by Terry Smith
“We have noted that people on Earth cannot get along and it has been that way for centuries. You fight for religious reasons, for political reasons, to take over land and resources and sometimes we just couldn’t figure out what you were fighting about. We even noticed that you started giving your wars numbers, which we assumed would be an easier way to keep track of them than giving them names. Your Civil War, which caused the people in your Unites States to fight each other, was partially due to whether some people could own others caused us even more concern as the wars could not be isolated. We would weep as we watched this Civil War take more and more lives and destroyed more and more of your civilization.”
“You even had a conflict that you didn’t call a war at all, but a police action. Many soldiers died in this conflict. Our feeling is that those soldiers had mothers, fathers, wives and husbands, children and other loved ones, but they died fighting a police action that was created by politicians who watched the conflict on television. When your soldiers returned home they were not met with appreciation for what they did for their country, but with disdain. They were called names, trash was thrown at them and they were not accepted by their peers. This was of even more concern to us as the purpose of such wars and killing of people had even less meaning.”
“And we see what you call demonstrations where some people are against something that either the government or another group does, or doesn’t do. The demonstrations often include violence and damage to businesses, automobiles and anything else that the demonstrators come across. People are injured including your police and the demonstrators.”
“We even note that people on Earth develop reasons why not to like each other. They develop hatred because of race or color of their skin, their religion, where they come from, and even what political party they decide to be part of. We don’t even know how you keep track of who you like and don’t like. You will note from our small group that you have met that we have people of different colors, but we all get along. We also have different religions which our people can select for themselves and we all get along. We don’t have political parties as we treat each situation based upon our feelings on the merits of each situation, not how some political party wants us to treat the situation. And we continue to witness relations between males and females as causing friction on Earth, even those who don’t want to be either a male or female. To us, everyone is just a person. We see difference in someone’s color as just like how tall they are or the color of their eyes, or whether they have brown hair or no hair at all.”
“At some point we would like for you to explain to us what the aisle is when dealing with decisions made in your government as we always hear conversations about across the aisle. When we see the seating arrangements of your government officials we see more than one aisle, and we don’t know which one to look at. And you have a President – where is his or her aisle.”
Thad continued “We don’t know what to do with you. We have observed you for many weeks as you just seemed to settle in to your Neighborhood. You all get along, without any politics, no aisles and no problems between you as some of you are black, some are white, some are tall and some not so tall, you have that one bald guy, some women and some men and you even have one person who is apparently allergic to milk. So, we decided to contact you and for us to meet and discuss our unusual situation. So here we are.”
Billie Jo started by thanking Thad for his comments. “We often have the same questions about our world, but no answers. And of course, we are also concerned about our current situation. We all hope that someday we will be able to return to Earth, not really considering the deteriorating condition of our planet. Our group was supposed to be part of the solution, but just a very small part. We know that our world is running out of time, but hope that by some miracle things will work out. Some of us are perpetual optimists, even in the face of impending disaster. Can you tell us a little about your inhabitants and about this planet?”
“We number under two million people. We don’t categorize our population by race or any other category. We live in five different communities, and have rural areas where the people are involved in farming and ranching. We are fortunate in that we have no communicable diseases that limit our longevity and very few accidents. Our vehicles are basically slow as compared to the ones you have on Earth and we have no weapons and so there are no injuries or deaths of that sort. We don’t have any drugs in our society, including no tobacco products. Our single vice, if you want to call it that, is that we make and consume fine wines. You may want to try our wines someday.”
“We have been in existence for over 25,000 years, as measured on Earth. We do not have a military, and do not have law enforcement of any type. We do have a fire department similar to the ones that you have on Earth, and they have vehicles that are the fastest on our planet. We have a small government which takes care of things like utilities and organizing assistance for any of our people that need help. Our government is considered a trade just like manufacturing and farming. We have no currency and don’t need it based upon the way that we share goods and services. We have some independent health facilities, which are few and small as again we have no communicable diseases, no vehicle accidents and no injuries from weapons. We do have some clumsy people sometimes, but I guess that exists everywhere.”
“We have several religions that have developed from our observations of those on Earth and other planets. People are able to choose their own religion. Children initially follow the religion of their parents, but may change whenever they want. Our people do not get married as they do on Earth but simply decide to join as a family, and they remain that way for life.”
“Our technology is high in many areas. We do not have robots as we feel that we do not want to replace activities that our people can do. As you have guessed, we are able to monitor activities on Earth, and on the few other planets that exist. We observe more out of interest and have never interfered in any way. We could develop space ships that could travel to other planets but have not had an interest in doing so. We don’t feel superior to other planets, but our people are pleased at the way we exist and live compared to the life on other planets, especially Earth.”
“I guess that is a quick summary of our planet. If you have any questions I would be happy to answer them.”
Evin raised his hand for permission to ask a question, and Thad laughed and acknowledged him. “Sorry I laughed, but I am not used to some of the courtesies that you have. Our people sometimes are shy about speaking, and those that aren’t get to talk by being the loudest. We do treat each other with dignity and respect and I guess we are courteous in most things we do.”
Evin’s question was “I am interested in the origin of your planet and your people. Just from the few that are here today you look similar to the people of earth, and your planet is similar in many ways to Earth based upon the little we have seen. You even speak our language which is very surprising to me.”
Thad responded “We have been able to provide modifications to our planet and its environment over the thousands of years to make it more livable. Our people speak many languages and we have adopted yours as it seems more fun in some of your slang terms. As far as the origin of our planet and our people, I was hoping you could help us out with that and I believe that is your scientific specialty.”
Evin continued “Was Gus involved in your creation, and do you have any contact with him?”
“Sure, he was obviously the basis of our creation. We see Gus all of the time, but that is not one of the names we use. You will find he is sometimes a real jokester and his name is one of the areas he enjoys. He even joins us for some meals, and you will find that he can be a big eater. From our observations it appears that you have talked to him but have never seen him. Our people see him, but he has many images based upon the individual, and he has many names depending on what they want to call him. Our people might feel slight
ed as no one has ever thought of the name Gus. Sometimes he is a man, sometimes a woman, and in one case they see him as a cute little dog. Wait until you hear him sing, but it is really a stretch to call it singing. Even our animals try to cover their ears and run away. But we love him, or her.”
“And by the way, thanks for getting us some fish. We knew about fish, but never thought about asking for them. All of the things we have now were here before our current population was born, and we have been comfortable with what we have. But fish are good and have been a great addition to our meals.”
Evin had another question. “Thad, although we don’t talk about it among ourselves too often, we are all scared that we will never see Earth again, and never see our loved ones again. Gus tells us not to be afraid, but I for one am afraid. You mentioned that you have no space ships, so I guess we can assume that you cannot help us return to Earth. I assume that the only solution at this time is to ask Gus for help in returning to Earth. That is not really a question, but in getting to know each other that is probably an important topic for us.”
Thad had a grim look on his face, and it was a while before he spoke. “Our group has discussed that you would someday bring up this topic, and we have decided on our answer. We have a tremendous problem with you returning to Earth, or even communicating with the people on Earth. We do not want the people on Earth to know about our planet and about our community. The people of Earth are developing a great deal of knowledge on space flight and have even begun to observe other universes, and we do not want them coming to our planet. I have discussed our feelings of people on Earth with you. We do not want any of the ways of people on Earth to connect with our people, and would do everything in our power to prevent that. We do not have a military or have any abilities to block Earth people from coming to our planet, and the only thing we have is to keep them from discovering us. We could possibly divert their space crafts like we did yours in assisting your landing, but have never tried such a thing except for your space ship which was easy to do as you had no control yourself that we had to override.”
Evin responded, “Wow, Thad. That was direct and certainly not the answer I believe we were looking for. I guess what you said makes sense, but is something that will be difficult for us to accept. I know I think about my loved ones often, and probably the others do also. It will be hard to get used to not ever seeing them again and not having them part of our lives.”
Thad stated, “Maybe we should suspend our meeting for now. This is a situation that we do not have a solution for that will be acceptable to you and us.”
Evin asked “Can we see your communities and see more of your people? We are intrigued by your lifestyle and the way you live. I think you have a way to see life on Earth and maybe we can see our families to see how they are coping with the fact that they don’t know if we are alive or dead, or if they will ever see us again.”
“That is not possible for you to visit our communities at this time. We are concerned that your motives may be to use our technology and somehow inform people on Earth about our planet and our people. We have observed you and feel comfortable with the nine of you, but don’t want that feeling to be too premature and put our planet and our people in jeopardy. We will leave you now and will return in a couple of days to talk with you some more.”
They waved at each other, and the group entered their vehicle and departed. The group at The Neighborhood just stared at each other and nothing was said. This was the first time that they really felt that their situation was hopeless regarding a return to Earth and their loved ones. They all just walked away and were left to their own thoughts. Normally they would hold hands, but that didn’t even seem to be a solution to the news they just heard.
Chapter 5
Conflict Between Groups And a Possible Olive Branch
The group skipped their nightly prayer as they were too upset by the news from Thad. Up to this point they didn’t have a plan to return to Earth, but they always thought that there would somehow be a way. Now not only do they not have a plan, but it appeared that any possible plan would be blocked by Thad and his group. They sat around and brooded well into the night in silence, and finally one by one they went to bed.
The next morning Evin said that they needed to pray and they gathered together, holding hands tightly, and Evin began “Dear Lord, we have lost our way and need help to return to our home and the ones we love. We miss them and we are sure they miss us and are worried about what has happened to us. Please help. Amen.” They then each went into their individual silent prayers but probably all included the same request from God. Still holding hands they sat for a long time until Evin suggested that they discuss the situation.
Woody started and reported that he and Jim have discussed possibilities that would involve their current space ship but both agreed that there was no chance of using it for any type of flight. They weren’t even sure where they were within the many universes known to the U.S., so if they were able to contact Earth by some miracle all they could report is that they are still alive. Earth could possibly track their communication but that would be a long shot based upon the distance that they believe they were from Earth.
Wanda stated that they obviously couldn’t rely on Thad and his group for help, and they would even block any possible chance that they would possibly have. She stated “I guess I understand their concerns and fears based upon their observation of the people on Earth. It would be hard to dispute anything he said. We could try to convince them that we would not divulge any information about where they were, but that even the slightest possibility that one of us would discuss this secret would be devastating to them. By the way, we need a name for where we are and the people that are here. How about The Pond and Tadpoles for the people?” Everyone laughed and agreed. They really wanted something that would be more descriptive of how they were feeling about them now, but decided not to be too vindictive – yet.
Larry jumped in that the Tadpoles obviously had some technology that could be used to contact Earth and they are able to spy on things that are going on. They don’t have a vehicle that can be used, but probably because they have never felt the need for one. Why would they ever want to travel to Earth as it didn’t have anything that they wanted or needed? One solution would be to somehow hijack their communication system and use it to contact Earth. Earth could trace their location and work on a vehicle to rescue them, but that would take a long time.
They all agreed on this as a possible solution. Then Billie Jo had the ideal solution, “How about asking Gus for help? He travels throughout the universes and doesn’t even need a vehicle. Maybe he can shoot us through space to Earth.” This was obviously a far out possibility, but at this point they really had nothing that seemed to be any type of solution.
Then out of nowhere Gus appeared, and he had an image that they had never seen. “I suspected that sooner or later you would be thinking of me. Sorry, but I can’t help. I cannot go against the people at the Pond, neither could I go against your group by helping the Tadpoles do anything to hurt your group. Oh, may I suggest you come up with another name for their planet and their people as they do know what a Pond is, which is a stagnant body of water and a Tadpole will grow up to be a frog.” They all laughed and Gus laughed with them.
And Larry asked, “So Gus, why are we able to see you now?”
Gus responded quickly “It is because the Tadpoles can all see me, and I didn’t want you to feel slighted. I believe you all see the same image now, but maybe over time you will each develop your own image. So, how about those new names, and keep it nice.”
They all thought and looked at each other, waiting for someone else to think of an appropriate name. Their recommendations all had a negative connotation to them and they were sure that eventually they would learn of the name they were using. They talked, laughed at some of the recommendations such as Louisiana which was currently disappearing u
nder the ocean as a result of global warming, Folsom after the famous prison, Congress after the collection of politicians running the government and Siberia. Finally Dianne came up with a serious suggestion - Wonderland for the planet and Rescuers for the people. That should make them a little happy if they learn about the names, which they probably will someday. They all agreed, but still deep down wanted Siberia.
Gus left, but before leaving wished the group luck in whatever they wanted to do to resolve their current situation. Again he gave his normal statement, “Do not be afraid.” That was going to be a tough thing to do based upon their last discussion with Thad.
Woody stood up and walked to the front of the Group. “We need to treat this somewhat like a military operation, not that we need to declare war against the Rescuers or do anything to harm them or Wonderland, but in order to save ourselves from imprisonment on this planet we need a strategic plan. We all want to return to Earth, which is home and where our loved ones are. I believe that one option would be to gain some trust from the Rescuers so that we can gain access to their communication system. The best solution would be to have the Rescuers build a space ship to return them to Earth with their assurance that they would not reveal any information about Wonderland and what it had to offer. However, I believe they will never accept that solution as it involves too much trust and the possible outcome to their planet would be possible destruction if the people from Earth were to try to take over the planet.”
“Jim and I will stay away from most interaction with the Rescuers and be as quiet as possible about everything, while the rest of you work with them to try to gain their confidence and trust. You can work with them to provide some of your expertise from your special areas, and Jim and I will work on The Neighborhood and possibly get some assistance from them in obtaining materials from them to upgrade our situation as we plan on making it our permanent home, which is what we want them to think. We do need to intermingle with them to begin getting access to their facilities that control communication with other universes and planets. This will take some time, but if we move too fast they may have some bad feelings about our intentions.”