Posts tagged ‘science fiction’
SPORES FROM SPACE: A SHORT STORY
Here is a story with a possible explanation of the source of the giant mushroom described in the last post.
SPORES FROM SPACE
Will asked Joanie, “What is that big white thing at the far edge of the lawn? Looks like some kind of ball.”
As Joanie approached the object she could see that it was well over twelve inches in diameter. She replied, “It’s not a ball. It looks like some kind of mushroom. Never seen anything like it before.” She took out her cell phone, took a picture, then using the internet began a search for information about the mushroom. The internet could not identify it. Joanie thought this odd for in the past she had often used the internet to identify plant life and it had never failed to come back with an answer. The internet could identify everything. She picked the mushroom up and threw it into the nearby trees.
That was a fatal mistake.
Days later Will tried to contact Joanie with no luck. Her neighbor said he hadn’t seen her for a few days. But the strangest thing. Near the apartment complex was this huge white mushroom. No one could figure out what type of mushroom it was and where it could have come from. No one had seen anything like it before.
* * *
Light years away a planet’s population had grown to such an extent that all could not be fed. And those that did have food available did not have as much as they had in the past. They had to find a food source and find it quickly or starvation on the planet would begin. In back of some of the inhabitant’s minds the fear of cannibalism began to grow. Something needed to be done and fast.
The planet’s scientists had developed a form of space travel using wormholes giving them the ability to travel huge distances in minutes. They had also discovered a great many inhabited planets. The decision was made to use the inhabitants of these planets as a source of food. This decision was voted down by a small fraction of the population, but the prospect of starvation overruled. The only food consumed on the planet was a certain type of fungus. The decision was made to send out huge armies traveling on gigantic spaceships which were now under construction. Along with the soldiers were hundreds upon hundreds of satellites which were going to be used to seed the target planets with spores which would grow into the needed fungus. The spores would transform any animal life they touched into mushrooms.
The attacking planet had also developed two procedures which made this invasion possible to alter the population of the planet and yet remain completely undetected.
One of these methods was the ability to make objects invisible. Invisibility was made possible by shifting light so that light would not bounce off an object rendering it invisible. This method would be used to conceal the invading army and the satellites being dispersed around the planet being attacked. The gigantic spacecraft farther out in space would also be rendered invisible. Of course, invisibility would not hide solid objects from radar. To remedy this problem the had a method of stealthing making them totally undetectable by radar.
The mission to attack planets was set into motion.
* * *
It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and Will decided to mow the lawn. He began his work with the front yard, but before he could get too far he ran across more of those white mushrooms of various sizes on the lawn. He picked them up and threw them into the trees. “Damn things are a pain in the ass,” he muttered.
Will went back to his mower. Glancing across the street he spied his neighbor standing behind his mower. He waved but got no response. He was sure Jeff saw him. He was looking right at Will. But Jeff just stood there like some kind of statue.
Will returned to the mower and started it. He began to feel not quite right. When he felt this way when asked how he felt he said ‘strange’. If his wife noticed he seemed a little off she would ask, “How are you feeling?”
Will would answer, “A little strange.” This never failed to piss her off. What the hell was strange?
But right now, Will felt really strange. Stranger than he has ever felt before. And the strangeness increased and not too slowly. He became confused. Could not remember what he had been doing. It wasn’t long before he could not remember anything. The usual term used for his present state of mind was a vegetative state. But this would not be the term for what Will was experiencing. The proper term would be a fungal state. For what was about to happen next this was beneficial to him. Spared him the distress of being aware of his predicament. Slowly all his limbs began to turn white. Then his torso and finally his head.
Will did not know it but the mushrooms he picked up earlier and threw into the woods had undergone the same change. One mushroom was a squirl mushroom, a small one a mouse mushroom and the largest a ground hog mushroom. Now on the lawn stood a huge Will mushroom.
* * *
The alien invasion to provide a source of food from the planet called by the resident, Earth, appeared to be succeeding. Soon it would be time for the soldiers to begin the harvest. Now to prevent discovery these aliens will be invisible. Good thing for if they were seen by intelligent life on this planet, to use a term the aliens had heard on the planet’s broadcasts, “The sight of the aliens would scare the shit out of them.”
Although the aliens were invisible they were still solid and would occasionally make contact with an intelligent being on Earth, but it would be of little consequence. When the spores began to rain down on Earth they were accompanied by a substance that would erase all memory of what was happening from the time the spores were first introduced until a time after the harvest was completed.
The harvest was extremely successful. Went better than expected. With the spaceships filled to the brim with mushrooms the aliens look forward to, in a few thousand years, returning to Earth. And another harvest would be possible because in ten percent of the spores the activity had been neutralized. With careful calculation of the animal population on the planet only ninety percent of the population would be converted into mushrooms. The remainder would be available to repopulate the planet. And because of memory manipulation, would have no recollection of the harvest. But the fact that something of a peculiar nature did occur eventually became evident.
* * *
Scientists doing population studies of animal life, including humans, were mystified by some of their results. It appears that an event was discovered to have occurred, but could not be explained, thousands of years ago. They began calling the event a near extinction event. Life on the Earth suddenly decreased at an alarming rate. Apparently almost instantaneously. What could possibly explain that decrease?
A MUSHROOM FROM SPACE?
A MUSHROOM FROM SPACE?
In my next post I will offer a short story inspired by an actual event which took place on my property a few weeks ago.
On the far side of the lawn, I saw a large white round object which I took for a ball. It was close to twelve inches in diameter. On close inspection it turned out to be a mushroom that was dangerous even to touch. In my many years of living here I have never seen anything like it and have no idea of how its spores found their way into my yard.
The story which follows speculates on its origin.
THE STATUES WALKING ON EASTER ISLAND EXPLAINED
THE STATUES WALKING ON EASTER ISLAND
As promised in my last post about the Walking Statues on Easter Island, here is a description of the method used to get the statues to walk.
I once saw a documentary about Easter Island and those statues the island is known for.
A group researching Easter Island constructed a statue approximately 14 feet tall. At the top of the statue, they looped two ropes with the end of the ropes manned two groups ready to try an experiment.
The groups began alternating by pulling the rope on one side and releasing the pull on the opposite side. Slowly, once they developed a certain rhythm one side of the statue moved forward. They found that by alternating the pull on the ropes they could get the statue to move forward, one side of the statue at a time.
The statue was ‘walking’.
ELMO’S SOJOURN: CHAPTER 14, THE FUTURE OF ELMO AND MILDRED
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.
* * *
Elmo and Mildred will ‘Live Happily Ever After’ on Roth. And now, with being young again and Roth’s advanced science, who knows how long that will be?
Valmid gave Elmo a present, a tablet. But the tablet it unlike any Elmo has ever seen. To get an idea of the power of information this device can provide, imagine a tablet available here but now on steroids and that on steroids. With this tablet Elmo can access the entire science of Roth and that of all the inhabited planets known to Roth. Now he can refine his pet project of travel through wormholes and dream up new ones.
Milderd watches Elmo as he uses the device and observes the twinkle in his eyes and the smile starting across his lips which in the past meant the prospect of trouble. A true sign that Elmo’s mind is popping out ideas. Ideas bringing pleasure and excitement to Elmo. Ideas which Mildred anticipates might bring her worry and upset her peaceful life on Roth.
The End
?
I hope you enjoyed my novella, Elmo’s Sojourn.
ELMO’S SOJOURN, CHAPTER 13, ELMO’S RETURN TO EARTH
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 HAS HIS HOMECOMING
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 OFFER IS ACCEPTED
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.
ELMO’S SOJOURN: CHAPTER 10, COMBAT
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 10
COMBAT
Upon his return, Valmid called a meeting with a few chemists he knew. He presented to them Elmo’s theory of what was keeping the monsters of Gylex from invading Earth and the chemical formulae necessary to manufacture the gas that repelled them. The Rothians did not communicate verbally, much to Elmo’s relief, because they wanted Elmo’s input. Elmo found the meeting humorous, for there sat four Rothians and Elmo with no sounds being uttered. They just sat there, looking at one another, with their minds working furiously.
A plan was formulated. They would test Elmo’s theory about Freon and its effect on the Gylexians. Pipes would be fitted around the roofs of houses in areas frequently invaded. Connected to the pipes there would be a tank of Freon and the whole system would be under pressure. Valves in the pipes would be activated by sound. When the dingo plants detected the presence of one of the demons, the screams of the plants would open the valves and release a cloud of Freon. If this worked, all the planet’s houses would be equipped with similar systems. There would be an initial release of Freon into the atmosphere of Roth, but if the gas destroyed the monsters, future invasions would be unlikely. Later, the presence of the Freon systems would act solely as a deterrent, protecting the Rothian atmosphere from any ill effects.
The chemists prepared the Freon. Selected houses were equipped with the new plumbing needed for the protective system and sound-sensitive valves installed on the borders and apex of the roofs. The newly manufactured Freon was added and the system charged.
Now the waiting began. The wait did not last long. One night, dingo plants surrounding one of the test houses screamed their alarm. The iron shields over doors and windows slammed into place. Anyone unfortunate enough to be outside at this time would have also heard a hissing sound coming from the roof, then seen the creatures gliding over the house with expressions of surprise, then shock and finally terror as they began to wobble and plunge to the ground withering in agony. After all movement ceased the monsters rapidly decomposed into pools of putrid matter, bits of leathery wing and black hair floating amongst the polluted mess. The scenario was repeated time and again around the planet. Within weeks the invasions became less frequent, then ceased. The monsters of Gylex had learned their lesson. At night, Rothians carried cans of Freon under pressure just in case a wayward Gylexian came their way.
Valmid and Elmo monitored the results with great joy. Valmid’s planet was now free of the plague of attacks and Elmo saw his theory validated: Freon was the component of Earth’s atmosphere that repelled these creatures. He soon realized, though, that with Roth no longer a hunting ground these monsters might return to Earth and find the levels of Freon in the atmosphere there were again tolerable.
Weeks had gone by since Elmo had visited Mildred. He longed to be with her again. Valmid sensed this but needed Elmo’s help for one more project. One night, as Elmo, Cal and Valmid were finishing dinner, Valmid pushed away from the table and said to Elmo, “I know you long to return to Earth, but there is one more favor I must ask of you before you depart. You have helped rid Roth of its Gylexian invasion. I feel the planet is safe again, but there is still one more mission I must perform. I must go to Gylex and free the women kidnapped from Roth.” This revelation brought both fear and joy to Cal. She feared that Valmid would be putting himself in great danger since no one from Roth had ever willingly traveled to Gylex. But she felt elation too, for if Valmid succeeded it might mean the return of their daughter.
Valmid continued, “I need your help in designing a device I could use when I travel to Gylex to combat its individuals.”
Elmo did not have to sleep on the problem, for the solution immediately popped into his mind. “On Earth, we have a device called a flame thrower. A tank is carried on one’s back filled with a flammable liquid under pressure. We can use this design and fill the tanks with Freon, then have the nozzle of the device regulated to disperse a fine mist or stream.”
Valmid nodded with approval, “Tomorrow we will start construction.”
A shop near Valmid’s home had no trouble manufacturing a prototype of the Freon thrower. Meanwhile, Valmid recruited five other Rothians whose wives and daughters had been kidnapped. The Freon thrower was tested and worked wonderfully. Valmid was happy with the results. They returned to the shop to order five more of the devices. Just as Valmid was about to place the order, Elmo said, “Make that six.”
Valmid turned to Elmo shaking his head, for he knew what Elmo’s intentions were. “No, my friend. You have done enough for Roth without risking your life on this adventure.”
Without hesitation, Elmo replied, “Your family had done so much for me and I may ask for more in the future. You’ve become a friend, Valmid, I want to help.”
ELMO’S SOJOURN: CHAPTER 9, ELMO RETURNS HOME
ELMO’S SOJOURN
CHAPTER 9
ELMO RETURNS HOME
Suddenly, Elmo found himself back in his cellar, standing next to Valmid and near his time-space machine. Valmid made a sound that could only be described as a chuckle as he examined Elmo’s machine.
Upstairs, Elmo could hear Mildred in the kitchen. Even though it had only been a few days’ journey, with all he had learned and seen, Elmo felt he had been gone for a very long time. The two travelers slowly made their way up the stairs.
In the kitchen, Mildred was just cleaning up after dinner, washing a cast-iron skillet when she heard someone coming up the cellar stairs. “Elmo’s back,” she said to herself. She couldn’t wait to hear about his adventures and what it was like to travel in space and time. Then she thought, “Wait a minute. I had to control the machine in order for him to return.” With that thought, she clutched the handle of the skillet with two hands ready to battle whoever had broken into the cellar.
As she watched, the door leading to the cellar slowly swung open. Out stepped a young man she did not recognize. She screamed, “Who are you? If you don’t leave right now, this skillet will make a lasting impression on you. Now get!”
The young man just stood there and said, “Mildred, it’s me, Elmo.”
“Who are you trying to kid?” answered Mildred, now studying the stranger more closely. This young man was younger than Elmo had been when she first met him, yet he was starting to look vaguely familiar.
The stranger then said, “It’s me, Doll.” Elmo was the only one who ever called her that. After nearly forty years of marriage, he still called her Doll when they were alone.
After the stranger uttered her nickname, Mildred studied his face more closely as the skillet slipped from her hand and crashed to the floor. “Elmo, it is you. What on earth happened to you?” As she was finishing her question, Valmid appeared, ducking his head through the doorway behind Elmo. That’s when Mildred crashed to the floor.
* * *
When Mildred came to, she was lying on the couch and the new Elmo was dabbing her face with a wet cloth. He explained how he arrived on planet Roth and found that the creature he had transported to Earth was a pet of one of the inhabitants of the planet. He went on to tell her about Valmid and how she would be able to communicate with her new guest. Next, he explained the complexity of time-space travel and the fact that he survives his trip through the wormhole was just dumb luck. Finally, Elmo described the increasing invasions the planet Gylex was mounting on Roth and the information Valmid required to repel the invaders.
“Now prepare yourself, Mildred, while I properly introduce you to Valmid,” he told her. As Elmo said this, Valmid entered the room. He seemed to be studying Mildred and communicated to Elmo, “Your wife is still very disturbed by my presence. Perhaps we should do some research on your computer and gain the knowledge of chlorofluorocarbons and give her time to digest your youthful appearance – and my countenance.”
Elmo gave Mildred’s hand a pat and told her that they were going to his study. He then led Valmid up the stairs. Soon Elmo was punching away at of his keyboard while Valmid shook his head at how such an archaic device held information that might save his planet.
Locating a web site giving the history of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Elmo began to read. Discovered in 1928, CFCs, a group of chemicals including Freon, had many uses in both industry and the home. The gases were considered harmless. In fact, their inventor, Thomas Midgley, once took in a lungful of one of them to demonstrate its safety and then blew on a candle to show it was nonflammable. After many years of use, CFCs were linked to the destruction of the ozone layer. Their manufacture declined and other gases replaced Freon. Elmo explored further and located the chemical composition of Freon, including the formulation and conditions necessary to produce it.
Valmid was greatly pleased and was sure that the chemists of Roth could manufacture Freon with little trouble, and since he had never had any ill effects before or now from breathing the air, he felt Freon would not harm the inhabitants of Roth. He had accomplished his mission and was anxious to return to his planet and start planning the deterrence of the demons from Gylex. He had other plans to consider, but for now, the welfare of his planet was his prime concern.
Valmid turned to Elmo, and Elmo sensed what he was about to ask, “Now Elmo, what are your plans?” Valmid knew the confusion Elmo was experiencing, torn between his new taste for adventurous space travel and his love for Mildred and the life they had shared for so many years.
Valmid suggested, “Perhaps you and Mildred should spend some time together. I’ll stay here and amuse myself with your computer.”
Elmo made his way down the stairs and found Mildred sitting at the kitchen table. He sat opposite her and extended his hands. They sat there holding hands for a few moments before Mildred spoke. “So many changes, Elmo. I’ve learned to expect the unexpected during my life with you, but never anything like this. You could be my son; you’re so young. And there’s a gray seven-foot alien upstairs waiting to return to his planet. It’s too much to comprehend all at once. Elmo, what are we to do?”
Elmo had given the possibilities a great deal of thought and had formulated a plan. “Dear,” he told her, “I must return with Valmid to see if my theory for repelling the Gylexians is correct. If it is not, he will need my help to investigate the history of Earth and what could generate the mysterious substances needed to return Roth to its former tranquility. The safety of Earth is also at stake. And there is still so much I want to learn about Roth. I may want to stay there for some time. Mildred, once the planet is safe, I want you to travel to Roth with me. For wherever you are, that is where my home is.”
Mildred did not know what to say to this proposition. Elmo seemed so certain, so confident, and her mind was full of so many doubts. They talked for hours, sitting and holding hands at the kitchen table. “Mildred, I left here an old, retired scientist, I returned a young adventurer involved with a planet that needs my help.” Then he told all he knew about Roth. How, even though it was an alien planet, biology and geology were very similar to that of Earth. He struggled to voice his emotions.
“The inhabitants of Roth are different on the outside, but inside they share the same hopes and fears as we, the same love and dreams for the future. Roth is not safe now, but when it is, I’ll be back, and I hope you will return with me to share my adventure.”
“I just don’t know Elmo; I just don’t know.”
Elmo stood, “Think about all I said Mildred. My future is with you, and we can have a future neither one of us had ever dreamed of.”
They could hear Valmid making his way down the stairs. Elmo stood, kissed Mildred, and made his way to the cellar door. Valmid appeared in the kitchen, bowed to Mildred, then made his way down the stairs with Elmo. A few minutes later a blinding flash emanated from the cellar below. Mildred knew she was once again alone.
