About the book

Beyond The Space by Tarak Ghosh

 

Other titles from the author

Castle Waits (Romance, Paperback & E-book)  Silent Cockpit ( Non-fiction),  Flight 73 (Non-Fiction), Silent Shriek (Non-Fiction), Hunger Never Fades Away (Romantic Fiction Paperback & E-book), Lucy (Collection of short stories, E-book), Hell Flower (Sci-Fi, Paperback & E-book), The Snake Woman (Sci-Fi, Paperback & E-book), Lust & Poison (Sci-Fi, Paperback & E-book), I Am Suzan (Romance, Paperback & E-book), Indian Meditation (Paperback & E-book)

 

Cover Image: Pixabay

Cover Design: T. Kashyap

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

I’d like to thank my wife, Lipika, for her support and understanding of all the hours I spent in front of my computer; my children, Sayani and Soura, for always believing in my dream. I also thank Pencil Publication for giving me a chance to publish this book. And above all, I want to honor the readers who spend their money and time on buying this author’s works and reading them.

 

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my wife Lipika.

 

Beyond the Space

 

 

 

 

Miranda 24, one of the farthest planets in space, sent a spaceship in search of new life. They've been receiving a signal from one of the solar system's planets for some time now. But for mechanical reasons, this spaceship crashed on Earth. One of the two astronauts in the spaceship somehow escaped. Mida, the survivor astronaut, was human-like. At first, she was taken aback by the similarities she discovered between herself and humans. She later realized, however, that humans are truly different. In their hearts, the fires of greed, selfishness, and vengeance are still burning. At the same time, some of the world's rulers wish to use war to occupy other countries. Thus, they are moving towards destruction, their final destiny, designed by themselves as it happened on their planet thousands of years ago.

Mida fell in love with a human journalist who took her in and promised to protect her from the earth's human rulers. However, D. Nova Walker, an outer space life researcher, identified her as an alien after a few days. Alex, the journalist, took her and hid her in an unknown location. Is it possible for earth scientists to figure out why they have physical similarities, or do they investigate why they differ psychologically from humans?

 

Chapter 1

 

The girl opened her eyes very slowly, blinking at the painful brightness and immediately taking a deep breath. She was dimly aware of the pain throbbing in the back of her head. She shook her head, trying to clear away the final few filaments of fog that still blanketed her brain. Her memory was returning. She could not recall how long she had lost consciousness. She barely remembered who she was and what she was doing. Slowly, she shook her head to get rid of the dizziness. Everything was spinning around her. White flashes danced before her eyes.

When she came to her complete senses, she discovered herself lying on the grassland. Her space helmet was thrown somewhere, yet she could breathe. It meant this unknown planet had the same atmosphere as hers. A blue sky came into her view. She could see the sun high in the sky, and she used her hand to shield her eyes from the harsh rays.

The entire area looked like dead land. She took a moment to listen to her surroundings. She could hear only the mild sound of the passing wind. She was not sure what planet it was. The presence of oxygen proved that it had the same environment as her planet to live without any support. She scanned the area with her green eyes. They were the same trees, but the color was different. On her planet, the trees were blue and not so tall. She looked at the sky. It was blue. Her sky was green. She looked at her hand and was startled with great fear. The sphere device had been lost, and it meant that she could not contact Miranda 24 anymore. Above all, she could not make herself invisible when she needed to.

She turned her head and started to explore the spot where their starship crashed landed. A couple of miles away were some rolling hills covered with trees. She could discover the wreckage of their starship at the edge of the hill. Only a small part was visible, but the rest was completely out of sight. But she was luckily saved. She tried to stand up, but her mind told her, "Don't stress about anything here." She slowed her breathing and tried to feel how damaged her insides were. "No, it seemed alright," she thought. Mida turned and looked around to see if the crash had drawn any attention. But there was no one visible.

There was a silence that seemed to cloak and envelop the entire area, just the ghostly whistle of the light breeze. She moved her head right and left to scan the surroundings. "Maybe it's a planet without habitation," she thought. Her space uniform was isolated from any kind of weather. So she was safe from the heat and cosmic rays. She felt happy to discover it intact. It meant the weather of this planet could not faze her.

The spaceship was originally designed to travel 15 light years in 1 space hour. The Space Research Center had a mission to improve relations between the space-faring races at the ends of the galaxy and them. They had been trying to communicate with the living creatures outside of their planet for more than 200 Miranda years. The Space Research Center of Miranda 24 has never focused on this area before. But the organization suddenly received a signal a few months before their outer space exploration started. It came from the solar system area. The outer space research agency decided to send a spacecraft to find out the source of the signal and they made a program. The program's primary goals were to discover planets around other stars, characterize their properties, and identify planets that could harbor life.

Finally, it was decided to send a team of two astronauts. Kaity and Mida were assigned to this special mission to search for a new planet in that area. This was Mida's second mission and Kaity's fourth. They had only one duty: to discover a new one and send information to the space research organization. Mida could remember the words of flight commander Kaity before the ship caught fire. My starship caught fire and started malfunctioning. The electrical systems are not functioning properly. I'm trying hard to make an emergency landing on the nearest planet. But I am not sure whether the nearest planet will be a safe place for the landing. "Even I don't know how the inhabitants would be, friendly or not." After a fraction of a second, they discovered the blue planet. Kaity contracted with the Space Organization.

"Yes, I just discovered a blue planet 50 light years from Miranda 24, so it's close to our system but unexplored."

Mida tried to ease the acceleration before entering the atmosphere of the blue planet, but the engine ceased completely 30 thousand feet above the surface. Before sending another message, Kaity saw the ship heading directly for the plane to land. She turned her head toward Mida and said, smilingly, "We are going to crash-land. If we die, no problem, but if I die, please try to save our planet with your effort. If you get the chance, please tell my son that I still love him." Her eyes were not on the planet that was rushing towards them at great speed but on the landing control. Moments later, the red indicator flashed, the ship crashed on the ground, and she was ejected immediately from the chair.

Finally, Mida stood up on her feet. But her legs began to tremble as she stood up, and her heart started pounding just a little harder with the extra effort. Her throat was dry and her mind was still a blur. Kaity's last words echoed in her mind. Now and then, her face was remembered; an unknown cry, an unknown fear seemed to surround Mida's heart.

She looked around and could see a clear stream running through a valley in the hills. She could easily recognize it as a river. There are many such rivers on the planet. She stopped, looking at the flowing water. She could think herself very insecure. She began to take herself alone today for the first time in a long time. It felt as if she was alone and powerless in this vast cosmos.

She brushed her long hair away from her face and peered around, but nothing caught her eye."It appeared to be a lifeless planet." She whispered. But her expertise told her that this planet was alive and that intelligent creatures might be present.

The only sign of life came after nearly ten minutes. Mida heard the noise: a low rumbling from the sky. She spun her head around, not being able to make out where the sound was coming from. She raised her head and looked at the sky, shielding her eyes in an attempt to spot the object. Suddenly, she could see an object flying over her head. It was a helicopter, similar to the ones she'd seen in old digital textbooks. It was used by her forefathers 1000 years ago. They've started using flying dishes to get around now.

She realized that she could be caught at any time. Her sixth sense alerted her that the inhabitants of this planet might be her enemy. They could kill her. With a heavy heart, she started crawling and hid behind a bush. She had a great feat if she was caught. Immediately, there were footsteps as she hid in a bush. The footsteps were heavy, and they slowed down. Finally, they came into view.

Behind the bush, Mida could see a group of two-legged creatures heading towards the wreckage. The one thing that made her happy was that they were like her, with the same physical structure. She could see that there were two women among them. They had long hair as she had. She became eager to hear their voices. The Miranda people had a unique ability to quickly learn a language and communicate with others.

Therefore, she plugged her ears to hear from them. At first, she couldn't understand what they were saying; a lot of hum-clicks and buzz-clucks with gestures. But soon, she understood that they were talking about the spaceship. She shifted position—slowly, slowly, so she wouldn't make any noise—to lean against a prickly-barked tree trunk and let her remember.

The sun was shining brightly, yet the temperature was not excessively hot. There was a cool breeze, and it was quite pleasant. Mida could remember that they had the same atmosphere. The only difference was that they had two suns, bigger than this.

"Hey, who are you exactly? And what are you doing here, anyway? Are you in trouble?" called a voice from behind her. Mida quickly turned her head and noticed a figure standing near the bush staring at her. The figure looked like a male creature, just like their male people.

"This is most likely a male species from this planet," she reasoned.

He was about six feet tall, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. After a couple of seconds, when the scanning was finished, she felt that the creature had no bad intentions and had no arms with him. But she didn't speak a word.

As he recovered from his initial shock of seeing a beautiful girl in the deserted hill area, the young man ran his eyes from her head to toe. He was totally confused, discovering a young girl in this abandoned, deserted hill area. He looked at the girl with curiosity. Her eyes were soft and green, but they glinted like the flash of polished steel. Her figure was well-proportioned and graceful in its curves.

The man stared at her golden hair that fell in waves over her creamy white shoulders. She was wearing a snug, elasticized one-piece jumpsuit with a zipper up the front. She had beautiful green eyes and long, golden curly hair. He seemed to study her closely as if trying to make a decision.

"Are you an astronaut?" The man first asked as he got close enough.

There was no reply, just an icy silence. He asked again. He'd never asked out a stranger before, but the situation was quite different. A solitary highland... a wrecked spaceship... a gorgeous lady astronaut, and she was trying to hide. The situation was different. "You look like an astronaut. Maybe the wrecked spaceship was yours? Why and how are you here?" The blue-eyed young man threw a series of questions at her without moving his eyes from her fairy-like body. She remained silent. Fear was slowly overtaking her thoughts in her mind.

"I'm not a bad guy; I'm a journalist. And I'd like to learn more about you. By the way, my name is Alex, Alex Edwards." The man attempted to sound confident as he introduced himself. His eyes focused on her face. Mida looked at him. He looked innocent but confused.

He looked again at her, trying to figure out where she was from. She was like any American girl, but her eyes were something different. When she was looking at him, her eyes flashed for a fraction of a second with a green flame.

"No, no... I'm perfectly fine." She told the man, "I'm only a little stressed out." But she didn't look like it.

"If you are an astronaut, why do you not meet them? I'm not sure why you're concealing your identity. Meet them; they're most likely NASA officials. They may be able to help you."  The young man said, "Are you from NASA?" He asked again. She hurriedly tossed her head from side to side. "NO!"

"Then? India? France? Russia?"

"I will tell you later."

Even still, her voice cracked a little. She appeared befuddled. She couldn't make up her mind at that point and wrapped one of her fingers around a curl of hair. She didn't know where she was. Her thoughts and intellect were gradually becoming more focused. She was afraid that if she told him everything, she might be in danger. It was an unknown planet, and she knew nothing about this planet and its inhabitants. But a certain curiosity started to develop in her mind.

"I do not have anything to do but trust you. You look like a nice person. But, I think it's not a safer environment. Please take me to a safer place and I will tell you everything." The girl struggled to keep her voice quiet as she heard footsteps approaching. The man instantly realized the girl's behavior was unusual and that she was concealing something. He looked into her eyes as if looking for something unspoken.

He whispered to her, "Listen, astronaut. I have an idea... Stay at my home tonight. That's a more secure location. Get up the next morning and accomplish what needs to be done. But I couldn't understand why you were avoiding the search team. They can help you if you are even from another continent."

She simply held his hands together and whispered, "We need to leave this area now." When Alex glanced at her face, she noticed a shadow of beauty and dread mixed in the same proportion. Before leaving the area, Alex turned around to see whether anyone was following them. As they gently made their way down the hill, he glanced at her from time to time. His car was parked on the side of the road under a huge tree. The girl examined the vehicle.

"It's a four-wheeled vehicle. Maybe it's a car that runs on the road." She thought to herself,

"I'll drive you to your desired location. I'm sure someone is worrying about you and is on the search for you right now." As he started the engine, Alex said.

Mida didn't say anything, but a slight smile flickered on her lips. They got back on the road soon after, and Alex was cautious to keep an eye on both the road and the traffic. After a 20-minute journey, they passed a river bridge and exited the highway onto a gravel road that led to a forest. They were now going through densely forested areas. As errant branches scraped and clawed at the sides of the road, the trees billowed over it, creating the illusion of a tunnel.

She wiped a few stray hairs away from her eyes with her fingers and looked in the rearview mirror. In the mirror, she scrutinized her reflection. Then she gazed at Alex, shifting her eyes.

"How far is your residence?" she said quietly.

Gazing into her eyes, Alex was caught in the spell. She was gorgeous. Moving his eyes, Alex finally replied, "Not so far from here. We have to cross a playground on the left side before reaching." A voice of agreeable quality was speaking to her.

After a few minutes, they reached their destination. Fifty yards before her rose a grassy mound, with a sort of summer house on it. The place was protected by a grove of tall pines, disposed of in a wide semicircle between the dwelling house and the ocean. The house was on Clark Street, which wasn't so remarkable, but twisty and spire, it deserved one regardless. There was a park outside the house, one block wide and three blocks long. A forest of towering pines, arranged in a wide semicircle, provided security between the living house and the ocean.

Alex headed to the gate after parking his car in the lot. The girl got out of the car and had a look around. To her, everything seemed abnormal. Unknown people on an unknown planet. With a puzzled expression on her face, she followed Alex. Her ideas flashed across her mind like a splinter of light.

Alex unlocked the guest room and said, "You can use this bedroom. Of course, you'll need some clothes as well. First, take a shower. Now, if you'd like, I have something you could wear. While you are doing that, I'll set out some of my mom's clothes, the ones that will be pretty nice. Don't be embarrassed. Later, I will buy you some new ones. In the evening, I'll go shopping for you." Alex said.

"That would be fantastic," she said, though she appeared concerned and paused. "Just one more thing…"  The fairy-like girl didn't finish what she was saying.

"What's that?"

"Can you tell me why you're rooting for me?" She didn't know anything about this man and didn't want to judge him too early. Besides, he saved her.  Still, she was getting more and more cautious. It was also pretty clear to her that she was completely

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Tarak Nath Ghosh
Bildmaterialien: Pixabay Free Image
Cover: T. Kashyap
Lektorat: T. Kashyap
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 28.02.2023
ISBN: 978-3-7554-3383-5

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Widmung:
Dedicated to my wife Lipika Ghosh