Anomaly Trilogy: Season 1: Survival

Season 1 Episode 52: Epilogue

Bill Housley — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 07:01:12 GMT

Helona Chubbuck opened her eyes to the morning sun and listened to the birds outside for a few minutes while she stared at her spear and knife hanging on the wall across the room from her bed. She tried to stretch but stopped short when she felt the dull pain in her thigh. The llama bite on her arm had fully healed, but the wound she'd gotten from Wren during their last fight still felt stiff and sore in the mornings and slowed her down more than she let on. She got up, got dressed, and limped downstairs.

Season 1 Episode 51: Humanity Meets Goultaura

Bill Housley — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 07:02:01 GMT

“The Earth emissary is here to see you.”

"Good, send him in."

The human male walked in and smiled, offering her his hand. His hair color differed from Elizabeth's, and he wore no uniform. He held Elizabeth's translator in his hand.

"Hello, I'm Samuel Grant from the Earth ship," he said.

Season 1 Episode 50: Endings and Beginnings

Bill Housley — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 07:01:33 GMT

“I appreciate her reasons," said Jason. "And I wish I could say I agree with her, but I don’t."

“Sherry's the most important living victim of his crimes,” said Natalie. “Her opinion matters the most.”

"I know, “ Jason replied, shaking his head with a sigh. “But it puts the rest of us in a bind. It would have been much simpler if Helona had just impaled Wren with that last shot instead of bashing him in the teeth with it. We need every living person contributing, but we can’t let him mingle with his victims either, and we don’t have the resources to confine, feed, and guard him.”

Season 1 Episode 49: Round Three

Bill Housley — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 07:01:16 GMT

Wren Thompson smiled as he sat by the fire, drinking his coffee and listening to the rain. His llama had warned him of pursuit several times over the past few days as they continued their straight-line run toward the mountains in the far northeast. He didn’t care which direction he traveled, but civilizations tended to populate and thrive on the coast. His intent had always been to look there to find a town or city with lots of alien stuff to loot, far from the rest of The Meridian Star survivors. Now, he finally had some rain to cover his tracks so he could change course and lose his pursuers.

Galena bleated and stomped in the darkness.

“Yeah,” he answered. “Keep your shirt on. We’re not getting ready to go until I finish my coffee.”

Season 1 Episode 48: Space Force Meets the Eridani

Bill Housley — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 07:02:41 GMT

“There it is, right where the Goultaran computer said it would be,” said Sam Grant. The entire bridge stopped their work to take in the terrible power and beauty of the wormhole displayed on the main viewscreen.

“Give me a 3-D projection,” ordered Captain Ferrell.

Everyone gasped as the wormhole appeared in the middle of the room, filling the space in the center of the bridge.

“Okay, perhaps that’s a bit much,” said the Captain with a smile. “Dial it back to fifty percent transparency.”

Season 1 Episode 47: Friends in Blood

Bill Housley — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 07:01:48 GMT

Helona ran toward the place where Paul and Gary had fallen, glancing back occasionally to see if Wren pursued her. Along the way, she passed by Gary’s and Paul’s llamas standing around grazing and looking bewildered, but when she stopped to talk to them, the half-wild creatures just snorted and stomped at her.

Some instinct warned her not to approach the site of the shooting too quickly, so she walked up to the two bodies slowly and quietly.

Season 1 Episode 46: Rematch

Bill Housley — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 07:01:20 GMT

Helona lay in the grass watching Wren lead Galena with Sherry tied to the saddle.

He'd traveled in pretty much a straight line, allowing Helona to use the terrain to conceal her as she ran ahead to wait for him. However, she’d ended up too far away for a proper ambush. Also, she'd hoped that Wren would feel secure enough to travel with the rifle put away, but he still carried the weapon in his hand.

As she contemplated what to do next, she heard a sound.

Season 1 Episode 45: One Less Captive

Bill Housley — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 07:02:15 GMT

Helona Chubbuck knelt beside the cold, lifeless body of Candace Hadfield and wept. Wren had left the woman face-down in a clearing, where she could easily be seen, and written a note on the back of her jumper.

This is your fault, Helona! YOU did this! Stop following me!

Season 1 Episode 44: Outpost

Bill Housley — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 07:02:16 GMT

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Thatcher of the 14th Space Guardians Reconnaissance Squadron walked down the long hallway of the alien outpost as medics carried some of his personnel out. The floor was littered with the wreckage of android sentinels. Captain Stockworth had been correct in letting the military handle this facility; it had fought back hard.

He emerged into a control room.

"Inform the Admiral that the base is secure," he told his aid.

"Yes, Sir."

"So, Bob, what have you found for me?"

"Colonel, this equipment is an interface to the nerve center of the outpost," said Lieutenant Robert Forsyth.

"Have you been able to connect to it yet?"

"No, the alien language isn't one that we are familiar with."

"I am familiar with your language," said a voice.

Season 1 Episode 43: The Giant Awakes

Bill Housley — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 07:01:56 GMT

The starfield suddenly changed as they emerged from the wormhole. Captain Refshee shook his head. He’d never get used to that.

“Stellar cartography,” he said as he squinted from the light of a nearby star. “We’ve arrived. You can begin your survey.”

Season 1 Episode 42: Aftermath

Bill Housley — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 07:01:25 GMT

Carl woke slowly. The first thing he noticed was the dull ache in his thigh where Wren had shot him. He flexed the tightly bandaged muscle and grunted as the ache jumped abruptly to unbelievable pain.

He took a deep breath of the cold night air. A long fire crackled next to him, warming his entire right side with radiant heat. Someone pressed tight against him on the other side.

He blinked the ash and smoke from his eyes until he could see the stars, then slowly turned his head to look at her. After all the shooting he'd heard after Wren returned to his camp, Carl had feared for Helona, and her touch warmed him both inside and out.

Her raven-black hair, often iridescent in sunlight, now absorbed every lumen of starlight and firelight and blended into the night like a shadow. The feather she wore twitched and spun in the breeze.

Season 1 Episode 41: Branches

Bill Housley — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 07:02:00 GMT

"3, 2, 1...and mark."

The telemetry signal returned first, followed by the probe.

Kifflerad sighed.

“I hate random problems that stay away when you’re watching,” Filrass said.

“I hear you,” replied Kifflerad. “Data dump and reprogramming complete.”

“All right, send it back in.”

Season 1 Episode 40: Rescue Attempt

Bill Housley — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 07:00:45 GMT

A llama bleated from somewhere in the trees. Sitka and Galena perked their ears and bleated in return.

Wren looked up from cleaning up after dinner.

Another bleat rang out, and the llamas replied again.

“Maybe it’s a male calling out to these two females,” Wren grinned. “I'll go see if I can catch him. You two wait here.”

Season 1 Episode 39: City Bound

Bill Housley — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 07:00:54 GMT

“Hello in the cabin!”

Becky leaped from the drawing she was working on.

“Daddy!”

Natalie opened the door and saw Stan Johnson walking up the trail, leading a llama. Some people had already started unloa…

Season 1 Episode 38: Escape Pod Lost

Bill Housley — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 07:01:18 GMT

“Steve, are you there?”

Camping alone with work to do took all the fun out of it, but Carol needed to tell Steve about the escape pod.

“Yes, Love,” came his welcome voice after a few seconds. “I’m glad to hear from you; the panthers have been a concern. Are you safe?”

She looked around just then with a start, then remembered that the big cats’ pattern was to go after children and near child-sized adults–and she was neither. She’d also found her guanacos to be very protective of her and almost impossible to sneak up on. Still, she smiled at Steve worrying about her.

Season 1 Episode 37: Go Big or Go Home

Bill Housley — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 07:01:25 GMT

“Seriously? You people have been thinking about this mission for a hundred of my years, and you didn’t consider this problem?”

Elizabeth Trunketh, formerly Captain of the luxury liner The Meridian Star, had now found herself in command of a death trap.

“It might be only a thirty-year-old problem," said Grifag. "We didn't know the life support systems and hull seals on the ship would have degraded this much."

Season 1 Episode 35: Carol Maps the Stars

Bill Housley — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 07:01:16 GMT

So, it had been a wormhole.

Carol lay snug in her sleeping bag, listening to the wind and rain outside her tent while reading the data dump from Steve. Among the beautiful and thoughtful letters and videos from him that warmed her heart, she read how he'd reenacted the root cause of the wreck of The Meridian Star. She wracked her brain to remember the things she’d learned about wormholes.

For one thing, Carol knew that their escape pod hadn't passed through a wormhole. If it had, they would have found themselves in an unexpected, perhaps even unmapped, stellar neighborhood.

Season 1 Episode 34: It was a Dark and Stormy Night

Bill Housley — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 07:01:02 GMT

Helona Chubbuck looked up at the sky and saw birds flying sideways high above against thick, dark clouds. The wind whistled through the thin trees, and the air smelled of seawater.

“We need shelter, Carl.”

“You're right,” he replied, setting down his pack and spear. “If we start now, we can set up our tents right away before the rain starts.”

Season 1 Episode 33: Carol Checks In

Bill Housley — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 07:01:19 GMT

I don't want to be doing this right now, Steve thought, his gut still wrenching from his radio conversation with Carol.

Some man I am, standing here conducting a meeting while my wife is in danger out in the wild. I ran the width of The Median Star so that we could face these dangers together.

"Carol checked in a bit late," he said to the group.

Season 1 Episode 32: Ghost Ship

Bill Housley — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 07:00:56 GMT

“Curse my ship designers for not installing windows!” exclaimed Captain Trunketh in frustration. All she could see of their target was the narrow view from the camera inside the docking adaptor the aliens had installed. She still managed to get some idea of the alien ship's size, and though quite large, it clearly couldn't hold a candle to the seven-thousand-passenger Meridian Star.

“Don’t worry, Captain,” said Commander Stonid. “We can find a docking port just fine using just sensors. Then we’ll all get into our excursion suits and take a little walk. The artificial gravity on the ship will be running at minimal, just enough to keep our boots on the floor until we can verify power levels."

Alien mansplaining, she thought. I guess they grow them like that everywhere.