Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1)
Read Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1) Online
Authors: Stephen Harding
Janus
– The Arrival
By
Stephen Harding
JANUS – THE ARRIVAL
Copyright: Stephen Harding
Published: September 2013
Publisher: Stephen Harding
The right of Stephen Harding
to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No
part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must
not circulate this book in any format.
This book is dedicated to my
family and friends, especially my wife Celia and my son’s Ross and Peter along
with anyone who has personally suffered from or has helped with infertility or
brain injuries.
Special thanks to Noreen who has provided feedback for
each chapter and kept me motivated with the editing, which I only attempted
many years later having read Stephen King’s book - On Writing.
Last but not least, love to blues legend and friend of
more than thirty years, Maggie Bell for allowing me to add a little tribute to
her in the book.
Also by the same author:
JANUS - The Offspring
Book 2 of the Trilogy
JANUS - The Sandlings
Book 3 of the Trilogy
www.amazon.com/author/stephen.harding
www.amazon.co.uk/author/stephen.harding
PROLOGUE
There
was extreme panic as the inhabitants of Pagos faced the reality of what was about
to happen. Intense light caused instant blindness to those remaining on the
planet’s surface. That was very short lived however, as they each experienced
the contents of their bodies being sucked out by a high pressured vacuum, just
before their fleshy remains were literally turned inside out.
From
the dark side of the planet a small life capsule was jettisoned. This occurred,
just moments before the planet exploded into billions of tiny particles that
scattered into the surrounding universe.
Destination..........
Earth
Year................
1978
On the outskirts of Clapham - Twenty
years later
The moon was half full at its highest
peak in the cloudless night sky. An unseen figure watched from the shadows of
the dingy underpass as a woman attempted to walk past a gang of youths who’d
been standing around annoying passers-by.
Insults were hurled in her direction, but she nervously tried to ignore
them and continue on her way.
‘You ugly cow!’ chanted one of the girls.
‘Ugly cow, ugly cow!’ the others taunted in unison, as they gradually
closed in on her.
‘I suggest you leave her alone!’ ordered the stranger, as he casually
stepped from the shadows.
The woman gazed up in awe. His face
appeared to be partially concealed by an expensive looking scarf, but his deep
blue eyes were absolutely mesmerizing to look at. Yet, they also held an
unmistakable cruelness that automatically sent a shiver racing right down her
spine.
‘Go!’ he shouted, and she knew better than to stop and argue.
The gang consisted of four boys and
two girls. They stepped forward as one, as the woman finally disappeared from
view. She’d automatically headed towards the main road and hadn’t dared look
back.
‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’ demanded the leader, as he reached
in and pulled a knife from his jacket pocket.
‘Go home while you still have the chance.’ the man replied, showing no
sign of fear.
Unperturbed, the leader advanced. He
launched the blade directly towards the man’s face. The stranger quickly swayed
to the right. He totally wrong footed the youth, while an arc of bright yellow
light erupted from his eyes, wrenching the blade clear of his attacker’s hand.
The youth screamed. He fell to his knees while the knife innocently clattered
against the concrete pathway. His gang had already turned and fled in different
directions, fearing for their own lives. They’d acted like chickens with their
heads cut off and their leader realised just how selfish they were.
The boy happened to be extremely lucky on this occasion, as he rose to
his feet and ran sobbing after his so-called friends.
In the meantime, the stranger had already slipped back into the darkness
of the shadows.
Having decided to give up on their
chances of ever having children after years of professional counselling and
guidance, John and Emma Storm were completely devastated. This followed a
vicious miscarriage that had resulted in tubal damage and internal scarring to
Emma’s body. A series of secondary tests had confirmed their worst fears;
having been informed they would remain a childless couple. It had been a very
difficult time for the pair of them, as their emotions had naturally been
thrown into complete turmoil. Yet true to form, they’d fully supported each
other through the darkest of times, which now appeared to lay behind them.
Emma sat up in bed and stretched,
before attempting to bash a new lease of life into the hospital pillows. These
had seemed to have plagued her from day one. The woman was seen as a truly
remarkable woman by many, having stunned the local doctors, and eventually most
of the medical profession who’d heard about it. This had been achieved by
giving birth to a healthy baby boy on October 18th 1978 in Queen Mary’s Hospital,
London, against all the odds.
It was an
extremely emotional time for both her and her husband John, who stood beside
her bedside in the peaceful surroundings of the private room. This had been set
aside for them, on orders of the ward sister, due to all the attention they’d
been getting, along with some of the disruption it had been causing. The room
was also somewhat overflowing, with a rather large array of flowers, whose
fragrances spilled out through the glass fronted door whenever it was opened.
Nothing had gone
straightforward during the birth. This was mainly due to fact that the foetus
had grown so large in size during the latter part of her pregnancy, which had
also been picked up and recorded on the hospital scanner. What also didn’t help
was the fact that the couple were becoming increasingly irritable, as they were
hiding an extremely deep secret between themselves.
On the day of
delivery everything appeared to be going according to plan, with a young
trainee doctor named Dean, standing ready to help the midwife. This was to be
his first hands-on delivery, which according to the older students, would be
one of the most memorable moments of his life.
Helping to deliver a baby was classed as a necessary part of his training
to become a full-time doctor, even though his main ambition in life was to
become a surgeon at a top London hospital. He was also fully aware of the
special interest surrounding this rather unusual case. Therefore, it was fairly
understandable why he felt so nervous, despite knowing that a full back-up team
would be close at hand, should anything happen to go wrong.
Sticking to her
breathing routine, Emma felt the contractions coming on a more regular basis.
An examination by the midwife had shown the dilation of the cervix to be at
approximately ten centimetres. However, after suffering a certain degree of
discomfort in her lower regions soon after, she was instantly supplied with
regular doses of gas and air by Dean, who’s every move, was being overseen by
the busy midwife.
At first
everything appeared to be fine, until Emma began to scream with pain. The
midwife looked increasingly concerned as she glanced over at the screen that
monitored the baby’s heartbeat. She immediately realised that something was
seriously wrong, especially when Emma let out the most inhumane scream, as she
felt something rip open deep down inside. A hot searing sensation passed
through her lower abdomen. Then large droplets of blood started to weep quite
heavily from between her legs.
Paediatricians’ laden
down with emergency equipment arrived within minutes of being alerted. They
entered through the door in a well controlled rush and instantly took
control. Emma, whose contractions were coming fast and furious, then felt
her husband’s hand go slack.
Turning to face him, she watched with great concern as he disappeared
from view and fainted to the floor. It was so strange to witness a grown man
collapse, which he later explained was because he thought he was about to lose
both her and the baby. Yet, she’d simply gazed into his face and smiled at him,
having realised, that had the roles been reversed, then she too would probably
have done exactly the same thing.
Dean was suddenly
tasked with the job of looking after John. He helped the man outside and sat
him down on one of the plastic chairs located on a grassy area of the hospital
gardens. Once this had been achieved, he then instructed him to take a few deep
breaths, while placing his head down between his knees, just as he’d been
taught a few weeks earlier.
‘Oh well!’ Dean
exclaimed, ‘So much for my first delivery!’
Due to the baby being so big, and along with the amount of blood being
lost from its mother, the doctors decided to opt for a forceps delivery. Every
second lost was becoming more and more crucial.
Six minutes later
a large slippery mass was successfully pulled from the opening and gathered up
by the midwife, before eventually being placed into the resuscitation unit.
Once the baby’s lungs had been effectively cleared of mucus, with the team
standing by in the background, the Paediatrician stopped what he was doing and
reached over to switch off the machine. He then turned, with a beaming smile
across his face, and announced that she now had a healthy looking baby boy. The
man then handed him gently into Emma’s waiting arms before setting about
dealing with the afterbirth.
With John having eventually returned
to the room, having missed the birth but already briefed on the news, the elation
on the proud parent’s faces had to be seen to be believed. Tears of joy flowed
freely, just as expected from such an amazing event. Emma was then administered
a quick dose of Pethidine. She waited patiently for the pain to subside, while
the Paediatrician began the next task of cleaning her up and repairing the torn
areas. Eventually, once he was more than happy that she appeared to be well, he
peered over at Emma and stated.
‘In all the years
I’ve been doing this. That was honestly the strangest delivery I’ve ever
witnessed. It almost seemed as if the baby had caused the damage out of spite!’
The tired parents
looked to each other in disbelief. It was all starting to come true, just as
they’d been warned during that fateful night when they’d realised that things
would never quite be the same again.
All of that had happened during a
cold, rainy night back in January when Emma and John had been returning home
and driving quite peacefully past Wimbledon Common. They had just enjoyed a
night out at the cinema when something had suddenly thudded hard against the
front section of their car. Emma had naturally assumed it had been an animal of
some kind, as that was just the sort of thing you could expect to happen in
this particular area.
John un-strapped his
seatbelt and climbed out of the car wondering what he’d find. He walked back
along the road they’d just driven along, and was busy fiddling with the zipper
on his jacket, when an unexpected movement up ahead suddenly caught his eye. He
attempted to focus on what it could possibly be. At first he could just make
out the spherical shape of a dark object through the rain, but as he drew
closer, he noticed that it appeared to be hovering slightly above the ground.
Standing rooted to the spot, and a little unsure about what to do next, John
could only gaze in amazement as it gradually rose up to a height of
approximately twenty feet. By now his eyesight had adjusted well enough for him
to notice another, much larger object moving around in the background. Nothing
happened for the next few seconds, although he sensed
an incredibly eerie sort of silence surrounding him as he backed away somewhat
cautiously.
Unable to remove his gaze from the scene, much as anyone else would
under such circumstances, he gradually retraced his steps until he was close
enough to the side of the car to call for Emma to come and join him.
The pair of them
stood huddled together outside, completely unsure of what it was that they were
actually witnessing, when suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, the whole
sky just lit up around them. Their immediate reactions were to put a hand up
each, and shield the glare from their eyes. Yet after a few minutes they’d both
adjusted well enough to see properly. They noticed both objects appeared to be
communicating in some way, sending out strange strobe-like signals in what
could only be described as a pulsating sequence. The speed at which this was
occurring was almost too fast to keep up with, and it was quite concerting at first.
John and Emma gazed ahead and were completely entranced, before realising their
feet had somehow become firmly rooted to the ground. It was a strange sensation
by all accounts, and feeling completely vulnerable as they both stood out in
the open like lambs to the slaughter, the smaller object began to move towards
them. It wasn’t too long until it was positioned directly overhead and suddenly
it all felt very menacing.
The craft dwarfed the two humans. They stood staring upwards in all
their innocence, when without any warning, a huge beam of light emanated from
its vast undercarriage and began to pulsate in a range of colours they’d never
imagined possible. This cast flickering shadows here and there, creating a
wondrous illusion of exotic figures that danced about like a scene from a
children’s fairy-tale. Emma was totally immersed in the whole amazing
spectacle. She felt absolutely full of joy, with not a single care in the world
on her mind. She was also very close to tears for some reason, and her deepest
emotions soon began to well up deep inside her. These suddenly came flooding to
the surface, leaving her totally out of control.
Then the poor woman felt herself being forced to move closer and closer
as something urged her on.
Unable to turn his head in any way, shape or form, John could
only stand and watch what was going on from the corner of his eye. He then felt
a slight trickle of liquid appear upon his face, before he realised that his
nose had started to bleed. Unfortunately, he was also unable to reach for a
handkerchief to stem the flow. Eventually, managing to cast his eyes back
towards the figure of his wife, he could quite clearly hear her sobbing as her
feet literally left the ground. It was all so surreal, and yet there she was
being drawn up towards the light. John felt extremely frustrated that he was
being forced to watch and yet could do nothing to help. He was wondering what
on earth could possibly follow next, when he was suddenly caught by something
very powerful and flung headlong towards the ground. A strong yellow
beam had shot from the side of the spaceship and hit
him full force in the chest. His whole body shook under the pressure. This
appeared to increase with each passing moment, and he screamed in absolute
agony. He was also fully aware that something was messing around with the
inside of his head, which sought out, and with great skill, located the entire
contents of his mind.
Emma could only
gaze downwards and watch in stunned silence as her husband’s body thrashed
about on the ground, before finally coming to a halt in a rather undignified
heap against the far kerb. At first she thought he was possibly dead, but was
extremely relieved to see a few faint signs of movement, before she eventually
lost sight of him, and realised she was entering the inside of the spaceship.
The pain was undeniably excruciating
at first. Emma was consciously aware that she was lying strapped to some sort of
operating table with the coloured lights having been deployed to lull her into
a false sense of security, prior to any of what was going on. She too had
suffered the intrusive feeling of something probing around deep inside her
head. She’d tried to scream at the top of her voice, but the effort was
completely wasted. No sound could be heard at all. What appeared as a strange,
empty void had opened up around her as soon as any noise had been detected.
This had simply captured each of the sound waves, before floating into
oblivion.
When she finally regained
consciousness, amazed at the fact that she was still alive, and aware of what
was going on around her, she found her eyelids stung quite irritatingly. Bright
daylight flooded in through the car windows and it took a few moments for her
to register exactly where she was. Emma then gazed over at the prone figure of
her husband sitting beside her all hunched up, which looked very uncomfortable
indeed. Having realised that he was not only breathing but also happened to be
snoring slightly, she immediately leaned across and shook him awake. John came
round pretty quickly, and he could tell from the sullen expression on Emma’s
face, that it had not been the terrible dream that he’d hoped. Although he was
elated with the fact that Emma was still alive and sitting right beside him,
the short journey home proved to be a very odd one indeed. They were obviously
both in a state of shock, and yet neither of them felt a single need to mutter
any words whatsoever. Once indoors the two of them could only just manage to
sit staring blankly across the kitchen table. They gazed out of the bay window
that overlooked the rear garden, with cups of tea sitting totally untouched
beside them.
