Chapter One

Eleanor Gracey

Eleanor Gracey is currently sitting at her work computer, staring at her inbox, and panicking like a chicken who accidentally wandered into a fox’s den.

Congratulations Miss Eleanor Bethany Gracey. Your unique genome has been selected as a perfect compatible match. Your citizenship will be upgraded from a standard to a premium account upon completion of the Kathar propagation initiative. Please send the attached KPI1064 approved leave of absence form to your human resources department. We are processing all of your financial obligations on your behalf. This includes any outstanding loans, mortgage, credit agreements and utility bills. Please prepare only one suitcase and one carry-on bag for your departure to Starbase 71. A driver will collect you from your residence at 8 am tomorrow. Congratulations on your successful match. All information and support during the propagation process can be found in the attached pamphlet.

Eleanor read the same email for the 10th time, as if hoping the words would change or she would find some small print that would reveal that this was all a hoax. That she hadn’t been selected to become an Alien’s breeding partner. That her whole life hadn’t been uprooted in a single email.

It was only when her co-worker and fellow editor Kevin Bradford saw how long she’s been staring silently at her screen that the truth finally hit her. He pushed away from his desk beside her on his wheely chair and read the email over her shoulder.

“Congratulations El! You're going to starbase 71 huh? My cousin went to 34 last year and says they are all state-of-the-art. She told me that the higher the number the more important your partner is. 71 is pretty high.” He seemed to be suggesting something as he wiggled his eyebrows and poked her shoulder. “You lucky dog. Maybe your partner is a diplomat or rich? Premium citizenship awaits huh? Man, I wish I could get me some of that. Subsidized living expenses? fast track career progression? Not to mention the sweet digs you will get to live in when you come back. I’m jealous, kid.”

“...” Eleanor swallowed thickly and her face remained impassive as she forced her fingers to return to the keyboard. She forwarded on the KPI1064 as instructed and knew that in 1 hour she would be clocking out for the last time. Becoming a premium citizen meant she’d never have to work again. Kevin was right. Everyone else she spoke to would kill for the chance to win the genome match lottery.

Yet Eleanor felt seconds away from opening her mouth and letting a tsunami of vomit butterflies swarm up from the pit of her stomach. In her mind she was 11 years old again and staring up at one of the first ever Kathar to step foot on Earth. Humans only theorised about aliens before the Kathar dropped out of hyperspace. They appeared so suddenly and their ship covered so much of the air space over the northern hemisphere, it felt like an invasion at the time. Eleanor could still remember her parents hurrying to get her and her older sister out of the house and bundling them up in the back of the family car. Her father frantically turned the ignition and their mother was on the phone with their grandparents to make sure they were fleeing as well. In hindsight, it was a foolish thing to do. How would driving anywhere make a difference when an armada of aliens had appeared on their doorstep? Reports of smaller ships landing around the world and the tall iridescent black and blue beings stepping out of them soon plastered across social media. It wasn’t a hoax. All the stereotypes were lived up to. They roamed the streets with superior technology and scanned everyone they came across. Most were ignored after the scan, but then they started taking people. Abducting them without a word.

Flashback.

“Jack!” Her mother screamed as the car screeched to a stop before it could collide into a large round metal sphere. It was the size of a tank and spider-like legs extended from it as a form of a landing gear. Eleanor peered out of the car window and saw part of the dome lower into a ramp…and she saw it. It emerged in a billowing long black robe and was far too tall. Its neck seemed too long with the way its head swayed from side to side. Was it looking for something? The alien raised its hands up and many tiny orbs lifted up and spiraled off in all directions.

“Get down El.” Her sister Jennifer forced her to huddle to her shoulder and held her close. Her sister, like her, had blue eyes, but her sister was a brunette and very curvaceous for a 16 year old. Jenny was a cheerleader and ran track for her high school, whereas Eleanor much preferred books and computers to sports. She had sandy blonde hair like their mother and currently wore it in a messy bob. Even so, they were very close, and if Jenny told her to duck? She did so without hesitation. “Dad?! What are we waiting for?”

“She’s right. Get us out of here.” Their mother begged, but Jack didn’t drive them away. He was looking in the rearview and looked very pale. Jenny noticed this eyeline and slowly turned to look over her shoulder through the back window.

“Oh God.” Eleanor heard the uncharacteristic wobble to her sister’s voice and lifted her head up just enough to see why the car was so tense. Outside the car with hands pressed to the trunk and its face eerily staring at them through the back window, was an alien. At least, it looked like the creature was staring at them. His face was only recognizable as a face because the head had the right oval shape, and it was on top of his neck. It had no eyes, no nose, no mouth. There was a mild impression of where you’d expect there to be eyes, but otherwise, its face was smooth and had a blue iridescence to it. Like it had skin made of a membrane made of pixels that shimmered whenever the light it them. It had to see and hear somehow though, because it turned its head and regarded each member of the Gracey family in turn.

“Ah!” Their mother screamed when one of the very small orbs the alien released earlier shot a clean hole through her side window and flew into the car. “Jack! G-get it out!”

“H-hold on.” Jenny and Eleanor watched as their parents tried to swat away the dark metal orb as it ducked and weaved out of their reach. All while scanning both of them one at a time. Jenny held Eleanor close and they both trembled as the orb moved into the back of the car with them.

It scanned Eleanor.

It lit up bright blue.

Before she could finish raising her brow and wonder what that meant, the car door to her side was ripped off its hinges. The alien fisted at the front of Eleanor’s pink summer dress and dragged her screaming from the car.

“NO!” Jenny screamed and scrambled out after her baby sister. Her parents did the same, but they weren’t as fast as their athletic firstborn. Jennifer bolted angrily after the alien. “PUT MY SISTER DOWN YOU FUCKING ALIEN!”

Eleanor screamed and flailed, trying to free herself from the monster’s grasp. She was now being held around her waist to the alien’s hip. At least, it felt like a hip through the long black robe it wore. She craned her head up and saw her sister coming after her. Tears slugged down her face and she cried out, reaching for Jenny to save her. She saw her parents going to the ground in pain as more of the orbs descended and shot them with something that sparked across their bodies. Her sister was her last hope now. Her terrified little mind swam in terror. Was the alien going to take her up to its mothership to experiment on? To eat? To torture? “EL!” Jennifer slapped her right hand around Eleanor’s left wrist and held on tight. “I’ve got you!”

“D-don’t let me go! Don’t let it take me Jen. Please don’t let the monster take me!” Eleanor cried and swung her right hand over to hold onto her sister’s hands.

A string of clicking and hissing alerted the sisters to the fact the alien had stopped its march and was now looking down over its shoulder at the pair of them. Jennifer scowled bloody murder up at it and seethed through gritted teeth.

“I will never let you go. Hey ugly? You let my sister go right now.” She kicked at one of its legs, and it stumbled, but recovered quickly and didn’t drop its quarry. “Let her go!” The alien looked down at their connected hands, and then stared at Jenny with a curious incline of its iridescent head. “Please?” She begged. “Please let her go. Eleanor is only a child. She’s just a girl. T-take me instead.”

“Jen!?!” Eleanor screeched and shook her head. “NO! It’s not taking either of us!” The Alien jerked its hold on Eleanour and lifted her up and out of Jennifer’s grasp. It then turned quickly and pointed with a long supple finger at Jennifer.

“Y-yes. Take me instead.” Jenny sobbed but stood her ground and looked the alien right in the face. “Let her go and I-I’ll come with you instead.”

“NO!” Eleanor thrashed and wept. She arched as much as she could to see what was happening and strained to see the alien holding another of those orbs up to scan Jennifer. It lit up blue, but not as bright as it had when it scanned Eleanor. The alien seemed to be regarding this difference as it looked down at the weeping 11 year old.

“Please.” Jenny begged and took a step towards the alien, gaining its attention once more. “Please let her go. Please. She’s my baby sister. Please let her go.” Again the alien looked down at Eleanor for a long moment…before she was slowly lowered to the ground. The moment her hands and feet touched the ground Eleanor threw herself at her sister and tried to run with her. With a jerk she lost her footing and landed harshly on her side instead. Eleanor was winded as she pushed up on the concrete with her hands to look up and see her sister.

“JEN!” Eleanor screamed and dragged herself back up to her feet.

“I love you EL. I’ll see you again one day I swear.” Her face didn’t match her words as she sobbed and didn’t resist as the alien lifted the brunette up onto its hip. It even nodded, like it approved of the trade, and walked back up the ramp to its spherical ship. Eleanor almost made it to the ramp before it lifted up and out of her reach.

“JEN! JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!”

Note from the Author- 

Hello! Would you like to find out more? There are four books in the series that are live right now on KU, or, for £1.50 a month, you could come to my Patreon page, and they are ALL on there. Book 5 is also near the end on there as well ^_^ Here is a taster of the book covers so far.