Science Fiction
Date Published: 10-02-2021
Publisher: Indies United Publishing House
Part One: When mankind is threatened by the arrival of an intelligent alien race claiming to have come in peace, Gabriel Ferro, Chief of Staff to U.S. President William Conrad, and Dr. Catherine Blake, become ensnared in not only a CIA/NSA conspiracy, but a world beyond their wildest imagination, a world beyond Earth, beyond the Milky Way. In an effort to learn why the aliens have come at all, together Gabriel and Dr. Blake venture to where no humans gone before.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
The year is wherever your
Imagination takes you
November 2nd, Foja Mountain Range,
Papua New Guinea
As they boarded the single-engine Cessna Skymaster at Papua New Guinea’s Jackson
Airport, ominous dark clouds
were rolling in from the West. On
board was Dr. B.D. Sanjaya, a prominent archaeologist with the Indonesian
National Centre for Archaeological Research, and his assistants, Timoty Budiman
and Reza Darmali. The flight took them 6,000 feet above sea level to a remote dirt airstrip in the Mamberamo
basin just below the mist-shrouded Foja Mountain Range in Papua’s eastern
province. There they switched to a twenty-year-old Bell 206 Jet Ranger
helicopter piloted by an elderly Indonesian man whose craggy face and stoic
expression resembled a rough-cut stone sculpture. They took off in a light
but steady rain.
An hour into the flight, Timoty
shouted over the din of the engine. “You’re sure you know the spot?”
Dr. Sanjaya held up a hand-drawn
map and shrugged. “This is all we have to go by.”
Soon they were skimming the treetops over the
remote Birds Head Peninsula. The jungle below looked ominous and all but
impenetrable, raising the question, would they find the designated clearing.
Reza was the first to spot a
small smudge of open ground about a quarter-mile ahead. “There! I see a
clearing just beyond those trees!”
The old pilot glanced at his copy of the map.
Smiling, his eyes went to Sanjaya, who gave the pilot a thumb’s up. Once over
the open area, the pilot cautiously circled the spot three times before
attempting a descent in light fog. Down the narrow chute they went until the skids gently settled on the soggy ground.
The light but steady rain continued.
As they removed the last of their
gear from the aircraft, something caught Timoty’s attention. A short, elderly,
dark-skinned man, sporting a full white beard, appeared from the edge of the
surrounding forest. Under his rain slicker, a multicolored print shirt hung
loosely over khaki shorts. In his right hand, he held a menacing two-foot
machete.
“Dr. Sanjaya, we have company.”
Sanjaya followed Timoty’s gaze. “Ah,
that must be Bayu.”
Reza spied the machete. “You think it’s our guy?”
“Never met him. He sent me this
map with these coordinates and said to meet him here on this day at
approximately this hour.” Sanjaya glanced at the handwritten map and grinned. “Pretty
good directions.”
Turning to the helicopter pilot,
Sanjaya raised a hand above his head, made a wide circular motion, and pointed to
the jungle. The old pilot acknowledged with a disinterested nod and lifted the
helicopter skyward. Within seconds he was over the tree line and out of sight.
Something caught Timoty’s eye.
The man Sanjaya had identified as
Bayu trotted toward them while calling out in his native language. “Salamat Sian,
saya teman.
Dalton! Apa Kabar, Dr. Sanjaya?”
Sanjaya waved. “Saya baik-baik saja, terima kasih.”
Bayou approached and
enthusiastically shook Sanjaya’s hand. “Saya
ialah Sanjaya.”
Reza scratched at the back of his
head. “I don’t recognize the dialect.”
“Not many do. It’s specific to
the local Kweba tribe. Bayu is their
chief. He welcomed us and I introduced
myself.” Sanjaya motioned to his assistants. “Reza, Timoty.”
Bayu smiled and half-bowed.
“Reza, Timoty.” He tapped his chest. “Bayu.”
“Dimana adalah kebun hutan?” Sanjaya said. “I asked him where the secret place is.”
Pointing to the jungle tree line, Bayu grinned. “Pintu musuk lewat sana.”
“Okay, gentlemen. We follow Chief
Bayu.”
It was slow going through the
dense primeval forest. Bayu slashed at small bamboo trees, thick thorn-covered
underbrush, and menacing low-hanging vines. An hour later, after slogging
through muddy streams, dodging the occasional snake, and swatting at swarming
insects, they broke through to a small clearing thick with fog.
Bayu tapped Sanjaya’s arm and
pointed to the dense jungle. “Di luar
kabut adalah keajaiban tempat.”
“He says the Magic Place
is through there.”
“Doesn’t look too inviting, B.D.”
“No, it doesn’t, Timoty. Stay
alert.”
They followed Bayu into the fog.
Bugs and flies swarmed around them. The more they swatted at them, the more
aggressively they attacked. But oddly, the further they advanced the fog the
rain began to dissipate, the insects vanished, and the humidity and temperature
dropped to a comfortable level.
Bayu abruptly stopped and
listened. From this position, they could hear the faint sound of rushing water.
Bayu motioned for them to wait, then took a dozen
steps forward before stopping again. Raising both arms to eye level with his
palms face up, he said, “Ini adalah tempat
qaip!” Then in halting English, “The… magic… place.” He turned and
waved to the others to join him. When they reached his side the fog and mist
beyond was completely gone.
What they saw left them
speechless.
There in the middle of this primeval
forest was either a grand mirage or
something very real that should not
have been in a remote Indonesian jungle.
Dr. Sanjaya sucked in a quick
breath, “Oh my god!”
Timoty and Reza stood
dumbfounded.
There were no words to describe
what lay before them.
***
Part Two: The sweeping saga continues as Gabriel Ferro and Dr. Catherine Blake prepare to travel to the alien’s planet to learn firsthand how the aliens successfully transformed their society to one that revels in peace harmony and balance. But the question remains… what are the alien’s true motives? Is it their intention to transmute mankind forever? Together, Gabriel and Dr. Blake venture beyond Earth, beyond the Milky Way to a world they could not have imagined in an effort to solve the mystery.
“The Autopsy of Planet Earth is a barnburner, a page-turner… it’s Robert Heinlein on speed—a concept around every corner, an event around every page.” Don Bacue International Features Syndicate
About the Author
During his film and television career, Robert J. Emery, who writes novels under the pen name, R. J. Eastwood, has written, produced, and directed feature motion pictures, television documentaries, national television commercials, political campaigns, and industrial films. Some of the highlights of his career include the award-winning ninety-one-episode television series The Directors for Starz/Encore, the award-winning four-part mini-series, The Genocide Factor for PBS, the award-winning documentary For God & Country: A Marine Sniper's Story for MSNBC, and the award-winning motion picture, Swimming Upstream, for the Lifetime Television Network.
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