The Science of Making Up Science Fiction
One of the best
things about science fiction is the ability to take a known and make it
unknown. It’s all about taking what we know can happen, or might happen, and
actually MAKE it happen. That isn’t to say we can do whatever we want as
authors. There must be boundaries and rules that make sense. For me, a lot of
my ideas come from what I know. Inspiration can come from anywhere when it
comes to my fantasy or science fiction.
So let’s start this week off with a
look at one of the basic elements to my story to make my aliens ‘alien’. In
this story we only see the Caeorleians and humans, and in a lot of ways they’re
not that different. Yet, they can’t see eye to eye, mostly due to the fact
there is no way to share communication.
Caeorleians have a unique way to
communicate. They have mouths but they don’t use them for speech. Instead, they
emit a humming vibration that isn’t audible the way we hear speech. There’s no
sound to ‘hear’ for humans, but those with the special shypsoid bone in their
ear can sense the vibrations. Ryker, a human that’s been injected with a serum
made from Seral’s Caeorleian DNA, has grown that bone along with a host of
other changes. Since he’s been ‘hearing’ the vibrations when the guards and
doctors speak he’s manage to relate human words to the vibrations he hears.
How did I come up with this idea?
Well, it all goes back to one of our cats. Of course, he was the inspiration
for my cat Carthera too. Very useful, Samwell is. I’m his favorite perch, of
course, and he likes to hang out on my shoulders. One day I had my head leaned
against him while he was asleep, but still purring faintly. It was just enough
to keep tickling my ear, but not enough to make me move because I was comfy
too. At least, until my husband tried talking to me, and I had to move so I
could hear him clearly.
Voila… Inspiration and whole new
world is born!
It can come in many forms, lol. I
never know when something might hit me, but I always love running with the
ideas and seeing what happens. In this case, it really worked.
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In the distant future, humans wage war against the alien planet Caeorleia, with no tactic off-limits if it will help the humans get their hands on Caeorleia’s resources. Ask Ryker. He thought he volunteered for a simple experiment that would help his government in the war. He didn't realize sadistic doctors would turn him into the experiment—by injecting him with blood from a captured Caeorleian, Seral Iorflas.
Nor did Ryker realize he’d be sent to sabotage a planet full of the very beings his world is battling, beings who kill humans on sight. But then, thanks to the experiment that irrevocably changed him, he isn’t exactly human any longer—and with each passing day, as his blood bond with Seral strengthens, he’s less and less sure as to whose side he's on.
Excerpt:
“Kill
me now,” I whimpered, “please just kill me.”
“Oh
no, little tziu, I won’t do that.” His face loomed in my vision, and his
fingers traced the marks on my skin again. “I will discover everything that is
in you, and then we will see just who you are to me. The nelho may have
given us a gift that has great worth, one they can’t even begin to imagine.”
I
shouted and shoved at him with my arms, trying to squirm out from underneath
his lean body. I closed my eyes, hiding the tears that threatened to fall when
I couldn’t even move him an inch. He said they were going to see what was in
me.
They
were going to dissect me like the doctors had done to the other men on the
ship, and I couldn’t get away from them!
I
moaned in fear. I shook so hard it felt like I was going to fall apart, my arms
and legs drumming against the metal floor. My back arched as my heels rapped an
offbeat tattoo on the hard surface.
“Tziu?
Tziu, stop it!”
I
couldn’t move the alien male off of me when I’d tried, but he was barely able
to stay astride me while my body was beyond my control. I couldn’t have stopped
even if I wanted to. I was going into shock.
Maybe
the doctor on the ship had been wrong. Maybe his needle full of nano-rich alien
blood would kill me.
The
pain was indescribable. I could feel muscles all over my body locking and then
releasing randomly, each contraction an agonizing spasm of pain. My jaw froze
and then fell open, the scream swelling in my throat finally free to emerge.
The
sound bounced off the walls, a shrill cry that sent every alien in the shuttle
to their knees. The scream went on and on until my lungs burned from lack of
air. Seral’s face loomed over me, his black eyes glittering. His mouth was open
in a harsh snarl, and I saw a flash of his fangs before my neck muscles
tightened and drew my head back. My hands scrabbled at the floor as I choked.
Like
a bolt of lightning, a new pain penetrated my consciousness. My exposed neck
was locked between the alien’s jaws. Hot and sharp, the fangs slid out, and his
full lips sealed over the puncture wounds.
Author Bio:
Alicia Nordwell is one of those not so rare creatures, a reader turned writer. Striving to find something interesting to read one day, she decided to write what she wanted instead. Then the voices started... Yep, not only does she talk about herself in the third person for bios, she has voices in her head constantly clamoring to get out. Fortunately for readers, with the encouragement of her family and friends, she decided for her own sanity to keep writing. Now you can find her stories both free and e-published! Oh yeah, she's a wife, mom of two, and lives in the dreary, yet ideal for her redhead complexion, Pacific Northwest. Except for when she disappears into one of the many worlds in her head, of course!
