Read an Excerpt From Iridessian Haunts by Amy J Hamilton

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Kanner, Nix and the team have been sent to a primitive planet ahead of the construction companies. Their remit is to ascertain the viability of peacefully living on Iridessia alongside the indigenous species. 

Probes have already sent back favourable reports. 

The probes had not met the locals. 

Kanner and Nix must observe the creatures on the planet whilst dealing with dark forces their best scientists will have difficulty explaining.

Excerpt

“I suppose you want to go down those tunnels, don’t you?” Nix asked while Kanner nodded his head.

“You know the sensible thing is to get out?” Nix continued.

“Or,” Kanner began, “maybe the sensible thing is to walk down the tunnels and see if there’s some form of alien tech down there that could produce our ‘ghost’ for want of a better word.” Kanner’s voice trailed off to a mumble as he made mental lists of what to take and what they might encounter.

“What happened to ‘no inhabitants matching the intelligence of humankind’?” Nix asked.

“I feel I should say something like they were aiming really low when they sent us here.”  Kanner saw a scathing look on Nix’s face and backtracked,

“I’m joking. We’re scouting this planet with some of the best minds available.”

He was interrupted by Nix,

“I can’t see my breath.”

Kanner gave him a blank look.

“That’s what happens when there are ghosts,” Nix said, “it gets colder and you see your breath in front of you.”

“Or maybe there’s a crack somewhere in the rock and a cold draft is getting in from outside. Maybe the wind just dropped. From what we can tell it’s Iridessia’s autumn and it is most certainly getting colder at night.

As more minutes ticked past, Nix recovered.

“Let’s start on the left,” Kanner said. A brief “OK” was Nix’s only reply.

“Are you really OK with this? We can go back if you’re not sure.”

“No, let’s do it. I won’t hear the end of it back at base if I wimp out now.”

The left-hand tunnel was, as expected, pitch black. Kanner adjusted the light on his helmet to emit a wider beam into the tunnel.

“Mind, there’s an uneven step down. Nothing to see. It looks like an empty tunnel. The light isn’t penetrating very far. Watch, slippery patch,” Kanner announced as he took small steps forwards into the darkness.

“I’m at the end,” Kanner said unnecessarily as both men reached out to touch the cold, damp wall. Their contact produced a searing white light which filled the surrounding space. They yelled and tried to shield their eyes with their arms. Turning their backs on the walls they blindly made their way back along the dank, stone corridor. Their bodies bumped into each other in their haste to escape the intense light.

“Kanner, why is the tunnel longer on the way out?” Nix asked still shielding his eyes with his arm.

“I don’t know, but I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we’re almost…”

They spilt out of the tunnel and sprawled across the floor having been caught out by the natural step formation at the entrance. Darkness overcame them for a few moments as the pair groaned and complained. Kanner sat up with his knees bent and rested his arms on his legs.

“Nix, you OK?” he asked.

“Yeah,”

“We should leave,” Kanner began,

“About time,” Nix said pulling himself to his feet and reaching down to give Kanner a hand up. They turned their backs on the trio of tunnels and took a step towards the cavern between them and the tunnel to the outside world.

“Kanner,” Nix began,

“I know,” Kanner answered. They had no control as their bodies were manipulated to face the tunnels again. Both men let out a yell as they felt their bodies snatched into the air and flung into the middle tunnel. They approached the end wall at high speed and had no ability to slow themselves or shield their heads from the impending impact. Breath squeezed out of them as they stopped inches away from sudden death. They hung in mid-air incapable of speech or movement. The lights on their helmets and arms shone but had no effect on the surrounding darkness.

The lights went out.

Kanner tried to move his mouth to speak, but his jaw moved too slowly and no sound came out. He had no connection with anything. He couldn’t see or hear Nix and he couldn’t feel the tunnel on any side of him. The universe around him felt like it had been erased leaving him hanging in the absence of everything.

Kanner felt his head snap backwards and was dragged by the chest in an unknown direction. When he dropped unceremoniously onto the hard, damp floor, he realised he had been expelled from the second tunnel. He immediately looked around for Nix.

“Make. It. Stop,” Nix said through gritted teeth. He was fighting and losing the battle as his feet took him closer to the third tunnel.

Kanner tried to pull him back but again felt his body hoisted into the air. His ability to breathe disappeared. His body tried to panic, but even that function was removed. Kanner hurtled into the third tunnel and landed just behind Nix as he walked through the end wall. The lights from Kanner’s gear worked in the last tunnel. The wall at the end was some sort of transparent rock. Through it, he could see Nix surrounded by some of the more vicious creatures they had encountered on the planet. Kanner threw a hand into the wall but was stopped, bruised and scraped for his efforts. The animals closed in on Nix who appeared to be in a trance. Kanner was powerless to help. He slammed both palms on the wall he could still see through and pressed his forehead in-between them. He hoped with everything he possessed that Nix wasn’t really there and they were both unconscious somewhere rather than about to experience the fate he saw ahead of him. He closed his eyes in defeat.

About the Author:

Amy J Hamilton is about 300 years old and was spawned on an alien planet. She exists mainly on coffee and chocolate, but mainly coffee.

She has a husband, two teenagers, tropical fish, a tortoise, a degu and a bearded dragon who can fly and breathe fire (lie). In her spare time, she bakes things, sews things and play things on the piano.

She has been writing since she could hold a pencil in her left nostril. Amy’s books fall into various genres: Erotic/Sci-Fi: Lunar Medical series (Modified, Nate and Day), Sci-Fi Murder Mystery: Missing Remnants. Paranormal Sci-Fi: Iridessian Haunts

Amy currently writes for Radish Fiction. The serialised fiction app is free to download for iOS and Android. Having passed the inspection of the content editor, authors are invited to write serials where the first three episodes are always free. Subsequent episodes may be free, unlock for free after a week but can be unlocked early for 3 Radish coins, or are permanently locked until 3 Radish coins are paid. An episode is between 30c-42c depending on how many coins you buy.