by Don Viecelli
“Thank you for this gift, Commander Orlutinion. I will treasure it always,” Dave said.
“Thank you, Commander Orlutinion. Will we see you again?” Kaye asked.
“It is possible. If we return, the Mo-Li will let you know. We must go now. May you remain safe on your journey.”
“You too, Commander,” they both said at the same time. Commander Orlutinion turned and walked back to the platform.
Commander Bonario walked over to shake hands with Dave and Kaye and say hello before he joined the Tularians. “It’s nice to meet you, Colonel Hampton and Miss Weston. Commander Orlutinion told us about your visit. I guess you know how exciting it is aboard their ship? We can’t wait to see the sun. I can’t believe this is happening to us.”
“We know, Commander,” Dave said. “It’s nice to meet you in person. I read your report about what happened on the ISS. You must tell me what happens when you get back.”
“I’ll do that, Colonel.”
“I want to interview all of you when you get back on the ground,” Kaye said smiling at each of them. They agreed and said goodbye. Then they walked back to the platform and stepped on board. The platform quickly rose up into the ship and the doors closed. Within a matter of minutes the spaceship took off, slowly at first, then much faster. It disappeared into the night sky until only a speck of light could be seen in the heavens. Then that too disappeared. They all stood there trying to peer through the lights. The crowd was quiet for a few minutes. Then the floodlights shut off and only the lights around the hangar were still shining. The whole episode lasted forty minutes. No one wanted to accept the fact that it was over. The spaceship was gone. The President and his entourage returned to the hangar. Now it was time to get back to work. Dave still had a crash investigation to complete. They still had the spacecraft that crashed to analyze and try to reassemble. They had gigabytes of data from the aliens to interpret and understand. Now they had the plans to build the solar shield. It would take months, if not years, to understand it all.
Dave turned to Kaye. “Where to now?”
“Back to Chicago to air this report. We’ll be driving back in the van.”
Dave grabbed her arm. “Kaye, I would like to see you again. Maybe we can get together for dinner next week. I’ll be working here in Milwaukee from now on. I could drive down to see you. You pick the place.”
“That would be nice, Dave. Call me next week and we’ll make some plans.” She smiled at him and touched his arm. Then she joined Kurt and Debbie and walked back to the news van. Dave watched her go. When Kaye reached the van she turned back and waved. Debbie pushed her into the van in a friendly way and closed the door. Dave watched the van leave. For a moment, he wished he was going with her, but he still had a job to do. Dave looked at the memory disk around his neck and wondered how it worked. He put it inside his jacket and walked toward the hangar to go back to work.
Chapter 33
The Tularian mothership sped upwards and out of the Earth’s atmosphere in a matter of minutes. Commander Orlutinion escorted the three astronauts to his command center. Off to one side was a large window that allowed him and his quests to view the outside universe. The view was spectacular. As they stood facing the window, they saw the International Space Station come into view. It was in its normal orbit around the planet. As they passed by, the sun appeared on the horizon in front. The window compensated for the sun’s glare and they could look right at the glowing ball of fire. Commander Orlutinion set the ship’s course for the sun and accelerated. Commander Bonario and the others felt no motion at all, but they could see that the ship was increasing its speed and moving very fast.
Commander Bonario wondered how long it would take to reach the sun and asked Commander Orlutinion who responded. “We have set a moderate speed, which will allow us to reach your sun in two of your hours. We will stop before we get too close to its magnetic field. Even we must be careful of its gravitational strength. Nothing we have can survive on its surface.”
“How close will we come to the sun?” Alex asked.
“We will stop when we get within several million miles of your sun. Then we will perform our ceremony. I will take you to our great hall where you can watch. It is a solemn occasion for us.”
“What do you do with the bodies?” Major Helms asked.
“Our medical team performs an autopsy on each body, much like you do I imagine. Then we clean and prepare the bodies for their final journey. We already have tissue samples of each Tularian on board this ship. When someone dies, we decide if we should generate a new body. That is how we maintain our population and keep it vital.”
“You mean your offspring are cloned?”
“Cloning in your definition is too narrowly defined. We duplicate only those genes that can survive in our environment. We also abide by the wishes of the deceased. That is one of the reasons we wished to have the memory disks back. The instructions and wishes for each body are recorded inside their Mo-Li. If they wish to be duplicated with whatever changes they asked for, we pass their wishes before their family members and the Administrative Council. Then we decide what to do. It is our custom to then dispose of the bodies by sending them into the nearest star, in this case, your sun.”
“What do you plan to do with the tissue samples you took from us earlier?” Major Helms asked.
“They will be added to our collection of genes from intelligent beings we have encountered all over this galaxy. We have studied your people for centuries and can show you how your genes have changed during this time. It is a never ending process.”
Major Helms thought about the medical and scientific significance of that statement and agreed that would be very useful for study purposes. Commander Orlutinion promised to give her a copy of the data they had collected before she left the ship. Now it was time for him to leave to prepare for the ceremony. He had things he must do. He showed them to another room where food they could eat was being prepared. He promised to return before the ceremony started and left the room.
Commander Orlutinion went to the room where the bodies were being prepared for burial. Family members were present and soon the bodies would be put on display for all to pay their respects if they wished. Commander Orlutinion stopped by each body and spoke with the relatives present. They were sad at the passing of each life, but they understood the purpose of life and death on a much higher level than most intelligent beings they have encountered on their journey through space. He stopped at his daughter’s body. Several of his other children were present as were his brother and two sisters. His wife had passed on many years before. They consoled each other in their sorrow. Commander Orlutinion held his daughter’s Mo-Li and tried to communicate with her. He knew it would not happen unless she wished it so. He sensed nothing and so passed it on to the other family members. Maybe one of them was the chosen one. Slowly, each member held the disk, concentrated and then passed it on. Finally, Elon’s daughter who was still very young held the disk. The disk started to glow in color and the girl’s face suddenly lit up into a big smile. She was communicating with her mother and she looked very happy. She began to pass on recollections and wishes to each member of the family and her mother’s friends. When she reached her grandfather, she gave him a big hug and held his hand so he could feel his daughter’s presence for himself. Commander Orlutinion could see Elon’s face and hear her voice in his mind. She told him what had happened on board their ship before it exploded and then told him what information she had allowed the humans to record from her Mo-Li. It wasn’t just a memory, for Elon was communicating with him from the spirit world. It was a rare and beautiful thing. It only happened on special occasions and only because of the power of the Mo-Li. Everyone in the room watched the Commander as he stood there deep in thought. Then the glow from the disk disappeared. He looked down at his granddaughter and smiled. It was time to prepare for the final ceremony. He left the room.
Commander Bonario, Major Helms and Alex Vlada
mir had finished eating. The food was adequate, but the taste was bland. It was improving, though, and they wondered how many more meals they would receive before they had to leave. Alex was the one who wondered the most, for he was going to be with them for a few months.
“Do you think you can survive on this food, Alex?” Major Helms asked pushing her plate away.
“I may have to cook it myself, Major. It has no Russian flavor. Maybe I can show these aliens how to make Vodka. I could use a drink about now.”
“We’re going to miss you, Alex,” Commander Bonario said good-naturedly.
“Save my spot on the space station, Commander. I’ll be back before either of you can figure out how to read the sun’s image on my coronagraph.”
They heard the door open. Commander Orlutinion entered the room and asked them to follow him to the central viewing hall. They walked along a circular hallway and entered a large room where several hundred Tularians were standing looking at a very large covered window over thirty feet high and a hundred feet wide. The outer cover opened in the middle as it retracted toward the far sides. As they looked out the window, the sun came into view. The light was filtered so as not to blind them. The sun filled the center of the window. It was stunning to look at. The sun was glowing brightly in yellow and reddish orange colors. It was on fire. The sun was nearing Solar Maximum. There were hundreds of dark black sunspots of various sizes visible across its surface, always in pairs. The majority of sunspots were centered in a wide band around the middle of the sun’s equator. The surface was rolling and churning in flames. Suddenly a large solar prominence exploded on the sun’s surface and leaped upwards from the left northern hemisphere. It was large and looping, extending thousands of miles into space in a matter of minutes. Prominences can erupt into coronal mass ejections (CME’s) and, if facing Earth, produce solar magnetic storms when it hits the Earth’s magnetosphere. With the protective filters on the windows, they could see the chromosphere visible around the entire perimeter of the sun. Beyond the chromosphere, extending for millions of miles in space was a large, brightly lit cloud of gases called the corona, usually only visible on Earth during an eclipse. Alex was simply stunned by the view. He was suddenly worried about radiation.
Commander Orlutinion sensed his concern. “Do not be concerned. We generate our own magnetic field that protects us from the sun’s effects. This is as close as we can come to your sun.” As they continued to watch the sun, they saw four objects leave the ship and head for the sun’s surface. They looked like shooting stars as they raced towards the sun. The Tularians were silent as they watched the bodies plunge toward the fiery surface. Of course, the bodies would never make it all the way to the surface. They would disintegrate into ionized particles long before that. Someday, the Tularians would be able to design a material that would survive the entire journey to the sun’s surface. It was just a matter of time and knowledge.
As they all watched the final journey of the four Tularian explorers, Commander Orlutinion thought about what his daughter said to him through her Mo-Li. “Father,” she said, “I’m sorry I had to make the final journey to the other side, but we shall see each other again soon. Please help these humans. When one of them died, he could read my Mo-Li. They are ready for the journey into space. You must help them to survive the changes in their sun. They can help you make the journey to the next galaxy.”
Commander Orlutinion already suspected this. They had been studying the human race for some time now. They could never predict when the change would happen in a new race, but when it did, it must be celebrated for it meant they were ready to explore the universe. As stars like the sun were created, they formed solar systems, burned brightly for billions of years and then burned out. Life followed its own evolutionary course, but on a much shorter time scale. Races evolved, explored the galaxy they sprang from, if they were lucky to survive at all, and then they too passed away. No race they knew of had ever lasted long enough to explore more than one galaxy, except for the ancient race that had visited their planet before it was consumed by their sun. This race of beings came from another galaxy in the universe. They left their mark wherever they had been, small traces of common genetic code. It was present in the Tularian race, and it was present in these humans. The code was found in every intelligent race the Tularians had thus far encountered. They were all linked together by a race that had visited their galaxy long ago and then departed. Orlutinion knew they had returned to their own galaxy and he wanted to find them.
They left behind a gift, a way to reach beyond the local stars of their galaxy. They gave the Tularians the Mo-Li. It was a way to communicate with those spirits who had died and crossed over to the other side. These spirits had access to the Library of Knowledge, which contained all knowledge obtained so far by each race of beings and recorded for all time. This knowledge could be shared among various races. The Mo-Li gave them access to this Library of Knowledge and the key to travel outside their own galaxy. The secrets of that ancient race would allow them to explore the rest of the universe. The real journey was about to begin.
It would take all the resources of the living and the knowledge from those who had died before them to complete the journey. His daughter was right. It was the sun that contained the key. He was certain of it. The data that his daughter and the crewmembers had recorded before they crashed on Earth was conclusive. The sun in this solar system was ready to expand. The first signs were increased solar flare activity. They could predict each event with great accuracy. The solar energy that would be expelled could be harnessed. The planet and its people would survive, but its effects would be devastating without their help.
They would show the human race how to build the magnetic shield. The Tularians did not have the resources to build it themselves. They needed the humans to provide the materials and the labor. The shield would protect the planet as he promised, but it would also do something just as important for his people. The shield would produce an energy beam that would be sufficient to power his ship faster than the speed of light. It would allow him to journey across the universe to the galaxy where they knew the ancient race came from. It would help them solve one great mystery—why was there no trace of the ancient race in the spirit world? Did they not die? It was a mystery the Tularians wanted to solve. They had waited patiently for this opportunity and a few more years would not matter. In time, the humans would learn how to explore their galaxy and unlock the secrets of the universe just as the Tularians had done. First, they would have to learn how to survive the evolution of their sun and harness its power.
He would help these humans evolve as that other race had helped his own. It was a continual process and would last until one race had at last explored the entire universe, or the universe ceased to exist. Commander Orlutinion would give these humans the gift of the Mo-Li. They would learn soon enough what it could do and how to duplicate it for others to use. It would take several generations to understand it completely, but if they survived the trials of civilization and continued in the exploration of space, they would soon learn its secret and access the gift of knowledge that other races had learned and left behind for all to use. The journey would continue and Commander Orlutinion thanked the stars.
Chapter 34
North Carolina, Two Months Later:
The bright light found its way through the seams of the heavy curtains on Dave’s bedroom balcony door. He heard seagulls outside. It was early in the morning. The sun was up and it was already quite hot outside. He was back in his condominium on Carolina Beach in North Carolina. He was finally on vacation. It was late August and he had the next two weeks off to unwind from the pressures of his job. It felt good to be back. He was surprised that General Anderson had approved his request for some time off. This was his first morning of vacation and he allowed himself to sleep in.
Dave got out of bed and opened the curtains enough to look outside. He had to shield his eyes from the sun. He opened the sliding door an
d could see his boat, Sea Oats, tied to the dock below. It was swaying gently in the inlet channel from the wind and waves of passing fishing boats. He could hear the clanking noise of the ropes as it hit against the tall metal mast. It looked like a beautiful day. He could smell the ocean breeze and looked past the inlet to the ocean on the other side. He could see the waves splashing on the beach and noticed in was high tide. It was going to be a great day for sailing and he couldn’t wait to get started.
First, Dave had to shave, shower and get dressed. Usually, he wouldn’t shave or shower until just before dinner each night. It was his habit while he was on vacation. It was no use getting cleaned up just to go swimming on the beach or take his boat out sailing for the day. However, he had something special planned for today. He put on a light colored tee shirt, shorts, sandals and a hat and found some juice to drink in his refrigerator. Now it was time to get some breakfast, coffee and the daily paper. He knew just what he wanted.
Dave put on his sunglasses and walked outside. It was hot in the sun. It would be in the nineties today, he knew, but there would be a wind blowing off the ocean and it would be quite pleasant. He walked down the steps from the second floor landing and headed for the wood walkway along the marina. He passed several people he knew getting ready to take the first customers out on the ocean for some deep sea fishing. He waved to them and said hello. Everyone was very friendly here on the docks.
He left the marina and crossed the street. He was headed for Britts donut shop, which opened on the boardwalk in 1939. He walked up the alley between the tourist shops and arcade games and found the donut shop. Actually, he smelled it first. The aroma of freshly baked donuts was unmistakable. It made his mouth water. Britts was a small place with a white coffee counter and a row of stools to sit on. It wasn’t very busy, so he sat down and ordered a dozen donuts to go and some coffee. He watched the cook behind a glass window make a batch of freshly cut donuts and gently place them in a boiling vat of cooking oil. The donuts would float to the top when they were done. Then the cook would dip them into a pot of sugar glazing and put them on a wooden stick to hang on a rack until they cooled off. A waitress grabbed a stick with twelve donuts and put them in a white paper bag for Dave to take home. He paid the waitress and gave her a tip. Then he opened the bag and pulled out a donut to eat at the counter. It was hot and sticky from the sugar glazing. It melted in his mouth. He ate another one before he left the donut shop. Now he felt like he was on vacation. He headed back to his boat.