Finders Keepers

CHAPTER ONE

FINDERS KEEPERS

 

We made pretty good time on the first leg of this journey. It’s been

a long ride out of Phoenix but not half as long as the ride we have ahead

of us. The sign says there is an exit a mile ahead. From the looks of

things, we might just find a spot off the road where we can pull over

without getting rousted by local law enforcement. I think I’ll head

towards those hills in the distance.

“What do you think Thumper? Ready to stretch the legs a little

boy?” Thumper, my German Shepard, sits up almost like he understands

what I’m saying. More than likely, he can tell from my tone of voice

what’s going on.

 I’ll be glad to get away from those damn truckers!

Here I am driving an 81’ Jeep Wagoneer towing a twenty-two foot

camper and do you think those truckers could slow down? Nope, in fact it seems to me like they would just speed up! Which is bad enough, but they travel in packs and I thought for sure that a couple of times they were going to blow me off the road!

This area looks desolate enough. We should be able to get a good

nights sleep here. I think I’ll pull over and put the Ol’ Jeep in four-wheel

drive. Might need it going into the desert like this. Ok, let’s see what we

have up ahead.

Looks like a little trail off to the right heading toward

those hills over there. Looks to be about a half mile or so away. That spot should

be secluded enough for us for the night.

 I follow the wall of the hill

around to the far side where it opens up like a backwards “C” and it’s

large enough that I can pull the Jeep and trailer in and around without

having to do any backing up. We might even be able to have a little

campfire before we turn in.

“Ok boy, go get some exercise while I get the camper set up,” I tell

Thumper.

With it being such a nice evening, I decide not to break out the

generator. The batteries should hold us overnight.

Wondering where Thumper is I give him a holler.

“Thumper,” I holler and set his food and water outside the door. I

turn around and start throwing a couple of PB & J sandwiches together

with a big cold glass of milk. I turn on the TV and to my surprise I

can actually pull in a station with the rabbit ears! Looks to be the local

news station, finishing up the weather forecast. The forecaster says it will be a

cool, calm night. No rain in sight. Just the way I like it. Guess I’ll go

see about gathering some wood for a fire.

I head out the door expecting to stumble over Thumper, but he is still

nowhere to be found. He hasn’t even touched his food! That’s weird.

There aren’t too many things that will keep Thumper from his food.

“Thumper,” I yell again, listening to my voice echo in the cool New

Mexico night.

“Here boy,” I yell louder. I wait watching and listening.

Nothing. I go to the Jeep and grab the flashlight and start following

his tracks. They lead to the entrance where we drove in. I chuckle to

myself. I almost started to worry about him. He probably found some

female coyote and is feeling frisky. He most likely couldn’t hear me with

the way this place is shaped. It reminds me of an amphitheater. As soon as I

get out in the open, he’ll hear me and come running. His tracks start

leading away from the opening. I follow them as they start out into the desert, leading me away for about ten minutes. Then they start back towards the hills.

The tracks go right up to the wall and stop? I look around to see if he might have jumped up on the wall and then back down, but, the tracks just end.

By now I’m tired, so, I sit with my back to the wall and call

Thumper’s name again.

 “Thumper” again listening to the reverberation

of his name. As I do, I lean back against the rocks to rest and I find

myself falling backwards, through the rock wall!

My fall is a short one. I roll down what feel to be three or four

steps. In the process of falling, I drop my flashlight and end up with my

feet and legs dangling over my head. Suddenly, without warning of any

kind, something warm, wet and slimy starts squirming over my face,

making it difficult to breathe. I reach out to try and tear it away from

my face when all of a sudden, while I am trying to get whatever it is away

from my face, I snatch a handful of fur, and a choke chain collar.

“Thumper?” I whisper questioningly. I hear a whimper then a

 resounding “Ruff ”. By now I’ve been able to regain my footing

and can see the light of my flashlight about twenty feet from me.

I retrieve my flashlight and start looking around the cave. I glance back

towards the entrance and notice a shimmer every so often. I think that

there must have been some sort of camouflage covering the entrance.

I turn back and start down the tunnel. My flashlight plays over the walls

of the cave. They look as if they have been polished as smooth as a baby’s

bottom and the deepest color black I have ever seen. Surely this isn’t

a natural phenomenon? I come upon what seem to be tables mounted to the walls. Adjacent to the tables is what appear to be swivel type chairs.

The light hits one particular chair that has Skeleton in it! The skeleton is draped in what appears to be some sort of uniform. There is a considerable amount of dust and dirt on the uniform, as well as the surfaces of the tables or counters, and the floor itself.

Upon examining the remains of the individual, I find a belt attached

to the uniform, on the belt I find a variety of different objects. One of these items is rectangular in shape and black in color. After opening the device I reveal a row of varied color buttons and a circular pad, which, has a crystal button located equidistant at the twelve, four, and eight o’clock positions. One

of the colored buttons, the yellow one is glowing dimly. I cautiously

start to bring my index finger to a point to depress the button and as my

finger passes over the faint glow a diminutive figure about four inches

tall appears to float above the circular pad.

“My name is Vilion Pa, Commander of this planet-side endeavor.

My time left is short. I am all that is left of this assessment team, as

well as the only member of my ship, the Aurora, left alive. A few Earth

years ago we encountered some sort of contaminant, the type we, as a

people, had never before seen. Most of the crew succumbed in the first

few months. Four hundred and seventy five members of the Auroras’

crew, gone in less then two months! The rest of us that had made it

past the initial outbreak thought we would survive. Then slowly, one

at a time we fell victim to this scourge. By the time Medical was able

to finally identify the disease, it was too late. Even with the Bio-filters

calibrated to recognize the disease, it mutated so fast the filters were of

no use. Yet, for some reason unknown to Medical, the Humans (as they

called themselves) were little worse for wear when they contracted this

disease. They would normally spend a few days resting and then go on

about their life. They complained all of the time about finding a ‘cure

for the common cold’ when we would have been happy with suffering

from the ‘common cold’ and being able to survive as they did!

With so many of the crew dying so quickly, and the Humans

developing new technologies, if we left the Aurora in orbit, eventually

it would be located. The Captain decided to land the Aurora on the

dark side of the lone satellite of this planet, with the hope that should

any of the planet-side crew were to survive, they would have a means

to get home.

I digress from the cause for this report. The Aurora was sent to

this planet called Earth to observe the peoples of the planet and report

our findings to the Inter Galactic Stellar Alliance, who then would

determine if the people of this planet were ready to become a member

of the IGSA. While most planets needed eight hundred to a thousand

years to develop from I-2 to I-1 once they have gained the attention

of the IGSA council. The planet Earth however, from the time it

gained notice, appeared to be only four or five hundred years away

from reaching I-1! Their only drawback was the violent tendencies of

the species. They seemed to solve all problems with fighting and war.

Slowly, in the last fifty years they came to realize that problems might

get settled with violence, it didn’t mean the problems were solved.

With this entry being my final log, I would like to thank my planet side

crew and recommend that they receive the IGSA Twin Red Cluster

for service above and beyond the call of duty.”

With that, the figure shimmers and disappears. I slide the cover

closed and lean against the counter in awe.

“We aren’t alone after all,” I whisper to myself. There are life forms

in the galaxy besides just the Human race. I evidently slid my hand over

some sort of sensor or switch because unexpectedly the hallway was lit

up from lights in the ceiling. With this lighting it makes for a much

less eerie feeling then with just the light from my flashlight. As I walk

down the corridor I find what seem to be rooms although I have no idea

how to gain access to them. The doors have no handles; they have no

receptacle for a standard key or even a card swipe key.

Maybe there are sensors for movement or body heat or something,

I think to myself. I stop in front of the door and wave my hand; then I

touch the door; finally I just say “Open Sesame”. Nothing happens.

“That is not a command that I recognize” I hear from out of the

blue, causing me to practically jump out of my skin.

“Who the hell are you, and where are you?” I query.

“I am a model AI4757N0A. You may simply refer to me as

‘Noah’. As to where I am, I am available at 147 locations at this planet side

installation. Now how may I be of service?”

“Noah is it? I have a few questions for you. First, what shape is

the Aurora in?”

“The Aurora is on minimal drain. Power cells are eighty-two percent

charged. All systems will function at peak once power is restored to

full.”

“Secondly, how did the crew get supplies conveyed here from the

ship?” I asked.

“The crew had two ways to transport supplies to the surface of the

planet from the Aurora. First was by Short-Range Transfer Yacht known

as SHORTY. As the Humans developed higher levels of technology the

use of SHORTY was impractical. This led to having to use the Linear

Transport Device. The LTD basically folded space in half. This would

allow an object to appear to be in two places at once. You would step

from point A to point B. Due to the consumption of power and the

possibility of the spot where the two points met could end up in a star

or black hole, use of the LTD was limited to a range of approximately

five hundred thousand miles” Noah finished.

“How long will it take to establish a normal life support for a

Human on board the Aurora? And how long to establish full power?”

I asked Noah.

“It would take three hours and twenty-five minutes. Full power

could be established in eight hours forty-two minutes,” Noah replied.

“Please do so, and is there a console that would allow me to read

manuals about the ship and the IGSA?”

“Certainly. The third console on your left will allow you to perform

those functions. May I inquire as to the purpose of getting the ship up

to full power?”

“I would like to visit the ship. Is there a problem with that

Noah?”

“No, it’s just that I see no purpose in getting the ship to full power

if it isn’t going to be going anywhere. While I can not forbid you access

to the ship, I will not be able to allow you access to certain functions

such as propulsion or weapons without the Captains approval” it stated

with certainty.

“Well Noah, when I leave the ship, you can reduce the power to

minimal again. Fair enough?”

“Understood, Sir”.

I find the console that Noah directed me to. I take a seat and

familiarize myself with the console. The first thing I do is start looking for

text covering intergalactic law. I recognize an opportunity when I see

one! I inquire about salvage law, and I find what I am looking for. I

study various manuals about the ship. Mostly non-classified stuff , like

make, model, some armaments, shield types, the ships minimum and

maximum crew capacity, where the ship was made, various star charts,

layout of the ship, and information about Medical. It appears that

Medical can run fully automated for routine and emergency repairs.

They have the ability to grow replacement parts from cells of an injured

person, which reduces the bodies’ rejection to practically negligible.

First place I’m heading to when I get on board is to Medical. I am going

to get this back and shoulder fixed once and for all!

“Noah, how do I get something to eat and drink around here?” I

ask.

“If you will follow the flashing blue light on the floor, it will lead

you to the dining area.” he says.

“How much longer until life support is restored?” I ask.

“Life support will be fully restored in twenty-nine minutes,” Noah

says.

“Time enough to grab a quick bite then off to the ship. Have the

LTD ready to... what is the term used to describe what I am about to

do?” I ask, some what puzzled.

“The term most frequently used is ‘crease’ or ‘creasing’, ” Noah

explains to me.

“Ok, have the LTD readied to ‘crease’ me to the Aurora Noah.”

“Understood” Noah responds.

All I can think about is that old saying from when I was a kid,

“Finders Keepers”.

Reviews

[Oz in Exile]

I like where you're going with this, but I have suggestions. Contact me and we'll talk.