Aliens

It Came from Outer Space – JenEric Movie Review

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Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1953 movie It Came from Outer Space.

Story

The story was interesting and delivered in a pretty good combination of dialogue and action. It was ridiculously dated, but I liked that it basically came down to the aliens crash landing in a bad neighbourhood and trying to GTFO as soon as possible.

I like the underlying narrative that we as a species are not ready to accept what we can’t understand and that what looks strange isn’t always evil.

Score: 1

Characters

Angry sheriff, writer with an open mind, scream queen, and various others. This was a standard cast for a sci-fi story from the 1940’s and 50’s.

Score: 0

Dialogue

This felt written by two people. The dialogue between the sheriff and the writer was pure Universal horror movie. The dialogue between the writer and the girl was pure Bradbury.

Half of it felt philosophical and high minded and the other half standard horror movie.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

This was a very well shot film. Other than a few odd angles it really did a great job building atmosphere and being pretty.

The music was pretty much a re-hash of other Universal monster movies at the time. I wouldn’t be surprised if everything was from something else.

Score: 0.5

Fun

This was a cerebral science fiction concept that the filmmakers desperately wanted to turn into a creature feature. That being said, I really enjoyed it.

Score: 1

Overall

At 70 years old, it’s a quaint film from a simpler time exploring ideas of what the cosmos might have in store. I love the narration at the beginning.

If this were made today it would either be an indie film or some weird action horror and frankly neither would do it justice.

Final Score: 3 Stars

Point Zero – Chapter 5

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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 5: What’s in a Name?

The supervillain coined Puppeteer continues to futilely attack the greater Toronto area. Each set of attacks escalating from previous, this week the mayor will present a key to the city to Electric Knight and their friends.

“Electric Knight and their friends? Oh come on, that’s what they’ll call us?” Mel was incensed. 

“Can you think of anything better?” I asked as we waited in full costume behind a makeshift curtain. 

“Four… fantas… Quartet of Quality? Wow this is hard.” Mel sighed as she pulled out her sketchbook and doodled little fairies that flew around us and the protest going on in the park. 

They were the usual sort that could be found all over the world. Protesting something about aliens. No one could get them to answer straight, they either feared, loved, or both our alien visitors. The aliens could go probe themselves for all I cared, but the protestestors were the same as usual… except for a man that I saw out of the corner of my eye. He had a thicker beard and was more tanned but those eyes… they looked just like Frank’s. A fairy flew by my head and the man was gone. I must have imagined it. Frank was dead. I felt his cold lifeless body.

The fairies were joined by tiny angels and it quickly devolved into something that would give the news station editors a really hard time blurring out. An assistant that looked awed and horrified gestured them towards the stage. As the mayor said nice things about them Mel asked, “Why are we the only two here?”

“Because if this isn’t a trap, it’s a perfect target.”

Mel nodded and started to look out over the crowd, squinting in the midday sun.

“And for your service in saving the fine citizens of Toronto. I award you, Electric Knight and friends, the key to the cit—”

The mayor was interrupted by a large quantity of RCMP officers in full riot gear. One of them screamed, “Electric Knight. You and your friends are under arrest for vigilantism, endangering the public, and extensive property damage. Come peacefully or we’ll have to use force.”

“What is the meaning of this? I was not informed. You have no jurisdiction here. Those aren’t federal crimes.” The Mayor was angry. The fury coming off of her scared me more than the hundred or so RCMP in front of me. 

“We need evac here…” Mel started but trailed off. Her jaw dropped before she said, “They’re not getting the civilians out of the way.”

“Where are they all coming from?” I asked not catching on to what Mel’s words meant. “They only have batons out. I’ve never seen RCMP with only batons. This is the Puppeteer!” I turned to the mayor. “Teleporter, get the mayor and her people to safety and then start on the crowd. Mel, we need to play along.”

As much as I wanted to just start beating up the puppets that looked like police, I didn’t want anyone to be hurt. Thankfully most people were running away or being taken by Jane.

“We’re coming, officer. Just please don’t hurt anyone.” 

I walked slowly with my hands up towards the puppets. I looked warely at the crowd of RCMP. Now that I was closer I could tell they were fake. All their faces looked the same and vaguely like Brendan Fraser. That made me think of Frank, he’d loved old movies from the turn of the millennium, especially comedies with Brendan Fraser. I think we watched Dudley Do-Right ten times in a row once. Although I spent more time watching Frank and wishing I could tell him my feelings.

“How far are you taking this?” whispered Mel.

“I’m tired of waiting for another attack. Let’s find out who’s behind all this,” I whispered back. Loudly towards the puppets, I said, “We can’t get the others.”

In a dull and lifeless imitation of Dudley Do-Right, one of the puppets replied, “That will have to do.”

We were directed towards a black limo and we were gently pushed into the back seat. “Be ready to pull us out if this goes sideways,” I said to Jane, through the coms. She swore at me and told me I was being irresponsible.

“That won’t be necessary, I just wanted to meet my adversaries.” The voice came from an old speaker on a table in the middle of the limo. It looked like something familiar. 

“Charlie’s Angels? Now that’s retro,” Mel said. 

“Thank you. Enjoy the ride. It’ll be your last.” He burst into a theatrical evil laugh and then added as an afterthought, “Have a snack or a drink. Minibar is fully stocked.” And the speaker exploded in a little fireball that wasn’t big enough for us to feel the heat.

“Does this all feel very familiar?” I whispered to Mel.

“Yeah kinda. Why?”

“Who had a poster of Charlie’s Angels in his room?”

Mel’s eyes grew wide and she shook her head, “We saw him die. He can’t be.”

“I’m not so sure.”

The car slowed down and stopped. We were at a warehouse near the lake. Something that was so stereotypical that if I’d rolled my eyes I was worried of spraining something.

As the Dudleys marched us towards the warehouse I thought about how each of the puppets had made me think of Frank, I thought I’d seen him at the park, the Dudleys, and now Charlie’s Angels. It couldn’t be just a coincidence. Could it?

The warehouse was empty except for a large group of Dudleys and a man standing on a tall balcony, in the shadows where we couldn’t see. “You’ve been a thorn in my side for long enough. It’s time I introduce myself and then we can talk about a ceasefire or you can die. I heard several guns and something that sounded mechanical cock.

“The Thorns,” Mel said loudly. “That’s our name.”

“Not the time Animator.” I tried to keep the manic giggle from my voice. The situation was dire, I didn’t think I could stop that many bullets, and the man I loved might be back from the dead as a bad cartoon villain. It was so absurd it almost hurt.

The man walked out of the shadows and said, “I am the Puppeteer but you can call me… ”

Read Chapter 6

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Point Zero – Chapter 4

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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 4: Obligatory Super Suit Episode

“Mel, have you been drawing superhero comics?” I asked as I got home that night. Turns out that a lightning sword versus a cardboard dinosaur wasn’t a fair fight.

“Not until tonight. I have to document this.” She looked up from her drawing computer and gave me a dirty look, “Give me more credit Sam. If I drew a monster for you to fight it would have more tentacles.” She illustrated, pun intended, the point by drawing something with an obscene amount of appendages and then erased it. “This was more like cheap theatre. Kinda like the godzilla Frank built for a school play.”

I laughed and said, “How he expected to add a cardboard Godzilla to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I could never figure out.”

That night marked the one year anniversary of Frank’s death and our return to the world. We celebrated by staying in our apartment and drinking until we forgot. It was juvenile but we were only twenty-one and we’d lost three of those years to an alien abduction.

The cardboard dinosaur was followed a few days later by a paper maché robot army. Still over-dramatic and demanding gold. I easily defeated them again but it took more of my energy and I had trouble keeping my glow.

“Is this going to be a regular thing?” James asked, soaking in his tub while we all ate pizza.

Simultaneously Mel and I spoke. I said, “I hope not,” while she said, “I hope so.”

“What?” asked Jane. “We can’t fight a supervillain. Sam’s the only one with offensive power.”

“Bullshit. All our powers can be used for combat,” Mel countered.

Looking sceptical with one eyebrow raised James asked, “What am I going to do? Breath water at him?”

“Well if you’d just try to talk to fish…” Mel drifted off mid sentence before continuing, “The Puppeteer is going to come back and we can all help. I’ve designed you costumes.” She pulled out four sketches from her sketchbook. 

“I’m not wearing something under my regular clothes,” I warned.

“You don’t have to.” Mel gestured for me to stand up. I did and she pinched the costume on the page and it looked like she tossed it at me. As easy as that, I was in superhero spandex. The suit was comfortable and a great cross between the modern dark aesthetic and the bright colours of the golden age. My suit looked like it was a black skin-tight suit with holographic full plate armour outlined in golden yellow around me. The helmet covered my eyes but also gave me a readout of things around me.

Jane’s suit was made for stealth, it was pale blue and skin-tight. She made Mel get rid of the boob-window. The suit could become translucent, making it hard to see Jane when she teleported.

Mel’s suit was another skin-tight outfit, but it ended in a revealing corset. It was a massive pastiche of superhero and other comic illustrations. It was bright and gaudy and she refused to make it more conservative. “If I’m going to be a superhero I might as well show off my curves.”

The last suit was the most impressive in my mind. The suit itself made James look like the Swamp Thing or Creature from the Black Lagoon; I always get them mixed up. But then it created a bubble of water that let him swim around in the air like he did underwater. It was like a flying bouncing hamsterball.

As we all stood there I felt equal parts ridiculous, sexy, and awesome. Jane was the first to say something after we were all  suited-up, “We look great, but we don’t look like a team.” She blushed and added, “What? I read comics too.”

“What if we add a logo of some sort?” James suggested. 

Mel looked down at her drawing computer and started to draw. What she came up with was a five point green star, with wavy points, where one of the points was, nearly, completely faded out. The symbolism was perfect.

It wasn’t long before the Puppeteer returned and this time he brought creepy human shaped and featureless sand-filled purple-fabric puppets. They made a sickening scream when they were hit and crumpled like a bad interpretation of the wicked witch of the west.

We should have been able to take them easily but we sucked at working together. We each tried to take out the enemies as if we were discount versions of Gimli and Legolas. I was swinging wildly, Jane was jumping around doing almost nothing, and they were literally cleaning the streets with James.

I was getting worried when I saw James get swarmed but Mel’s voice boomed in our ears. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” she had decided to sit on top of a tall building and direct us. We’d ignored her and she was pissed. “Jane get James.” When she’d gotten the three of us together she said, “James get them as wet as you can.” She giggled at her innuendo. “Jane get Sam up here.”

From above it was impressive to see James throwing water balls at the puppets. “Okay they’re wet enough. Jane get James.”

“Okay fearless leader… we now have mud puppets. What next?”

“Do you know what happens to mud when it’s struck by lightning?” Mel asked.

I understood and charged as much power as I could into a lightning blast. The arc of power struck the foot deep of water and dispersed, coursing through the water into the puppets. When I was done there were no more puppets but there were fantastic fulgurite statues. I replied to Mel with, “We kicked it’s glass.”

Jane and James groaned.

Read Chapter 5

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Point Zero – Chapter 3

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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 3: A New Life and a New Foe

To say that the world ended in the year 2024 would be melodramatic.

The world as we knew it ended that cool August night. By the time we were ready to leave the cabin and reintegrate into society, we found a very different world.

Countries fell, leaders changed, industries died, and as we stumbled out of the woods in the spring of 2025 we found ourselves in a very different Canada and very different world. 

The night we were abducted there had been four other alien events. Each had been in remote towns and each had killed several thousand, sparing 4-6 teens or young adults. All of the kids had powers. 

The first Abductees to get back were Russian. They’d been met with military force and reacted in kind. An atomic bomb was dropped on their location after military action had proved futile.

The other three groups disappeared, either they did what we did and tried to hide in plain sight or they were dead.

When we left the cabin, we discovered we had been declared dead. I’ll skip the next few months since it was mostly us trying to get our identities back. Which is essentially months of paperwork and meetings with overworked government officials.

Our excuse of hiding off in a cabin seemed to not attract any attention. No RCMP or MIB visited us. We worked really hard to hide our powers from everyone. It wasn’t as easy for James as it was for the rest of us. I could hear a constant hum of electricity, Mel stopped drawing monsters and concentrated on slash or chibis, and Jane had to fight not to disappear at every odd noise, but James had gills and webbed hands. He was amphibious but needed to sleep in water.

We did what our parents had always joked about and pooled our inheritance to buy a house, except instead of being in the middle of nowhere like some hippy commune, it was in downtown Toronto. We thought living together and in a big city were our best choices. It was much easier to be a weirdo in Toronto than in a small town. 

Our inheritance wasn’t big enough to live off completely, especially that our powers seemed to amp up our metabolisms. We each got jobs. Once she had better control of her powers, Mel started her own online comic. It’s vividness made her an instant favourite. Jane got a job at a travel agency, often checking things out in advance for clients. If she had a maximum range, we never found out. James preferred freshwater but could handle sea water, he couldn’t deal with pools unfortunately. He got a job as a ticket seller for tour boats and spent more time in Lake Ontario than selling them.

I had a hard time controlling how electricity reacted around me. The only reason we didn’t need a lightning rod on our house was our proximity to the CN Tower. I tried to do electrical work but the electricity jumped out of the wires towards me. It was hard finding something that didn’t require me to constantly be near a computer or electrical device, although I could deal with a computer for a little while. I ended up working at one of the last independent bookstores ironically named Cover Stories.

The bookstore had four parts; the main space where they had new books, the used books area in the basement, the event space used for book launches and Friday Night Magic, and the lounge. The lounge was a large area with old furniture and lots of windows. The owner of the store had bought the space out for cheap from one of the old department stores but I’m still not sure how he afforded the space so close to the downtown core. Most importantly, he used a small tablet powered cash. For some reason tablets and phones were okay but I did fry any full sized computer.

It was fall again and everyone in town was selling maple or pumpkin drinks. I was on break in the lounge sipping a large pumpkin coffee when I heard an explosion. I looked longingly at my chocolate muffin and ran out to see what was going on.

As I ran I shuddered at the memory of the alien green fire that had started all this. What I saw outside wasn’t aliens. It looked like a giant cardboard dinosaur was shooting cars with laser eyes.

Jane appeared beside me and said, “I can get people out, you distract it.” Despite our many protestations, Jane had a habit of appearing a little too close. She said that she could find any of us anywhere. She knew I worked downtown and she must have seen the news. It was great timing anyway.

I looked around to see if anyone could see us and created my electric sword and shield. I made myself glow bright enough to be seen in the afternoon sun.

“Stop!” I yelled projecting my voice in the way that Frank had taught me. I missed Frank; that day was the anniversary of us getting abducted and he was heavily on my mind.

I expected it to screech and shoot its lasers at me. I hoped my shield would stop them. What I didn’t expect was for it to shout at me, “Your city will burn unless you bring me one ton of gold by the end of the day.” 

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. The deep menacing voice coming out of a building sized cardboard dinosaur was surreal. Its little hands flapped in the wind as it talked.

Read Chapter 4

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Point Zero – Chapter 2

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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 2: Recovery and Things get Animated.

The cabin was dusty but in better condition and better stocked than most houses. “It’s the only place I could think of,” Jane said apologetically as we all writhed on the ground in pain. She’d managed to teleport us all from wherever we had been to her Aunt’s cottage in a remote southern Quebec community.

Being teleported is one of the worst pains I’ve ever felt, worse than breaking a bone, being electrocuted, and being shot all combined.

When the pain started to recede, I panicked, “Where’s Frank? You left Frank behind. We have to go back.” Jane had the good taste to look abashed or ashamed, it was hard to tell. Everything was so bright with the lights on.

It was Mel that put her hand on my shoulder and said, “He was dead. He was cold and dead. Jane barely got us in time. It’s not fair to ask her to bring a corpse.” 

I knew Mel was right but between the residual pain in my body and the migrain I was getting from the lights, I didn’t want to hear it. “We left him. What kind of friends are we that we just left him?”

James started shaking and gasping for air. “I need water.” We all forgot what was happening and scrambled. Mel grabbed a glass of water for him, Jane went to the bathroom to fill the tub, and I grabbed a towel and wet it. 

We sat around the tub eating a couple of frozen pizzas that Jane had found in the freezer. They were probably the best thing I’d ever tasted. 

It was the tub that helped. It was less of a bathtub and more of a jet tub pretending to be a pool. Both James and Mel fit in the tub. Mel was just over six feet tall and she could have her legs and boobs in it at the same time.

“I’m semi-aquatic…” James said and rolled his eyes as Mel called him her platypus. “Sam here is some sort of lightning person, Jane can teleport, but what about you, Mel?”

“I have the power of puns! Bow before my linguistic lashing.” Mel said dramatically. “I don’t feel any different… Maybe I didn’t get anything. What you guys need are superhero names.” We all groaned and she continued, “James, you’re Platy-Power.”

“I have gills and webs… no duck bill or tail.”

“It’ll be part of your costume. Sam you’re the Electric Knight. ‘Cause of the shield. Jane you’re the Tele-Porter.”

Our groans turned into yawns and I fell asleep to Jane saying, “No, absolutely not.”

As I slept, I dreamt of green, emerald green, the colour was tinged in fear. I woke up thinking I heard something. I looked around, James was still in the tub, Jane was curled up on a sleeping bag next to it. There was a sleeping bag at my feet. I unrolled it and lay back down.

The cottage had four rooms, but we’d all decided to sleep in the same room for comfort.

I heard noises again. Where was Mel? I wondered. So despite being tired and in pain, I got up and walked toward the living room. Mel was sitting at the dining room table with a pencil and a pad of paper, drawing something. 

Movement and moaning caught my attention from the open-concept living room. I felt the electricity build up inside me, it felt like stretching before a sport. I raised my hand thinking to shoot a bolt of lightning but then remembered Mel’s superhero name for me. Instead I concentrated on forming a sword out of the electricity in my left hand and a shield in my right.

I moved towards Mel to get me between her and whatever was making the noise. Mel looked up at me confused. “What are you doing?”

I gestured towards the living room and her eyes went wide. She must have been so much into what she was drawing that she hadn’t heard. I glanced quickly at her drawing. It was the two main characters from the TV show Good Omens in a very sexy embrace.

I walked towards the sounds, they were behind a big sectional. At first I had thought zombies, then wild animals, I hadn’t expected two men going at it. It was a perfect copy, but in motion, of Mel’s drawing. 

“Mel, I think you did this.”

Mel gasped, “Sexy.”

“Mel.”

“Sorry. I wonder if I can touch them?” She leaned forward and poked a butt cheek. The man didn’t react. “Feels so real.”

“Mel!”

“I’ve never really been into self inserts, but…”

“Mel, can you dismiss them?”

Looking like she was imitating a toddler who was told to concentrate, she squished up her face and one of the men turned to us and said in a perfect Scottish accent, “Would you like to join?”

I blushed and elbowed Mel, who also blushed and did a whipping motion with her hand, like she was washing something away. The two men disappeared. 

“I think we found your power.”

“I hope I can control what I animate… Oh that’s good; I’m The Animator!”

I remembered I was standing there with a sword and shield built of electricity and willed them away. Looking at Mel with as much fatigue as I could, I said, “Mel, go to bed.”

It had been a long day for us, but for the rest of the world it had been a long week.

Read Chapter 3

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:


Point Zero – Chapter 1

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Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12

Chapter 1: Changes, Walking, and Helicopters of Death.

Other than the searing pain and the green fire, the thing that is most etched into my memory is the smell of burnt hair. While my hair had been getting shaggy, for me, it had been completely burned away. That stench still makes me wretch any time I smell it.

The five of us were alone on a plane of emerald glass and four of us were moaning in pain. All of us had burn marks on parts of our bodies, but they looked months old. 

“Frank… Oh shit Frank’s not breathing.” James bent over Frank’s now scarred face and tried to do mouth to mouth and chest compressions. We all reached for our phones to discover there was nothing there. After what felt like much too long, he stopped. 

Gasping for air, James asked, “Why is it so hard to breathe?” He reached up to his neck and felt under the corners of his hoodie. It had two otters on it and said, Otterly Adorable; Mel had given it to him. He said a few curse words before adding, “I have gills. How did I get gills?”

“Where are we?” Jane asked, either oblivious to James’s panic or ignoring it. 

I felt the green glass we stood on and looked around. It stretched for almost as far as the eye could see. Far at a distance I saw trees. “I think I see forest over that way.”

“I have webs between my fingers!” James started to hyperventilate. Mel grabbed his hand and tried to calm him by helping him breathe. It wasn’t working. “I couldn’t save him… He’s already cold…” James was gasping for air and crying at the same time.

“It’s not your fault James. Don’t feel Gill-ty,” Mel punned, but had the good taste to cringe. Everyone stopped what they were doing and we just stared at her. She sheepishly said, “Sorry.” We all burst into manic laughter.

When we were done, James was softly sobbing. Mel and I picked up Frank’s body and we started walking towards the trees. 

After the burning feeling, the cold was almost a relief until it became too much. My head was the first part to get cold and I looked at my friends, “Why am I the only one who doesn’t have hair?”

“Hey, at least you don’t have gills. Wait, maybe I’ll actually be able to breathe underwater.” James started to sound excited instead of upset.

We were all dressed for September in Northern Ontario, but the weather was closer to winter now and our long sleeves and hoodies weren’t cutting it. We were all shivering and the sun was hiding from us behind clouds.

“Man, I wish the sun would could out of those clouds. I could at least pretend to be warm,” I said. Trying to be funny was Mel’s thing, but I need to talk.

The others stopped and looked at me funny, Jane tilted her head and said, “It’s the middle of the night? We can barely see each other. The only reason we’re going this way is ‘cause you said you saw trees.” The rest of them nodded in agreement and I looked up. The bright spot behind the clouds wasn’t the sun but the moon.

“I can see clearly all the way past the glass. What the hell happened to us?”

We moved slowly towards the forest and just as we were giving up hope of ever feeling warm again, we were blinded by a bright light and the loud noises of helicopters. Someone over a loud speaker yelled, “This is the RCMP please lay down flat on the floor and don’t make any sudden moves.” We all swore, some of us in surprise and others in fear. Mel’s dad was native and both of them had been harassed by the cops more then they should. RCMP were always called in during a protest to protect land or anything else to do with the local Reserves. We had all been arrested for loitering in a provincial park once while camping; that wasn’t fun.

We started to move but I guess we hadn’t moved fast enough, ’cause I heard gunfire. I was looking at Jane and she turned bright white before completely disappearing. I threw up my arms and bright green lightning formed a dome around us that the bullets just bounced off of.

“How are you doing that?” asked James who was starting to hyperventilate again. “We have to get out of here.”

Whatever I was doing to create the protective dome felt like running at top speed. I tried to breathe like they’d taught us in gym class, not that I paid much attention, but I tried. Unfortunately, the effort was too much and I fell down gasping. “Sorry.”

“We’re not dead, you did great.” Mel put her hand on my shoulder. She was looking fuzzy like a chalk drawing. I assumed I was about to pass out.

“Lay down on the ground and no one gets hurt,” the loudspeakers shouted at us.

A small flash of light appeared beside us and Jane grabbed our hands. “This is going to hurt. Sorry.”

Bright white light and searing pain blocked everything out for me. When it was over I felt like every nerve had been poked with a very sharp stick.

I looked around at the dusty old furniture and asked, “Where are we?” 

Read Chapter 2

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Serial Story 2020 – Point Zero

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

You voted and were quite clear on what story should become this year’s serial story.

This year’s serial story will be Point Zero!

Point Zero

Setting: Our world after an alien attack that destroys several small towns before the aliens disappear.
Genre: Disaster, Post Apocalyptic, Super Hero

Follow Sam as they and their four best friends must deal with an alien attack that leaves the world irrevocably changed and the superpowers that it’s given them.

Every generation has a disaster that is etched into their memories. My grandparents had JFK, my parents had 9/11, and we had first contact.

It was a cool August night in my childhood hometown. It had a name at the time, something nature related that no one cares about; now it’s called Point Zero. It was a small town barely numbering in the four digits. I sat on the duck in the grade school playground, it sprung back and forwards every time I took a drink from the bottle of vodka in my hand.

Go Read the Rest of Point Zero

What is a Serial Story?

A serial story is a story that I write every month. I don’t plan ahead, I don’t have any idea how it’s going to end.

If I miss a month, you are rewarded with a bonus chapter. Yay!

It’s that simple.

I’ll have have Chapter 1 ready some time this month.

Thanks for voting and reading,

Éric

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

Ghost Ship Robinson – Chapter 7 of 7

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In the past five minutes, I’d learned that my god wasn’t alone in the universe and that my nightmares were created by an evil version of myself.

I also learned that he didn’t fight fair, and how it feels when a bullet pierces your lung.

I then quickly learned what it felt like to get shot in your leg, hand, and shoulder. I reached out with my power tried to pull his soulfire from him. I was too weak.

Convinced this was how I died, I prepared to explode. I could at least take this jerk out with me.

Walking towards me, he smirked again. His sword touched my neck and he said, “You don’t have to die today. I could burn out Sol’s influence and give you a new life with a real god. Denebola is merciful and gives his emissaries gifts beyond your imagination.”

“Your god has more than one emissary?” I asked, coughing up blood.

“Millions!” he replied. I coughed and thought of the implications of having an army of me.

I shuddered at the thought and hoped Sol had some sort of trick to save me. “Phoenix!” I said into the com I’d been keeping open. I also hoped that my crew were listening.

The ship turned itself on and I heard the hum of the engines and suddenly we were in subspace.

Without a fantastic targeting computer, a prophet, or a Precog, you’re just as likely to appear inside a sun as you are to get to your destination. Space is vast and filled with a lot of nothing, but space drives are like tiny pieces of metal and suns are like giant magnets. The reason we don’t go much past our solar system isn’t a lack of power, it’s a lack of ability to calculate where to come out. Even a Precog can make a mistake. A short jump will land you dangerously close to a planet. A long one will almost always land you inside a star.

That’s exactly what happened to the Robinson. My crew lobbed it at the sun. Like throwing a marble down a funnel, we appeared in the middle.

There was a split second when we came out of subspace that the other man scowled and then we were completely engulfed in fire.

I thought I was going to die, but as the ship around me vaporised, I started to heal. All around me was wonderful warmth and love. I could see the beautiful colours of the sun that should have blinded and killed me. It was all wonderful. Of course I was naked again, but I still had the sword.

Unfortunately, so did the other guy. “You knew we could survive inside a sun?” he asked and his words were in my head; they felt slimy.

“Nope,” I replied.

His face fell and looked at me in wonder. It was the first time I saw on his face what I had seen with my power. He was dying. The power was eating him alive. “You are either a fool or you are more powerful than we thought possible.”

“As epic as sword fighting another prophet inside a sun sounds, I don’t like sword fighting naked.”

He laughed and he looked me in the eyes. It was like being hit by a small planet. Our minds locked and I saw a battle that was ancient, and made us seem pitifully small. I saw the stars themselves fighting and the destruction it caused. I saw Sol trying to save sentience while the others tried to enslave it. Then I saw flashes of what was going to happen, what had happened, and what was happening now. In essence, I saw everything and it gave me a headache.

We were no longer fighting as ourselves. We were conduits for the fight between Sol and Denebola.

When it was all over, I knew Sol had won. I hoped I’d helped somehow. The other prophet had the bad form to smirk as he turned back into stardust.

I have no idea how to explain it, but I felt pride from Sol. He was proud of me. The feeling was quickly replaced by a series of visions.

When the visions cleared, I was kneeling in the centre of my ship’s bridge, sword in hand, and still completely naked. Even with the serum, I was weak and needed a little time to recover.

I felt hands gently place a robe over my shoulders and looked up at Suzie. I imagined a million things to say and instead asked, “May I?”

She grabbed the scruff of my hair and pulled me into a kiss. When the kiss ended and the jeering from the rest of the crew stopped, I said, “We have funerals to prepare for and family to notify. How’s Travis?”

“I’m fine. Tougher than I look.” He looked pale and sick, but he had both legs and was conscious so the doc must have done something right.

“Great. We’ll start with Teddy’s parents on Venus.” I hadn’t been back since I was excommunicated and had caused a civil war. “While we’re there, we’ll have to save the Venusian royal family.” Everyone looked at me disbelieving. “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

They all laughed. It was a wonderful sound and I appreciated it. Things were about to get a lot worse. I had seen the ships coming, each with a crew of nightmare creatures and prophets. Worst of all, their sheer numbers meant they wouldn’t fit in our solar system. We were outnumbered by so many I didn’t know what to call the the number.

Read More Stories

Sun Speaker

In the distant future humanity has spread to the other planets in our solar system. These stories follow Hal (a prophet for a godlike entity that lives in the sun), and his friends, as they try to make the solar system a better place.

Hal The Sun Speaker

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

The Assassin

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to my Funeral

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Gladiators in SPACE!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Ghost Ship Robinson

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

Ghost Ship Robinson – Chapter 6 of 7

by

Oh, how I hated that smile. It was smug, knowing, and superior. I hated it all the more because I had perfected the same one years ago. The man looked a lot like me, but older and evil. How does one look evil? His eyes were the colour of space with no stars, his smirked tilted in a way that said he knew he was better than everyone, and sides of his eyes didn’t crinkle when he smiled.

I didn’t believe in evil, even when the church I served tried to have me killed, twice. But that changed when I saw the man. I can feel the people around me. There’s warmth to all sentient souls. It’s a reflection of Sol himself. This man was colder than the heart of a black hole. Dispite all that, I could feel the powers of a prophet in him.

“Emissary of Sol. I’m here to kill you,” he repeated.

“I prefer Sun Speaker, Prophet, or just Hal thank you.”

“Your preferences make no difference. You will die today and everything in this system will bow to Denebola and The Pantheon.” I could hear both the truth and the capital letters in what he said. There was a lot to unpack there. First, was that Sol wasn’t alone as a god. Second, there was a pantheon of them. Most pressing was that this guy was like me. I’d met my predecessor before I had any connection to Sol. He was the first member of the church to try and kill me. But I’d never met someone like me.

Reaching out, my senses I felt his power; it was slimy like a vegetable left to it’s own devices for too long. He was still in perfect contact with his god even from this distance. Something I wasn’t. There was something else there though, he was powerful but like a wood fire, I could see he was wearing thin.

I had always assumed that Sol was the only god and finding out there were others threatened to send me into a philosophical spiral. I did what I do best and compartmentalised; I’d deal with the fact that my god wasn’t alone and might be weaker than others later.

From my study of my predecessors, they all died rather young. None survived past forty. In this line of work, our connection to Sol, literally made us burn out.

Our Doctor Janet’s miracle serum that let her stay young, had a very different effect on me. I wasn’t reverted to my early twenties, thank Sol, but instead it had allowed me to channel the power without killing myself.

“You busy yourself meddling in the affairs of others, when you should be ruling them.” He stretched out the vowels of ‘ruling’ and lifted his arms melodramatically. The nightmare creatures moved forwards as if pulled by strings attached to his hands.

He glowed a deep green light and smirked. I decided that if that was the way I looked in a fight, I wouldn’t want to fight me. The nightmares attacked and I sliced two of them down. Suzie would have gotten five.

One dove to bite me and I grabbed its head. For a moment I considered wrestling control of them from him. Being inside their heads didn’t seem all that much fun. Instead I pulled the sunlight out of its soul.

We are all made of the same elements, forged from stars over billions of years. Those elements are infused with a kind of spiritual energy. It’s what kept me calling Sol a god. Not his prophetic visions, but knowing that we were formed inside him and he had given us our souls.

Creating fire is fun, it scares people and makes them do what I want. Pulling the Soulfire from something isn’t fun. It was an act of destruction that left me feeling sick and horrified.

From the outside, all you’d have seen is the creature collapse, shrivel, and turn to dust.

“How? No one can channel that power without destroying themselves.” The man looked… excited? Amazed? Aroused? I wasn’t going to ask.

“You can give up now and head back home. Tell The Pantheon we’re good.” If Sol wasn’t part of this pantheon, maybe he was a rebel. No wonder he liked me.

“No! I’ll still kill you.” He pulled out a sword. It was the kind of sword villains carry in bad entertainment vids. Completely impractical in its size and spikiness.

Reaching into the belt of my robe, I pulled out the gun I had taken from the armory on my way up and shot him. The first hit should have killed him. I should have shot him in the heart. Instead, it went through him and the wound healed. I emptied the clip into him and he shrugged it off. It was my turn to be envious. I didn’t heal like that. I can heal by going into a sort of flaming trance, but it takes time.

Dropping the gun, I held the sword in both hands and prepared for his attack. The bastard pulled out a gun of his own and shot me.

“Copy-cat,” I said with a wheeze. I think I felt the bullet rattling around in my lungs.

Read Final Chapter

Sun Speaker

In the distant future humanity has spread to the other planets in our solar system. These stories follow Hal (a prophet for a godlike entity that lives in the sun), and his friends, as they try to make the solar system a better place.

Hal The Sun Speaker

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

The Assassin

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to my Funeral

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Gladiators in SPACE!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Ghost Ship Robinson

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

Ghost Ship Robinson – Chapter 5 of 7

by

“Hal, you’re an idiot. Get the hell out of there.” Suzie was sad and ignoring it by being furious with me. I couldn’t blame her. I’d told her I loved her and sent her back to the ship with a giant alien monstrosity’s head. If I’d been going for romantic, I should have gone with flowers or chocolate, but it’s all I had at the time.

“Sorry. Sol tells me I’m more likely to survive this.” It was mostly a lie. I’d seen her death, more than I ever wanted, but I hadn’t seen anything about me. Although these nightmare creatures were sure trying hard to get me. I’d managed pretty well so far by slicing with the sword and pushing them back with gusts of heat.

“Fine. Just get to the shuttle. We need to talk before I kill you.”

Clearing his throat, Adric said, “I’m having a little trouble getting a lock on the ship. Can you get to engineering and turn off everything?”

“Sure. Just a walk through a park. An alien, prophet eating, dog park.” I’d been doing okay against the creatures and that wasn’t a good sign. They should have been able to swarm me. Maybe cutting off the big one’s head had scared them? Or maybe something else was going on and I was sure that wasn’t a good thing.

Sure, I had a sword and sure, I had cut a few of them down, but if they all attacked at once I’d be swamped. What were they waiting for?

I moved slowly towards engineering and wished I could stop off at the armory. I killed a few of the nightmares as I went. They were getting less petrifying and more annoying.

It took me much too long to get to the main power shut off. It would shut everything down. Thank Sol for my portable air extractor. It would let me breathe in terrible conditions for at least a few hours.

I saw fresh blood on the ground and Sol hit me with a disturbing vision. “Adric, power’s off now. Is the Doc there?”

“Yeah Hal. I hear you. What’s up?” Janet sounded and looked like she was in her early twenties. It was the side effect of her immortality serum. She should be just over a hundred now.

“I’m seeing blood in engineering. Either they’ve been spreading our poor teammates around or someone was bit. Check Suzie and Travis out and let me know.”

The creatures all lifted their slimy heads and turned around, leaving me alone in the semi-darkness. I started to wonder where they were going and decided to worry about it later. Making my way back to the shuttle quickly would have been my best bet; but I was worried about a trap. I made a small stop at the armory on my way.

“We’ve locked onto the ship, but we have a problem.” Adric sounded annoyed and didn’t wait for me to say anything before adding, “Travis was bit by one of those things. He says he can’t remember, but now his legs swollen and Doc put him in the fishbowl.” He was talking about the sterile biohazard room that doubled as our jail cell.

Janet started talking, “Something’s attached itself to his leg and infected him somehow.”

“My day isn’t going to be complete until you tell me that one of my crew has alien eggs in him, is it?” I tried to not gag.

“How did you know?”

“I asked myself how things could get worse and this was one of two options. Can you cut it off?”

A sigh from the coms told me she didn’t like the idea, “The eggs are releasing an antitoxin. If I cut off his leg, the toxin that’s throughout his system will kill him. I’m trying to synthesise an artificial version but…”

“I owe that man my life. Do what you can… wait… what about the virus? Could that work? It was genetically engineered to fight these things right? Maybe it could be adapted to cure him.” Travis had been the captain of one of the most impressive pirate ships in the system. They stole from the rich and gave to the poor. The poor were mostly their families, but they gave to others too. They were rotten and wonderful all at once. I’d infiltrated and it hadn’t gone well for him. I’d felt every pain the other pirates put him through before he escaped, and I’ve never forgiven myself for what he went through.

“This isn’t my first medical issue, Hal. I’m already working on it. Get your healing fire ass over here.” She sounded tired and stressed. Without me or Travis to pilot they’d have to take a risky jump or coast to the closest commercial jump gate. One gave them even odds and the other would take a few hundred years.

“My flame cleanse might make things worse.”

“Then do the opposite. I don’t know. Get here and we’ll figure it out.”

It was an interesting idea. If I could create heat and plasma why couldn’t I drain it? Could I freeze these things?

The point was academic. I turned the corner to approach the shuttle and there, standing with a cocky grin, was the man from the cryogenic pod. I stopped walking and he must have taken that for fear instead of shock. Still smiling, he said, “Emissary of Sol. I’m here to kill you.”

Read Next Chapter

Sun Speaker

In the distant future humanity has spread to the other planets in our solar system. These stories follow Hal (a prophet for a godlike entity that lives in the sun), and his friends, as they try to make the solar system a better place.

Hal The Sun Speaker

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

The Assassin

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to my Funeral

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Gladiators in SPACE!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Ghost Ship Robinson

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7