Posts filed under ‘Walt Trizna's Stories’
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 7
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 7
ATTACK FROM GYLEX
The scene outside the house was peaceful and remained peaceful until the dingo plants began their shrill alarm, joined moments later by the sound of flapping wings. The camera recorded a sight, illuminated by the outside lights that sent a chill through Elmo; it was a vision from hell. What it showed was a creature at least eight feet tall with arms and legs like that of a human. But there the resemblance ceased. It flew. Its wings appeared like that of a bat, leathery and veined, colored blood red, like the rest of its body. The torso was covered with thickly matted black hair, but the head was its most frightening aspect. It resembled the head of a wolf, with an elongated snout exposing a vicious set of teeth. The ears were long and pointed, also like a bat’s. The creature hovered before the camera, snarled at the dingo’s alarm, then flew off.
Valmid paused a few moments for Elmo’s nerves to settle down then said, “These creatures are a menace to the planet Roth, and someday soon they will again menace Earth. We know a great deal about these creatures, although no Rothian has ever set foot on their planet. These creatures do not know of our ability to read their thoughts. Because of their actions, we never attempted to communicate with them. Elmo, when you arrived, you stood in wonderment and amazement at all you witnessed. But when these creatures from Gylex first arrived, they had one thing in mind: to do us harm. The first attack occurred one night many years ago at a remote location and was not discovered for days. A worker making a delivery discovered a man and his son, dead and partially devoured. The wife and the daughter were missing. Later, other attacks were made in more populated areas, and the reality of these monsters became known.
“We learned that the invasion was from the planet Gylex, which had been wracked by a strange illness, a virus that destroyed most of the female population. It was finally controlled, but not until ninety percent of the females were dead. You now know Elmo, that our biochemistry is very similar – almost identical. The Gylexans share this similarity. The sexual chemistry of us all is also similar. The hormones and mating rituals are almost identical. Only the gestation periods vary slightly. The primary purpose of the invasion of Roth was to abduct females to sustain their population. Once captured, the females were implanted with embryos created with eggs harvested from Gylexian females before the females died.”
Elmo shivered at the thought of being touched by one of these monsters, let alone carried to their planet.
“We are a peaceful civilization, unable to defend ourselves from these monsters. We found that the dingo plants, with their extended nocturnal strands, would warn of an invasion. The Gylexans came only at night, for their planet had an odious and polluted atmosphere allowing very little light to penetrate. They cannot bear the life-giving light of our days.”
Valmid paused for a moment and his eyes filled with tears. “One day,” he said, “our daughter was visiting friends. The dingo plants of the house had not yet surrounded the dwelling with their strands, allowing the fiends to strike and abduct our girl. Those are her clothes you are wearing now.”
Elmo’s heart sank at this knowledge. “But Valmid, you said Earth was also in danger and had been invaded in the past. We have had no invasions by these beasts.”
“Ah Elmo,” Valmid replied, “but you have. From the Gylexian thoughts we found that Earth had been invaded, your females captured and returned to Gylex. These monsters kept a low profile on Earth because of your weapons, and the ease with which your society uses them without hesitation. Earth abductions continued for some time, until an invasion team became deathly ill. One day, a group of them died; dropped to the ground and instantly decayed. A lone survivor, near death, returned to Gylex and reported this development. Gylex then ceased its Earth invasions. They had not consumed anything on your planet, so they assumed something in your atmosphere was killing them. But these monsters are persistent. They continued to send parties for short periods of time – always returning to Gylex close to death. That is until recently. They still cannot remain on your planet for long, but the time they can tolerate visits is lengthening. I fear soon the invasion of Earth will begin again.”
Elmo thought for a moment. He did recall remembering a series of unexplained disappearances of women early in the twentieth century.
“I’ve been to your planet Elmo, so have others from Roth. But because of the strict rules of our people, we are not allowed to interfere with your civilization. Imagine the hysteria that would ensue if I were to appear. Knowing your love for weaponry, I doubt if I would have existed long enough to tell my story. You cannot imagine the joy, the relief all my brothers and I felt when you came to us. We hope to learn of this component contained in your atmosphere and banish this plague from our planet.”
Elmo’s mind was overwhelmed by this awesome assignment. “I am a physicist, not a chemist,” he protested. But his mind began to consider the evidence. Something in the Earth’s atmosphere sickened these beasts. The concentration of whatever it was continued to climb until it began killing them. Now, it is decreasing, yet this mysterious component of Earth’s atmosphere remains unknown. Elmo considered, “The only component of the atmosphere that is changing is carbon dioxide – producing the supposed greenhouse effect. But that gas continues to increase as the population and industry of our planet grows.”
Valmid stood and said, “It is nearly dawn, we should all get some rest.” He extended his hand to Cal and, as Elmo bounced along behind, they went upstairs.
Elmo went to bed but not to sleep. He pondered what he had just been told. Finally, he fell asleep with his mind still in torment. Blinding light entered through the unshielded window, awakening Elmo as his mind once again filled with the mystery he was asked to solve. He lay there thinking and testing theory after theory. There was nothing he could think of that had increased in the Earth’s atmosphere, then decreased without being detected. Elmo decided he must rest more. He cleared his mind and suddenly it came to him – crystal clear. He sat upright in bed and struck his forehead with his hand. “Of course, that has to be it!”
Valmid was aware of Elmo’s thoughts all morning. He now entered Elmo’s bedroom with a smile on his face “Come my friend,” he said, “we have much to plan and work to do.”
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 6
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 6
REVELATIONS FROM VALMID
Valmid invited Elmo to walk with him and discover the beauty of Roth. As they opened the door, the dingo plants were pulling back their last extended strands of nighttime growth. The sky, colored the deepest lavender Elmo had ever seen, was dotted with fluffy clouds of lemon yellow. This world was so different yet so beautiful. Elmo sniffed the air and detected the salty tang of the ocean. Valmid nodded yes. “We are near the sea.”
A path from the house led to a slight rise. As they set out Valmid shortened his stride, enabling Elmo to stay by his side. Zytex followed them, his roving eye taking in the sights of the home he had almost lost. They passed other Rothians along their climb up the rise. Valmid greeted them with his whining turbine voice and nodded to Elmo, appearing to tell the other aliens something of him. As soon as Valmid finished, Elmo noticed relief in the faces of the others. Once they had climbed to the top of the rise, the beauty of the seascape below struck Elmo with peaceful thoughts of home. An expanse of ocean, deep blue, stretched into infinity, the water turning shades of turquoise and green close to shore. “At least,” Elmo thought, “the ocean looks like home.”
A few solitary islands broke the horizon and alien pleasure craft dotted the surface, accompanied by an occasional sail billowing in the wind. The beach was the darkest black Elmo had ever seen. He thought there might be black sand on Earth, but he had never seen a beach this color. The scene was beautiful, with sights both familiar and entirely new, enhanced by aliens from another world enjoying a peaceful day by the ocean.
Elmo’s day was spent observing what life was like on planet Roth. The streets were mostly deserted except for the occasional Rothian car zipping by and the high-pitched whine of the Rothians greeting one another. Would he ever grow accustomed to that sound? Elmo spent a pleasant day with Valmid, walking and discussing Earth and Roth, the similarities and differences between the two planets. Zytex was never far behind, although he would sometimes stray. Valmid would then shout to him and grin as Zytex’s eye looked skyward and his small arms shot up as if to say, “Who me?”
As they walked the streets, Elmo noticed that a few structures similar to Valmid’s home seemed deserted. Just as on Earth, when a caring hand does not tend the property, it shows.
Valmid’s mind blanked as they passed these abandoned dwellings, as if there was something about the properties he wished to conceal. Elmo enjoyed being with Valmid, felt he could trust him, but at the same time felt there was something Valmid was hiding. But there was so much for Elmo to learn and experience in such a short period of time that the thought of some secret being kept drifted to the back of his mind.
The day went by rapidly for Elmo on this new world. The clouds took on a hint of emerald as the two followed by Zytex, headed home. Approaching the house, Valmid screeched a greeting to Cal standing in the doorway.
Elmo sat down to another Rothian meal of unfamiliar but tasty food. He wondered what type of animal and plant life he was consuming – there was still so much he wanted to learn of this planet. While Valmid and Elmo were gone, Cal had programmed the computer to display various scenes of Roth on the wall mounting, and as each scene was displayed either Valmid or Cal provided a narration. Elmo saw vast canyons and spectacular mountain ranges. He considered the differences between the inhabitants of Earth and Roth but acknowledged that the biology was basically the same. Now he realized that along with the biology, the geology of Roth must also roughly correspond to that of Earth.
The three talked late into the night, the only real sound the occasional report of the dingo plants as some small critter trespassed near the house. The fullness of the day and the quantity of information Elmo had absorbed took its toll and he began nodding off. He bid his friends goodnight and bounced up stairs that made him feel as if he were a toddler. Upon entering the bedroom, he was pleased to see the bed turned down and his pajamas laid out. Soon he was under the covers and fast asleep. But his rest did not last long. Howling and screeching pierced the night accompanied by the shrill voices of Valmid and Cal. Another sound accompanied all this turmoil, a metallic noise that rang throughout the house. Elmo soon discovered the source of the clanking as thick sheets of metal slid over his windows, leaving him sitting in total darkness, unable to imagine what was happening.
Elmo stumbled from his room into the hallway, only to encounter Valmid and Cal in an extreme state of distress. He noticed perspiration on Valmid’s brow. Since Elmo arrived on Roth Valmid had exhibited such a serene, calming countenance that to see him upset made Elmo’s uneasiness grow even deeper. He followed Valmid and Cal downstairs, and shortly they were all sitting around the kitchen table with mugs of a warm beverage resembling tea before them.
Valmid gazed at Elmo. “There is something I have been keeping from you my friend,” he said. “Something that threatens this planet and might once again threaten Earth. What you heard tonight was the alarm sounded by the dingo plants to an invasion by the inhabitants of the planet Gylex, a distant planet revolving around a star in much the same way Roth and Earth do. The inhabitants of Gylex have also discovered the secret of time-space travel, but their intentions are most nefarious.”
“You see,” he continued, “our homes are not surrounded by dingo plants to prevent crime – there is little crime on Roth. Rather, these plants surround our homes to sound the alarm if invaders from Gylex are nearby. We do not fully understand the relationship between the dingo plants and these beings, but when a Gylexan is in the vicinity of a dingo plant, the plants emit a piercing scream. We propagate these plants to warn us of invasion. We have cameras mounted outside the house to record these intrusions. Let us see if they recorded anything tonight.”
They all went into the living room and sat facing one of the wall hangings. Valmid pushed buttons on a remote and the pleasant scenes of the planet Roth were replaced by the view from the house. While doing this, he told Elmo, “In the short time you have been with us, I feel I have gotten to know you. You have experienced so much since you arrived. I was going to wait until tomorrow to tell you how you could be of benefit to my planet. Now I will show you.”
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 5
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 5
A LESSON IN SPACE AND TIME TRAVEL
Valmid and Cal led Elmo up the stairs to the guest bedroom. His bed for the night was enormous but welcoming. It had been a long, eventful day.
Cal found some pajamas and other clothes from their child’s younger days that fit Elmo perfectly. Elmo bid Cal and Valmid good night, slipped beneath the covers, and was soon asleep. His dreams were filled with screaming plants and foreign lands and Mildred. When he awoke, his first thought was of Mildred, and he was filled with sorrow and longing. It had been many years since he had awoken without her next to him.
Elmo was learning to cope with the oversized house and furniture. The weaker gravity of Roth enabled him to jump greater distances than he could on Earth. He found he could hop up and down the stairs and jump into bed with little effort. After dropping down from the bed, Elmo entered the bathroom, took a shower, then carefully made his way down the stairs. Valmid and Cal were already eating breakfast and invited Elmo to join them.
Valmid detected Elmo’s reluctance to eat their food, so he reassured him, “Elmo, although we’re very different on the outside, on the inside we are the same. Not only are our organs identical but the biochemistry that governs them is also similar. What is edible for us is also edible for you. The food may appear different, our plants and animals may not resemble the plants and animals you are fond of consuming, but our food will fulfill your requirements.” During breakfast, Elmo experienced new flavors and textures, both good and not so good, and hoped Valmid was right.
With breakfast finished, Valmid commented, “Your species discovered the existence of worm holes, but only you, Elmo, uncovered the secret of time-space travel. I can only imagine how crude the device was that you contrived, being the first of its kind on your planet. I was playing with Zytex when he suddenly vanished, transported by your machine. You came very close to transporting me, instead of my faithful pet. Our two planets are not the only ones that have made the discovery. There are other civilizations on other planets that have developed this method of travel.”
Valmid sat back and began to explain the more intricate principles and mechanisms of time-space travel to Elmo. “Elmo, you’ve shown great insight in discovering the use of wormholes for travel, and you were lucky to survive your first attempt. First, let me explain the change in how old you were when you left Earth to your age now on Roth. You know that nothing can exceed the speed of light, and you know the whole universe is in motion. Whole galaxies are propelled with untold speed, some towards and some away from each other. Therefore, if you are on a planet hurtling toward another planet you wish to visit and their combined relative closing speed is greater than the speed of light, the differences in speed results in a change in your age. Luckily for you, Roth is moving toward Earth. If the planets had been moving apart at the same speeds, you would have arrived a very old man.”
Valmid continued, “You are lucky in another sense in relation to time-space travel. You see, my friend, space is crisscrossed with an infinite number of wormholes. There are, in fact, many that connect Earth and Roth, but they differ in the direction of their routes. You happened to select one whose path was not the most direct. If you had, the outcome would have been quite disastrous. You see your age would have decreased by more years than you have been alive. So somewhere along your journey, you would have ceased to exist.”
As Elmo listened to Valmid he realized just how lucky he had been in choosing Roth as a destination. At the same time, he was intrigued by the complexity of time-space travel. He thought a wormhole was a wormhole was a wormhole. He was also pleased with the fact that life exists on other planets which circle other stars under conditions similar to those of Earth and its sun, thereby verifying a theory he had considered for many years but was careful not to discuss with his colleagues at Los Alamos. Elmo was afraid he would have found himself conducting research at Roswell if his theories had been known.
“Another item I must discuss with you,” Valmid continued, “is our method of communication. You know that I can read all your thoughts, but you are only reading those thoughts of mine that I want you to know. We all need privacy, and when we have a visitor from another planet we like to give him the ability to think without being intruded upon. You remember when we first met how I could not communicate with you because your thoughts were coming fast and overlapped with one another. What I’m about to teach you may be difficult at first, but I’m sure you will be able to do it quite easily. Try humming in your mind.”
Elmo hummed a tune he particularly enjoyed.
“Now try to hum and have a thought simultaneously.”
Elmo did this with some difficulty.
“I have no idea what you just thought. You see Elmo; the humming sets up white noise through which your thoughts cannot be discerned. With a little practice, you will be able to have some privacy during your stay with us.”
With great sadness, Elmo wondered how long that stay would be. He missed Mildred a great deal and felt so alone on Roth. He had planned a brief visit – not an extended journey. At the same time, he found the whole experience fantastic.
Valmid sensed Elmo’s sadness but knew he would not let his friend return to Earth until he had helped solve a problem that was decimating Roth and profoundly altered Valmid’s life. Elmo would not be leaving until the dilemma was solved, no matter how long it took.
ANOTHER STORY ACCEPTED
ANOTHER STORY ACCEPTED
I recently learned that The Corner Bar has accepted one of my stories to be published in their next issue. I will provide a link when the issue appears. This is my 25th short story to be published.
And publishers out there looking to publish a book of short stories?
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 4
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 4
ELMO MEETS CAL
“Yes, my wife has breasts,” Valmid communicated. Elmo had momentarily forgotten that his mind was an open book. The thoughts he had as he gazed at the female walking towards his new youthful body were not meant for a husband to know. As Valmid’s wife approached, Elmo could not help but be aroused by the voluptuous figure, barely concealed under a tight red jumpsuit. Eight feet tall with a gray skinned hairless head or not, the body beneath the jumpsuit could easily be featured in any planet’s version of Playboy.
By now Valmid knew Elmo’s name, so he communicated, “Elmo, this is my wife Cal. Cal, this is Elmo.” As Cal stood next to Valmid, Elmo realized he had underestimated her height. She was well over eight feet tall.
Sensing Elmo’s mind about going into overdrive again, and not wanting to experience discomfort once more, Valmid began a lengthy discussion designed to answer some of Elmo’s questions.
“I know of your planet Elmo,” he said, “I’ve been there twice. I know that your society, although primitive, is rapidly progressing. Your species produce rare individuals that jump ahead of the pack when it comes to science. You are one of those individuals. I know the theory you developed about other planets – how they might harbor life if their stars and suns had the same traits as yours. We are the third planet from our sun, just as your planet is. There are basic similarities between us. Yet there are many differences, although they are mostly cosmetic. While our appearances vary strikingly, if you were to compare scans of our internal organs, your best medical personnel could not tell them apart. Another difference in our appearance, other than the obvious dissimilarities of skin color and hair, is that our females tend to be taller than the males.
“We have mastered the art of thought transference to enable us to communicate with beings from other planets. We do not, however, use such communication with each other. We are able to shield our thoughts so that they are hidden from our own species. If you are to stay here for any length of time, we will also teach you this ability.”
Elmo reflected on Valmid’s offer, but had no idea how long his stay would be.
Elmo’s mind revealed his confusion. As Valmid finished speaking, Cal desired to address Elmo. “Elmo,” she communicated, “you must wonder how we knew of your arrival. It was the dingo plants you tread upon that alerted us. Your planet uses burglar alarms to protect their properties and loved ones. We use dingo plants. We plant them around our house, and when disturbed, they cry out. They also produce flowers every morning that emit a rich soothing scent.
“With these plants around our house for protection, we feel totally safe. If you had arrived after dark, we still would have been aware of your presence even if you had not trodden upon the plants directly. For as night comes, the plants produce filaments, crossing the walkways and climbing up the walls and covering the roof of the house. If you come in contact with these filaments, the plants emit the cries you already heard, alerting the residents within. Through genetic engineering, we have produced a strain of dingo plants with the longest filaments, long enough to protect the roofs of our tallest structures, the most vulnerable part of our buildings.”
As Cal completed this last statement, Valmid gave her a stare that said, “Enough, more than enough,” and Cal’s mind abruptly ceased communication, leaving Elmo puzzling at the information he just heard.
“Why would you use such a seemingly primitive method of protecting your homes when you have such an advanced technology?” thought Elmo.
The sky had darkened further, with only a thin rim of emerald, green on the horizon. Both Valmid and Cal looked to the sky as Valmid suggested, “Let us go to our home and let the dingo plants do their nighttime work.” They walked the path to the house, and Elmo observed the plant’s filaments crossing the path behind them. His companions seemed relieved to enter the threshold of their home. Elmo entered the house, and was amazed how everything looked the same, yet different from the houses on earth. The chairs, of course, were too large for Elmo’s five-foot ten-inch frame. While Valmid and Cal reclined, Elmo felt like a small child climbing up onto an adult chair. He finally sat down with his feet dangling. The walls of the house, made of a composite that Elmo could not identify, glowed a soft bluish white light. Elmo’s attention was drawn to frames mounted on the walls as images within the frames continued to change from paintings to photos of aliens.
Valmid observed Elmo’s interest and told him, “You seem to be taken with our pictures. The frames contain very thin video screens and a wireless connection to our computer; practically the whole house is a computer. Stored pictures are beamed to the screen. We simply choose a series of pictures and the cycle time, then enjoy the display.”
Despite the modern technology of the house, Elmo noticed that the floors and stairs leading to the second floor were constructed of highly polished wood. The stairs, of course, he would need to take one at a time. Zytex squatted near Elmo’s chair as Elmo studied the first floor of the dwelling more closely. The kitchen was adjacent to the living room, with cupboards and a futuristic device resembling a stove.
It was night as Elmo sat with his new friends. With sunset the light emitted from the walls intensified, maintaining a steady level of illumination. All was quiet as the trio communicated; the only sound was the occasional scream of the dingo plants.
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 3
My previous post was mislabeled. It actually was Chapter 2. Sorry about the confusion.
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 3
ELMO ARRIVES ON ROTH
When Elmo awoke, he had no idea where he was. His eyes beheld a landscape both strange and beautiful, a rolling countryside of vegetation and a nearby dwelling, but unlike any he had ever seen. Then, he recalled entering his time-space machine with his newfound friend. As he ran his fingers through his thick black hair, he wondered where he was. His body felt youthful. He must be forty years younger. He contemplated the shift in time and enjoyed his renewed youth.
Waiting to be transported back to his basement, Elmo had no way of knowing his adventure had caused the greatest blackout in history. He was hesitant to move and change the coordinates he had entered into the time-space machine sitting in his basement. Eventually curiosity won out and he began to explore his surroundings. At the same time, he felt a growing fear. He wondered if this journey was a good idea and if he would ever see Mildred again.
As he stood near his traveling companion, he saw the creature’s funnel shaped mouth form a grin, happy to be home. The soil was the color of the soil back home with green vegetation, but vegetation that defied what he knew of plant life. There were trees in the distance, but they towered like mountains over the landscape. The giant redwoods he recalled from his vacations would reach only a third the way up the trunks of these behemoths. He stood in a tiny bare spot of ground. Stepping upon a green field, he heard tiny screams and immediately retreated. Vegetation was obviously advanced on this planet, felt pain, and could utter distress. There were trails leading everywhere so that one could avoid walking on the plant life. He must remember to tread lightly on this planet. His eyes left the landscape and gazed at a brilliant lavender sky studded with crimson clouds although it was not yet dusk. Crimson must be the normal color of clouds in this world. Elmo also found that here a small hop would carry him far. His companion, too, was much more active in gravity one-fourth than of earth.
This newly youthful Elmo sat down with his traveling companion at his side and studied the landscape for a very long time and thought of his journey. He noted that although his age had noticeably changed, the appearance of the creature next to him had not. This must indicate a longer lifespan. Then he smiled, realizing that if the journey had been made with a Galapagos tortoise, the effect would have been the same. Elmo considered the implications, both scientific and personal if his theory about age was correct. The personal consequences made his eyes run with tears. His companion seemed to understand his grief, and its tiny arm hugged his shoulder. Elmo once again gazed at the sky and drank in the glory of another world. Dusk approached, and the sky held three moons of varying diameters. As the sun set, the crimson clouds held hints of green, becoming a deep emerald as darkness approached.
Night fell. Lights began to dot the landscape. In the darkness, the door to the nearby structure opened and a tall, gray-skinned figure approached Elmo and his eye-roving friend. Elmo’s first reaction was to run. But where would he go? He knew nothing of his surroundings, and, after all, this adventure was meant to learn about alien life. The approaching creature was clad in a flowing, blue robe-like garment. As it came closer, Elmo’s traveling companion began to execute flips and emit sounds similar to the purring of a cat. Suddenly Elmo realized what he thought was the dominant life form was actually a pet. As the strange being approached, Elmo appreciated its height, which was well over seven feet, and its regal bearing. The head of the creature was very large, larger than his seven-foot plus height would require, and completely hairless. Its ears were mere holes in the sides of the
RFK JR. AND VITAMIN A
RFK JR. AND VITAMIN A
We live during a time where you can choose where to obtain your news depending on your viewpoint and what you are willing to accept as the truth. If you don’t like what you hear or read you can claim it to be ‘false news’ without supplying any proof of your claim.
This brings me to the purpose of this post. And that is information supplied by RFK Jr.
No, this isn’t about vaccines. There you can believe what you want to believe as true. Time will tell if your choice was right. This post concerns damage which is occurring now and is not subject to opinion.
Involving measles, RFK Jr. suggests antibiotics for treatment and vitamin A for prevention and treatment.
First, antibiotics do not do anything against viruses. If you want to waste your money be my guest. However, there is potential harm in using antibiotics when it is not necessary and that is development of resistant bacteria when the antibiotic is necessary and will not have an effect.
But the danger in something RFK Jr. is suggesting being used in conjunction with measles which is resulting in harm no matter what your opinion is and cannot be denied.
I do not know if RFK Jr. is aware of the fact that there are two classes of vitamins, water soluble and fat soluble. With water soluble vitamins if you take more than your body needs you pee out the excess. With fat soluble vitamins whatever your body can’t use is stored. RFK Jr.is advocating the use of vitamins A, a fat-soluble vitamin for use in conjunction with measles. As a result, some parents are overdosing their children with vitamin A and causing liver damage in their children. This is not false news. It is reality.
What I find disturbing is that RFK Jr. is not aware of the danger associated with his suggestion. What I find greatly disturbing is that no one corrected him before he began voicing his opinion about vitamin A. Now it could be that RFK Jr. did not seek any scientific counsel before making his announcement. But no matter what happened parents are overdosing their children, and in some cases, causing them liver damage.
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 2
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 2
ELMO’S ADVENTURE BEGINS
As Mildred returned her thoughts to the present, she wondered if the lights dimming had anything to do with Elmo’s shouting. What she didn’t know was that the lights had also dimmed in most of that region of New York and most of eastern Canada. The electrical company had never experienced a power drain like this before and was struggling to get things under control.
Now, as she opened the basement door, Mildred wondered if perhaps all those years Elmo worked in the basement unsupervised was really a good idea. She peered down the stairs He began jumping like a little boy, not the seventy-five-year-old man that he was. “I don’t have a problem. I did it! I did it!” he shouted over and over.
“I completed my first experiment,” Elmo answered and pointed to the Plexiglas chamber. Through the mist Mildred began to detect a shape. At first she thought it was a large fire hydrant but then it began to move. The fire hydrant was mottled red and green with skinny arms ending in suction-cupped fingers. Its tiny legs also ended in suction cups. The creature’s mouth resembled a funnel, which constantly opened and closed. It was breathing.
The most peculiar aspect of this creature was its eye. It had only one and it blinked constantly. As Elmo and Mildred talked, the eye followed their conversation, traveling from one to the other, as the eye physically moved around the perimeter of its head. Mildred watched as the eye moved from one side of the thing’s head to the other. She giggled as she imagined a stadium full of these creatures following a tennis match but soon got control of herself. Actually, the single eye wandering all over the alien’s head was starting to give her the creeps.
“You can’t keep it,” she said.
Elmo responded, “I don’t want to keep it. I want to go back with it.”
“You’re kidding Elmo, and where did it come from anyway?” asked Mildred.
Elmo explained, “You see my dear, you and I and all living beings in the universe are a series of chemical reactions. The cosmos is one huge chemistry set. I thought that if there was a star, similar in size to our sun, and if there was a planet with a distance similar from that star as the earth is from the sun, that life might exist there. These days, astronomers are always discovering new planets revolving around distant stars. So, I just waited until one was discovered with the right conditions and aimed my time-space machine at that planet and the results are in the chamber. But notice how our friend can barely move his arms or legs. The gravity on his planet must be much less than it is on earth. I need to go back with him and see what it’s like.”
Mildred shook her head. But she knew arguing with Elmo was useless.
“I’ll show you how to run the machine, but first get our camera,” Elmo said.
By the time Mildred found the camera and returned to the basement, Elmo had entered the chamber and had his arm around the visitor. Mildred took a picture, then another for insurance. Then Elmo exited the chamber to demonstrate the workings of the machine to his anxious wife.
“Okay dear, first you turn the machine on with this switch. Next, you turn this rheostat. To get him here, I had to set the rheostat to half maximum. To get us back, you’ll need to turn it to full. Give me about ten minutes and then bring me back.”
“I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” muttered Mildred.
“Don’t worry Mildred, I’ll be back before you’re done cooking dinner.”
Elmo entered the chamber and Mildred followed his instructions. As soon as the rheostat reached max, there was a blinding flash, the chamber filled with a milk-white fog, and Elmo and the creature were gone. Shortly after they disappeared the lights in the basement went out.
Mildred sighed. “Oh Elmo, you may be gone a little longer than you expected,” she muttered and climbed the stairs to fix dinner.
What Mildred didn’t yet know was her town, the entire state of New York, along with most of the northeast, a good portion of the Midwest and a large part of Canada were also without power. Fifty million people were plunged into darkness. Elmo’s experiment had precipitated the largest blackout in history. He was going to be very very late for dinner.
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 1
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 1
CELLAR SCIENCE
“I have a problem! I have a big problem!” Elmo shouted from his cellar laboratory. Mildred shook her head, wiped her hands on her apron and headed for the basement door. After fifty years of marriage, Elmo never ceased to amaze her at the trouble he could get into.
“Could he garden like other men his age? Oh no, he has to do physics experiments,” Mildred muttered as she walked down the cellar stairs.
* * *
They had moved into this rural house in Upstate New York ten years ago, right after Elmo had retired from his job at Los Alamo Laboratory. He was a physicist at the laboratory, part of a think-tank that planned experiments. But Elmo enjoyed the lab work too. He had accumulated a lot of ideas and discarded equipment. Mildred gazed out the window of her country home. Nearby, tall electrical towers obstructed some of the bucolic scenery, but Mildred liked the house just fine. Elmo brought along the junk he had accumulated over the years, mostly discarded apparatus from failed experiments, equipment useless to everyone except Elmo. The items included large magnets and four six-foot-tall Tesla coils, specialized high voltage transformers three feet in diameter and wrapped with miles of thin copper wire. They resembled giant candles, coming to a point with electrical connections at the apex. Elmo transported all this equipment into the basement and fiddled with it for years. He then had a large Plexiglas chamber built, which set them back a bundle. He stood the Tesla coils in each corner, then mounted the magnets in the floor.
The next step in the construction of Elmo’s experiment Mildred found most undesirable. Elmo told Mildred, “I’ll need a great deal of power for my research. Soon I’ll need your help making the electrical connections for the project I’ve been working on.”
A few days ago, a truck had delivered a huge spool of heavy insulated wire, another great expense, and now Mildred was getting a bad feeling. Once it was dark, Elmo emerged from the basement wearing rubber boots and heavy rubber gloves. “Get your coat Mildred, we’re going out.” The spool of wire was in the bed of Elmo’s pickup. They drove to the base of the nearest electrical tower and parked.
“What are you going to do Elmo?” Mildred asked in a voice full of apprehension and a touch of impatience.
“I’m going to climb the tower and connect this wire which you’re going to feed out,” came his reply. Mildred shook her head and wished Elmo would act his age.
After that illegal task was accomplished, Elmo spent most of his time in the basement tinkering with his invention. He called it his Time – Space Chamber, and when Mildred asked just what he was doing Elmo explained, “I’ve always thought that if I could create an electrical field, then move those electrons in a magnetic field to approach the speed of light, I could create a wormhole to a distant time and place. I could aim at the wormhole and transport matter. The secret is the size of the magnetic field. It must be small, not like the giant cyclotrons they construct in the desert.
All Mildred could say was, “If it makes you happy dear.” It kept Elmo out of her hair for years.
ELMO RETURNS
AN INTRODUCTION TO ELMO’S SOJOURN
If you read my novella, Elmo’s Invention, previously posted on my blog, you know that Elmo was a scientist working at Los Alamos and have come to be familiar with his quirky personality. Elmo’s Invention was written after Elmo’s Sojourn and as a prequel to that novella. In Elmo’s Invention while working at Los Alamos, his interest was in time travel. In Elmo’s Sojourn he is retired, and his interest is in space travel.
He has a theory that it is possible to travel through space with the use of wormholes. He builds a device, and it works! However, Elmo goes nowhere. But a creature appears in his cellar lab after his first use of the machine. Elmo being Elmo, decides to return with the creature to its home. Thus, an adventure for Elmo, in a strange world begins.
Elmo’s Sojourn has a long history. The novella was first published online by Bewildering Stories in 2006. Later, it was published by Mélange Books as an eBook and in a print anthology, Curious Hearts, in 2010. Then, purely by accident, I discovered the first two chapters of the novella were published in China in an English-language science fiction publication in 2008.
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