This novel is a delightful blend of adult romance and science fiction.
This novel is a delightful combination of adult romance and science fiction centred around the character Lisa Macdonald, a veterinarian, who moves back to her homeland of Scotland to be near her ill mother. There she meets Richard, a wealthy and famous musician and they fall in love. But she soon finds their whirlwind relationship is far from normal as unusual events begin to take place. Richard reveals his involvement in a secret government organisation. He introduces Lisa to a talking spaceship and tells her he has ancestors from outer space. She then finds herself transported on an epic journey into space where she visits the moon, learns the truth about her own origins and the hidden lives of her parents including the news that her father whom she believed dead is still alive.
Synthetic humans, a cure for cancer and alien mammals are all encountered but the most affecting part is the sincere and organic relationship between the two main protagonists. Lisa’s discovery that she possesses latent telepathic capabilities also adds to the intensity of the romantic element of the novel. There is something particularly life-affirming and comforting in the development of their romance in the face of so many profound revelations.
The book is filled with hope for humanity, a belief that time and technology can and will create a balanced society where the human lifespan is extended and a more organic society put in place.
Excerpt
Chapter 9
My mind was reeling as we walked down the lane at the back of my house. I didn’t know what to think; I just had a strange feeling of awe and wonder. He tightened his grip on my hand as a shiver came over me. I didn’t know what to expect and I felt as though he was going to show me a fantastic new motorcar. But no, he definitely said it was a space ship.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “this is all going to be a bit weird to you but we will go through it slowly.”
We turned into a field; the gate was already open. The field was quite empty except for a rusting old tractor in the corner. The grass was quite long and dotted with meadow flowers; trees surrounded the whole field. We walked to the centre of the field and stopped. I didn’t know what to expect. Was this ship going to come out of the sky? He turned to me and smiled.
“Believe it or not we are standing right in front of the ship. The cloaking device is very efficient; it is very difficult to tell if it is there. If it were raining, you would be able to make out the outline. If you look very carefully you can see Horace shimmering in the heat of the sun.”
“A cloaking device?” I said while staring into the empty field. “Do you mean the spaceship is already here and I can’t see it?”
“Horace has a special skin that can imitate its surroundings, a bit like very clever camouflage.”
He made a broad sweep of his arm. He was right. It was a very hot sunny day but I couldn’t see anything. I squinted at the vista before me and as if by magic, an oval quivering outline became visible against the trees.
“Is that it?” I said. “It’s as big as a house.”
“It is about 100 feet top to ground and about 200 feet long, but we are looking at his front end at the moment,” he said reassuringly. “I don’t have clearance to remove the cloaking device. Security is very tight these days, but I may be able to show you what he looks like when we get back to the island.”
I felt a wave of excitement come over me and could sense the object before me as if it were a living being. Although it was hot, my arms had goose bumps all over and my body tingled as if charged with electrical current.
“Are you going to take me for a ride in it?” I said nervously and instantly felt foolish.
“If you think you are ready we can go inside and I can show you around. I will have to introduce you to Horace first before we can take off.”
“Who is Horace?” I said indignantly. “Does the ship have a captain?”
“I know it sounds like a silly name but Horace is the ship. He is a living being whose aim in life is to provide comfortable space travel. He is allowed to choose his own name. I can only describe him as a synthetic organic life form. OK, his brain is a computer, but it is so far advanced from anything we know. He has awareness, a sense of humour and I treat him as a person with a soul. He has access to an interstellar network and chose his own identity. I suppose it’s a bit like a computer password. He has been alive for about 150 years now and is extremely knowledgeable.”
“One hundred and fifty years?” I felt my voice rising in pitch. “Isn’t that a bit old for a spaceship?”
Richard looked a bit embarrassed and I think he realised he shouldn’t have given me that sort of information.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “he could well live for another hundred years. When you understand how he was created you won’t worry about his age.”
This information was flying over my head; he was talking about the ship as if it was a person and I felt intrigued with Horace. I tried to relax a little.
“I’m ready for anything you can throw at me,” I said and managed a smile.
“Well we can take it one step at a time,” he said. “The first thing is to get you on board before anybody sees us and wonders what the hell we are doing standing in a field.”
I was starting to feel nervous again.
“What happens? Do you beam us aboard?” Richard laughed at me.
“No, unlike popular fiction, I’m afraid transferring living matter is a physiological impossibility. The ship has a lift that carries us upward into the cabin.”
Richard gripped my hand and led me forwards. A few paces ahead I could see a flattened area of grass about the size of a car as if something heavy were lying on it. Suddenly I stopped in my tracks as a beam of green light, like a laser, framed the grass. The beam was a perfect rectangle and didn’t seem to have any thickness; it seemed to shimmer in the sunlight.
“It’s alright, we have to step onto the rectangle,” Richard reassured me. “A wall of light will drop down around us and you will feel a rising sensation as if you were going up in a conventional lift.”
We stepped into or rather onto the rectangle. I felt something hard under my foot but my feet seemed to be suspended off the ground. I wobbled around and thought I was going to fall over but Richard held me up with his strong arm around my waist.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve got you; you’ll get used to it eventually.”
I was suddenly surrounded by brilliant white walls and immediately felt a rising sensation as if I were going up in one of those American turbo-lifts. Before I could blink an eye, I was staring out into an amazing room. The air was suddenly cool and smelled like sea air. It was very pleasant especially after the heat outside, and I was only wearing a light summer dress. I shivered in awe at the sight before me. The room was egg-shaped as far as I could see and the floor was about half way up the egg, if you know what I mean. There was a lower area at the sharp end of the egg with a step down. I assumed this was the front end. The rear end of the egg had a partition across it. All the walls had panels with a rounded edge and glowed slightly with a pleasant light brown colour. The walls around the panels were what appeared to be a dark green fabric, the like of which I have never seen before. The floor had what appeared to be a tightly woven fitted carpet, which was a dark maroon colour. There were eight black leather easy chairs arranged tastefully around two round coffee tables. There was a faint sound of circulating air. It all reminded me of a Virgin Airways first class cabin. I must say it was all very pleasant and I started to feel a bit more at ease.
We were still standing in the lift cubicle looking out. I realised that Richard still had his arm around my waist. He turned to me and smiled.
“Are you OK so far? I hope you like the décor. Horace has over a thousand different interior themes; I chose this one myself.”
“I think it’s lovely,” I said and wished it were a bit brighter.
I think Richard must have read my thoughts. As if talking to mid air he said, “Horace, can you open the viewing portals.”
“Would you like it on your last setting, sir?” Horace’s voice replied and seemed to come from nowhere. The sound seemed to be all around me, but it was a friendly male voice. I half expected to see someone standing in front of me.
“Yes, Horace,” Richard replied.
The whole front section and side panels immediately started to glow brightly. I realised we were looking at the outside world. I could see the trees surrounding the field. Faint shafts of sunlight streamed in through the windows. I flinched at the sudden flush of light; it was an incredible space and looked like someone’s futuristic living room. Richard guided me into the room, or I should say cabin. I didn’t know what to call it. He still had his arm around my waist and I felt the warmth of his body. My mind was filling with questions; I wondered who or what had developed such an amazing craft. Richard once again seemed to sense my thoughts.
“All will be revealed in time,” he said. “First I must introduce you to Horace; he runs the whole shooting match and I’m sure you will get to like him.”
We faced the front window and I saw in the distance the trees waving gently in the breeze.
“Horace,” he said, “I would like you to meet a very special friend of mine. This is Lisa Macdonald.”
The kindly voice seemed to come from nowhere and once again I expected to see somebody standing in front of me.
“Lisa Macdonald, I am very pleased to make your acquaintance,” the voice said and continued. “I am always pleased to meet new people from Earth. I will assist you in any way I can.”
I didn’t quite understand what he meant but it was like being introduced to the butler. Richard addressed the voice.
“Horace, Lisa has not been fully briefed yet; I have decided to show her the ship first, so I will require your co-operation. I presume you have received a communication from the council.”
“I have sir and with your permission I will need to scan Lisa Macdonald for a security profile.” Horace replied.
“Scan me?” I said and I gave Richard a worried look.
“Don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing. It’s just for security purposes. Go ahead Horace.”
I experienced a slight tingling sensation, which only lasted a fraction of a second.
“Lisa Macdonald has full clearance,” the voice came back, “and we can take off at your command.”
“Thank you, Horace,” Richard replied courteously.
“How about I show you around?” Richard said, turning to me. “And then we can have a coffee and a talk and then I’ll show you what this ship can do.”
I stood a moment trying to take it all in and realised that I had forgotten to go to the loo and had a full bladder.
“I hate to be a bore but I am dying for a pee,” I said.
“No problem.” Richard smiled. “I’ll show you the ship’s facilities.”
I was impressed; it had a loo as well.
Richard finally released his grip on my waist and turned towards the back wall. A panel in the wall silently whizzed sideways and left a doorway. As we walked through, I quickly touched the wall; it definitely was some sort of fabric. Everything was so immaculately clean! We walked into a corridor, which was decorated in the same way. Richard touched a small red glowing panel on the wall. Instantly another door slid back exposing what was obviously some sort of bathroom. Richard told me to touch the red panel to close the door, so I eagerly entered. The whole room was ultra-modern and decorated with what seemed to be black tiling. As soon as I entered, the whole ceiling lit up. I recognised what was definitely a very modern loo with a somewhat conventional seat. I opened the lid and hurriedly sat down with blessed relief. I had forgotten to shut the door but I felt safer leaving it open. Richard had disappeared anyway. I looked around the room. There was what looked like a shower cubicle in the corner with a curved glass panel, but I couldn’t see a showerhead or taps, just a red glowing panel in the corner. Adjacent to me I could recognise a basin with a broad spout, probably an automatic tap. Lo and behold, there was conventional toilet paper, poking out of a slot in the wall. The whole bathroom was decorated in black and was incredibly clean with not a seam or crack in sight as if it had been moulded out of one sheet of plastic. I finished up and yes the basin was automatic with warm running water. There was a built in paper towel dispenser. Typically, I couldn’t get the loo to flush so I left it and hurried out to find Richard. He was in the next room that was obviously some kind of kitchen and was placing two mugs under some kind of coffee maker. I came up behind him and put my arms around his waist.
“Feeling better?” he said, turning round to face me.
“Yes thank you, but I can’t make the loo flush.”
“You have to close the lid and touch the red panel,” he smiled.
I immediately went back to the bathroom and followed his instructions. It finally made a hissing sound so I assumed the job was done.
We sat down in the cabin on the plush leather chairs and sipped our coffee. I was feeling much more relaxed and started to collect my thoughts.
“So you work for an advanced secret agency that is in contact with extraterrestrial life?” I quizzed. “They are obviously far more advanced than we are and you have access to this amazing space craft.”
“That’s correct in essence. There’s more to it than that and it is going to be difficult to explain it all to you,” he said with a serious look on his face.
“I suppose I do sort of work for the government,” he continued, “but although some government officials know what I’m doing, they are not in charge of my activities.”
“Who is in charge?” I said feeling mystified.
“Well,” he said, pausing, “you could say I inherited and accepted this responsibility from my father, who in turn took over from his father.”
“So did your grandfather invent this ship?” I said, desperately trying to understand.
“You do believe in the possibility of extraterrestrial life, don’t you?”
Richard had a very concerned look on his face. Now my thoughts were racing and my heart started thumping wildly.
“Yes I do. It would be very arrogant to assume we are the only living things in the universe,” I said shakily. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, my grandfather is not from this world. He originated from a distant planet, not unlike this one.”
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