“No way of knowing,” Daniel said. “I couldn’t read their thoughts very well. I got brief flashes of what happened to their home world—which was horrible. I can see why they’d hate the people who did it, but we’re not them.”

In a low voice, Izzy said, “They were telling the truth, then. Genocide?”

Daniel nodded. “Technically xenocide, but yes. Coming here does make sense in that light. As long as we’re around, the Abominators’ former servants can’t come here.”

“Except there really are aliens who want to destroy us just because the Abominators used us as a genetic base to create their servants,” I said. “So we can’t rule out the possibility that the Hrrnna are among them, but as they said, they’re here. I suppose they might be willing to destroy all life on a planet they’re living on, but I’d do it from a distance myself.”

Haley pursed her lips. “What did the creatures that killed them look like?”

Continue reading Chancy Connections: Part 11 →

Haley didn’t get angry, but I did sense she might be tired of the subject.

She only sent back. I’ll show you later.

Then I felt Izzy’s dawning realization of what Haley had to mean. Of course she’d realized it. Haley and I had both been on national (and probably international) television more than once.

I hope you’re not worried about how you look. There’s nothing wrong with it.

Haley thought, No, it’s not that. Well, it’s not just that. It’s what goes along with it. When the Hrrnna turned, part of me wanted to chase it. That kind of thing happens all the time, okay? And not just with alien horses—small animals too. Squirrels. I don’t want to be the kind of person who chases squirrels.

I didn’t ask what kind of person that was.
Continue reading Chancy Connections: Part 10 →

Haley froze as the horse-like alien wheeled around and ran back toward the trees.

The lead alien grunted, chirped, and soon the translation device started again. “Pardon our compatriot. Some of us are old enough to remember our people’s near extinction personally. To answer your question, yes, it was a dangerous journey, but this is a place of safety, possibly the only one.”

Still watching the alien that had run toward the trees, Haley said, “That makes sense, and I’m sorry if I scared your friend somehow.”

“There is no offense taken.”

Haley nodded, barely moving.

So Haley, and probably her grandfather, must have some connection to whatever destroyed these creatures’ home planet. I wanted to ask Haley about it but this wasn’t the time.

Continue reading Chancy Connections: Part 9 →

He frowned, and looked at us. “They’re trying to stay hidden, so I’m going to send you there myself.”

Chancy’s eyes fell on me. “I suppose you’ve got a GPS, and it can’t be taken out?”

I said, “Yes,” not pointing out that we all had GPS and most people had them built into their phones these days.

“Well, don’t tell anybody where they are. They’re trying to stay hidden, and if someone kills them all it’s on your head.”

Before I could argue with him, the scene changed. We weren’t in Chicago anymore. Part of me wanted to joke that we weren’t in Kansas either, but I didn’t.

According to my GPS, we were in Kansas.

Continue reading Chancy Connections: Part 8 →

“And he’s got a shield, a weak one, but quite sophisticated. Actually, I’m pretty sure he’s aware of me now. I don’t think he’s got any real range, so he’s got no idea of where I’m at, but he’s coming to the window now. Don’t look up. He’s nervous, but not all out scared. While he’s not much of a telepath, I’m getting the feeling he’s powerful at something.”

Not looking up, even though I wanted to now, I concentrated on the traffic. It wasn’t dense, but cars drove down both sides of the road.

Three story brick buildings stood on both sides, some dark brown, some red, others tan or gray. All of them from the turn of the last century, some with satellite dishes hanging from the brick. It felt like some of the older sections of Grand Lake except there you’d be into newer construction within a few blocks. Here it felt like I’d only seen old buildings except for the really, really new ones that looked like glass from top to bottom.

Chicago definitely had more taxis too.

Continue reading Chancy Connections: Part 6 →

I brought the van to a stop in front of them. Daniel sent a quick telepathic hello at me almost at the same instant I noticed him, not saying anything about all the other stuff flying around in my head just then.

I felt grateful for that.

The van didn’t have side doors in the middle of the van, so Daniel and Izzy had to crawl over Haley’s seat. The van’s second row of seats didn’t have windows, but on the other hand Daniel was clairvoyant, and Izzy had some kind of extra-powerful sonar. They could deal.

A little quickly, Izzy said, “Hi,” to us and pulled on her seatbelt—not that she needed one. She did need a winter coat though. She wore a green, fleece jacket that could handle anything Berkeley, California was likely to throw at it, but stood out in the Midwest.

On the other hand, Izzy could probably survive in Antarctica wearing that jacket.

Continue reading Chancy Connections: Part 5 →

On a Saturday morning two weeks later Haley and I drove to Chicago. It was early March, and February’s snow melted on each side of the freeway, brownish near the road.

Two weeks seems like an awfully long wait when you consider that there may be aliens out there who want to cause all of humanity to die horribly. It’s more understandable when you think about the logistics of it all. Initially we didn’t know exactly what we were looking for. All the ship knew was that a suspiciously large number of objects that used materials common to alien technology were going through the postal service, UPS, Fedex and other mailing services in or near Chicago. They were being picked up from P.O. Boxes, and delivered to empty buildings, and from there they disappeared.

Except we’d found a common name between a couple of the post office boxes, and a signature—Chancy as in Chancy Smith, Chancy Jones, and Chancy Sirianni.

I had a hunch, and I’d directed the ship to search whatever it could find that had Chancy in the name, and it had. Continue reading Chancy Connections: Part 4 →