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From: "Jan V." <jan123@hotmail.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} Jan V. - NEW - Alpha Centauri Amazons (ff, sci-fi) - Chapter 1
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 19:10:04 -0400
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Hi there,

Here are the first three chapters of a new series: Alpha Centauri Amazons.
This is a science fiction story about a different kind of Noah's Ark. As
always, enjoy. As always, any comments are welcome!

---------------

Alpha Centauri Amazons


By Jan Vincent (2002)
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/j/wwwan123/



ONE

Linda Wells woke from a deep, strange dream.  A terrible headache didn't let
her think clearly.  The only thing her mind registered was the pain inside
her head and an indistinct shadow moving silently, without touching the
floor.  The shadow was a man she once met at the agency's party.  It was a
party full of young beautiful girls working for the fashion industry, and
clients -- men -- in tuxedos leering at them. It was all very confusing...

Linda opened her eyes and did not recognize the place where she was.
Hundreds of blinking, multicolored lights shone in the darkness, and a
far-away pounding sound -- as regular as a heartbeat --  echoed in her ears.
She reached for the blinking lights, but they fluttered away, and a
stronger, pervasive blue light hit her eyes.  The pounding sound became
clearer, making her headache more acute. For a moment it seemed as though
she was floating on air, but when she moved her legs her feet touched the
floor and she walked toward the blue light.

Linda felt even more confused.  "This must be a dream," she thought, "a
terrifying dream... a nightmare."

Before she could examine the place where she was, a clicking sound caught
her attention.  Again she saw the fluttering lights, which disappeared as
soon as an elegant female silhouette walked out of a contraption identical
to the one in which she had been.

"Hi," the silhouette greeted.

Linda did not answer.  She wanted to see the silhouette's face, to know who
spoke to her. The silhouette came closer, walking slowly and carefully -- as
if the silhouette was as afraid as she was. Before Linda could see the
silhouette's features, two almost simultaneous clicking sounds came from the
second tier of the metallic scaffold that kept together the intricate
arrangement of gangways, stairs and "capsules"  -- Linda couldn't find a
better word for the "contraptions", which had every appearance of fancy
coffins, the ones her mother nicknamed "high-street caskets".  Seconds
later, a swarm of fluttering lights appeared on the second tier, hovered
over near the main gangway, then flew upward and vanished from the room.  It
seemed as though the lights had gone through the ceiling.  As astonishing as
that phenomenon might be, Linda did not dwell on that thought; two shadows
had stepped out of the capsules from which the lights had flown, and now
exchanged whispered words on the gangway leading to the third tier.  Slowly
they descended the scaffold stairs, producing muffled footsteps as if
walking on tiptoe.

"Is anybody here?" a female voice called tentatively.

"Yes," Linda said.  "Down here."

More clicking sounds took place and more human shadows appeared, asking
questions to which Linda had no answer.  She was as perplexed as they were.
No, she didn't know where she was.  No, she didn't know how or why they were
in that room, bursting with coffin-like contraptions.  And no, she didn't
know whether they'd been kidnapped.  The only thing she did know was that
she was scared to death and had an excruciating headache that did not let
up.

"Hi again," said the first silhouette Linda had seen. "I'm Lisa, Lisa
Wells."

Lisa Wells came near Linda and stretched out her hand.  At last, Linda was
able to discern the young woman's face.  She was an attractive blonde, with
sharp blue eyes and a lilting voice. Locks of glossy, shoulder-length,
golden strands were set off by the dark hue of her outfit, a close-fitting
jumpsuit made of a leather-like shiny fabric, worn by all the silhouettes
Linda had seen so far.  It was a comfortable uniform, Linda thought, letting
her hand slide down her own jumpsuit, feeling its seamless smoothness, which
followed every curve of her body, making Linda particularly aware of her
own.

Linda shook Lisa's hand.  "I'm Linda Wells."

"Wells as well.  Are we related?"

"Not that I know of," Linda said, giving a nervous titter.

There was a moment of silence.  Linda and Lisa looked around, listening to
what the other silhouettes were saying.  Despite the weak light, Linda
noticed that all the silhouettes were young and female, the soft timbre of
their voices confirming her conclusion.  Most of the women couldn't be older
than twenty-five, and all of them told similar stories:  they vaguely
remembered having had bad dreams about gray shadows stealing toward them
during the night, and flashes of light dimming into 'dancing fireflies'.

"What a mess!"

"Yes," Linda said, her right hand resting on her forehead.

"You OK?"

"Yes, it's just this splitting headache."

"I have one myself; though not as bad as yours, I guess."

"Where are we?"

"Good question. I have a feeling we're going to find out that soon, though.
It seems we are on a ship... sort of."

"Ship?"  Linda looked at Lisa in total bewilderment.

"Yeah, I think we've been kidnapped by aliens."

"Kidnapped by aliens?"

"Don't keep repeating what I say.  It's not polite."  Lisa looked at Linda
with a serious expression, which abruptly took the shape of a mocking smile.
"Come on, Linda.  It's a joke.  I'm joking.  Relax."

"I just don't understand how you can make jokes when we...  we don't
know..."

"...where we are?"

"Yes."

"I told you.  We're going to know that very soon.  This must be roll-call
time -- they want to count us and see if none of us has escaped."

"Who's 'they'?"

"You make a lot of questions."  Lisa grabbed Linda's hand and forced the
other woman to come with her.

"Where are we going?" Linda protested.

"I'm trying to find a way out, an exit, whatever."

They passed among the ever growing number of young women wearing identical
outfits.  Although there were a few cases of panic and tearful fits, most of
them seemed calm if not angry.  A couple of girls screamed at the walls or
the ceiling, demanding an explanation from a potential interlocutor, the
bastard or bastards who were behind their abduction.

"They are all women," Linda said, her voice trailing off.

"Yes, *we* are.  The sons-of-bitches are more interested in the female of
the species, I guess."

"The aliens?"

"Yes, who else?"

Linda freed her hand from Lisa's tight grasp.  She tried to make Lisa stop
examining the walls for a moment, but the other woman rebuffed her hands.

"What do you think they are going to do with us?"

"Dunno.  Maybe we're gonna be their sex slaves."

"Sex slaves?"

"You're repeating what I just said, *again*."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be.  Oh, this is curious."

"What?  What's curious?"  Linda bent down and looked at a panel with several
buttons and switches on an otherwise smooth, flawless wall; at the bottom of
the panel, several lines in red print gave cautionary instructions.

"Don't you see?  It's written in English.  I can't imagine why aliens would
write in our language.  It'd be a hell of a coincidence."

"So, does this mean we weren't abducted by aliens?"

"Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"I don't know," Lisa said, sighing and facing Linda. "I confess that now I
am totally confused."

"Find anything?" said a voice with a distinct Australian accent.  Linda and
Lisa turned to see a tall, long-limbed woman, whose freckled face was framed
by curls of stammel hair.  "Can I help?"

"And you are...?"

"Pardon my manners," the young woman said. "I'm Mandy O'Neill.  I'm a news
reporter...  I thought I'd join you.  At least you seem to be looking for
something, a way out of this place."  Mandy shook Lisa's and Linda's hands,
her painted red wine lips sketching a wry smile.  "Did you find something
interesting?"

"Only this panel."

"Did you press any button?"

"Nope.  We were about to when you interrupted us."

"All right, then... Please, do go on with what you were doing."

Seeing that Linda seemed to be ill at ease with Mandy next to her, Lisa
said,  "Will you do me the honor?"

"Honor?"  Linda asked, shaking her head, as if Lisa awakened her from a
daydream that had summoned up some unhappy memories.  "What do you mean?"

"Press a button."

"Why don't *you* do that?"

"Jesus," Lisa hissed.  "Calm down.  I'm not setting you up."

"I-- "

"Doesn't matter.  I'll press the goddamned buttons."

Lisa pushed a button.  They waited for something to happen, but the
cacophony of frightened, enraged, and weepy female voices went on as if
everything had remained unchanged. Likewise, the pervasive, aquarium-like
blue light kept radiating from the walls and the ceiling, and the same
distant hammering sound was heard as regularly as her heartbeat.  Lisa
pressed another button, but nothing unusual took place either.  Two other
buttons were pressed, and again the same result -- nothing.

"May I try?" Mandy asked.

"Be my guest," Lisa said, stepping aside and holding Linda's shoulder.  "You
crying?"

"No," Linda denied, shaking her head. Nonetheless, she brought her long
fingers to her eyes, rubbing them dry.

"You OK?"

"Yes, I am," Linda stated, moving away from Lisa.

"OK, girl.  Just trying to be helpful.  Jesus!"

Suddenly the blue light went off and the room fell in total darkness.  A
clamor of frightened voices rose in the room.  Tremendous panic was about to
break out when the walls began to glow again. The blue light was replaced by
a yellowish light, which became stronger every time they heard the distant
throb. Some girls screamed, fear becoming ever more infectious.  The light
ceased growing stronger until it bathed the room as though the sun shone in
the windowless room.  Linda felt soothingly warm as if she were outside,
basking in the most glorious summer day.  It was a strange feeling, so much
so that she quivered as a chill scuttled down her spine.

"Now," Mandy said with a smile, "this is when the fun begins."

"You bet," Lisa replied, smiling back at Mandy.

"What do you mean?"  Linda stared at the two smiling young women, probably
her age, but who acted so dementedly.  Why would anyone smile when all the
others were scared to death? Suspicion began to form in the back of Linda's
mind.  Maybe those two were the aliens... and they were playing jokes on
her.  She took a step away from them.

"Linda, what's the matter?"  Lisa drew near the sandy-haired woman, who
looked so pale and fearful

"Don't come near me."

"Linda, what the-- "

"Stay away, please."  Linda stretched out her arms as if to keep Lisa at
bay.

"Leave her alone," Mandy said.  "She's obviously scared. This shit's messing
with her nerves."

After a moment of puzzlement, Lisa shrugged and turned her back on Linda.

She took a deep breath and sighed, blowing her golden bangs away from her
forehead.  "So, what did you do?  What button did you push?"

"I turned this switch that says 'Main'," Mandy replied.

"We're not getting very far with this.  Switch it to 'Unlock' and see what
happens."

"And I used to operate nothing without having read the instructions first,"
Mandy said, a mischievous smile looming on her lips. "Not even my vibrator."

Lisa experienced a sudden need to chuckle, but this time she was able to
curb it; she had turned back to see how Linda was doing, but all she did see
was the other young woman's unhappiness and fear.

"Come on, Mandy.  Just do it, OK?"

"OK.  Here comes shit."

Mandy closed her eyes and turned the switch to "Unlock". At first, nothing
happened, but when Mandy opened her eyes a rectangular section of the
flawless, glowing wall became darker and a corridor materialized in front of
Lisa.

"Jesus!" Lisa exclaimed, blenching and repeating to herself that she was not
afraid.  Though her heart hammered wildly in her chest, she convinced
herself that she was just surprised.  Yes, that was definitely it.  And
besides, she was angry.  She had been shanghaied into an odd place having
every appearance of a nightclub designed by an interior decorator with poor
taste.  She told Linda Wells that they'd soon know the names of the
culprits, but now she was afraid to learn the truth, to know what was at the
end of that seemingly endless corridor.

Lisa looked back at the other women, who remained where they were as though
all of them were terrified, unable to move or speak.

Someone had to take the initiative.  "Mandy, are you coming with me?"

"Count me in, mate," Mandy said, overdoing her Australian accent.

"Linda, are you coming with us?" Lisa said, raising her voice.

As Linda shook her head, a long-haired brunette with vivid blue eyes stepped
forward.

"Can I go with you?"

"Sure," Lisa said, smiling.  A pause ensued until Lisa edged closer to the
brunette and murmured, "But why are we whispering?"

The brunette was serious for a moment, her eyes staring at Lisa
questioningly. When a little smile appeared on Lisa's face, she laughed.
"All right, you got me."  She stretched out her hand and added, "I'm Natasha
Thompson."

"Lisa Wells here."

Introductions made, the trio set foot on the long corridor. Soon as they
took three steps the young women were engulfed in a sea of magenta sparkles,
her energized bodies propelled upward at great speed.  Mandy and Natasha
screamed; Lisa didn't utter a word, too overwhelmed to respond.
Unexpectedly as they had begun, the magenta sparkles ceased, and the women's
feet dangled above what it seemed to be a bottomless pit.  When they thought
they were going to fall to their deaths, their feet hit solid ground.  The
pit was gone, and so was the room where their companions of misfortune were.
The exploring party was again at the beginning of another corridor, which
appeared to be as endless as the one they had just stepped in.

"What a ride!" Mandy was the first one to break the silence, touching the
wall of the corridor, which emitted a weak gray light.  She kept her hand on
the wall for a while longer.  It felt as though she was touching human skin.
It was as warm as a human body, although it looked like a wall, a glowing
wall, like most of the walls in that strange place.  Mandy was about to
remove her hand when she noticed something extraordinary -- her hand glowed
as well, emanating the same weak gray light.  "Hey... look."

"What the--"  Lisa stared at Mandy's hand.  "What the hell is this?"

"My hand is glowing," Mandy said, grinning. "Brilliant, I became a bloody
angel."

Behaving like jubilant, playful little girls, the three women pressed their
hands against the wall.  A strange warmth streamed through them as the glow
spread from her hands to the other parts of their bodies.  They looked at
each other, and laughed.  Their snug shiny jumpsuits became less dark and
began to glimmer, as if full of energy.

"Cool," Lisa said, absolutely amazed. "This is... fantastic. Look."

"Brilliant, innit?" Mandy said.  "I think I know where we are.  We all died
and went to heaven.  We all look like fairies.  Now we only need the
wings...  or maybe not.  We just flew, didn't we?"

"Yes," Natasha said, her hair gaining a grayish glow. "It really felt that
way, when those sparkles came from nowhere.  All right, I'm gonna stop.  My
heart's getting crazy."

Natasha stumbled into the new room whose walls sent forth a blue subdued
light, similar in hue and brightness to the capsule room's.

"Are you all right?"  Mandy hurried toward Natasha, who sat on the floor,
her hand pressing her left breast.

"Yes.  It seems that this glowing stuff makes your heart beat like hell."

"You're right.  I also feel mine."

"Hey," Lisa said, exerting herself to keep calm. "I don't want to scare you,
but I think that someone is in the other room."

"Where?" Mandy asked, helping Natasha stand up.

"There," Lisa said, pointing to a dark hall leading to a larger room.

Mandy squinted, doing her best to see who Lisa meant.  She held her breath
when her gaze caught a tall, bulky man, who stood motionless on a platform.
His head leant on his chest, as if he were sleeping.

Lisa beckoned them to follow her as silently as possible through the darker
hall and close to its non-glowing walls.  The large room dominated by the
platform and the sleeping man was lit by a permeating greenish mist that
glimmered in the darkness of the room.  The mist was thin enough for Lisa to
see the man's features.  Although his massive body was covered by a black
cloak, he looked like a normal male earthling in his late forties, with a
professionally trimmed beard and a prominent nose.  His nose reminded Lisa
of her granddad's, a potato turned into human flesh, as her brother Phil
used to say when they were kids.  This was particularly obvious, for Lisa
was observing the man's profile -- if she wanted to see his face in all its
glory she would have to enter the room and brave her fears and the
outlandish mist.

"So, what now?"

Lisa looked back and faced Mandy.  "Please, don't breathe on my neck.  That
gives me the creeps."

"More than that sleeping creep?"

"Cut it out, you two," Natasha huffed.  "I don't see any one but that guy on
the dais.  But this is a really creepy place, so let's not fight each other.
We need to get out of this place a.s.a.p.."

"I was not fighting."

Natasha rolled her eyes away from Mandy, exhaling deeply. "I think we should
talk to that guy and get this over with.  What do you think?"

"Yeah, I think you're right," Lisa said, resoluteness steadying her voice.
"Let's go and face the creep."

The three women left the safety of the dark hall and entered the room.
Their no longer glowing hands and suits began to produce weak sparks of
green light.  Lisa, who led the exploring party, looked back and saw that
Natasha had come to a halt.

"Do you think this mist is radioactive?  I saw this show on TV and--"

"I don't know," Lisa said, shaking her head. "I would, if I had a Geiger
counter."

"Geiger counter...?  Who are you?  A rocket scientist?"

"No, I am a biologist.  A molecular biologist."

"A what?" Mandy asked.

"The ones who make little green monsters from pieces of DNA, you know."

"Stop pulling our leg, Miss Wells."

Lisa smiled at Mandy, shaking her head.  "No, I am not. This is no joke."

"Joke or no joke", Mandy said, sliding her arms around the other women's
necks, "let's not discuss what you do for a living right now.  I should
think the creep is waiting for us."

Natasha wriggled herself out of Mandy's embrace, stamped her way to the
platform and stopped before the bearded man wrapped in a cloak.

"Hey, you moron.  Wake up!"

Lisa smiled.  "This girl's got balls, so to speak."

Mandy ignored Lisa's witticism, but followed her, although at a slower pace.
She saw both Lisa and Natasha examining the man's face, as though they
wanted to test him and see whether he was still asleep -- if someone could
sleep while standing.

"Let's shout together.  Maybe he will come out of his coma."

"I don't think he's human," Lisa said, lowering her voice and biting her
lips.

Mandy looked at Lisa's expression and shivered.  The blonde was staring at
the man, transfixed, as if she had seen a ghost.  Mandy shivered again.

"Why do you say that?"

"Look at him," Lisa said, pointing at the man.  "I can see through him."

"Mother of all saints, you're right."  Mandy felt yet another chill running
down her spine. She passed her hand on the nape of her neck, and breathed
out noisily.  In an impulse, she held out her arm and tried to touch the
man, but before she could realize what was happening she blacked out.

Indistinct voices called her name and a pair of arms shook her awake; the
same arms made her lean against a warm body.

"Mandy, are you OK?"

Mandy's eyes were unable to focus and her ears buzzed incessantly.  An
insidious pain began to spread inside her head.  She tried to speak and say
she wanted to lie down, but only a mumble came out of her mouth.

"What did you say?" the voice said, becoming gradually more distinctive.

Mandy opened her eyes and saw that Lisa was holding her.  As swiftly as it
had begun, the pain abated.

"What happened?" Mandy asked raucously.

"You shouldn't have touched the guy," Natasha said, pressing her hand onto
Mandy's forehead.

"But what happened?"

"Calm down, girl," Lisa soothed, preventing her from sitting up straight.
"You were struck by a bolt of lightning. The creep knows how to protect
himself."

"Indeed I do."

The three women turned to see that the cloaked man no longer slept but was
wide awake.  His green eyes glimmered strangely in the darkness of the room
as if they were part of the green mist enshrouding him.  His triumphant grin
enraged Lisa.

"You fucking idiot, you could have killed us with your booby traps.  You
almost killed her."

"She shouldn't have touched me.  As you wisely said, I have to protect
myself from you."

"Why?  Are you afraid of a bunch of women?"

The man grinned, making the bones of his hands crack as he stretched himself
out, giving Lisa the clear impression that he was not human, but a yawning
fat cat with shining eyes.  Natasha pulled Mandy up, so that Lisa could get
to her feet.  The man kept staring at them, his grin dissolving into a
smile.

"Did you sleep well, my dears?  I have done my best to ensure you a pleasant
sleep, without nightmares and the like."

"Why are we here?" Natasha shouted. "Why did you bring us to this place?"

"He wants us to be his bloody harem," Mandy said weakly, her hand covering
her left ear, her fingers banishing the distant, irritating drone from her
head.  "That's what he wants from us."

He roared with laughter, tipping his pilose chin up.  "That's why I chose
you, Manuela Joseph 0'Neill.  You girls will laugh your heads off after
learning what has befallen you.  Oh, you will."

"Really?  If you think you can get away with this, you're wrong. My father
will hunt you down and won't stop at nothing to catch you.  I'll feel sorry
for you when he does.  You don't know how much trouble you got yourself
into."

"Natasha Thompson, I am well aware of how dangerous Igor Vassilev was before
he emigrated to America and became the law-abiding real estate agent in
upstate New York, Igor Thompson.  I also know that *you* know how your papa
amassed his fortune... Drug dealing and money laundering were not enough for
him...  Not long ago your papa scoured the morgues in Moscow for suitable
dead bodies to steal and hold for ransom."

"That's a lie."

"Which part is a lie?" he asked, feigned surprise rippling on his face.

"Everything!  Everything you said is a lie."

"That may be true," Mandy cut in, her voice sounding stronger, "but we are
not interested in Natasha's father.  I will be, when I get the hell out of
here. Just say where the exit is and we'll leave quietly, with no hard
feelings."

He smiled.  "Yes, I will do that, but not yet. I will have to prepare you
for what you're going to find outside."

Mimicking a tour guide with an affected voice, Mandy said, "On your right
you'll find a beautiful garden, and on your left my beautiful house, where
you'll be my beautiful wives."  Regaining her normal timbre, Mandy added,
"Isn't that right, mister?"

"I wish it were true."  He continued to stare at them with patent amusement.
"Alas, I no longer live."

"What do you mean?"  Natasha grimaced, unable to hide her contempt. "Are you
a corpse or something?  Can't get it up?"

"Ah!  You amuse me, my dear Natasha.  No, I am not what you think I am.  I
am just a computer program.  What you see is a holographic projection
controlled by intelligent neuronal software that I wrote myself.  I am no
longer matter, just pure energy.  I therefore cannot touch you and you
cannot touch me without a lot of fireworks, as Mandy has bitterly
experienced firsthand, as a good journalist she undoubtedly is."

"Get to the point."

"I will.  Be patient.  You know how patient a journalist must be."  He made
a pause, turning his attention to Lisa.  "There is only one thing that
surprises me -- Lisa's silence.  Don't you want to ask me anything?"

Mandy looked back and saw Lisa's worried face.  She realized that Lisa
hadn't spoken a word since the cloaked man awoke.

"What are we going to find outside?"  Lisa asked, her voice faltering.

"Yes, the bright Lisa Wells... You know what happened, do you not?"

Lisa wanted to look away and escape the man's staring.  It was too late,
though.  She doubled over, as if someone had hit her on the stomach.  She
saw a clear vision of doomsday.  People were screaming, fleeing from death
and the uncountable piles of corpses littering the streets; her father, her
mother, Phil, all of them were gone.  Lisa shook her head, chasing away the
hypnotic trance she was drawn into.  There was a part inside her that was
dying.  The vision hurt her.  She began to scream: "No! No! Noooooooo!"

"Lisa!  What's the matter?"  Mandy grabbed the screaming woman's hands and
held them tight.  "Lisa, please, calm down.  Please.  You're scaring me."

"They're dead. They're all dead."

Mandy dried Lisa's wet cheeks.  Lisa was sobbing uncontrollably.  Lisa's
blood-shot eyes didn't stay on Mandy but stared past her.

"Who's dead?"

"The whole Earth is dead," Lisa said, her chest breathing in and out
unevenly. Another tear ran down her cheek.  She turned and pointed to the
hologram.  "And he killed them, he killed them all."


(Next: Chapter Two)

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