Posts tagged ‘MELANGE BOOKS’
ELMO’S SOJOURN: CHAPTER 6, REVELATIONS FROM VALMID
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, A LESSON IN SPACE AND TIME TRAVEL
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.
ELMO’S SOJOURN: CHAPTER 4, ELMO MEETS CAL
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, ELMO ARRIVES ON ROTH
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 head, the nose being a simple hole also. Its eyes were the most amazing aspect of its face. They were huge, elliptical and able to rotate on their center. The eye movement of this planet’s inhabitants was strange indeed. The being who now stood before Elmo and the fire hydrant-shaped creature smiled and patted the creature’s head, causing its purring to increase and leading Elmo to believe he had brought the little fellow back home.
The tall, gray-skinned figure did not seem at all surprised at Elmo’s arrival. “Receiving visitors from other worlds must be a common occurrence here,” thought Elmo. “There are so many questions I want to ask. But how do I communicate?”
Thoughts raced through his mind, and Elmo soon found himself unable to concentrate. That was when the breakthrough occurred. As his mind went blank, Elmo’s head was suddenly filled with thoughts that were not his own. His emotions went from shock to disbelief to understanding. These beings communicated by thought transference! When his mind was full of his own thoughts, there was no room for the thoughts of another. He must clear his mind to receive the thoughts of this being. Instead of alternating between thinking and listening, they alternated between thinking and making their minds a blank slate. When his mind had been racing, he’d noticed the alien wince and wrinkle his brow; now he knew why.
“I am Valmid, and this is the planet Roth, third planet from our sun,” it said. “Thank you for returning Zytex. He has been with our family for many years, and I was sad at the prospect of losing the little fellow.” Zytex’s eye wandered around his head as he purred incessantly, taking in Valmid and Elmo.
“You must meet my wife,” thought Valmid, and with that he turned towards his home. He next emitted a sound that reminded Elmo of a high-pitched turbine, interrupted by a clicking noise. Out of the house came a figure even taller than Valmid but obviously female.
ELMO’S SOJOURN IS COMING
ELMO’S SOJOURN IS COMING
In the next series of posts, you will have the opportunity to read my novella, Elmo’s Sojourn.
Recently you were introduced to Elmo in my novella, Elmo’s Invention, in which he was a scientist working at Los Alamos. But his love for science did not stop when his day’s work was done. It never stopped. In that novella Elmo’s invention was a time machine. You can read past posts to see how successful he was.
In Elmo’s Sojourn, Elmo is now retired but his love for science has not ceased. Now his efforts are consumed with travel in space using wormholes. Follow Elmo’s adventures, and misadventures in the upcoming posts offering the novella.
Elmo’s Sojourn has quite a publication history. It was first accepted for publication by Bewildering Stories and was published online in 2006. Next, Mélange Books, publisher of my novel New Moon Rising, accepted the novella in 2010 and published it in a print anthology, Curious Hearts and as an eBook. Also, totally by accident I discovered that the first two chapters of Elmo’s Sojourn were published in China in an English language science fiction publication.
I hope you read the upcoming posts and enjoy the story.
NEW MOON RISING AND THE RING OF FIRE
NEW MOON RISING AND THE RING OF FIRE
The recent rash of earthquakes associated with The Ring of Fire has prompted this article.
My novel, New Moon Rising, published by Mélange Books had as its central theme The Ring of Fire. That novel is now out of print and Mélange Books no longer exists. But I have seen copies of my novel for sale on eBay and recently also saw it offered on Amazon along with three other of my published works.
The Ring of Fire is a highly active geological area of the Earth. And it was the source of my highly active imagination in the creation of my novel.
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 14
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 14
THE FUTURE FOR ELMO AND MILDRED
The three stood in front of Valmid’s house. Elmo admired Mildred’s youthful body and long blond hair. Mildred also admired the feelings of her body and experienced for the first time in years the pleasures of youth that old age had robbed her of. She had not expected to make the same transition that Elmo had made on his first trip to Roth, because he’d been going back and forth so many times since then and had not changed a bit.
“Elmo, I can’t believe it! I’m as young as you.”
“Welcome to Roth my dear.” He reached for her hand. “Let’s take a short walk. Then we will go inside, and you’ll meet Cal, Valmid’s wife.” They walked towards the rise that would afford a view of the ocean. “We’ll have so many adventures, Mildred. We’ve got so much life to live. Once we have something to eat, I’ll show you to our bedroom.”
Mildred noticed a twinkle in Elmo’s eyes that she had not seen for a long time, felt a thrill she had not felt for years. The sky was darkening, the day was ending, and pinpricks of light began to populate the night. Elmo squeezed Mildred’s hand excitedly as they walked hand in hand toward an emerald, green sunset made more beautiful by thoughts of all the tomorrows they would share.
THE END
I hope you enjoyed my novella, Elmo’s Sojourn.
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 13
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 13
ELMO RETURNS TO EARTH
Mildred was watching TV when she detected footsteps coming up the cellar stairs. She immediately knew the sight that would soon greet her: a young Elmo and his alien friend. She also knew Elmo had returned because he wanted her to go back to Roth with him. Could she? Could she leave her family and friends to live in an alien world with Elmo? What would Elmo do if she said no? Would he willingly return to the body of an old man and finish their life together in this house? All this ran through her mind as the cellar door slowly opened.
Out stepped young Elmo and the alien. This time Mildred was able to handle their appearance much better. Valmid went upstairs to entertain himself with the computer and Elmo asked Mildred to join him at the kitchen table to discuss their future. They sat there for a long time, going over the pros and cons of staying on Earth or returning to Roth. Elmo finally said, “Mildred, the stay on Roth does not have to be permanent. We could return to Earth any time we wish. The residents of Roth time-travel with the ease of our driving to the store.” This argument pushed her over the edge. She replied, “You know Elmo, during all the years we’ve been together, I’ve done plenty of crazy things with you. This must be the craziest, but I’ll give it a try.”
“Mildred,” Elmo responded, “the last time I was this happy was when you said you would marry me. Let’s go explore the universe!” Elmo headed upstairs to get Valmid. But before returning downstairs he sat at his computer and typed out the following e-mail message.
My name is Elmo Baker. I am a retired scientist formerly employed at Los Alamos. What I have to say is unbelievable but true. I have traveled to the planet Roth. There I found that during the early twentieth century, monsters from the planet Gylex invaded Earth. The purpose of this invasion was to obtain women for the survival of their civilization because a virus had killed most of the females of Gylex. Unfortunately, all the women captured are no longer alive. I have included two attachments. One is a detailed report on how to protect the Earth from further invasions because it’s likely that these monsters may be returning soon. The second attachment is a video of one of the monsters attacking a house on the planet I visited. Please believe me and take action.
Elmo sent the e-mail to The New York Times, The Washington Post and every other major newspaper he could think of. He then shut the computer down and headed downstairs. As he entered the living room, he found Valmid laying out two time-space machines on the floor. Elmo told Valmid, “I’ve alerted some of our major newspapers. I hope to God they heed my warning.” Valmid then had Mildred stand in one of the machines, handed her the control box and told her to push the start button. With a face full of apprehension, she followed his instructions and was gone in a flash. Elmo and Valmid entered the other machine and made their exit from planet Earth.
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 12
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 12
ELMO HAS HIS HOMECOMING
The four stayed up late into the night. Rolack described how she was made pregnant three times, felt the joy of motherhood as a new life stirred within her body and was filled with revulsion at the sight of the tiny, winged monster she delivered. She never met any of the women from Earth but had heard talk of them. They had not she learned, survived for very long on Gylex. Because they were physically so much smaller than the women of Roth and Gylex, they often died during pregnancies in which they carried fetuses much larger than an Earth child. Labor and delivery killed the few that survived to term. All that was left were stories and bones scattered among the trash of the prison.
Valmid and Cal could not take their eyes from their daughter, couldn’t believe she was back, and that the planet was safe from more women suffering her fate. Valmid explained to Rolack how Elmo had traveled to Roth and how his visit led to her freedom and that of her companions.
After a while, Valmid and Elmo decided to take a walk and let Cal and Rolack have some of the mother-daughter time they both desperately needed. Valmid sensed also that something troubled Elmo and thought perhaps a stroll in the early morning air would ease his mind and loosen his thoughts.
They walked for a while, enjoying the peaceful countryside. Then Elmo began, “Valmid, before I arrived on your planet, I was a retired scientist just puttering around in my cellar. Then I hit on the concept that brought me here. Back on earth, I have a wife with whom I have spent most of my life. But that life is over, and I can’t return to it. Now, I’m a young man. I have a future again. I cannot go back to Earth and resume my retirement. There is so much I want to learn from you, from your planet. I want Mildred to journey here. She is my life; we share a history. I need her to share my future on Roth. If I cannot convince Mildred to come here, I don’t know what I will do.”
They walked on a while more before Valmid shared his thoughts. “Elmo, your knowledge has already proved indispensable to Roth. Who knows in what ways my planet could benefit from the knowledge you have of Earth? And if there were a problem on Roth that can only be solved by making a trip to Earth, I would find it difficult to blend into the population. I have discussed all this with the elders of the planet, and we all reached the same conclusion: We want you to stay.”
They continued their walk in silence until Elmo asked the question that he had been nagging him whenever he thought of making Roth his home. “Valmid, if Mildred agrees to come here, could she travel through the wormhole that I first used? If she could, we would both be starting a new life on a new planet.”
Valmid considered this, “If she agrees to come here, I see no problem in granting your request. I think we should return to Earth and try to convince Mildred to spend time on Roth.”
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 11
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 11
ELMO’S OFFER IS ACCEPTED
The argument went back and forth between Elmo and Valmid, but Valmid finally succumbed to Elmo’s persistence. “I accept your help my friend. We shall leave when the devices are ready.”
In a few days the six new Freon throwers were ready and tested. Valmid called the five other Rothians to his home. The seven warriors were ready to depart. Elmo noticed that each member of the team carried a pouch in addition to his Freon throwers on their backs. Elmo was also given a pouch.
“We are taking as many time-space machines as we can carry. We have no idea how many women we will be freeing and returning to Roth. I’m afraid there is little hope of rescuing any of the women abducted from Earth, for the abductions ceased there almost sixty years ago, when the Freon level reached intolerable levels for the Gylex monsters.
“Our plan is to journey to Gylex, hopefully arriving at a deserted area. Then we will try to follow the thoughts of the captive women.” All five of the Rothians and Elmo nodded and prepared to leave. Elmo joined Valmid in the center of his machine; the other five occupied two machines facing back-to-back in preparation for a hostile greeting.
In a flash the most dismal landscape imaginable surrounded them, along with four Gylexian monsters. Three were quickly dispatched, surprise being on the side of the Rothians. The fourth began flying away, thanks to the weaker gravity of the planet; Elmo was able to leap high enough to douse the creature and it abruptly fell to the ground.
After the initial excitement, the travelers had a chance to inspect their surroundings. Elmo thought, “If there is a hell, it must look something like this.” The Rothians were unfamiliar with the concept of Elmo’s hell, but they all shuddered at the scene before them. Everything was colored shades of gray and black. The landscape was dotted with miniature volcanoes no more than a few hundred feet high, most in a constant state of eruption that spewed heavy columns of smoke and ash into the air and shed an eerie glow from the magma seeping down their sides. The atmosphere was thick and oppressive. The party had timed their arrival for daytime, but a faint twilight was all that greeted them. The only vegetation visible were huge trees, not unlike those found on Roth. Their trunks disappeared into the unbroken mantle of black clouds that filled the sky; their leaves seeking the life-giving light denied the planet’s surface.
The rescue party could see larger mountains in the distance; their sides honeycombed with openings. Occasionally a winged Gylexian would fly in or out of apertures; these must be their cities.
The six Rothians stood still and quietly concentrated, seeking the thoughts of the women they had come to rescue. It did not take long for them to sense Rothian thoughts and then locate their origin on a distant part of the planet. They set up their time-space machines, again standing back-to-back and ready for an attack. They were sure there must be guards at their destination, and to eliminate them by taking advantage of the element of surprise.
In a flash the seven were standing before a Gylexian hill, somewhat smaller than the hill they first had seen. Perhaps this was the prison where the women were being held. At the same time, they also found themselves standing before five guards armed with weapons resembling crossbows. Before the Rothians could react, one of their parties was shot in the neck and collapsed. Freon spray quickly took care of the guards, but not before they sounded an alarm that brought more guards flying out of the prison, also to fall to the ground as the air filled with Freon. Three of the party, along with Elmo, remained outside to guard against further attacks. Valmid and the remaining member of his group entered the prison to free the women. The sight inside sickened them. Corpses of ten to 15 Rothian women littered the floor of the forbidding structure. As they proceeded farther into the dark, dank hallways they came upon the cells they were seeking. Each cell held two or three women in various stages of pregnancy. As Valmid had anticipated, there were no women from Earth, only women from Roth. Valmid searched wildly from cell to cell looking for his daughter, calling her name, “Rolack, Rolack.” He stopped at the entrance of a cell holding two women, then choked back tears and cried, “Rolack!”
A woman inside stood and cried, “Father!”
Valmid had found his daughter. In short order, the keys to the cells were located and the women released. They made their way out of the prison, the women breathing free air for the first time since their capture. One of the women collapsed by the body of the fallen Rothian, crying for the husband she had not seen for years and who had died trying to rescue her. Valmid ordered everyone to unfurl the time-space machines and, in twos and threes, quickly occupy them. Two Rothians carried the body of their fallen companion to the last machine and gently laid him down. Then Valmid distributed the preset control boxes, and the group disappeared in a series of flashes, bound for Roth.
Once on Roth, the women cried, laughed and even collapsed when united with their families. Those who returned pregnant wanted most to immediately cleanse their bodies of the demon cargo they carried. Valmid, Elmo and Rolack entered their home to find Cal crying out at the sight of her daughter. The three family members hugged and cried while Elmo stood to the side and felt an emptiness he could no longer deny.
Walttriznastories's Blog 