Time Tales Omnibus

Time Tales Omnibus

Jan C. Schindler

Contents

Introduction

Time Future, Time Past

Part I

1. The End, the Beginning

2. What the Frak?

3. On Alpha

4. Delta

5. The Gala Reception

6. The Vox

7. Traveling to Earth

8. Earth 2.0

9. Visits and Aliens

10. No sense at all

11. time present

12. Post Human

13. The end, the beginning, again

14. M110 and Bunny

15. Xiska

16. Smoke and mirrors

17. Infection

18. Eternally Present

Time Present

1. Harry being Harry

2. Necessary Destruction

3. Ship Justice

4. Clee

5. Interlude on Earth

6. Off Course

7. Mystery

8. Mystery Solved

9. Time is Unredeemable

Short Stories

Latocha Visit

A Sort of Kidnapping

Return to a Faraway Place

The Renegade Ships

New Friends

Unique Things

Bibliography

About the Author

Introduction

When writing my books, I had many ideas for Harry and Claire's adventures. So many that my editor thought I should take a few out and focus on the rest of them. I'm not fond of science fiction books that go into great detail about the world they are creating at the expense of telling a wonderful tale. Often, there are chapters devoted to explaining the technology envisioned in the book or pages of detailed descriptions of clothing or planets, or species that, to me, were just clutter. It didn't seem necessary to the story, at least not in such detail. Some books were so dense that I lost track of the story. I call this the Moby Dick syndrome. I didn't need to know everything about whaling to understand the story and the meaning behind it.

Foremost, I want to tell a good story. The world building and character development should come about in the telling. I realize that this is counter to the consensus of how a scifi novel should be constructed. I guess you can think of my books as stories to myself; the way I wish more scifi stories were.

I put both my books and some short stories into this one volume; everything you need to know about Harry and Claire's adventures in the Regional Alliance. I hope you enjoy it as much as I had writing it.

Time Future, Time Past

Time present and time past

Are both perhaps present in time future,

And time future contained in time past.

If all time is eternally present

All time is unredeemable.

- T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton

Part One

The End, the Beginning

It was a normal day like any other on Earth. I settled down on Claire’s lap while she and I watched National Geographic as we have done so many times in the years that I’ve known her. I like the Big Cat programs. A warn lap and some scratches under my chin and I’m good.

It started as a low hum, then a whistle ending in a crescendo of sound and a violent shaking. Suddenly, there was a powerful sucking—I can only describe it that way—that lifted me, Claire and part of the sofa up and out of a large ragged hole in the roof. Claire was screaming, and I was howling, clinging frantically to her shirt. It didn’t last long—thank Bastet—as it dumped us into a white room with no windows and no door that I could see. Claire was trying to get up, but she had the blanket tangled around her. There was stuffing and fabric from the sofa strewn about the room. Suddenly, part of a wall opened and three figures ran in. They helped Claire get unwrapped from the blanket. She had lost her glasses, so I don’t think she took in the figures initially. One looked fairly human, one had four legs and two arms, while the other one looked like it had light grey feathers on its head! Oh, Bastet, where in the world are we?

Claire finally noticed the strange people as she let out a brief scream and backed away from the four-legged creature who was trying to help her up. Amazingly, he spoke English! Claire just stared at him and then fainted. The earth looking guy carried me out as the four-legged one took Claire. We left the building and ran to some kind of car, only it had no wheels and was floating about two feet off the ground. We got in and it whisked us away. There was a loud boom. I looked back and saw the building we had just ran from engulfed in flames. More explosions followed. The screams of the people running from the building faded as we flew away. There were some funny-looking trees we flew over and away from the destruction. ‘Dorothy, we ain’t in Kansas anymore.’

The shock wave jostled the car and the First Minister adjusted as it raced away.

"I hope Menar and his staff made it out, but that doesn’t look nor sound good," First said.

"No, it doesn’t. I guess we lost all of his work," Reedmer replied.

He backed up most of his work up in the central computer. But the recent work, no. he just kept going, refining his numbers, hardly ate. To finding what went wrong.... that is going to be hard, Sura said.

"No more wormhole experiments for a while, Reedmer replied. Such a shame. It would have been nice to have a shortcut to the humans. At least, we have one." He looked at Claire and smiled.

But what happened.? How did she end up here? First asked.

The hovercar began a slow descent to a low building. During this exchange, Claire woke up and started hyperventilating, eyes wide. She was stunned and terrified.

What is your name? Reedmer asked.

Cl... Mac... Claire.... Claire Mackenzie. Who are you? How do you know English? Where AM I, Where...? Panic welled up. She clutched Minnie, her cat, to her chest.

I know English because I studied it along with many other of your languages. We’ve been aware of humans for a long time now. You are safe. I’m going to give you something that will calm you down. He touched her shoulder, and she passed out.

Oh, dear, I think I gave her too much. She’s out.

Minnie sat unperturbed on Claire’s lap.

Back on Earth

People ran towards the destruction. Claire’s landlords, Andre and Marie Boudreaux ran outside to find a large hole in the roof of their garage.

Claire was home, wasn’t she? Andre asked.

Marie nodded slowly as she looked through the gaping hole, Mon Dieu, what has happened?

They checked the apartment, but no Claire and no Minnie. No blood, just gone. The police and fire department were called. Everything seemed ok except for the large hole and part of Claire’s sofa missing. The FBI was called. Rumors swirled. There was residual radiation in the apartment. Was she a terrorist making a dirty bomb? Was she a victim of some secret experiment of the government? New Russian weapon? On and on. Few took the abduction of her by aliens seriously, even though it was the most accurate. The story went from page one to ten in the newspapers and online and then faded as other incidents of political intrigue, murder, Hollywood scandals, and billionaires in space captured the headlines of Earth. The pandemic raged on.

They arrived at the Sci6 facility. The rooms would be configured for a biped and have added human touches. Reedmer’s knowledge of Earth was extensive. He surmised Claire was from a western culture, given her dress and spoken English. He pondered what happened, how she got here and was glad she seemed ok although very confused.

First landed the craft. Two attendants met them and helped get Claire inside. She was still drowsy but able to walk with some support. Sura carried Minnie. The small tuff of feathers on her head fascinated Minnie. The room was down a hall away from the labs.

"I think it’s best if we fit her with a translator at the very least and do a bio scan," Reedmer suggested.

"Yes, what about nanos?" First inquired.

"Let’s see what the scan shows," Reedmer said. It probably would be a good idea, since we don’t know how an actual human will react to our world. They seem to be like Kneffs in biology, but a minor difference could be a major difference for her. She also can be checked for any injuries she may have sustained in the transfer.

"Sura, can you see if they can do that here?"

"Yes, there is a med wing here and I’m sure they could. I’ll make sure they have things programmed for human/earth," Sura said.

"Tell them to access the primary data base: human-Reedmer-research if there is any problem," Reedmer offered.

"Will do. What about the, uh, creature?" Sura asked.

I’ll take care of her. She should be ok though. I’ve looked into their physiology as I have an interest in them- what a bonus! He exclaimed, A human AND a cat!

"What happened, Sura?" First asked.

She paused, took a breath, "My guess is that Menar added too much energy too fast to the system. This was the longest hole we were going to create. But how and why it sucked Claire and the umm, cat, I don’t know. That shows to me it contacted Earth, but it was supposed to be in the outer part of their system, not the planet itself. We’ll have to go over all Menar’s notes, but we don’t have any from the past week. I was after him to input it but he always brushed me off with Later. Maybe with the other techs we can piece something together but I have a feeling it will take a while."

You know what Prime is going to say. Reedmer looked at First. He never was on board with the project.

No, he wasn’t. First replied, He is happy the way things are. If it wasn’t for Harry and the Ships he never would have agreed. It would have been easier to just use the Ships. But Prime wants to have as little influences from them as possible. We can do things alone he’s often heard saying, First sighed. That has got to change.

Sura went off down another corridor to attend to things.

They brought Claire and Minnie to the room. Claire looked around, bewildered. It looked very much like a small apartment with a sofa and two chairs around a coffee table. Bathroom and small bedroom. The kitchen had a small fridge and stove, and there was a rectangular opening on the counter. This was a food reconfigure or refig unit she would come to know. In the fridge there were basic Earth foods: a small jug of milk, orange juice, eggs and such. She took it all in and plopped on the sofa. She was feeling weak, disoriented. She wanted to scream but felt if she did, she wouldn’t be able to stop.

Reedmer came over to her. I’m going to give you something so you can sleep. We are going to do some medical scans to make sure you are ok. Is that ok with you? When you wake, we can answer your questions. Know that you and Minnie are safe and no harm will come to you. I give you my word, Reedmer said.

I... I guess... Oh, .... Oh, Claire whispered. Realization was setting in. Her eyes filled with tears and fear. Terror took hold as she slowly faded out of consciousness again.

They took Claire to the med bay, where they placed a small translator behind her right ear. It was tiny and placed under her skin. It seemed to work as it began sending information to the hearing centers of her brain. The small knot also sent info back to the med bay’s instruments. After several scans were done, the techs placed nanobots into her. They programmed them with human physiology and they busily did repairs in her body. The first was to fix her nearsightedness and to strengthen her immune system. Other tasks included strengthening her muscles and bones and fix the lung damage she had suffered from a bout of pneumonia she had as a child. This took some time, so First and Reedmer left the med techs to it.

We need to get Minnie checked out, too. She may want a translator, although it will be a shock to Claire to have a talking cat, Reedmer chuckled.

You attend to that while I go check and see how thing are at the lab. I have a feeling we’ve lost valuable people with the explosion. First took off down another corridor and out the door.

What the Frak?

Wonder of wonders. I can talk and understand what everyone is saying. That Reedmer dude is cool! Don’t care if he has four legs and two arms. He was so nice to me. We even had a little conversation. I told him not to tell Claire about my newfound ability. She has enough to deal with right now.

Reedmer explained he has a fascination with Earth cats. There weren’t any in his neck of the galaxy. He also briefly explained to me we were in a part of the Milky Way that was far away from Earth. I don’t understand what happened to us, only that I know this world is a lot different from Earth, even though some of them look human.

Claire woke up to Reedmer sitting next to her bed. She looked around, realizing her surroundings. She was back in the small apartment. It was difficult to control the terror she felt. She took a deep breath, hoping that would allay some of her feelings. Reedmer gave her a smile, blinked a few times, and she felt the terror melt away. Minnie was sitting on Reedmer’s lap. He was petting her.

How are you feeling? Reedmer asked. Is the translator working.? I am talking in my language.

It seems so. I... I can understand you, she shakily said. Did you give me something to calm me down? The terror I was feeling is less.

"Sort of. My species secrete certain pheromones that Kneffs and others find to have a calming effect. Some, not all individuals, are susceptible. Apparently, you are too. I hope you are not concerned about this. It is how I could calm you when you first got here. It usually doesn’t last long. We also can administer a mild stimulant. It also doesn’t last long. Just something peculiar with Quozans’s physiology.

If you feel behind your right ear, there is a little knot. That is your translator. If you press down on it, that turns it off if for whatever reason you would want that. Many people have it. It’s a way around learning so many languages. We did not fit you with a neural link to Knowledge. It is like having your web imbedded in your mind. We were not sure how you would react to that. We don’t want to overwhelm you with our tech. You can have access thru a wrist band. It fits rather well and is external, no linking with your thoughts. A tad bit slower, but you may like it better. Sort of like a computer on your wrist, only much more powerful. You just speak what it is you want to access, and it displays the information on the small screen on the band. You can also access Knowledge via a computer terminal. We also placed nanobots inside you. They corrected your eyesight and gave your immune system a boost. We didn’t want to take any chances of you coming down with a strange disease. Claire’s eyes got large.

Nanobots? I... d.... don’t know what to… s... say. I am overwhelmed.

Reedmer nodded. I would be surprised if you weren’t. About me, I am a Quozan from the planet/system called Quozanant. There are only two planets in my system. We are quadrupeds, as you can see. We value learning. My background is in sociology and anthropology, although I have served for a time in the RA military. I met E while studying here. That’s the Kneff person who was with us earlier. I’ve known him for a long time. His name is Eeaanona. Kneffs have strange names.

All I heard was e-an so may I call him Ian?

Sure, Reedmer chuckled, He’s been called many things. E being the most common. The other person you met is called Sura. She is a Fluton, a biped. They have feathers mostly on their heads, some over their entire body. Mackenzie is Scottish, yes?

Yes, Claire replied, although I have more French in me than anything. My mother was French, my father Scotch-Irish. My mom came over from France to study Cajun French. She was a linguist, met my father and, well, that was that. She paused, swallowed, then continued, My father grew up in south Louisiana. He knew some Cajun French, enough to impress my mom. Why am I telling you this?

Reedmer smiled and shrugged. "I have a way of making people comfortable around me. I am interested in your background. Cajun French is a dialect of the language, is it not?

Claire nodded.

A little background on Ian. He is called First since he is the First Minister under the Prime Minister. There are six ministers besides Prime. This is for the Regional Alliance or RA as we often refer to it. First or Ian is for Alpha, the others for different regions of the alliance. Alpha is the name of the planet you are on now. Ian or First is a Kneff. They live a long time, about two hundred fifty years. Quozans live about three hundred years. Kneffs can regrow hands or feet, and the men can regrow their penises, Reedmer laughed.

How convenient! Claire said.

You will see many Kneffs on Alpha, but there are also many people from other planets in the Alliance. There are also Ships and for those I’ll let Harry explain them to you.

So where am I? What happened? Can you get me home? Claire asked, And who is Harry?

Harry is well... Harry. You are on a planet called Alpha. Beta, its moon, is a rocky orb with a little atmosphere that has a large solar farm on it. They transfer the energy to Alpha. There are a few labs up there where energy research is done. The system has four planets, Alpha, Delta and Epsilon. There is also a large gas giant a ways away called Gamma. Alpha is the central planet for the Regional Alliance, which is about sixteen systems comprising thirty-seven planets scattered in this area of the galaxy, Reedmer explained. There are also orbital rings and space stations scattered thru out the alliance. We were conducting wormhole experiments trying to open one to your system, but something went wrong and you ended up here. We are trying to figure out what happened, but it may be a while for that, Reedmer explained.

So, you can’t get me back home? Claire asked.

No, not at the present. Tell me, what year was it when you left?

2021, why?

That is curious. You came approximately two hundred seventy years into Earth’s future, as well as across part of the galaxy.

What??

I think if you were to go back, you’d find two hundred seventy years have passed on Earth.

What the frak?!!

"Yes, usually with wormholes, time dilation is not a factor. The ones we have created are short so far, connecting planet to planet within a system. The Earth one was the longest attempt we were going to make.

There is someone who may explain this better to you. His name is Harry, and he has visited Earth several times over the years. He is how we know so much about Earth, your histories, languages and cultures. I am one of the leading researchers on Earth. Would you be willing to talk to him?

Yes, if he can give me insight into this, yes. I am still having trouble believing this is happening, that it is not a joke.

I wish it was a joke, Claire, but it is not. I think you’ll like Harry. He has taken a great interest in Earth and humans. He wants to meet you. Not to overwhelm you, but Harry is actually an avatar or a personification of a Ship. He can explain better, I think.

What? Avatar? Can he get me home?

You’ll have to talk to him about that.

Minnie continued to sit on Reedmer’s lap thru out this exchange. She looked up at Reedmer and seemed to give him a little smile as she jumped into Claire’s lap.

Later that day, Ian stopped by. He wanted to see how Claire was doing, and he brought Harry to meet her.

Reedmer told you about Harry, yes? said Ian.

Yes, oh goodness! Claire exclaimed.

He’ll explain. Oh, and calling me Ian is fine, He smiled briefly and left.

The avatar glided thru the door. He looked fairly human. He was tall, had dark hair and very pale yellowish skin. Human-like face with an engaging smile, deep set, piercing blue eyes. He wore a black suit: shirt, jacket and black slim pants expertly tailored. He had a confidence that made Claire think she wouldn’t want to tangle with him.

He gave a small nod to Minnie and sat down in a chair.

Not sure about this one, though. He looks a little intimating. And that strange yellowish tint to his skin. I don’t think he’s human in any sense. What the heck is an avatar, anyway? Lemme see what his deal is, Minnie thought.

"I guess E and Reedmer told you I am an avatar for the Ship Harry Houdini. We travel throughout the galaxy. Ship is an approximation of what we actually are. We are life forms. I believe the Earth term is ‘shape shifter’. One of many forms we can take is humanoid."

"We’ve been studying Earth for a long time now. The Harry Houdini is the primary Explorer ship for that region of the galaxy. We did passive scans of Earth every so often, keeping track of your technological progress. When we heard the radio signals, we started taking a more active interest in Earth, as that was a sign that your technology was becoming more sophisticated. We’ve been actively observing you since the late fifties’ Earth time gauging your progress so that we could make first contact. We scanned your databases so we have most, if not all, knowledge of your species."

Are you responsible for all the UFO sightings? Claire asked in disbelief.

Well, yes, at first. We weren’t sure if you could detect us and when we learned you could, although not very well, we took measures to ensure you couldn’t. We observe occupied planets to see the level of technology before we make contact.

Like the prime directive on Star Trek.

Something like that. Harry smiled at the reference.

So, you can take me back home?

I could, but it would be a very different world. Harry paused for a moment and then continued.

"If it seems like a species is on the verge of destruction, we will intervene. In Earth’s case, unfortunately, we thought humans would grow beyond destruction. They didn’t. I’m sorry to tell you that the humans destroyed themselves and much of the planet. Earth is healing, but slowly. This happened soon after you were transported here. The time differential is a little confusing. Approximately two hundred seventy years have passed on Earth. You came forward in time two hundred seventy earth years and displaced on another planet in another part of the galaxy.

We visited Earth several times before the destruction, the last time being 2023. Things seemed ok, so we went on with our surveying of other systems and then the next time we went to check on Earth, we found it destroyed. There was a pandemic. A country called North Korea was upset because it didn’t have enough vaccines. It launched nuclear missiles at the USA hitting the city of Seattle. It blamed the United States for the pandemic. They bombed Beijing because they wouldn’t give them the medicine. It seems China and Russia were selling their vaccines to other countries. They bombed New York and London. Then all hell broke loose. Those countries that had nuclear bombs dropped them. Submarines just off the coasts of countries let go of their arsenals and, well.... billions died. After that, a viral pandemic reared its head along with a virulent bacterial pathogen and millions more died. Some people survived in the mountains or jungles initially, but after a time they too perished. I think you called it a nuclear winter?

All this time, Claire sat dumbfounded and numb. Tears silently coursed down her cheeks. No one is alive?

No, I am sorry. We really thought the humans would be ok but were wrong. We’ve done several scans, sent drones and bots down to the surface, but no humans survived. Things are being cleaned up and restored. We are almost finished. There was some growth of plants and a few animals, roaches I think you call them, abound. Several small reptiles eat them. The radioactive levels in some places are still too high for humans. We scanned all the info we could about that recent past, and this is what we’ve pieced together.

"The good news is that we have saved most of earth’s flora and fauna. We’ve also begun reseeding the Earth using the seed stored at Svalbard once the radiation levels became lower. On several earlier visits before the destruction, we transferred plants and some species of animals. There is a large pod of dolphins living on Delta, orcas, whales, fishes along with land animals, many birds, reptiles, mammals, big cats, elephants and others.

"Earth is fascinating to the people in the Regional Alliance. Several of our ships have adopted Earth names. One of our Explorer Ships is called the Confucius. She really likes his philosophy. I chose Harry Houdini because magic and science sometimes go together. He seemed to be a bit of a character, too. There are other Explorers, the Dogon, Sputnik, and Heraclitus, Harry winced when he said the third name. Then there is the Aggressor class: The Art of War, and Shiva."

I just want to go home and you’re telling me my home is gone and everyone I knew is dead. And you’re babbling about ships and... and restoration. What am I going to do? This can’t be happening. She covered her face with her hands and shook her head.

Harry’s eyebrows shot up, and his eyes got large. No one had ever accused him of babbling. He realized the seriousness of her situation, but he had no logical answer.

We will take care of you and Minnie. We will find you a suitable place to live and eventually you can go back to Earth if that is what you want. Right now, the radiation levels in some places are still too high and have a potential to harm you. Also, we still have some work left in restoring Earth.

I am sorry for my outburst. I just am having a hard time believing all this.

My dear, don’t apologize. You have been through something no one else has. It will take time.

Please, continue by telling me about your ships. Claire said.

"Ok. Well, there are Explorers, Aggressors, Support and Renegade Ships. We roam the Milky Way galaxy looking to help where we can. We don’t intervene with cultures until they are technologically ready. And we intervene only if we are asked and only if a request is appropriate. No making bombs or destroying planets, although we can do that. When the Regional Alliance had reached an advanced level, we contacted them. They didn’t ask for our help with wormhole technology since they had developed it on their own. So, we left them to it. They could have requested Ships to go to Earth. That would have been faster and safer, but well.... Anyway, it seemed like the wormhole should have worked. Something diverted it, it seems."

Are you saying that my ‘accident’ could have been prevented if some idiots had only swallowed their pride and asked? She asked incredulously.

Well, yes, that’s one way of putting it. There was a flicker of a smile.

Claire took in a large breath. There were good people on Earth, people going about their lives trying to live a good life. They didn’t deserve to die.

No, no, they didn’t, Harry sympathized. The powers that were just didn’t stop to think what it was they were actually doing. As best as we can gather from the records from that time, it seemed to be a knee jerk reaction and once in motion nothing could stop it. The war drums of hysteria drowned out the voices of reason.

You were actually on the planet prior? Claire asked.

Yes, I went down briefly throughout earth’s history a few times. The 1970’s and 80’s were interesting. Moved around a bit. And you are right, lots of good people, people helping a stranger! But then, I got mugged one night, a guy wanted money. He wound up in a hospital with a broken arm. Harry grimaced. "I have drones and androids on the surface cleaning things up and trying to restore the surface. The clean-up is just about finished and we’ve started reintroducing animals and plants in those places where the radiation levels are low. Some areas, especially where larger cities were are still a bit too hot.

Such diversity of life on earth! Over the visits, I have transported many plants and animals. I could see that pollution and human themselves were causing species to go extinct. We always asked those species that could understand if they would come with us. And the ones that couldn’t ask, we took a select number of them, especially if they were endangered. It’s not a complete picture, but I think they will be the seeds for a new earth, Earth 2.0 if you will. They are on the planet Delta. It is one planet in the Alpha system. Prior to that, Delta was mostly a desert. With Alpha’s permission, Ships terraformed it and placed all the earth life on it. We have several planets thru out RA and the galaxy where we have done this. We find planets in need of some TLC. He smiled. It is one of the many things we do. The amazing thing you’ll find is that we can communicate with some animals. You have a translator, yes?

Claire nodded.

Then we can adjust the parameters on it and you can communicate with them. There is an orca who would like to meet you.

Claire’s eyes got wide. An orca? You can talk to them?

Oh yes, among others, He smiled briefly at Minnie. Tilly is very social, and we have had several conversations. I told her about you and she thought maybe you’d feel a little better knowing that we saved some life from Earth.

Yes, actually.... Maybe... This is all so incredible. I mean, I’ve read sci-fi novels and watched Star Trek, but it was always fiction. I even dated a physicist for a short while. He used to talk about all kinds of spacey stuff, most of it I didn’t understand.

Changing the subject, Harry asked, What did you do, if I may ask, Claire?

I am an artist, a painter. I worked for a web-based company as an art director of sorts. Helped with choosing typeface to colors to stuff like that. It paid the bills, so I can’t complain. I’d like to see Earth.

Harry sighed. Not right now. The radiation levels around the cities are still too high for you. I don’t want to risk any harm to you. Most of the cities are in ruins. We... um... when we came across bones, we buried them. There are several large burial mounds scattered throughout the planet. Felt it was the least we could do.

I know this is a lot to take in. I’ll try to visit again soon and answer more of your questions. Harry got up, smiled, and glided out.

Claire hugged Minnie as the tears fell from her eyes. Thoughts bounced in her head. ‘What the frak? What the hell? What in god’s name? How did this happen? Dream or nightmare?’ With that thought, she heaved a sob, screamed into a pillow as Minnie pawed gently at her cheek.

Wow! That was much. Everyone is dead? On Earth? That’s a lot to take in. I need to time it when I tell her about my new super power. Ha! Right now, I just need to be there for her. I like this Harry guy. He seemed savvy, and he’s trying to get Earth back just with no humans. This is some serious shit we’re in and we didn’t have anything to do with it. Damn aliens!

On Alpha

Several days later, Ian showed up at the little apartment. He wanted to see if she needed anything. He had been busy and hadn’t had much time to spend with her. He was curious about how she was coping.

I wanted to bring you your tablet. The tech people have gone through it and have updated the systems. It was easy enough for them to figure out. They could keep your photographs and your games and some other things. I noticed you had a presence on your web with a site showing your artwork. They could pull it out of its memory. I enjoyed looking at your art. Perhaps we could set something up for you. You could continue your painting. Would you like that?

Yes, that would be nice, Claire said. Do people even paint here? You have art here?

Yes, we have art here, Ian smiled. Many visual artists incorporate other media in their work, but we also have some who work on canvas as you do. It would be nice to have an older art technique. At least older for us. Some people will enjoy seeing it. We have sculpture, perhaps, you’ve seen some works near some of our public buildings. And we have fine crafts such as pottery and woodworking and other things. Ian felt like he was rambling.

I really haven’t been out much, Claire said. Reedmer took me to a market where they had many original foods from various species. Many different crafts were displayed. There were street musicians and performers. I saw a juggler juggling several colorful orbs that changed colors. Reedmer got me this beautiful shawl made with the thinnest handwoven fabric, but it feels so warm when I wrap myself in it. I didn’t want him to give to me but he insisted. I don’t know what the proper etiquette is in those circumstances for his culture. I was blown away by the Chikken Shack! People seem to like both the chicken meat and eggs! He explained to me about vat meat. The eggs are real, though. There is a farm somewhere on Alpha? I enjoyed seeing the market, but it was overwhelming seeing all the different species of people that belong to your Regional Alliance.

You are fine. Reedmer enjoys doing things like that, so don’t worry. There was an incident a few years back where one of our native animals got into the chicken area and ate a few. They are–how do you say? - free range. After that we put up barriers. We don’t eat meat like humans do/did. We grow it. The chickens produce so many eggs though, that we started using the eggs. We allow a percentage of them to grow into chicks. We have so many chickens now that we’re exporting them to other planets so they can have their own supply of eggs. Chickens are quite popular throughout the Alliance. New things spread quickly if they are fashionable, He smiled, "I can’t imagine how overwhelming it must be for you but I hope in time you will come to like it here. I grew up on Alpha and so it is home for me. It is quite peaceful in the countryside.

Well, anyway, I just wanted to bring your tablet back. I thought you might enjoy having it. Perhaps when things settle down in the government, I could take you around the city or to Delta, where we have Earth’s fauna and flora.

I would like that. Claire said. Thank you, Ian. I very much appreciate you bringing my tablet and talking with me. This has been nice.

It has. I’ll see you soon.

"Oh geez, I’ve seen that look on her face before. She’s falling for that guy. Yeah, he’s cute and everything. He seems concerned and all that. I just don’t want to see her hurt yet again. Good grief! He could be an axe murderer for all she knows.

I hope Reedmer comes by so I can ask him about this Ian guy. At least, they seem to be helpful as they should be. Those morons caused this problem. To quote my human, What the frak?

Ian didn’t