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    Dryad
    Dryad
    Dryad
    Ebook60 pages1 hour

    Dryad

    By Paul Lucas

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    About this ebook

    Their marriage disintegrating, Kendra Ling and Mona Favre knew the expedition to the planet Kiva would be their last as both a xenobiology survey team and as spouses.

    When a disaster in space maroons them on the unknown planet with almost no technology, their prospects look grim... until unexpected contact with very alien life forms completely changes everything. But will these alien 'dryads' be their salvation, or something far more sinister?

    Dryad: a fantastic tale of alien contact and transformation.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPaul Lucas
    Release dateMar 29, 2012
    ISBN9781476251950
    Dryad
    Author

    Paul Lucas

    I grew up on the shores of Lake Erie, just a few snow drifts away from Buffalo, NY. I am a life long science fiction and fantasy fan, and avidly keep up on developments in the fields of science, technology, and ancient cultures.Currently I am a freelance writer and artist, with fifteen years of experience in the field. In 1998 I had a tabletop RPG published, and in 2005 my first novel CREATURA came out. My shorter works have seen the light of day in publications such as Strange Horizons, Afterburn, Tales of the Talisman, Fables, and others. Currently I do a lot of personal commissions and ghost writing work.

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    • 5/5
      I think there's something special about books with happy endings. We so frequently avoid happy endings so as not to make a story boring, but this book does a good job of showing how that isn't necessary at all

    Book preview

    Dryad - Paul Lucas

    DRYAD

    Paul Lucas and Phillip Velasquez

    Copyright 2012 Paul Lucas and Phillip Velasquez

    Cover Art by Paul Lucas

    Smashwords Edition

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    CHAPTER 1

    The nude woman glanced into the holographic display floating off to her side, focusing on the starfield surrounding the ship. She smiled at the blinking magenta pinpoint of their destination. You know what we are, luv? Microbes on a dust mote, crossing an infinite ocean. We gape in awe at the bits of flotsam that drift by.

    Kendra Ling shook her head. You always get too dreamy before a launch, Mona. Its just another survey mission. And you shouldn't call me 'luv.'

    Mona ignored that last remark. Kiva is still a whole new world. A place no other human has ever set foot. Creatures no one else has ever seen. How can you not be even a little excited about that?

    Kendra was tempted to remind her wife that the Kiva system had been explored in depth by robots the year before. Kiva System Prime Target Alpha was the official scout service name of the life-bearing world they were on their way to survey, but they had simply started calling it 'Kiva' for brevity's sake. The planet had hosted ten different microrovers during the automated scout ship’s six-months stay in the system.

    She said nothing, though. Mona had always been the poetic one, and she indulged her partner's odd philosophies when she could. Kendra just wished Mona didn't feel compelled to share every stray thought she had.

    They’d been a two-women xenobiology survey team for over five years. It was actually much closer to forty years total in objective real time, when one counted the periods spent in cryogenic suspension through long interstellar transits. But they had been awake and active only for a total of half a decade in that time.

    They'd been married almost as long. Kendra tried not to think about that.

    Technically Mona was older and the more senior xenobiologist, but she deferred to Kendra in most things. Kendra had originally been a military pilot and possessed an easy confidence and outgoing personality. A natural leader to Mona's shy introvert.

    But Kendra had grown to hate the military and its pervasive restrictions and couldn't bail on it fast enough. She’d taken up xenobiology on a whim upon mustering out, and had used some of her old military contacts to squeeze herself into the interstellar survey service.

    She’d been lucky to be partnered up with the technically brilliant but shy Mona Favre on her first lengthy field assignment. Their fast friendship had sparked into a romance, then into a full marriage by the time their first survey mission was done.

    Now Kendra wondered if it would have been better if they had stayed strictly friends. It might have ultimately saved them both a lot of pain.

    First Officer Merrick here, broke a voice over the intercom. If you ladies have anything left to stow, you better do it now. We need you in your pods and in cryosleep in twenty minutes before we initiate the first main drive burn.

    On it, Kendra said. We were just going through our last equipment checks. Everything should be secure. We'll be in the survival pods well within the deadline.

    Snuggled warmly in our beds, Mona added with a light giggle. She walked up to Kendra, hands slipping onto the other's slim hips. As per cryosleep protocol, they were both nude, and the familiarity of the scene struck Kendra with a bit of nostalgia of their happier times together. A last little kiss before we lay ourselves down to sleep? she asked.

    Kendra frowned. I don't think that's a good idea.

    Mona sighed sadly. "Remember how we used to rush to give each other quick little orgasms before we had to go into the pods? We were frozen in post-orgasmic bliss for five

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