By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
Eric is a time traveller thanks to the gifts of Herbie and Gizmo, two alien machines given to Eric by the aliens he'd helped get back to their own planet.
Herbie is more human than machine in his ways, and has learned a lot from Eric, perhaps not all good! An alien drone that can sulk and have a will of his own, yet at the same time is always watching over his human friend. Gizmo is the machine that will take them anywhere Eric wishes to go, just so long as it exists! This machine is also programmed by the aliens to keep Eric safe from harm of any kind. Welcome to book 4 in the series of 'Eric's Epic Adventures.' Oh, for those who don't know. Eric is also my grandson!
Part 1
Eric sat at his desk in the classroom engrossed in what his history teacher was saying. This had become his favourite subject since his travels back in time, and especially when the lesson covered Egypt. For the past hour, Mr Andino had been talking about the ‘Lost City of Atlantis.’ Was it fact or fiction? “So, where is this lost city that Plato told us had existed over nine thousand years ago? Many people over the centuries have written about this magical island that lurks somewhere in the middle of one ocean or another, yet no one has ever seen it.”
Mr Andino looked at the upturned faces of his pupils, all eager to hear more. He smiled, and nodded. He knew he still had their attention. “It was rumoured to be the Garden of Eden, a place where everything was perfect, and others have said it was a city of godlike beings who were preparing to wage war against Mankind. Such different stories, but does either of them bear any truth?” Again, Mr Andino looked at all the faces in the room. No one spoke.
“We’ve been talking about the so-called ‘Lost City of Atlantis’ for the past two lessons. So for your homework this weekend I want you to come up with your reasons for deciding whether Atlantis is a real place, or just a nice story Plato made up over one thousand three hundred years ago.”
He handed a lad a wad of leaflets and told him to pass them around the class. "Take one each and study it at home.
Your task is to prove whether the story is true or false. Ten of you who write the most convincing story will have their paper read to the rest of the class. You can pack away now, everyone. Have a productive weekend.”
****
After he’d finished eating his toffee popcorn, Eric screwed up the empty bag and tossed it over to his rubbish bin. He gave a satisfied grin as he watched it go in.
Eric couldn’t concentrate on the Aquaman film he’d put on to watch with Herbie. His mind had been on his history lesson; was Altantis real? Eric had already told his alien drone friend, Herbie, all about Atlantis and what was expected from him for his homework.
“So, what do you think? Does Atlantis exist? Or is it just a made-up story? It says on this leaflet that some people think it sunk. Can a whole country sink? Could England sink?” Eric shook his head. “That can’t be true.”
Herbie looked thoughtful for a moment. “You wouldn’t think so, but I do know that ancient ruins have been discovered under the sea. Whether a whole country would sink, I don’t know, but we can’t rule it out.”
Eric picked up his glass of sugar-free coke from his bedside table, took a long swig, then put it back. He looked at Herbie, his eyes bright and a grin filling his face. “I guess there is only one way to find out … we get Gizmo to take us there!”
Herbie slowly flew around the room. “I don’t think much of that idea. First, it most likely doesn’t exist, and secondly, if it does, what do we say when we get there?”
Eric looked at him and pulled a face. “That never bothered you before! We’ve never known what we’d find until we’d got there. I thought you had a sense of adventure. I guess I was wrong … or perhaps this trip is too scary for you?” Eric remarked, the disappointment creeping into his voice.
“How can you even say that?” Herbie whizzed across the room and hovered in front of the television screen. “After all we’ve been through together! I might just decide to go back to my home planet and live with Drozig!”
Eric looked at him, the sarcastic reply he’d had ready, stuck in his throat. “You wouldn’t … would you?”
“I might!” Herbie went across to the window and looked out. It was pouring with rain, meaning there was no chance of going out to have a bit of fun.
He turned and looked at the boy who’d pulled him out of a ditch after he’d crash-landed on Earth. Had Eric not taken him home and repaired his rotors, he wouldn’t be here. He’d just be a pile of junk. “No, of course I wouldn’t. You’d be lost without me,” he told him, and gave one of his tinkly giggles.
Eric threw a pillow at him and laughed as Herbie swiftly moved out of the way. “Where did Aquaman live? Do you know?”
“In reality, he didn’t live anywhere. He’s not real.” Herbie flew back to sit down next to Eric on the bed.
“But where does he live in this film?”
“Atlantis … your lost city. But like Aquaman, Atlantis doesn’t exist either.”
Eric sat quietly for a while. He carried on watching Aquaman, but Herbie could see Eric wasn’t really taking it in. He knew what was coming next.
“We don’t know that for sure. There’s a fifty-fifty chance either way. Do you reckon our Gizmo could find it?” Eric flopped back on his bed and closed his eyes. “Think about it. If Atlantis is real, and Gizmo took us there, we’d both be famous! We’d be in all the papers. Front page headlines ... ‘Eric Stoner and Herbie Find Atlantis For His School Project.’ Can you imagine that?”
“I honestly don’t think there is such a place! Why don’t you listen?”
“Okay, if it doesn’t exist, there would be nowhere for Gizmo to take us, and that will be the end of that. But, if there is such a place,” Eric said, raising an eyebrow as he tilted his head and grinned, “then we could solve the mystery once and for all.”
Herbie still didn’t like the idea, but knowing his human friend, this was not going to go away. “Let’s say there is … and I’ve yet to be convinced, then what do we say when we get there? There has to be a good reason just as we had for the other trips.”
Eric thought about that. “Why can’t we just say we’re there on holiday?”
“Holiday? What would you say, ‘Hi there, we just happened by from over the ocean on my bike, and thought we’d stop off for a holiday. Where’s the best hotel?’ If Plato is right, then nine thousand years ago from his time, making it over eleven thousand years from ours, holidays abroad would not have existed. No planes, no cruise ships. I don’t think even a person with half a brain would believe we could cycle over the sea! We have to think this out a bit better than that.”
Eric giggled, but he knew Herbie was right. He always was! He looked at his television screen and saw Aquaman dive into the sea and disappear into an underwater cave.
“Look, I agree with most of what you said, but how would it be any different to the last three times we’ve just turned up out of nowhere? We’ve always managed to explain our being there without any problems. In fact, none of them really went into the fact we’d just popped out of thin air.” Eric frowned and then his face creased up with laughter. “Except with the Indians, and they thought you were a Great Spirit!”
Herbie went quiet. He knew he’d lost the argument. “Okay. But you’d better get changed. You can’t go out in your school uniform; it might get ruined.”
“Good point.” Eric leapt off the bed and stripped off his clothes. Hopping awkwardly as he tried to get each foot into his jeans, it wasn’t long before he was dressed again. He was so excited. He could imagine his schoolmates’ faces when he was chosen to read out his homework in front of the class. “Let’s go and get my bike.”
Minutes later, they were in the garage, Herbie perched on the handlebars, and Eric with one foot on the ground, and the other on the pedal of his BMX, ready to take off. “Hold on tight, Herbie! Gizmo, take us to the Lost City of Atlantis.”
The usual sounds and feelings began. Eric took a deep breath as they were flung around in a tornado of twists and turns….
Continued….
The map of Atlantis is from Google Images.
| Author Notes | I know I told everyone I wasn't going to write another adventure for a while, but my dear husband decided otherwise by coming up with a great idea for a new adventure! Now I can't stop my brain coming up with loads of scenarios! So, I'm very sorry but I have to ask you if you wouldn't mind coming along with me and keeping your amazing eyes open for my nits! :)) Thank you all for reading and getting to this point! xxxxx |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
A brief synopsis
Eric is a time traveller thanks to the gifts of Herbie and Gizmo, two alien machines given to Eric by the aliens he'd helped get back to their own planet. Herbie is more human than machine in his ways, and has learned a lot from Eric, perhaps not all good! An alien drone that can sulk and have a will of his own, yet at the same time is always watching over his human friend. Gizmo is the machine that will take them anywhere Eric wishes to go, just so long as it exists! This machine is also programmed by the aliens to keep Eric safe from harm of any kind. Welcome to book 4 in the series of 'Eric's Epic Adventures.' Oh, for those who don't know. Eric is also my grandson!
Eric’s school class have been told to write an essay on whether or not they believe The lost city of Atlantis actually existed. They must give their reasons on which they choose. Is it real or just a story made up by Plato? Getting Gizmo to take them there, Eric and Herbie now arrive in Atlantis
Part 2
It wasn’t quite what Eric had imagined Atlantis to be like, although, if asked he wouldn’t have had a clue anyway. Herbie flew off the handlebars, and Eric laid his bike on the moss and ferns that covered the ground before looking around.
A stunning waterfall could be seen frothing and churning as it hit the river below, only to be caught up and dragged away by the current. Eric had never seen water as clear and blue as this. He liked the way the sun’s rays hit the ripples and sparkled like diamonds.
In the far distance he could see a few buildings dotted along the bank. One, that was set back looked quite different, with tall pillars and a domed roof. There was no pathway down, so Eric would have to watch his step if he decided to investigate more, especially on the steeper parts.
“What do you think, Herbie? Is this Atlantis? I’ve never seen a place as amazing as this.” He spun around, looking at every part.
“We’ll see,” Herbie replied before linking with Gizmo. Eric waited, knowing the two alien machines were communicating. When they’d finished, Herbie turned to Eric. “Yes, this is Atlantis, alright! I would never have believed that an island as large as this one appears to be, could remain invisible to the rest of the world for so long. We’ve travelled back in time to the year eight thousand three hundred BC.”
Eric was ecstatic. They’d found Atlantis. “We’re certainly getting to explore some interesting places that no one else will ever see, aren’t we?” he said. “Let’s get a bit closer; perhaps we’ll get to meet some of the people.”
“Just be careful. I think we should use this trip for observation only. We’ve come a long way back in time, and I don’t think it would be a good idea to be seen. We know nothing at all about these people.”
Eric wasn’t going to let a trip to Atlantis go by without getting to know more about it. This was a chance in a lifetime. “It did say this was the Garden of Eden on that leaflet,” he replied. “So it should be safe enough. I’ll not be picking any apples off the trees, though!” he said as he remembered what had happened to Adam and Eve.
Herbie groaned. “Of course you’d choose the story that suits your purpose. What if it’s the other one? Godlike creatures who want to destroy the world? What we do here might impact our future so be careful!”
“Oh. Yeah, you’re right. Okay, we’ll just observe ... for now. I might still be able to learn enough to write a convincing story about why I believe Atlantis exists.” Eric picked up his bike and pushed forward. “Come on, let’s have a wander around.”
What seemed like the best route to take, was, in fact, extremely dangerous. Roots of trees and shrubs curled over the ground, only to disappear under the thick, lush undergrowth before reappearing further on. These hidden traps caused Eric to trip up numerous times.
They’d been moving for about half an hour when Eric came to a sudden stop and dropped to a squat. “Herbie, get down,” he whispered, frantically patting the ground beside him. After Herbie had parked and turned his rotor off, Eric nodded towards three people who were walking straight towards them.
When they got close enough for Eric to see them properly, he felt a stirring of fear creep over his body, and was about to tell Gizmo to get them out of there. But then the group stopped and sat with their backs facing Eric, looking over the valley.
“Are they humans?” Eric murmured. “Did you see their faces? They don’t look like humans to me. They’re more like—” Eric couldn’t capture the word slipping over his tongue that would perfectly describe them.
“I think the word you’re seeking is aquatic mammal. Well, their faces could be. Did you see they have a stripe down their cheeks? The rest of their body looks to be part man.” Herbie agreed with Eric, but there was something peculiar about them.
Mammal wasn’t quite the word Eric was looking for, but until he could come up with the one he wanted, he’d leave it at that for the moment.
“I’m going to get a little closer. Perhaps, if they start talking, I'll be able to understand what they’re saying.”
Before Herbie could stop him, Eric sat down and budged forward on his bottom, trying to be as quiet as he could. Unfortunately for him, this particular part of the ground wasn’t so tightly bound with moss and root. The moment he moved, everything beneath him also moved, sending a scattering of stones and debris towards the creatures who were right in their path.
Hearing the noise, the creatures jumped up and moved out of the way. The surprise on their faces at seeing Eric was equal to the shock on his. Now they’d seen him, there was no point in trying to hide. Eric stood up. No one moved; they stared at each other, not knowing what to do.
Herbie flew down to hover by Eric. “You’re probably the first real human they’ve seen. It’s not as if the world was overpopulated back in this time, so I think you have the advantage. Smile, be your normal, jolly self.”
The beings were now giving Herbie a strange look. Eric did resemble them as far as he had a head, body, arms and legs, but Herbie wasn’t like anything they’d ever seen before. When Eric moved his arm and waved his hand, they stepped back.
“They’re nervous. Try smiling and see what happens then.” Herbie's keen eyes homed in on the strange knives they had in their belts. “Don’t make any sudden moves; I’m not too sure of these people.”
Eric smiled his broadest, friendliest grin. Then he sat down. The creatures studied him for a moment, and then Eric heard a strange sound. He guessed they were communicating but he couldn’t make out what they were saying, though. He just hoped it was friendly.
What seemed to be the most female looking amongst them turned and rushed off back down the hill. One of the men pointed the long, chunky stick he’d been holding in the direction of the disappearing woman. Then he indicated with his other hand for Eric to follow.
“It looks like they want us to go with them.” Eric looked at their strange faces again. It came to him that their lips were shaped into a permanent smile. It wasn’t scary like the Joker in Batman, but he wasn’t sure if it was warm and friendly, either. “I’ll get my bike. I don’t think they want to harm us,” he said, more to convince himself.
The route they took was a little better than the one Eric had chosen. They split up. One of the strange beings went in front to lead the way, while the other followed behind. Not that Herbie liked this arrangement, but he didn’t want to cause any trouble. What he did do was spin his eyes around and around his middle so he could keep watch on them both. As they got closer to the bottom of the hill, Eric could see their houses were nothing more than square boxes. No windows or chimney pots, and just one door.
It wasn't long before they were walking along a roughly made path. The few strange people Eric could see all stopped what they were doing to stare at Eric and Herbie in the same way the others had.
“Stay on the handlebar, Herbie,” Eric whispered. “If there’s the slightest bit of trouble, we’re out of here!”
The two men who had brought them down the hill turned and pointed to the large domed building Eric had seen earlier.
“I guess they want us to go in,” Eric mumbled with as brave a voice as he could muster....
| Author Notes | Thank you so much for reading this part. If you find any nits, please don't be shy to tell me! lol. This is written in UK English so you might find a few differences in spellings. |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
A brief synopsis
Eric is a time traveller thanks to the gifts of Herbie and Gizmo, two alien machines given to Eric by the aliens he'd helped get back to their own planet. Herbie is more human than machine in his ways, and has learned a lot from Eric, perhaps not all good! An alien drone that can sulk and have a will of his own, yet at the same time is always watching over his human friend. Gizmo is the machine that will take them anywhere Eric wishes to go, just so long as it exists! This machine is also programmed by the aliens to keep Eric safe from harm of any kind. Welcome to book 4 in the series of 'Eric's Epic Adventures.' Oh, for those who don't know. Eric is also my grandson!
Eric and Herbie have been brought down to where the strange beings on Atlantis live. Now they are being ushered inside the domed building. The few inhabitants that were working outside of it, stopped what they were doing and silently watched them.
Part 3
When Eric started pushing his bike forward, the strange beings who had been standing around watching began walking as well. Eric stopped for a moment, waiting to see what they’d do. They kept coming and not a word passed between them, but Eric could hear a weird yawning sound, followed by a few clicks. Although their faces showed no emotions, they appeared to be more curious than unfriendly.
As Eric was watching the inhabitants, one of the two who had brought them here, tapped him on the shoulder and pointed once more towards the domed building.
“We might as well go and see what’s inside," he said with a nod to his escort. "But be prepared for a quick getaway.” Once they’d reached the huge doors, they swung open as if they were expected.
“Wow!” Eric’s eyes widened in shock as he took in the interior. He moved one step forward and stopped. “Whoa!” He spun around and looked outside again. All pretty normal out there still. Turning back, he stared, gobsmacked at what he was seeing. “How can this be, Herbie?”
Herbie’s eyes were just spinning around his middle, trying to understand what had happened from moving outside, into what they had thought was a normal sized building and discovering a— Herbie couldn’t find a word for it. It quite befuddled his computerised brain.
“Wow! Even Doctor Who’s Tardis couldn’t compare to this,” Eric said breathlessly. “It’s ginormous, Herbie!”
The two beings again motioned for them to go forward. It was like walking into another world, but try as hard as he could, Eric couldn’t explain it any other way. It was huge. A world in a world, or, on it. As they walked down the long slope, they saw literally hundreds of these beings, all busy doing some sort of job. As Eric and Herbie approached the first lot of the workers, they stopped and stared at them, their blank expressions giving nothing away.
“What do you think, Herbie, stay for a while, or get out of here, like, pronto?”
“I’d like the first option ... to stay a while longer. It’s so interesting,” Herbie replied, his eyes spinning around as if they’d lost control. “I want to learn more about these people, or whatever else they might be. We’re safe enough. Don’t forget, we have your ring, as well as old Gizzy here.”
Eric’s attention was directed to Gizmo’s flashing beam. It was aware of the change and had put itself on alert. Well done, Gizzy.
As they continued walking, it suddenly came to Eric that some of the machines these strange beings were working on were similar to those on Drozig’s spaceship. He mentioned this to Herbie.
“I’d thought of that, too. I do believe we are inside a ship from another planet. This one, though, is a lot bigger than Drozig’s. I would very much like to mind-merge with one of these beings.”
Another thing that fascinated Eric was the amount of large water pools that seemed to be everywhere. This is one heck of a strange place. I wonder what my teacher would say if I was to put all this in my essay. All my mates would laugh at me. I don’t think I’m going to be able to tell my story to the class, after all. What a bummer! Though I might get an A+ for imagination! Eric grinned, happy again.
They walked for a while longer until the lead escort held his stick in front of them. Eric wanted to talk to him, but the escort didn’t seem very keen about speaking to Eric. While they stood there, another of the strange beings came up to them. They stared at each other for a few moments, and then the one who had just joined them made a strange clicking noise before beckoning Eric to follow him.
The new escort led Eric through a door into another amazing room that somehow looked as if it was outside. This turned out to be the home of the largest pool he’d ever seen. It even had its own waterfalls and palm trees. It was bizarre!
“Crikey! My whole school could swim in this one at the same time, and still have plenty of room to spare for their mums and dads. What is this place, Herbie?”
Before Herbie had a chance to speak, there was a rippling in the water. Then, Eric watched as four of the strange beings came to the surface and appeared to fly out of the water and do a forward somersault, landing perfectly on their feet.
“Wow! That would have got them a gold medal in the Olympics! I think you could call that a reverse dive. I wish I could do it!”
“Very strange,” Herbie agreed. “I really need to mind-merge with these people to see what's going on.”
It was as if the beings that had come out of the swimming pool had understood Herbie’s thoughts, because they came over and looked straight at him. Without any hesitation, Herbie sent his laser beam into the eyes of the one standing in front of him. Eric gasped, waiting for the backlash that was bound to come from the others, as had happened with the Indians in one of his other adventures, but none came. In fact, it was the complete opposite. They all waited calmly until Herbie had finished.
“They want to link with you,” Herbie said. “They can’t speak in the normal way through their mouths. They talk with a series of clicks and thought transfers. If you allow them, they can join with a part of your brain that will enable them to talk to you, and you to them, in the same way.”
Eric wasn’t too sure of that. “If they mess with my brain, will I become one of them? I don’t think my mum would like that.”
“No, they’ll just awaken a part of your brain that humans are not advanced enough to use yet. You’ll be able to read their minds and understand them.”
“A bit like Drozig’s people?”
“Yes. What do you want me to tell them?”
Eric looked at the strange beings, and nodded. “Okay, might as well go for it. Do you think I’ll be able to talk to Drozig in his own language next time I see him? At the moment, we only use English.”
“It’s possible. I don’t know for certain. Now you have to stand still and the leader will open that small part of your brain.”
“Okay.” Eric faced the leader and stood up straight, pulling his shoulders back and puffed out his chest. Then, closing his eyes and screwing them up tight, he took a deep breath. “Ready!”
Eric stood waiting, hoping it wouldn’t be too painful. When Herbie told him to open his eyes because they’d finished, he was surprised. “Really? Crikey, that was quick, I didn’t feel a thing.”
He heard a clicking noise in his head and a soft wailing. Eric frowned. Although he could hear them, he still had no idea what they were saying. All of a sudden the sounds changed, and he found he was listening to one of them talking to him. He could understand him completely.
Then, without warning, things went berserk. The excitement of being able to talk to them suddenly turned into his worst nightmare. Now that they realised they could be understood, all four of them started throwing questions at him at the same time, and, not being used to this, he found it really painful. He wanted them to stop before his head exploded!
He put his hands over his ears and yelled. "Get them out of my head, HERBIE!"
| Author Notes |
Thank you for reading part 3. I really appreciate all the support you give me. If you find any of those dreadful nits, please let me know so I can stomp on them. This is written in UK English, so there is a slight variance in spelling.
Image by |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
End of part 3
Eric heard a clicking noise in his head and a soft wailing. He frowned. Although he could hear them, he still had no idea what they were saying. All of a sudden the sounds changed, and he found he was listening to one of them talking to him. He could understand him completely.
Then, without warning, things went berserk. The excitement of being able to talk to them suddenly turned into his worst nightmare. Now that they realised they could be understood, all four of them started throwing questions at him at the same time, and, not being used to this, he found it really painful. He wanted them to stop before his head exploded!
He put his hands over his ears and yelled. "Get them out of my head, HERBIE!"
Part 4
As fast as the frenzied hullabaloo in his head had begun, it just as quickly ended. When Eric had yelled out in pain, it had stunned all the aqua-beings. They’d never had such a sound penetrate their thoughts before and it had immediately shut down all communication to and from Eric. There was now total silence.
Eric opened his eyes, and dropped his hands to his side. “That was awful! What happened, Herbie?”
Herbie faced Eric and scanned his brain. “You’re alright. It was the shock of all the voices hitting you at the same time. You’re not used to it but, hopefully, you’ll learn how to control it. They’re listening to your thoughts while we’re talking, and can understand you. Since they realise you can only handle a one to one conversation, that’s how it’ll be in future.”
“So I can still think in English, but understand what they say in their own language?” Eric glanced up at the four Atlanteans. 'Can you understand me?'
The answer was immediate and came from just one of them. 'Yes. We can decipher your language, as you can ours now that we have developed the language processor in your brain.'
“Cool! This is going to be good!” Eric grinned, happy now that it would be a simple matter. 'I’m sorry I can only talk to one of you at a time. Too many voices seem to make my head hurt.'
It was the leader who replied again, while the other three stayed quiet. 'It was foolish of us to have expected you to cope. We are collectively sorry. Do you still feel pain?'
'No, I’m fine now, thank you.' Eric looked at Herbie. “This is much better. Just a thought, how come when everyone is shouting in the playground at school, I don’t get any pain?”
“That’s different,” Herbie told him. “Your brain is programmed to sort through sound. With the aqua-people, their brains are able to process telepathic and sound waves in a different way than yours does.”
“How come you know all this and I don’t? I’m the human here!” Eric’s eyes narrowed as he frowned. “Are you making this up?”
Herbie let out a sound that could have been easily translated as frustration. “Because, Mr Human, better than anyone else in the universe, I took time to study you! That’s why!”
Eric let out a hoot of laughter. “Temper, temper!” Then he looked at the aqua-people who were curiously staring at them. “I think we’d better stop this, or our friends here will wonder what they’ve let themselves in for.” Eric paused for a fleeting second. “What language do you use to talk to them, mine or yours?”
“Yours. I thought it would be better if we stuck to the same one. I don’t want to speak the language used on my home planet, anyway. Perhaps I will when we know them better.”
The Atlanteans had been watching them closely, picking up some of Herbie and Eric’s conversation from their thoughts. 'We would like to know more about you, Herbie. We have discovered you are not a biological being, yet you are able to do almost everything a living being can, and other things they cannot, such as, fly. And, Eric, there is much we have to learn from you.'
That made Eric smile. "If only my teacher could have heard that!" The Atlanteans formed a circle and appeared to be talking to each other, but Eric heard none of it. “Can you hear them, Herbie?”
“No. They've blocked us. I don’t think it’s because they don’t want us to hear. It’s most likely they want to protect you.”
The leader broke away and turned to Eric. 'We must go below to our stateroom.' They turned back to the water. 'Come, we will go now.'
Eric looked at Herbie, and frowned. “Do they want me to go in the water with them?”
'It is a short distance, just a little over two fathoms. Come.' The Atlanteans continued towards the water.
“Don’t they know we can’t breathe under water?” Eric knew he could hold his breath for two minutes, but he’d struggle if it took him any longer to get there.
The Atlanteans picked up Eric’s thoughts and stopped.
“They can’t understand that you can only live above water because they can do both,” Herbie said, more to himself. Then in a louder, more positive way, he turned to Eric. “I’ve got an idea. We’ll ask Gizzy to put the bubble around us and then get it to follow these aqua-beings to their stateroom.”
“Good idea! I knew I kept you around for something.” Eric laughed and did exactly that, while Herbie explained to the aqua-beings.
Moments later, the amazed Atlanteans watched as Eric, holding onto his bike, and Herbie appeared to be standing on the water. After a quick nod, all four dived in, and Gizmo followed them down. It was just as well it did, it was a lot further than two fathoms.
The stateroom was quite large, with windows looking out into the depths of the ocean. Now that they were no longer in the water, Gizmo released them from the bubble. Eric wandered over to one of the glass panes and watched, fascinated to see the fish and other larger mammals swimming around. Inside the room, a large round table took up most of the space, with dozens of seats attached. There wasn’t much else there. The aqua-being who, Eric decided, was the leader of the four, pointed towards the table where they all went to sit down.
'First, we would welcome you to our new world. Small as it is, it is all we have left of our own. You are the first intelligent species we have come across since we found this planet a long time ago, and we would like to learn what we can from you.'
“I knew this was a spaceship!” Eric grinned with delight. “Oh, I forgot, I’ve got to think and not speak." 'Where have you come from? Is it far away? Why did you come here? What’s it like on your planet—'
“I think they’d like one question at a time,” Herbie said, cutting in. “I believe you’re confusing them, now.”
'Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just that you are the second aliens I’ve met. The first ones even took me to their planet. Can I go to yours?'
The leader’s thoughts came into Eric’s head. 'We will answer all your questions about our world and show you what it looked like. As for taking you there to see it, I’m afraid that’s not possible, as you will soon understand. When we have finished, we would like you to tell us about this one and why we haven’t seen your species before.'
Eric nodded. 'Okay…'
At that moment, Eric just happened to look over to the largest window to see a shark swim by. That, in itself, was a surprise, but it was what followed that gave him the biggest surprise.
Two aqua-beings swam up close to the glass panes and stared in at Eric. Their faces and upper bodies had the same stripes and colouring as the aqua-beings sitting with him at the table, but below their waists, where their legs should have been—they had large fishtails...
“What the heck!”
Continued….
This is written in UK English
| Author Notes |
Thank you, again, for reading my story. If you find anymore of those nits that manage to creep in when I'm not looking, please don't be afraid to tell me! LOL.
A little thing I learnt, that you might already know, but I'll share anyway. Fathom = the fathom originated as the distance from the middle fingertip of one hand to the middle fingertip of the other hand of a large man holding his arms fully extended. The name comes from the Old English faedm or faethm, meaning outstretched arms.... Now aren't you pleased I added this tidbit? :)) |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
The writing in italics is when the aqua-beings are talking to Eric by thought and not voice. I'm not sure whether italics is a good idea when it comes to publishing for dyslexic children to read. As this is for my dyslexic grandson. I would appreciate any input.
End of part 4
The leader’s thoughts came into Eric’s head. 'We will answer all your questions about our world and show you what it looked like. As for taking you there to see it, I’m afraid that’s not possible, as you will soon understand. When we have finished, we would like you to tell us about this one and why we haven’t seen your species before.'
Eric nodded. 'Okay…'
At that moment, Eric just happened to look over to the largest window to see a shark swim by. That, in itself, was a surprise, but it was what followed that gave him the biggest surprise.
Two aqua-beings swam up close to the glass pane and stared in at Eric. Their faces and upper bodies had the same stripes and colouring as the aqua-beings sitting with him at the table, but below their waists, where their legs should have been—they had large fishtails…
“What the heck!”
Part 5
Eric leapt off his seat and dashed over to the window. “Look, Herbie, two mermaids!”
Herbie flew over and stared at the aqua-beings whose attention was now turned on him. “I hope they can’t read your thoughts on the other side of this glass, Eric, I doubt they’d like to be called mermaids. Can't you see they're mermen?”
Before Eric could answer, the leader of the aqua-beings came over to stand beside him. ‘That is Yeltrio, and the one behind him is Pajiaek. They have been out hunting the oceans for an important red sea-plant. It is very rare on your world, but it is of great importance if we wish to survive here as we are. For that reason, we have started our own farm. But until we are sure we'll always have a regular supply, we must keep on hunting for more.'
‘What do you mean?’ Eric asked him, not quite understanding when he could see they were all doing fine as they were.
‘It is perhaps better if we tell you our story. Come, we will sit.’ The leader walked back towards the table.
Eric looked at Herbie. “I wonder what his name is. I can’t even pronounce the mermen’s names. I’ll call them, Yel and Page … Yellow Pages!” Eric just about managed to stop himself from hooting with laughter when the leader’s thoughts came into his head.
‘I am called Kon.’ He looked at Eric and gave a funny wink. ‘I’m sure you can say that easily enough.’
Eric felt his face heat up with embarrassment. “Me and my big mouth,” he mumbled softly to Herbie. “I suppose my spoken words must also come from my thoughts. That’s a bummer!”
After Kon had settled himself down, he blocked Eric and spoke to the other three aqua-beings. There was a lot of nodding and shaking of heads before Kon, once again, spoke to Eric.
‘We want to tell you our story. But in order to explain it properly, we need to show you our planet as it was before we were forced to leave. To do that, the four of us will join minds and bring up a visual picture. Please don’t interrupt our thought process until we have the image opened in front of us.’
A flutter of excitement tickled Eric’s tummy as he watched the aqua-beings close their eyes. The silence was so intense, he realised he’d been holding his breath in case it disturbed them.
When the sudden likeness of the alien planet was projected in front of them, it looked so real, it took all Eric’s self-control to stop himself from reaching out to touch it. It was amazing! The colour of the water, Eric was surprised to see, was sort of a pinkish purple with patches of land sprinkled all around, like the millions of stars in the sky.
The projection also showed him two moons and a sun. It was the sun that grabbed his attention now. It had to be, at the very least, twice the size of the one Earth had.
“Wow! That is so cool!” Eric stared, and his eyes sparkled as he looked at the image. ‘I’d love to be able to go for a visit.’ His eyes wandered back to the sun. ‘You’ve got a ginormous sun, haven’t you? I bet it’s hot. Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a good idea for me to visit, after all.’
‘Unfortunately, that is not a problem you’ll have to worry about. It’s no longer possible for any of us to go back.’ He sighed and sadly shook his head.
Now that the image was up, the four aqua-beings had dropped their hands to their sides. All had their eyes focused on the picture of their home.
Eric could sense such longing and sadness, that he turned to look at them. ‘What happened? Why are you here and not there? And why can’t you go back?’ he asked, nodding towards their planet.
Kon stared at the others and dropped his head. Eric knew he was going to learn something that most likely had had a terrible impact on their planet and their lives.
When Kon looked up at the image, Eric felt an overwhelming sense of heartache pour through his mind. It took his breath away. ‘This was our home planet; it was called, Vakza. In your language it is like, Water. What do you call your planet?’
‘Earth.’ Eric told them. ‘We do have a lot of it.’ He turned to Herbie. “Do you think that’s why we call it Earth?”
“Could be. I’ll check it out later. Now I want to listen to Kon.”
“Me, too.” Eric sent his thoughts to Kon. ‘Sorry, Sir. Can you tell us more?’
Kon waved his hand in the direction of their large sun. ‘This was the reason we were forced to find another planet to live on. The sun was growing larger and drawing our planet closer. Our oceans were getting smaller, some drying up altogether. We needed the water to live. Once we realised our world didn’t have many years left before the sun destroyed it, we knew we had to pull together if we wanted to survive.
When Kon stopped, Eric jumped in with the question that had been burning a hole in his head. ‘Did you have lots of people on your planet? We have loads on ours.’
Kon’s smiley lips appeared to get even bigger. ‘I think we might have more than yours. Although, that is a thought that might change once you’ve cleared up a few things that we didn’t know. Yes, we had billions of inhabitants on our planet, and it was quite a task to get them all off in time. We needed many more ships because, until then, we never thought we’d need to take everyone off our planet. Not only that, we had to build a few for those who could only live in the water,’ he said, pointing to the fish in the ocean.
‘We brought all our sea life with us; we were pleased to find some look very much like your whales and hammer sharks, so they were able to blend in nicely. They were frantic times. Every capable being set about building these ships. Once they were ready, we sent groups of them in different directions around the galaxy, each with a mission to find a planet that could provide for us all.’
Eric couldn’t help it, he had to butt in again. ‘There’s billions of you here? Where are they all? You can’t all live on this spaceship, there’s not enough room.’
Kon shook his head. ‘No. Many groups found other planets that could easily support our way of life. It was decided amongst us that we would stay on the planet we’d found, just in case what happened to our planet was to happen again. This way, if we have to move again, we’ll have many planets to choose from. Your planet is still very young, so you needn't be worried about this happening to you.
Eric stayed quiet for a few minutes. This was a lot to think about. ‘You said that you needed a certain sea-plant, and that without it you might not survive here. What did you mean by that?’
‘The water on this planet isn’t quite the same as it was on our own planet. We need different things for us to live normally. Just as you do. If you had come to our planet, you would have survived but you would have needed to change your way of life.’ Kon looked across the room and stared out the window. ‘We would prefer not to alter our ways. As you have already seen, we are able to change our legs into tails for moving in the water, and back again for walking on land. We need the red sea-plant for our bodies in order to do that.’
Continued....
| Author Notes |
'Yellow Pages' is a telephone directory we have in the UK.
Thank you so much for reading this part. I always appreciate your help with finding my nits. You've been great reviewers all through my books. Thank you! |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
I have written the mind merging thoughts in a different font instead of the italics. Could you please tell me if it works for you? Thank you.
‘The water on this planet isn’t quite the same as it was on our own planet. We need certain things for us to live normally. Just as you do. If you had come to our planet, you would have survived but you would have needed to change your way of life.’ Kon looked across the room and stared out the window. ‘As you have already seen, we are able to change our legs into tails for moving in the water, and back into legs for walking on land. We need the algae for our bodies in order to do that.’
Part 6
The Aqua-being’s thoughts fell silent as Eric tried to take it all in. He turned and looked through the glass pane at the two mermen and all the fish swimming in the ocean. It was amazing, all the colours, shapes and sizes. Eric hadn’t realised there were so many different fish in the sea.
‘How many of you are there now?’ Eric thought of all the people in his time, if they were to see them....
‘When we arrived here, we had over a million sea-beings and four million mixed beings, land and sea,’ Kon said, after a moment discussing it with the other three aqua-beings. ‘When we found your world, we could see that, even though this isn’t as big a planet as ours, there was plenty of room for us to live without being discovered. In fact, we haven’t seen any other beings here … until you came along.’
‘That’s a lot!’ Eric looked at Herbie and knew what was going through his advanced computer brain. The aqua-beings couldn’t search his thoughts unless he allowed it. But Eric knew he didn’t have that luxury; he had to be careful. 'Where do you all live? Have you got some more spaceships here?’
‘Of course. We have several around this planet. There is so much water here, almost as much as there was on our own planet. Once our hunters found the red plant we needed, and realized we can farm it ourselves, it was perfect. We were very lucky to find it.’
Eric thought about that for a while. ‘Wouldn’t you want to find an empty planet that’s large enough to take all of you?’ he finally asked them. ‘How far away are the other planets, anyway? Can you visit them?’
Kon spoke to one of the other aqua-beings, and asked him to answer Eric’s question. Eric turned his attention towards him.
‘We don’t need to visit the other planet in the way you are suggesting. We can teleport ourselves easily whenever we want to go,’ the second aqua-being told him.
‘Really? That is so cool!’ Eric was really impressed.
‘As for finding a planet that could take us all, I don’t think there is such a planet in this galaxy. We haven’t the power to travel out of it. Apart from that, there's no need to now, anyway. This planet suits our needs.’ He finished thought transferring and switched off from Eric.
The silence in Eric’s head made him realise that even Kon had blocked him again. “What’s going on, Herbie?” Eric whispered.
Herbie’s eyes swivelled around his body. “They’ve blocked me, too. If they have that amount of people here now, it won’t be long before they can take over the planet completely. There won’t be any room left for humans.”
Herbie had just put into words the very thoughts that Eric had tried to block from the aqua-beings. Had he succeeded, though? He remembered Drozig telling him when he was on his planet that his thoughts were so loud! But how could he stop it?
Kon’s thoughts returning to his head made Eric jump. ‘We feel you are worried, Eric, but you shouldn’t be. There is plenty of room here for everyone. We would like to learn more about your kind. What you are able to do, and do you have many different species of your type? There is much we can learn from each other.’
Eric realised he had to let them know the world wouldn’t be big enough for them all. He took a deep breath. ‘How far inland have you travelled since you’ve been here?’
‘We don’t move far from the oceans; they are our life-force. We have no need to travel over the land. It would not be good. Why do you want to know?’
‘Because there are many of my kind who were born in this world. We all live on the land, only the fish live in the sea. When you were looking over our planet, all the land areas you saw have thousands of people living and working on them. This is our home. It's not only for people, we share it with animals, too. Horses, cows, cats, dogs, elephants … they are really big! And thousands more creatures.’
This seemed to surprise the aqua-beings. ‘How is it we haven’t seen them?’
Eric frowned. He didn’t know the answer to that. He knew people lived by the sea, the fishermen, for a start. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know where we are at the moment. What country we’re in or what year this is. It could be because I live a long way in the future and the people haven’t come this far yet. But they will.’
‘You come from the future? How is that possible?’ This really shook the aqua-beings.
Now Eric had to decide what to tell them. He didn’t want to mention Gizmo, not that they could take it from his bike.
‘Who is Gizmo?’ Kon asked. A frown of sorts appeared over his eyes.
Eric’s heart thumped as he realised Kon had heard his thoughts and tried to come up with an answer. It was Herbie that came up with the reply.
‘Gizmo is an implant that the people from my planet gave Eric as a reward for helping them get home. They’d crash-landed on this planet and couldn’t return to their own planet without a Gizmo. It protects Eric from harm, and will take him wherever he wants to go. No one, or thing, can remove it. If it was tried, the offender would come to serious harm.’
For some reason, Herbie didn’t trust these beings. He didn’t like the way they blocked Eric from their thoughts. What worried him more was he had just told another lie. That was two in a short space of time, and he didn’t know how this was possible. Although the last part was true, Eric having an implant was a lie. Herbie now realised there was a serious problem with his circuits. In that moment, he decided that after this was over he would go back to his own planet for a checkup.
‘That’s very interesting. How far into the future do you come from?’
‘Thousands of years.’ Herbie replied.
Again there was silence. This time it was for a much longer period. Eric stayed quiet, and tried not to think of anything. That was hard. He decided to think about his essay for his teacher. What could he write? He really wanted to tell them all what he’d found, but he knew they’d never believe him. He would have to go the way he'd already decided and write it all down and pretend it’s just an idea of what it could have been like if Atlantis had existed.
‘If you come from the future,’ Kon broke into Eric’s thoughts, ‘then surely you would have seen us walking around and swimming in the oceans?’
Kon was getting nervous, Eric could feel it in his thoughts. He shook his head. ‘No. There have been fairy stories written about mermaids … people with tails. But they’re only made-up stories, like the ones my grandmother writes. As far as I know, no one has seen a real one, or anyone looking like you in my time, or before. We would all know about it.’
There was a sudden clatter of thoughts coming into his head all at once. Eric’s hands flew to his ears. It stopped. Kon turned to Eric again.
‘If you haven’t seen us in the future … then why not?’
Eric looked at Herbie. “Do you know?”
‘As far as I know, having researched Earth’s history over the last two thousand years, you have never existed here.’
The Atlanteans stared at Herbie. ‘How can that be? What could have happened to us?’
Continued….
| Author Notes | This is written in UK English so my spellings are slightly different to those in the US. If you find any nits, please would you let me know? Thanks everyone. Stay safe and well, all of you. |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
End of part 6
There was a sudden clatter of thoughts coming into his head all at once. Eric’s hands flew to his ears. It stopped. Kon turned to Eric again.
“If you haven’t seen us in the future … then why not?”
Eric looked at Herbie. “Do you know?”
“As far as I know, having researched Earth’s history over the last two thousand years, you have never existed here.”
The Atlanteans stared at Herbie. “How can that be? What could have happened to us?”
Part 7
The silence stretched out but not in a comfortable way. Eric could feel the fear and a building panic. He glanced over at Herbie as he slowly stood up and held onto his bike, not liking the change in the atmosphere at all.
A sudden clatter of thoughts in his head, which was cut short just as quickly, had Eric realising they were now talking amongst themselves.
“What should we do, Herbie?” Eric looked at the Aqua-beings who were still so quiet he wondered if they would turn violent. It wasn’t as if he could read the expressions on their faces. They had none. Not like his mum and dad; he knew immediately when they were angry with him by the look in their eyes. That had saved him many a lecture and possible punishment because it gave him his chance to make a quick getaway for a while.
Herbie glanced down at Gizmo. “We’ll wait and see what happens next. Gizmo isn’t flashing, so it’s not sensing any danger. If it does, we’re out of here in a millisecond.” Herbie decided he’d fly over the aqua-beings' heads in an attempt to get at least one of them to look up. If he just had enough time to sneak into his mind, while the aqua-being was distracted, it might give him a chance to discover what they were talking about.
Kon was the one that looked up, and he appeared to know what Herbie was up to. “You only needed to ask, and we would have told you what our thoughts were.” He then turned towards Eric. “We would like to know more about your race. Would you be willing for us to join minds with you? We would like to bring out a projection of your history.”
Eric wasn’t too sure about that. He remembered the pain he’d had before when they’d all gone into his mind at the same time. “I’m only just twelve years old, and not much has happened in that time that I know about.”
“You’d be surprised what is inside your hidden thoughts, Eric. You’ve seen things that you weren't aware of seeing. There is much in your mind.”
That didn’t make any sense to Eric or make him feel better. He turned and looked at Herbie. “What do you think?” he asked aloud.
Herbie thought for a moment. Then he came up with a solution. “I think you should go ahead and allow them. If you suffer any pain, I’ll cut them off immediately. It might also solve our little problem of the population.”
Eric hadn’t thought of that. “You’re right.” He looked at Kon, and bravely puffed out his chest. “I’ll do it … but only if you promise not to start yelling in my head again.”
“We agree. What we are hoping to find out is what happened to us. Why you haven’t seen us in your future. You might somehow hold the answers.”
The four beings came around the table and stood with Eric in a circle and joined hands. Kon looked at Eric.
“We need you to do what we do. Close your eyes and clear your mind. Try not to think of anything. Then we'll be able to reach inside without causing any internal reactions. Once we’ve brought up the images, we can open our eyes again.”
Eric didn’t like the sound of internal reactions, whatever that meant. “That’s not very reassuring!” he mumbled as he gave Herbie another worried glance before closing his eyes.
It felt like feathery fingers probing his brain and didn’t hurt at all. He felt beads of sweat on his forehead and wanted to wipe them off with his hand, but the aqua-beings were holding on to them too tightly. It was when he heard collective gasps that Eric couldn’t help but open his eyes.
The reason for the gasps was immediately clear; even Eric gasped. “I’ve never seen any of this before!” he said, hardly able to move his eyes from the horrible sights in front of him. He stayed transfixed, watching what his own mind was producing. “How is this happening? How can my mind bring out these pictures when I wasn’t even born then?” Suddenly, all the images disappeared.
Herbie came over to Eric. “That’s what the Wise Ones on my planet saw, and the reason they wanted to destroy Earth. When they met you, they realised not all Earth’s beings were like these dangerous people you’ve just seen. It was only your strong defence of the people that convinced them to give Earth another chance.”
For a short while after the pictures had faded, the aqua-beings remained quiet. Eric thought they had blocked him again. Finally, Kon spoke.
“Now we know the reason why you’ve never seen us. We had to leave. Even before this planet’s population grew so large, huge nets were being used and dragged through the water to catch as much marine life as possible. Many of our kind were being caught up in those nets. It became too dangerous for us to remain."
There wasn’t anything Eric could say to that. Not after what he’d just seen. The aqua-beings would be in danger all the time, even more so now. But he still couldn’t understand how these pictures were in his head. Kon picked up on Eric’s thoughts.
“We learnt your species has an ability much like ours. When you are born, your father’s memories, and his father’s going back through the ages, are passed down to the next generation. In other words, you are born with these memories. Your species just don’t know this yet because your brain isn’t able to cope with that amount of knowledge.”
That was a surprise! “So, what happens now?" Eric asked, his frown deepening as his mind kept flashing back to the images he’d seen and not known about.
Kon sighed. “That is something we’re not sure of. There is nowhere for us to go. Whilst we were looking into your history, we sent thought messages to our people on the other planets. It seems yours is not the only planet that will end up with such a large population. We need to find an uninhabited planet that will not only take us all, but have the amount of water we need. But we already know there isn’t one.”
Eric walked over to watch the fish and mammals swimming in the ocean. The mermen were still there, but no longer interested in Eric or Herbie. Their eyes were fixed firmly on the aqua-beings. He wondered if they knew what had just happened.
Herbie followed Eric and hovered beside him. “All the other times we’ve time-travelled, we’ve been able to help the people. I can’t think of any way we can help this time,” Eric said glumly. He glanced back at the aqua-beings who had returned to the table and were now staring out towards the mermen.
“I might have an idea!” Herbie flew over to Gizmo.
Eric watched as Herbie and Gizmo began whining and flashing at each other. He knew they were chatting in their strange language. “What are you two talking about?”
Herbie broke off for a moment. “You’ll soon find out!”
Before Eric could say anything else, Herbie turned back to talk with Gizmo, leaving Eric very confused and even more curious. His eyes narrowed as he wondered what the pair could possibly be up to….
Continued….
| Author Notes |
Thank you again for reading my story. I really appreciate the help you all give me finding those pesky nits. This is UK English, so spellings are slightly different in some words.
I've gone back to italics for the thought conversations, and will be testing various patterns on Eric after I've finished the story and before I publish. Thank you for all your advice you've given me on this subject. Eric's parents are as appreciative as I am. Bless you all and please stay safe and well! |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
End of part 7
Herbie followed Eric and hovered beside him. “All the other times we’ve time-travelled, we’ve been able to help the people. I can’t think of any way we can help these,” Eric said glumly. He glanced back at the aqua-beings who had returned to their places at the table and were now sat staring out towards the mermen.
“I might have an idea!” Herbie flew over to Gizmo.
Eric watched as Herbie and Gizmo began whining and flashing at each other. He knew they were chatting in their strange language. “What are you two talking about?”
Herbie broke off for a moment. “You’ll soon find out!”
Before Eric could say anything else, Herbie went back to talk with Gizmo, leaving Eric very confused and curious. His eyes narrowed as he wondered what the pair could possibly be up to….
Part 8
It’s not that Eric was miffed with what Herbie and Gizmo were doing. He wasn’t really put-out by them not including him in their plan and being so secretive. No, not at all. If he was honest, and he liked to think he was, he was actually blazing mad, totally livid; whatever! He hated being kept out of things, whether they block their thoughts, or whisper. Anyway, it was rude, his mum had told him that!
Just who was in charge here? Two machines or him, an intelligent human being! Eric took a deep breath and started counting. That’s what his mum would have told him to do. She was always right.
He felt, rather than heard, something creep into his mind and realised he was being listened to. He turned and stared at Kon and his mates.
“We can feel strange emotions coming from you, Eric. Are you not well?” Kon asked him, dropping his head to one side as he studied Eric’s face.
Eric cut eye contact and looked down at his feet. He realised he was acting like a two year old. “No, I’m fine. It’s just ... I can’t think of any way to help you.” Eric smiled, pleased with his quick reply. It wasn’t quite a lie because he was upset about that.
Herbie turned and gave Eric one of his weird twirling eye looks. He wasn’t fooled. Eric ignored him. Instead he asked outright what he and Gizmo had been talking about.
“I’ve asked Gizzy to send a message to Drozig asking him if he could search for another planet that these aqua-beings can live on. We’ll wait for the answer to come through. They are more skilled and have the right tools to search for planets outside our galaxy.”
“That was fast thinking on your part!” Eric grinned, pleased with Herbie’s idea. His smile dropped as he became aware of the aqua-beings staring. He decided to tell them what was happening.
“... but we don’t know if there is such a planet. Drozig will find it if there is.” Eric finished, preparing them in case they fail.
“You can talk to this person who lives on another planet the way we can?” Kon asked sounding very bewildered.
“Eric can’t, only the Gizmo can reach us.” A deep voice that always seemed to be laughing, filled Eric’s head and had him spinning around.
“Drozig!” Eric was over the moon to see his friend again. “That was quick, I wasn’t expecting anything from you for at least a day!”
“Hello, my young Earthling friend,” Drozig said with a wide grin as he reached out to ruffle Eric’s hair. “Fortunately, we were already here, otherwise it would have taken us longer. Gizmo was aware of us being close by.”
That puzzled Eric. “How come you were here already? That’s so weird!”
“We knew you were coming to Altlantis, so I keyed the space time warp programmer we’ve developed on our ship to arrive at the same time you did. Then all I had to do was tune into Gizmo so I knew what was going on. When Herbie got it to send me a message, I was able to get the search started.”
Eric turned to Herbie. “Did you know Drozig was here?”
“No, not until just now when I asked Gizzy to send him a message. Then he told me. Hello, Drozig.”
“Hello, Herbie. You’ve surprised us all. We’ve sensed that you enjoy these adventures. It’s not a part of your programming. It seems your time with Eric has helped you to evolve.”
Herbie’s eyes twizzled. “You have no idea how much!” he said, even his tinny voice sounded gloomy.
“We’ll talk later,” Drozig told him, then smiled and turned to the aqua-beings. “Greetings. I am Drozig from the planet Xrolmaita. My friends have told us of your plight. Our Wise Ones will understand your wish to leave here. I have sent messages to my people, and even now they are looking for a suitable planet on which all your kind can live peacefully.”
Kon bowed his head then looked up into Drozig’s eyes. Drozig was a lot taller than anyone here. His build was most impressive but could be somewhat alarming to those who didn’t know him. “I am Kon. My kind and I greet you, too. As I have already told Eric, we have searched this whole galaxy, and we know there isn’t one anywhere that will fill our needs. It is kind of you to try, though.”
Drozig lifted his eyes to look out at the ocean through the plate glass. Countless strange fish, and the two mermen that Gizmo had told him about, were swimming around. “We understand that. We will now search beyond this galaxy, and will continue until we find the right one for you.”
“You would do that for us? You don’t even know us.” Kon and the three beings beside him were clearly overcome.
“It’s no trouble. We wouldn’t have known about you had it not been for Eric and Herbie coming to find you.” Drozig looked at Eric and then back to each of the aqua-beings. “I don’t know how long you need to get all your people and the mermen ready to leave, but I would suggest you let those living on other planets know, and have them prepare for the journey. I can assure you, a planet will be found.”
Kon nodded. “I shall see to it that messages are sent off immediately. Then we can begin our own preparations. As we've never been outside our galaxy, I will arrange a meeting point with those on the other planets.”
Drozig shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I have scanned your ship and found it doesn’t have the capability of travelling at warp speed. It would take you eons to cover that distance. Because of that, we will take each of your ships separately to your new home by attaching them to our own starship.”
Eric had been listening to all this and was itching to ask if he could come, too. He knew he had a lot to learn to stop the Wise Ones on Drozig’s world from zapping his planet, and being with these people was a good place to begin his lessons. Though how the heck he could change the bad people on his planet into good guys, he hadn’t a clue.
Kon nodded to Drozig and hurried off to help the others get things started. This gave Eric time to talk to his friend. “Didn’t Zig come with you?”
“No, He had too much excitement when he was with you in Egypt. He must have time to continue his natural growth. That can’t happen when he space travels. It messes up his body cells.”
"Really? I didn't know that. Perhaps, one day, I can come back to see him on your planet,” Eric said, hopefully.
“I’m sure of it,” Drozig told him. “Now, Herbie, what’s going on with you?”
Herbie’s eyes whirled around his middle as he thought how best to begin. “I have some concerns. I know I shouldn’t have feelings, but even worse … I … I’ve told two untruths. That is impossible, I should not be able to do these things. What’s happening to me, Drozig? Should I come back and be looked at … or scrapped?”
Eric held his breath, waiting for Drozig to say no, that all was fine. But Drozig had the same look on his face that Eric recognised when his mum or dad was about to tell him something he wouldn’t like.
“There is something wrong with you, Herbie, I’ve known it for a while. You’re doing things you shouldn’t be able to do. You've started wanting to go places, craved excitement, and shown many human traits that drones have never been programmed with. It is most interesting. As I said, you appear to be evolving, and I know our scientists would be very keen to examine you.”
Eric’s head jerked from Drozig to Herbie and back again. “No way! You can’t have him back. He’s my friend, and I say he’s not allowed to be scrapped ... I ... I won't allow it!”
Continued….
Xrolmaita = Drozig’s home planet, it is situated somewhere on the edge of our galaxy. No one but Eric knows it’s there. He has been sworn to secrecy by the Wise Ones. Failure to do this, Eric knows Earth will be zapped.
| Author Notes | Thank you again, everyone, for reading my story. I know I keep asking, and you never fail me. if you see any nits, you know I love it when you tell me. This is UK English so some spelling differences. Stay safe, and stay well! |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
End of part 8
“There is something wrong with you, Herbie, I’ve known it for a while. You’re doing things you shouldn’t be able to do. You've started wanting to go places, craved excitement, and shown many human traits that drones have never been programmed with. It is most interesting. As I said, you appear to be evolving, and I know our scientists would be very keen to examine you.”
Eric’s head jerked from Drozig to Herbie and back again. “No way! You can’t have him back. He’s my friend, and I say he’s not allowed to be scrapped ... I ... I won't allow it!”
Part 9
Drozig put his hands on his hips, threw back his head and laughed. Then crouching as low as he could, he looked Eric straight in the eye. “Don’t you worry, my young friend. I’ll not be taking Herbie away from you, or be having him altered in any way.”
Eric studied Drozig’s face. “Really? Because Herbie doesn’t tell bad lies; not like the ones my mum would be angry at me for.”
Drozig smiled. “Your mother is a wise lady.” He then rose up and looked at Herbie, who was hovering behind Eric.
“We’ve been watching you through Gizmo’s mainframe, Herbie, and saw that both times you told an untruth they were to protect Eric. All you did was exaggerate the facts due to the situation you found yourself in. That’s what you’re programmed to do. What we have found interesting is your ability to enjoy things and to feel annoyance. That has most definitely given our scientists a buzz of excitement.”
“Thank you, Drozig. I’ve been alarmed about the untruths. I can easily explain my show of annoyance. If you want to test some more drone searchers, let them spend some time with our friend here.” Herbie gave his tinny laugh as he quickly flew out of Eric’s reach.
“That’s the last time I stand up for you! Next time Drozig wants to scrap you, I’ll take you to the junkyard myself!” Eric growled, swinging his arms out to thump Herbie, but missing each time.
Drozig grinned and shook his head. “To answer your question, Eric, yes, you can come along with us.”
The scowl disappeared in an instant and a picture of pure delight took its place. “How did you know ? I haven’t asked you yet … oh, you read my mind, didn’t you?” When Drozig nodded and smiled, Eric’s grin got wider. “Cool! Thank you, Drozig!”
“It is my pleasure, Eric,” Drozig told him. “Once we have your friends settled on their new planet, I will take you straight home. As always, you will arrive back at the same time you left. You will then have plenty of time to do your school assignment.”
“How did you know about that?” Eric cocked his head and narrowed his eyes, trying to look suspicious, but with the laughter in his eyes it just fell flat.
“There’s not a lot we don’t know about you, my Earthling friend. You are being well looked after. Now we must prepare for our trip to the next galaxy. It won’t take long before the right planet is found. We know of three that would work, but there are a few more to check out before we show them to your friends.”
Eric had to be satisfied with that answer for now. He had more important things to think about, and he couldn’t contain the rush of excitement that swept over him. Nothing would ever compare to the thrill of being allowed to go and see another planet.
“Eric, you pick up your bike and then, Herbie, you get on the handlebars. The sooner we get up to the starship, the quicker we can get started.”
“Where is your spaceship?”
Drozig took a small controller out of his pocket and pointing it to the sky, he pressed a button. “There,” he said, smiling. “I had it cloaked so as not to worry your aqua-beings.”
Eric watched as the starship suddenly appeared in front of him, not very high up in the sky. It looked ginormous!
"Come, we’ll go now.”
Eric closed his eyes; he always did when he knew he was going to be transported up to Drozig’s ship. It was a weird feeling. He couldn’t understand how his whole body could be broken up into trillions of bits, and then put back again in the right order. How did the machine know where every tiny piece went? It could easily put his legs where his arms were supposed to be and vice-versa. It had to be magic … Suppose it puts my head on the wrong way round?
There was no more time for thought because the transporter started up, and Eric knew nothing more until he materialised on the bridge. The first thing he did was check that his limbs were where they were supposed to be, and then he looked around the room. It was just as Eric remembered when he’d travelled to Drozig‘s home planet almost a year ago. He wondered if he’d have to put on the strange spacesuit he wore the last time. He wasn't surprised to hear Drozig tell him that he did.
Pointing to the little box on the seat that Eric would be sitting on, Drozig asked if he remembered what to do.
“Yes, do you want me to put it on now?” Eric asked, lifting the box up.
“You might just as well since you’ll be staying on board now.”
Eric grinned, put the box on the ground, and stood on it. He watched as the black rubber liquid travelled up his body, and solidified once it had reached the point just beneath his chin, then he put on the helmet.
The worst was yet to come. There were things to do before take-off, and they had to wait for the results of the planets that were being checked out. Would one of those be the chosen one?
There was a lot of rushing around by the crew, and Eric felt rather lost. He wasn’t sure what he should do. After a few minutes, he decided he would be helping them more by sitting somewhere out the way. Everyone could then get on with what they were doing. Wouldn’t Mum be proud of me! Eric grinned, it wasn’t something that he would think of doing at home.
Feeling thirsty, Eric thought he’d go to the ship’s canteen and see if he could use the replicator to get a diet cola. If he couldn’t, he was sure someone would be there to show him how. And, thankfully, there was. He spent some time trying out different things, like ice-cream, chocolate brownies with lots of chocolate sauce on them, and bags of crisps, too. This replicator was brilliant, Eric wondered if they’d let him take it home with him.
It seemed like hours had passed when Drozig came to fetch him, saying they were all set to go. The aqua-being’s ship was ready, and would be attached to Drozig’s huge starship once they were out of Earth’s atmosphere.
Back on the bridge, Eric made himself comfortable on his seat. Almost immediately, an automatic safety harness held him in place. When he saw Drozig nod to one of his men, Eric gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as tight as he could. They were off!
The g-force hit him as the starship pushed forward at speeds far exceeding the limits on the road! Normally, he would love going fast, but this was not that sort of speed. This rate had his entire body slammed into the back of the seat and try as he might, he was unable to move.
The worst feeling was when his face felt like it was about to be ripped off! He couldn’t part his lips or open his eyes. How he hated this bit! On top of that, his stomach was feeling very icky! I wish I hadn’t eaten all that chocolate and ice-cream. Uhh. I just hope I’m not sick.
At last, they were out of Earth’s gravity field, and the ship hovered while it waited for Kon’s ship to arrive. Drozig sat watching the open shield and pointed out to Eric where the aqua-being's ship would be when it arrived.
As Eric watched, he became aware of murmurings in his head, and realised he was listening to someone's thoughts. He could hear them the way he could the aqua-beings, but he couldn’t understand them. He decided to ask Drozig what was going on.
“News has just come through from our home planet…”
Continued….
| Author Notes | Thank you for reading this part in my book. The picture is from Pixabay with Eric superimposed on it. He's a real spaceman now! LOL. If you find any nits, you know I love to collect them, please let me know. Thank you all and Happy Easter! |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
End of part 9
At last they were out of Earth’s gravity field, and the ship hovered while it waited for Kon’s ship to arrive. Drozig sat watching the open shield and pointed out to Eric where the aqua-being's ship would be when it arrived.
As Eric watched, he became aware of murmurings in his head, and realised he was listening to someone's thoughts. He could hear them the way he could the aqua-beings, but he couldn’t understand them. He decided to ask Drozig what was going on.
“News has just come through from our home planet…”
Part 10
Drozig’s thoughtful expression had Eric worried.
“What’s happened? Is it bad news? Is it Zig?” The sudden thought that something had happened to his friend had Eric in a panic.
Drozig shook his head and smiled. “No, nothing’s wrong, in fact, if what our searchers have discovered is correct, there is a chance everything could be very much right. But for now, I want to wait for confirmation before I say anything.”
Realising Drozig didn't want to say anything else about it, Eric decided to change the subject. “That’s okay then. I’m glad it wasn’t about Zig. Umm, I was wondering … how will you know if a planet is good for Kon and his people?”
Drozig came over and sat in the seat near Eric. Clasping his hands on his lap, he made a steeple with his thumbs. “The most important thing the planet will need to have is the right water. The mermen must be able to breathe and swim in it. Making sure the waters are safe for their kind, and that the food they need is plentiful in the seas and on land, is at the top of the list.”
“Oh, I thought water would be the same everywhere,” Eric told him as his face screwed into a frown.
“No, not at all. Water can be as different as you and I. It depends on many things, like the atmosphere and where you are on your planet. There are many differences in your rivers, seas and oceans, too, Eric. For the aqua-beings it's about how much salt is in the water. Too much would be deadly to them, just as too little is, as well. How cold or warm the oceans are is another factor. From what your friends told me, the water on their planet only changed slightly over their whole world. That’s what we are aiming to find.”
Eric remained silent for a moment. The more he thought about it, though, the more what Drozig had said made sense. Earth had below-freezing cold water at the South Pole and under all the ice on the North Pole. But he remembered how nice and warm the water was in Tenerife. And another thought came to him. His teacher had told him about the Dead Sea and how nothing lived in it because it was thick with salt. “So, it’s going to be really hard to find the right place for them, isn't it?”
Before Drozig could answer, movement through the viewing pane had both of them looking up. The aqua-being’s ship had arrived.
A link was made between them, and Kon’s face came on the screen. While Drozig and Kon had a thought transmission chat, Eric waited quietly. One voice at a time in his head was all he could manage.
When their chat ended, the screen went blank. Drozig told Eric they were going to get into position for Kon’s ship to be attached to their much larger one. “Then we’ll be on our way. Come, let’s go down to the docking bay and greet Kon.”
Eric leapt off his seat and was about to grab his bike. “You won’t need that for a while, Eric,” Drozig told him. “It will be perfectly safe here. Herbie … you can follow by using your rotors this time.”
The lively activity on the docking bay was so exciting to watch. After many failed attempts, Kon’s ship finally slipped into position. Eric couldn’t hide his grin as he thought its shape resembled a barnacle attached to the bottom of a boat. Once the spaceship had been locked in place, Kon was transported to where Drozig and Eric were waiting.
After their initial greeting, Drozig led the way off the docking bay. “First, we will go to the bridge and prepare for our journey, and then, if you’d like, I will give you a tour of the ship.”
Kon liked that idea, and happily followed Drozig along the corridors.
***
It wasn’t long before they were underway, and Drozig left the bridge in the safe hands of his second-in-command. Now he could turn his whole attention to his guests.
The next few hours were a mixture of talking about the new planet they hoped to find, and telling each other the history of their own planets. Eric had a lot to say about his, which seemed to amuse his listeners a lot.
Since Eric only remembered some of his history lessons, he told them about the things he knew a lot about: Internet games, Mobile phones, Ipads and his PlayStation.
Once Eric got started, he couldn’t stop. He went on to tell them all about the sport that was played on Earth, like his favourites, football, and golf. He enjoyed playing these with his parents and sister Chloe, too. He also mentioned music, and happily sang and showed them how good he was at dancing.
Although it wasn’t about history through the ages, it was history in Eric’s eyes. And of course, he reasoned, once each day was over, everything that had happened would then be history.
When Drozig’s attention was taken away, Eric could hear voices in his head, and although he tried to listen in, the messages were too fast, and rather jumbled. A moment later, Drozig turned to face Eric and Kon with a huge smile on his face.
“We’ve had a message straight from our drone-searchers,” Drozig told them. “They have found your new home, and one that will suit you, and all your people from the other planets perfectly!”
Eric had no idea how Kon was taking this news. His face was blank, apart from his weirdly shaped lips that looked as if he was smiling, whether he was or wasn’t. But his thoughts came through, and Eric decided he was happy.
“Where is this planet? Do we have far to go?” Kon’s thoughts came through in a rush.
Eric waited for Drozig to answer, but instead he brought up a virtual map of the universe. “What I have to tell you will sound strange, but believe me, it’s true.” He pointed to an area just outside their own galaxy. “Just here, in this black, empty void, is a fold in space. You can’t see it, but I can assure you it’s there.”
Kon and Eric leaned forward to try and see where it was that Drozig was pointing at. Neither could see anything.
“How do you know it’s there?” Kon wanted to know.
Drozig laughed. “The drone-searchers found it by accident. They shot through it and came out into a galaxy much like our own. From the information they have sent back, the planet they have found for you is a replica of your dead one.”
“But, how is that possible? Have they landed and explored?” Kon was the ‘seeing is believing’ sort of being. “How long will it take you to get there? I would prefer to see it before I say anything to my people.”
Eric could understand what Kon was saying. He leaned closer to the image and squinted to see if he’d missed it. But there was nothing there but black emptiness, not even a star twinkled. Could Drozig be wrong? Had he misread the message that the drone-searches had sent? Surely something would show up ... even black-holes can be seen. Eric looked at Drozig. Has he made a mistake?
Continued...
| Author Notes | Thank you again for reading my book, I do appreciate all the help you offer me. This is written in UK English, so there are a few differences in the spelling. :) |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
End of part 10
Drozig laughed. “The drone-searchers found it by accident. They shot through it and came out into a galaxy much like our own. From the information they have sent back, the planet they have found for you is a replica of your dead one.”
“But, how is that possible? Have they landed and explored?” Kon was the ‘seeing is believing’ sort of being. “How long will it take you to get there? I would prefer to see it before I say anything to my people.”
Eric could understand what Kon was saying. He leaned closer to the image and squinted to see if he’d missed it. But there was nothing there but black emptiness, not even a star twinkled. Could Drozig be wrong? Had he misread the message that the drone-searches had sent? Surely something would show up ... even black-holes can be seen. Eric looked at Drozig. Has he made a mistake?
Part 11
Drozig simply nodded, as he gazed into the eyes of the aqua-being, Kon. Then, smiling, he turned to Eric and ruffled his hair. “Do you honestly believe that, my Earthling friend?”
Eric felt his face heat, and knew he’d turned a guilty red. This mind-reading malarky could get him into some big trouble if his teachers, or even his mum and dad, could read minds! Definitely not a useful tool to have.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before returning the grin. “No, not really … but, even you have to see why Kon doesn’t want to tell his friends about it. If he can’t see anything, there’s nothing for him to tell them.”
“You are quite right, Eric. I expect too much from others who do not know the ways of my people and our technology.” He glanced at the virtual map in front of them before linking with Kon again. “I have a very wise adviser in our friend here. I quite understand your reluctance to share this news with your people. Once we arrive at the fold, you may decide for yourself what you want to tell them.”
Kon bowed his head and agreed. “I, too, have been impressed with Eric. For a child he has much to offer us.”
Although Eric was well pleased with the praise, he wasn’t at all impressed with being called a child! Drozig squeezed his shoulder and grinned.
Shortly after that Kon went back to his own spaceship, and Eric and Herbie stayed on the bridge, chatting, while Drozig went about doing other important work.
“I’ve just made contact with the drone-searchers,” Herbie said softly. “And they have confirmed everything they sent in their message to Drozig. Don’t forget, I’m a searcher, too. If I hadn’t been sent to search for Drozig after he’d crash-landed on your planet, I would never have met you.”
“Oh, that’s right! I forgot that.” Eric cocked his head to one side and gave Herbie a thoughtful look. “I didn’t know you could get in touch with them this far away.”
Herbie bobbed up and down. “Yes, but only with other drone-searchers; we’re all linked when we’re working. Gizmo is the only one who can communicate with the Wise Ones and Drozig. The only reason they couldn’t find me when I crashed into that ditch on your planet was because I’d damaged my memory chip and tracking device. Now they’ve been repaired, I can keep up with all that’s happening wherever the drones are.”
“So, what did your drone friends say about a fold in that black empty bit of space?”
Herbie hummed as he searched for an easy answer. “Let me try to explain what a fold in space is, first, it will make it easier for you to understand.” He paused, waiting for Eric to say something.
“Okay,” Eric agreed and focused all his attention on Herbie.
“A fold in space is when the start and end points touch, concealing whatever is inside. A bit like a sealed envelope that you know carries a letter and the only way to read it is you have to open it. With a fold in space, it’s even easier, you simply move inside and you’re there.”
Eric nodded. “Okay, I get that. But the drone-searchers didn’t know they’d moved into a fold when the other galaxy appeared in front of them, did they?”
“Not at first. They would have taken photos and stored them for our scientists to study. After that, they searched the area near them. It didn’t take them long to discover the planet that we are now taking the aqua-beings to. The surprise had been that it was identical to their home planet, the one that they’d been forced to leave due to the sun drying it up. It was only after they’d collected samples and sent them to the scientists on my planet, along with the photo data, that it was realised the drones had found a galaxy that was the exact copy of our own.”
“Cool! Is there another Earth there, too? Is there another me?” Eric was bubbling with excitement now.”
“I would find it very hard to believe there was another Eric in the entire universe!” Herbie let out a loud tinny laugh.
“Very funny! So what you’re saying is, there’s another planet for the aqua-beings like the one they’d lived on before it dried out. I can see now why Drozig was so pleased. Kon and his people will be, too.”
Eric lapsed into silence. There was a lot to think about, so he settled back and stared through the viewing screen to mull it all over. The speed they were travelling had turned the stars into a thick mass of colours whizzing by and Eric found himself becoming quite dozy by the hypnotic effect of it. Giving himself a shake, he stood up and walked around the room.
“Will it be much longer?” he asked Drozig when he saw him come back from wherever it was he’d been.
Drozig, in turn, asked one of his people where they were now, and by way of reply, one of them put the virtual map up to point out their position. Eric liked the way they would all speak aloud in English when he was with them, rather than mind read.
“That flashing blip is where we are now, Eric,” Drozig told him. “And that arrow there is where we are headed. It’s not far now at the speed we are going; but there's time enough to get something to eat. Are you hungry?”
Eric’s eyes were on the area that Drozig had told him they were heading towards, and he still couldn’t see anything but total darkness.
“Yes, please. I forgot all about food, and I haven’t had anything to eat since ... since like forever, and I’m starving!”
Drozig laughed. “Come on then. Why don’t you have something different today? Big Macs can’t be the only meal you have at home.”
“No, but it’s my favourite! I like pizzas, too, and my mum’s roast dinners … can your replicator give me one of my mum’s dinners?”
“It’s never been asked for that before, but there's no harm in trying.” Drozig led the way to their dining room and went straight to the replicator. “Hmm, I’m not sure if putting in, ‘Eric’s mum’s roast dinners’ will bring anything. Let's find out, shall we?” he said as he put it into the machine.
When it came up with the question, ‘Lamb, Pork, Beef, Chicken’ Eric and Drozig were amazed!
“Well, what do you know? It does!” Eric was thrilled. “I’ll have chicken, please.”
When the meal was delivered, it looked exactly like the one his mother cooked. He hoped it tasted like hers, too. Drozig watched as Eric took a mouthful, and when he saw Eric smile with delight, he knew the machine had got it right.
“This is great! You should try it, Drozig, my mum’s a great cook. I bet you’ll love it, too.”
Drozig went over to the replicator and ordered another one, then he took it back to the table and sat down with Eric.
“This will be interesting.” Very gingerly, Drozig lifted a forkful to his mouth. His tongue touched it first and he allowed it to fill his taste buds. He then took a small bite, and chewed slowly.
All this time Eric was watching and holding his breath. When Drozig took another bite and smiled, Eric laughed!
“You like it, don’t you?” He couldn’t be more pleased if he’d beaten his dad at golf. Wait till he told his mum that an alien liked her Sunday roast dinner … except she’d never know. “What a bummer!"
“It is very nice, Eric. I shall let my family try it when I go home. I think Zig will enjoy it. What are these round things here?”
“They’re roast potatoes, and that’s a Yorkshire pud, those are sprouts, and the orange ones are carrots. That’s the chicken, the one you just tasted. And that other round ball is stuffing, my favourite, and it’s all covered in Mum’s yummy gravy.”
It wasn’t long after that Drozig received a message. They were close to the coordinates that the drone-searchers had sent them, and they were about to drop out of time-warp.
Drozig looked down at Eric’s upturned face. “We shall soon see if the searchers were right. Come, let’s get Kon up to the bridge so we are all together when we enter the mysterious fold….”
Continued…..
| Author Notes | Thank you for your continued support, and for the help in searching for those nits! I really appreciate it. This is in UK English, so there are a few spelling differences. |
By Sandra Stoner-Mitchell
End of part 11
It wasn’t long after that Drozig received a message. They were close to the coordinates that the drone-searchers had sent them, and they were about to drop out of time-warp.
Drozig looked down at Eric’s upturned face. “We shall soon see if the searchers were right. Come, let’s get Kon up to the bridge so we are all together when we enter the mysterious fold….”
Part 12
Because everyone on board the starship wanted to watch as they entered the fold, Drozig arranged for a virtual screening to appear in every part of the ship. This was unknown territory and a buzz of excitement rippled through the air.
Eric watched as the starship was brought out of warp-time and then came to an abrupt stop. Herbie flew over to hover beside him. “This is where the drone-searchers said the fold is,” he told him.
They both stared hard at the blackness hoping to see if there was the slightest hint, something ... anything that would prove it was there. Without a sign, it was a leap of faith that this was where they should be.
“If it’s not there, we’ll just carry on … right? I mean, we won’t disappear ... will we?” Eric turned to Herbie, as a feeling of dread carved a jagged path through his mind. “If there were some stars, moons, bits of meteorites out there, it would be good ... but there’s nothing, just a spooky, dead blackness!”
Herbie remained quiet for a while. When he spoke, it was with complete confidence. “There are two drone-searchers inside the fold. They know we are here, and yes, we are in the right place.”
“Thank goodness for that,” Eric breathed a soft, relieved sigh. Now that he knew for sure they were in the right place, and there was a fold in front of them, he couldn’t wait to get going. “It’s exciting, isn’t it? We’ll be going to a place no one has ever been before, and that includes Drozig. I wonder why we aren’t going straight in, though.”
“It won’t be long now, Eric,” Drozig said, as he came and stood by him and Herbie. “We’re waiting for a message from Kon. He’s bringing the other three leaders with him. When he sends a signal to say they’re ready, they’ll all be transported to the bridge.”
“What will happen when we get to the planet?” Eric asked, his curiosity always working overtime. “Do we just leave them there?”
“No. We will make sure it is the right planet for them, that all the information we’ve had from the drone-searchers meets the needs of all the Aqua-beings and Mermen, too. We don’t want to return sometime in the future and find that something had gone wrong.”
“Like what?”
“That, my inquisitive, Earthling friend, is what we have to find out,” Drozig told him with a chuckle. “If it is, indeed, a twin planet of the one they have lived on for thousands of years, then we will all be happy. We will bring the rest of their people here, and they can get back to living their lives in safety.”
Eric nodded. “When are they coming up? They’re taking an awful long time. If we were looking for another Earth, I know I'd want to check it out straight away."
Drozig laughed and ruffled Eric's hair. “We all know how impatient you are. But you won't have to wait much longer because we’ve just had the signal to say they’re ready to come. You sit down and hold onto Herbie. We don’t know what it will be like going into the fold.”
Eric didn’t need telling twice. By the time the Aqua-beings were on the bridge, he was safely strapped in. He watched as the rest of the crew went back to their places, and Drozig and Kon and his friends went to their seats. The ship started moving, and the nervous thrill building up in Eric’s chest had him holding his breath again. His knuckles were white from the tight grip he had on the arms of his seat; he couldn’t remember ever feeling this excited before.
“Here we go, Eric,” Herbie said in almost a whisper.
It was strange watching the front of the ship slowly disappear into the fold. Finally, the whole ship was through, and Eric’s breath came out in a blast!
“Wow! Look at all that!” Eric couldn’t get over the suddenness of seeing so many stars and planets. The sun and moon, though billions of miles apart, looked so close.
The crew were all spellbound, even Drozig was gobsmacked. Not a word filtered into Eric’s mind from anyone on the bridge.
“Wow! How cool is this?” Eric whispered. “Which one will be the Aqua-being’s planet?” he asked, turning to Drozig.
Kon heard Eric’s thoughts before he’d voiced them, and now looked at Drozig and transmitted the same question.
Instead of answering them, Drozig had a member of his crew zoom into the planet's position. It was almost completely blue with a few dark areas which would be the land.
Kon and his fellow leaders stared in awe at what they hoped would soon be their new home. “How long will it take us to get there?”
“It’s not too far away, so I would say an hour of Eric’s Earth time, at most.” Drozig told him.
“Then we shall go now and prepare for landing.” He was about to leave, but stopped and turned back to Drozig. “I would like to be with you once we have arrived. Perhaps we can find an area that will be deep enough to submerge our ship, but close to the land?”
“Of course. I will let you know when we are there.”
The journey didn’t take that long and soon Drozig’s ship was hovering over the planet. Kon had been called to the bridge again and was now staring down at his new home.
“It’s so much like our own planet used to be that I can’t believe it isn’t!” Kon was so overcome with emotion that he had to turn away for a moment. “Seeing it this way ... it brings back so many memories of times long ago.”
Eric looked down and thought how nice it looked. “Can we go down and look around?” he asked hopefully.
Drozig switched to thought transmission, then Eric heard his voice come inside his head. “I was about to suggest we go down to check the water and the land. We need to know it’s fit for you and your people, Kon. I know it looks the same, we just need to make sure.”
Kon agreed and immediately sent a message to his own ship to tell them what he was going to do. He then followed Drozig and Eric down to the shuttle bay.
Drozig landed his shuttle on the land next to the sea. His first step was to check the air to make sure they would all be able to breathe it before he opened up the doors. All checked out well, and Eric was the first to dash out, with Herbie zooming beside him.
“It’s great! Come on out.” He ran over to the water and was about to take his shoes off to dip his feet in, when Drozig told him to wait.
“We need to test it before you go in,” he explained. "It won't take me long."
Kon had just finished testing the soil, and came forward to do his own water test. Once he was satisfied it was as it should be, he couldn't resist the pull and smell of the waves licking his feet, and just had to walk in to enjoy a quick swim. The knowledge that now he was back in his own world, although not the one where he was born, gave him endless joy.
“I can’t thank you enough for your kindness,” he told Drozig. “And, Eric. Had you not come to us when you did, and told us what life was like in your future, my race would have died out. I thank you for asking your friend here to help us find this new home.”
Eric smiled and nodded. He didn’t know what to say. In the end, he told them he had been happy to help.
Kon also nodded. “I would like to bring our ship down now. And if you are still willing to bring my people on the other planets here, too, I would be most grateful.”
“Of course. You are most welcome, my Aqua friend. We shall release your ship from ours first, and then we will be on our way.”
Once they’d left Kon and his people on their new home planet, Eric felt sad. It had been such an adventure, and he knew that after they had brought the other two spaceships to their new home, he would never see them again.
“But you will always have the memories, my young Earthling friend,” Drozig said as he came over and sat next to Eric. “You are the only Earthling who has travelled to another planet, and no Earthling will ever get to go into the fold and see another galaxy.”
“You’re right.” Eric thought about what Drozig had said. “But, I’ll still see you again, won’t I?”
“I’m sure you will,” Drozig said, and smiled. “There will be new adventures, and we’ll always be watching over you.”
Eric was sure there would be, too. Now, all of a sudden, he was desperate to see his mum and dad again, and Chloe. His only regret was he couldn’t tell them anything about this adventure. He wondered if he ever would.
| Author Notes | Thank you so much for reading Eric's latest adventure. I have really appreciated all the support you have given me in this project. |
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