The Euclidian: When Worlds Collide (uncut) Page 11

“Hey, you guys,” he responded with a smile. He was so excited to see them that he actually sat up in bed. “Come over here and let me see if you have learned to shake hands like a man.”

  Ron shook his hand and said, “Hello, grandpa.”

  “Look me in the eye and show some confidence. Squeeze my hand like you mean it. That’s better. Come here you twins and shake my hand.” Lon and Don complied, doing a better job at shaking his hand.

  Cheryl finally spoke up. “Hello, father.”

  “What do you want,” he said with a sneer.

  “Father, let’s try to be civil in front of the kids.”

  “Why don’t you hand me my cane and I’ll show them how a kid should be disciplined.”

  Cheryl gritted her teeth and glared at her father.

  Cheryl’s mother leaned over to her husband and whispered in his ear, “This hate needs to end. Be the role model you say you want to be to your grandsons. I don’t want to see you die a bitter old fool. Now be a good father and hug your daughter.” She backed away from the bed.

  Teary eyed, Cheryl’s father reached his arms out to his daughter. “Come here, baby.” Cheryl walked forward, wary of his intentions, but when she reached him she embraced him. He squeezed her hard and they both cried in each other’s arms.

  “Come on, you three,” whispered Cheryl’s mother to her grandsons. “Let’s give them a chance to catch up.” Her mother led the boys out of the room and downstairs to get some food. Moments later the sound of laughter could be heard from upstairs. Cheryl’s mother put her hand to her chest in an attempt restrain her joy.

  Two days later, the family headed south from Muskegon Heights to Holland. They took a break there and Cheryl showed her sons the tulips and windmills and bought them wooden shoes. They went to a local restaurant and had lunch, which included Gouda cheese and stroopwafles. Afterward, they headed south again to Chicago and visited Grant Park. In the evening they had barbecue at Khan’s with some distant cousins. The next morning they got up early, jumped on I-65 and headed back to DC.

  CHAPTER 12

  HITCHING A RIDE

  The Euclidian ship where Pico was captive received its orders from the mining headquarters in the city of Occum, which was the center of government and where the Euclidian civilization had been founded more than 100,000 years earlier. That early civilization spread across the planet and later to its moons and then other planets in the Neuron solar system. About 20,000 years ago, the Euclidians discovered interstellar travel and started colonizing or stripping distant planets. They acquired a wealth of minerals and the talents and technologies of new species. They used their acquisitions to extend their reach and solidify their power. The Euclidian system now consisted of over a hundred planets scattered around the universe.

  The dimensional transportation device was one such technology that had changed the course of Euclidian history. It permitted the opening of portals through space. One could instantly see, hear, and feel what was happening on a distant planet. This technology was powerful and extremely dangerous. If a portal was opened in the middle of a star it could instantly destroy a large part of a planet. To avoid this risk, two things were done. First, a device was used to scout the area around where they planned to open a portal. The planet’s tracking coordinates were then sent to the displacement device. Second, an unmanned ship was used for the initial opening of the portal.

  Once a connection was considered to be safe, empaths used the device for reconnaissance. When appropriate planets were found and local contacts selected, the information was passed to resource extraction ships. Only planets with advanced civilizations were selected because they offered three valuable opportunities: minerals, slaves, and technology. The ships remained deployed until their stores were full or they had something extraordinary to deliver to headquarters.

  ***

  Pico repositioned himself underneath his cot and placed his hand on a blank spot on the wall to absorb nutrients. He used his shaman sphere to leave his body and go back to the reception room where Ms. Li was questioning a different person. Once Ms. Li was finished she provided a report to the commander. An empath was in the room to ensure that Ms. Li provided a complete and accurate account of the discussions.

  Pico decided to follow the next person out to see where she went. She entered the transport room, stepped onto one of the pads, and dematerialized. This, thought Pico, is my way out.

  Pico returned to his body and thought over a plan. While he was thinking, he placed both hands on the wall and focused on absorbing nutrients. Before long he had a hole large enough to get through. He placed his hands in the container next to him and finished off the liquid, grabbed his blanket, and went through the hole, but before going through he used his shaman stone to change his skin color to black to make him harder to see. He filled the hole with the blanket and converted it to the color and texture of the wall. Pico determined that the only way to get to the transport room safely would be to hitch a ride with one of the crewmembers. Pico used the shaman stone to float to the ceiling and waited for a crewmember to come by. He kept the stone hidden inside him to prevent its glow from being seen. Soon after, two crewmembers walked directly below Pico. As they passed underneath, Pico floated down and hid amongst the tools in one of the crewmembers’ tool belt. With his flexible bones he could flatten himself out to minimize the risk of detection.

  The two men continued down the corridor oblivious of their stowaway. They turned a corner and entered an elevator. Pico slipped between the cracks of the door as they entered the elevator and hid between the doors. Pico manipulated the shaman stone so it would pass through the cracks. He remained attached to the elevator doors and waited for the floor that held the transport room. After what seemed to be an eternity, a female crewmember left the elevator on the floor he was looking for and Pico hitched a ride around the collar of her jacket, doing the best he could to go undetected by sensors and passersby. Upon reaching the observation room, Pico slipped off and slid under the door to the room.

  Outside of Pico’s cell, many floors below the observation room, a roaming sensor passed by. It was not fooled by the blanket in the hole and sent an alarm announcing the breach. The operations room scanned the confinement area and found that only Pico was missing. A silent alarm went out to find him, and an alert was sent to other confinement areas that held Cerebrans, warning about the possible risk of them breaching the walls.

  The observation room was occupied by the empath observing Ms. Li’s interview. Pico crept behind the curtains around to the door into the reception area. Ms. Li was finishing up and showing a woman to the door to the transport area. As she turned to return to her desk, Pico stepped into the room and attached himself to the back of the woman just as she put on her coat.

  The empath noticed a presence in the room as it moved into the reception area and notified the transport operations officer, but it was too late. The woman stepped onto a transport pad and dematerialized just as the transport officer finished his conversation with the empath. Pico had made it off the ship and onto a distant planet.

  CHAPTER 13

  MORGAN SAVES PICO

  “Security, we detected a stowaway that transported down with the last visitor that met with Ms. Li.”

  “It was the Crebran. He escaped from his cell a short time ago. We’ll send a guard to retrieve him. Make sure to provide him with the right clothing for the destination.”

  In DC, the US ambassador to the UN materialized in her apartment. She decided to go out and take a walk in a nearby park to clear her head. She hated doing what she was doing, but she couldn’t let her family suffer for what she thought was mediocre information. A nation would have to have an extensive spy network or tremendous firepower to take out all of the US weapons. She exited the elevator and walked into the warm evening air with Pico in tow.

  At that moment a Euclidian guard appeared in the ambassador’s apartment, wearing black tights and a grey hoodie. She had a thick scarf arou
nd her neck and a pair of black Dolce & Gabbana shades covered her eyes. She scanned the apartment and found that it was empty. She went out onto the apartment balcony just in time to see the ambassador going down the street and around the corner. She leapt from the balcony to the ground and chased after her.

  The guard grabbed the ambassador by the collar and dragged her into an alley. Pico slipped off and hid behind some bags of refuse in the alley. The guard silently and aggressively searched the ambassador’s body for Pico, going through her purse then the pockets and lining of her coat. In frustration, the guard angrily shoved the ambassador against the wall where Pico was hiding forcing him out into the open. The guard spotted Pico and pulled out a weapon to kill him, but the weapon was knocked from her hand by a tennis ball. She looked to see where the ball came from just in time to get her sunglasses knocked from her face. She turned to retrieve her weapon but Morgan launched another volley and knocked the weapon into the street. The guard ran into the street and in front of a passing police car.

  Figure 6. Morgan saves Pico from assassin

  The car screeched to a stop and two policemen jumped out. The guard grabbed her gun and took off running down the sidewalk toward the ambassador’s apartment building. One of the policemen fired a shot at the guard but missed his target. They chased the guard and followed her into the building in time to see her enter the elevator. As the elevator door closed behind her, the ambassador stumbled into the lobby. “My apartment is on the third floor!” she said.

  “Thanks,” said the policemen in unison and they headed up the stairs.

  They got to the third floor just as the elevator arrived and stood in front of the doors with guns drawn. A flash of light slipped through the seams of the doors, then the doors opened and the elevator was empty.

  “I’ll go down to the second floor,” said one of the officers. “Call for backup.”

  Pico found his surroundings overwhelming. There were so many unfamiliar sights, sounds, structures, and vehicles. Pico wanted to remain hidden in the alley, but he was getting weak and needed replenishment. He placed his hands on the wall behind him and gagged. This was not the same material that the walls on the ship were made from. He tried several other walls with the same result. Now he was starting to panic. He had to get nourishment soon or he would die. The creature that saved the ambassador was standing nearby, looking out of the alley at the police car.

  Morgan decided that he didn’t want to try to explain to his foster mother why he was in the alley in the first place, let alone why he had attacked a stranger there, so he headed toward the other end of the alley and home.

  Pico pulled out his shaman stone and used it to scan the creature’s brain for the syntax, semantics, and vocabulary of its language. He then called out to it. “Help me. I’m suffocating.”

  What the hell was that? thought Morgan.

  “Please help me. I’m dying. I’m over here.”

  Morgan walked back to the center of the alley. “Over where?” he shouted

  “Over here. Keep walking. I’m right here”

  “Where are you? I can’t see you.”

  “Look down.”

  Morgan looked down to see a tiny green creature waving at him. Morgan screamed and fell backward onto his butt. “What the hell are you? And how are you talking? You don’t even have a mouth. Is this some sort of ventriloquist trick?”

  “No. Please help me. I’m dying.”

  Morgan regained his composure, but was still shocked by what he saw. A creature with no real mouth or nose or ears, but it was somehow communicating with him. “What is it you want from me?” asked Morgan.

  “I need to find a wall of really hard material, or I will die.”

  “What about the wall behind you?”

  “It’s the wrong type of material. It’s not dense enough.”

  “Maybe you’re looking for something metallic. Let’s try the dumpster over there.”

  “I’m too weak to move. Can you lift me?”

  “Sure, but you’re not going to give me a disease or eat my brain or something, are you?”

  “I don’t even have a mouth, remember?”

  “Oh yeah. So without a mouth or nose how do you eat or breathe?”

  “I ingest all the nourishment I need through my skin. If I need a large dose of something I use my hands. The atmosphere on my planet has all the nutrients I need. Your planet’s atmosphere doesn’t have the minerals I require. I have to get sustenance by other means. I just don’t know which objects on your planet have the right minerals. ”

  Morgan lifted Pico and took him to the dumpster. “This is made of metal. Is it hard enough?”

  “Can you move me closer? I have to be able to touch it.”

  Morgan held Pico close enough to the dumpster that Pico could touch it. The Cerebran gagged. “No, that’s not it. I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

  Morgan looked at his hands and noticed that they were covered with flakes of green paint from the dumpster. “Maybe it’s the paint. Let’s try the inside of the dumpster. It’s not covered with paint.” Morgan lowered Pico inside of the dumpster and heard him sigh with relief.

  “This is what I need. Thank you for saving my life. I’ll be done in another minute.”

  “So where are you from?”

  “A planet a long way from here. I couldn’t even tell you where.”

  “How did you get here?”

  “I hitched a ride with one of your people from a ship that took me captive before destroying my planet. At least that is what I heard from the elders of my kind that were on the ship with me before they were sent back to my planet to die.”

  “Are you saying that a human was on the same ship as you and teleported to this city and that you hitched a ride with the human?”

  “Yes, that’s right. I’m done now. You can pull me out.”

  “Now you’re dark blue.”

  “I know. I need to absorb some kind of fluid that gives me other nutrients.”

  “Do you know what the fluid is called?”

  “No, it may not even exist on your planet. On my planet I get my nourishment from the atmosphere. When I was taken onto the ship I had to search through some feeding troughs for the proper sustenance.”

  “Okay, let’s go to the store and see if we can find what you need.”

  Morgan placed Pico inside his jacket and took him to a nearby Safeway. They went down the aisles and tried out different liquids: nail polish remover, vanilla extract, alcohol, detergent, bleach, mouthwash, and several other things. Pico was getting sick from ingesting so many different fluids, and Morgan began to get flustered.

  “Let’s try some stuff that I would drink. Here’s some milk.”

  “Oh no, that’s animal fluid. You don’t eat animals, do you?”

  “Well, sort of.”

  “Are you going to eat me?”

  “Of course not. Here, try the orange juice.” He poured a little on Pico’s hands and Pico lit up, which made Morgan relax a bit. “Is that it? Is that what you needed?”

  “Yes, that’s what I needed.”

  “Okay, I’ll buy a carton of orange juice for you. That and the nails we got from the dumpster should keep you alive for a while, right?”

  “Yes!”

  Morgan paid for the juice and walked toward home.

  “So tell me, why are you still blue? It’s a light blue now, but blue all the same.”

  “This is my normal color. I feel just fine.”

  “So what’s your name?”

  “Pico.”

  “Hi, Pico. I’m Morgan.” He offered a finger to Pico’s little hand.

  “Pico, I better get home. My foster parents will be angry if I stay out too late. Are you okay staying at my place for now?”

  “Yes, I don’t have anywhere else to stay and there is a lot I don’t understand about your planet. I take it you don’t get many visits by extraterrestrials.”

  “Never. Most people don’t
even believe there is life on other planets. For us, space travel beyond our moon is impossible. So why don’t you tell me about yourself, starting with where you came from and how you got here?”

  “I’m not sure how to tell you where I’m from. I only know that our planet was in a solar system with seven planets, or six once our planet has been destroyed by the sun.”

  “So it’s like a Superman thing, where your people had to flee a dying planet?”

  “No, not quite,” said Pico, rubbing a nail between his hands. “Our planet was attacked by space marauders. We fought back and they destroyed our planet. I hid in one of their mining vehicles and when it returned to the ship they discovered me and put me in a cell. I used a shaman crystal to hitch a ride with a creature from this city. The aliens used some sort of teleportation device to transport us here from their ship.”

  “Are you saying that those creatures that captured you and destroyed your planet are here in DC?”

  “Not exactly. It was a human that is working with them. I’m not sure why. They were asking her about the weapons on this planet. They often investigate planets before attacking them. A planet, and its solar system, have to have a special set of resources before they will invade it, from I gleaned from my captives.”

  “Are you saying that our planet is going to be attacked by aliens?”

  “Not exactly. They don’t always invade the planets that they investigate.”

  “Really?”

  “It’s actually a low percentage of them. It takes a lot of resources for them to invade a system. They have to ensure that the investment is worth the effort.”

  “So I shouldn’t worry about them attacking our planet?”

  “No, but there’s nothing you could do anyway.”

  “What do you mean, there’s nothing we can do?”

  “I know what we can do,” said Don, coming off the porch. “Let’s start by kicking your balls into your nostrils. What’s that you’re talking to in your jacket?” Don pulled open Morgan’s jacket and saw Pico who was now totally motionless. “What the hell? Not only are you playing with dolls, but you’re having conversations with them?”