellers wait for a spaceship to take them on the rest of their journey to the aliens’ home planet, first the remaining Saa’ar on board then her superior, the chief Medical Officer all die mysteriously. The health and welfare of the remaining humans is now her responsibility. Will she discover the truth behind their deaths in time? Ethan O’Reilly, a disabled war hero and second in charge of the mission may be able to help, but can she trust him?

Book 1: "Isolation"

Prologue

The door swooshed shut with a finality that sent chills through Dana’s bones. The sudden removal of the hot Florida sunshine, and the sudden claustrophobia of being confined with so many humans and extraterrestrials made it worse. Too late for doubt now. She’d volunteered to be one of the first humans to leave the Earth's solar system and travel to another. Her family said it was a suicide mission, but just because it had never been done before didn’t mean it couldn’t be done.

At the head of the welcoming line, Dana saw their mission leader, Astrid Dreher. If this were so dangerous, would she be here? Not likely. From all reports, Commandant Dreher never took risks. And judging by the look of the tall well-muscled man beside her, she’d be well protected if anything threatened her.

Dana rolled the name of her new home on her tongue. “Saa’ar.” It rhymed with star.

Sounded nice. Warm. It also sounded alien and very far away.

A sudden feeling of dread added to the chill in Dana’s bones. The two vertically challenged extraterrestrials standing next to Dreher smiled, at least she thought they did, and said something. She couldn’t interpret their words, but a figure beside them seated in a wheelchair turned and made some comment to the Commandant.

If these were their hosts, what would their home planet be like? Earth’s best scientists had taken samples from the alien visitors and deduced that if they could live there, humans could too. But there were still too many unknowns. What had she got herself into?

Dana’s heart grew tight and sweat popped out along her hairline. Her family was right. She’d volunteered to go on a suicide mission.

“Dr. Dana Sinclair?”

Warmth ran up her arm. She turned to see who had touched her and the warmth spread as she met the very human and confident dark-eyed smile of the leader of their MedPath team. “You must be Dr. Abu-bakara.” She breathed a sigh of relief. He’d sent her a welcome message as soon as he had heard of her appointment to his small medical team.

“Nervous?” he asked.

“A bit.”

“This is going to take a while; in the meantime I could do with your help. They want to lift off as soon as possible and the late arrivals need to be prepared for the flight.”

“Fine. I’ve met the Commandant before anyway.”

“Good, come with me.”

Dana followed her new boss down a short passageway and through a round sliding door. Judging by the seats and flickering banks of lights they walked past, the area she’d entered initially must be the intra-orbital’s equivalent of a flight deck. This new area was totally different, just a vast cavernous space. Dana laughed out loud. So much for her dream of a shiny Star Trek-style spaceship with windows allowing her to gaze out at the galaxy. This looked more like a submarine. A fat submarine.

 “Dr Abu-bakara.” He turned at her enquiry. “Is this all there is??”

”Call me Abu,” he said and smiled, his white teeth gleaming against his dark skin. “But, what do you mean is this all there is? You’re looking at enough equipment to keep an entire colony housed and fed for a year. ”

Dana could well believe it. Stacked to a height of eighteen feet or so, in precise squares, separated by narrow passages were boxes of different sizes and shapes, all stamped with the one logo: the letter ‘D’ superimposed on the letter ‘P’ with a stylized globe underneath. Everything was locked down ready for weightlessness.

“But where are all the people?” Given that her contingent from Asia and the Pacific had been the last to arrive, she had expected everyone else to be already on board.

Without speaking, Abu merely grinned and pointed upwards. Dana’s mouth dropped open in amazement. Suspended from the craft’s ceiling were row on row of oversize humidicribs. Abu gently took hold of her arm and guided her down the steps. “That’s one of the reasons you were chosen. With your experience in gynaecology, obstetrics and paediatric health you were ideal for the job.”

“But these are adults not babies.”

“Yes, all in suspended animation using the latest technology.” As they walked in the narrow gap between the boxes of equipment, Abu pointed out the different monitors that had been installed to keep track of each person’s life functions. “There are a few cabins at the end of the craft, but no way could everyone stay awake for the three month journey to Neptune.”

Three months. If astronomers hadn’t tracked the craft’s approach to Earth and seen the speed at which it travelled, they might have been sceptical about the claim. Even the latest space probe launched in 2050 had taken three years to do the 4,000,000 million kilometre trip.

“But how do you get them up there?"

“That’s where I come in, me darlin’.”

Dana turned at the sound of the lilting Irish voice behind her. She was tall, but she still found herself staring at the man’s chest, and what a chest it was. The only problem was that it was covered by an army uniform. Her gaze travelled upward, and her initial smile of welcome faded as she caught sight of the scars that covered one side of the man’s face. She couldn’t help herself, she winced in sympathy.

The smile vanished instantly.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do.”

Dana stepped back. There was a slight jerkiness in his stride as he walked past. Shit. She should have recognised the man, but he’d put on so much weight lately.

How had the Mission’s PR blurb described him? ‘Retired from active service due to injuries incurred during the latest UN-Merc war and now appointed second-in-command of the Saa’ar space mission, Lieutenant Colonel Ethan O’Reilly is a certified war hero, renowned for his bravery and courage. His participation in man’s first journey outside the solar system gives the brave venture a virtual stamp of authenticity.’ Somehow, his mere presence reassured the world that if he was prepared to accept the alien’s invitation, it must be safe.

Safe. Dana shivered.

She and Abu followed Ethan to a spot where one of the humidicribs was at waist level. Inside was a young Korean girl who Dana had seen earlier. According to the label on the lid, her name was Sook Yung Lee. She must be no more than twenty. Even in her induced sleep she looked sweet and serene as if she didn’t have a trouble in the world. Dana watched in awe as after a quick check by Abu that everything was in order, the big man pulled on the ropes that lifted the capsule up in the air. Despite the pulley system that aided his efforts, even through the thick material of his uniform, she could see his muscles straining.

While he was busy, she studied his profile. His scars were on the opposite side of his face; this side was totally unblemished. From this angle, he was really attractive even though his black hair was peppered with streaks of grey, making him look older than he’d appeared in the photos and vids. It was only mid-afternoon, but still the strong lines of his jaw were outlined by his five o’clock shadow. Definitely, a twice-a-day shave man if he wanted to keep his face smooth. Dana smiled. He must have been a stunner when he was younger, not that he was that bad looking now.

He must have sensed her silent scrutiny. As soon as the suspended capsule was locked into its intended position, he turned to face her. This time she was able to keep her reaction in check. The silly thing was she shouldn’t have reacted earlier. The discoloured skin grafts were ugly, but they didn’t worry her. She’d seen and treated much worse during her three year stint in the UNMedcorps.

 “It’s not that different from hammocks suspended from the ceiling of the old sailing ships."

Dana felt herself blushing as she gave a stammered reply, “I... suppose... so.” At least he thought her fixation had been on what he was doing, not the way she had been attracted by him and his strength. She gave herself a mental clip on the head. She was here to do a job, not perv at the scenery.

“The beauty is that once we get moving, we’ll be weightless so we won’t need to bring them down to floor level to change the fluids and check their monitors.”

She smiled at the tall slim doctor beside her. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”

New personnel arrived for processing. As soon as Abu felt she was capable of handling them by herself he left to check the monitors of the ones he’d done first. Next up was a huge tattooed maori, the mission’s vet, Rory Donaldson. Dana had met him on the flight over, and they’d shared what little knowledge they had of the journey ahead.

Only the basic facts had been made public about the mission. Opinion on Earth had been divided. Some people felt the aliens should be trapped here so they and their superior technology could be dissected and copied. Others just wanted them obliterated and were convinced there would now be hundreds of these cylindrical spaceships swarming their skies. Many others were desperate to take part. Sickened by the plight the Earth was in.

Soon she would find out if she and her fellow adventurers were the lucky ones or just plain foolish.

Rory didn’t even flinch when the catheters were inserted. “See you in space” were his last words before his eyelids drifted shut. Dana stepped aside and watched silently as Ethan’s muscles bunched under the strain of lifting the capsule containing the big Maori and all his accompanying paraphenalia. Even with the pulley system attached to the ceiling, the feat was impressive.

At last the steady stream of people slowed to a trickle. Every time he wasn’t needed with lifting the personnel to their resting place, Ethan’s help had been requested by a man with a broad Scottish accent. Dana watched silently as the smaller man gesticulated at the different pieces of equipment. From the sounds of things he wasn’t sure how the they would go once they were weightless, and he was giving instructions to Ethan about how to handle any problems.

There were only two sleeping cylinders left.

“You better not botch this one. He’s the most important person on board.”

Dana flinched at the abruptness in Ethan’s voice. He had his arm placed protectively around the Scotsman’s shoulders. The man was now dressed in the form-hugging suits they’d been assigned for the induced sleep.

“Don’t fash, Ethan; they wouldn’t have chosen her unless she was capable. I’m sure the Doctor knows what she’s doing.” The Scot extended his hand. “Jock Stewart’s the name, but you can call me Tinker; everyone else does.”

After releasing Dana’s hand he turned and extended it to Ethan. “Good luck. You can wake me if there’s any problems you can’t fix, but a three month sleep sounds like a grand idea to me. I’ve been existing on only a couple of hours a night ever since I was selected.”

Dana found it difficult to work with the large Irishman looming over her shoulder. Ever since her initial involuntary reaction she had sensed a degree of antagonism towards her. His joking and pleasantness to Abu and the man she was attending to were in stark contrast to the terse replies he gave whenever she asked him to do something.

Eventually, Dana completed the procedure. When the man lost consciousness, Ethan gave her a hard stare as if he didn’t really trust that she hadn’t killed his friend and hauled on the ropes again.

There was one sleeping capsule left.

“Now it’s time for you to have a long, long sleep.” Abu thrust a shrink wrapped package toward her.

“No way. You’re not getting me into one of those. ”Dana took a step backwards and ran into a solid ball of muscle. She turned and was surprised to see a glint of sympathy in Ethan’s eyes.

“You have to.” A tic started up in the edge of the big man’s jaw and his body felt as immovable as a hunk of granite.

“But who’s going to look after the people? I thought you said that was going to be my job.”

Abu’s voice floated over her shoulder. “There’s only living accommodation for five humans. First up the Commandant and her chief of security, then we need Isaac Lindberg awake because he’s the only one who can communicate with the Saa’ar. That just leaves places for Ethan and me.”

“But you said it’s like a ship. Can’t we take turns?” Dana couldn’t repress the note of panic that had sprung up in her voice.

“Strictly speaking it’s more like a coma than a sleep. Not something you want to induce on a regular basis.” Abu thrust the garment at her again.

Now her palms were sweating. Think, Dana, quick. There must be some way you can avoid being locked up in one of those things. “Once we’re weightless, you don’t need Ethan’s strength, I could help you look after the people.”

Dana glanced up at the man who was standing so close she could feel the warmth of his body. An Easter Island statue had more expression in its face though when he replied, “If I went in there, who would lift me up. I’m too heavy.”

“That big guy I saw standing next to the Commandant.”

“Ernesto Ramirez?” Ethan glanced back over his shoulder, but they were still alone. “I’m 2IC of this mission. I have to stay awake. If you don’t hurry up and get changed, I’ll strip off your clothes and put you in there naked.”

Dana backed away, warily eyeing the man advancing toward her. “You wouldn’t.”

A slow smile spread over his face. “Oh, yes, I would.”

Punching him in the nose would only hurt her hand. She glanced at her boss hoping he would come to her aid, but Abu seemed more amused by their exchange than anything. No help there.  She sighed. “Oh well. Wake me if anything goes wrong.”

Abu thrust the packet back into her hands. “I’m sure everything will be fine.”