Chapter 1

Zane woke up and rolled out of bed, scratching at his head, from which, sprouted long brown locks of hair. He shuffled into the shower, and five minutes later came dancing down the steps to the bottom floor of his mansion. As soon as he sat down at his small table set down in there, two perfectly toasted bagels fell down upon a plate and a miniature wheeled robot brought it to him.

"Mornin' Reggie!" he said yawning.

"Good Morning M'Lord." Replied a voice booming with a British accent "do you have any plans today that you have not notified me of?"

"No, why? Is someone here?"

"Of course not, I am just double checking. By the way, Sire, your bandmates have sent a letter suggesting that you do another tour on Earth in a few months. They said that the crowds are clamoring to have you back."

"Uggh. Don't remind me about the crowds, I barely escaped with my boxers intact."

"So your answer is…"

"I guess so, send them the message. Where are they now?"

"My latest records say Septimus Four."

"That's cool, get that to them, meanwhile lemme see the new songs they sent us."

A hologram of a balding man in a suit appeared on the wheeled robot that had brought him his toast, its mouth opened with the same voice that had been questioning him before, "How did you know they sent you new songs?"

"Why else would they mail me anything? They only talk to me during tours, and even then its only about how much of a percentage they'll get."

"I guess you are correct. I took the liberty of downloading them on your computer."

"Good, thank you." Zane said, "Just go off and start the general maintenance. Next week I've got a brave one comin' in. all the way from Earth nonetheless. He's the editor of The Daily … ummm, something or other, and he wants an interview."

"Jolly well sir, I shall see you at lunch then, goodbye M'Lord." With that, the wheeled machine rolled off in the other direction.

Zane reflected on how lucky he was to have Reggie, he (he no longer considered Reggie an "it") was possibly the only thing keeping him sane for the past few years. Zane couldn't even walk to the supermarket anymore without being hounded by mobs of screaming teenage girls and nearly as large groups of guys who wanted to learn his secrets. Yes, the rock star life was very tough on him. That's why he moved out here to Harvest, only some backwater farmers here, and he also had the constant threat of pirates warding off all but the most determined (and rich) of fans.

He walked outside, grabbing a cup of black coffee on the way and watched the cloudless sunrise. It was an oddly quiet morning so he turned on his radio, nothing on except the same transmission on every station about not panicking, that everyone will be fine and to head to the bomb shelters in an orderly fashion.

"Man, how long will it take them to realize that a few pirates in a couple of rusty tin cans aren't gonna kill everyone" he said blithely. Zane had heard the same transmission a thousand times before and now it just served as an annoyance that took away from his music time. He turned and was heading back in when a shadow fell across the land. He looked up to see a type of spacecraft he had never seen before, it was blue and vaguely pearlescent, and a purple beam emanated from the center.

"What the hell is that?" he inquired aloud.

"That is what all the radio chatter is about, didn't you hear it M'Lord?"

"No, what is it?" he asked, mesmerized by the shadow that now covered his entire property, from the sixty foot outside speakers in front to the small auditorium he owned two miles down the road.

"It is an alien ship M'Lord, and apparently, it is not very happy, it obliterated all spacecraft in the system and broadcast a message saying that we are to be destroyed according to the will of those who came before. Would you care for some tea M'Lord?"