The Record She Left Behind. Patrice Sharpe-Sutton

and my husband

      And for the love of nature they instilled.

      Acknowledgments

      Thanks to

      Holly Lisle for a class on reviewing novels

      Aingeal Rose & Ahonu for welcoming and publishing the Zerera novels

      And Craig, Marge, Bill, Deb, and Roz for support

      Thank you Spirit

      Praise for The Record She Left Behind: I Dream Therefore I Am

       “Skillful world building filled with fully developed, interesting characters you want to know such as Zerera and her friends and crewmates. You see and feel the wondrous petal dance and the possibility of an Earth filled with the healing, often challenging, Exotica trees. These trees make their thoughts known and share humor and adventure with Earthlings.”

      —Rosalind Heck

       “I found this a thought-provoking experience of what could be, should two advanced life forms meet for a common goal. Some of them being survivors of our own planet’s demise. The others from a different galaxy, here to help and learn from the recovery of Earth. I enjoyed what I read, can’t wait for the movie . . .”

      —Lazy Ter

       “I have read science fiction since I was a young boy. The Record She Left Behind satisfies my curiosity and imagination about aliens, science-wonders, and “what-ifs.” Telling the story from the aliens' perspective is another aspect that makes this a great read.”

      —Francis Schmidt

       “I read and find my mind going to this ship and seeing it in my mind and seeing the picture you are painting, the dancing, the trees moving ... it's beautifully written for the mind’s eye.”

      —Barbara Ruggeri

       “The story line was fun and interesting while moving at a nice pace.”

      —Marge Anderson

      Prelude ix

      Visions—Earth Time January 1, 2033 1

      Interludes With Zer & Leon 11

      Breaking Taboo 29

      A Couple Of Strange Encounters 45

      Journals & Hate Storms 56

      On The Isle With Ian 60

      A Woman Who Knows Fogland 76

      Daga & The Hoovers 83

      Karen’s Interpretation 87

      Tangled Meetings In The Superstitions 94

      Baffling Hoovers 101

      Karen’s Desert Dilemma 114

      Rafting To Prescott 119

      The Crux Of Siblings & The State of Prescott 133

      The Scoop On Alien Concerns & Revelations 145

      Karen’s Contract 152

      The Splendor Of Juvenile Exotica—June 8 154

      Flights Of Fancy & Swamp Thoughts 162

      Tricky Word Problems 167

      In The Manner Of Beasties 174

      Faithful Bonds 180

      About The Author 200

“One thought created the whole physical universe.”

      Darkness swallowed the starship on the far edge of Andromeda, leaving Zerera’s home far behind. There was no turning back.

      * * *

      When the starship reached low-Earth orbit, Zer headed for the biolab. The doors hissed open before she touched them. “Leon?” The retractable membrane slid over his golden eyes, rendering him impersonal. Warning her.

      “What are these?” He stepped aside to expose a 15-centimeter high trio of Exotica seedlings.

      She’d thought them well hidden. “Ambassadors of good will and rapport with Earthlings.”

      “Ambassadors of hallucination. Taboo, Zerera.”

      “What did you expect? We were bred for each other.” They’d raised her.

      He walked away—and divided her loyalty.

      Karen woke in the night in her cave in Mount Lemmon and saw a pearly white face with large whitish eyes and baby-sized nose floating above her. Another lousy, baldheaded alien. Female. A quirky smile exuded ineffable sweetness. “Liar.” Karen hurled a cup of water at the vision.

      Backwash splattered her pile of sleeping bags and disturbed the tarantula, whispering across rocks in its corner under the fake palm leaf. Aliens upset everybody. Karen had been dreaming of ETs since the flash floods in the valley—since she’d returned to the cave.

      The face mouthed a name, Zerera.

      Karen yelled. “Get out. It’s my home, you're not landing on my mountain. Don't come back.” If they were returning to Earth, why contact her? She hated aliens. They'd killed her father after they used him, luring him with their hi-tech and materials.

      A scientist engineer, he’d carved this home from connecting caves in this beloved Arizona mountain, supplying it for bad times ahead. Karen switched on one of his inventions, a tubelight, grabbed the stun gun, and shot at the deceitful face till it broke up and dissipated in the light beam.

      “Don’t come back.” If they did, she’d find the ship, blow it up.

      Cursing sleeplessness, she tromped downstairs, hit a lever, and rattled down on a squeaky, jerky platform, and stepped onto a ledge a meter above the cavern floor. In the humidity, bat dung odor lingered in the chimney’s cracked, broken opening. There, till her neck ached and aliens were forgotten, she chiseled out rock to widen it for conduits to connect to her small energy station—a construction she’d finished during a fit of rage over ETs.

      * * *

      Zerera, Zer for short, who'd never thought of herself as an alien, was flying on a starship to the Milky Way. The vision of a cave woman delighted her. It dispelled misgivings about meeting barbaric Earthlings. This one welcomed her with water, the artful splash rousing Zer’s curiosity about the custom. She wanted to meet this woman. A tree biolinguist, Zer anticipated great rapport with an Earthling who lived underground with hairy spiders and plants—who would doubtless love her gift.

      Suddenly, the woman levitated and smacked into a rock wall. At the same moment, the starship abruptly slowed and jerked Zer from vision. She memorized the woman’s face and ignored the levitation; the starship was crossing the outer edge of Andromeda, heading to the Milky Way; everyone knew galactic edges distorted perception.

      It was mathematical. The weight of a materialized starship, plus an edge zone and velocity change added up to a dent in space fabric, plus a warped view of reality.

      “Do many Earthlings live in caves?” Zer swiveled her chair toward Vatta who'd traveled a lot and visited Earth. They sat at paired consoles in the circular