Author Archives: Dave Bailey
Dave Bailey started writing short stories when he lived in Brazil to help his students learn English. Now, he lives in Florida again where he continues to write fun and inspiring sci-fi and fantasy fiction stories. You can read his weekly short stories here on his blog. Make sure to join his advanced reading crew so you know when new stories become available >>> https://davebailey.me/go/crew
Marina Gemma van Willigenburg is Kobe’s daughter. She studies Biological Engineering at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. She gets involved in one of Kobe’s business deals and gets kidnapped herself.
1460 Randall Drive
Brimhill
Height: 5′ 2″ (157 centimeters)
Weight: 115.1 pounds (52.3 kilograms)
Blood type: O+
Favorite color: Blue
Vehicle: 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara
Age:30 (Kobe/Katrina) 40 (Edge)
Birthdate: January 27, 1978 (12:42 AM)
Death date: June 29, 2049 (8:54 AM)
Lifespan: 71
Cause of death: Diabetes
Mother’s maiden name: Engel
Nationality: Dutch
Location: North Brabant, Netherlands
Language: Dutch
SSN: 750-03-XXXX
Phone: 852-1285
Email Address: MarinaLuimes@jourrapide.com
Username: Immirty
Password: yaeyu2Hazie
Website: begetmore.com
Visa: 4929 3219 9339 6274
Expires: 1/2022
CVV2: 141
Company: Top Secret (Clone Collection Crew)
Occupation: Biological Engineer
Dr. Tonya Marina Samoylova is the psychologist that Kobe helped set up to filter people who remembered their experience of being kidnapped. Dr. Tonya is the alien abduction specialist who works with Iva after she thinks that she’s been abducted by aliens.
3469 Russell Street
Brimhill
Height: 5′ 2″ (157 centimeters)
Weight: 170.7 pounds (77.6 kilograms)
Blood type: B+
Favorite color: Blue
Vehicle: 2000 GMC Terradyne
Age: 60
Birthdate: December 13, 1957 (2:43 AM)
Death date: February 10, 2039 (9:39 PM)
Lifespan: 81
Cause of death: Cancer
Mother’s maiden name: Ibrahimova
Nationality: Russian
Location: Perm Krai, Russia
Language: Russian
SSN: 021-30-XXXX
Phone: 897-3811
Email Address: MarinaSamoylova@jourrapide.com
Username: Gring1962
Password: ohg9eeK4ph
Website: BrimhillAlienAbductions.com
Visa: 4539 0649 6243 1738
Expires: 6/2019
CVV2: 962
Company: Brimhill Alien Abductions
Occupation: Psychologist
Iva Caterina Trevisani is Tony Blanchett’s niece who appears in Kobe & Katrina’s story. She is kidnapped by a mad scientist collecting samples from people of interest so that they can clone their subjects. Iva remembers part of the experience even though she thinks that she was abducted by aliens. She disappears before she can get to the feds with her information.
4131 Lakewood Drive
Brimhill
Height: 5′ 1″ (156 centimeters)
Weight: 194.7 pounds (88.5 kilograms)
Blood type: B+
Favorite color: Orange
Vehicle: 2009 Ford Fiesta
Age: 42
Birth date: June 14, 1976 (3:58 PM)
Death date: October 3, 2053 (7:59 AM)
Lifespan: 77
Cause of death: Cancer
Mother’s maiden name: Ricci
Nationality: Italian
Location: Veneto, Italy
Language: Italian
SSN: 150-12-XXXX
Phone: 201-880-0684
Email Address: IvaTrevisani@rhyta.com
Username: Bech1997
Password: ChieCie1ae
Website: ChampNames.com
MasterCard: 5394 0040 1939 1734
Expires: 10/2023
CVC2: 398
Company: Sandy’s
Occupation: Restaurant chef
Katrina is a hitwoman for hire who also runs a small-time mob organization under the guise of an electronics factory. She first appears in Edge 1.4 while Art is looking for Kobe. Katrina loves Kobe and tries to protect him from the mess he is in with Tony.
I kind of envision her like Hellen Mirren in Shadowboxer as Rose while writing her part in Kobe’s short story.
4772 Pointe Lane
Brimhill
Height: 5′ 8″ (173 centimeters)
Weight: 190.7 pounds (86.7 kilograms)
Blood type: B+
Favorite color: Purple
Vehicle: 2015 Chevrolet SS
Age: 58
Birthdate: June 4, 1960 (12:35 AM)
Death date: September 25, 2038 (6:28 AM)
Lifespan: 78
Cause of death: Heart Disease
Mother’s maiden name: Winkel
Nationality: German
Location: Berlin, Germany
Language: German
SSN: 262-17-XXXX
Phone: 954-971-7890
Email Address: KatrinaBaier@jourrapide.com
Username: Hishoupers
Password: oogae1Xah0
Website: chieftronics.com
MasterCard: 5203 7131 5066 2510
Expires: 6/2019
CVC2: 637
Company: Chieftronics
Occupation: Human Resources by day and assassin by night
Let me know how you imagined her while reading this story. Any actresses or celebrities that you think would be a good fit? Let me know in the comments below.
This is the lawyer that Art is looking for in Edge 1.4 because he wants a lawyer with a vendetta against Tony. He comes highly recommended by April. However, she doesn’t know where to find him.
Kobe is also getting his own short story where he stars with Katrina.
2321 Boggess Street
Brimhill
Height: 5′ 9″ (176 centimeters)
Weight: 218.0 pounds (99.1 kilograms)
Blood type: B+
Favorite color: Silver
Vehicle: 1993 Oldsmobile Achieva
Age: 63
Birth date: February 28, 1955 (11:47 AM)
Death date: May 7, 2028 (10:57 AM)
Lifespan: 73
Cause of death: Diabetes
Mother’s maiden name: Huntjens
Nationality: Dutch
Location: Overijssel, Netherlands
Language: Dutch
SSN: 272-02-XXXX
Phone: 924-2442
Email Address: KobeKasper@VanWilligenburg.com
Username: Beeptund60
Password: Im3dah9cee
Website: VanWilligenburgLLP.com
Company: Van Willigenburg LLP
Occupation: Lawyer
Visa: 4485 3563 7807 2716
Expires: 2/2021
CVV2: 617
After reading about Kobe in the stories, let me know what actor or celebrity he makes you think of in the comments below.
Happy Sunday to you all! This was a good week of writing. Wrote 33,372 words. Basically spent it finishing up Edge of the Universe: Season 1 – Episode 3 and then started Episode 4.
I got some really good writing days in with the help of Focusmate, which is great for helping me stay on track with my writing.
I’m participating in Camp NaNoWriMo and I’m in a cabin full of other great sci-fi writers. And I’m already over halfway to my goal in the first week. Wooo hooo! Hope to keep up the pace.
I’ve actually got to write more because I’ll be traveling the last half of this month. So, I’ve got to cram it in now.
I also started writing a short story for the lawyer that Art is looking for in Edge 1.4 because I wanted to understand why Tony tried to kill him.
It was supposed to be something short and quick, but I started writing from Katrina’s point of view. I was instantly captivated and extremely intrigued by the relationship between the two.
And I was absolutely blown away with the whole incident that started this mess.
I don’t want to give away any spoilers of course, so I won’t say much more about it here.
But I can’t wait to share Kobe & Katrina’s story with you.
Doing a little research here on relationships ending badly for a couple. I’ve been writing a short story about a couple called Kobe & Katrina.
Katrina is a small-time mob boss/hit woman who likes what she does. Learned the trade from her daddy. Took over to avenge his death when her brother was too weak to do anything.
So, she often gets into trouble and needs the help and advice of her lawyer. That would be Kobe. She falls in love with him, but he’s married.
Long story short, he gets himself in a real pickle and needs her help to clean up the mess after someone kills his family for a mistake he made.
Update: This was supposed to be a short story of about 1000 words to get some background on Kobe who pops up in Edge of the Universe – On the Run – Episode 4. But I’m already up over 12,000 now on this backstory. This could become its own book. I’m finding the whole relationship between them really interesting. Hope you enjoy reading it when it’s complete.
Anyway, I was looking for articles about things going bad relationships and how narcissists and selfish lovers feel about getting dumped or put in the friend zone.
Got me to wondering about any interesting experiences that you may have had with crazy, narcissistic, selfish lovers that broke up with you or mistreated you for no reason. Feel free to share in the comments below.
He woke up on the solid, cold metal under his body. He rolled over and tried to sit up. But his arms were lashed down. He tugged at them for a few minutes before giving up.
He looked around the room. It was bare. A single lamp hung from the roof. The walls were blank white. He twisted his head to the side and saw a small table. There wasn’t much on it except for a few bottles of white liquid and syringe.
In front of him close door. He listened, but there was only silence. In the distance the faraway hum of an air-conditioner.
He struggled against the lashes on his arms once again. Then tried to roll over to the side, but his legs were lashed down as well. He became furious. He growled in rage.
He thought he heard a noise and stopped struggling to listen. But then nothing. He realized that there was a strange scent in the year. Sweet almost like perfume. He almost seemed to remember something about it, but couldn’t quite put quite put his finger on it.
His body felt hot and tight lashed down against the cold metal. He kicked and thrashed furiously at the lashes on his feet. The string began to loosen and the knots to pull away from the base. Soon he could wiggle his legs.
He began to do the same with his arms. Pushing. Pulling. Soon the ropes began to give way. He heard the knob in the door begin to turn and the door opened. He stopped struggling and closed his eyes. He looked through small cracks in his eyelids to see what they were doing.
The person that entered didn’t even look at him. It was a man in a white lab coat with dark curls on his head. He reached for one of the bottles on the table and left.
As soon as the door closed, he began to struggle again. Pushing and pulling against the ropes. Trying to remember who it was, but he couldn’t. He didn’t seem to have any memories.
He tried to remember his name, but couldn’t. He couldn’t remember anything. He couldn’t even remember his own name.
It seemed like he should be able to remember something. People. Places. Events. But still, there was nothing.
So many concepts of his brain. So many things he was aware of. But nothing personal but related to him and belong to him alone.
Soon he got one hand free and was able to use it to pull off the knots on the other hand. Soon both hands were free. After that, it was a simple matter of loosening the knots on the ropes at his feet.
He stood up. Stretched.
“Where was he? What was this place? What was he doing here?” he questioned
He walked over to the desk and open the drawers. There were three. The top one held basic office supplies. Pens. Glue. Tape. Whiteout. A ruler and stapler.
The second drawer held several files. Three to be exact each with a different name.
Mark. John. Mary.
They didn’t seem familiar. He can remember anyone with those names.
There wasn’t much information on the inside of the files. Just basic data. Height. Weight. Blood type. Eye color. Stuff like that. He wondered if one of them was his. Maybe he could tell if he knew what color his eyes were. He looked around for a mirror to check.
Mark had blue eyes. John had green eyes.
He opened the third drawer. There were several black boxes. He picked one up and opened. There were pills inside of it. He opened another one. The same white pills. He closed the lid and put them back. Then shut the drawer again.
He opened the door a crack and peeked outside. There didn’t seem to be anyone in the hall. He stepped out and started walking toward the far end. There was another door, so he opened it slowly and stepped inside.
He found some clothes on the rack. He put them on. He threw on a white lab coat just like he saw the other man do. He walked out and continued around the corner.
He passed a group of people walking his way and heard one of them asking the other if they had ever seen him before. He looked back, but they didn’t seem concerned.
“Maybe he’s one of the new guys that just got in last week,“ they said, and they kept on walking. He came to a large room with double open doors and continued inside.
There were large sheets of paper hanging down in rows crisscrossing in both directions. He stepped up to look around but couldn’t find any way to see. So he stuck his finger through it and made a hole. Then put his eye to see what was on the other side.
What he saw shocked him.
Hey! Thanks for reading this short story. I’m still figuring out how this character fits into the rest of the Sector Seven and Kylex Lab series, so I don’t want to give anything away about what he sees yet. But you can leave tell us what you think he sees, or even create your own ending for the story in the comments below.
Look at the image above of the girl leaning from the cliff toward the clouds and listen to the song ‘Softly, Gently’ by Jon E. Amber while you read this short story.
Sunwhistle stood on the edge. Waiting. It had been a long day. The night would be even longer. She watched as the setting sun illuminated the world around her. Not that she really needed it. She could see just as well at night. Sometimes even better. The sun often glared brightly off shiny objects. Enemies could fly in directly without her seeing them. All they had to do was keep themselves between her and the blinding rays of the sun. Not a problem she ever had at night.
She stood watch over Aereyon. City in the Clouds. Protecting it from her enemies. It was her job. One that she was proud of. But recently, she had become distracted. A small series of events had begun unfolding below her. Normally, she wouldn’t have even noticed. Much less given it any attention. But after hearing some of the stories, she was curious. She wanted to know more.
Her sister would be almost eighteen if the rumors were correct. Two hundred and ten moons ago. A sister born among men. She wondered what her sister would be like. To be honest, she didn’t really even know what humans were like. She never had to deal with them. Many of her people didn’t even believe humans existed at all.
A few of the seekers among her people had gone down long ago into the lower layers of the atmosphere to explore and do some research. But they came back telling terrible tales. The atmosphere was thick and heavy. Oppressive. But the worst part was the humans themselves.
“Monsters,” they said.
Humans had mistreated the seekers. Done terrible things to them. They were fearful. A few seemed to think that the humans simply did not know what to make of them. They referred to them as ‘ghosts.’ It seemed to be what they called the souls of their dead. But they couldn’t understand why humans would think that of them.
They had been hunted. Pursued. Captured. Some had even been killed by the humans.
After that, Aereyons avoided going down there. They were content to leave humans well enough alone. There wasn’t much to learn from them anyway. They were violent, brute beasts that destroyed everything they touched. They consumed their resources trying to transform their world around themselves instead of embracing it as it was.
Every few generations, a few brave seekers returned to the land below to see what had changed and studied their current behavior patterns. But they were much more careful in how they observed humans. Rarely interacting with them. Rarely letting themselves be seen.
She wondered if she would even believe humans existed herself had she not seen them with her own eyes.
Her father had been in one of the most recent exploration parties. He had gone down. Done his research. Brought back his report to the queen. A few days ago, a small party of humans had arrived. Acquaintances of her father from all those moons ago. Somehow, he had maintained contact with them. Supposedly, they came from time to time. But this was the first that she had seen them.
Sunwhistle had been on guard duty that day. Her father had brought them to a meeting with the queen. She could hardly keep from staring. They were so colorful. So, dense. So, solid. She wondered how they could even walk or move around.
After the meeting had ended, she followed them around. Her shift had just ended. Changing of the guards.
While following them, she moved ever closer. Gaining more and more courage. Until soon she was within earshot. She could hear what they were saying. And really, she wasn’t even that close yet. But she didn’t have to be, because their voices were dense too. Harsh. Guttural. The one in the back had a shrill, irritating laugh.
After Sunwhistle’s father had left the group to return home, the humans continued milling about the garden. She pressed in closer. Observing every detail. She wanted to pump her father full of questions.
“I love that man,” the woman with the shrill, irritating laugh said. “He is so charming. I would love to have his babies.”
The woman she was talking to looked after him wistfully but didn’t say a word.
“What?” asked the woman with the shrill, irritating laugh. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t want to either.”
The other looked back at her. Smiled briefly. Shook her head as if she didn’t want to say it, but said it anyway, “I already have. That’s why I come here every year.”
The woman with the shrill, irritating laugh looked at her in shock. “You mean, Joy? But she is already eighteen years old. I thought we only met these Aereyons in the last ten years or so.”
Sunwhistle had been so shocked she almost cried out. The women must have sensed her because they stopped talking and moved away.
She fled back to her room and shut herself up for the next few days. Was it really true? Did she have a sister? A sister who was human?
That was three days ago. Today, she stood watch at her post. But this would be her final time. Tomorrow, she would go down to see the land herself. She would look for this sister.
Yes, it was forbidden. Only the seekers were allowed to go. They had to have special permission from the queen. But she couldn’t bear to get her father in trouble.
She couldn’t wait for the next expedition. Everyone would want to know why she wanted to go. Even if she did wait. The expeditions were only sanctioned every thousand moons.
No, she would go now. She would return with a group of humans. Follow them back to their home. Find this sister. And maybe, even bring her home.
Sunwhistle stood on the edge. Waiting. It had been a long day. The night would be even longer. She lifted herself up off the rock and glided softly, gently back home. Pack her bag. Wait for the humans to return. With her in tow. Softly. Gently.
I didn’t write this short story with any specific goal in mind, although I could definitely see the Aereyans possibly tying in with a part of the Edge of the Universe series. Or even becoming its own, full-blown story about Sunwhistle’s mythical hero journey. Leave a comment and let me know what you thought of her world, and if you’d like more.
“Hello! Good morning,” he said cheerily.
She smiled and looked back at what she was doing.
He took a deep whiff. It smelled great. He was still full from supper, so he wasn’t exactly starving. But his stomach growled hungrily just because of the time.
Same time he ate breakfast every day. Like clockwork. He never missed breakfast. He could skip lunch if needed or he was really busy. And he often skipped supper. Just part of the way his body was changing.
When he was younger, he never skipped a meal. And he ate like a horse she always said. But over the years he realized he needed to eat less. He often didn’t even feel that great after overeating.
He could pack down ten slices of pizza in a contest against his friends. But now, he felt sick the following day if he ate four. Three was often plenty. Sometimes even two.
It left him feeling disappointed. When he was younger, he didn’t have the money to spend on good food. Now that he was older and had plenty of money to spend on food, his body couldn’t process it as before.
But, he still enjoyed it. Tried to eat healthily. Well, mostly because of her. She always ate eggs and bananas for breakfast. He was a little more liberal with what he ate. He didn’t worry about eating carbohydrates like she did. He didn’t really worry about following a diet anymore, even though he had tried just about all of them at one point or another.
Paleo. Atkins. Five Two. Etc.
Been there. Done that. Never really did much for him anyway. The restrictions always left him feeling hungry and grouchy. He lacked the self-discipline to stick to it and always broke after the first week or so. Then he just binged. Eating worse than he had before starting the diet.
Maybe, he should just go back to living the way his ancestors had as hunters and gatherers. He had heard about people doing that. They held regular nine to five jobs just like everyone else. But they still hunted and cooked their own food before and after work. They tended gardens to grow their own food.
He heard that it was good because they only ate when they had time to hunt or gather stuff. They didn’t worry about eating three square meals a day. “It was a growing tendency,” his friend told him. “You should try it.”
A bunch of his colleagues had done it over the past year on their vacation time. Spent several weeks in the woods, surviving on their skills and wit. He had thought it kind of silly at the time. A bunch of middle-aged men with potbellies running around in the middle of the woods after wild boar and deer. Tending to their tomato gardens trying to coax them into ripening before dark.
But they had come back looking better. Leaner. Stronger. Healthier.
Maybe he should try it too. Maybe they could do it together.
“Hey, Babe! Let’s do that summer of hunting and gathering program I told you some of the boys did last year.”
She looked at him like he was mad. Crazy. Out of his mind.
“Why in the world, would I want to do something like that?” she asked. “That’s a guy thing.”
He shrugged. “I just thought it would be fun. The two of us trying to survive.”
“No, thanks,” she replied. “I survive just fine, right here with shopping malls and nice restaurants.”
“We have to learn how to survive without things, Babe. Just imagine if there’s a zombie apocalypse like on those series that you watch. We have to be prepared.” he said.
She burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” she said still chuckling. “I don’t think those things will ever happen which is why I watch them. But if they did, I wouldn’t last three days without a shopping mall or fine restaurant. I’d rather join the zombie heard then hunt deer and grow tomatoes.”
He didn’t know what to say in reply to that. He just shook his head in wonder.
“But you go on this program with your friends. It’ll be good for you. I’ll stay here and enjoy my malls and restaurants. Who knows? Maybe there will be an apocalypse here soon, and you’ll be prepared to survive and defend me,” she continued with a dramatic gesture of throwing her head back and placing the back of her hand on her forehead. Classic pose of a damsel in distress.
He sighed and pushed his plate back.
“What’s the matter? Aren’t you going to eat your eggs? Wait. They didn’t taste good because you didn’t raise the hens yourself.” she jabbed.
He still didn’t reply. Just smiled through gritted teeth. He was glad she didn’t want to go. It would be hard enough trying to survive in the woods without her jabs and snide remarks. Let alone put up with them when he was hungry. She was ornery enough when everything was going great. Sometimes she even went off on him when he brought back the wrong kind of bread from the supermarket.
“Oh, are you upset, Love?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“Nah, it’s cool. I’m not worried about learning how to survive a zombie apocalypse. I just think it would be a nice adventure.”
