You Can Call Me Al

by Crimson Cloak Publishing

“Here,” Al said, extending his hand. “Hold my hand tightly.”

  Johnny hesitantly grabbed a hold of Al’s hand. It was warm and seemed to vibrate ever so gently.

  “Listen very carefully, Johnny; it is imperative that you follow my instructions to the letter. The place we are entering will not be our final destination; it will just be an initial staging area before we complete our journey. You are going to see some strange beings, don’t stare, yell out, or try to talk with them in anyway. They will leave you alone unless you try to interrelate with them, so don’t!”

  Johnny nodded and tried to gather up as much courage as he could. Al then walked him up to the portal and pulled him through.

  …

  Johnny felt a flush of hot air and was temporarily blinded by the bright lights of the portal’s entrance. He felt dizzy and dazed for several seconds before becoming aware of his new surroundings.

  They were standing in what looked like a large concourse of an international airport. The floor was dark gray and was of a substance which felt slightly rubbery in nature. Light colored gray walls of the concourse’s surrounding structure extended up and converged into an arched vaulted ceiling which was spotted with skylights. There the similarity to anything Johnny had ever experienced in his life, ended.

  Milling around in the area were creatures who looked liked they were from someone’s drug induced hallucination. There was a group of several humanlike entities ranging from seven to twelve feet tall off to their right. They were clustered together, making wild gestures at each other. They were all clothed in full length robes colored with a checkerboard pattern of black and dark orange. A group of eight small humanlike beings about two feet tall, dressed in some type of animal skins, were purposefully marching to their left. They all had beards extending down to their midriffs. (Miniature Dwarves? Or Gnomes?)

  Two Siamese cats twice as big as a Great Dane were passing right in front of them. Somewhat further away was a large praying mantis-looking species; it was slowing stalking around as if looking for something or somebody. Behind it was an elongated man-shaped form which was almost two dimensional. When it turned a certain way it was almost invisible. It had a translucent glow about it and its flat internal (organs?) could be vaguely discerned within. It was conversing with some type of mechanical construct (a robot?)

  Al gave the robot a cold hard stare.

  Al didn’t have to worry about Johnny interacting with any of these entities. He was petrified with fear as he tightened his grip on Al’s hand.

  Along the walls of the concourse were pictures about nine feet wide and twelve feet long, spaced about three feet apart with the bottom side about one foot off of the floor. After a more thorough investigation Johnny realized they weren’t pictures at all. They were “Windows” depicting other lands beyond.

  One window exposed a landscape of a sparse rangeland of tumbleweeds and scrub brush, another just showed a floating bed of molten bubbling lava. A third was a desert scene of blowing red sand and another portrayed what looked like a quaint town square with a fountain in the middle flanked by two statues which looked liked they were carved from marble. One that was of particular interest showed the skyline of a city with buildings of sharp pointed roofs and minarets.

  Nearby was a window of a well manicured countryside with green rolling hills.

  The two Siamese cats which had walked by them, stopped at this window. They studied it for a moment, and then in typical feline fashion they crouched and wiggled their backsides and jumped through. The view rippled for a moment before regaining solidarity. It was if they had jumped through a sheet of crystal clear water. The two catlike creatures scampered over the grassy knolls as they receded into the background of the window.

  “Follow me, Johnny, we must not tarry here,” Al said urgently.

  Johnny glanced behind him and saw a window showing his camp area. “Can these things get into my camp?” he whispered shakily.

  “They could but they won’t. These beings are not going to go someplace where they could possibly alarm the native populace,” Al explained.

  Suddenly, a brown claylike figure emerged from another window to their rear. It fell to the floor with a dull thud. It was as big as an average washing machine and was constantly changing its shape as it slid along the floor. There were bright colored lights around a good portion of its body - eyes? The window it had arrived from showed an image of a huge arena where two titanic monstrosities were engaged in some type of wrestling match. All around the arena were various extraterrestrials of all shapes and sizes. They appeared to be cheering the combatants on.

  The creature ignored Johnny and Al as it oozed over the floor towards the center of the concourse.

  “I never knew there was a place like this on earth,” Johnny gasped.

  “We aren’t on earth, Johnny. We are on a moon of a remote planet.”

  Johnny just shrugged this explanation off. He was getting tired and a little cranky. “It’s so cold in here, and there is a strange smell,” he whimpered.

  “Yes, Johnny, this area is acclimatized to support a lot of different types of life. Some however would have to enter here with their own life support systems. There are other gateways which accommodate those with drastically different environmental requirements.”

  “This isn’t real, this isn’t happening,” Johnny mumbled.

  “We must not delay any longer. Come, Johnny.”

  Al led Johnny to a window to their far right; beyond the window was a turquoise colored courtyard with a tall monument at its center surrounded by stone walls with turrets at each corner. The stone walls were the same color as the courtyard, the monument reminded Johnny of the one he had seen in Washington D.C. when his Mom had taken him there a couple of summers ago. This monument, however, looked like it had been carved out of a giant emerald.

  “We must step through this window, Johnny,” Al instructed. “We will be going through a mild force field. You will feel some slight resistance, but don’t try to stop or pull back by any means. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, let’s get this over with,” Johnny said despairingly.

  Al pulled Johnny through. The boy didn’t resist, but he felt limp and lethargic.

  “Johnny has been up a long time, he is going to need some rest soon,” Al thought.

  They appeared at the base of the monument. There was an arched opening on the side facing them, they went inside and came into an elliptical shaped area. There were two spiral staircases on each side which curved and went up and into an opening into the interior walls.

  Al led Johnny to one of the staircases. As they stepped onto the first stair, the entire staircase started to move like they were on an escalator. It carried them up and through the wall to a landing where Al gently ushered Johnny off. He then guided him down a short hallway, before entering another arched opening leading to a room which was stark white in color. There was a long convoluted couch along one side of the room with a low oval shaped table nearby. Two easy chairs were against the opposite wall. There were tall pole-like porcelain lamps at each corner of the room; in the back was a doorway which led to a small bathing area.

  Johnny no longer felt frightened, just numb all over.

  “He is in sensory overload; he must rest for a while,” Al thought with concern.

  Al administered a mild sedative to Johnny with a sharp but tiny syringe. Johnny didn’t even seem to notice it. He got drowsy and started to collapse. Al picked him up and laid him on the couch; within minutes Johnny was asleep. Al then extracted a blood sample from Johnny and removed the timepiece from Johnny’s pocket.

  Al quietly left the room and proceeded further down the hallway. He stopped and placed his palm against the emerald colored wall. A section of it slid away revealing another room inside. The entire room was bathed in a gentle blue light. About eight feet away was a large video screen. A semicircular desk with two chairs was directly in front of the screen; on the desktop was a small hand held
remote device. There was a large porthole on the wall to the left which gave a view of the courtyard and the scenery beyond. Outside the stone walls of the courtyard was a sandy shoreline; a great expanse of water stretched from the shoreline all the way into the horizon. Just above the horizon was a small dark red sun, the color of dried blood.

  Al picked up the video remote and pressed in his numeric code using the appropriate buttons on it. The screen brightened with the following text:

  “CONTACTING HOST PLEASE WAIT.”

  Then the screen flashed with the following words:

  “Hello Almericana. Were you able to secure the last timepiece?”

  “Yes I did, Roberterian. I also brought the boy as instructed and have a sample of his DNA. He is presently sleeping in the white room.”

  Al just had to vocalize his words and they would appear on the screen. No keyboard was necessary.

  “Excellent. How did he manage the journey?”

  “Not too bad considering how young he is. I tried to enter earlier but the window was inactive.”

  “Yes, I had to make some adjustments to this area to better accommodate Johnny’s arrival. I noticed a robot followed you through here.”

  “I saw it in the gateway area. It was the one that I stole the last timepiece from. I haven’t been able to completely evade it.”

  “Have no fear; I neutralized it as it entered this realm.”

  “Thank goodness for that, I thought I would never get rid of it.”

  A clear cylindrical container about three feet tall and one foot in diameter appeared in the room and off to the right of the screen.

  “Place the DNA sample and the timepiece in the cylinder so I can extract it.”

  Al removed the cylinder’s top cover and placed the items onto its bottom tray. He then resealed it; several seconds later it disappeared.

  “Awaiting further instructions,” Al replied.

  “Let the boy waken naturally, then explain some things to him so he grasps the significance of what has been happening, then bring him here so I can converse with him.”

  “Yes, Roberterian.”

  “Thanks, Almericana.”

  “COMMUNICATION TERMINATED,” the screen read.

  Chapter 4

  Johnny awoke to the soft white lights of the room. On a table before him was a platter of sliced fruit, bread, and wedges of cheese, there was also a glass of orange colored liquid. Tentatively Johnny took a sip, it was the sweetest orange juice he had ever tasted. Johnny started to consume the food, he was ravenous.

  “I wonder how long I have been sleeping?” he thought restlessly.

  As Johnny was finishing this thought, Al appeared in the archway.

  “I see you have had your nourishment,” Al said.

  “So what do we do now?” Johnny asked.

  “Well I promised you an explanation about the timepiece.”

  Reflexively Johnny felt for it inside his pocket. “It’s gone,” he said, agitatedly.

  “I had to return it to your father. You see, Johnny, the timepiece can literally stop time, but only for a short period, and it has a limited sphere of control. Machines are not affected by it, that includes robots and androids. That is why the bus continued to move once you turned it on. You see how dangerous that could have been for you.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  “Of course you didn’t, only three time pieces were made by the higher order and brought into this universe, the timepieces were originally designed to assist travelers when moving into different realms. Some realms move at a faster rate of time, others move much slower. It is possible for an individual to enter another realm for just a few seconds and then once returning to their home realm find that many years had passed. This would cause a lot of inconveniences and potential problems. The time pieces were created to bring the traveler’s home realm more into sync with the ones they were visiting, eliminating the time dilation effect.”

  “What is this Higher Order?” Johnny asked ponderously.

  “A team of scientists: your father is one of them. After creating three timepieces, they realized that they were not functioning properly, so the project was scrapped. They were stopping time instead of just altering its flow, and their effective range and duration was very minuscule. My mission was to return all the timepieces to your father. Unfortunately a couple of rebel robots got a hold of two of the timepieces and were using them for their own evil purposes. I had to follow the robots and get the timepieces back from them. The last one chased me relentlessly after I made off with the timepiece it had taken. I couldn’t shake its tail so I had to leave the timepiece with someone else while I led it on a fruitless trail. That is why I gave it to you to hold for me.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell me what it did? Then maybe I wouldn’t have tried to turn it on.”

  “Two reasons, Johnny, one is that you probably wouldn’t have believed me. Secondly, I didn’t have time, the robot was getting too close. I didn’t want to jeopardize your safety, I am expendable but you aren’t. I can move very fast, Johnny, faster than any ordinary man, and the timepiece has no effect on me. That is one of the reasons your father selected me for this mission. I am an android, Johnny, a synthetic human being.”

  “Robots? Androids? This is just too much to believe.”

  Al reached around and removed a small plate from under his scalp, exposing his electronic flashing hardware inside.

  “Oh my God!” Johnny said in amazement.

  Al replaced the plate. “I know you have a lot more questions. Come, your father is waiting.”

  Al and Johnny entered and sat down at the desk in front of the large monitor in the other room. Al initiated the communication contact sequence.

  “Is my father some kind of computer or machine?” Johnny shrieked.

  “No Johnny, but this is the only way we can communicate with him. Just say the words you want him to hear and they will appear on the screen and he will reply in kind.”

  The screen flashed.

  “Hello Almerican.”

  “Hello Roberterian. I am here with Johnny.”

  “Hello, Johnny: it is so nice to talk with you at last.”

  “Are you… you…. you my father?” Johnny stuttered.

  “Yes, Johnny, I am. I apologize for not being able to talk with you in person; I wish it was somehow possible.”

  “Why isn’t it?” Johnny interrupted

  “Johnny, I am a member of a team of scientists. Quite some time ago we created a miniature universe, a continuum structured with containment forces. Think of it as a bubble containing planets, stars, and solar systems on a microscopic level. Your universe exists in my laboratory: you are the size of a bacterium compared to people of my world.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Johnny said defiantly.

  “I can’t blame you, Johnny, the concept is very hard to grasp.”

  “What are you, God or something?” Johnny screamed.

  “Oh no, Johnny, not even close. Please hear me out; perhaps I should have waited until you were a little older to meet with you like this.”

  “I’m old enough!”

  “Your universe contains only one galaxy, the Milky Way. There are many solar systems in that galaxy. A lot of those solar systems have planets containing intelligent life. So far most of the evolved life has not achieved significant space travel. Our team of scientists had to create a catalyst in your universe to enable the beings of other worlds to more easily make contact with each other.”

  “Oh”? Johnny murmured.

  “We needed to observe this interaction so we could comprehend the consequences resulting from different forms of intelligent life interrelating together. That way we would be better prepared when it happens at our level. We established the gateways so travel could be made more expeditiously between your planetary systems. There was some time distortion when using the gateways to other realms, we tried a quick fix by creating some timepieces; unfortunately they
didn’t function like we had hoped. We are still working on the problem.”

  “My science teacher told me there are a lot of other galaxies besides the Milky Way in the universe,” Johnny said haughtily.

  “Your teachers cannot see things from our perspective. The other galaxies are false images, phantoms; maybe someday we will develop them into real planets and stars.”

  “If I am no more than bacteria to you how can you be my father?” Johnny asked.

  “That explanation will even be more difficult for you to comprehend.”

  “Go ahead,” Johnny said unsteadily.

  “I wanted to see if I could reproduce with life at your level. I am a microbiologist and this was an important undertaking because we were being faced with cutbacks on our capital allotments for this project. If successful we would get a continuation to our grant. So I created Almericana, an artificial form of life, and injected him into your universe.”

  “Almericana? Is that your real name?” Johnny asked as he looked at Al in the adjacent seat.

  “Yes it is, Johnny, but you can call me Al.”

  “Al, as you call him, Johnny, was carrying a small miniaturized sample of my semen. He later courted your mother and they were married, then you were conceived.”

  “Now what are you telling me? That Al is my father?” Johnny shouted.

  “No, Johnny, I am your natural father, Al was just the instrument of my delivery.”

  “Oh my God,” Johnny mumbled.

  “Al had to leave your Mom or else sooner or later she would discover his true nature. That would have caused her much distress. Al obtained a sample of your DNA while you were asleep, I hope to clone you at my level and have a son.”

  “I want to go home, I want to get out of here,” Johnny sobbed.

  “Perhaps I have told you more than you needed to know. I’m sorry, Johnny, I will make arrangements for you to leave.”

  “Now wait a minute,” Johnny said standing up and trying to compose himself. “If my universe if just a large laboratory ‘bubble’ as you call it, what would happen if someone invented a space ship and flew it into the wall of the ‘bubble’?”