She Came From Another World! (short story)

She Came From Another World! was a P.R.O.B.E. short story. Originally released for free on the Arcbeatle Press website, an audiobook version of it was later created as part of the Audio Adventures in Time & Space range (read by Bill Baggs), before a print version was included in the anthology True Origins.

Summary
One night, Giles finds himself investigating, or rather chasing down, a shooting star. Driving his car down a lane in a forest lane, he hears the impact — more akin to slow-motion car crash than rock. At gun point, he approaches the spaceship as the cockpit opens, and a duffle bag is thrown out, then a young woman emerges. Giles initially believes the woman human, until he sees her face, which while similar to that of a human, was otherworldly. She tries to communicate with Giles, but due to her alien dialect they don't get far, but she does manage to introduce herself as Maxiassa. Suddenly, a humanoid figure materialises near the ship, the air glitching and distorting around it, which Maxiassa names Mar'tuth. Mar'tuth destroys Maxiassa's spacecraft, and Giles and Maxiassa run to Giles's car, get in, and accelerate off. Mar'tuth avoids a mirror on the car, and Maxiassa pulls out a compact mirror from her duffle bag, and aims it at Mar'tuth, causing it to swerve out of the reflection. Giles notices this, so he drives the car to Homestyle. They lure Mar'tuth to an aisle filled with mirrors, trapping it, and when it tries to attack Giles and Maxiassa, it inadvertently destroys itself due to its powers being reflected by the mirrors.

Two months later, Giles sets up a meeting with Sir Andrew Williams, trying to get Maxiassa, now going by the name of Maxine Masters, asylum in the UK. Giles sets up the terms that Maxine can live in England so long as she works for P.R.O.B.E., and Andrew and Maxine agree. At Maxine's new residency, Giles visits her. He asks her to repair a trio-disregulator, which she does, saying that it was easy enough for a child to do, and he responds by telling her that a team of scientists worked on it for five years and got nowhere. Satisfied with her ability, he gives Maxine his old job, a technician.

Characters

 * Giles
 * Maxiassa
 * Mar'tuth
 * Secretary
 * Sir Andrew Williams

Referenced only

 * Tiassia
 * Maxiassa's mothers
 * Maxiassa's fathers
 * Maxiassa's siblings

Continuity

 * Giles first appeared in HOMEVID: When to Die.
 * The Gendar previously appeared in PROSE: The Door We Forgot and they have a song-like language. (PROSE: Out of the Box)
 * The Gendar are physically weak. (PROSE: A Worthy Successor)
 * Giles is in charge of P.R.O.B.E.. (WC: Shadows of Doubt, PROSE: A Worthy Successor)