Lokians: Book 1 Beyond the End of the World

Book café excerpt for Lokians: Book 1 Beyond the End of the World

“Break away!” The Admiral’s voice came in the pilots’ earpieces again.

“What now?!” Sara yelled.

“Stay calm and listen to him.” The younger voice said.

“O.K.” Sara said quietly as she and the Thewl fighters scrambled to brake off.

The enemy fighters followed the transporters. They massed about the Thewl Carrier creating a full dome around the massive ship. In response the Admiral gave orders to fire the arc laser. The Thewl fighters eased away to avoid friendly fire. The white beam spiraled cutting through the Lokians like a hot laser knife through bug butter. Determined and single minded, the Lokians held firm. They kept firing at the Carrier. The field generators started overloading under the pressure of attack. While the field itself did not take damage the generating components were frying from angry red beams. A few patches were shutting off and the vessel started taking surface damage.

The bridge was alive with buzzing sounds and flashing lights.

“Admiral! We’re taking damage.” A Thewl screamed.

Admiral Yew took the broad speaker, “All hands ordered to the center-most decks aboard the ship. We’re taking some fire but we’re giving back double!”

The external decks were designed to operate with lockouts. This not only conserved power but saved lives. Outside those lockout systems the arc laser continued to shred through the enemy as the friendly fighters kept their distance.

“Absolutely brilliant” Sara said amazed.

After a moment the arc laser powered down.

“Engage men!” The coordinator ordered.

Sara nodded to herself. She moved in as she fired. Below her, on the cannon deck, a Thewl let loose his own blasts when he found the opportunity to hit an enemy transporter. Still the battle raged on as the Thewl fighters concentrated their fire on the small Lokians killing three, four, and sometimes five at a time. Rapidly the enemy dwindled in numbers and power. Suddenly they disbanded. They were hurling themselves towards the planet.

“They’re fleeing? No. They’re engaging the ground

crew!” Sara yelled.

“Stay calm, Human.” The coordinator replied.

Story behind the story

I originally wrote Beyond the End of the World as a short story, or rather intended to. Before completion, I decided I wanted to give some backstory in order to establish the rules of universe I created. This was not as simple a task as I thought.

The first thing to do was provide a base of operations so instead of dropping the Humans in the middle of war against a race of insect-like aliens, I stuck them on a planet called Eon. In doing so I was able to introduce a second race of aliens I called Thewls. These jellyfish-skinned humanoids were a benevolent race who had battled the insect-like Lokians throughout their history.

Once that was established, the story was already too long for a short. I decided to end the book on a good note but after carefully reading over it a few times it didn’t sit well with me. It was then that I decided to create the Lokians series, Beyond the End of the World being Book 1.

I feel starting with only a handful of alien races is probably the best way to go. This way I can provide all pertinent information on each race as they appear, and only when they are integral to the advancement of the plot. I do give mention of other races, they appear in the subsequent novels.

The idea for the story came from a few dreams I’ve had over the course of my life. I tend to dream about aliens quite often. In addition, I’m also familiar with Zecharia Sitchin’s work, which is supposed to be accurate depictions of Sumerian story canisters, their versions of books. In those stories, it is purported that men clad in suits of light came from the heavens. These men had a hand in the creation of the human race, so I adapted the theory for my own purposes.

All of these ideas coupled with a few conspiracy theories helped to provide Beyond the End of the World with a story many science fiction fans can relate to; an organization who deals with extraterrestrials, a military crew in search of a way to end a galactic threat from aliens, government cover-ups, etc.

Young adults who love to read normally love education as well. For this reason and others, Beyond the End of the World includes several detailed descriptions regarding biological studies, mechanical engineering, and religion. I made sure to back up all my science fiction with some level of science fact, even if only loosely. This not only gives the story an air of authority, and concreteness, but forces the young mind to question how things work.

A simple but reasonable explanation of magnetic charges and electron fields can be entertaining and educational.