Sci-Friday – Excerpt from “The Stardust Alliance”

A 5th glimpse into my upcoming book of 6 eerie sci-fi stories

Check out the first glimpse, 2nd glimpse, 3rd glimpse, and 4th glimpse.

Here is the fifth excerpt from my book of short stories in the science fiction realm that now available on Kindle through Wordwooze Publishing. (Great editor there, very accommodating and easy to work with.) Being a fan of The Twilight Zone, I must confess that an episode inspired part of this story. Other parts were inspired by other sci-fi and horror readings I have done over the years. (Let’s face it, we are not only what we eat but what we read.)

The Excerpt

“Hurry up, Marvin. The others are already there,” said Harvey impatiently.

The old man sat in the front passenger seat of the SUV, twisted his head around as far as he could in spite of the pain it caused, and watched his grandson get the wheelchair out of the back and open it out.

“Okay, Grandpa, gimme a sec. This thing’s tricky. I don’t want it folding up on you like it did the other day.”

Harvey sat fuming a little as Marvin fastened the latches that kept the chair fully open.

“Dang thing,” muttered Harvey. “Won’t need it much longer though.”

“This is totally nuts, Grandpa.”

“Who says? You? You flunked astrophysics, remember? You’re twenty-one and still working on your bachelor’s degree.”

“I changed my major. I have to take additional courses.”

“Yeah, from astrophysics to social crises or some damn thing.”

“Oh, Grandpa! It’s elder counseling. I’ve had lots of practical experience.”

“Hmph!” snorted Harvey.

Marvin just sighed, finished snapping the levers that kept the chair from folding back up, and put the cushions in place that Harvey needed for his frail form wracked by bone cancer.

“We’ve calculated this out carefully, following my Grandpa Elijah’s mathematical formula. The beam’s due at one a.m. It’s twenty till now. Hurry up!”

“This whole thing, beaming to the stars, is nuts—”

“You said that already. Just get that wheelchair over here and help me into it!” Harvey was getting impatient and fidgety. “My name was drawn. It’s my turn. Hurry up!”

Marvin sighed again and wheeled the chair across the grass over to the front of the SUV where his grandfather sat.

A year ago if anyone had told Marvin that he would be helping his grandfather become stardust, he would have told them they were crazy. Now, here he was at Gazer’s Hill, which Harvey had inherited from his grandfather Elijah, to do just that. Marvin had used Harvey’s key to unlock the gate in the fence that surrounded the hill and the acreage around it and then had driven the SUV through, locking the gate behind them. Then he had found a parking spot on the grass at the base of the hill.

Since he was a small child, Marvin had often heard Harvey talk about the Stardust Alliance.

“Grandpa Elijah started that alliance because he loved the stars,” Harvey had told his young grandson. “That smelly, noisy factory was just a hobby to him. My pop made it the success it is now. He wanted me to take over, but I had better things to do. Your pop was the better choice to take charge when the time came. Neither of them understood Elijah and the Stardust Alliance, but I do, and I want you to.”

Then Harvey would run through the whole story of the beam, Gazer’s Hill, and the alliance. Marvin had listened, his young eyes wide as if hearing a ghost story around a campfire. As he got older, his skepticism had kicked in a little, but he hadn’t voiced it—not until this “journey to the stars” thing came up. If the beam was real, Marvin comprehended that whatever this beam truly was, his grandfather wasn’t going to fare well being in its path. But Marvin had no idea how to stop this, and he wasn’t sure he should. Harvey was in so much pain, and he had the right to choose his own ending to that life, even if the entire concept was insane.

More to Come

Watch for an excerpt from the remaining story in the book next Friday. Your feedback is most welcome.

Hope you found this helpful and have been inspired to start and/or continue writing!

See my article: Publisher Agent Fiction Genres Defined, with downloadable PDF.

Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.

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Thanks for reading. Please check out my first book of recently published eerie short stories (ebook, paperback, audio), and my new book of eerie Sci-Fi stories (Kindle only for now), both from Wordwooze Publishing. (I even designed the covers.)

Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales: Ebook, paperback: Barnes & Noble, Amazon. Ebook on other platforms: Books2read. On Audible.

The Stardust Alliance and More: Kindle only for now. Paperback and audiobook coming soon.