Pilgrimage (The New World)

by Kurt Winans

  The senior partner was not at all happy with Ross for taking both women away from the firm, but as someone who had built the law office up from the ground, he could understand the ladies ambitions for larger opportunities. In time, Aurora would be leaving as well, but had agreed to stay on in her current accounting position through the coming April to help with the firm’s taxes. That was not a problem for Ross as there was no immediate need for her in Washington, and by remaining in Houston for the additional time she would receive a valuable letter of recommendation for her dedication. She had turned twenty-seven shortly after the election, and both Ross and Patty were confident she would be able to continue her career when she made the transition to Washington D.C.

  A bonus to the timing of the Martin family transition to the east coast was the ease of attending Rachel’s December graduation from the University of Maryland. She had needed an extra semester to complete the necessary work for her degree, but the delay had meant the entire family would be able to attend the ceremony. Such a gathering would have been much more difficult during the previous spring, without taking valuable time away from the campaign trail back in Texas. Rachel was now twenty-two, had a long term boyfriend who would probably be her husband someday, and possessed no definitive career ambitions. Her only desire in life seemed to be that of becoming a mother someday.

  Ross once again hung the triangular wooden frame that housed Grandpa Hank’s flag on the wall near the corner, and placed the fishing pole next to it. He had now kept the two, with the help of both Jessica and Patty, in pristine condition for more than forty years. The fishing pole had still never been used, but Ross had occasionally changed out the red bow to keep it looking brand new. His new office area on Capitol Hill was larger than either one of the two he had occupied while in Austin, so he and his staff could comfortably settle in to begin a six-year term. They were all excited about their respective new jobs, and hopeful that they could make an impact on behalf of their home state of Texas.

  WHEN THE UNITED States Senate broke for summer recess during the first year of his term, Ross decided he needed a few days of alone time. Patty and her old friend Betty were planning on spending five days in New York City to see some Broadway shows and do some shopping, so Ross decided he would go on a little fishing trip. It had been years since he had been able to enjoy the peace and quiet associated with fishing, and this summer break from the office would give him the opportunity to do so. An old friend back in Austin had told him many times about a secluded spot in Texas where Ross could camp out in solitude and fish the nearby river, so the next day Ross caught a flight to Houston and a westbound connector to San Angelo. He rented a car, along with some camping and fishing gear for three nights of solitude, and a few hours later he set up camp next to the secret fishing spot along the Howard Draw well south of Ozona.

  Early the next morning, Ross caught the first of what turned out to be several small trout, as the balance of the morning and afternoon fishing expeditions were quite productive. That evening Ross had just finished a fantastic dinner of trout cooked over the campfire when he heard a noise in the bushes. At first he thought it was a rabbit or other small creature, but he grabbed a solid piece of firewood to defend himself in the event it was a larger or more dangerous animal. Just then, an upright figure emerged from the bushes about fifty feet away from him. As it moved forward, Ross began to hear a voice in his head. The figure became clearer as it approached the campfire, and Ross put down the piece of firewood when he recognized it was the alien he had met some twenty years before on the surface of the Moon.

  Ross wanted to ask the alien how he knew where to find him, but realized the question in itself would be ridiculous. An alien species as advanced as theirs probably had the ability to track the movements of anyone whenever they felt the need, and for some yet unknown reason they had decided to track Ross. He learned that the alien species wanted to minimize any further contamination of Earth, so this would be their only chance to discuss whatever was on Ross’ mind. Throughout their most recent observational rotation of this and the neighboring three solar systems, the alien had become a pest towards his superiors while attempting to convince them that further communication with the astronaut from ₹-829-Ԅπ-3 was necessary. He had reluctantly been granted this one and only visit due to his persistence, but it had been permitted largely in part because of the way Ross had behaved towards the two aliens while on the surface of the Moon. The alien species also felt it was a perfect opportunity to learn more things about the human species from Ross.

  With that Ross reached out to shake the hand of the alien, before motioning for him to have a seat on the large log next to the campfire. Ross began by asking about the emblem on the necklace that he still wore as he pulled it out from underneath his shirt collar, and was relieved to learn that there was truth to the story his Grandpa Hank had always told him. The alien confirmed that a scout ship had crashed due to mechanical failure during what Ross’ people identified as 1897 in western Texas, and that it had been part of a formation of nine ships. Grandpa Hank’s father must have removed the emblem from the uniform of a dead pilot, before they buried the bodies. It had been quite lucky for the aliens that the contamination of the planet had been so minimal in that instance, because mass communication technology of the inhabitants was in its infancy and they had also not yet mastered the ability to fly.

  Ross told the alien that if his great-grandfather, and the other men who witnessed the event, had reported seeing a flying machine crash to the ground they would have been thought to be crazy. Ross then asked the alien if he knew the pilots who had died in that crash and the alien responded that he had known one of them very well.

  Suddenly remembering what his daughter Rachel had asked him many years before, Ross inquired about the meaning of the tiny little etchings on part of the emblem. He continued by saying that neither he nor his grandfather could ever make sense of it. Ross informed the alien that there were many different forms of written language on Earth, but only the first of the six symbols resembled anything they he had ever seen before. It looked very similar to a lower case “I” in the language that their family used.

  Continuing his line of questions, Ross asked if they usually flew their scout ships in a formation of nine, and had any other crashes ever occurred? The answer to both questions was yes, so the alien offered an explanation. He reminded Ross that the aliens had been observing the planet from their small base on the Moon for more than two centuries of Earth time, and had made multiple scouting flights close to the planet surface during that time. He also informed Ross that his ancestors had visited and observed the planet for research several times in the more distant past, and had left markings and temples at various locations around the planet that were still considered a mystery by most of the inhabitants of Ross’ world.

  To the question of crashes, there had only been one other on this continent since the time of the crash of 1897. Ross learned that it was one of the nine scout ships under the command of the alien who was telling him the story, as he had been the flight leader of a formation that was getting a closer look at certain areas of ₹-829-Ԅπ-3. Because several atomic signatures had been recently detected on this continent, along with a few actual detonations both here and on a smaller land mass on the opposite side of the planet, the aliens had decided to investigate. While listening to the specifics of the flight path, Ross concluded that they had flown over an area of Tennessee that had been used for the early experimental research of the atomic bomb, and then Washington where a different aspect of the Manhattan Project had been developed.

  The alien continued by saying that the formation of nine ships had been spotted and reported by a human in a flying machine near the tall mountains of what Ross figured to be the Cascade Range in Washington State, but had not taken evasive action. The mission continued towards the area where the first atomic detonation signature on this continent had been registered, and that was when the other crash had occ
urred.

  The official alien recollection of the event was that an atmospheric disturbance had struck one of the scout ships and had caused it to crash near where the first modern era atomic detonation had taken place. It suddenly occurred to Ross that the alien was discussing the New Mexico crash of 1947 outside of Roswell, and what a weird coincidence that was for the Martin family.

  Unfortunately for the alien species, their plan of limited contamination of the planet would take a serious setback because of that crash. Due to the technological advancements, and increased communication abilities, of the inhabitants of the planet during that fifty Earth year span, it was much more difficult to keep the crash of a supposed alien spacecraft a secret. Ross knew all too well about the crash and subsequent investigation that surrounded the Roswell event they were speaking of, because his parents Robert and Janet had met while being part of the investigative team.

  It was obvious that the alien knew the pilots who had died in that crash because they were under his command, but he didn’t seem to be as moved by their death as he had been when discussing the deaths of the earlier crash. Ross wondered if his great-grandfather may have taken the emblem from the uniform of an alien who meant as much to this alien as Dennis had meant to Ross.

  When the question of each other’s physiology became part of the discussion, Ross couldn’t help but look at the feet of the alien. As had been the case on the Moon, there was no part of the aliens clothing that covered that area of their anatomy. Ross thought they looked to be very thick skinned and must be incredibly durable to never need any type of covering. There were three long skinny appendages that were similar in appearance to the fingers on their hands, but they were set into a tripod formation and strong enough to raise and lower the body like when a human stands on only the toes. Ross could see no fourth appendage like on the hand, but because the aliens thumb was so high up on the wrist it was possible their foot had something similar that was hidden by the uniform. The strength of their feet and the grip of the handshake had proven to Ross that even though the alien body looked to be frail, it was far from it. With the glove of his spacesuit on, Ross couldn’t feel the pressure of the handshake some twenty years before on the Moon, but his hand was still a bit tender from the greeting of this encounter.

  The aliens head was hairless and slightly larger to the scale of their body as opposed to humans, with distinguishing characteristics such as eyes and small ears. There was nothing below the large black eyes that could be interpreted as a nose, and the mouth served only as a way of taking in sustenance as opposed to communication.

  Ross also finally noticed that the alien was not wearing a breathing apparatus like he had on the Moon. He concluded that the atmosphere on their home world must be similar to that of Earth, because there was no current sign of labored breathing by the alien. The atmospheric pressure, or lack of it such as on the Moon, apparently had no effect on the skeletal structure of the alien species, but they did need some sort of atmosphere to breathe.

  The clothing of the alien was loose fitting, but was gathered tightly at the neck, wrists, and ankles, so Ross asked about that. He learned that the clothing was used more as a filter to help protect their major organs and gills from dust and other pollutants that could be encountered on worlds other than their own, because they were quite sensitive.

  Space flight and timeline differential were the next topics on Ross’ mind, so he listened intently as the alien projected his thoughts on the matter. Their species had long ago developed a way to travel through space much faster than the speed of light, which was far beyond the current capabilities of the human space endeavor. The life expectancy, and the way the alien species calculated time, was also much different than that of the dominant species of ₹-829-Ԅπ-3, or Earth. That was why the most recent observational rotation by the alien through the neighboring systems of less than a month in his time was equal to twenty years of Ross’ time on Earth.

  While listening to the explanation of all this, Ross asked how Earth came to be known as ₹-829-Ԅπ-3. The alien used his long index finger to scratch the symbols into the dirt so Ross could see them, and then informed him that the first symbol of ₹ signified the quadrant of the galaxy that this solar system resided in. The 829 was simply the number of the slightly over one-thousand that had been explored in the quadrant. He continued by informing Ross that the Ԅπ-3 was there to identify that both language and math skills existed on the third planet from the host star. Ԅ was the symbol used for language, while π represented math.

  Ross informed his alien friend that humans also used π as one of their most significant math symbols throughout the world, and the alien informed him that was probably due to his own ancestors influence during long ago observations of this planet. Ross had also seen the symbol Ԅ someplace before, but couldn’t place exactly where. He seemed to remember that it was from some ancient language here on Earth, but his knowledge of those early texts was quite limited. It became obvious to Ross that the current system of numbers widely used on Earth was indeed universal, and was also a derivative of earlier alien influence, while the much lessor used Roman numeral system probably wasn’t.

  At the conclusion of their educational exchange of information, Ross stood to offer thanks and his hand in friendship. The alien shook Ross’ hand with his three fingers reaching clear up to his wrist before slowly pointing towards the necklace with his other hand. He informed Ross that it was a nice tribute to the alien species that he continued to wear the emblem around his neck, but it was upside down. The alien claimed that the facsimile had been orientated and displayed correctly on the Moon vehicle, and Ross realized that was because it was floating upside down as opposed to the way it had been placed on the chain. All these years he had thought that the only loop in the symbol belonged at the top, but apparently he was wrong. There was no way that Grandpa Hank could have known any better, as he had simply run a chain through the only loop of the emblem so it could be worn as a necklace. Faced with that same level of ignorance, Ross had just accepted it at face value.

  SLIGHTLY OVER ELEVEN years later, in November of 2016, Ross’ family and staff were celebrating many things including another election victory. Ross was happy that the citizens of Texas had already seen their way clear to provide him with two six-year terms in federal office, but he knew there were many more things he wanted to accomplish.

  During the two terms Ross had become involved with several pieces of legislation that had become law, served on a few committees, and had made many friends, but there would always be something more that could be done. It had been a long and grueling campaign, perhaps the roughest of all that he and the family had been through, but it was worth it. In spite of the challenges that lay ahead, now was the time to exhale, even if only for one night.

  Another cause for celebration was the birth of their second grandchild Janet, who had come into the world just three days before the election. Ross had turned sixty-six the previous summer, Patty would soon be sixty-five, and their youngest daughter Rachel, who was now thirty-four, had provided them with two beautiful grandchildren. She had married her college boyfriend ten years earlier, and had worked for roughly five years in the private sector before giving birth to a son named Luke in the summer of 2012. Luke’s and Ross’ respective birthdays were one week apart, and the two of them had enjoyed blowing out the birthday candles on their cake together during the most recent celebration.

  The newest addition to the family was named after the grandmother that Rachel never knew, and that made Ross and her Aunt Jessica very happy. They were both confident that little baby Janet would carry on their mothers’ name proudly, while Patty just loved the fact that there was now another healthy grandchild to spoil.

  The final reason for the festive mood within the Martin family was the one that took place every year at this time, as Aurora would celebrate turning thirty-nine in a few days. She had decided many years before that her career was more important to her than
raising a family of her own, but loved the fact that she was now an aunt for the second time. Things could not have been better for Ross and all those around him, but there was little doubt that the coming year would hold tremendous challenges for him and the family.

  Slightly over two months later, Ross tilted his head back as far as it would go and gazed at the magnificent mural painted on the ceiling of the United States Capitol rotunda. The mural depicted some history of the United States, which he was pleased to point out to his grandson Luke as they looked at the pictures. A moment later Rachel came over and smiled at them both before she retrieved Luke away from her father. Then they, along with the rest of the family, moved towards their seats. Patty stepped up and gave Ross a hug and a peck on the cheek, then used her thumb to remove the trace of her lipstick she had left behind before faking an adjustment of his already perfect tie. She said, “You deserve this”, as she moved towards the door and took the arm of her military escort for the short walk to her seat next to their daughters. She then sat patiently along with everyone else.

  Ross wondered how many of the men who had come before him had actually aspired to this moment, as he certainly had not. When he was a boy in Rumley he wanted to be a professional baseball player, but that had not panned out. A few years later he set his sights on becoming an astronaut, and that dream had come to fruition. He had worked hard his entire life and felt he had done a good job serving his country in many different roles, but he had never dreamed until recently that this day would come.