by Terry Smith
Jim wrote in the log every day. He was concerned that someday he would run out of paper and ink, but he kept writing anyway. His thoughts swirled around their current situation and why and how they got to where they were. Of course Gus was a major topic in his writing. He felt that Gus had taken them to where they are now, but why was the big question. He constantly observed their surroundings and changes in the interaction of members of the group to see if he could determine a meaning behind all of this. He was concerned that the other members of the group would someday get hold of his writings and see what he was writing about them. It was nothing negative about them as individuals as they were all outstanding people and continued to work well as a group.
Wanda set up all of her testing equipment and tested everything she could get her hands on. The soil content seemed to be similar to that on earth with the exception that there was no evidence of substances that many felt were hazardous to humans, animals, plants and the environment. She was particularly interested in rocks and other materials from the base of the river and lake which offered samples of many of the base metallic materials that are so useful in manufacturing and construction on earth. She tested everything she could get her hands on and kept a complete record of all of her tests. Everyone laughed that they needed to stay away from Wanda or she would put them in one of her testing machines to see what they were made of.
Ivan examined every member of the team once a week, including all of the standards like height, weight, blood pressure and a general examination. He limited his blood tests as he was concerned he would run out of test materials. He also required them to do some basic strength tests. He would lead daily exercises every morning after prayers and before breakfast. He felt he was actually getting stronger and the results of the rest of the group indicated the same thing. The lower gravity level at their site didn’t seem to impact the group’s health in any way. He noticed that there did not seem to be any infectious organisms in the area and no one in the group showed any signs of any type of illness, ever.
Billie Jo was vitally interested in where they were but seemed to have little to go on to help her in her research. The encounter with Gus gave her hope that there would be much to learn and she was anxious to learn more. Gus was involved in the creation of the universe, in fact many universes, but Billie Jo wanted to see them and what made each one different. Wherever they were was possibly different from Earth, but how and why did these differences happen particularly interested Billie Jo. She constantly looked at the skies, at the distant mountains and everything around hoping that she could one day walk the planet they were on in hopes of discovering other life.
Dave’s interest in the climate where they were had no limits. How could there be light with no sun, and a river but it never seemed to rain? The temperature during the nighttime hours was only slightly lower than during daylight hours. The ground temperature was warmer than the air temperature and was constant. There was always a slight breeze, but not enough to move the soil or even make a flag move. How could all of this be? Something had to be there but he felt that he too would need to venture away from the safety of their Neighborhood to find some answers.
Larry was excited to have cattle, some chickens and two dogs in their midst. He studied them including watching how they ate, how they related to each other, how milk was produced and eggs laid and how the dogs related to each other and to the members of the group. They all seemed to be relatively identical to those on Earth, but had shown no existence of any diseases that often infected animals on earth. They did seem to be more at ease with people in the group, but Larry thought that maybe that was just his imagination and something he had never been aware of on Earth. He watched intently how the cattle and chickens began to reproduce. He wondered if this was an example of all life throughout the universes.
Then one day Gorgeous had puppies. They were a mix of Gorgeous and Handsome and were cute as they could be. Ivan assisted in the delivery, or at least that is what he said, but in all actuality Gorgeous did all of the work. There were 7 puppies, quite a litter, now with a total of 9 dogs in the group. There was one for each member of the group. Naming them was a group decision as they felt that all of the animals were owned by all of them. It took all evening for the naming ceremony and they hoped they could remember which dog belonged to who and their names. Jim helped out by including a description of each dog and their name in the log. Finally something really interesting in the log.
Dianne was elated with the soil where they had landed, and the water in the river only a mile away. The amazing thing about the soil is that it had no insects, no parasites and no blight at all to hinder the growth of plant life. She began testing the mineral content of the soil and found it was ideal for plant growth. The only thing missing was the existence of any type of fertilizer, an additive that was used extensively on Earth. In spite of this missing factor the plants and fruit trees that they planted flourished, which was probably going to be enhanced by the fact that there didn’t seem to be any changes in seasons. This was indeed exciting for Dianne but her need to make improvements caused her constant review and analysis. This was going to be a challenge for Dianne.
Everyone was busy, but at the same time they had this burning need to find out more about where they were and how this planet functioned. They talked often about their findings and what they wanted to learn about and what existed beyond the river. They maintained their research findings in standard research format hoping that at some point they would be taken back to Earth when they returned.
Chapter 4
The Extended Stay
The group continued their life at The Neighborhood and things were becoming routine. They worked on improvements to their living conditions, the garden, taking care of the animals, and would take walks to continue to explore the area. They began using the lake for bathing as the shower was a little awkward. Gorgeous and Handsome were getting trained, or actually they were training their people as they got their way most of the time. Their puppies were growing and were learning their individual owners and would cuddle up with them every night. The group still could not bring themselves to butcher one of the cows for meat, but did take one of the chickens to make some old-fashioned chicken soup the way Mom used to make it. They had the vegetables to add, and it was delicious.
Their exploration walks were getting longer and now Gorgeous and Handsome were joining them. They were walking farther and farther away from The Neighborhood but weren’t really finding anything. On one trip Gorgeous and Handsome seemed a little nervous and were barking at something in the distance. Evin wanted to see what was getting their attention but left the dogs behind as he struck out alone in the direction where they were barking. He walked for at least a mile and didn’t see anything, but had the strange feeling that someone was watching him. He hollered out “Hello, is anyone there?” over and over, but nothing. He returned to the group but wasn’t sure he should tell them about his feeling, so he left it alone.
Their evenings together continued and now they were talking more about wanting to return home to Earth. They were homesick, and were missing family, friends and everything about Earth. They talked about what food they wanted first, and the number one choice was ice cream, followed by a good old juicy hamburger. They wanted to flush a toilet, and search the internet about things that they really didn’t care about – they just wanted to search. Every now and then one of them would cry or just get tears in their eyes, and this would break down the group. They continued their tradition of holding hands in such cases, and their prayers continued but now started to include their desire to go back to Earth. They would ask for Gus, but they hadn’t heard from him in quite some time. He certainly wouldn’t abandon them, but they wanted to see if he would help them get home.
The next walk was just Evin and Woody; they left the dogs back at The Neighborhood. After about a mile Evin confided in Woody about his feelings during the last walk. W
oody told him that he also had a feeling they were being watched, but thought it was just his mind playing tricks on him. They decided to walk further, but again found nothing. They both felt somebody was watching again, but it was just a feeling. It was kind of spooky, but they were determined to find out if there was some other form of life on this planet. They decided to tell the group that they wanted to walk further the next day, but not to tell them why. They just wanted to see if there were any trees or other vegetation further away from The Neighborhood.
So, the next day Evin and Woody packed supplies to possibly stay overnight if they needed to. They left a trail of miscellaneous repair parts that were brightly colored which NASA used to help in identification if repairs were needed on the Space Station. The parts were a “bread trail” to guide them back to The Neighborhood. They decided to walk in the same direction as the day before and they were off. They walked like they had seen soldiers walk in some of the combat movies they had seen. They had no weapons, but they thought this was what they should be doing. They walked to the area where they had been the day before and really took a hard look around. They didn’t see anything, but they both had the feeling again they were being watched. They stopped to eat a little lunch, but were looking around the entire time. When it was time to move on, they both independently felt that they should move off to the right which is where the river would be running. After a couple of hours they saw them – a group of people off in the distance looking their way. They gave a friendly wave, if there is such a thing as a friendly wave, and began walking at a brisk pace in their direction. Evin and Woody walked slowly toward them, and eventually they were together.
Evin spoke first, “Hello, we are from Earth and got stranded here about four months ago. We were not aware anyone else was around, so we are happy to see you.” He spoke loudly and slowly hoping that would help being understood. That was the way Americans always spoke to foreigners thinking it would help being understood, but of course it didn’t.
The people in the group looked like people from Earth including various nationalities and various features like you would see on the streets of Anytown, USA. Their stare continued, and no one spoke until finally one of the men said “We have been watching you since your landing and were afraid of you. We finally developed the courage to approach you when you were in a small group, such as the two of you. We are anxious to hear your story. We know how you got here and the original purpose of your flight when you were diverted to our planet. We assume you are here in peace and want to return to your planet that you call Earth. We are concerned about your return as we don’t want others from Earth to come to our planet when you tell them where you have been since your original launch.”
Evin apparently decided that he was to be the spokesman for the two of them and started by stating that they indeed were there in peace, but why would they think otherwise? “We are peaceful people and would not want to harm you or your planet if we are able to return to Earth. Please come with us to meet the rest of our group.”
The man stated that they would meet Evin and Woody tomorrow at the same place when it gets light. He apparently knew they had supplies to stay where they were overnight, but did not volunteer to take them back to wherever they lived. They all turned as if on command and began walking back in the direction from where they came.
That evening Evin and Woody talked about the group they had met. They weren’t sure if they were afraid or excited, but reverted back to what Gus continued to tell them not to be afraid. They wish they had some form of communication with their group to tell them that they would be bringing visitors. Maybe they could stop a little way from the Neighborhood and one of them could go to the group and give them a little notice about what was happening. They didn’t want them to be caught off guard as they might even think that Evin and Woody were prisoners of these new people. Evin and Woody didn’t know if this would be a good thing, or not a good thing, that there were others on this planet. What if they weren’t friendly and just wanted to take everything that they had? What if they just wanted to get them all in one place to kill them? What if? What if? What if? Finally they decided that they would just need to trust the words of Gus not to be afraid and proceed with the meeting.
The next morning a fairly large vehicle appeared that carried about a dozen people that they had seen in the group the day before. Evin and Woody greeted them and boarded the vehicle, which rose about two feet off the ground and proceeded toward The Neighborhood. The vehicle had no driver, and proceeded at a rather slow speed. The man who did the talking the day before introduced himself as Thad, and proceeded to introduce the rest of the people from his group, which neither Evin nor Woody would ever be able to repeat their names. Evin asked about the speed which seemed a little slow, and Thad responded that they were never in a hurry to get anywhere. The vehicle could actually travel at the speed of sound but they never felt that speed was necessary. Evin asked about stopping before they reached The Neighborhood so he could go ahead and tell their group about the people they were about to meet. Thad indicated that was probably a good idea as they had the same concerns before first meeting Evin and Woody.
They stopped the vehicle before reaching the sight of The Neighborhood, and it lowered itself to allow Evin to get out. He asked “How did you stop? You don’t have any controls that I can see.” Thad responded that he controls the vehicle with his thoughts, and laughed that sometimes he would forget to think about stopping, but the vehicle was usually smart enough to stop when it should.
Evin went forward and told the group about the people they had met the day before. He said he really didn’t ask them a lot, probably because they were a little afraid at the time, plus they wanted to wait until they were all present to ask them the many questions that they would have. Evin reminded the group that Gus had told them not to be afraid, but Dianne said “That was before these people came into the picture. But, I guess we really don’t have any options but to proceed with meeting them and talking to them. Too late to pray because here they come.”
The vehicle pulled up and went through the landing process and the group got out of the vehicle along with Woody. They all bought their own chair which would make the entire meeting a little more comfortable. They went through the introductions again, but probably Thad was the only name any of them remembered. They were nervous and everyone could tell. Thad said that he recognized that the proper introduction on Earth was a handshake, but they just normally waved at the person they were meeting, so they all waved. No one knew where to start, so Thad took the lead.
Thad started off by stating that the group from Earth probably had a lot of questions that maybe he could answer. “I will first cover a couple of the items that I assume you want answers to. First is obviously where are you and how did you end up here? We are not responsible for diverting you from your assigned mission to your Space Station America. We were able to observe that your controls were taken over by one of the countries on Earth that you probably consider an enemy, but there are so many we sometimes lose track of who are friends and who are enemies on your Earth. After taking over control of your space craft and you were well beyond where you could be in active communication with your home base they simply cut you lose but still keeping you from taking control of your vehicle. We noticed that you were headed toward our planet and could easily crash into us as you entered our gravitational field, which would cause instant death to your entire crew as well as possibly damage to our planet. So, we guided you to a spot where we could create a soft landing and not be in the middle of our civilization.”
“We have observed life on Earth for many years and are well aware of the status of life on Earth and how it has deteriorated. We also have known that your scientists have searched for a planet to relocate your civilization as Earth heads toward being unlivable. Well, we don’t want to be that planet, but up to this point did not feel that we would ever be discovered, at least not befo
re your planet has lost the ability to support life. When you arrived we were concerned about you as we had no knowledge of the individuals on board and whether you might be a secret force scouting out possibilities for a new planet. We thought that the country who diverted your space ship were not friendly to you, but were not sure how you fit into the entire process as they also are probably seeking a new planet to call home.”
Wanda stopped Thad and asked “Why did your people not want to welcome people from Earth?”
That was easy for Thad to respond to. “First, the people of Earth have gradually destroyed your world by many interruptions in the atmospheric conditions. This has caused a drastic rise in water levels which has primarily been caused by what you call global warming. This is also accompanied by weather variations including more violent storms, draughts, and other weather catastrophes. Removal of oil from below the Earth’s surface we believe has helped to cause more earthquakes, and possibly led to more volcanic eruptions. The people on Earth were aware of this situation as it developed but refused to let your lifestyles be interrupted to try to possibly correct the damages that were being done.”
“Second, the people who currently inhabit Earth are not the kind of people we want on our planet. That was one of the concerns that we had about your small group, but we feel somewhat confident that you are not representative of the standard of humans on Earth. And besides that, we considered the fact that you would die by crashing into our planet or lost in space until you starve or run out of oxygen. We certainly didn’t want that to happen to you.”