Of course the area where the cottages were had been cleared out of the larger rocks and a nice walking area fronted the small community of cottages. Finally they made their way back to the cottages and sat down for some lunch.
Aaron dug into his backpack and brought out some high energy bars. Then with his hunting knife cut small bite size pieces for all the community to share something that they never had tasted before. There were lots of compliments and thank you from smiling faces. The members of the community brought out cooked fish and crab. Both Aaron and Jill thought it mighty tasty and said so. Bill told them they were sorry that they didn’t have any bread as that was one thing they all missed the most.
After lunch Bill and his wife, along with a few other members of the community sat around to answer the many questions Aaron and Jill had. Most of the questions centered on the aliens and it wasn’t that Bill and the rest of the community were being evasive but it was just too difficult to answer specific questions. And as if by cue, an unusual sound was heard coming from the seashore. Bill told them our hosts were coming and it was early for them to come at this time. Bill added that because of the newcomers that is why they probably came early. Aaron and Jill listened and watched as a buzzing sound with a hazy image came up from the sea floating slowly towards them.
Neither Aaron nor Jill was scared, but certainly apprehensive as the image came closer and closer. The other members of the community sat there very calmly and waited patiently for the hosts to communicate with them. Jill reached out to hold Aarons hand as the image became a little clearer. It almost looked like a human form in outline, but the outline drifted apart and then back together and once more parted. The outline never did form to provide a real image of what an alien being looked like from another star system.
Then in a synthesized voice it said in perfect English, “Welcome Aaron and Jill. We have been expecting you and to be honest with you, we were responsible for you coming here. We are aware you have many questions and we hope to answer them as fully as possible, however, most of what you want to know is beyond your scope of knowledge or understanding. This is not to say you are stupid, but just please remember we are or in your measure of time, millions of years advanced than your planet Earth. That of course would lead you to ask, why then are we here on your planet. First of all we are not here to colonize or destroy your home planet. The best answer we can give is that each and every planet in the universe is important to the balance of existence or in other words, stability like opposing forces pulling and pushing equally. Your planet is mostly water and we are here to observe and to note certain things. The community you are visiting is, and we are asking for your indulgence and patience, part of the study we have undertaken.”
“Your next question, if we presume correctly, is when can we all go home? Our answer is very soon now. We have almost completed our study and now we want to share with you some of our findings and our knowledge of the universe. In addition we will tell you where we come from and in the not so distant future you will be able to note it on a map of the stars.”
And so it was that many days later and with notebooks full of information, Aaron and Jill was privy to having direct contact with an alien species. Aaron and Jill mutually decided to write what they wanted the aliens to have them write about and let the rest of it go. Mostly the aliens wanted to remind people of the earth that resources are finite and a balance is needed to continue life on a rare planet that provides for many plants and animals. The idea of sharing technology was not offered as each and every planet that contained life was to advance at its own rate. Aaron and Jill chuckled when the aliens told them about the messages sent out by earth to tell others about earth was not necessary. Yes, it was true some of the UFO sighting was real, but those were unmanned drones that went about the universe scouting around for anomalies.
As far as contact was concerned, advanced civilizations were not in the habit of dropping in on a national capital to say hello and how are you. They told Aaron and Jill that type of contact would never happen. One thing that they did hear loud and clear was the notion of destroying a planet due to war or destruction by humans was unacceptable and would never happen. They never said how it might be prevented, but they accepted it by the directness of speech.
As to where they were from, Aaron gathered it was light years away and in a far away galaxy. They traveled without a space ship. They were pure energy moving from place to place in another dimension that was basically parallel to the third dimension but somewhat oblique. What both Aaron and Jill understood was that they were so far advanced that understanding was impossible at this time in human life on planet earth.
Be that as it may, when meeting with Professor James T., Aaron told him what he thought the professor needed to know and left it at that. The professor asked him why Aaron and Jill were chosen from the billions on earth and he told the professor he had no idea why they chose him, but was very happy that they had been chosen.
Aaron and Jill collaborated on a science fiction novel that proved a best seller. They went on to publish a series of novels based upon their experience. What no one knew but the two of them was that sometimes when they opened up their computers, unknown information flowed like water for their novels.
The irony was that many years and decades later scholars were amazed at the accuracy of some technology that was revealed in their novels.
Peaceful Journey
I must confess I'm nothing special. Nothing much happens in my mundane life. Oh yeah, I have a job and I do it well enough to keep it; but nothing more. I live in a basement flat mostly because I don't like to walk up stairs. Why walk when there's an elevator and if no elevator, don't go in. My building doesn't have an elevator so I took the basement flat.
That way of life that I had specifically designed for myself ended the following Saturday. I was enjoying a sleep in after watching movies until the wee hours of the morning. I first heard the buzzer and then a pounding on my door. Whatever or whomever was there would not go away without seeing me. I had few visitors and those few were really too many.
I had on a green Army T shirt and blue boxers on my slight bony body. I cared less who was at the door. My hair hung in my eyes. Another bang, bang on the door sent a painful shot to my head. I said, "Coming for Christ sake, I'm coming."
I opened the door to see two men in identical black suits and red ties. "The older and taller of the two said, "Excuse us but are you Thomas Baldwin the Third?"
"That's what my birth certificate says, but I'm damn if I know who are One and Two?"
"We can enlighten you Mr. Baldwin. May we come in sir as this will take a little time?"
"Well if I said no, would mean you'd just come back pestering me. Come in and good luck finding a place to sit."
True to his word, Red Tie One scraped some food scrapes and old newspapers off the sofa and sat down with Red Tie Two following suit. Tom sat in his relatively new Lazy-Boy recliner.
Tie One said, "Your grandfather Mr. Baldwin was an extremely rich man. In his will it stated next of kin; which would have been your father. An accident occurred and both your father and grandfather were killed. As you are next of kin, you inherit the entire estate. However, as your grandfather was rather eccentric, he left a clause in the will just in case you were the last survivor of the Baldwin's.
Now I'll read the requirement for you to inherit the fortune. 'If my grandson Thomas Baldwin the Third is in line to inherit he must do the following to satisfy my desire. He will contact and book a reserve seat on a space rocket for a space flight. At the time of this writing the trip around Jupiter would take around five or six years. I know my grandson likes to be alone and this little sojourn would be a test of endurance.' Anyway Thomas, it goes on to say that you must lift off within one year's time from his death.
He did leave you a little spending money, a quarter million dollars, to stock up on reading material. The cost of travel is for us as executor of the will to take car
e of."
Thomas felt like a bus hit him. He saw himself spinning from the impact like a top. He did some rapid eye blinking and tried to focus on the red ties in front of him. Earlier one was taller and now both were the same height. Double he was seeing in front of him. He realized it wasn't what he saw but what he heard that sent him reeling. He did the math: he was twenty three now, add seven for a fudge factor and he'd be back home by the time he was thirty. Hell, he thought, I can do that as easy as falling off a log. He said, "Do I sign something and let's get this show on the road."
The planning was harder than one could imagine. Tom had to learn weightlessness, eating packaged food while he sucked, not forked it into his mouth. Drinking was no problem. Bathroom duty was what really sucked, he thought. Doing a big job took some learning how to do. Then he was told that clean up was essential to comfortable space time. Having empty food containers and spilled milk floating around would be aggravating.
Be that as it may, Tom was almost ready to lift off. Reading material would come from two places, one the computer monitor and the other an e-reader or two or three. They told him at the training center sleeping might be a problem so a heavy stock of sleeping pills, pain pills, vitamin pills and other various pills were stored on board.
The day before liftoff in California, the media got wind of the strange requirements for inheritance. Tom was bombarded by news people and he struggled with his 145 lb body through the reporters to the waiting van that would take him from hotel to launch site.
He was safe at the launch pad. He suited up, took his place in the only seat in the cabin and was safely belted in. Did Tom have second thoughts, yes he did. Did Tom want to scrub the mission, yes he did. Did Tom cry, yes he did. Did Tom lift off, yes he did.
He heard, "This is mission control, we have lift off at 8:00 am December 10, 2012. We'll look for you to return sir around 2018. Good luck and good flying."
Tom felt his teeth chattering from the vibration of lift off. The G-force felt like a bank safe on his chest. He felt the bang and the second stage igniting making even more G-force than before. Tom was gripping the arms of his flight chair as if there was not tomorrow. Then the third stage fired off, but as space was rapidly drawing near, weightlessness was creeping aboard and G-forces slacked way off.
Tom was getting used to the noise of the rocket by then. Suddenly the noise turned to silence as the final stage drifted back to earth. Tom was on his own now for the duration. He looked out the front window to see a billion stars winking back at him. Well, he thought, as he wiggled his butt around in the chair, this isn't so bad. I could get used to this. Tom had TV at his fingertips. A computer to play with, books to read, snacks to be had; what more do you want or need?
Tom had a front window and two side windows. When he twisted he could see the earth in its entire blue splendor. A peek had the moon in sight. Great views, he thought. It was a little warm so he decided to take off his space suit and helmet. He'd only practiced this once so it was a bit of a struggle until he was down to shorts and T shirt. The suit was floating around and that reminded him of neatness. It took a lot of work to stuff the suit and accessories away in a cabinet. After that he thought, what's the hurry Tom. You've got six years to take care of this shit. It's nap time. He floated back to his seat, buckled in, and closed his eyes after putting on the black mask to ward off the lighted cabin.
He woke up a couple hours later. He unbuckled and floated around to see the scenery. The earth did look further away alright and the moon appeared a little closer and it was an ugly grey color. He felt a little hungry. Now was the time to learn how to eat and be merry. Yes, Indeed, Christmas was only two weeks away.
Tom found his snack cabinet stocked full of various foods to eat. He chose a strawberry yogurt. He squeezed it down and looked for the trash can. Whoops, no trash can. For the life of him he couldn't remember what to do with the trash. He floated over to his computer and brought up 'trash in space.'
It showed a place with a closing lid to put the trash. He did wonder how long it would be till it overfilled. While he was at the computer, he wanted some news. Tom wasn't sure how it worked but he could see and read some news and a site or two he chose to want to view. It had something to do with a computer on the earth at the launch site. Anyway, he was happy to get what he wanted: news about himself. He grinned when he saw himself all suited up waving at the crowd. Then he saw the rocket blast off. Next it was a pretty newscaster telling the viewers that about six years later, Tom Baldwin the Third would be back to tell us all about his adventure.
^^^^^^^^^
Six months had passed since liftoff. Tom was a sight to see. He had a scraggly brown beard, yellow teeth and hair over his ears. A few things floated in the cabin moved by minimal air currents. Tom looked out the window to see Mars in all its glory. The red planet looked desolate and as lonely as he was.
Tom said, "It looks like I've about two years more to Jupiter." Tom had begun to talk to himself just to hear a voice. He scratched his patchy beard and then did the same to his underarms. He did give a fleeting thought to how he might smell, but it passed by quickly. It was movie time and he loved the movie with Tom Hanks talking to Wilson. Tom was a little depressed he hadn't found a Wilson to share his thoughts with.
Sometimes he turned all the lights off that he could to stare out at the stars. Sometimes, if he was lucky, he could travel out to distance worlds almost as good as a dream. And speaking of sleeping, those sleeping pills created some marvelous colors and dreams. The hangovers sucked, but livable.
"I wish a fly would come by so I could watch it do its thing," he said to the window. Let's see that movie, shall we Tom?"
^^^^^^^
"By God it's time to celebrate Tom. Our first anniversary in space. We seem to be cooking right along. Jupiter is next my boy. We might get lucky and have our second year reunion as we circle the big boy. I think it's time for us to watch that movie with Hal the computer? Now what was the name of that movie? Stanley Kubrick produced it I think? Hey I got it Tom! 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now all we have to do is find it." While Tom searched for the movie his thoughts drifted to what if he was contacted?
After watching the movie, Tom stared at the computer. He said, "Hal, you there?" and then he laughed like hell. In a few moments he turned sullen and thought about reading the Dune books by Frank Herbert. Before the space flight Tom had no interest in science fiction. Actually, to tell the truth, he had no interest in much of anything.
Just for fun, on his first anniversary, Tom decided to keep a photographic record of himself. The computer had a built in camera that snapped shots when you looked at it and clicked the mouse. When Tom saw what he looked like after one year, he jumped back and wondered who the hell that guy was.
His scraggly beard had filled in a little while his hair was down to his shoulders almost. He'd taken to combing it back and putting it in a pony tail. His eyes were blood shot blue from both sleeping pills and pain pills. His teeth and mouth felt scummy and he vowed to do something about that very soon. Also his skin was a pasty white and there were days he felt better than others.
^^^^^^^
"Damn, I wish Tom; we had something to drink as our two year anniversary is at hand. I can see that bad boy bigger than life Tom. That's one hell of a planet. I wonder if anyone is home," he laughed and doubled over coughing. "Hello Jupiter we're coming whether you like it or not." Tom went silent and introspective as he was really scared there might be something or some alien or life form just waiting to check him out. Jesus what would happen if he woke up in a place that was totally unrecognizable? Tom looked at his computer that sat there with a few green lights blinking on and off. Silence was the norm inside the cabin. Tom floated towards the front, swatting empty containers out of his way to the window.
Tom sat down in his captain's chair, buckled in and focused on the big planet in front of him. His mental thoughts were not as structured before the flight. No one could argue that being
alone, traveling through weightless space, sleep patterns disrupted, diet in a mess without the proper vitamins necessary to live in a sunless environment without gravity.
Tom grasped some of it as he'd not slipped off the edge just yet. His paranoia was on alien intervention. He'd read of Europa, Jupiter's moon that possessed strong evidence of water under its skin. "Tom, my young man, what say we spin the dial on the computer to see if we can raise some other life form to talk to. I'm almost in the mood for a friend. Wait, Tom, I know I've you and you've me so let that be for the moment. We're on a scientific exploration here to benefit our pocket book." He had about ten seconds of hysterical laughter and went smug again.
Tom booted the computer and waited for action. He was no man's dummy and made sure the wifi was operational. He laughed at the thought that the computer might pick up a signal and transmit it to him. What would the odds be even if a signal was picked up, that he would understand the language?
Tom began to drift off for a nap when his computer beeped like he had an e-mail message come in. In fact it was an e-mail from a website unrecognizable. It said:
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