Sweet Blindness by Tony Chiodo

Sweet Blindness is a sci tale of four aliens, one of which is an android, who arrive on earth with instructions to subdue the unpredictable earthlings with an elixir called Sweet Blindness, so that they might reverse the environmental disasters that will turn the planet into a dead-zone. They crave the rare earth minerals to supplement their own dwindling resources, but also regard it as a paradise where they might “vacation” at their leisure. Earth has long been an object of interest of the Etherians, and their subjects, the Xarians, who had explored it during the Paleolithic Age All four aliens are shape shifters and can move through society effortlessly. Riley, a media librarian, is the sole human they have confided in and they use his apartment as a gathering spot. He leads a quiet life and is fond of perusing ancient texts of Tang Era Chinese poetry. Morph appears and disappears, causing great anxiety for Riley, but as the wise leader, assures him that things are under control. Fria is a tall and provocative martial arts fighter and dancer, who has channeled the persona of a famous British spy agent from the sixties TV. She teases Riley while driving him crazy with desire. Fay is a brand new android with a huge database but little life experience. Her emotional sensitivity amaze her companions and provide touching observations on human society. Tor arrives later, a husky miner and part time drama instructor. He is a burly, bearded adventurer, having roamed numerous moons and planetoids around Xaria, for both riches and the sheer joy of exploring. Morph takes them to Washington to conduct a test with the Sweet Blindness potion during a raucous session of Congress. Later on they gather with multiple tribes and environmentalists to save a vast scared tract of indigenous land. Some high level monkey wrenching saves the day and confounds the corporate mining operations. Gradually the Xarians become somewhat accustomed to life on earth, but their superiors back on Xaria are threatened by their new found freedom and take measures to slow things down. Morph vanishes and their mission is thrown into uncertainty. During this interim, Fria takes Fay on a whirlwind tour of San Francisco, but she chooses San Francisco a la 1956 in search of the Beats, most especially Jack Kerouac, whom she is determined to seduce, during which we witness Fria in all her splendid Xarian goddess feminine glory. Just when the quartet has found a rustic home in the Texas countryside where they feel safe, a demon rogue alien nearly destroys them in two different harrowing encounters. Shaken by this attack, none of them are certain if their future on planet Earth will work out, but the beauty and profound diversity of the blue orb seduces them into taking the risk. Fay’s role as the sole android acts as a reminder that tinkering with Nature is always a risky business when done purely for convenience and profit, and in the end, emotions have the power to overrule the robotic element, with unexpected results. I have been drifting into sci fi tales for some years now. For this story, I was influenced by PK Dick’s writing, and specifically Ridley Scott’s film, Blade Runner, which considers the moral and ethical aspects of an android. Comedy and drama are intermixed in this tale, and I enjoy throwing in allusions to cinema, TV, superheroes, and literary characters. Above all, I want readers to enjoy the ride, as I myself have enjoyed so many exhilarating rides in the mind of someone else’s adventures. The power of the human word, welded with the endless flights of human imagination, never fail to astound me. This story is for adults due to sexual content and racy language.