Peaceful Journey
by Robert C. Waggoner
Copyright 2010 Robert C. Waggoner
Smashwords Edition
Peaceful Journey
Robert C. Waggoner
2012
Short Story
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 care 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:
Hello Tom……. I see you're making good time on your trip to the largest planet in your solar system. Is there anything we can do to help you in your endeavor to survive the isolation of more than five of your years?
Just click reply and send me a mail Tom.
Kind regards,
LL
Tom about had a frikkin heart attack, he thought. "No way Jose. You can't fool me Hal. This was preprogrammed to send after two years to the day. Screw you guys. Wait a minute dick head, I'll send a reply and trap your ass with a question nobody knows the answer to."
Tom wrote:
Dear LL,
What I'd really like is a shower, a toothbrush, a haircut and a shave. After that a nice steak dinner with a glass of wine would be nice. Now, so as I know you're not playing with my head, I've a birthmark someplace on my body. Name that place.
Kinder regards,
TBIII
He sent it off and prepared to pop a couple sleeping pills and sleep for a few hours. But first he had a package of coffee. That was just in case the sender replied to his mail.
Tom was digging in his storage bin for coffee when the e-mail signal went off again. Tom pushed off and banged his head on the cabin roof. He swore a blue streak and swam to his chair again. He opened his mail and sure as hell there it was in plain English staring at him.
Hi Tom again,
First let me say thanks for the mail. I get rather lonely for company as you do. We talked it over and decided that a visit from you would be nice. All of your requests will be met and then some.
Ah, your birthmark is located on the bottom of your left big toe. As you are wearing socks, I can't possibly see your foot.
Yours truly,
LL and Co.
PS, When you orbit Jupiter, on the backside to your earth, we'll welcome you to our place on Europa.
Tom started shaking all over. He knew he'd, in fact, lost it. No way could he be in his right mind. He knew he was never normal, but certainly not unbalanced to the degree he was commuting by e-mail with another life form.
Enough he thought. He said, "Tom, get some sleep and put aside today's memory."
^^^^^^^
It took almost six months to begin the orbit of Jupiter. Tom was having a shit fit to the maximum. He hadn't heard from his friend LL since the two year anniversary six months ago. He'd spent countless hours staring at the computer, but nothing came up. There was no website to reread the mail as the monitor was blank. He saw the giant planet taking up the whole of the windows. The cabin had so much garbage floating around it was difficult to fight off the hundreds or empty containers. Tom looked down at his skin which was peeling off in big hunks like a snake. However the new skin under was tender and red. His whole body was like a polka dot with old white skin with fresh red skin next to it. His beard was a good four inches long. The hair was between the shoulder blades. His once white, then yellow and finally green teeth put forth a smell that even he didn't like. "Tom," he said. "My boy, get ready as we're about to go for a ride soon. What do you think? Really? Let's see if I've got it straight, you think LL will call Hal and tell him we need to dress for dinner?"
"I got it right! Well, let's see what happens."
Hal gave a beep – beep. Tom clicked on the in-box.
Dear Friend Tom,
Don't worry about dressing for dinner. We have what you need here. In about forty of your minutes we will electronically transport you to our facility. Never fear as we have hospitality coming out of our ears, if we had ears.
Your reception committee will be robots that look like you humans. We don't resemble anything in your book of living things. We'll communicate through the robots. Just be yourself. See you soon.
Very truly yours,
LL and Co.
Tom was not a
God fearing man. However, he said, "Lord, help me if needed." Soon a tingling sensation was felt all over his body. His eyes closed as he drifted off into dream land.
When his eyes popped open it wasn't a lot different than what 2001: A Space Odyssey ended. Tom was in a stark, but ultra modern dwelling of some sort. It had multiple rooms. Two human like individual stood at attention with built in smiles. One said, "I'm LL and this is my friend KL. We welcome you to our home. We know from your history that humans like to take showers. Please follow me to the bathroom. In there you'll find everything you need. Please take your time. We're in no hurry as you'll soon see." LL pointed at a glass door that prohibited any see through.
Tom, in a daze; drug hangover from sleeping pills, greeted the shower with glee. The hot water was endless; the soap smelled wonderful and the scissors and shaver - top of the line.
LL was waiting for him outside the door. He said, "Would you like that haircut now or later Tom?"
"I think I'd like to have something to eat first, if you don't mind."
"As you humans are so fond of saying: Your wish is my command. Follow me to the dining room Tom. The dining room was huge with a long rectangle hardwood table ringed with dining chairs. Tom sat at the head of the table feeling very special. For the record and because of his state of mind, Tom never gave it a thought that there might be an ulterior motive behind the hospitality. Well, why should he? He had nothing of value except his demented self. Even an alien race would find something of value in any state of mind.
Peaceful Journey Page 1