Chapter 1
In an average backwater bar, somewhere in the rural heartland of America.
"Turn that TV up a bit, will you? I can't understand a word they're saying."
"Funny thing is," the barkeeper said, "I was just planning on doing that. I want to hear this as well."
The mountain of a barkeeper turned the TV up and went back to sit on his bar stool. On the way back to his stool he walked, for the gazillionth time, past the pictures of him in his heydays as a bodybuilder.
'Those were the times,' he thought, and couldn't resist looking down to his steadily growing beer belly. Sure, he still had the strength, but the looks... Once he was sitting comfortably, the opening tune from the news had started to play, and moments later the voice of the announcer filled the bar.
"Later in this newscast, the president gives an historic speech, the stockpiling of food by citizens continues, and Wall Street is more nervous than ever, but holding. But first, on to our main story. The reports of UFO's are becoming more and more persistent. Whereas two weeks ago there were only a few, isolated, reports from around the country; now the reports are pouring in from all over the world. Until now these reports had for the most part been laughed at; most people assumed that they were nothing more than the wild stories of a few eccentrics. We ourselves ran a story last week in which we, we have to admit, clearly showed our skepticism. But now, ladies and gentleman, we're forced to see the truth for what it is. We have a world exclusive to show you. An exclusive that was filmed this morning, right outside on our parking lot, filmed by one of our own cameramen, with one of our own cameras. We also have amateur footage of the same event taken by a police officer on vacation."
The announcer stopped speaking and news footage was started. What was shown looked as if it was right out of a Hollywood blockbuster. A spaceship, about one hundred feet long, descended out of the sky until it was hovering just above the parking lot. It turned around once on its vertical axis, as if taking a good look at everything, and then it suddenly disappeared into the sky at an incredible speed.
The footage stopped, and the announcer came back into view. He had to clear his throat before he could go on. He was clearly affected by the images, and what they meant, despite more than likely having viewed them before.
"I want to remind you once more that this is authentic footage, and not altered in any way." The announcer looked at his papers for a moment before going on.
"In a related item, the President gave a statement this afternoon in which he admitted that the Air Force had taken down one of these ships. Unfortunately the ship, and its crew, was totally destroyed. The President urged the people to stay calm, and assured them that if needed, every last reserve would be called in to deal with this issue. But he also stressed that he didn't think this would happen. The fight with the spaceship had shown that they are only poorly armed and can easily be taken down if needed. The President is scheduled to address the nation in a speech two hours from now. We will carry that speech live. "
The announcer took another piece of paper before speaking up again.
"Despite the President's announcement, the stockpiling of food continues on. A regional manager from a Starlight store chain told us that sales have tripled, and that they can barely keep providing their stores with new supplies. He also mentioned that he thinks people were stockpiling differently than they normally do in tornado season. While most people didn't buy any more or less than normal, some people came back several times a day to buy more products. But the stockpiling of food does have its positive side. While some companies on Wall Street report record losses, these losses are offset by companies that profit from the stockpiling. Also interesting to note is that the stock price of Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman have all increased by six-fold or more. And with that we have reached the business section. For that we turn to Carla Dow, standing by in New York. Carla?"
"Yes, thank you Tom. Let me start with a list with the winners and losers on Wall Street today; the biggest losses were reported by AP..." Click.
Suddenly it was quiet in the bar. The barkeeper had switched off the TV and was walking back to his bar stool. He looked at the pictures on the wall once more. "Those really were the times. Who would have thought back then that Earth would be attacked by Martians... for real, that is?"
Even though he had been talking to himself, he had spoken out loud and one of the locals jumped at the remark. "You're absolutely right. They should kill them all, one by one."
It was Matt who had said this. Matt was an old and little man who people could clearly see that he hadn't just had one drink too many, but two. Matt was one of those people who never knew when to quit. He didn't know when to quit drinking, or when to quit bothering people, or when to shut up. He also didn't know when something had been talked to death. He had been in the Marines for five years, forty years ago, and he still talked about it several times every day.
He got up from the corner stool where he had been sitting and staggered to the first customer he could reach. Matt didn't care that he had never seen the man before, as long as he could tell his story somewhere. While moving closer, Matt looked at the barkeeper and saw the look in his eyes. "Don't worry, I won't bother your customers." Matt almost spat. "I just have a question for this gentleman."
"You should know that I don't worry about the problems one of my customers could cause," the barkeeper said calmly. "Just as long as you remember where you ended up last time you made a nuisance of yourself."
Matt shot the barkeeper a dirty look, but was smart enough not to reply to the remark. Instead he focused on his new victim.
"So, what do you think?" Matt asked, while putting his arm over the shoulder of the man.
The man clearly didn't like that and stood up, straightening out his six and a half foot frame. This little act was more than enough to get Matt's arm off his shoulder, since Matt would now need a ladder to put his arm over the shoulder again.
Now that the man was standing, one could clearly see, despite his business suit, that he had the look of a modern Hercules.
When the barkeeper took a good look at the man he could clearly see that if he had looked like that during that last tournament as a bodybuilder, he surely would have won. Then he wouldn't be living such a mundane life in a little town now.
'But, who am I kidding,' the barkeeper thought. 'I would probably have lost the next tournament, and then what? I would have ended up as some bouncer in some third rank titty-bar. I wouldn't have my own bar, I wouldn't have met my lovely wife, I wouldn't have my three lovely children. I probably wouldn't have all the friends I have now... No, I have a great life, and I wouldn't want it any other way.'
He sighed before concentrating on cleaning some glasses. 'But still, if I had looked like that back then...'
Matt had drunk enough not to notice that the man clearly didn't like having him that close and continued to make a nuisance of himself. "Well, what do you think? You know, when I was still in the Marines, we wouldn't be having this problem. Back then the government actually had a backbone. They wouldn't have thought twice and simply shot those Martians out of the sky."
The man looked down at Matt for a moment, before looking once more back to the mirror behind the bar. He couldn't help but think how true the old man's words were. In the old days, when he was nothing more than a kid, the government wouldn't have acted so standoffish. They would have shot those ships out of the sky and only have started asking questions later. Of course, then they would have to explain to the public why they kept using those weather balloons if they kept crashing like that.
"Well? Am I right or what?" Matt asked. "If you ask me, they should start those planes we taxpayers had to pay so much for and shoot those ships out of the sky."
"I think that doing that would be a mistake," the man said thoughtfully. "But I do have a feeling that this will be a whole lot of trouble."
Matt always needed to be right, and got mad if people didn't completely agree with whatever he said. "Man, what do you know? You're telling me that you don't agree, yet you're one of those people who's buying our stores empty. I saw you arriving with that van of yours. I saw that you have it stacked to the roof with food we now can't buy anymore."
It was plain to see that the man was starting to get annoyed with Matt, but just as the man took a breath to say something, a voice from the far end of the bar spoke up. "Matt, leave the man alone and stop bothering people."
Matt looked to see who had spoken and saw that it was Joanne Rock.
Joanne Rock was a twenty-nine year old woman with ocean blue eyes and natural platinum blonde hair that reached halfway down her back. She had a slim, but muscled, body that she worked at to keep that way. She also had a 32DD size chest which she was quite proud of. This because they were real and, at lease at that point in her life, only affected by gravity in such a way that she really loved their shape. She had often said to some of her friends that nature had done a better job in creating her breasts than man ever could.
For her personally they were the best parts of her body. For others Joanne Rock simply looked beautiful. True, she didn't have the standard gorgeous looks you saw on the covers of weekly magazines that were mostly created by makeup artists and paint brushing. No, Joanne had something much better; she looked natural and beautiful.
She stood just a hair under five foot nine, and although she wasn't normally considered vain, she honestly admitted, if only to herself, that she truly loved the curves of her body. When she was eighteen Joanne had vowed to herself that she would do whatever it took to keep her body looking great for as long as possible without having to resort to surgery, and she had kept that vow.
Joanne was known in the town as 'Joanne Galaxy'. This because she held a great adoration for space and everything connected to it; even going so far as to actually have a telescope at home with a four foot mirror.
But besides that love for her hobby, Joanne had always been a pretty average person who happened to be lucky enough to be pretty successful at her job. She lived in a house just outside the town, and had lived in, or around, the town for all her life except for when she had gone to college. Despite having been in several relationships, she was currently living alone. There just weren't that many out lesbians in the town that weren't already in a relationship. And with the few that were there, it never clicked for long. She was still friends with most of them, but it just wasn't enough for a life together. Most of them just couldn't get over her hobby; spending so much time just staring off into space.
Matt left the man alone without saying another word to him and staggered towards Joanne. He tried to give his voice a mocking tone, something that wouldn't really work because of the drinking he had been doing. "Well, well, well. If it isn't good old Joanne Galaxy. You'll be all excited now, right? Now that you're finally proven right. Always saying that you didn't think we were alone in the universe. Always saying that Earth must have been visited many times already during its existence. Always saying that it could very well be that we all come from alien ancestors. Always saying,"
"That's enough," the barkeeper interrupted. "Matt, I warned you. If you don't leave my customers alone, I'll throw you out of the door... head first. You got me? Now sit down, or leave."
Matt sneered at the barkeeper, but despite that he would do anything to be allowed to stay in the bar a little longer. So he went back to his barstool, mumbling to himself.
"Thanks," Joanne said with a smile to the bartender, "but he couldn't have bothered me for long anyway; I should be going. My car's still at the garage. What do I owe you?"
The barkeeper looked at Joanne's tab. "It's only two Cokes, Jo. How about I just keep the tab for next time? You and the girls are still planning on coming by tomorrow for pool, right?"
"Sure are. I'll work on getting the amount on that tab up a bit then," Joanne said with a grin. She really liked the barkeeper who had proven so many times to have a heart of gold.
"So, any inside information on who I should bet?" the barkeeper asked with a grin.
"Eh, I'd say Peggy. Oh..." Joanne waved the barkeeper closer and when he was leaning over the bar she whispered in his ear. "She stopped drinking; this time it looks like she means it. Any help would be appreciated."
"I'll keep it in mind," he assured. "That's why you say I should bet on her. She was the best before..."
"Yeah, but now they made up."
"I did hear that Pat and their daughter had moved back in."
"And Peggy has promised them both that she'd do it right this time. So..."
"I'll watch what she orders. Often the first is nothing but a slip; old habit."
"Thanks." Joanna leaned back before saying in a normal voice, "Well, I really got to go, could you call me a cab?"
Suddenly the man who had been bothered by Matt spoke up. "If you're heading into town, you can get a ride with me. I'm heading that way myself."
Joanne knew that in any other place she would not accept a ride from a man she didn't know and that looked like he could very easily overpower her. But, it was a small town where nothing ever happened, and where it was impolite to turn down a ride. "Well, I'm not going to turn that down, thanks."
The man paid for his own drink and got up. While walking to the door, the man stopped for a moment to look at the pictures of the barkeeper in his bodybuilding years, before moving on.
'Starting tomorrow, I'm going to do something about this belly,' the barkeeper thought. 'If I keep at it, I should be rid of it in four, five months.' While thinking this, the barkeeper knew that he would succeed; he always had in the past. The really hard part had always been keeping at that level once he got there.
"Well, see you tomorrow," Joanne said while following the man out the door.
The barkeeper lifted his hand and waved a loose goodbye.
"Yeah, you get out of here and let the normal people live in peace," Matt shouted after them.
As the barkeeper looked at Matt, he realized that Matt always sat alone; no matter how busy the bar was. The barkeeper wondered if Matt even realized how alone he was 'thanks' to his behavior, or if the old man believed that he had a lot of friends simply because people in town were nice enough to still say hi to the annoying man.
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When they stepped into the man's van, Joanne could see that the back of the van truly was stacked to the roof with food. She also noted that it was food that could be preserved for a long time.
The man saw Joanne looking at the food. "I think that we can't be careful enough. What that old man was saying was a lot of paranoia, but fact is that we don't know what's coming and I want to be prepared."
"Listen, you don't have to explain yourself to me, but... if you want to talk about it, I'm game," Joanne grinned as the man put his van into drive and drove onto the road.
"Why should we act as if nothing is happening? Aliens are visiting Earth, that's a fact. I don't think that they're Martians; in fact I know for sure that they aren't. I just think we should prepare ourselves for the fact that they aren't up to something good, and then let them prove to us that we're wrong."
"I agree that we're being watched," Joanne said. "But I think that beings that are capable of building spaceships like that would also be able to destroy all life on Earth if they want to. I mean, we could do that ourselves already and we just dipped our toes in space exploration. So if they really are up to no good, hiding won't be of much use. No, I think it's better to assume that we can trust them; take them into our trust and then go from there."
The trip took a little more than twenty minutes and passed quickly while they talked back and forth, trying to persuade the other of their view. Both not really succeeding, but both still liking the conversation.
The man stopped his van along the road across from the garage that Joanne had directed him to.
"Thanks for the lift," Joanne said. "Maybe we'll meet again and can finish this conversation."
"Maybe we will," the man agreed.
Joanne got out and closed the door, after which the man drove on into the town center.
'Someone who has a point and sticks to it, without getting irritatingly stubborn,' Joanne thought while shaking her head slightly with a smile. 'I like that.'
A moment later Joanne walked into the garage and was greeted by Victor Cook. Victor was a six foot tall mountain of a man, one year older than Joanne. He did a little sport, but his beer-belly proved that this little bit of sport was a little bit too little.
"Hi, Jo. Your car is ready, why don't you step into the office so that we can take care of the business side of things."
While they were walking to the office, Joanne thought back to how long she knew Victor, and how his life had influenced hers. They had met in college and became very close friends, but not the lovers that people had thought them to be back then. In fact, Victor had been the first person Joanne had come out to, even telling him before her parents. It had been Victor who had persuaded her to tell her parents.
He had also been the person who had set Joanne up with her first... experience. Seeing how nervous Joanne became whenever a girl just looked her way, Victor, in his typical 'to the point' way, had decided that what Joanne really needed was a good lay. He had set Joanne up with a woman from an escort service, of course not telling Joanne just what exactly the woman did for a living.
He had promised the woman some extra money to be extra gentle and tender to the inexperienced Joanne. For more than five years Joanne had thought that the mystery woman had truly been that perfect one night stand people fantasized about. Joanne believed even to the present day that it was the second best way to loose her virginity. It could only have been better if her first time had been with someone she had loved.
Oh, Joanne had been severely pissed when Victor had finally told her after five years, but that had quickly evaporated when Victor had told her that afterwards the woman had refused his money; all of it. But in return Victor had to promise to give Joanne a message if he ever told her. The message had been simple; 'thank you for a wonderful night I will remember for a long time'. It seemed that even though the woman had been a pro, the night she had spent with Joanne had meant something to her as well. Maybe, Joanne had thought, it really had been that perfect one night stand. Just that her partner had been a lot more experienced than Joanne had imagined at the time.
Even after their time in college, Victor's life had influenced hers. She had helped Victor to get a job he wanted when an injury had cut his promising career as a quarterback short. Victor was a great man, and an even better friend, he just stank at selling himself. Joanne however had always been excellent at negotiating and 'selling' her view to others. Victor's new boss had been so impressed with Joanne's negotiating techniques when she and Victor had come to see him, that he had not only given Victor the job that Joanne had come to negotiate, but offered her a job as well.
And when Victor started his own company, Joanne helped him again, this time with negotiating the purchase of a small garage that was losing money. Joanne dove into the books, and the contracts that the garage had with suppliers. Within six months the garage had been turned around and was making a nice little profit. Victor was the one who delivered the experience that made people come to the garage whenever they had a problem, but Joanne had made sure that not a single dime was spent unnecessarily.
Once again her boss had been impressed. He had offered her a promotion. She was to find, and buy up, smaller companies that could be of value to her boss. Then she was to reorganize those companies and sell off, with profit, the parts her boss couldn't use. Joanne was so good at this that within three years her boss had given her a blank check, allowing her to do whatever was needed without first having to get permission for it.
So basically she was her own boss and didn't have to report to anybody, as long as she was making a profit; which she had been doing since the first day.
Over the years Joanne had built a reputation that made companies actually come to her for help. It was a known fact that in all the companies she had reorganized, only six percent of employees had lost their job. And all the companies had benefited after Joanne put them back on the right track.
And to think that the friendship which had started all this, had begun with nothing more than Victor, then the quarterback of the college football team, asking her for some help with his homework.
"So, what was wrong with it?" Joanne asked while sitting down in the visitor chair of the office.
"Well, you were right when you assumed that the shocks were busted. Because of that you felt every little bump in the road."
Joanne gave a little nod. "Just as I thought."
"Right," Victor agreed. "But when I was test-driving your car I noticed that the timing was off, and your brakes didn't have enough pressure. So, fess up, who did you let loose on your car? I would never give anyone their car back like this, certainly not you."
"What do you mean? I always... oh, wait, no, you're right. Two weeks ago I had a problem in a little town I was in for business, but the mechanic I went to fixed that problem."
"It's one of the oldest tricks in the book. Fix one thing, mess with another thing. Smaller garages do that some times to make you come back and have the second 'problem' fixed as well. After all, that garage did such a great job fixing the last problem, surely they can fix this as well."
"Ah," Joanne said understandingly. "Just too bad for them that I have a good car that held together long enough for me to come to you. Anyway, let's talk about money, how much do I owe you?"
"Well, I was only going to ask you for the cost of the parts, but I know that you don't want that, so I added some hours to the bill. So, to make you a nice price, let's say four hundred even."
"Well, I can live with that," Joanne said with a smile. She used her American Express card to pay the bill and then spent an hour talking to Victor, mostly about the spaceships that had been seen visiting Earth.
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"Oh, I see that it's getting dark. I better get going. I want to go to that auction and it's a two hour drive. Did they fix old 25 yet?"
"Not that I know," Victor said thoughtfully. "Last thing I heard, they were planning on fixing that road next week."
"Great, that means I have to make sure I don't drive into that damn sinkhole."
They walked to Joanne's car and she got in. "Well, Victor, say hello to your wife for me. Oh, by the way, what was the price of those parts anyway?"
"Three hundred ninety-nine," Victor couldn't hide his laugh when he saw the face Joanne was making. "Oh, come on, Jo. You did so much for me, let me do something from time to time."
Joanne sighed, but knew when to give in. She thanked Victor and drove off, hearing him call after her jokingly, "Don't drive into a UFO."
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Joanne carefully drove around the hole that had taken away more than half of the road. The part of the sinkhole that extended into the road had been blocked by dividers normally used in road constructions. But it was located in the middle of a bend, so if someone drove a little too fast they would drive straight into the sinkhole, taking the dividers with them.
She had just passed the sinkhole when a minute later she saw some lights in her rearview mirror. Guessing from the position of the lights and the smaller lights above them, Joanne assumed that it was a semi truck.
"Where did he come from, and how did he get around that sinkhole so fast?"
The lights didn't answer, of course, and continued to keep the same distance of about one minute away. But soon Joanne had forgotten all about the truck, because suddenly her car stopped working. All Joanne could do was let the car role out onto the shoulder of the road.
"Great, thanks Victor. Is it that hard to fix a damn car?"
Joanne got out of the car and opened the hood, but she knew that it would be of no use. Even though she had just been complaining about how 'hard' it was to fix a car, she knew only too well that her own mechanical knowledge of cars was pretty much limited to knowing how to exchange the sparkplugs.
Just as Joanne was closing the hood, the truck came rolling by. She looked at the end of the truck as it passed, realizing with a silent curse that it was too late to wave it to a stop. But to her surprise, the truck stopped anyway.
Joanne jogged past the two trailers to the cabin of the big black semi, where the door had been opened for her.
"Thanks for stopping, I..." Joanne stopped mid sentence when she saw the driver of the truck. She had been expecting a rough, overweight, guy with a pack of cigarettes tucked into his shirt pocket. But nothing could be further from the truth, because Joanne was suddenly eye to eye with a young woman, about Joanne's own age if not younger. She had long, dark blond, more brunette, hair that had to reach to the middle of her back, and a body that looked just... perfect. It was good that Joanne didn't believe in love at first sight, or else she would have been hopelessly lost.
"Well, are you going to just stand there, or are you going to come in and sit down?" The woman asked with a soft voice that made Joanne's heart skip a beat. "At least, I assume that you would like a lift to the next place of business. I would offer to look at your car, but I have a schedule to keep."
"Um, sorry," Joanne stammered while getting into the truck. "I just, um..."
"It's alright, I'm used to it," the woman said with a smile. "People have a different idea of what a truck driver looks like."
"Yeah," Joanne merely agreed, not really knowing what to say, which was very uncharacteristic for her.
"Should I drop you off in the next town? I'm practically driving through it anyway."
"Yeah, I was going to go to the evening auction in Johnson, but I guess I can forget about that."
"Well, I'm actually passing by Johnson as well, if you want I can take you there. It doesn't really matter if you call a tow truck from the next town, or from Johnson, does it?" the woman asked with a smile.
"Sure doesn't," Joanne agreed, returning the smile. "Well, if you're going to Johnson anyway, I wouldn't mind the lift at all."
"I know that it seems like a detour, but with all the roadwork on the interstate, this is actually quicker."
As the truck started to move again, Joanne tried to be a good girl; looking straight in front of her onto the long black road. But soon she found her eyes wandering, looking to the side, and the beautiful woman sitting there.
"See something you like?" the woman suddenly asked.
"Oh, um, I'm sorry, I'm just..." Joanne stuttered, quickly looking back to the road again.
"It's okay," the woman said, giving Joanne a mesmerizing smile. "You do realize that if you're always that obvious there's no need for people to have a gaydar to see if you're on their team when they're interested in you."
Joanne waved a hand dismissively. "Oh please, I live in Creek Valley, we have 'gay' added behind our names in the phonebook." She smiled, glad that the woman didn't mind the stolen looks and didn't seem to have any issues with Joanne being gay.
Of course, the remark about the phonebook had been an exaggeration. But in the small town the gay community was known to everyone, with the exception of the few that were still in the closet. It had been ugly thirty years ago when the mayor of the town had been caught in bed with the sheriff of the town. Since the town couldn't afford to lose these very capable men and leave both of those positions at once to newcomers, both stayed on. As a couple they lived through the snide comments, the broken windows and the death threat or two. Over time things in town had changed. Now, thirty years later they were still living together, and were time and again re-voted back into office. Losing office every once in a while, only to be reelected with the next election.
The town of three thousand inhabitants now had a group of a little over one hundred openly gay people. A compromise of sorts had been reached. The gays would be treated as any other person in the in generally very conservative city, and in return there wouldn't be 'decadent' things happening like gay parades or gay clubs. The gays didn't mind. They took being able to kiss or just hold hands with their partner at the grocery store, or the county fair, or in a normal bar, any time over being able to kiss their partner only at a gay club.
"Really? Hmm, got to get me one of those phonebooks," the woman said with her beautiful smile.
Joanne grinned a little sheepishly. "Alright, how about we start this over?" She offered her hand and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Joanne Rock."
The woman took the hand and gave in one firm shake. "Terry Lee."
"Terry Lee, as in a double first name, or as in a first and last name?"
"Lee is my last name," Terry clarified. "I..."
She hesitated for a moment before adding, "Actually, I picked the name. I changed my name as soon as I legally could. I heard the name Terry Lee on TV once and liked it ever since."
"If it's not a too private a question, what was wrong with your real family name?"
"Terry Thornbut," the brunette explained.
"Thornbud? That's not that bad."
"No, no," Terry said when she heard how Joanne had pronounced the name with a D on the end. "It was with a T; Thornbut. I tell you, if I had a dollar for every time I heard some lame joke about being careful when I sit down, or if I was in such a bad mood because something was poking me in my butt, I wouldn't need to drive a truck now."
Now Joanne laughed in understanding. "So it wasn't as much the 'family' part of the name that was the problem, as the 'name' part?
"Right, and by the time I could legally change it I was so sick and tired of it that I picked a whole new name instead of just changing that T to a D for instance."
The half hour drive passed quickly with them talking about nothing really. But finally the time had come for Joanne to get out when they arrived at her destination.
"Well, thanks again for the ride. I hope I'll see you again."
"You just might," Terry said with a wink.
"Oh really?" the blonde asked, her eyebrows lifting slightly.
"Yep. The trucking company I work for at the moment wants to expand to this part of the state. That means they need someone here to make runs 'now'. I'll be around Creek Valley from time to time."
"Well, then, see you around," Joanne said with a smile before getting out and closing the door. It was only as she watched the truck driving away that she realized in quiet amusement that they had spent the entire drive talking about nothing really, but the one subject that everyone in the world was talking about hadn't been mentioned once by either of them.
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Continued...