Foreward
I've
always enjoyed writing but have never really published anything. Occasionally, I have submitted short stories
to magazines that I enjoy reading without ever having them accepted for
publication. So I was excited to learn
that Kristy had taken on the challenges of becoming an editor. I have known Kristy since she was just a
little thing. Her father and I were
friends in high school and I have watched her grow up over the years and was
fortunate enough to attend her wedding with my own daughters in tow. When she
started her blog, I immediately saved it to my bookmarks and checked on it
daily. In particular, I was interested
in her guest blogger piece for Fridays.
I read that first piece and realized that maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not beyond my capabilities. So when Kristy asked me if I would like to be
a guest blogger, I jumped at the chance.
I was flattered that she asked me without ever reading my material other
than my facebook posts. I had expressed
my interest in writing to her and that was all it took for her to give me the
opportunity. So here it is. It's just a beginning but everything has to
start somewhere and maybe this is it. I
hope you enjoy!
Offworlders
Written by
Stephen Strzelinski
Chapter 1
I'm just an
ordinary guy in every sense of the word.
It was all I ever really wanted.
To be ordinary, accepted by my peers, unremarkable, nondescript. It always seemed like there was far less
drama when you didn't attract attention to yourself. You never really understand how far you can
bury the real you, until you realize that all you do is hide behind the shell
of a human that merely looks like you.
Every action, every thought, every emotion, every word that slips off
your tongue, carefully scripted so as not to reveal what may set you apart from
the rest of humanity. I've always hated
that word, humanity.
What
is it about that word that causes me so much discomfort? Well for starters, it would help if I were
human. Sure I look like them, sound like
them and act like them...for the most part.
I even want to be human. But I'm
not. I'm a Corvan, at least that's what I
think the humans would call it. Our own
planet, Corva, was on the verge of destruction.
Our star had neared the end of its life span and was beginning to shed
its outer layers and grow into its red giant phase. Hastily, we abandoned our planet and set out
for the four corners of the universe in the hopes that we could find a new home
world. About ten Earth years ago, after
many years of searching, we finally discovered this star system. We had hoped we would be able to begin our
new life immediately.
It wasn't
as simple as all that though. It wasn't
like we could just park our starship in a stable orbit and beam down like they
do on Star Trek. In fact, we are kind of
the opposite of the villainous Borg from one of the incarnations of that
show. Rather than assimilate humans, we
needed to be the ones assimilated into the human population. For ten years we stayed in an orbit well
beyond their moon. We eavesdropped on
humanity, learning their languages, understanding their politics...which I must
say, I still don't understand. We
quickly learned that humanity is a violent race intermingled with a glimmer of
hope. If we had any hope of survival on
this blue world, we could never reveal ourselves to them. Not now, or for the foreseeable future. Not until they learned tolerance and
acceptance. Those ten years seemed like
an eternity. I learned to love people,
and hate people. I began to understand
that humanity was full of promise but prone to failure. While I could accept them for all that was
good and bad, I knew that if they ever found out the truth about me, they
wouldn't show me the same courtesy. A
simple phrase said it best...It sucked.
I never
knew my home world. I was born on the
voyage, seven years before we reached Earth.
What I do know of Corva came from pictures and studies of our history. Very similar to what I know of Earth
actually. The difference being that I
can put into practice what I've learned of this place. We have come to the decision to change our
names in an effort to fully integrate with the inhabitants of this planet. No mistakes that way. We become who we say we are. My name is Ben, shortened from my given name
of Bentor.
Fortunately,
we are very similar to the inhabitants of this planet. Our bodies are adapted to similar diets,
however the taste of the food is quite different from the processed food we
have been subsisting on. We are roughly
the same height and our skin tone is similar to a Caucasian human with a good
tan. Unlike the humans, we are only one
race. Years of evolution and blending of
races have muted the skin tones to our present appearance. We can also communicate with our minds which
makes it easy to share information without revealing ourselves. In our limited excursions to this planet, we
have come across a select few humans who also demonstrate this ability but it
is in no way as developed as it is in our race.
We have the ability to see in a wider spectrum and our night vision is
far superior. This is probably why it
was so difficult to adjust to the bright sunlight when we first arrived
here.
Our own
world had a stronger gravitational pull so the simulated gravity on our ship
was attuned to what we were used to.
When we arrived here, they matched the gravity on the ship to simulate
Earth. That gave us ten years to adapt. It was enough time to acclimate our bodies, however it will be generations before the genetics catch up. In the meantime, our stronger muscles will be
one of the things that will be difficult to hide. We've also evolved to survive in the lower
oxygen atmosphere of our own world. The
extra oxygen in Earth's atmosphere makes us even stronger and faster and gives
us more endurance. In effect, we are
super humans.
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There you have it! Look out for him in the future, I'm looking forward to see where this story is headed. If you're an aspiring writer and interested in just letting a little out, let me know and I'll feature some of your work on an upcoming Guest Blogger Friday. Thanks for stopping by!
*Note: Anything you see on Guest Blogger Fridays is the property of the author featured. Any similarities in names or events to other works are purely coincidental and not to be reproduced or copied in any way, shape or form without the express written consent of the author. This forum is used to help writers overcome fears, get positive feedback and share what they have to offer. Naysayers, trolls and hecklers will not be tolerated.
Thanks Kristy
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