Chapter Eight
“No offense taken. We know you are adventurous, Jack Jr., and we further know that you really enjoy your trips to our planet. Our people are peaceful and friendly and enjoy interaction with other species, especially humans. I am sure that once you spend time on our planet that you will adapt the same attitude and respect, and appreciation, that your human counterpart has done on his visit to our planet.”
“Their people are very friendly. It took me a few days to get used to looking at other beings, but just their grace, charm and willingness to put up with me was astonishing. They learn quickly, and want to learn. And as you see, language is not a barrier.” responded human Jack smiling.
“Yes, exactly and our planet is as beautiful as this one if not more so in a rugged, naturally beautiful, way. Our population is only third of the population of Earth while our planet is approximately the same size and same diversity in natural surroundings, weather and all. "
Mesalmo walk to Bio-Jack and spoke to him face-to-face.
"We have many recreational and remote places to explore. And we have learned to live in harmony with nature. We have, as I said before, no pollution, no large noisy cities. Our population enjoys the rural way of living in smaller, personal cities spaced around our world. Based on how you live here, in this house, you would love our planet.” said Mesalmo his palms up and making sweeping motions at the area he referenced.
“Also consider this; only our science is the only science that can repair your robotic body. The technology, the alloys, the electronics, and the power source do not exist on this planet. You will need periodic maintenance which cannot be performed on this planet. And if you experience major trauma, or death, and are discovered to be not of this Earth, it could have dire consequences on the balance of power on this planet. Your planet is not ready for the advanced technology that exists in you.”
“I assure you , Jack Jr., you will have a long and productive life our planet. I can’t guarantee the same for you here. You can even have your appearance changed if you so desire. And, yes, we can create a human like female companion for you.“
“Ok, ok, you’ve convinced me. I realize now that I can’t stay on this planet. Not just for the problems of having a human twin, but for all the maintenance issues you’ve brought up. But also the way you describe your planet, it sounds like such a beautiful place to create art. A place I would really like to go to. And I guess that’s why bio-Jack over there went in the first place.” He Jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of human Jack.
“It will take a little time for me to adjust to just being a robot. I mean I have no other memories other than that of Jack. And you're right that if something happened to my robotic body, I would need your technology to repair me. I was just running off human emotion, but I still have logical thought.
I will be your resident artist and teacher. I realize now that I can’t remain on this planet with no “health insurance” so to speak.” concluded Jack Jr. with a shrug of both shoulders.
“Yes, and we can in time, and as the budget permits, create some humanoid robots for you to have some comfort. We can pool the brain resources of the population of our planet, and introduce some of your memories, to create you companions that have the same general memories of this planet, with new memories of our planet. These new beings would be a totally unique and with new personalities with the traits and memories of both of our cultures. We could also alter your memories slightly, to include memories of our planet without interfering with the artistic memories that you need. It would be an interesting experiment.”
"Yeah, that’s me; just an interesting experiment.” chuckled Jack Jr.
Bruce just sat, amazed at the events unfolding before him. Jack walked over to Bruce, and put his arm around him and gave his brother a hug. Bruce hugged him back.
“Jack Jr. really had you fooled, huh little brother?”
“Yeah he did. When he came into my office this morning and we x-rayed his arm, and I didn’t know what to think. I knew it was you but at the same time I didn’t know what to think.”
“Come on Bruce; let’s go see these guys on their way.”
“Hey, twin. Is it ok if I take a memento of my time here on Earth?” asked Jack Jr.
“Sure. Take whatever of those small sculptures you want.” and nodded to a display of several shelves on the back wall of small art that Jack had produced. It was from all different stages of his life.
Jack Jr. walked over to one of the workbenches and picked up a sculpture about half the size of a shoebox. The sculpture was not of medieval times, but an older sculpture of Jack’s American Heritage collection; two young boys fishing off a wooden bridge.
“I like this one. I remember creating this, and I even remember the reason I created it, even though I didn’t actually create this particular piece, you did..” said Jack Jr. as he turned to Jack Sr.
“We created this in honor of us. A symbol that we would forever enjoy each other’s company, and that we would forever be brothers.”
Jack sniffed. “That’s right robo- bro, that’s right. That piece is yours, you deserve to have that piece. I hope that perhaps in the future, I can visit where you are working to see how your work has evolved. What do you say Mesalmo? Is that possible?”
“Of course, Jack. That will be possible, but not for many, many, months. Our budget does not have enough credit at this time for another trip to Earth in the near future. Perhaps in six months to a year.” responded Mesalmo.
Bruce walked over to Jack Jr.
“Brother and you are still my brother, I am going to miss you.”
Bruce gave Jack Jr. a hug. Jack Jr., teary eyed, hugged Bruce back.
“You must destroy those x-ray” said Jack Jr.
“Yes, I will, robo-bro. As soon as my bio-bro over there drives me back to my office. This is kind of neat have twin brothers.”
The three of them walked out through the side door in the kitchen, with Jack Jr. carrying the sculpture. They walked around to the back of the house which was rugged land as far as the eye could see to the horizon. Trees populated the area in small groves of five or six, but not in significant quantities to form woods. The ground cover was rocky with small low ground cover mixed with a variety of weeds and flowing plants.
“Holy cow. Y’all came in that?” exclaimed Bruce as he turned the corner of the house.
A small, silver colored, space ship about the size of a small RV, and in much the same shape, sat in the field about 30 feet behind Jacks house. No seams or rivets were visible. The ship appeared to be one formed piece of metal with no rivets, weld marks or seams. The bottom flared out and the ship was hovering about a two feet above the ground.
“It kind of looks like a cross between a small RV and the space shuttle with the wings cut off.” voiced Bruce.
“We have a larger interplanetary saucer vehicle behind your moon. Anything larger than this entering the Earth’s atmosphere, and we would not be able to cloak our vehicle from your radars and sensors. This is gravity powered stealth shuttle and it emits no heat or electromagnetic radiation. If it is not spotted visually, it is virtually invisible to all earth instruments. However, it is barely capable of half the speed of light.”
They walked up to behind the cockpit side windows of the shuttle where there was a hatch. Mesalmo removed a device from his pocket that resembled a key fob. He pressed a few buttons in sequence and the hatch slid open; a hum could be heard coming from the shuttle. He had also started the engine power up sequence.
“Our experience here has been a marvelous one. Our planet is beginning to enjoy and understand what art is and how and why it is created. It is a very emotional process. We have been doing this project for fifty of your years now, but we still have a long way to go. Literature is going to be our next big learning experience. We are working on a program and budget and hopefully will be able to
borrow some of your great writers. I think that Steven King will be first on our list."
“We thank you, Jack, for your contribution and as it seems, you will be continuing to contribute to our planet’s art by proxy.”
“You’re welcome, Mesalmo, it’s been a great experience. Jack Jr., make me proud.”
“Don’t worry, Dad, I’ll do well.”
Jack turned and hugged Jack Jr. tightly for the last time; followed by Bruce. They both wished Jack Jr. good luck and thanked Mesalmo. Both their eyes were misting.
Mesalmo and Jack Jr. waved good-bye as they boarded the shuttle. The shuttle door slid shut behind them with a soft hiss and a gentle thump.
Jack and Bruce could see Mesalmo and Jack Jr. through the cockpit glass as they took their seats and waved again. The low humming coming from the shuttle increased slightly in volume and sounded like an electrical transformer. The shuttle ascended slowly into the clear twilight sky. The setting sun over the ocean was reflected in the ships silvery mirror finish.
Jack and Bruce backed off towards the house and watched the ship ascend. At an altitude of one hundred feet, it nosed upward on a forty-five degree angle, and streaked off in a blur into the heavens. Jack and Bruce watched the shuttle as it quickly became smaller, and smaller and in a matter of seconds the shuttle could no longer be seen.
They both stared at the point in the sky for a few seconds where the ship disappeared, then turned towards the house and walked over the rock strewed landscape towards the side door.
“Mom's NEVER going to believe this.” said Bruce.
The End
About the Author
I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana in the sixties, and read a lot of science fiction and watched every sci-fi movie that came out. When the movies were really, really, bad, I mean below a B grade movie, my mom and I would turn down the sound on the TV and make up our own dialog.
It wasn’t until the late 80’s that I started to write sci-fi stories. I had some scribbling and such but no definite story line.
I remember thinking about in all the science fiction stories that are out, but you rarely see anything personal about the people, or the culture. They don't seem to have any budgets either.
This got me to thinking and then I was watching Star Trek – Next generation and wondered if I woke up one day and I was like Data, you know, the android, but thought I was human.
Then I needed a plot and I thought about the movie "The Last Starfighter" where an android is left in place of Lance Guest. So the android switch with the human was cool, and the android thought he was the human but now the back drop. How about the grays have all this technology but no art! At that point a story was born.
My stories are not the hard core science fiction, but more of the Twilight Zone type of science fiction. The people take center stage not the science; science is just a prop.
All of my covers for these type novelettes will be in black and white as to pay homage to the Twilight Zone type of stories.
Coming Soon!
I am working on my blog so I have my readers interact with me and learn about my weird thought processes for some of these stories. Also to announce the latest stories either coming out soon.
Flat Tire – My first writing attempt, where a doctor gets a flat tire in the desert and meets a gorgeous alien.
Switched in Time – A 45 year old man is switched in time with his 20 year old self.
Visit my blog at https://barrybbegault.wordpress.com/ and let me know your thoughts on my writing and thanks for choosing my story to read.
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