Dispatches from the War

By Peter Cawdron

Dispatches from the War is a series of four short stories set in the fictional world of the novel Welcome to the Occupied States of America.

Extraterrestrial seedpods have landed in the northern hemisphere. The creatures that have emerged are composite beings. They’re capable of disassembling and rearranging themselves to mimic their environment. The world is divided into occupied and free states as humanity battles an invasive species from the stars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Cawdron
• Release date: Oct 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005670894

Peter Cawdron

PETER CAWDRON is an Australian science fiction writer and author of numerous novels. He lives in Queensland, Australia.

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cover-image, Dispatches from the War

Dispatches from the War

Copyright © Peter Cawdron 2021. All rights reserved. The right of Peter Cawdron to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Introduction

" If aliens exist and ever visit us, I think the result will look similar to the first visit of Christopher Columbus to America, which was not so good for the natives. "

Stephen Hawking

Dispatches from the War is a series of short stories set in the fictional world of the novel Welcome to the Occupied States of America .

These four short stories were developed as promotional material to support the development of the novel as a film by StormLight Media.

Extraterrestrial seedpods have landed in the northern hemisphere. The creatures that have emerged are composite beings. They’re capable of disassembling and rearranging themselves to mimic their environment. The world is divided into occupied and free states as humanity battles an invasive species from the stars.

Flowers for a Funeral

A light rain falls.

Autumn l eaves shuffle across the ground, blown to one side by the wind. Flickers of yellow, red, and orange hide the mud and sludge on the track leading to the farm.

Gravel crunches softly beneath combat boots. Soldiers move in single file. Gloved fingers are substituted for words. Short, sharp hand signals direct the approach along the hedgerow. The squad takes up various positions on either side of a closed wooden door on an old stone building.

Once, soldiers fought for their country. Now, they fight for humanity as a whole. On the right shoulder of each soldier, there’s a circular badge with the image of Earth as seen from above the North Pole. The caption under the badge reads, United Nations Reaction Force . Beneath that, their respective flags and an embroidered name are proudly displayed: United Kingdom, France, Germany, Benin, Egypt, Nigeria, and Gabon .

The soldiers are nervous. With their backs pressed hard against the crumbling wall, they prepare themselves for an enemy unlike anything ever seen on Earth.

Keep your eyes peeled for mimics, the sergeant whispers through a throat mic wrapping around his neck. Duplicates. Identify, but don’t touch. Do not engage.

Copy that, Crosby says. He’s on point for the evacuation. He shoulders his M4 and draws a pistol, holding it up near his face. The barrel points at the dark grey sky.