TheTraveler - book 1

by Robin Marienus Miller

  I said, "fine, what's it worth to you?"

  Owsee said, "oh, how about another 1000 credits on top of the 500 I gave you."

  I said, "that's very generous of you."

  And he said, "when one has just about everything, it is easy to be generous. How about some more spice dew?"

  I said, "not right now, thank you, it has left a very dry taste in my mouth. I would like something to clean my palate."

  Owsee, "ale, that's what you need, ale. They make find ale here. Although I'm not completely sure that it's not made from the fungus off of one of those chairs. But it’s a find ale."

  "I'll get some ale," I said.

  Then I stood up and walked over to this end of the bar. The bar keeper came right over and said, "what can I get you?"

  I said, "two of your best ales."

  "Coming right up," he said.

  Then one of the creatures there said, "tell us another joke."

  I said, "okay, but this is a riddle with a wager. If you can guess the answer before I leave, I will buy the house a drink. But if not, then all of you owe me a drink."

  "That sounds fair," said the bar keeper. "What's the riddle?"

  I said, "a farmer has just come from town with a chicken, a bag full of corn, and a Fox. He needs to cross a rope-bridge to get home. But he can only carry one, out of three, at a time across the bridge; because he needs to hold onto the rope with his other hand, and he only has two hands. If he leaves the chicken and the corn behind, the chicken will eat the corn; and he was hoping to plant the corn at home. If he leaves the chicken and the Fox, the fox will eat the chicken; and he was hoping to keep the chicken for the eggs it would lay. Now we know the Fox will not eat the corn, but in what order does he bring only one across at a time?"

  "That's a good riddle," the barkeeper said. Then I walked back to the table with the ale. We sipped our ale and watched all the aliens at the bar toss ideals around. Someone would say no, no, that's not right -- the Fox will eat the chicken, or the chicken will eat the corn. It was great fun listing to them try to figure it out.

  Owsee poured another shot of spice dew for us, this time I was flying high above the moon; almost out of its atmosphere. But there was no fireworks or lights when I came back; instead, everything was in slow motion. I could see the bartender, walking very slowly down the bar, carrying a fat red bottle in his hands and coming over to our table.

  Then it became real time again, and he said to me, "I'll give you this bottle of travackeying firewater is you tell me the answer now."

  I said, "if you have the answer before I leave, I will owe the bar a drink."

  Leaving the bottle on the table, he stepped back and said, "you are very smart -- human. But keep the firewater, maybe it will loosen your tongue."

  He then went back behind the bar and tended to his patrons.

  Owsee picked up the bottle and said, "this is some pretty good stuff. You don't see much of this."

  He opened the bottle, and giving it a sniff said, "I don't know, the last time I drink some of this stuff I was up for three days before I could rest."

  He then handed me the bottle, and I gave it a sniff. It didn't particularly smell strong. He leaned on the table and whispered, "what do you say, shall we be brave hearts?"

  I looked him in the eyes, then poured us a shot, and lifting my glass said, "to brave hearts."

  To brave hearts he replied. And we both drank our shots.

  I set my glass down and waited for something to happen. But there was nothing; no kick, no flavor, just a dry mouth.

  I then hear Owsee saying, "oh yeah, that stuff will kick start your heart."

  I took a sip of my ale, then held out the bottle of firewater to give him another shot. But he waved me off, saying, "one is enough of that stuff for me, thank you very much."

  So I poured myself another one and downed it. Nothing but a dry mouth. So I set it to the side and said, "I don't feel a thing."

  He said, "maybe it takes a while with humans."

  So I just sat there, content with my ale.

  Just then the bar keeper walked over to the table and said, "how's the firewater?"

  I said, "I taste the water, but where's the fire?"

  He said, "well sometimes it takes a while with some species. But I came over to tell you that everyone has given up on trying to figure out your riddle. So just give me the answer, and I will buy the house a drink; also, everything you drink will be free for the next hour."

  I said, "okay, that's a deal. Now listen carefully. First, he takes the chicken across; and leaves the Fox with the corn, that he will not eat. Then he goes back, brings the Fox across the bridge, and takes the chicken back with him to get the corn. He leaves the chicken and takes the corn across, to leave with the Fox, and goes back to get the chicken."

  "I see," said the bar keeper," very clever. May I bring you anything else to drink?"

  I said, "I'll have another ale".

  With that, the man went back to get the ale.

  Owsee looked at me and said, "master storyteller indeed. Your stories do not disappoint. You are a very clever human indeed."

  And with that, I had another shot of that firewater. The bar keeper brought my ale, then went back to tell the rest of the bar the answer to the riddle.

  I think I was starting to feel the firewater, as my lips and nose were starting to go numb.

  I turned to Owsee and said, "I have a poem, with a riddle for you".

  I took a sip of my ale, to clear my throat, and said,

  "When sand, through lightning’s force, becomes -- United Crystal, known as one; if broken, shall it ever be, what once, reality perceived?"

  Owsee said, "the answer is no. Glass cannot be sand again. Very good, I like your poems. They make me think."

  And with that he poured me some more of the spice dew, and said, "to the stars!"

  I did my shot, then could see myself on the docks. A ship was taken off, so I flew with it until I was in space and far above this moon. I could see the entire solar system and it was a great feeling of freedom. I then felt drawn back to my body. I could see myself flying down to the moon, through the station, and into the bar. Then I could see a large alien standing by our table.

  I pushed myself back into my body just in time to hear it say, "I said I want to buy your ship."

  I told him the ship had already been sold.

  He said, "then tell me who you sold it to."

  I looked over at Owsee, and could see he did not want to deal with this, rather large, rude fellow. So I said, "I will let him know you're interested."

  "Not good enough," he said, and swung his large fist at my head. I blocked it with my left hand, and with great ease crushed his. I then stood up and shoved him back as he screamed in pain. The bar keeper, just noticing there was trouble, reached over the bar was a pole; that, as he touched the creature, knocked it out. Then the bar keeper said something to a rather large creature nearby. It got up, and with a mighty stomp, turned the alien's head into a glob of blue goo. He then dragged the body to the door, tossed it out, and went back to his seat.

  Owsee said, "we should take advantage of the situation. The guards will not take long to drag the body away. And I need to lay claim to his ship. He owes me for repairs."

  I slipped the bottle of firewater under my cloak and into a deep pocket. Owsee opened the door and looked both ways, no guards. So we walked quickly down the hall to the docks. Looking back, I could see a trail of blue goo where the body had been dragged away.

  Owsee said, "I told you that could be a dangerous place. If you had told him you sold the ship to me, I would be the goo they would be dragging away. Thank you very much."

  I said, "you're very welcome."

  “The mess”

  The air on the docks did not seem to be as bad as it was before; as I was feeling strong, and wide awake, but my nose and lips were still numb. I stayed close to Owsee as we looked over the dead aliens ship.

  Ows
ee said, "his ship has been ready for two days now, and he has given me nothing. I think he was planning not to pay me. I'm glad he is dead, now I can just take the ship as payment."

  We walked into what seemed to be a storage-bay, at the back of the ship.

  Owsee, "Junk! Nothing but old junk in here. I would be lucky if I get half of what he owes me for all the stuff."

  He then hit a button to open the bay doors. Looking at the open carefully he said, "I think we can fit your ship in here."

  "Your ship," I replied.

  He said, "that's right, I bought it from you. You know you have too much when you can't even remember what you have."

  I said, "that's one problem I would not mind having."

  He told some workers to clean out the things in there, put my old ship in this one, and this one in the back of his ship. We then went over to his big ship to open it up, and make sure there was room; as the dead alien’s ship was about the size of a three-story house.

  When we got to the end of the docks, Owsee pulled a remote control out of his pocket and pointed it at his mountain of a ship. There was the sound of a loud siren, that I'm sure was heard all over the station, then many other small ones. The ground began to rumble as the back end of the mountain started to break away. Piles of dirt fell, and the dust filled the air.

  From out of the dust, came a great crash that shook the ground; so badly I almost fell down. And a blast of dust, covered not only us but the docks as well; with a fine white powder.

  I had pulled my hood up, and covered my face, but it was still hard to breathe.

  Owsee said, "well, I'm glad to see that still works. You know, I don't think I have opened that in at least 20 years or more. Just imagine what it will be like when I take her up. I’ll probably destroyed over half of the station."

  We went in through a side door, then down to bay, because there were mounds of dirt over 30 feet high around the back of the ship. Everything in the bay was covered with 3 inches of dust.

  The cargo-bay was huge. The door alone was 100 feet high and wide. There was all manner of cargo lining the walls. But plenty of room for the other ship, once things were moved around a bit.

  Owsee looked at me and said, "well, I'm telling you one thing, I'm not clean up this mess."

  We both laughed, and went to get something to eat, then sat down in the front observation lounge. I pulled out the bottle of firewater and set it on the table.

  Owsee said, "you're lucky we left before the guards came back. They would've taken that away from you."

  I said, "seems to me I remember someone saying we should take advantage of the situation."

  "Quite right," he said, "well done. You would make a fine negotiator."

  I said, "barter is the prime means of advancement to my race."

  Owsee, "really, I have a lot to learn from you. How about a little of that firewater?"

  I said, "I thought you said it would keep you up?"

  Owsee, "the mess down below will take days to clean up, even for my crew, and I have never been one to sleep when there are others on my ship; not counting you a course, I feel I can trust you."

  I said that I was glad to hear it as he got two glasses from under the table and poured us both one.

  Then I said, "here's to sleeping among friends and prosperity on your horizon."

  "Friends and prosperity," he said, and took a big gulp of the firewater.

  My mouth went cotton dried and I felt a tingle in my feet. Then my legs went numb and my eyes seemed to be wide open without any blinking. I even had to think about my blinking to keep them from getting too dry.

  I said, "you know what, I think I am beginning to feel this stuff."

  Owsee, "oh, so the human can't hold his firewater?"

  I said, "I believe I have had about five more drinks of this than you have. Would you like to, try to, catch up?"

  He said, "no thank you, I want to still be able to feel my legs. And I need to supervise the cleanup down below. Remember the whole back end of my ship is open. If I don't keep an eye on things, they will rob me. But as long as you are sitting there, without the use of your legs, I have something for you."

  He moved things on the table to one side and said, "now, put your translator on the corner."

  I did it, and the table lit up.

  Owsee, "now write anything you want, then hit the corner of the translator so the light comes on, then say the word. Then you just tap the word on the table and the translator will say it back. You can use it to teach the translator you written word."

  I said, "thank you, this will be very helpful."

  Owsee, "and before I forget, here is a wrist-com.. Just tap it and you can reach me anywhere on the station."

  I said, "thank you."

  He said, "you have fun. I need to get down to the bay and take care of things."

  I said, "okay, I'll see you later."

  He replied, "see you later," and went off to take care of things while I played around with the table.

  For a short time, I just sat there looking at it and thinking what an enormous job it would be. How long would it take to write every word I know? I finished what little firewater was in my cup and poured myself another drink. After a while of just sitting there, sipping my water, it came to me to teach the computer the alphabet. After all, that's how I learned to sound things out. Of course, there would be a problem when it came to the different sounds the vowels make, but I was sure this could really work. I got so excited, that without thinking, I took a big drink of the firewater and my arms went numb for time. I could barely move them to write, but then the numbness went away. By the time I was done teaching the computer the alphabet my legs got their feeling back, and the translator was now on a first grade level. So I then went to the back of the ship to see how things were going.

  I found myself on a platform overlooking the Bay. They had five large hoses laid out, across the floor, that ran outside. And on the end of each hose, there were two to three, people trying to hold on as it sucked up everything in front of them. They were just about done with the bigger hoses by the time I got down to the deck.

  As I was walking over to Owsee, he saw me coming and said, "look at what I have done. I reversed the flow on the grain loaders and out goes the dust. Not bad at aye, better than a broom."

  The other ship was already sitting on the giant door outside the cargo bay, just waiting for them to move the hose out of the way.

  Owsee, "so how goes trying to teach my stupid computer how to write and read, any luck?"

  I said, "I have made some progress, but I think it will take a better programmer than me to get it right."

  Owsee, "don't worry, I know many programmers and they all owe me credits. If there is one thing you can bet your last credit on, it’s that if I don't know how to do something I know someone that does."

  They got the hose out of the way, and the pilot flew the ship in; turning it around as he went, then sat it down.

  Owsee, "I had to cancel most of the debts, on each one of them, to get this done -- but it was worth it. Now I can get some rest. I don't sleep like you, I just rest."

  As the men left he closed the big door; the rumble was not as bad as it had been before.

  Then he turned to me and said, "let's go see the one that made your translator. I think he can help us."

  “The device”

  We left by the side door and headed toward the station entrance. I could see that most of the workers were trying to get the dust off things. There was a bit of commotion between two of them. One was blowing the dust off a work platform, toward another’s area of work. I didn't need a translator to understand what they were yelling about.

  Owsee, "look at how disorganized these people are. If I was down there I would tell them to blow the dust off one platform, then do the other. But those two are not working for me right now; they are on their own time, and will have to learn how to get along without me."

  I then took my c
loak off, and shook it to get the rest of the dust off, before going into the station.

  After we entered the main door of the station, we turned down the hall and went into a shop on the left. It looked like any other, computer and electronics, store I had ever been in. Lots of things I had no use for. The owner was a very tall, slim, gray skinned fellow. He stood behind a large glass display case with a floor-to-ceiling mirror behind him. Owsee said hello to him as I stood behind, and to one side. Then I pulled my hood back and could see my head in the mirror. But only my head, just floating there. I had put my cloak on right side out, without knowing it.