by Travis McBee
“Um…Well they aren’t stationed on Earth they moved there,” Will said tentatively.
“Whoa what?!” Mitchell piped up with sudden interest, “They choose to live there? Isn’t Earth all…all…ya know…primitive?”
“Mitchell Phillips!” Mrs. Phillips interjected in an embarrassed snarl.
“It’s okay Mrs. Phillips,” Will laughed, “And to answer your question Mitchell it is fairly primitive compared to all this,” He motioned around at the pod they were riding in, “But we’re coming along fairly quickly. We aren’t too far behind.”
Mitchell looked around at the pod he had taken for granted his entire life. It wasn’t anything special as far as he could see so when Will said they were primitive compared to a plain old pod he decided they must be really primitive after all.
“So what are your career plans William?” Mrs. Phillips asked in a tone all too familiar to Will, polite dislike.
“Oh wow, um, I haven’t really thought about that,” Will wedged out, “I mean I didn’t know about Bridgeworld or anything until this year I’m still kind of getting my feet under me.”
“Oh,” Mrs. Phillips answered curtly.
* * *
The Phillips family house was set upon a quaint little island set deep in the expanse of a gentle blue lake. When Will first spotted the dwelling he was confused as to what it might be until they began to descend towards it. He had never seen a house away from his home planet and the thing that was nestled on its own island miles away from any other did not seem to be a house even after Will knew that’s what it was.
The house appeared to be made of the same material that the rest of the universe was made from. It was a perfect cube and was larger than his own house by a substantial margin. It was so large that the brown cube took up most of the island that looked to be the equivalent to a football field leaving little room for the short grass that covered the rest of the isle except for a thicket of strange looking trees that provided a shaded area near the water’s edge.
Mr. Phillips landed the pod with neat precision in front of the house and the doors swung open to allow the passengers to exit. Will stood on the springy grass and looked up at the structure that reminded him of a miniature, dirt covered, Bridgeworld that had crashed into the planet. Windows dotted the exterior in regular intervals and from them Will could guess the cube contained three floors.
“Well come on in Will,” Mr. Phillips said, “I’m sure you’re hungry,”
“Yes I am,” Will laughed and his stomach seconded the opinion with a hearty growl.
Will entered the domicile through a sliding door that he was fairly sure a full size car would be able to squeeze through. He emerged in a cavernous room with walls covered in a gentle blue and a pristine white floor. The ceiling hung fifteen feet over his head and it’s white surface was dotted with lights that illuminated the room below. There was no furniture in the room but the sweeping staircase that stood in front of him filled the room comfortably. On each side of the room doors stared from the walls in slabs of gray.
“Are you rich?” Will whispered to Abby after surveying the large room.
Abby giggled a reply that didn’t mean a thing to Will and hurried after her family who were walking through one of the half dozen doorways. Will looked around at the room a final time before shrugging and following after them. He emerged in what was clearly a room of food. The problem was he couldn’t decide whether it was a kitchen or a dining room.
The room radiated with the phantom smells of food that had only recently vacated the place although no food was in sight. Will saw a large table set at one end of the room with a dozen chairs sat gracefully about it. The other side of the room was dominated by metallic devices that vaguely resembled a kitchen but looked closer to the strange devices of a laboratory. The silvery sheen of the steel was punctuated with knobs and buttons at regular intervals that gave the counter the appearance of a control board instead of a cooking surface. Will thought he recognized a familiar cube of steel as a microwave but even then he wasn’t sure.
“Sit down and I’ll whip something up,” Mr. Phillips said kindly.
Will followed Abby to the table and slid out a chair next to her. As he sat down Mitchell pulled out a chair opposite of Will and sat in it with a thud. Mrs. Phillips sat down next to her son and looked with polite interest at Abby and Will.
“Do you like Bridgeworld Will?” She asked pleasantly enough.
“Oh yes ma’am I do. I like it a lot.”
“Is it better than Earth schools?” Mitchell asked excitedly.
Will smiled back at the young boy ,”Oh yes it’s a lot more fun than Earth schools.” He replied with a breath of laughter.
They continued to talk and although Abby’s mother did not seem to warm up to Will, Mitchell seemed to find him extraordinarily interesting and bombarded Will relentlessly with questions about everything from sports to cars, which he was amazed couldn’t fly.
On the other end of the room Will watched with fascination as Mr. Phillips prepared the meal. The large man would take what appeared to be metal packages out of cabinets before placing them onto specially marked surfaces that adorned the counters. Will was amazed for two reasons at the process, first he had never considered a man being the cook in the family since his mother had taken on the role with terrific success in his own home, and second the man did not appear to be cooking at all he was just setting metal packages on surfaces and leaving them be.
Will found out soon enough that the man was indeed cooking when the smells of food began to radiate towards him. It was a collection of smells that he could neither identify nor determine if they were pleasant or not. Every scent that launched itself at Will seemed alien and unfamiliar and his eyes stood up for his nose when Mr. Philips brought several containers to the table after less than five minutes of cooking.
“What is it?” Will whispered to Abby eying the three strange dishes that sat in front of them.
“Seriously? You don’t know?!” squealed Mitchell with delight.
“Mitchell you’re being rude,” Scolded his mother although she bore a look in her eye that Will did not care for.
Mr. Phillips chuckled and began pointing at the various dishes before telling him what they were.
“That’s Frawn,” he told Will, “It’s a small animal that hops around and hides in little holes in nature but the domesticated kind just kind of sit around. They’re really good anyways.”
Will glanced at the Frawn and saw that it was a plate full of sliced pieces of meat that steamed away their heat into the air. Looks a lot like chicken he thought to himself go figure.
“And this is Balo,” Mr. Phillips said as he pointed to another dish, “It’s a local fish and quite delicious.”
Will looked down at the platter and saw the shiny scales of a fish laying in smooth strips above the meat. It was clearly fish but Will had never seen any scales that were that strange shade of green in his fishing expeditions with his father before.
“And this is Sutria,” Mr. Phillips finished pointing towards a steaming bowl of what appeared to be orange rice.
“It looks amazing,” Will said with a limited amount of truth.
“It’s nothing compared to Earth food.” Abby said with complete honesty which made Will snort in laughter.
Will picked up a glass and took a drink to drown his laughter at Abby’s comment and nearly spit the fluid that entered his mouth over the table in shock. He had become accustomed to the plain wetness of water on Bridgeworld and the shock of flavor from the drink, though not unpleasant, was entirely unexpected.
“What is this?” He asked taking another sip and finding the drink a mixture of sweetness and a distinct swirl of tart that made his tongue tingle.
“It’s called Acalo juice. It comes from a fruit that grows here on Ageo,” Mr. Phillips once again explained, “We have a tree outside actually. Do you like it?” he added.
“I love it,” Will said truth
fully which earned him a smile from Abby and her father.
“You should try one fresh off the tree,” Mitchell said with his unending excitement, “They’re even better whole.”
Will ate heartily with the Phillips family and was pleased to find that the food was a far cry from the dull, tasteless, cuisine of Bridgeworld and was actually quite scrumptious. After he finished the meal he was escorted to his room by Mitchell who continued to badger him with questions about Earth. His room was enormous with a massive bed lying in the center staring out of two windows through which Will could look out at the never ending lake or ocean, he hadn’t decided which it was yet. The sheer size of the room once again made him wonder about the financial status of his girlfriend’s family. He knew it would be rude to ask and since he had never been inside the home of another non terrestrial family he couldn’t compare it to anything he knew.
After he settled into his room he was called outside by Abby who led him to the edge of the water where a pod was floating lazily in the water. It was a different pod than the one that he had traveled to the house in and upon further inspection he realized it was unlike any pod he had ever seen before. It was long and narrow like a stretched piece of taffy and was open to the air, but he could see a groove along the side where a top might slide into place. Inside where three rows of seats with only the front row facing forwards. The strangest part of all was the fact that it was floating in water. He was no expert by any means but he was fairly certain the average pod would decline a prolonged dip.
“It’s a hydropod,” Abby said smiling at Will as he looked over the small craft, “It’s for playing in water.”
“It’s a boat?” Will hazarded hoping the Lingus she wore would translate it.
“Yeah that’s what I said,” she said looking confused and Will realized the Lingus must have translated it into the same word as Hydropod for her.
“Want to go for a ride?” Abby asked smiling
Will smiled, nodded his head, and shrugged in the universal signal for “Why not?” and followed Abby into the front seat.
“Wait for me!” a high voice screeched across the yard and Will turned to see Mitchell erupting out of the front door and pelting towards them.
“Oh hurry up twerp,” Abby called slightly put off. She had been hoping for some alone time with Will, something that is very rare when you live in a cube full of students.
Mitchell hurtled himself into one of the rear facing seats and Abby started the Hydropod up with a push of a button and launched it across the surface of the water.
The water was nearly perfect in its flatness and the craft barely bounced as it rocketed across it leaving a wide V of white capping water in its wake. Will had ridden in boats before, Mike’s family owned a lake house and they went nearly every summer, but he was more than certain he had never gone that fast in a boat before.
“Ready for the fun part?” Abby smiled mischievously and pushed a button on the console without waiting for a reply.
Will watched in amazement as a clear sheet of plastic appeared from the rear of the hydropod and slid smoothly along the grooves before sealing them snugly inside of a clear bubble.
“Um, what are you doing?” Will asked looking through the clear dome that distorted the sky above it.
Once again Abby didn’t answer and instead pushed forward on the controls she clutched in her hand. Water splashed onto the front of the hydropod in an angry wave and the entire craft shuddered a bone jarring tremor. Will panicked for a second thinking they were crashing as the water whisked its way across the entire dome forming a thick coat of white foam.
Before Will could open his mouth either to question what was happening or scream wildly, the foam was swept away and Will was afforded a miraculous view surrounding him. The hydropod had transformed seamlessly into a submarine and had dove under the surface of the water at an alarming speed. Now that Will was under the water he relaxed as he sat back and viewed the lethargic world that hid beneath the calm surface of the lake. Schools of fish swam around in exotic colors of red, green, and orange while plants waved timidly up at him from the sandy bottom. Will was amazed by the clarity of the water. When he had stuck his head under the surface of the lake back home he had been unable to see for more than a few feet but under the Ageon lake he could see for miles in any direction.
“Pretty cool huh?” Mitchell said watching Will’s expression.
“Incredible,” Will answered quietly, “Truly incredible.”
“Don’t have anything like this on Earth do ya?” Mitchell laughed
“Actually we have things exactly like this big guy,” Will answered, “Now the question I have for you is; do you have tubes here?”
“Have what?” Mitchell and Abby asked in unison.
* * *
“Are you sure about this?” Abby called from the cockpit of the hydropod.
“As long as you’re sure that my monogarb will keep me from sinking,” Will called back.
“They will, you can’t drown while you’re wearing it,” Mr. Phillips assured him from the driver’s seat.
“Okay, well don’t go too fast!”
Will floated in the calm water a hundred feet away from the green shore of the Phillips’s private island. He was sitting in a silver tube of air that had been a monogarb an hour before. He had told Abby’s dad what he wanted to build and the large man’s eyes had alighted in interest and within an hour he had helped Will build what he hoped would pass for a tube. A thin rope stretched from the front of the tube to the back of the hydropod which had begun to idle forward stretching the slack out of the line. The slack disappeared with a slight bump and Will felt himself begin to slide across the water.
“Alright go!” Will shouted to the craft which held the entire Phillips family except for the mother.
Mr. Phillips throttled the hydropod up and it took off like a bottle rocket across the lake with Will holding on for dear life in the tube. Will felt his face stretch as the g-forces assaulted his body but after a few seconds of acceleration they gave way and he felt normal again. He leaned in his make shift inner tube and felt the water play across the bottom of it as he steered himself towards the towering wake on his right side.
The tube wasn’t perfect and it stuttered around but it finally made its way to the crest of the small hill of water where it sat teetering for a few seconds before descending on the other side and sending him skimming across the surface of the lake which was as smooth as glass. In that moment he felt perfectly free with nothing in view but perfectly flat water and the clean air diving into his lungs. He wanted that moment to last forever but the tube straightened back out and climbed the hill of water again.
The return climb did not go quite as smoothly as the first and it stalled on the crest making Will feel like one of the surfers he had seen so many times on television as he rode the edge of the wake. The initial joy of riding the wake did not last long as a bone jarring vibration began to build through Will’s body begging him to vacate it and head to smoother waters. Will leaned to the side trying to force the tube over the hump and even gave the tube a good yank with his hands to try and get it to jump over and that was when the world turned white.
* * *
Abby watched in horror as the tube erupted into the air as Will flipped over it and was caught in the air. Her boyfriend was dashed across the water in a grizzly imitation of a skipped stone with his arms and legs flailing around helplessly. After what seemed like an eternity he ceased to bounce across the surface of the water and came to a standstill floating face down in the rippling surface of the lake.
“Will!” she screamed at him as her father swung the hydropod around and headed back towards him, “Are you okay?”
Will lifted his head out of the water and began laughing wildly. His blonde hair was stained black by the water and tossed across his head in an artful flourish. His silver eyes gleamed with delight as he saw her fearful expression.
“I’m fine!” h
e shouted to her, “These suits really do float! I can’t believe it!”
“Are you hurt?” she queried ignoring his surprise at his clothing.
“I’m fine, the water’s nice and soft.” He told her gently, “Taste pretty good too. Who’s next?” he added.
Mitchell launched himself from the back of the hydropod in reply landing in the water in a ungainly splash that threw droplets of water onto Abby.
“I guess he is,” Will laughed and heaved himself over the side as Mitchell swam towards the tube that floated upside down at the end of the rope.
* * *
Will spent the remainder of that day on the lake with Abby and her family. They were amazed by the simple thrill of the tube and continued to ride on it until the sun set casting them into darkness. They then retreated to the seclusion of their house and Will enjoyed his second Ageon meal which he enjoyed as much as the first. After the meal he walked around the island hand in hand with Abby observing the strangely moonless sky that was filled with unfamiliar stars.
The second day saw the return of the tube and they would have lost themselves in its joy if it hadn’t been for Mrs. Phillips urgently calling them to inform them that the shuttle to Bridgeworld would soon be departing. Will was sad his visit was so short and gladly accepted the invitation to return for another visit offered by Mr. Phillips. Mrs. Phillips had visibly glowered at her husband when that invitation had been extended, she had yet to warm to Will and in fact seemed to be cooling down to him if that was possible.
* * *
“Goodbye darling,” Mrs. Phillips crooned as she hugged her daughter, “And it was nice meeting you Will,” She added disingenuously as she released Abby.
“It was nice meeting you as well,” he replied smiling with all the kindness her coldness would allow.
“Dude you have got to come back and show us some more tricks on that tube!” Mitchell said to him with a massive smile stretching his face.