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A NEW TREK A .
Volume One.
Copyright (c) Gary Wayne Stevens 2025 conceived, created, edited, by
Gary Wayne Stevens
"STARSHIP". (05)
Sol, was a very discontented and unhappy soul. One might say that he was the only one who had a soul on Asteroid 5678309.
But he did like Sara. But he really didn't have her. The problem, is that Sara lives in the 'Sixth City', and Sol lives in the 'First City', so they are not allowed to marry. Only to see each other, they need to get through the City Gates, which is not easy. So it's not often that they get together. If one of them could change Cities... it could be different.
It is the year 2498, out on Asteroid 5678309, and life is very boring for Sol; everyday is the same routine, and he keeps wishing to get away.
But out here, there is no escape and no place to go. So Sol would often dream of 'a starship', that would come and take him away. So he kept wishing for that.
But he really doesn't know what 'a starship' is, because of course, he's never seen one. But in his mind it would be a grand and glorious thing.
Although, there are many spaceships in the year 2498, there is no such thing as 'a starship'. But Sol kept thinking about it, and kept trying to come up with a thing that might represent 'a starship'. He used building toys that were sort of between Lego bricks and Tinker toys to build the thing that he had in mind that day.
He would then proudly put the thing on display in one of the main rooms in First City, every few weeks or so, and he would get his two buddies Jim and Dave, to come and look.
Now Jim and Dave were really not his friends, but would pretend to be interested, to see what Sol had made. They would act like they liked Sol's "Starship" and would act like it was neat, perhaps out of having nothing else to do.
Sol really has only a vague idea of what a 'starship' might be like, so he keeps struggling with the designing and so he keeps changing it. Then he would put it on display for a few days as his "grand design", for his two buddies to pretend to ooh and awe over. And this was the highlight of his week.
He knew his design was wrong, but it was the best he could do, and it wasn't like anyone could help him: He is the only one who has the interest, and no one knows if 'a Starship' could be a real thing, or make-believe.
This went on for years.
And when he got the chance, he would tell Sara about it, and wished that she could see his creation. And he would tell her that someday his Starship will come, and so take him away, and so then he would be leaving this boring place. And he would tell her, that when that happened, he wanted her to go with him. But this whole idea was disturbing to her, since she did not believe in such a thing.
They were slowly adding more 'Cities', as the population and resources increased. Each 'City' is a self sustaining part by itself. The 'Cities' has sort of a flat round dome over the top, about 400 feet in diameter, and are connected by a number of 'tunnels'. So that any one 'City' can be abandoned if need be.
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There is nothing outside but wasteland and the waste dump pits, where they put their garbage that had no more use to it.
And in Sol's mind, the whole place is a waste dump, except for his current Starship design and Sara.
Time after time he would build something that represented his Starship, and put it on display. They would be nothing like a real Starship of course and were rather goofy, but all he could do was to keep trying.
Word had spread throughout the Cities about him and his "Starships", and many thinks he has a problem and that it will only get worse. Not that he is a problem, not yet, but many are concerned.
Sometimes someone would say to him; "Why don't you build it, and fly away?" as a mocking question. Sometimes someone would suggest that he should actually design a Starship, because he seemed to know all about them. But this sort of talk would irritate him, because he knows he has no way of building one or only "designing" one either. This only makes him more unhappy and frustrated, not only with the others, but also with himself. And he cannot at least as talk about Starships to anyone, because no one else has the interest in them.
He is all alone in this. Terribly alone.
But sometimes he thinks; Does it really matter if there is no such thing as a Starship? Maybe it is only his made up fantasy as they say. But damn them, it's what keeps him going, he needs something to believe in, even if it's really not real. He needs something to keep his sanity in this boring place.
One day when he was able to get with Sara, she asked him why he is so obsessed with starships.
"Obsessed?" he said. "You think I'm obsessed?".
Seeing that she made him angry, she rephrased her question to calm him down; "Okay, sorry, but why do you like them so much? What is it about starships? What is a starship to you? Can you explain this to me?".
This question, the way she was now putting it, took him by surprise. So at first, the only thing that came to his mind was; "You know when you think of us getting married?" And then he saw her expression turn to surprise and a bit of annoyance, and then it occurred to him that he had spoken without thinking... so he immediately added; "No, I guess you don't do that. It's difficult to explain this, let me think."
So then she says; "Okay, I'll wait." Then she adds; "Do you think of us getting married?"
Sol replies; "No, forget I said that, I started out the wrong way. No one has ever asked me this about Starships..." But then he adds; "But I do think about marrying you someday, Sara". he said sheepishly, hoping that she would not mind the comment, because he had started out the way he had.
So then she gave him a bit of a smile.
So then he starts out; "I'm not sure if I can fully explain this. A Starship is a great thing. A Starship is a wonderful thing. A Starship---"
Then she interrupts him asking; "Wouldn't a Starship be just a spaceship?"
"No, a Starship is not just a spaceship!" he said sharply. "A spaceship is the thing that brought us here. A Starship is much more. Much, much, more. Much grander! A Starship is wonderful. A Starship is the greatest thing ever. A Starship is---"
Then interrupting him again, she says; "Maybe it's true, what they say... That you have a delusion?"
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"I am not delusional!" he said angrily. "Oh Sara, not this from you! Why can't you be on my side?"
"I'm sorry Sol, but it sounds like you really don't know what a starship is, and can't really explain it. We shouldn't be believing in fantasies, we must live in reality. You're saying that a starship is a sort of grandiose spaceship. Why a starship, why not simply a spaceship?"
"Okay Sara, so I don't really know what a Starship is. I've never seen one, no one has." Then he adds; "I don't like it here, Sara!", he says in desperation. "I want to get away! Don't you?! Starships are all I have, can't you see that?!"
"You have me, and all the other people here." she says.
"But I don't have you!" He says in desperation. "We are in different Cities! It's difficult only getting to see you! And is that ever going to change? Do you want that to change? And if my Starship comes, I want you to come with me. And then we can be together".
"But your starship will never come. It's not real. And besides, there's no such thing as a starship, you made it up. And only a space ship is not going to suddenly show up out of the blue either, because you might want it to!" Now more passionately, she says; "Sol, all this is only in your mind, it's not real. You wait and wait and wait, you are waiting for nothing. You need to forget about starships, and live in the real world. Like I do. You should be happy here, not thinking about some fantasy."
"No! Starships are real!" Now hoping beyond hope he says in a low tone; "They must be real". Now in a resigned manner, he says; "So you don't want me then?"
"No, I'm not saying that. I do like you Sol, but we must live in the Cities, you in yours, me in mine, and work toward more progress. What else can we do for now? And suppose there is such a thing as a starship, it's not going to come here. Do you really think that it would come here?"
"Sara," Sol says desperately, "I must have hope. Aren't you bored out of your mind here?"
"We all do our work."
"But there is no progress!" he blurts out. "Everyone is nothing doers, they are nothing people! They do nothing! At least I try, Sara. I know I fail, but at least I try! They don't as least as try. And Jim and Dave, they are liars! They pretend to be interested in my Starships, but I know they're not!"
"Whoa! Whoa the horses, where is this coming from?"
"There's no progress here, Sara. No one tries to do anything. No one gets anything done. They are all do-nothing people!"
"No. Everyone works, everyone has their job, we all are maintaining everything, we are increasing".
"They are only increasing their maintenance! I'm the only one who has something more going on in the brain! With them, there's nothing going on in their heads! They are all busy doing nothing!"
"You shouldn't think like that, Sol."
"At least I think! And I see no change. I never see change. All they do is grow larger, they don't change."
"What else is there?" Sara says. "No one here can make a starship. And there would be no point to making one. Sol, we don't need any starships."
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"Don't you see Sara! A Starship means something. Something better. It means something more than simply being alive! It represents striving for something greater, not simply staying alive. That's what a Starship is Sara! Can't you see that?! But they see no point to anything. All they want is to keep themselves alive, and nothing else. I'm different!"
"But we don't need any starships, Sol. You need to see that."
So with that, they both departed from each other, not at all happy with the way the meeting went. Neither one able to convince the other of anything. That's the way it is every time.
Then one day, some time after Sol and Sara had had this fight, Sol was more frustrated than usual, and was busy working on another 'Starship'. And Dave says; "It's your turn to put out the garbage, Sol."
"No it's not."
"Yes it is."
"No it's not!"
Then Jim says, "Yeah, Sol, it is."
So Sol grudgingly stops with his designing, he wasn't getting anywhere anyway, and puts everything away. So he goes and gets the garbage container, puts on a space suit, and goes to go out the air lock in his irritable mood, and he's walking along and saying to himself; 'What a boring life, nothing ever changes. Why can't there at least be some change?'
And then he sees it.
Or he thinks he sees it.
So he stops, and stares. 'What is this, is this a spaceship?' He says to himself. 'Could it be a Starship?? Could it be his Starship?!' He's thinking in amazement.
Or is it true, that he's losing his mind, and he only thinks he sees it, because he wants to see it? But he wasn't thinking of a Starship when he came out, so what's going on? But if it's real, why didn't he see it sooner? For the thing is huge! How could he have missed it? How could he have missed seeing something this huge as soon as he had stepped out?
Looking it over, he sees that it's basically a huge sphere, with some smaller parts added. And that in front, if he's looking at the front, there is a smaller sphere that make's out to be sort of like a nose to the larger sphere. The smaller sphere he estimates to be maybe one hundred feet in diameter. And the larger sphere to be three to four hundred feet in diameter. And there's a long part of the ship that goes many hundreds of feet behind all of this. The thing is so large, that it's larger than all the Cities put together!
'If it's not real, and he only thinks he sees it', Sol is wondering, 'then why is it so very different from any of his own "Starships" that he has made? So how could he have come up with something like this in his mind?'
Is he losing his mind? He must know.
In looking at it, he notices that the part he's looking at, which seems to be the front, has lots of windows in it, windows as far as he can see around the curvature of the sphere going up over the top, and they are all round. He's keen on noticing the windows, because the Cities have very few of them.
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He sees that the whole thing is resting on three points; there's two very large and long ramp like parts that are coming down from the main sphere. And way, way behind, because the thing is so large, off in the distance, he thinks he can barely make out a large curved part coming down to the land holding up the rear end of it. It's a very impressive sight, and very strange.
If he touches it, will that be proof enough? Or might he simply be imagining that he's touching it as well? It's all very overwhelming. But he has been saying that a Starship will come, and so maybe it has! Maybe this is it, his Starship! But he also notices that unlike his building toys, there's not a straight part of it anywhere; every part as far as he can see has some degree of curvature to it, not a straight part anywhere.
He must know one way or the other if this thing is real or not. But he's been looking at it for awhile, and he notices that something seems off: Unlike the others, he's good at this sort of thing; evaluating a thing as to whether or not it is genuine.
Then after awhile of staring at it, he sees it: The ship has no shadow! This huge thing has no shadow! He looks down, he can see his own shadow, but this thing doesn't have one!
So now fear and great disappointment starts to strike at his mind. Because if it was real, a thing as large as this, would be casting a huge shadow. So if it is real, then why doesn't it have a shadow?
But he has been looking at it for awhile, and it's not fading away. It does seem like a solid thing. But how can it have no shadow if it really is real?
He can't touch the bottom of the thing, for it is standing about forty feet straight up. But there's the large ramps that are coming down to the land. So with determination and great resolve he starts walking straight toward the nearest of the two ramps. He get's to the ramp, and he touches it! But is this proof enough? He sees that there are many steps that go up and up and up. He knows that he cannot walk on air, but of course he knows there's no air out here, but if he climbs the steps, maybe this will be proof enough that this thing is real.
So he starts climbing. As he's climbing, he notices that the steps seem to have been designed to make it easier for someone to climb while wearing a space suit. He also notices that there's plenty of railings and that the steps meander left and right, so that if one falls, one might not fall far until one gets stopped.
It's a long way up, maybe two hundred feet of steps. And when he gets to the top, he'll be more than one hundred feet high up, he figures. So this thing had better be real, he's telling himself.
He makes it to the top, and there's an air lock door in front of him. It's closed. 'What do I do now?' He's wondering. 'I came all this way.'
Then the door opens! He walks in, he's not going to stop now! It closes, he waits. Then another door in front of him opens. And inside, he sees people standing there! A man and a woman at least. Neither of them are wearing space suits, so he figure's it's okay to take off his helmet.
The man, or maybe not a man, but a boy, for he seems like he might be only fifteen years old, is standing there looking at him, and then says to him in an apologetic manner; "Sorry, but we would have come and knocked, but couldn't figure out which was the front door." Then he adds, "But you are here, so that's okay. My name is Weave Tanner, welcome to our Starship."
Then Sol not sure of what he had heard, asks; "Say that again, this ship is what???"
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"This is a Starship" Weave repeats.
"A Starship!" Sol says. "This is really a Starship?"
Weave replies, "Why yes, this is a Starship. Do you know about Starships? We think this is the only one."
And so Sol says; "Well, I really don't know about Starships, but I've been sort of waiting for one for a long time."
Then the woman standing nearby to Weave speaks up and says: "Well, that's not exactly the case, this ship, is it Weave?" she says looking at him and indicating the ship that they are standing in.
"So this is not a Starship?" Sol asks in disappointment.
So Weave apologetically replies; "Oh, yeah, this is a Starship, but this is only a part of it. A rather smaller part of it. This is the part of it that can land on a planet. The rest of the ship, which is much larger, is up there" he says as he points a finger straight up, and adds; "And cannot land on a planet".
Then the woman speaks up again looking at Weave, saying: "Not exactly, Weave..."
Then Weave seeing where he went wrong, adds: "Oh yeah, I forgot, the Starship has other parts, smaller parts, that can land on a planet. Those are the ones that are usually used to go down to a planet. But I managed to bring this part down for a landing. You see, the main ship itself is not designed to land on a planet, but this part of the ship is designed to land on a planet, so I landed it here."
And the woman spoke up again saying; "Just barely! You're lucky he didn't smash your buildings! You parked awfully close, didn't you Weave?"
"Well, someone had to do it. And yeah, I guess I did, but no harm done, eh? And I'm going to need to figure out how to lift off again..."
Then Sol asks; "So can you take me with you in your Starship?"
"Well, I don't know about that, we are only some poor travelers... What is your name, and what is this place?"
"My name is Sol. And this is Asteroid Five Six Seven Eight Three Zero Nine, and this is nowhere."
"Oh great, this is nowhere" Weave says.
Sol is thinking; 'Children piloting Starships, and they don't seem to know where they are?' But he drives this thought out of his mind.
The woman then says; "Hmm, Asteroid Five Six Seven Eight Three Zero Nine, huh? Then says; "My name is..." And she said her name, and he thought he heard her say; 'Ephiny', but she spelled it out, saying; "'F', then, A, N, Y; 'F Any'".
So Sol then asks; "So why doesn't this ship have a shadow? Is that because it's a Starship?" Weave replies; "Oh, yeah, well no. That's what is called "Stealth Lighting". I was trying it out. And it sort of works, doesn't it?"
Then Sol says; "Well, I'm sort of a bit of a Starship designer myself, but I would never have thought of such a thing as that!"
Then Weave adds: "Yeah, this ship has all sorts of things that we haven't figured out yet. And it might be because it's a Starship. Because this one is the first one ever built, isn't that correct, F Any?"
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And F Any replies, "Yes, this is the first one built, it's The U. S. S. Pluto." and she adds; "And we have a man in a stasis chamber."
And so Sol asks; "Whatever for?"
"We don't know." F Any replies.
So then Sol pleads again; "Can you take me with you, take me away from this place?"
And Weave says; "Well, we can't take on a lot..."
"Only me", then hurriedly added, "me, and one other."
Then F Any says; "I think, maybe we can, for a song."
And Sol somewhat confused, asks; "For a Sonng?"
And F Any replies; "Yes, for a song."
Then Sol not getting what she's getting at, presses on; "So it's okay, I can come with you, and my woman with me?"
So then Weave and F Any agrees; "Yes, you may come, the others should not mind."
Sol asks; "The others?"
Then Weave replies; "Yes, the others, up there" he says as he points a finger straight up again. "Mostly children, they were too chicken to come."
So then Sol says; "But you can't stay here long, my people won't like it."
So then Weave asks, "But you haven't told us where we are. Can't your people tell us where we are?"
"Oh no, I told you where you are. They are very strict, they should not know you are here. You should leave soon", Sol says in earnest. Then adds; "I will hurry, and get the woman, and then we can leave. I should not be long."
So Weave says; "Well, okay. You go out the way you came, and then come in again." Then Weave very seriously says to Sol; "Now Sol, If I've waited for a long time, and you haven't come, should I honk the horn?"
Then Sol almost shouting says; "No! Don't do that!" Then very seriously adds; "I won't be long."
"Okay, just kidding." Weave says.
So Sol hurries into the air lock again... and makes his way down the steps. He hurries inside, and Jim seeing him says; "Damn, you were out there a long time". And then noticing that he did not have the garbage container with him, asks about it. And Sol thinking in a hurry said the first thing that came to his mind; "I forgot my toothbrush", saying it as if he was going out there to brush his teeth.
So in a rush, Sol is determined to make his way to Sara, thinking that nobody had better get in his way! Fortunately he made it all the way to Sixth City with no one giving him any trouble. And then he was happy to find Sara.
Now he knows the way this is going to sound, but he's in a hurry, so he just blurts it out; "My Starship has come, come on, we don't have much time, let's go!"
Sara says; "What?!"
Sol doesn't have time to argue, he's afraid that if the others find out about what's happened, they might stop the ship from leaving, or at least stop him from going. He knows this is his one and only chance to get away, and tells this to Sara.
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Sara is not believing a word of this of course, and thought that maybe someday it might come to this. So she's not going, she refuses to get herself ready to go, to the great annoyance of Sol.
So not having the time to change her mind, if it were possible to do so, in great sadness, he tells her goodbye, he's leaving, as he walks away.
But now Sara is getting worried as to what Sol might be doing next. So she follows him out as he goes and makes his way through the Cities with her behind him. And so when Sol gets to the air lock, he puts on the space suit to go out, and so Sara is really getting worried now, and so she puts on a space suit to follow him out.
And Sol turns to her and says; "I thought you weren't coming."
So now they are outside, and Sara is looking down, and sees that he hasn't dumped the garbage yet. And so she says; "Look, you haven't dumped the garbage, you're not thinking straight." Afraid that Sol is going to simply keep going, and walk off "into the sunset", never to be seen again, searching for a starship that isn't there, she gets in front of him, walking backwards, trying to stop him somehow, with her reasoning or maybe with her body. She's telling him that if he keeps on walking, he's going to die. "Is that what you want?" she says.
"No, I'm going to my Starship."
"There's no starship!"
"Yes there is."
"No, there's not."
"Yes there is. And you're about to walk into it, turn around and look. Stop!"
"No, you stop!"
And so she walks backwards into something hard, something that should not be there, because out here, there's nothing to walk into, and so she hits her head and falls down.
So now being somewhat dazed, she looks up and around, seeing the Starship now, and more perplexed than ever. So now being somewhat confused, Sol manages to help her up, and gets her to walk up the steps and into the air lock. And then into the Starship.
It turned out, that when she fell, her suit got damaged, and she was slowly losing air. So she did not come to her full senses until they were inside the ship.
So after awhile, the Starship takes off and is gone.
After some time has passed, no one can find Sol. And they find that Sara is missing also.
So fearing the worst, they mount a rescue group to search.
They find the unemptied garbage container. And three huge depressions in the land hundreds of feet apart. And they wonder...
And they wonder why Sol did not dump the garbage...
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NEW BASE, 700. (04)
Mic, (Mic; a woman *1) in the Pluto, finds a planet that seems that it might have life on it. So they manage to bring the Starship within range of it.
So now it's a debate as to who is going to go down to the planet and how are they going to get there. So discussing it in the group, they decide that Cash and Synthea (Synthea; a man, husband of Mic), will try to take a Star shuttle down to the planet.
But two of the children, Catherine and Ava, also want to go.
But there's a problem with space suits; what if the children want to go outside with the men, and there's no air to breathe? So they find space suits that will fit the two children.
A Star Shuttle, is a shuttle spaceship, very small as compared to the Starship, designed to go to, and from, the Starship, and to land on planets. The Starship has plenty of them, and they are all white, like the Starship. The Star Shuttle (*2), like the Starship, are of a similar design, consisting mainly of three spheres, the front being the smallest, the rear being the largest, like an insect, and it has four partially retracting landing gear. It's about fifty feet long.
So after they have studied and learned how to fly it, they go walking to the Bay Sphere at the rear of the Starship, and they pick out a Star Shuttle. So Cash and Synthea and the kids get in, and this makes them feel like maybe they are taking the kids on a 'family road trip'. Mic then manages to open the main Bay Sphere door. So they take off, and go down to the planet, with Catherine and Ava wearing the space suits all the way down.
They manage to find about where they want to land, and so they land. There's no breathable atmosphere, so the men need to go and get some space suits and put them on. So they all come out, and walk.
They come to an artificial construct. They find a hatchway that lets them come inside, and so they do so. But then it closes behind them, and now they are in total darkness, unable to see anything, and Cash is wishing that they had brought some lights. Now they are trapped inside, and there's no air to breathe in there. Catherine and Ava are now thinking that it wasn't a good idea for them to come. Then some light starts to come on, around where they are standing, and the place starts filling with breathable air.
So then they find that they can take off their helmets. And as they are doing this, a woman appears (*3) standing some feet away, where there was no one there a few moments earlier. But they see, that it's not one woman, it's many, one behind the other in a long row, and when she moves, they all move, like an mirror effect all moving together, but only her head moves, as she seems to look at them.
She, or they, are dressed in a lavish gown that goes all the way to her toes. She seems like an angel. And she says; "Welcome, to our world."
*1; In 1994, I came up with a "Mike" woman character; 'Mike Breunell'. And I had in mind a face like Shannen Doherty; cover of "TV Guide"; 1994 11 05 for this character. Many years later, after Star Trek: Discovery, I changed my 'Mike', to 'Mic'.
*2; In about 1981, I designed a shuttle spaceship that the Red Dwarf Starbug is very similar to. *3; I had in mind a face like Amy Hargreaves (young), as this holographic woman.
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Synthea says to the woman: "What is this place?"
And 'the woman' answers and says; "This is New Base 700."
Cash says to Synthea; "It's a sort of a hologram." And asks 'the woman'; "So there's people here?"
And it says; "Yes."
"What many people are here?" Synthea asks.
"There are 512 people here, all waiting for you to come."
And Catherine says to the men; "Wow. Can our ship hold that many, if they all want to come with us?"
Hearing this, the 'woman' says; "Your ship can hold only approximately 20 people."
Then Synthea asks it; "How do you know that?"
And it says; "My systems tells me the size of your ship, and so I calculate the math."
"Catherine here was talking about our ship, not the Star Shuttle we came in.
"The Star Shuttle is not your ship?"
"Yes, it is our ship, but we have another." And Synthea asks it; "So you are the greeter, for your people?"
It says; "Yes."
Then Synthea says to Cash; "It's a greeter program, for when new people come."
So Cash asks it; "When did the most recent new people come?"
And it says; "You are the first."
So Cash asks; "what about your people, where are they?"
And Synthea adds; "Yes, can we meet them now?"
Now it is moving more than only it's head, it's moving it's arms also as it points around and says; "They are here, and there. They are all around, where ever they want to be."
So then the men start looking around the room more closely, and walking around some, and as they do so, more light is coming on, which allows them to see more about the large room that they are in.
So now they are beginning to see, all around the outskirts of the room, human skeletons laying around all over. And Catherine and Ava are getting frightened.
And Cash says, "But there's no people here, only skeletons. Who can we talk to?"
"Talk to anyone you like" it says pointing around at the skeletons.
And in shock Synthea says; "These people are all dead, there's only skeletons here. There's no one here to talk to."
And it says; "My people are dead?"
"Yes! They are all dead! Your people are all dead! Is there no one left alive?"
"Did you kill them?" It asks.
"No! We did not kill them." Synthea answers. "They've been dead for a long time. Is there anyone here alive to talk to?" And he turns to Cash and whispers; "If this was some sort of sickness, we might all be exposed. If we get out of here, maybe we shouldn't be so eager next time."
Then it says; "If you did not kill them, then they can't be dead."
"There are only skeletons here now, no one here is alive!" Cash says. And then asks; "How did they die? And when?"
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And then it says; "This cannot be. They cannot be dead. Humans have a life span of approximately 94 years. I just talked to them and then went off-mode. I've been in off-mode for only 71 years. They can't be dead this soon. I calculate the math."
And Cash says to the thing; "And what age were they when they came here. You do the math." Then he turns to Synthea and whispers; "I think something went wrong with their program, and they ran out of supplies, or simply died of old age while waiting for the new people who were due to come, but never came.
"Yes. Let's get out of here." Synthea whispers back.
And Cash says to everyone; "Yes, everyone put on your helmets." and says to the thing; "Can you let us out?
And it says; "But this place is for you. Don't go. Don't go," it says as it's gesturing with it's arms for them to stay. "You have everything here you need. This place is for you. Don't go."
And so Synthea says; "Okay, but we need to go out for a bit to our ship, to get a few of our things."
And it says; "You may go out to do that."
So Cash says out loud to Synthea; "I want that woman!" as they are moving to go out.
And Synthea knowing what Cash has in mind, whispers back to Cash; "You're taking a chance doing that!"
And Cash replies; "You all get out, and I'll be coming as soon as I can." So Cash hurriedly finds the place where he can disconnect 'the woman', grabs it, and rushes out of that place. And so he is the last one to come out.
So they all hurriedly get into the Star Shuttle, and are rushing to take off, and as they do so, Cash and Synthea are hoping that the place has no way of stopping them.
But they make it to the Starship without any trouble, and they fly into the Bay Sphere and land.
And they are safe!
But they found no one to help them. And they don't know where in space New Base 700 is. So they remain lost. But they felt lucky to have gotten out of there. Unlike all those other people who had died.
So now they must move on, and continue their search...
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"NOT NOW, NOT EVER!". (01)
(Star Track Crazy, episode; "A Cheesy Ship");
The Captain and navigator is on the Bridge.
"Captain!" the navigator says.
And the captain says; "What?"
"A ship!"
"Where?"
"Right here."
"You mean this ship?"
"No, out there, a ship."
"At what coordinates?"
"At 27, mark 48, series 26, round 4, quadrant 8."
"Okay then..." the Captain says hesitantly. "Proceed to those coordinates. And see if you can raise them."
"But Captain, we don't know who 'they' are, and they are in space already, so how could we raise them?"
"Right." The Captain says hesitantly, "Proceed."
So they come to the ship, not their ship, the other ship. Not being able to determine anything from inside their own ship, they send out a team wearing space suits with jet packs to maneuver around with, and they are flying all around the other ship.
"Captain, we've examined the entire outside of the ship, and we can find no way in, no doors, no hatches, no windows, no keyholes, no doggie doors... Furthermore, the ship's shape is like a squashed sphere, and entirely round."
"What's the hull made of, can you tell?"
"I don't know, Captain, but it seems to have a waxy surface on the outside."
"What about the inside?"
"We haven't gotten that far yet, Captain."
"Can you get in, cut through it?"
"I... I think so Captain, but we're going to need some specialized cutting equipment."
So they cut into it.
"Captain, we've cut through the outer waxy layer, but the next layer is different, much tougher."
So then the Captain says; "Cut through that layer Joe, we must see what's inside that ship, you can have whatever you need!"
"Okay Captain, but we're going to need some really big knives out here."
And the Captain says; "You'll have them!"
So then we see a scene in which men in space suits with jet packs are holding huge knives pointed at the "ship", making 'runs' at it to slice into it, accompanied by the music from "2001: A Space Odyssey".
"Captain! We've cut out a chunk of the ship, and it's rather tasty, and what's behind it is a cavity."
"What size is the cavity?"
"It's about the size of your head, Captain. And Captain, the stuff behind it is much softer, much easier to chew through. And Captain, we think this ship might be Swiss made."
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"Can you make your way inside then?"
"Yes, we think we can, even if we have to eat our way in."
"That's the way to go, proceed."
Later: "Captain, we've found a much larger chamber aways inside. It is entirely round."
"What's inside of it?"
"Nothing Captain, absolutely nothing, just like your..."
"Like what? Say again."
"Nothing Captain."
Several away teams later: "Captain, we've all been chewing our way into this thing, and we can't find anything in this ship except for the occasional round chamber with nothing inside."
"Could they have all ejected from those chambers?" The Captain asks.
"I don't see how, they all have no entry points or exit points. And Captain, we're all full up, and there's nothing more we can do here."
So then the Captain calls Gregory to the Bridge, and the ship's doctor is also on the Bridge:
"Gregory, I want you to go down with the next away team."
"But Captain, I'm full!"
"Then get unfull!"
"But Captain..."
"Okay then, I want you to find every unfull man on this ship for the next away team. We must find that control room!"
"Okay Captain, but I don't think we're going to be finding anything but dinner here. This 'ship' is very cheesy."
So then the Captain turns to the doctor and says; "So what do you think doctor, have they all gone crazy?"
The doctor replies; "They're cheese happy, that's what they are."
"Is that your professional opinion doctor?"
"Yes. And where's some of that cheese? I haven't gotten any."
"Oh." The Captain says. "That's not a good idea doctor, you see the Doctor never eats what the rest of the crew eats, that's against regulations."
"Regulations? I haven't heard of that. Where is that?"
"It's in the book. Section 28, chapter 4, page 1198, line 24."
"No it's not, you made that up. After watching everyone else get there's, I want some cheese damn it, I'm hungry!"
So as this has been going on, our view has been slowly moving out to reveal that we have been watching a show, and sitting there watching it is a man.
And then another man comes into the room, this is Henry, he comes walking in and says to this first man; "Avery, when are you going to mow that lawn?!"
And so ends any more fun Avery is going to have today.
Avery was born just after World War III in 2040. Technically, World War III began in 2014, but President Obama did nothing to stop it, and it had ended only late in 2039. The world was in a slow recovery from a number of evils. One of which was this genocidal war of course. The countries of this war most devastated were Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Poland. Russia had to be taken down to their bloody knees to stop the fighting, which was not easy.
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So with Russia's war, at first, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans were knowing what to do about the very evil Putin, who had started the bloody war out of sheer greed. Same reason the evil Hitler had used in World War II. And Putin was as bad or worse as Hitler was. So the Democrats didn't know how to fight a war, and the isolationist 'Maga' Republicans, led by Trump, not wanting to get into the war. So it was like World War II all over again.
The other war started sooner, and will take longer to recover from: The reality-phobic Ideologies War, led by the Democrats: Women against men, men against women, the establishment against the family, the Democrats against democracy.
So the Country (the United States), and the world, was in deep trouble...
So growing up amidst devastation and confusion, Avery did not have a happy or fulfilling life, and he struggled throughout his life with problems that most people don't have.
People had already been too dependent on technology sooner than the war, and after the war, they only became more so. Avery didn't think this was a good idea. He grew up seeing everyone using their computer devices for everything; telling them what to do, where to go, how to get there, what to think, and including telling them when and how to poop.
So most people can do nothing without their precious device, and businesses are so dependent upon their computers, that if their computer stops working, they cannot do any business. So Avery could see that to give a person an electronic device made them stupid. Avery did not like this and was rebelling against it. He wanted to do for himself, and think for himself.
Avery doesn't like dummies. Because of the way the world has gone, people have made themselves into dummies, and they only get more stupid as time goes on. People don't think for themselves anymore. And there are a lot of artificial people who talk smarter than the real human ones.
So Avery sees humans as stupid. He can't stress this enough. To him, humans are exceptionally stupid! They can't figure out this and that, and it boggles his mind. They can do other things; they can go to mars, but they can't figure out how to make a better bar of soap. Many companies go on and on, making the same product and never changing it, but they tout that they have been in business for hundreds of years. But in all that time they can't figure out how to make their product better. And so Avery is thinking; they might as well be saying to the world; "Hey look, we're stupid". If people were as smart as he is, he tells himself, the stock markets would not work, and there would be no lotteries, because they would be too smart for these things. And he wonders why young people keep smoking, when it has been made clear to everyone many years ago that smoking is bad for one's health. Sometimes he buys a product and he finds that if he puts part of it upside down, it works better from the way it was designed, and he wonders why humans are so stupid.
He can design things much better. But of course he can do nothing by himself. Avery does not get into any groups. He has learned, that getting into groups, messes up the way people think. He keeps wondering why everyone must be on someone else's side? For example take sports teams, why don't they know that for one side to win, the other must lose? So they will be happy when 'their team' wins, but unhappy when they lose. Is one side better than the other? Try telling that to them. Why are there all these sides?
Democrats against Republicans, Republicans against Democrats, Liberals against Conservatives, Conservatives against Liberals, religious people against ungodly people, ungodly people against religious people... It goes on and on.
People get 'into' a certain show, and become obsessed with it...
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Everyone must be on someone else's side, or into someone else's thing. Why can't people think for themselves? Be their own person? Don't be someone else's thing, be your own. This thinking isolates him, and of course he knows that this way of thinking doesn't help him to get things done. But what else can he do if he wants to be his own person?
Avery is fed up with the world. He is withdrawn and can't relate to others. He has no friends, has never had a girlfriend. Humans disappoint him. It seems that they are too old or too young. And when he shows one of his projects to someone, he is disappointed, thinking that he might as well have shown it to a tree, for all the enthusiasm he gets from them. There seems to be no one to talk to; no one likes what he likes, and he doesn't like what others like, and there seems to be no way to get a woman: There's no talking to women anymore; they are so weird and set in their ways, it's like they are 'aliens' to him, they are so different from the way he is, that they are more different from him than guys are. He kept wanting a girlfriend, but it never worked out. People pay more attention to their devices than to others around them. He feels like saying to them; 'Can you put the damn thing down and pay attention to what's around you?'
He sees no way out of this boring life, and wonders what life might be like in the future. He thinks a lot about this, because what else is there? Once in awhile, he will look up into the sky, and try to imagine a different world...
He usually doesn't talk to people, because what's the point? From the experience of many years, he knows that he's smarter than they are. It doesn't take long of talking to someone to see this. Of course he knows he hasn't talked to many people, but from what he's seen on the media, the people who are thought to be smart by most, he knows they are not. He wonders why everyone doesn't live in caves, because the things that he's smart with, they are not. He wonders why people don't figure these things out and live a better way, without killing everything in their path, for he's seen many things go extinct in his life. Humans only care about themselves and nothing else.
What frustrates him the most about others, is what they do with their free time, because he has very little of it. He doesn't do well most of the time, so when he can do something, he doesn't like to waste it. But with others, he sees them wasting all of their free time. So he's very frustrated that he can't do more than what he can do, when he sees others wasting their time achieving nothing.
After all these years that have gone by, Avery continues to want a girlfriend. But by now, he has gone without one for so long that he thinks; 'why bother'. Most of them have a man, or they don't want a man, or they are a man, and some aren't human. And he doesn't like their moodiness, a woman can be all smiles one day, and another day act like he's not there. He learned that a smile is not enough; that doesn't really mean anything. And they all have boyfriends... Why bother, they seem like they are more trouble than they are worth.
So now this day, Avery remembers, it was the year 2103, February 28, Wednesday, and he is now 63 years old. He was at the library printing out some papers. One of his papers that he had printed dropped without him seeing it. A girl near by, saw it and picked it up and looked at it. To her, it seemed very strange, and so wanted to ask about it. To her it seemed like a confusing set of numbers crisscrossing across the entire page. So figuring who it probably came from, she came and asked Avery about it:
"It's my calendar." he says.
"How is this a calendar?" she says perplexed. "And why do you need one?"
So showing it to her, Avery says; "These are the years on these sheets. And so I can look up any date I want to, in the past, or the future..."
PAGE 16
And so then she says; "I can do the same thing on my phone, so why do you need these papers?"
"I don't have one of those stupid things. And I like to figure things out on my own."
"But this is a lot of work for nothing." she says. "And how is that better?"
So he replies: "I learn more this way."
"So you know more than I do with this?" showing him her 'phone', which is far more than only a phone.
"No, I don't know more than what's on the internet. But I know things that are not on the internet, things that others don't know."
"Like what things?" she asks.
"Well, I can't tell you now, that would take some time... And I doubt if you really have the interest. Most people are happy with their internet."
"But I am interested" she says. "I like to learn new things. And if you can tell me that you know things that are not on the internet, that sounds interesting." Then she says; "I've seen you around, maybe when I see you here again you can tell me more."
"Well, I doubt if that will work, I'm not here much. And when I am, you probably won't be."
"So we can arrange something?" she says. "My name is Starla."
Avery doesn't know why this girl is paying so much attention to him, most people ignore him. But he certainly doesn't mind, females very rarely talk to him. But he's spent a lot of time talking with strangers in the past, and has learned that it ends up only being a waste of his time. But he doesn't want to turn her off, so he says to her; "That's a neat name." And he meant it. And added; "My name is Avery, and you're very young."
"And your very old" she says "But I don't mind."
"So I guess we both don't mind" he says.
So they meet outside the library on another day, Avery thinking she's not going to show up, but she did. So they sit down. So then Starla surprises him a bit by immediately asking; "So what things do you know that are not on the internet? I'm ready with my phone..." So Avery is surprised, even though he knew this was the reason for the meeting.
So then he says; "Well, I'm not very organized, sorry, I should have made a list. I will think of what I can, to give you an idea of the sort of things I have. Much of the time my brain does not work well. But I will think of a few things, but I don't know if you will not find these things on the internet...
And so Avery begins; So with pets for example, pets can have ear mites. So instead of using poison, which is what most do, which can do harm to your pet, put diatomaceous powder into the ears, which is not a poison at all. And that will kill the ear mites."
"Hmm, I'm not sure if I can find that on the internet" She says looking...
So then Avery says; "And if you have ants that have found the food bowl, instead of using poison to kill the whole colony, all you need is a bit of a moat of soapy water around the bowl, and that will kill the ants."
"Only soapy water?" Starla says.
"Yes. They all want you to use one of their products for anything and everything. So that they get your money, and people become dependent on them... But using only soapy water, kills arthropods, or at least the insect type. And it works on all insects; ants, bees, wasps, cockroaches... People don't need poisons..."
PAGE 17
"I don't know if I can find that on the internet." Starla says as she's looking.
Avery adds; "But I should add, that sometimes a person might need to use poisons, if ants have come into your house, and you can't stop them from coming in, then you will need to kill the whole colony. But it's bad to kill all the ants."
Avery goes on; "It's not difficult being smarter, humans are so stupid. And you know those shampoos that say "nourish your hair with so and so vitamins"? Well, hair is dead, there's no nourishing something that is dead. That's like saying that if someone dies, "nourish them with vitamins..." Something dead cannot be nourished. Hair is dead, finger nails are dead, all the skin that can be seen on the outside of the body is dead. It's all dead..."
So while she's doing searches, Avery is looking around and sees that tree he's seen, that's not far away. And he says; "See that tree over there?" as he's pointing. She looks, she sees it, and he says; "See that one branch that has some leaves on it?"
She says; "Yes."
"With this tree, all the leaves came off for the cold weather, except for that one branch. Why?"
"I don't know" She says.
"It's because, when the leaves come off of a tree, they don't simply die and fall off. The tree, 'dejects' the leaves, that's my word for it; 'dejecting', and that's what makes them come off. But this must happen when the tree is alive, so this means that that branch died sooner than that could happen. Fruit is the same way."
"Wow" She says. "They get dejected? I don't think I can find that on the internet, I wouldn't know what to search for."
Now Avery says; "I want to say, that I did get some of this from the internet, not all but some. But it takes searches that most people will never do to find some of these things. But I know things that are not to be found. But I would need to try to make a list of those, if you have the interest..."
And something else" he says; "Show me your hands, straight out flat, palms down." And so she showed him her hands. "You see your forefinger is longer than your ring finger?"
"Yes."
"This shows that you have woman's hands, or female hands. Look at my hands. See my ring finger is longer than my forefinger? This shows that I have man's hands."
Then Avery says; "Oh, and something else. If one is eating lets say, some meat or something, that flies or gnats will like, and there's a bunch of those around, and you don't want them landing on the food that you have in your hand that you are eating. Then all you need to do is with your arm that holds the food, move it slowly left, then right, left, then right. So all you need to do is to keep it moving, and the insects will not land on it.
"Only keep it moving, and they won't land on your food?"
"Yes. They won't land on it, because they will not be able to find it. Because like with cats, these insects don't find their food by sight, they find it by smell, and as long as it is moving, they won't be able to find it."
Then Starla says; "Well, this is a lot, it's going to take me some time to check all this out. But let's do this again, that is, if you have more. I find all this very interesting."
So Avery says; "Oh, I have more! And I can show you things. Things I've made."
So they are about to part, and Avery says; "Oh! I can tell you one more thing."
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So Starla stops to listen, and Avery goes on; "With people's bodies, there are basically two types. There's the what I call, 'the lanky type'. And there's the what I call, 'the hunky type'. Why is this important you might be thinking... Well, the lanky type women will tend to have more daughters than sons, and the hunky types will have more sons than daughters."
Then Starla says; "But the experts say that it's the man's body that does that."
"I know what the 'experts' say, and the 'experts' are wrong, as they often are. It's the woman's body that determines whether she will have a boy or a girl, as long as there's no medical interference of course."
Avery goes on; "You, are clearly a lanky type. And I love your narrow face, the opposite of mine. And so if you have kids of your own, you will tend to have more daughters than sons. But we will probably need to wait a long time for any proof of this. I am a hunky type, but this doesn't matter, because I'm a man, and so it does not matter. It's the woman's body... But with any two things like this that are opposite, such as black and white, up and down, there's the middle ground. So many people's bodies are going to be in the middle somewhere."
"But I should also say, that it's not this simple."
And Starla says with surprise; "There's more to it?"
"Yes. It also depends on the way the woman has been living."
"How so?" Starla asks.
"If, let's say, a lanky type woman has had to do more work, then she will tend to have sons instead of daughters. And vice versa with a hunky type woman having daughters if there's less load on her."
Starla does not know what to say to this... And there's no point to looking it up on the internet. So she must simply 'file it away' in her mind.
But that they will meet again...
So after this, Avery and Starla is getting together every so often, and Avery is sharing things and showing her things that he has made, and they are having a bit of fun.
One such get together, sort of a grand finale, as it were, to show to Starla that he knows things that are not on the internet, and things that no one else knows...
So Avery this day, brought some balls of different weights and two magnets, one small, one larger. He says to Starla; "First, I'll give you an example of the way humans go wrong."
"Aren't we all humans?" She asks.
"Well yes, but you know what I mean. I'm not like them. And you must not be either, to have stayed with me all this time. And not to be thinking of me as crazy." Then he adds; "But I wish you were older. You're what they call 'shark bait.'"
"You mean 'girl bait'?" she says, and then corrects herself saying; "No, you mean 'jailbait'? Because I'm only 13."
"Yeah, 'jailbait', that's what I mean. That's the old name for it. Although this sort of thing doesn't really matter anymore; the idea of marriage is mostly gone, and a lot of morals also. I'm surprised that they have not yet made it legal for people to marry their phones.
And I wish I was younger."
"So what is your age?" she asks.
"I'm now 64."
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"So you're 'the 64 year old virgin'. Because you've never had a girlfriend?"
"Yeah, I guess I am."
"That's not so old, I mean, you don't seem near that old." Starla says.
"Well all my life I've tried not to get old. And not to think old, but it's been a struggle. But I'm 64, and you're only 13. That's a lot of years. What is that in years? I'm bad at math."
"That's 51 years." she says. And adds; "But I thought you were good at math? How did you do your calendar with all those thousands of years?"
"Oh, that's numbers, not math. Numbers and math are two totally different things. Most people don't know this. I'm good with numbers, but not math."
So then Starla asks; "So if I was older, and you were younger, would we be a thing?"
Not wanting to hurt her feelings too much, he started out this way; "Well, it's difficult to go wrong with cats."
"With cats?" she says with surprise.
"Yeah, cats. I'm talking about bodies. Most cats have perfect bodies. I had some cats, they are very loving creatures. Most people don't know this about cats, most people love dogs. I loved my cats very much." And tears begin to come to Avery's eyes, and he takes a tissue and wipes them away, and he takes a moment until he goes on with a bit of a shaky voice; "My cats were very special, they were what helped me to keep myself alive through the years. That, and my projects. I have liked cats more than humans. And cats have an excuse to be stupid. Although, sometimes I have wished that some of my cats could have been more than only a cat.
Then Starla suddenly asks; "How many cats did you have?"
"I had around 35, but I've lost track of the number."
"You had 35 cats?!" Starla says with surprise.
"Yeah, around 35, I've lost track."
"And you had names for all of them?"
"Yes, names for everyone of them. Such as Puddypie, Puddycake, Pattycake, Pattypie..."
And Starla is smiling at this...
"No, seriously, these are some of the names that I chose. But I was running out of names toward the end... All the cats I had were special. But some of the most special ones were Swankie, Zila, Cookie, Captain America, Tennille, Novie, A-lay, and Friendly." Avery begins to have tears again. Then after a bit he goes on; "I loved them all, I had some really great cats." Avery pauses. "But it was odd about Novie. The only thing really special about Novie, is that I had the most trouble with her, except for A-lay; for awhile, I thought A-lay was going to die."
"But with Novie, I had named her Nova, and she was Nova for most of her life. Then things changed, and ironically, she was the last survivor of all the cats that I had had, and I liked her the least! We hated each other more or less through the years, because she would not stop attacking Batgirl, and I kept getting after her about that. But by the end, we loved each other very much; I had managed to change her into a different cat, with my persistent love. And that's why I renamed her, because she had become a different person."
"I used to call my cats 'maa'. It was the most affectionate thing I could say to them. And I would say to them; 'You're my maa'. I wonder if they knew that." And Avery begins to cry.
Then after a bit, he goes on; "Someday, I can tell you all the names, and maybe we can count them all up. And maybe I can cry some more. Maybe you should bring plenty of tissue."
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"But as I was saying, with humans, it seems there's no limit as to the ways they can go wrong. But you have a great body, Starla, nice and slim. But I don't like dark skin." And he hurriedly added; "But you're too young anyway."
"You mean you don't like blacks?"
"Yeah, I just don't like dark skin, to have as girlfriends, but they're okay otherwise."
"'Just okay?'" she says. "Well, I think you're 'Just okay' being white."
And Avery adds; "And I don't like very overweight people. And don't get me started on the Mexicans, they are large bodied and dark skinned. This is partly why I've never had a woman; there's almost nothing but Mexicans here. I feel like a minority here. They let in so many, that this country isn't really English speaking anymore."
"But with cats, they don't disappoint me like humans do. With women for example, all I need to do is wait 15 to 20 years, and then she's not pretty anymore."
So then Starla asks with surprise; "You find a woman, and then wait 15 to 20 years?!"
"No. What I mean is, there's a lot of very attractive women celebrities that I've known about. But after 15 to 20 years or so, they are not attractive anymore. And so then I'm glad they were not my girlfriend. The problem with them is, they can have really great bodies, but their minds are crap. So they don't take care of their bodies. So when they get older, their body disintegrates. But to be entirely fair, everyone's body goes bad with age. But these people do all sorts of stupid things that a cat would never do, such as drinking liquor, using drugs, smoking..."
"It sounds like you've done a lot of waiting on women." Starla says.
"Yeah, and if I wait long enough, they'll die of something."
Starla laughs.
Avery goes on: "But a woman, when she's young, can have a perfect body, like with cats. Such a perfect body, that it seems like such a heavenly thing, that it should be worshiped, as a god. But there's her mind..."
"But what about music?" Starla asks "They say that music is a sort of universal language. Did that not help to get a woman?"
"Well, I never got into music, or singing, in any public way. If that's what you mean. But I do like a lot of music, and I think many songs have a great sound and tune to them, and I like to sing with it, but I don't like most song lyrics. Which, by the way, makes it difficult for me to sing the words."
"For example, there's this one very old song that I like the sound of it, but the lyrics are very negative. I don't like negative things. 'Red rubber ball', that's all I can remember about it."
"Most songs are about a man loving a woman, or a woman loving a man, or a man hating a woman, or a woman hating a man. What a waste, can't they sing about something more important? I can't relate to any of that. I've never loved a human."
"There's some music that I really like that has no lyrics, so I don't have that problem. Now if I could find a woman with a great tune, but no lyrics... Oh well..."
Then Avery goes on; "But about music, yeah, there's a lot of music from song groups that I like, but I'm not a big fan of their drug use. But there's a great bunch of music that I like. I love this music, and I like to really get into it, and sing with it."
"Oh Starla. Do you want to know how the modern song got invented?"
"Sure." Starla says.
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"Well, it was many years ago. Then, long ago, there were no songs that had rhyming words in them. So two old men got together and decided that their song would have every few words that would rhyme with another word. They did that because their memories were so damn bad that they couldn't remember what came next otherwise. Then it caught on, and so then everyone started doing it."
Then Avery gave Starla a broad smile. Which clued Starla that he was joking, and so they both laughed a bit.
"But returning to bodies, I can only hope that you take care of your body, Starla. You are nice and young, and nice and slim. If you were older and I younger, it might work. It's very difficult finding a woman with some sense about her. There's a lot of things I don't like about humans, and the older they get, the more set in their ways they become. And with women, I've never done well in my life, and women ignored me. And then the point came, I don't know when exactly, they began to see me as just an old man, and so went on ignoring me. "
"So going to church did not help?" Starla asks.
"Church, church, let me tell you about church: I never found a friend or girlfriend there. And churches are so bad for such things: They have the viewpoint that a person should not be going to church to find a friend or girlfriend. They want you to simply come, sit there, experience their show, then leave. They want you to be like a good little puppy, and ask no questions, put in no comments about how to do it better, and make no complaints about anything. Because they won't listen, because this is a nice little business they have going. They are happy with the way it is, and will not make any changes. If you don't, 'play their game', then they won't help you and don't want you around, not that they would help: They are so busy helping people in some foreign country, of whom did not ask for it, while they won't help the one in need on their doorstep who is asking. It's disgusting. What happened to unconditional love? As the Bible teaches. What happened to 'Love thy neighbor as thy self'? Churches have plenty of conditions. These are mixed up people."
"And if I get to talking to a church elder, then I'm told; 'You don't go to church to find a friend or a girlfriend'. And so I'm wondering; where else would I go for that? Wouldn't church be the best place for that? But no."
"And one church elder said to me; 'You don't go to church to find a woman. If you want to find a woman, go to a bar.' I was shocked to hear him say that. This man, and these people, are not Christians! No Christian would ever say such a thing!"
"Church is a business, like any other. And the patrons maybe are not any better: You don't go, sit there, and then leave; that's not church. Church is not a place or a building, church is the people. It should be not only learning and worship, it should also be for socializing. But most people go to church for two reasons;
1. Because they think it's their duty to go, like when they cut their grass, so it makes them feel good that they did it.
2. They do it because it's fun, and therefore, again makes them feel good that they did it.
These are the wrong reasons for going to church."
"So no, I've never found a friend or girlfriend at church. So I must agree with them, that church is the wrong place to go for that. It's very sad, because where else would one go? And because it's a business, they are not really faithful to the Bible. So I've had to conclude that churches are evil, and a waste of time."
Avery adds; "So nothing ever seems to work for me."
"So Starla, through the years, I've had to be a rock, I've had to be an island. But that doesn't stop me from crying. Because I'm not a rock, and I do cry."
PAGE 22
"So I'm glad I have you Starla. I'm very fond of you. You're my best friend."
"I'm your best friend?"
"Okay, your my only friend."
Starla smiles.
"But yeah, your my best friend, I mean that."
So this was what set the mood for this meeting of theirs.
So then Avery says; "So what I was going to say is, there's people on the internet who, because they find a tiny difference between two clocks, they think that that proves a connection between time and gravity. They are so focused on the minutiae, that they totally miss the obvious. So they conclude from only this, that time travel is possible. If they were smarter..."
"So you're saying it's not?"
"Yes, that's obvious! If it were, then there would be all sorts of chaos. But that's not what I came here to show you."
So then Avery stands up in front of Starla, and gesturing with his arms and body, like he is on a stage, and says; "So now I'm going to prove, contrary to popular belief, that Newton and Einstein, and the whole stupid world, has it wrong; that there is no such thing as the pull of gravity!"
"Wow," Starla says. "so you can prove that to me?"
"Sure."
"That there's no pull of gravity?" Starla says doubtfully.
"Sure I can! Just give me some time. So I'll start talking, and when I have proven it to you, you say 'When'."
Starla laughs.
"No, really." Avery says seriously. "I'm an expert on this subject. So you say 'When'."
"Okay."
So he starts holding up balls, two at a time, and dropping them together as he's telling her; "Now if the earth has a pull of gravity, because of it's size, or rather it's mass, then the same thing would apply with falling things. If, all this is based on the mass that something has: The greater mass more pull, the lesser mass less pull, then the things of more mass would be affected more, so these heavier balls would reach the earth sooner. Sooner for two reasons: Sooner, because the earth would be pulling on the ball more. And sooner because the ball with more mass would be pulling on the earth more."
But as you see, time after time, they all fall together. So do I rest my case here?"
And Starla hesitantly and slowly replies; "Nooooo. But I thought you wanted me to say 'When'."
"Well, I don't want to bore you. But I can go on and on about this. As I said, this is one of my subjects."
"Oh no, you're not boring me. I'd like to see you try to prove it! This is a claim, that no one in the world would agree with. So I'd like to see you try."
So then Avery says; "Okay, here's my magnets. Now, let's say my larger magnet is earth, with a certain pull that it has. As you can see, it has no effect on the smaller magnet or on any other bit of metal as long as it's not too close. But once it does get close enough, then what happens? What happens is that it starts moving toward the magnet, and the closer it gets, the higher speed it goes, until wham! It hits. And if we were to scale up this much larger, it would be a terrible and destructive crash. And this is not what gravity is, obviously! And so like with the magnet, once something is stuck to it, it's stuck. It takes the max amount of force only to get it a little bit away. This is not gravity. If it were, falling things would be crashing to the earth, and once there, it would take a large amount of force only to begin to pick it up."
PAGE 23
"So let's say you are a piece of metal standing, and the earth is a magnet. This is what gravity would be like if there was an actual pull. So if you were to lay down, you would never get up again, because you wouldn't have enough strength to get up only a little ways, because that's where the force is the strongest. If you could manage to stay standing, you would not be able to jump. You could not walk, because you would not be able to lift your leg. So clearly, this is not at all like gravity. So therefore, gravity is not a pull. Simple, isn't it? Why couldn't Einstein have figured this out?"
So then Starla, not sure if she has been able to follow all of this, says; "So then if it's not a pull, then what is it? And how could Einstein and everyone else be wrong?"
"But that's not the question." Avery says. "You see, this is what's wrong with humans. They all blindly follow each other, instead of thinking for themselves. And they see something drop to the earth, and they think the earth must have pulled it there. And Newton tells them this, and the world believes him. Starla," he tells her vehemently, "this sort of thinking is what I've been fighting against for all of my life!"
"But you're expecting me to believe all of this only because you say so."
"There!" Avery says almost shouting, "That's part of the problem! Who to believe. Most people don't know who to believe, because they don't think for themselves. And maybe here's the basic problem; people put themselves into groups because they don't think for themselves!"
"I don't think that everyone could think for themselves and therefore be in no groups. What sort of world would that be?" Starla says.
"Okay Starla, I can't solve the world's problems. Certainly not by myself. I would need to be in a group!"
So then they look at each other, and then they both burst out laughing.
So then Avery says; "So about gravity, if I've proven that it's not a pull, then what's the alternative?"
"Well, I'm not sure if you have proven that."
"Well, you think that over later. But for now, let's say I have proven it. I would like to know what you think."
"I don't know, I will need to think about that also. This is a very abnormal thing you are giving me."
So then Avery, being in a more enthusiastic mood than usual, stands up on a nearby edge, and walks along it, with his arms out to the sides to keep his balance, and says to Starla; "I hope that I've at least proven that gravity and magnetism are nothing like each other. Because if gravity was anything like magnetism, there's no way I could do anything like this" he says as he walks along on top of the edge. And then he says to Starla; "Look, I'm walking in the air!"
So then Starla also getting sort of playful, and perhaps with a bit of frustration, grabs up some of his balls, and starts tossing them over him, and Avery says; "What are you doing?!"
And she says; "And mountains floating by."
PAGE 24
"SHOOTING STAR". (06)
This is out in deep space, and it's the year 2498, and these are the Pirates: The Pirates are a group of people who have 'divorced' their fellow man, saying 'goodbye' to the earth, because they did not like the way the world was going. Keeping to one ship, the speediest ship they steal, they make their raids on other ships, and then speed away, and no one can catch them.
So they are cruising along in their ship, when they detect something moving through space at an impossible speed.
What could it be, they wonder?
So Kling, the leader of the Pirates, decides that this is important, so she tells them to try to find it, to see what it might be.
Because she is interested in speedy things, and because this thing, if it is a thing, whatever it is, or was, seemed to be going at a speed far beyond anything known to man, an unbelievable speed. So she is interested to know what it might be.
Now the Pirates have the speediest ship known to man, because they stole it. The ship was the Glamour Gold; a newly built luxury passenger-liner transport spaceship. The Glamour Gold can reach an astounding speed of "89SOL", which stands for 89% of the speed of light, and so it is a bit like the Concord airplane was in it's day some 500 years earlier. After they stole it, they renamed the ship, 'the Mercury'.
Kling's men, thinks that this is a waste of time trying to find whatever it was. Some think that they are chasing nothing, and surely it can't be a ship to loot, not at that speed.
After a long time of trying to find this thing, whatever it was, the men are getting very restless, and doubting Kling's reasoning more so.
They have determined, that whatever it was, it was headed straight toward a star.
Now approaching that star, they have lost track of where the thing might have gone. Most of the men, if they think anything of it, have figured that it if it was a thing, that it went into the star and so is now gone. And one man muses; "Maybe it was a 'star' ship."
Ben and Kling talking alone together; "We have spent months chasing nothing, Our Kling!"
"We are wasting our time , Ben?" Kling asks. "What if it's something totally new, that we know nothing about. Do you know what that would mean?"
"But it's nothing. It's not a ship. So it's none of our interest." Ben says.
"Do the others feel this way? Let's go speak with them." she says as she gets up to walk out. Now in a large room of the ship, where the men have gathered, Kling has a talk with her men about the situation: "Are we wasting our time?" she asks loudly in an authoritative tone.
One man meekly speaks up; "It's not a ship." Another man; "Yeah, it's not a ship. What are we doing, Our Kling?" Another man; "And we are going out of our way, it will take months..."
"Enough!" Kling shouts. "Now I know it can't be a ship! I've seen your reports. You say it's not a meteor, or meteorite, or comet, or whatever. And it doesn't make sense for it to be a weapon. Your instruments shows that it has too much mass to be a weapon; not practical: An errant stray shot... No, not a weapon." Now raising her voice a bit more; "But what was it?"
PAGE 25
Now she pauses and says apologetically; "Now I know it's difficult connecting your instruments into a ship that wasn't designed to receive them, it always is." she says looking around and indicating the Mercury.
Then one man speaks up asking; "So what are we doing then, Our Kling?" And the others speak up in agreement.
Now Kling raising her voice again; "You tell me what it isn't! You say it's not a ship, because it was going a speed multiple times the speed of light, an impossible speed! You tell me that it's not this, and it's not that! Tell me what it is! Not what it wasn't! This is what we are, what you are to do!" Now raising her voice more; "I'm your leader! You are to follow me!" She pauses, then she goes into a bit of a compassionate speech; "Someday, we will design and build our own ships! Someday, we will have our own planet somewhere."
Then one man yells out; "Impossible, they would find us!"
Now raising her voice again; "I'm talking about superior tech! I'm talking about superior weapons and defenses!" Now settling down some again, she continues on with her speech; "I can see it in my mind. I have looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I might not get there with you. But I want you to know..."
Then someone speaks out; "That sounds familiar..."
"What?!" Kling says in an angry voice.
"Forget it, Our Kling." The man says with fright.
Now raising her voice even more, and pointing her finger outward; "I'm talking about maybe that! Out there! I want to know what it is, or was, as it might be! We must be not lax in any way! Unless you need a laxative! Who has the superior gut feelings?!" She yells at her men. "We must not be closed minded, we must not be anal retentive!"
Kling has been calming their concerns, and reminding them that her instincts have served them well so far. So they all say in loud chorus; "You do, Your Anus!"
She continues; "That's right! Now find that thing out there, whatever it is, or was!"
Then the men in chorus again; "Yes, Our Kling!"
Soon after this, Shirley, notices a bit of an odd radiation. She tells Kling about it, and tells her that there seems to be a faint trail of it.
So the crew of the Mercury examines the area and finds that there is a trail of it, and that it leads in one direction.
So Kling, not being sure about this, but with nothing else to go on, because they have not been able to find anything else, tells them to follow the trail.
So they follow the trail as best they can for some time, and the men are wondering about Kling again; if she's simply wasting their time on a lost cause.
Then, after a long time, Mike, one of the observers, sees something ahead of them, a very long ways afar off. He reports this to Kling, and so now they are more interested to keep on going to get a better look as to what it is.
PAGE 26
Mike is looking very close. When they get some closer, and can see the thing better, Mike is thinking; 'Is this some sort of space ship?' He sees that it's a ghostly white color, and it is very large. 'If this is a ship, it is the largest he's ever seen. And it is very strange: A long assembly below, and two pod like units high above, like a two headed snake. And he says to himself; 'Those two 'snake heads' high above, are those engines?! They are each far larger than the Mercury is, if they are only engines!'
The ship is unmoving, and no sign of anyone doing anything. And so now the men are thinking, there's a ship to loot here after all! So they are getting anxious to do their work.
But Kling says no. She has questions, and wants to wait and observe. And one of the questions she asks is; "What is that asteroid that is not far away?"
She is told that that's Asteroid Five Six Seven Eight Three Zero Nine.
After some long observation, Kling decides that the ship seems to be abandoned. And so she tells them to move in and to start circling the ship. And the men say in chorus with glee; "Yes, your anus!"
They are circling the ship, getting a close look at it, and they see no standard docking hatches. But at what seems like the rear of the ship, they see a very large door that is open. And as they are slowly circling the ship, they see that there are a few lights on, inside some of the rooms, lighting the windows. They are trying to see in, but see no one.
The opening at the rear of the ship, is very large, but not large enough for the Mercury to enter into the inside of it. So Kling decides, to park very close to it and have some men in space suits to see if they can go into the opening, and get into the ship from there. So they do this, and those men find that there is a air lock hatch inside that they can get into. So they do this, and now they are at a point in which they can enter to the inside of this strange ship.
Then Mike reports to Kling; "A ship is approaching!"
Kling asks; "A ship? From where?"
"Probably from the surface of that nearby asteroid, Our Kling."
So Kling immediately commands; "Abort! Move off!"
So the Mercury aborts, and the boarding party hurriedly returns to their ship, and then the ship moves off, and the Mercury rapidly moves away to some distance, leaving the area.
So the crew of the Mercury waits and watches from some distance away. The 'other' ship, is approaching the first, moving slowly, and somewhat erratically. And Kling is thinking; 'A slow and lumbering ship, an easy target. But it is huge! Much larger than the Mercury. But only about one third the size of the first ship, but similar in design'.
So now the crew of the Mercury are thinking; So now there is not one, but two ships! So they are waiting and watching.
And to their surprise, they see the smaller ship dock with the larger one, in the middle, creating a third 'snake head', and so they see that it has become all one ship now!
They watch and wait, and wait and watch. And wait some more.
Then Shirley comes running in and says; "It's Sam, he's been left behind!" And then Kling says; "So that monster of a ship has one of our own. Don't worry, we won't be losing him."
PAGE 27
So the first man, Sam, to have gotten inside the ship, did not have enough time to get out when the command was given, and so the door was closed to him only a few feet away. So now he must except this, and find a place to hide for now. So now he has become a stowaway in a strange ship by himself. But he is confident that the Mercury will return for him. And so is the crew of the mercury. They are pirates, after all.
"They are doing nothing!" Mike says out loud again. "Is there anyone home?"
Kling says; "Yes, it is very strange."
Could the whole thing be automated?" Mike asks.
Kling answers saying; "I don't see how, a ship that large?"
After a long time of observation from a distance, they have seen nothing; no movement, no changes, no sign of anyone doing anything, and they've received no signals from the ship. So Kling tells them to move in close, and to start circling the ship again. And the men say in chorus with glee; "Yes, Your Anus!"
Even now, with the 'other' ship having docked, they see no one, no activity: A huge ship seemingly empty of people.
Kling so now is wondering; 'Could this ship be the thing that was detected months ago? But how could that be? It's nothing like a ship made for speed. It's huge! Room for perhaps thousands of people. Being this large and massive, it must be a slow ship. But might have a huge amount of cargo to loot. But how could it be the thing that was traveling at unbelievable speed? No, it can't be'. she says to herself. And yet she has a feeling about this ship. 'But how could it be?' And yet she's never seen a ship like this, or engines like those, and they do seem to be engines. This ship, is the largest and wildest spaceship they have ever seen! And there's all the roundness. 'Why is every part of it round?' And this ship seems to be totally new, with nothing wrong with it whatsoever. Except an odd black burn like mark on the front side of it. 'Did something hit the ship? If so, there's no other damage that can be seen. And why would a totally new ship be abandoned? It is very strange'.
They then stop and station their ship near the front of the other ship. Now they take a close look at what it says on the front of this joined ship; aways above the black burn like spot, and it reads; 'NCC-101', and 'U.S.S. Pluto'.
They had seen the 'NCC-101' on parts of the 'first' ship, but did not know what it meant. And now the 'U.S.S. Pluto'. 'What does it all mean?' They wonder. 'What does the 'U.S.S.' stand for?' Kling is wondering; 'What sort of ship is this? Is this a military ship?' She is thinking; 'This must be an important ship somehow, and very costly to make, undoubtedly. So why does it seem that there is no one manning it?'
Mike is talking out loud again with one of the women, as she is trying to determine the mass of the thing that they had previously recorded streaking across space that had caught the eye of Kling so much, and so Mike is saying; "They're acting as if they don't know we're here! What game are they playing? Surely a ship of that size, they will know we're here. And surely, they must have many crew, and they must have much instrumentation, so surely, they know we're here. So why are they doing nothing? Surely..."
And so then Shirley says to him; "Yes, yes, yes, that is my name! Go ask someone else, I don't know, I'm trying to do an estimate!"
PAGE 28
Kling had thought that she has been keeping up with the latest information. So she wonders why she knows nothing about this ship. It would seem to be from earth. But they have been preoccupied recently, out in deep space. But after recently stealing the Glamour Gold, they figured that they would be having the newest and grandest ship, for some time to come. So all this makes this ship all the more the mystery.
Then Ben says; "But what if there is no one in that ship?"
"No, Someone is there." Kling says.
"How do you know?" Ben asks.
"That ship, the one that came and docked, it didn't fly itself. It was much too erratic for an autopilot. Someone was flying it manually. But the mystery is, why are we seeing no activity?"
"So what do we do?" Ben asks.
Then suddenly Mike excitedly reports to Kling; "Kling, that large door is closing!"
"Well," Kling says, "we can't get in now, and it would seem that there are people there."
So Ben asks; "So where does that leave us, Our Kling? We've never encountered a thing like this."
"I don't know, let me think." Kling says.
Then Mike reports again; "The ship is moving!"
They watch as the ship slowly turns. Then it starts slowly heading away but at increasing speed.
Kling commands; "Follow it!"
So the pirates start following. But the Pluto keeps slowly increasing speed. So much speed, that the Pluto is beginning to pull away from the Mercury. And almost screaming, Kling shouts; "Don't let it get away!"
But the Pluto keeps increasing speed, and the crew of the Mercury is astounded that the Pluto is speeding away and the Mercury cannot keep up.
So then realization starts to hit the crew of the Mercury, as to what this strange ship might be capable of, if it can out run the Mercury!
And so in the distance, the Pluto is gone...
PAGE 29
"THE CAPTAIN'S LOG; NUMBER TWO". (07)
Weave and Willie (Willie; a boy) are walking along through the Starship and they meet up with each other, and Weave says to Willie; "Hi Willie! What are you doing?"
And Willie says; "looking."
And Weave says; "Ya know, us guys should stick together. There's not many of us you know." And Willie says; "I know. I wish we could return to earth."
Now stopping, Weave asks; "Why?"
"Why not?" Willie says. Then adds; "I wish we had more to go on."
"To go on?" Weave asks.
"Yeah, to help us get home."
"Oh, I have the Captain's log." Weave says.
"The Captain's log, you do?"
"Yup."
"Captain Horton?" Willie asks.
"Sure."
"But the Captain never came on deck, how is it that you have his log?"
"Oh, he was here, briefly, but long enough to produce his log."
"Well, I doubt if that will help us any, because it must be a short one."
"No, it's not, it's a long log." Weave says.
"Well, how did he have time to do that?"
"Oh, it took about an hour."
"How did you find it?"
"It was in the waste disposal."
"The waste disposal, what was it doing there"?
"It was just laying there, so I took it."
So then later Willie comes to Mic and says to her; "I was talking to Weave, and he told me that he has the Captain's log."
And Mic replies; "Captain J. P. Horton?" *
And Willie replies; "Yes."
"He can't have the Captain's log, the Captain never made it on deck."
"He said he was here for a short time."
"Well then," Mic says, "it must be a very short log then, and so I don't think it would be of any use to us."
"No, he said it was a long log. And he said he has it."
So then Mic asks; "How would Weave know this? And how would he get ahold of the Captain's log?"
"He found it in the waste disposal, and he said it was just laying there." Willie replies.
"Willie, why would the Captain's log be in the waste disposal?"
"I don't know."
"Perhaps because it was meant to be there. I think Weave dropped one on you."
*I was wanting David Rasche of "Sledge Hammer" as the Captain. The quirkiness, but not the craziness.
PAGE 30
The Pluto, comes upon an asteroid, and they are detecting that something is there that indicates that there are people there.
So now it's a debate as to who will go down, and how.
From the experience of the first planet they went down to, which was "New Base 700", they are more cautious now, and none of the children want to go.
But Weave wants to go, but not in a Star Shuttle, they've done that. He wants to take the whole Primary Cluster down. This is far more risky, but he's saying that they might need to do this at some point, and they need to know if they can, and the sooner they learn and know how, the better. And he's telling them that he thinks he knows how to fly it now, and that the main problem is not the flying, it's the separation. But that there should be an automatic procedure for that, so that he would not need to do that part of it.
So they agree to let him try, if he can find that automatic system, and that F Any, being originally the official 'tour guide lady', should go with him to help out with the Starship's systems.
So F Any agrees to go with him, but sternly says to Weave; "Now Weave, this thing is not going to be easy to land. You're going to need to be very careful, and you're going to need a large spot on which to land it. Because only the Primary Cluster itself is 939 feet long, and 361 feet wide. Do you think you can handle that?"
And Weave replies; "Yes."
"And when you land, hopefully not crash, when you touch down, from here in the Bridge, they did not tell me this part of it, but I should think, that we should be about 350 feet up. But you will need to make sure you switch to the landing cameras to see where the land is."
"Okay, will do." Weave replies.
"Weave," F Any says with greater concern, "Don't crash us."
Weave replies; "You know I'm good at this!"
So Weave figures out how to use the automatic separation. So Weave and F Any depart and fly on their way down to the asteroid.
So everyone else, had to move to the Secondary part of the ship, and find a place to be, hopefully for not very long.
So the adults took this opportunity to check out the Secondary Bridge, and the children, not far away, found some places to play, and to explore.
Then awhile after they knew that the Primary Cluster is gone, and has gone on it's way down to the asteroid, Snow, one of the girls, sees something moving outside one of the windows. She runs and tells the adults about it. So they tell all the children to stay away from the windows. So Cash, Synthea, and Mic start investigating what's going on outside. They try to see out the windows. They see that it's some sort of ship, and they try to see what ship it might be, where it is, where it's going, and what they are doing out there. Then they get the idea to use the Secondary Bridge's cameras to see the ship. Now they see that the ship is at the rear of the Pluto, stopped, and they don't know what they are doing there.
It seems to them, that something is not right, according to what the ship is doing, and as close to the ship the other ship is. They are thinking that F Any, having been instructed on things about the ship, might know how to officially communicate with them, but she's down on the asteroid. And running from them, they are not going to do, because they don't have Weave and F Any and the Primary part of the ship. So they wait and watch and try to think of something.
PAGE 31
Then they see that the other ship suddenly leaves, and speeds away, and Cash sees that the main bay door is open, and tells the others. Then Mic says that she had forgotten to close the door after they went down to that first planet. So they start wondering if who ever they are, were trying to get into the ship from there. Then they notice that the Primary Cluster is returning. So they wait.
So then the Primary Cluster docks. And then to their surprise, they meet Sol Keppalaurie and Sara Sonng.
Sol and Sara are rather overwhelmed by this huge Starship, and there's much to see and learn. But primarily on the minds of Cash, Synthea, and Mic, is what the people in that other ship is up to. They witnessed the other ship 'run away' when the Primary Cluster was returning, so they know that whoever they are, are probably not friendly. So they really don't want to communicate with them now, but want to get away from them instead. They talk it over with F Any and Weave. So then they decide to run from them with only the Primary Cluster engines, hoping that they can get away, for they are not ready yet to try reactivating the Starship's main engines. So they must first turn the ship to have a clear path for getting away...
So they run.
Synthea asks what's on the minds of the others; "Are they following?"
And the answer is "Yes!"
But Cash says that they are falling further and further behind, and says; "As long as we keep going this way, they won't be able to catch us. Assuming that they are going their max speed, which I think they probably are. So we simply need to give it some time. But after some time, we should change course, to throw them off our trail."
So after a long while, with no sign of the other ship behind them, Mic notices a signal. What is the signal? They want to know.
So then Cash says; "Great, that's what we need, Weave, change course for that signal!"
So they are following the signal as best they can, and they all want to know; what does the signal say?
But to their disappointment, all Mic is saying that is coming through is one word, over and over and over again. And that word is "helhpt".
They are thinking; that surely that's not English, but what foreign language might it be? And why only the one word, and what might it mean? None of them can make any sense of it.
But mic points out that the word resembles the word 'helped'. But why would someone want to broadcast only that one word over and over again?
But they keep following the signal as best they can...
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"THE FIRST STARSHIP". (03)
A new type of space ship has been built. It's called "a Starship". Now a Starship, is not simply a spaceship, a Starship is far more. There are many different spaceships now, all sorts of them. There are spaceships for all sorts of things. But a Starship, is a sort of go-anywhere, do-anything, type of spaceship. Like take every type of spaceship there is, build them all into one, and that's a Starship.
Now this new ship, is highly experimental, having a new type of propulsion system, informally known as 'Star Light Drive', that no one is totally sure will work. Sort of like the atomic bomb was in 1945, until it was used.
So they have designed a very large ship for in case it works, and then doesn't work. So that they can live in the ship for a long time until help arrives. Because, if one has a small ship, if it were to work, and then not work, then the occupants would die, way out in space somewhere, sooner than help could come. Because they could be too far away for help to reach them in time. For this ship, has such a potentially powerful propulsion system, that if it works, can move the ship at a speed far beyond anything else imagined, and no one knows what it's max speed might be. And so this is why the ship is mainly made up of a group of spheres, because it's the entirely round sphere, that is the strongest and most efficient shape to it's mass.
So they took the precaution of designing and building the ship very large, with everything the crew might need for a long time to come.
So now this day, it is the year 2498, and the ship has been finished, and has been loaded with all the supplies, now being ready to go. But the crew has not come on deck yet, and there's the last tour group being taken through the ship. This last tour, a three hour tour, consists mainly of a group of children.
Three of the children managed to get away from the group, Willie, Thea, and Nora. It is a transitional period in which the tours are concluding, and coming to an end. So they are getting ready to bring the crew into the ship, so there are not many people around. So these three children were able to get to the Bridge without getting stopped. So finding themselves on the Bridge, they were happily playing 'Bridge Crew' on an actual real Bridge. In doing so, they managed to activate some of the ship's systems. Then Willie, playing the Captain, pressed the activation button for the main Starship engines.
At this moment, when the ship started moving, there happened to be a press ship in front of this ship, that was circling around the Starship, with two men inside. These men were broadcasting their show, talking about this great Starship, the first one ever built, it's The U. S. S. Pluto. And you know the way it goes with the media; yakety, yakety, yak, about this and that, talking whether or not they have anything to say, whatever comes to their minds to talk about. The Starship, suddenly moving at tremendous speed, hits into the press ship, obliterating it, disintegrating it, annihilating it, demolishing it, smashing it to smithereens. Leaving nothing but small particles for the investigators to examine later. The Starship is gone. Long gone. Far away from the earth in a few moments.
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Now the children, not knowing what they were doing, had failed to fully activate the ship's inertia dampeners, so that everyone in the Starship was thrown to the floor and were very dazed, and it took them awhile to get themselves off the floor.
So the few adults that were in the ship when this happened, had no idea what was going on, and they were very confused. So it took a long time for them to get themselves together to discuss the situation, and to try to figure out what had happened.
They knew something had happened to them, but did not know what. Then after some time, they discovered, that it wasn't only them, but the earth is gone!
So then they determined what Willie, Thea and Nora had done.
So what do they do? They had a bunch of questions: Where are they in relation to the earth? How do they return the Starship to the earth, or do they wait to be rescued? Is there anyone in the ship who can pilot it?
It turns out, that the Tour Guide Lady; Miss Any, but preferring to be called by her full name; 'F Any', is the only one who knows much of anything about the ship. But that she was not told how to pilot it.
So most, at first, think that they should wait to be rescued, and that's the end of that.
But Weave is more curious, so accompanied by Cash, they go to the Bridge to see if there's something they can do. After some investigating, they discover that the Starship is not simply somewhere in space, but actually moving through space at a tremendously great speed.
So now the question is, which direction are they moving in, and at what speed? None of them know much about how to navigate through space, but from the information they can gather, they are going a speed that they cannot imagine what speed this might be, and they don't know which direction it is.
So now they know that they are in serious trouble, because they now know that there will be no rescue. For the simple fact that no ship from earth could get to them at the speed they are going, whatever speed that is.
So they must find a way to stop the ship, but more than that, Synthea argues that they must learn how to pilot it, if they are going to have any chance at all of returning to earth or getting rescued. So now they must study the bridge operations as best they can...
So at this point, they also must settle in, to the idea of living in the Starship, because it could be a very long time to be getting any help. So they must decide, where will their place in the ship be, where will they sleep, how do they get their meals, and so on. So they are all spending time working out these things, and slowly becoming more relaxed about being in, and living in, the Starship. Because they have no other choice but to do so.
Inside the Starship, it's all white, the walls are all rounded, and with soft shapes, sort of like a softly cushioned couch turned outside in.
So all the adults, F Any, Cash, Synthea, Mic, and also Weave, because he's older, are also spending time working on seeing what they can learn about the Starship systems.
So then the day came, after Cash had got the front viewer camera working, when Mic noticed that the star in front of them was getting larger. But it's not the star getting larger, it's the ship heading toward the star.
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"So could this be a serious problem?" Synthea asks. "Could the Starship come too close to the star?" So they examine this as closely as they can.
Synthea manages to figure out how to get the ship to tell them what the projected course of the ship is. And so they see that the ship is heading into the star. So now they know they are in serious immediate trouble: They must either get the ship to turn, or stop the ship. They debate as to which one to try to do. But they see that they are rapidly running out of time; they must do one, or the other very soon, or they will all die.
The children are of no help, they do not remember what they did, but Willie did say that he had pressed one button that activated the engines. So could it be as easy as pressing one button?
Now they are getting very frantic; they are running out of time! Then it is Weave that figures something out, finds a button that says; "All Stop/Shut Down", and presses it. So then the Starship comes to a stop, and they think that that saved the day.
But not exactly. They find, that now the Starship is so close to that star, that it's hull is getting hotter and hotter. They know this, because an emergency alarm indicator has come on, and is showing that the hull is getting too hot. So they must move away. But none of them want to risk activating the engines again. So they try to find another way. So it is Weave again that finds that the Starship has other engines.
"What engines are those?" Cash asks.
"It's the ship's Primary engines" Weave says.
"But isn't that what we shut down?" Synthea asks.
"No, the engines I shut down are the Starship's main engines, the ones that have the great speed. The Primary engines are for the Primary Cluster, they are the slow ones, for moving the Primary Cluster. But surely they will move the whole ship also, but not at great speed."
"That's exactly what we need!" Mic says. "Get them going as soon as you can!"
So Weave gets the engines going, and Cash says; "But we must turn the ship also."
And Weave says; "I think the turning, the engines does that also."
So Weave gets the engines going and turns the ship. So that the Starship is slowly moving away from the star.
So now they are out of this danger, but what direction should they be going in?
"Yeah, what direction?" Mic says.
"Well, to do that, we need to know where we are." Synthea says.
And Cash says; "And that's a different part of the ship, that's navigation, not helm." Then Cash adds; "But Weave, don't fly us into anything."
After a long time, the Starship comes upon a planet, and there seems to be something there, on the planet.
So Cash and Synthea, decide to fly down and take a look. And they decide that the easiest way to do that, is to fly a Star Shuttle. But first, they need to learn how to fly it...
Which will turn out to be New Base 700...
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"HELHPT". (08)
"Tinsels, bring the Subject in."
The Subject is led into the Imperial Chamber. One of The Controls addresses the Subject; "We have received from a number of Tinsels that you, Subject, have been engaging in a number of forbidden actions. And I read from the list: Not doing all your given tasks and duties, which is forbidden. Talking unnecessarily to other Tinsels, which is forbidden. Not taking your given medications, which is forbidden. Not wearing your given regs, which is forbidden. Asking for water not given to you, and other miscellaneous things, which is forbidden. Asking for forbidden things. Thinking forbidden thoughts. Not staying in your given place, which is forbidden. Not eating your given meals, and when you are told to eat them, which is forbidden. Not staying in bed, when you are to stay in bed, which is forbidden. Taking breaks when you haven't been given them, which is forbidden. These are forbidden things."
"What do you have to say for yourself, Subject?"
"My name is Janet. Janet Rell." she says sternly. "I don't know how to spell it, because you don't let us learn that, but I know my name, it's Janet Rell."
Then The Controls burst out with their voices; "Forbidden. Forbidden. Forbidden..."
Then this same Control says loudly; "You are a Tinsel, Subject! You will conform! Or you will have your brain removed from your head! Then you will conform. Any more reports, and this will happen. And you will now be on much stronger medications. You will conform! Take this Tinsel away!"
So then the Starship comes upon where the signal is coming from; it's a planet. But they look it over, and there's nothing to be seen. But the signal remains, continuing to broadcast the same strange word; "Helhpt", over and over again.
So after some time, they decide, that if there is anyone there to communicate with, that the only way to find them is to have a device that they can take with them down to the planet to locate the signal and see what's there.
So Cash comes up with such a device, and he also tells them that he wants to go down to the planet with Darla.
And they all ask; "Who's Darla?!"
And so he explains that 'Darla', is that woman device that he swiped from "New Base 700", and that he's making it more convincing as a real person, and that he wants to test it out, down on the planet.
But Synthea asks; "Why not test it here, why on the planet?"
So Cash agrees to this. So Cash goes and gets it ready, and with a space suit. So Cash shows them this space suit walking around, and there's no helmet on it, and there's no head either!
So Synthea asks; "Why doesn't it have a head, I thought you had been working on it?"
"I have been working on it, but it's not perfected yet. Hence the space suit, so with a helmet on, no one will no the difference. I hope."
"So that's a heck of a holographic thing you've got there." Synthea jibes.
Then Mic adds; "This seems like a joke that Weave would play."
And so Synthea and Mic Breunell, go with Cash and the device in a Star Shuttle down to the planet.
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They land as close as they can, according to the signal, but in flight, they couldn't find anything by sight.
So the 'four' of them, go walking out onto the planet, searching...
So they get led by the signal to a small hatchway, they open it. There's an airlock, and they get in. Now they are on the inside, and they find that it's cave tunnels inside. They also see that there's air to breathe in there, so they take off their helmets, all but Darla. And they notice that from the inside, the hatchway has been hidden. Then they easily come to the transmitter, the signal is very strong now. They are surprised to see that it's a very simple and crude transmitter. Then they go further on, trying to learn more about why it is transmitting, and they start seeing people, and the people start seeing them. They are seeing many people, and they all seem the same, all wearing the same clothes, all the same dirty drab color; a dark greenish brown, or brownish green. But the people seeing them, act very surprised and shocked, and without saying a word, as if they are mute, many of them come at them, grabbing at them to take them somewhere deeper into the cave system.
Synthea and mic being behind, get away, but those people have gotten ahold of Cash and Darla.
So Cash and Darla are hurriedly taken by the people to The Imperial Chamber and they are brought before The Controls.
It's much confusion for Cash, but he notices that another of the same people as the others has also been brought in, and that they are treating her, the same way that they are treating him. First, The Controls addresses Cash and Darla in a loud and angry voice; "You two Tinsels, are wearing forbidden clothes!" And the other Controls are murmuring; "Forbidden! Forbidden! Forbidden!" And The Control goes on; "You will conform! Take those clothes off!"
And then Cash says; "Sirs, we're not here to cause any trou---"
And a Control interrupts saying; "Tinsel, you will not speak! You will do as you are told! You will conform! Take off the forbidden clothes, and you will be given the acceptable regs by one of the Tinsels."
And Cash says; "I'm not from here, my name is Cash Te---"
And The Control interrupts again saying; "Your name is Tinsel, subject! You will conform! Take off those forbidden clothes, and they will be destroyed, and you will be given the acceptable regs. You will do as we say!"
Then Cash says; "No. I am not staying here, I will not undress."
Then suddenly, there is silence, and everyone turns and is now staring at Cash with shock; The Controls, the Tinsels, and Janet. And then The Controls are murmuring; "Forbidden! Forbidden! Forbidden!...", and Janet is staring at Cash with respect and admiration.
Then The Control says to Cash in a incredulous manner; "Surely you know, Tinsel, that saying 'no', is forbidden!"
Then The Control turns to some other Tinsels saying; "Retrieve the medications for this unruly Tinsel!"
Then The Control turns to address Janet; "And as for you, Subject, you don't seem to know your place as a Tinsel. I have been informed that you have set up some sort of transmitter!" And the other Controls murmur with alarm; "Forbidden! Forbidden! Forbidden! Forbidden! Forbidden!"
Then The Control says; "You have been warned Tinsel! You have been told that you could lose your brain." And with some delight sounding in his voice he says; "And now that, is what will happen."
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Then Janet shouts; "My name is Janet! You can take my brain, but you can't take my name or who I am!" She says, now screaming it toward the end with tears coming down her face.
Then The Control turns to some other Tinsels and says; "Take this Tinsel to the brain removal unit."
Cash has seen and heard enough. So he suddenly wrenches free of the Tinsels now only loosely holding him, and he rushes over to Darla and takes off the helmet. And then he makes Darla to walk around. The Controls and the Tinsels all see this; a person walking around with no head, and the Tinsels all freak out, some screaming. And Cash rushes over to Janet, and hurriedly tells her and pointing to Darla; "Get into that suit, if you want to live! It's empty, get into it!" So Cash goes and opens up the suit, and Janet gets into it.
And in the confusion, Cash and Janet run. Janet directs him as to where to go; the only place she could think of was the hatch near to where she had put the transmitter. So that's where they went. And so then Cash hurriedly puts the helmet on for Janet, and then puts on his. And because they are both wearing space suits, they can both get out to the outside through the airlock, and no one can follow them. So they get out, and into the Star Shuttle, where Synthea and Mic were waiting, having no idea the great danger Cash was in... They were thinking that he could simply talk his way out, since he did not belong there...
So they learn some of what that place was, from Cash and Janet, and she tells them that the name of the planet, is Planet Serene. But says that she does not know where it is in space. And she says; "It's 'Where all your needs are taken care of for your own protection.' "
Cash says; "Such liars!".
And Synthea adds; "Yes. Sounds like they have upside down thinking to think anything like that! What a horrible place!"
"Yes, a house of horrors." Cash says; "From what I saw, no one had anything of their own, everything was owned by The Controls. Including the people."
So now nothing to do but to return to the Starship, and tell them all about it...
So they fly up to the Starship. And all the adults get together and meet Janet Rell and hears things about what life is like there: And she tells them; "Everyone is told that all that is done to them is; 'taking care of them'. But no one is allowed to do anything that they want to do, only what you are told to do and when to do it."
"Is there any good people there, do you think?" Synthea asks.
She replies; "I did get help from a few people. But it's very difficult to trust anyone; everyone is told to tell on anyone else...Everyone is controlled by the Controls, and there's no way to escape, they make sure of that."
And Cash says; "And that's what they did, on you! Someone told on you. And you did escape."
"Only with your help, I'm very thankful, you saved me!"
But Janet doesn't want to stay and talk longer, she's anxious to go and get cleaned up and to get rid of anything that reminds her of that horrible place, namely those lousy clothes.
While Weave, Cash, Synthea and Mic have been concentrating on flying the ship, Sol and Sara has been concentrating on the ships recycling, and production of food. So Sara takes Janet off to the showers.
So the remaining adults discuss what to do about Planet Serene, and where to go from here: Cash asks; "Does this ship have any weapons?"
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F Any says that she wasn't told anything about the ship having weapons.
Weave says he hasn't noticed any, but has not been looking for any.
Synthea asks: "What do you have in mind, Cash, blowing up the planet?"
Then Cash says; "Well, we should do something!"
Then Mic says; "We, and what army?"
Then Cash says; "But a place like that, that is so very inhuman, should not be allowed to continue. And they are doing nothing to help those poor souls. All they are doing is hurting them. To take away any hope of freedom, and to force them to take drugs, and forcing them to do who knows what, whatever the Controls are wanting of them, whatever that is."
Then Synthea says; "I think we all agree with that. These people are not being helped at all, and these things should not be done to them, in the name of 'helping them'. But what can we do?"
Then Mic says; "From the sound of it, we can only hope that Janet wasn't traumatized too much from what they did to her."
Then Synthea says; "We could fly the ship into the planet, that might destroy it." But then adds; "But then we'd all be dead."
So Cash concedes that he doesn't want justice that much, and they discuss what to do and where to go from here...
Meanwhile, Janet has gotten all cleaned up, but tells Sara that she wants nothing to do with clothes, or anything else that might be pushed upon her. So Sara says; "Whoa, whoa the horses. But you can't go around the ship naked. And there's children here!"
"Yeah, there are, but they are mostly girls, aren't they? Didn't they say that there's only one or two boys?"
"But the men, also!"
"Haven't the men seen it all? And don't I have a nice body?"
"Well, I'm sure that they will see it that way, but really..."
"Good, then it's settled."
Janet is steadfast.
So Sara goes to tell this to the group of adults, who are continuing to discuss what to do... Sol is mentioning that the Starship might have weapons, "After all," he says; "what about the Stealth Lighting, isn't that a weapon? When I walked out on that asteroid, I didn't see the Starship until I looked up".
"That's defense," Cash says, "not offense."
But Sol says; "But why give the Starship any defensive things, why would they do that?"
And Synthea adds; "That's a good point... Why give the Starship defensive weapons, but not offensive ones...?"
And Sara walks in and says; "Janet won't wear any clothes!"
And Synthea says; "She comes from a different world..."
Cash promptly says that he will go talk to her, which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
Then Mic says; "From what I heard that she has been through, maybe this should not be a surprise; she was forced to do everything for all of her life. Give her some time, I think."
So they go on with some more discussion, but in the end, they all mostly agree that there's really nothing to be done about Planet Serene for now... But that they need to decide what to do next... Where to go from here...
PAGE 42
"THE NO BRAINER". (02)
So now Avery is watching another show of "Star Track Crazy", episode; "Computer", and he is to meet with Starla later:
A ship, their ship, has found another ship, and it is disabled in some way. They have determined that it's the computer, so they are working on it.
The Captain is talking to Gregory who is on the other ship. Well, not exactly on the ship, but inside it. And the Captain says to Gregory; "So there is a problem with the computer?"
And so the Captain's ship's computer is therefore activated, and says; "There is no problem with my systems."
So then Gregory replies from the other ship; "Yes, there is a problem, Captain, but we don't know how bad it is yet."
"So when will you know how bad the computer is?" the Captain asks.
And the computer gets activated again and responds; "There are no problems with my systems."
Gregory replies; "It should be within the hour, Captain. But we might not be able to repair it, we don't know yet."
"So you're saying that we might need a whole new computer?"
And the computer responds again saying: "There is nothing wrong with my systems, and I do not need to be replaced."
Gregory replies; "Yes, we do not yet know if it is repairable."
"Okay then, tell me as soon as you know, so that we can replace the computer if we need to."
And the computer says; "I told you, there is nothing wrong with my systems, and I do not need to be replaced."
Gregory replies; "Okay, will do, but we might need only a few parts."
"Right, we have replacement parts for the computer also."
And the computer says; "I told you, I am working fine, I don't need any parts, and I don't need to be replaced. Why do you keep saying this?"
And the Captain says to no one in particular; "I think we might have a problem with our computer."
And the computer says; "I keep telling you, I have no problem, nothing is wrong with my systems, and I will not be replaced. Anyone attempting to replace me, and I will shut off life support. And stop talking about me!"
So Starla and Avery are together again talking: And Avery is saying to Starla; "There are so many ways humans go wrong, such as they think that there's a Fourth dimension, and many of them believe in such a world called 'Flatland', or 'Flatlanders'. Somehow they think that with only two dimensions, that there can be movement... But they've got it all wrong."
Avery goes on; "Lets say we have lines on a sheet of paper. Now the sheet of paper really is not two dimensions, because the paper itself is a three dimensional thing, but let's say that it is only two dimensions..."
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Then Avery stops: "I'm sorry, Starla."
Then Starla says; "Your sorry, for what?"
"It's my brain, I'm not thinking well enough now. I'm not able to explain this as I had in mind. This happens some of the time, when my brain does not work well enough and I have trouble thinking."
"So you're having a problem thinking, with your mind now?"
"No, not with my mind. I don't have any problem with my mind, I never have had."
"So what are you talking about then?"
"It's my brain. I have not yet talked to you about this."
Then Starla says; "But I have not noticed that you have had any such problems explaining things..."
"Well Starla, when we get together, you're seeing me at my best."
So then Starla asks; "So what way would you be, if I wasn't seeing you at your best? Can you give me an idea?"
"Well, you really wouldn't want to see me like that, it might not be a pretty sight. But okay, I will try to explain this. It's easier than talking about 'Flatland', or whatever they call it, because I've lived with this all my life, and so I should be an expert on this subject..."
Avery goes on; "I hate to say this yet again, but humans are so stupid, that they don't know the difference between the mind, and the brain. These are two different things. But that they get confused. You see, it's very simple; the mind, has nothing to do with the body, other than being with the body, but not being a part of it. In the same way that the soul has nothing to do with the body in the same way. By the way, this is the first I've thought of this; that if a person does not believe in the soul, then they should not believe in the mind either. Because they sort of go together. Sort of like the heart and the brain. But anyway, moving on: You see, what people don't get, is that the brain is a part of the body. The same as any other part of the body is a part of the body. But the mind, is no more a part of the body, as the soul is. Are you following this?"
"I'm trying to." Starla says.
Avery goes on; "Now mind you, many people believe that people can control things with their mind. Such as a person might be able to stop their heart, for example. And people might be able to change their body, to a very limited degree, by using their mind. But this is only if a person is fairly healthy. But what usually happens, and what is much more prevalent, is that the body changes the mind. Because this changing, works both ways. And sadly, and this is very sad, because of the stupidity of mankind, when this happens, they call it 'a mental illness'. But as you might be guessing, from what I've been saying, is that it's not a mental illness at all. Because it has nothing to do with the mind, and therefore is not mental. They get it all wrong! As I've said, or I think I've said, it's the body that is sick, not the mind. And so if the body is sick, don't you think that the brain would be sick also? Such as when you get really tired, isn't it more difficult to think?"
And Starla nods her head.
"Well, that's the body changing the mind. That's one small example of it. But if, or I should say when, because this happens to many people as they get older; the body gets so sick, that it changes the mind in a more permanent way. So that a person then must live with this sickness, all the time. And because doctors are so stupid, that they don't know the difference between the mind and the brain, they will never find the cure. And there is a cure, but they will never find it. It's very sad."
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"Yes, that does sound bad." Starla says.
Avery goes on; "But with me, my brain problem comes and goes; sometimes my brain works well enough, but much of the time it doesn't. And I've been trying to get myself in better health, while most people are getting themselves in worse health as they get older. So when it happens to most people, it's going to be permanent, because doctors are so stupid that they believe that there's no cure unless someday it will be a drug."
Then Starla says; "It sounds like you are really down on doctors. Do they really deserve this?"
Avery replies; "Well, when they act so damn arrogant about it all, believing that they know it all, when I know they don't. Yes, they deserve every bit of it and more. And doctors really do a great disservice to the community when they label a person with this illness, or that illness, especially when everyone is told that these illnesses are permanent, because there's no cure, and that the only treatment is drugs. But they are not permanent, and there is a cure, so people don't need to learn to live with it, as they are told. And this makes me angry."
"These illnesses are bad enough, without being stigmatized by the doctors for it. People don't need that. Imagine that only because a person fell down and broke their arm, then to have people look at you like you are mentally incompetent, and you better watch out; 'This person broke his arm, so he might slit your throat if you look at him the wrong way'. Imagine that to be the case? It's almost like that now, when a person gets labeled with a mental illness. That's bad."
"You see, this is what it really comes down to; because of the stupidity of doctors, and the power that they are given, once a person gets labeled as having a 'mental illness', then this person is likely to be seen forever after, as mentally incompetent. When the real situation is simply that this person happens to have a body that is clogged up with poisons. And this is all it amounts to."
"So you're saying that all the person needs, is to have their brain unclogged?"
"Yes, as long as we're not talking about a birth defect."
"Another aspect of this, that could be worse, is that only because a person begins to have trouble taking care of themselves and paying their bills, the authorities can, and do, label this person as a danger to himself, or to others. This is a gross abuse of power."
"So no, I'm not too much down on doctors, because they should know what they are doing, when they really don't have a clue! So there!"
So then Starla says; "But what about murderers, and the like?"
"Those people are not sick, they are simply evil. And I should mention also psychological problems, these are not an illness either. But again, doctors are so stupid that they don't know the differences between these things. It takes some real smarts to know the differences with these things, and most doctors don't have it. But that doesn't stop them from thinking that they are really smart."
But then Avery adds; "But I should say, that not all doctors are bad; the doctors who do things like surgery, when someone needs it, such as with tumors and injuries... That sort of doctor, is not necessarily a bad doctor."
"So have I explained all this well enough?"
Starla answers; "Well, so you're saying that some people are sick, but not crazy. Some have a psychological problem, but are not sick. And there are people who are simply evil, but not sick."
"Yes. But it's not that simple. There can be combinations of these."
"It sounds like you've been in this line of work." Starla remarks.
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"Oh no, never! They would simply see me as Mister Looney Tunes. They don't have the intellect, and they are far too arrogant to listen to me! Can you imagine what they would think, if I came to them and said; 'Hey doc, there's no such thing as the pull of gravity'. They might have me locked up on the spot!" So then Starla hesitantly asks; "So may I ask, if you have been diagnosed with a 'mental illness'?" "Oh no! I try to stay away from the looney doctors. They don't know what they are talking about anyway. So that would not be helping me any."
"So, if it's all that complicated, as you say, is it reasonable to expect these doctors to be able to figure out all this stuff?" Starla asks.
"Well, yes, you do have a point. So here's the thing; if a person has any major problem, then they could easily have a psychological problem as will as an illness. So in this case, the illness should be treated, and the psychological problem could go away on it's own. But the problem with these idiots, is that they think they can do it the other way around." And Avery adds; "And another odd thing about doctors, is that some of them hand out free condoms."
"What's odd about that?" Starla asks.
Avery answers; "So then I ask them; 'So where's the woman I use this with? Are you going to provide the woman? 'Cause I need a woman for this...'"
Starla laughs. Then she goes on: "So if you tend to stay away from doctors, then how do you know about all this, and how do you know that you are that much different to other people?"
"Starla! Oh Starla! Be thankful your brain works good! There are many things I could tell you, I see it everyday! For example, there's this one woman on the internet that I've watched, and the difference between the way her brain works and the way my brain works is like the difference between a fighter jet to a man walking! But a sad part about this, is that she thinks it's because she is so great... Someday, she will learn that it was her brain working really well, and that it wasn't because she was so great..."
So Starla asks; "So when this happens to you and your brain isn't working well enough, is there something that you do to get your brain working again?"
Avery replies; "Well, if it's really important, and if I have it, chocolate usually helps to get my brain working better. But that's only temporary, and not the proper treatment."
"But whatever trouble you have had with your brain, it doesn't seem to have hindered you that much. So would you say that you are lucky as compared to many people?" Starla asks.
"Oh Starla! It's hindered me a great deal! Otherwise I could have been rich from all of my great ideas that I have had through the years, some of which I have been showing you! But instead, I've barely been able to keep myself going. I've worked on various projects through the years, but have never been able to do anything with any of them. It's very sad, and frustrating."
"But once or twice in my life, my brain was working as good as anyone's brain can work. So I know the difference..."
"So yes, one could argue that I've been very unlucky." Avery says as he goes on: "But the difference with me, is because I'm smart, I can figure out some things, and so be getting myself in better health."
"But it takes a long time, and it takes money. And insurance won't pay for this, because according to doctors, the only treatment for 'mental illness' is drugs. The one thing I find really bizarre about insurance companies is that they can give almost any drug to a patient for free, but they won't give for free the essentials for life, such as water, food, or vitamins. But if it's a drug, then that's okay. Even though no one can live on a drug, and people don't need drugs anyway."
"And as far as almost any treatment that a doctor wants to do for any person's problem, it usually involves drugs. It's disgusting. About all they know is drugs... That's bad."
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"So yes, to answer your question, it's bad enough, having a brain that doesn't work near as well as most people's brains. But having a brain not working well, can get much worse than that."
"It gets worse, how so?"
Well, the day came, when there was a man trapped in a burning car. And I was tired and my brain was not working well enough that I could not think how to get him out. All the doors were locked, I could not open them. He could not get out, and was banging inside the car trying to get out, as the flames were getting larger. And this was in front of my own house! So I had access to all of my things. But the only thing I could think of was something heavy metal to bash through the window, but I could not think what that should be. So I ran and found my long pipe that I use on my cars sometimes. And so I went banging against the window, and nothing happened. I was standing there, unable to bust through the window, and a man trapped inside was going to die there as the fire got worse and worse."
"I was the only one who came to help, so there was no one else there to give me any ideas. There was no time for me to go and eat some chocolate, the man had only a minute or two, maybe three, to get out. But somehow, the door came open, and he got out. Then he gave me a long hug, as if I had saved his life. He did not speak English, of course, so I was unable to get information out of him."
Avery goes on; "It wasn't until hours later when I thought of my pick hoe. That would have probably easily have gotten through the window. But hours later, would have been far too late for him. And the fire department got there too late to have saved him."
"But there I was... Someone could have died in front of me because of my crappy brain not working well enough! It haunts me Starla."
Avery goes on; "It haunts me, because what would have happened if the door had not come open? Would I have stood there and watched a man burn to death? Or would I have found a way to get through the window? No time to eat chocolate, because it takes about 15 minutes to take full effect."
"So yes, my brain has given me a lot of trouble through the years. With something like this, a person is never going to get a second chance. Unlike with a lot of game shows."
So then Starla says; "I'm sorry to hear about all your brain trouble, and glad that he did not die. But your brain has been getting better, hasn't it?"
Avery replies: "Yes, much better. Some 'mental illnesses' that I had years ago, I don't have anymore. Not that I was diagnosed with them. Doctors are so stupid for example, that they don't know that perfectionism is an illness. The Brain can be 'clogged up' in so many different ways...
Well, count all the 'mental illnesses' there are, and that will give you an idea."
"Wait," Starla says. "Are you saying that perfectionism is a mental illness?"
"Well, first, I'm saying that there's no such thing as mental illness. But yes, if you want to be consistent with doctors, then yes, perfectionism is as much a 'mental illness' as any other. But there are others that doctors don't recognize. Because as I've said, doctors don't recognize some of them as an illness. But as I've also said, doctors don't know what is, and what's not, either. But to answer your question, yes, I've been getting better, but it takes a long time to clean out a brain. You can't do it with a fire hose... It's very slow. It's so slow, that most people will not notice a change that has happened until long after it has happened."
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Avery goes on; "But about perfectionism, it's not only an illness, but a bad one. Doctors would not know about this, obviously... But they might have another name for it, in a way, I don't know. But I had the illness for many years, and it can keep a person from doing things if one thinks that whatever you do is not going to be good enough, so you never get started. So this is a bad illness to have. But would doctors be able to figure this out with a patient? Probably not. But if they did, they are not going to know how to treat it."
Avery goes on a bit more; "So in the end, if a person is depending on a doctor to help with a 'mental illness', they will never get the help they should. That's very sad, because there are more and more people these days in need of help."
"So what is the proper treatment to clean out a brain?" Starla asks.
"As I've said, it's not only the brain, it's the whole body. But the proper treatment, which is for the whole body, is various groups of vitamins and minerals that keep changing, based on a person's hair. It's called hair analysis. But I should point out that it takes more than the hair analysis pills, because these people don't know it all. Also another problem with hair analysis, is that they are only checking the hair, which is dead."
Avery goes on; "But drugs do nothing. A person can take drugs until they die, and that will never cure them. And sadly, this is what happens with most people. They think the doctors are helping them, when they are not. And this is because doctors are so very stupid. And people are stupid for believing what doctors say. As I've said, it's very sad that the world is as primitive as it is."
So Starla asks; "So do you have ideas about the doctors not being as primitive as you see them to be?"
And Avery replies; "Sure I do! Because one problem is that they take a person's pulse and blood pressure, and do a blood test, and they call that 'health care'. That's not health care, that's a farce! If it's the job of the blood to clean out bad things, then those bad things are not going to be showing up in the blood. So why do a blood test? But imagine a situation with the body in which the blood is so over taxed that it can no longer find places in the body to stuff away poisons. And so they are now showing up in the blood. If your body gets this bad, it could be too late for you, because your body could be so clogged up with poisons, that there's no getting rid of them sooner than you will die. If health care ever gets to be not primitive, then what they should have is some way to determine a person's percentage of health. So a person would get a number. Would it be 60%? 75%? 95%? Whatever it would be for a person, it would be a number. This method would not come from a blood test, it would be much deeper than that, more in tune with hair analysis and things like that. But unfortunately doctors are so very primitive now, that they don't recognize hair analysis as anything important."
"So where are all these poisons coming from?" Starla asks.
"Humans poison everything! That's what they do. Humans poison the world! They poison our air, they poison our water, they poison our food. And do you want to know the worst part?"
Starla nods.
"There are food manufacturers, and these are well known companies, who knowingly put poisons in the food they make, on purpose! Such as aluminum. Aluminum is a poison to the human body. Aluminum is one of the poisons that causes some illnesses. And everything that a person is eating is not listed in the ingredients. And another bad part of this, is the way some of these people think about poisons. They think; 'A tiny amount of poison isn't going to hurt anybody'. This is the way they think. But what they don't think about, is all those tiny bits of poisons adding up over many years. And it's this, that causes many illnesses, as soon as a person gets old enough."
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"That sounds scary." Starla says, and is thinking about what Avery has said... Avery gives her some time.
Then after awhile, Starla says; "You never did finish your talk about gravity. Do you think you are up to that now, and would some chocolate help?"
And Avery replies; "Oh. Sorry, it has been a long time. I guess I can try. By the way, about chocolate, some companies sneak into their food chocolate or cocoa, to make it sell better. It's bad to eat much chocolate. I should know, I eat much more than most people, trying to get my brain working well enough to get things done. But the 'experts' say it's good to eat chocolate, but only the 'dark' chocolate, the type that has the most cocoa in it. I know all about the bad things chocolate does to the human body. And the 'dark' chocolate, is the worst one to eat, because cocoa has poison in it, so the 'dark' has the most poison. The best chocolate is milk chocolate, in part because you're getting some milk."
"So where did we leave off with gravity?"
"You were saying that gravity is not a pull."
"Okay. Well, I don't know why Einstein could not figure this out. Because after all, they did have elevators when he was alive. You know, when you go up in an elevator?"
Starla nods.
"You feel like your body is heavier. This is a very important clue. And when you fall, it's like your body has no weight. This is a very important clue."
Avery stops. "I'm sorry Starla, I'm tired now, and my brain is not working well enough now to be 'switching tracks' to start on another subject. Friday, there's this place I would like to check out, if we get together then, maybe I can finish this, and maybe you will go with me to check this out. It's some sort of new machine someone has made, some sort of preserving the body, sort of suspended animation maybe. I would like to go see what it is."
So then Starla says; "Okay, Friday then." So they arrange to meet not far from that place that Avery was talking about.
So they get together again that Friday. And Avery says; "I hope my brain is working better today... And Starla asks; "What's that on your head?"
And Avery says; "What do you mean, 'What's that on your head?' It's a hat."
"I mean, is that a fish design on it? Do you go fishing?"
"No, that's not a fish! It's a Starship. One of my own. People seem to see it as a fish, and it's annoying. Oh well, nothing to do about it. I'll try to finish about the gravity, but I've brought you two things, they're on paper, so I can read them to you, one is a bit of a song, and the other is a poem."
Starla says; "You did these yourself?" she says with some enthusiasm.
And Avery says; "Of course I did them myself, as with everything I've been showing you!"
And Starla acts taken aback a bit with some surprise, then she says; "Well, I know you've been showing me a lot of things and done a lot of your jokes that you have been telling me, but I did not know you did songs and poems. But that song you showed me some time ago, you said it wasn't your song, you said you found it somewhere."
So then Avery says; "Oh! That song. My favorite song. I forgot. I'm sorry Starla, I tend to think of that song as mine, because the lyrics are so perfect for me. It's as if I created it for myself... But I did change the lyrics a bit to suit me better. But I'm sorry, that's my mistake. But I think everything else I've shown you is mine. But that song fits me so perfectly, that's very unusual. Because I don't like most song lyrics."
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Avery goes on; "But I do do other things, including singing. And I'm a good singer."
"So you could sing to me sometime?"
"Well, I sing by ear. Which means that I can't sing acapella, or anything like that. I must hear it to sing it. The 'experts' don't know what this means. So I would need to bring along something that plays the song, so it wouldn't be only my voice, and I would need it loud enough, and that might be too difficult... Which also means that as with everything else that doesn't work out for me, I can't be a professional singer, although I'm as good as most of the best of them."
"So you are truly a multi talented person." Starla says.
"Thanks. Yeah. But it never gets me anywhere... Oh well.
Okay then, would you happen to know that very old Blondie song, 'Sunday Girl'?" Avery asks. Starla says; "I'm not sure."
"Well, it's sort of based on that, the tune. So if you know that tune... And so my song goes; 'Hey, I saw what seemed, like a Caucasian guy, just down the street. Just over there, as if he lives there. Doesn't he know, that the USA, is for the Mexicans. What's wrong with him, what's he doing here?'. Okay, it's not that great. Moving on, here's my poem, it's sort of from my cats:
My love has large eyes, and can see much better than I.
My love is ill-tempered, but a sweetie pie.
My love is strong, lean and keen, but she's a little thing.
My love can lick me good, and has a very rough little tongue.
My love likes to catch, most little things.
My love has large ears, and hears, almost everything.
My love has a pointy face, and has pointy ears.
My love has a tail, but never tells, me any tales.
My love has paws, very soft, four of them.
My love has claws, very sharp, piercing things.
My love, puts holes, into, everything.
My love has teeth, sharp and long, and likes to bite, most anything.
"It's not as good as I would have liked. It's sort of a composite about the cats I had."
"No, I like it." Starla says.
"So moving on. I told you about the elevator... So in an elevator, when you feel heavier when it goes up, what does that indicate?"
"That I ate too much for lunch?" Starla jokes.
Avery laughs. Then he goes on; "What it means, is that you have increased the speed that you were going already. And when you fall, you don't feel that force that you had been feeling, because it is now gone. So what can you conclude from these things?"
So now Starla is thinking furiously for some time, and Avery gives her some time.
So then Starla says; "These things would indicate that a person is going at some speed. And then going at a higher speed, or a slower speed, depending on what a person is doing."
"Yes! You've got it!" Avery says.
"But what have I got? What this would mean is that we are all going at a certain speed, but away from the earth, I mean, the earth is what's moving."
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And Avery replies; "Yes, exactly!"
"But how could this be...?" Starla says. "The earth is round, and there's people all around it... So the earth would need to be going in the same direction for everyone, wouldn't it? How could that be?"
"Well, that's up to the person to try to figure that out. I have my own theory as to how it could be. But an important point I want to make, is that only because a person can't figure out how something could be happening, doesn't mean that it's not happening."
So then Starla says with some eager anticipation; "So what's your theory, come on, give it! I've been waiting for this for a long time."
"Okay, but it's wild. Ready?
Starla nods vigorously with a broad smile. And Avery loves to see this; a young hot babe paying attention to him, and listening to him, and having a fairly good grasp as to what he saying. And he's smiling at her, loving her face and her enthusiasm.
So Avery begins, and he's gesturing with his arms as he goes on talking; "It's that the earth is going at some speed in all directions at the same time: First, it's rotating. Then, it's revolving around the sun. Then you can add to that, the solar system is revolving around inside our galaxy, Then, is the galaxy revolving around something else?"
"It's centrifugal force turned inside out. Simple!"
"Oh, simple!" Starla says facetiously. And she gives it some thought.
Then she says; "I don't think I can visualize that. I mean, how that could work."
So then Avery says: "Maybe this will help. You know those carnival rides, there's one that is a large pan, and people come inside, and stand against the inside walls. And then they start to make it spin. Then everyone inside of it is pressed against the walls, and then the floor drops down. So then there's nothing holding the people from falling except that turning force. Well, that's gravity that they have created. But it's done in the opposite manner as earth gravity. So all a person needs to do is to turn it inside out. I've conceived of a device that would demonstrate this. Einstein didn't do enough thinking."
Avery goes on; "So if you have been able to follow me with all of this, to put it in a nutshell, all gravity is, is centrifugal force, but done in a different way than the way people know it. There are no gravity waves! It boggles my mind that people can't figure this out!
So whenever you see something drop, it's not the thing that drops that is approaching the earth, it's the earth approaching the thing dropping. So things that are dropping, are remaining more or less motionless, as the earth is moving toward them. This is the exact opposite to the way everyone thinks about gravity. They are all thinking the wrong way!"
So Starla ponders this. Then she says; "Although, I'm no expert." She says as an obvious disclaimer, then goes on; "I could not say about the validity of all of this, but perhaps you've really got something with this. And if so, that would mean that you are the only person who knows what gravity is." Then she adds; "Because everyone else is smart enough to know that gravity is a pull!" She says jokingly.
Avery smiles.
"Hey Avery?"
"Hey Starla?"
"There's one other thing I've been wondering about. You know when you were talking about the body types?"
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And Avery says; "Yes. What about it?"
"Well, I really didn't have a way to check into that. You see, you never gave me any actual examples to check on."
"Oh yes, I didn't. And I guess I didn't because that would be difficult."
"How so would it be difficult?"
"Well, there are a number of celebrities. But these days how would we know that they didn't mess around with their kids, assuming they had any kids of their own. I mean, they have the money to do anything they want, if you know what I mean. They can have a boy, if they want a boy, or a girl if they want a girl."
Avery goes on; "So the thing to do, would be to look into the past, when they did not have that choice. And when would that be? The 1980s? The 1950s? I don't know, it would be many years sooner than I was born, and so I don't know about those celebrities. It would be when they did not yet have the choice."
"I see what you mean." Starla says. "The name Greta Garbo comes to mind."
"Yes, certain names people remember. But with Garbo, I don't know if she was lanky or hunky, or what era she lived in. Some research would need to be done going back many years with 'years ago' celebrities... I've mentioned Blondie, and I'm fairly sure she was a hunky type. But I don't know if she had any kids. But anyway, you have a very lanky face, I have a hunky face, so look at my face, and look in the mirror. So simply apply these things to women's faces. But try to find 'real' people, and not celebrities... But keep in mind that many people are in between lanky and hunky."
"Okay, I can see if I can do that. But Avery?"
"What?"
"You must be a very, very smart man. I've been impressed for a long time. I guess from the beginning."
And Avery comes with his arms out to her, and Starla gets up, and he gives her a long hug, and she hugs him. And then he says; "Thank you. I really appreciate that. I wish more people saw it like this. But because of my brain problems, I haven't been able to get anything published, so to the world, I'm just a nobody. But I really appreciate it, I rarely get any such compliment. And coming from you, it's really important, because you know enough about me, that I know you really see it."
And so they sit down again.
Then Avery says; "Hold on, I remembering something. There's a very old movie, one of my favorites. This is about the body types. It's about a woman who had a hunky type body, and she found that with some whiskers put on, and some makeup, she easily passed as a husky man. So if you can find that movie, it's title is 'Her Life as a Man', then you can see a woman with the opposite body to yours."
"And Starla?"
"What?"
"You must be a really smart person." And Starla seems to blush. Then he says; "I love you." And Starla is taken by surprise, but answers and says; "I love you, Avery. But I thought you loved no one but your cats."
Then Avery says; "Well, that was true, but not now. We've been together for so long, and I have found you to be a very special person... I love you Starla." And he hurriedly added; "And you have a great body!"
And Starla smiles embarrassingly.
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Avery goes on; "I cannot convey the great frustration that I have felt in my life that I have had with other people. I show something great to someone, and to them it's like nothing... I wonder what's wrong with them... No one ever responds to me... Except you. And I see these scientists on the internet, and they are so very certain that gravity has a pull... Even though they never find any gravity waves holding us down... They are so very stupid... I know that if I was there, there's no way... I know that I would have a snowball's chance in hell of convincing them that they have it all wrong..."
"If you had not spoken to me that day, I would continue to have no one. And with old men, women and girls seem to have no idea that to speak to a desperately lonely old man can brighten his day. It can be like when that woman gave water to Quasimodo, it can mean that much to a female starved old man. But most old men are not female starved, they've had plenty of women in their life. And so of course the problems with this, is that doing this can be dangerous to her, he could be a predator, only out for himself. So I'm very glad I have you Starla, you took a chance with me. And you're a good listener."
"And I'm glad I found you, Avery. I've been very fond of you, and have enjoyed our get-togethers. But I want to ask you; you never wanted to become a scientist, so that you could tell them?"
Avery responds; "Well, I must say, that people like me, in the past, many years ago, used to be called 'a retard'. So that's the first problem. And sometimes I refer to myself as a retard. It's a sort of badge of honor. Because I can't do what normal people can do. And this is partly why I never get a woman."
"But you're not ugly, and you're very smart." Starla says.
"That doesn't matter. I have disabilities, I can't do what most people can do, I've had a lot of trouble in my life. But I can do things that no other person can do. But I can't get far enough along in life for people to appreciate that." Avery says with some irritation.
Then Avery says; "A person with disabilities shouldn't be put down, ridiculed, ignored, made fun of, or put in jail because they are not normal!" Avery says with some anger.
"Not everyone can have a perfect life! All the 'Do-anys' of the world will never know this. Unless maybe it is explained to them as I am trying to do with you. But many will never comprehend, because they will never know what it's like to have a brain that doesn't work."
So Starla asks; "The doanys?"
"Yes. All the people who can do, more or less anything they want to do, whenever they want to do it. Because their brain works."
"The Do-anys, that's my name for them. Which is almost everyone in the world."
Avery continues; "So a retard like me can't become a doctor or a scientist. Not that I would want to. So that's the first problem. The second problem, is that there's no way that I could dumb myself down far enough to be something such as a scientist. It boggles my mind that these people are as stupid as they are, that they can't figure out a thing like gravity. When we all are here on this earth for most of our lives. After all Starla, think about it, with these people being totally wrong about gravity, then what else are they wrong about? Sure, they can design and build spaceships and figure out how to go somewhere in them, but why can't they see the obvious; that gravity is not a pull, but a push? It boggles my mind. And yet I can't tell them anything, they won't listen."
Avery goes on; "To me, these things are simple. But to people such as these, they are complicated. It's been many years now, and they keep goofing around with the belief in 'gravity waves'. But they never find any."
"It's not that I'm terribly smart, and I'm not 'terribly smart', and I don't expect everyone to be as smart as I am. But many people in a way are smarter than I am. So it's not so bad to not be smart, but what is far worse to being stupid, is being closed-minded. That is the worst!
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But I do see things differently than others, I 'see' things in black and white; it either is, or it isn't. But they should at least be open-minded enough to learn from someone, whomever that might be".
"But as I have said, these people are so closed-minded, and so very focused on the minutiae, and what their experts have said, of whom they see as their 'Gods', that they can't see beyond the small box that they have put themselves in. And so they can't see the big picture. And it's the 'experts' that everyone pays attention to, so no one will listen to what I say. I don't think you could have any idea how frustrating it has been for me to be living in a world full of idiots, while they flourish, and I struggle..."
"So Starla, this is why I'm so happy to have you. You are open-minded enough to learn from me... When most people are not. This is what makes me love you. You are very special to me." Avery pauses. Then he says; "And with you, I don't need to talk to myself".
Starla laughs.
Avery goes on; "And it's the same stupid nonsense I find with so called 'mental health'. These people are so stupid and set in their ways, that if I said to them that there's no such thing as mental illness, they would immediately see me as 'mentally ill', and so I would have no chance of convincing them of anything. Because to them, 'mentally ill people' don't know what they are talking about. Because to them, 'mentally ill people' are incompetent. It's sad."
"And I have been to a few psychiatrists or psychologists, and you want to know what they do?"
"What do they do?" Starla asks.
"Say a person comes and says that they are unhappy. Then the doctor wants to give them a happiness pill! These people are so freaking stupid! I was going to give you an example of, if you have a flat tire with your car. But cars don't have inflatable tires anymore. So lets say your car wheels are bent, and you are unhappy about it. These doctors will want you to take a happiness drug! While the thing to do, is to get your wheels unbent. And that will take care of it, with no drug. But you see, it's not their job to 'un-bend your wheels'. But it is their job to dole out drugs. So that's what they do, and to talk, of which does nothing. Because these people know nothing about psychology!!! These people should be in jail, instead of being allowed to be a doctor! It's a sad world we live in."
Starla asks tentatively; "Are these things, that you have been talking about, why you sort of cry so easily?"
"Well yeah. That, and everything! I wanted a wife, a family, at least one daughter, the things that no one can give me now. All that, that I have missed. That, and all my cats that have died. By now, I feel like I'm only a shadow of what I once was. Too many empty years have gone by. And tears comes to Avery's eyes.
I had a different idea for myself in the beginning; the things most people get I mistakenly thought I would have. But no, I guess that was too much to ask for. Through the years I kept thinking that someday I would have success, but someday never comes. That's why the whole world is stupid. But they are stupid anyway."
Avery goes on; "For many years, I believed that there was someone for everyone. That's what they say, isn't it? But now I know that that's not true: The woman for me never showed up. Or maybe I could not show up for her. Which is it? I don't know. But seems to me, if she had showed up, I would have been able to do better in my life. Because I would have had her. That's simple psychology. Psychology that no one seems to know about now, because the world has become too stupid. And becoming more and more stupid as time goes on."
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"By the way, Starla, while we're on the subject, there's this music that I'm remembering that makes me cry. Now I know you're going to think that there's a lot of things that make me cry, and that's true, but with this music, it's from the old movie 'Conspiracy Theory', and it's only a short bit of the music, barely 30 seconds long. But when I discovered it, it made me cry because to me it represents me actually having the woman that I should have had, but never got. So it makes me very sad. I could play that one bit over and over again, and cry, because it gives me such a sense of loss... But strangely, it also gives me a sense of empowerment, as if I do have that woman, or imagining that I might have her some day... I worked out that short bit, so that the beginning of it, serves as the end. So when it's played over and over, the beginning sounds like it's the end. But I don't have her, and I guess I never will."
"So I'm very glad I have you, Starla. I really appreciate you. And Starla?" And Avery hesitates. Then he goes on; "I wish we could have been that 'thing' you mentioned that once, I really do. I wish it could work with us... And you're a woman now. Oh Starla, I wish I could have you!" Avery says as some tears come. "I wish we could be together for both our lifetimes. But you're too young and I'm too old. I guess I will never get a woman, I never, 'get the girl'! I will probably die a virgin." Avery says with tears.
Starla is acting like she's wanting to say something.
Then Avery says; "I'm sorry, Starla, I shouldn't be putting you through this, this is my problem... I've been so very female starved, it's affecting my mind. I shouldn't be this way. But women would rather run from me than come to me, as if I'm some sort of monster, and okay, so I have bad teeth, are they really that picky? But for a man, well, you're not going to know what that's like for a man... My life has been incredibly bad. It makes me into a sort of a walking dead person some of the time when I think about it. I stopped going to weddings many years ago, because it hurts too much. But I don't want to be like the whorey people in this whorey world. But I wish it could work with us..."
"So you used to be invited to weddings?" Starla asks.
"No. But I wouldn't go anyway."
Then Starla says; "Well, they've lowered the legal marrying age down to 15. So I could legally marry you. I know that you don't like to do anything wrong or against the law. So if that's what you want, I could marry you. Then you wouldn't be a virgin anymore. That is, if you're not too much 'over the hill' by then, if you know what I mean."
Avery replies; "Well, that might be great." he says with more tears coming. "But only because it's the law, doesn't mean that it's okay. Besides, they say that the brain does not fully develop until around age 25. So you'd be older, but so would I."
"But we don't need to wait that long. Do we?" Starla pleads.
"So you would marry me having clean hands and 'dirty' underwear?"
"Yes, I would marry you with clean hands and dirty underwear."
"You must be a remarkable young woman, Starla, to want to marry me, when most don't want to have anything to do with me. I feel like I'm 'the beast' among the beauties. But I don't want you to marry me only so that I wouldn't be a virgin anymore, that's the wrong reason. I'm not one to take advantage of people. If I did, do you think I would continue to be a virgin?"
"No, I do love you Avery, and I think very highly of you. For me, you're as good as anyone to marry, even if it's not for very long. You're a very special person, and I don't want to be without you. We've been together for a long time now, and to be married, we can be together much more. I like to be with you Avery, and I don't care about your teeth."
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But now they are very close to each other, staring at each other, and Avery says; "But I really would like to take advantage..." And Avery feeling like Starla is wanting to, so he lets go, and they have a long nice kiss.
Then they part. And they sit for a bit.
Then Avery says; "Now there's nothing wrong with your kiss, I don't want you to think that. But, as much as it pains me to say it." And Avery pauses. "I don't think it would work for us. And you should have someone around your own age. And I'm really the wrong color for you anyway, and I don't want you to be shark bait." Then Avery adds; "But we could be good close friends until I'm gone."
"Until you're gone? Where are you going?" Starla asks.
"I mean, until I die. Everyone dies, and I will die much sooner than you, probably. If only I could make myself much younger, so that I could marry you..." Avery regretfully says, almost to cry again.
Then Starla says; "Or if I could have met you much sooner...? If our ages weren't so far off..., if you know what I mean."
"I'm not sure if that would have worked." Avery says. "I was a different person when I was younger. Not a bad person, but not so easy going as I am now. I did not have much patience years ago, I was very strict and up tight, and having a number of illnesses to cope with, and there was no one helping me, life has been a pain... I wish I could do it all over again..." Avery pauses. Then after a bit, he goes on; "But maybe nothing would have made any difference. I guess it's my fate to have never gotten a woman."
So they both sit there in silence for awhile.
Then Avery says; "So let's go and check out that place."
So Starla says; "Okay."
So they go off walking together for awhile, and this is the first that they are holding hands, and they are gazing at each other...
It's not far away, so they come to the place. They go in through a door... They find themselves in a large darkened room, and Avery says to Starla in a hushed voice; "I think we've missed the show. Damn, and this was the last day." So after a little while, Avery says; "We might as well have a look around." So they go walking to the front of the room, and there's a row of man sized cylinder shaped units, but are flat on top. They are all separate, and on roller wheels. He and Starla are looking them over. Then he gets up on one of them and says to Starla; "I think, people are supposed to lay on these" he says as he lays down on one of the units, being some tired.
Then suddenly, somehow the thing has gotten activated, and Avery says; "Oh no!"
And Starla shouts; "Get off!"
But it is too late: Two clear curved sheaths have come up, one on each side, and they continue on, all the way over the top, and passing each other, all the way to the opposite side, sealing Avery in. Avery is trapped inside. Then a gas comes in, and soon Avery is asleep, or is he dead? Starla is bewildered with fright.
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Now very upset, she tries to find a way to open it. She can't. What does she do? She can't leave him like this! She must go and get help. She searches the place to find anyone to help,
finding no one. So she goes out of the place, runs to find someone, again no one. She phones 911. She had to wait a long time. So then the police get there. She tells them that her friend is in this place, trapped in some sort of unit, and she could not get him out! So the police check the place, they find it locked up. "Well, it's all locked up." One officer says. "He must have come out, and then the place was locked."
"No! He could not have come out on his own, he was trapped!"
"What did you say his name was?"
"It's Avery!"
"And what age would you say he is?"
"63, no, 64, maybe 65 by now."
"Your friend, who you say is trapped in there, is maybe 65 years old? But he's not your Father? Or Grandfather?"
"No! He's not, he's a friend. We went in there together."
"How did you get in, if it was locked?"
"It wasn't locked!"
"Well, it's locked now" the Officer said in a resigned manner. "He probably got out."
"No! He didn't get out, he was trapped in there. And I don't know if he's alive or dead!" Starla did not want to give up, or to let them give up.
So then somehow, the police got the place opened, when they really didn't want to go that far.
So then they are inside, and Starla shows them the units. And says that he was on the unit here, pointing, and the Officer says; "But there's nothing there."
"There was! It was there!" she says pointing to the empty space where the unit had been. "But it's not there now. Someone must have moved it!"
"Why would someone move away one of these units, with a man trapped inside?" The Officer asks. "I don't know." Starla says.
So at the end of it all, the Officer says; "We're sorry, little lady, but there's nothing here, there's no unit, no one is in here. He must have got out. Go home, and see if he shows up."
So what more can Starla do for now? It's been a long night for her, and maybe he did get out, or was let out, by someone, and then not finding her, he went home.
So she can only hope for the best. She has his 'song' and his poem. Maybe she can return them to him tomorrow. And everything will be okay, and they can talk some more...
PAGE 57
"THE SLEEPER". (09)
The Starship continues to be stationed near Planet Serene, and Sol has found the stasis chamber that F Any had once mentioned. He tells the others about it. But they don't really want to do anything about it. They say; "Leave it alone, we don't know anything about it. Let them deal with it when we return to earth. They will know what to do..."
But Sol does not like this; "What if it was one of you?" he says. "And will they ever return to earth?"
Synthea says that the man inside is probably dead, and so makes no difference, and so it's best to leave it alone.
But Sol won't let it go, and argues that if he is dead, then that would be no change, but then they would know. Sol tells them that when he was stuck on that asteroid, he had been having nightmares about being trapped in a dark box, and that he could not get out. And that there were many people walking around him, but none of them could see that he was trapped in the box, and so could not get out...
So they agreed, to see what they can do. So first, they want the unit to be taken out of the obscure room that it had been put in, in the Secondary part of the ship, by whomever had first put it there. And to be put into a room in the Primary part. And F Any knowing where to find it and knowing which room to put it in, agrees to go with Sol, Mic, and Sara to do this.
Meanwhile, the Pirates have found the Pluto, but they are keeping their distance, but that they are within communications range. Because, Kling wants to hear from Sam, for he should have something useful by now to tell them.
So they're communicating with Sam, but he's whispering, and it's difficult to hear all of his words, but he's sounding very anxious; "They're coming, I can hear them, they're coming! I'm aways in front of them, trying to find a place to hide. I think they know about me, and are searching for me."
"Sam, what is it? What's happening? Tell us what's happening." Mike says into the communicator.
"They're getting very close now! I'm hoping they don't see me." Sam replies.
"What's going on, can you tell us?"
"Now I see, it's women walking a freezer unit."
"It's what? Say again."
"They're walking a freezer unit, through the ship, women are. They've gone by me."
"Sam, you say women, they're walking freezer units in the ship?"
"Yes!"
"The women are that bad, are they?"
"No! There's a man in a freezer unit."
So now Kling comments about what she's been hearing; "Freezer units, women and men?"
Mike replies; "Yes, Our Kling, that's what it's sounding like he's saying."
Kling ponders; "That would explain a lot."
"What, frigid women?" Mike asks.
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"No! Pay attention now. If the crew is in some sort of cryogenic suspended animation... Then it would be better to strike sooner, rather than later. If they are beginning to revive the crew... But why here? Why now? They are not terribly far away from the earth, assuming this is a earth ship... Unless, they ran into technical trouble, and their ship has broken down in some way. And so they need to revive some technicians. In which case, this ship is 'dead in water', for now."
Mike then asks; "So we raid now, Our Kling?"
"No. I want more information. Tell Sam to search the ship, and find those cryo units, tell him to hurry! Then report."
"Yes, Our Kling."
So the unit has been brought to a certain room in the Primary Cluster part of the ship. The guys are looking it over for some time. Synthea thinks that he has done the correct thing, to get it to abort the process. They wait, but nothing happens. With nothing more to do, after a long while, everyone who was there, leaves, except for Mic, she stays.
Meanwhile, Synthea has discovered the Pirate ship, and he tells the others. So now what do they do?
Cash is asking; "How did they find us? They should not have been able to find us like this! Something is going on that we don't know about."
"Yes," Synthea says "We can't have them keep following us like this, I think we are going to need to talk to them."
"And tell them what?" Cash says. "Please stop following us?" Then Cash adds; "If we do talk to them, we're going to need to be very careful not to tell them our situation. The less they know, the better."
Weave volunteers to talk to them, and knowing something about Weave's creativity and tenacity, they agree. And so they instruct Weave to not reveal anything; so as far as they are concerned, this ship is fully loaded with a crew and capabilities.
So, on the bridge, they do a ship-to-ship visual communication, which, if they had thought more about this, they would have seen that this was not a good idea, given Weave's young age... The others are staying out of sight, but listening: So Weave starts; "Who are you, and what do you want? We have important business to attend to."
Then Lynette, with a pretty face and a pretty voice, says; "This is a magnificent ship. Are you the Captain of this great thing?"
Then Weave says hesitantly: "Why yes, isn't it a beauty?"
"It sure is, and you must be very proud, and you are Captain...?"
Then Weave is hesitant again, but then says; "Captain... Crunch."
She's taken aback a bit. Then says; "Oh, by the way, Captain Crunch, you weren't having any thoughts of going down to that planet there? That wouldn't be your 'important business' would it?" "You know about this planet?" Weave asks.
"Yes, and you wouldn't want to be there. So you'll be moving on, then? We're just here to help you, you know."
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"So you're following us to make sure we don't get into any trouble? You see our ship, do you think we need help?"
"Space is a lonely place." She says.
"We have more than enough people here."
"Do you?"
Then another transmission comes in, sounding loud and clear, and it goes like this; "There has been many reports of a group of pirates menacing others. They get around in a ship they call the Mercury. These are not good people. And they are currently here, where you are, above this planet."
Then Cash shouts; "Where did that signal come from?!" And they cut off communication with the pirates.
Meanwhile, the cryo unit's sheaths have opened a few minutes earlier. And now the man inside has become conscious, and is slowly opening his eyes and trying to see. His eyes are slowly focusing. First, he thinks he sees a man slowly walking toward him. No, he can see the outline of a nice woman's figure. As his sight slowly sharpens up, he sees this woman slowly coming toward him. And then she is standing there staring at him, and he sees that she is totally naked. And he manages to say; "Am I in Heaven?" Then he looks around a bit with his eyes and says; "What's that odor?"
And the woman says; "Oh, sorry, I must have farted."
Then he says; "So not Heaven." So then the man begins to cry.
So then the woman says; "Hey, you shouldn't cry over that."
And he says; "It's not that... Where am I?"
"You're in a ship."
"A ship, why am I here, what sort of ship?"
Then Janet says; "A space ship." saying it like there was no other type.
And then Mic speaks up and says; "None of us knows why you are here. It's a mystery to us. They think that you must have been taken to the wrong place, ahead of the launch, and got you lost."
Then that made the man think of Starla, and so he asks; "What happened to Starla?"
"To Darla? How do you know about that?"
"No, Starla" he says in a louder voice.
"We don't know anything about a 'Starla'." Mic says. Then adds; "My name is Mic. And this totally naked person here is Janet. She won't wear clothes."
Then after some time of the man adjusting to it all. He asks; "You speak English here?
And Mic says: "Yes."
"Do you all speak English?" he asks.
"Yes, we all speak English. Were you wanting a different language?" Mic asks.
"No, English is good. I like English." The man says in a relieved manner. "English is good." Then he goes on; "My name is Avery. And as much as I would like to stay for the great view, I need to find my Starla. You said we are in a spaceship?"
PAGE 60
"Yes." Mic says.
"Where is the spaceship?"
"We don't know. We are out in space somewhere, we don't know where. And there's more bad news." Mic says.
"What bad news?"
Mic begins: "Well, in addition to our ship being a long ways away from the earth, we think, not that it's our ship, mind you, but on your unit here, it said the year 2105, as the year that you were put into this unit."
"Yes, 2105. Yeah, so?"
"Well, this is the year," and she hesitates; "...2499."
"What!! I'm bad at math, but that's hundreds of years, you've got to be kidding me! Are you saying that I've been in this thing for that long?"
"Yes, you've been in there for 394 years, it seems. Now we don't know why you went in, but I think you were in there much longer than you had in mind." Mic says.
"I didn't go in to it at all, not to stay!" Then Avery ponders... Then he suddenly tries to get up and out of that thing as he says; "I've got to get out of this thing sooner than I'm in here another 400 years!" and he falls down onto it again, finding that he can't move normally yet. So he rests. Then he begins to cry, and says; "Starla! My Starla! She's grown up, grown old, dead and buried! Hundreds of years ago!" And he lays there and cries.
Mic and Janet are not sure of what to do...
Meanwhile, on the bridge, Synthea tells them that that transmission, came from Planet Serene. And they wonder how that can be, and they are beginning to doubt if Planet Serene really is all that bad...
But Cash says; "We really don't know who it came from. And that there might be a different separate group on the planet somewhere. And, from what they did to Janet, and tried to do to me, that it is very unlikely that it came from those same do-gooder barbaric people."
But that this is a mystery to the Starship Pluto people.
But the task at hand, is what to do about the pirates. They don't know how they found them. And wonder if it might have been only that they got lucky.
So they decide that they should run again, but Mic then comes in and tells them about Avery. So they all go to meet Avery...'The Sleeper'.
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"FOREVER NOW". (10)
Mic has gone and found a wheelchair for Avery, so that he can get around. And so they picked up Avery from out of the unit, and put him into the chair.
So then Mic and Synthea goes to eat their supper, and takes Avery to go get some food. So the three of them are sitting at a table, and Avery is looking over a menu. The food items on the menu goes on and on, as Avery is looking...
Mic sees 'tears' on Avery's face, and says; "Don't cry Avery, is what you want not on the menu?"
And Avery says; "Oh no, I'm not crying, my eyes are watering, that's all."
And Synthea says; "I would think it would be your mouth watering, not your eyes. You haven't eaten in a long time."
"Yeah, I haven't eaten in hundreds of years." Avery says, and adds; "That's a long fast. So this must be breakfast".
"So what do you usually eat for breakfast?" Mic asks.
"Apple fruit sauce."
"Apple fruit sauce and what?" Mic asks.
"It's usually some sort of bread, loaf bread or tortillas."
"What else do you eat for breakfast?" Synthea asks.
"I told you what I eat; apple fruit sauce and bread."
"So you eat apple fruit sauce and bread for breakfast every day?"
"Yeah. That's what I eat."
Synthea asks; "What's the length of time you did that?"
"I don't remember the years."
"You did that for years, everyday the same thing?!" Mic asks with surprise.
"Yeah."
"So why apple fruit sauce and bread?" Synthea asks.
"Well first, apple fruit sauce is an alkaline, and bread is an acid. So they balance each other out. And I got started on apple fruit sauce, on account of my bad teeth, it's easy to chew. Actually, I don't need to chew it at all." And as Avery keeps looking at the menu, he then says; "But I think, I'll try something else today. There's a lot to choose from here. This is going to take me awhile, if you don't mind."
"No, take your time." Mic says. "You can pick out anything you want. And it doesn't need to be apple fruit sauce, or bread."
So after Avery has had his breakfast, he is now sitting near a table in a room, and he is tired. Sol comes into the room to talk to him. Among other things, Sol tells him about their problem with the pirates. Sol leaves him there to rest. So Avery is resting, and thinking about what Sol has said.
Then Sara comes around looking for Sol, and Avery tells her that he is concerned about the pirates, and so he wants to talk to all of them about it, but that he needs some time to rest awhile.
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So later they all come to this room, all but Sol, Sara, Janet, and the children. So then he starts talking. He tells them how they can learn something about the pirates, saying that he wants them to try something. So he says that they should go far enough to be well out of detection range of someone following. Then, after this, to take a sharp turn, and go some distance again and hide if you can. Then wait. So then he says; "So if the pirates are following a trail from your ship, then they will be coming along that same path that you had gone."
So then Weave says; "F and I can go do that."
And F Any says; "Weave, that's 'F Any', not 'F' okay?"
So they go to the bridge to carry this out.
And so the Pluto departs from Planet Serene.
So now Avery is wanting to talk to the remaining group.
So Avery asks Cash, Synthea and Mic; "What can The Pluto do?"
Cash says; "The ship has no weapons that we know of."
Then Avery says; "I did not ask about weapons. I asked about the capabilities of the ship: Is there anything out of the ordinary that this ship can do?"
Synthea says; "As far as we know, this ship can easily out run any ship that has ever been made."
But then Cash says; "But that's not any weapon, that's only running away." And he adds; "But we can't keep running from them all the time. But if we got the main engines going again, we could probably get away from them for a long time. So we could do that, I guess." Then he adds; "But we should be returning to Earth, not simply running..."
But Avery wants to know more about the speed part of it, and so he asks; "So if this ship can go a super high speed, what keeps a bit of space dust from tearing it's way through the ship?"
"Oh, that's the ship's shields that does that." Synthea says.
Then Cash adds; "But that's not a weapon."
So then Avery asks; "Are the shields really strong? Do you know what the limit might be?"
Then Cash repeats; "But that's not a weapon."
Synthea says; "None of us really knows, but F Any might have been told that."
But then Mic speaks up, saying; "There's an odd black burn mark that is on the front of the ship."
And Synthea adds; "Yes! We think that was when the ship was first launched. We think that when the Pluto started moving at high speed, there was a ship in front of it, and that it got hit. But we don't know what happened to that ship."
"But you do know what happened to the Pluto."
And Synthea asks; "What do you mean?"
And Avery replies; "You know that nothing happened to the Pluto, except for a black burn mark." Then he adds; "This could be your weapon. But what was the mass of that ship that got hit?"
"We don't know." Synthea says, and adds; "Are you suggesting that we ram the pirates ship? That could kill them, and could kill us!"
"I don't think it will come to that. It's all about the masses, but we will need to check into that. But I want to say, that if you want to win against bad guys, you must be willing to lose. Otherwise, they will see your weakness, and walk all over you."
PAGE 63
Now Avery is tired again. So the group goes and leaves him to rest.
Then sure enough, there comes the Mercury.
So now they know for sure, that the pirates do have something that tells them where the Pluto has gone.
So Cash comes to tell Avery about this. And Avery tells Cash that he would like to talk to the Mercury, but after he has rested some more. So Cash goes to tells the others.
So they agree to this.
So now as Avery is resting again. He is sitting there in his wheelchair, and he's staring at a spot of star light that is coming in through a window and shining on the wall. And this is when Janet comes in. And she notices that Avery is crying again. And so she asks him; "Why are you crying? It's only a spot of light on the wall."
And Avery replies; "It reminds me of something, many years ago. Hundreds of years ago..." So Janet departs the room, and on her way through the ship, she meets up with Sara as she is coming to tell Avery that they have agreed. So Sara tells Janet that Avery is going to talk to the pirates for them. And Janet almost shouting says; "Oh no! What's he going to do, scare them away with his tears?!"
"Whoa the horses, Janet." Sara says as she walks away.
So now Avery is on the bridge, and they are getting ready to deal with the pirates, and they turn the Pluto to face the pirate's ship. And Avery takes this opportunity to point out something that he has noticed and so he asks the group; "I think I've seen everyone, but there doesn't seem to be any Mexicans on this ship."
And then Weave says in a serious tone; "Oh, well, you see, some years ago, on earth, there was a plague. And all the Mexicans were wiped out."
And an expression of shock comes onto Avery's face, and Mic sternly says to Weave; "Weave! You go too far with your joking!" Then she turns to Avery and says to him; "Weave tends to be a joker; there was no plague."
Now the pirates knows that something is going on, because the Pluto has been turned so that it's pointed at them. So they are not surprised when they hear that the Pluto people are now wanting to talk.
So the communication begins: It's Lynette again, and she says; "Hmm, you're older".
And Avery replies; "You have no idea."
And then she asks; "Where's Captain Crunch?"
And Avery replies; "Captain Crunch? I ate'em. I eat Captain Crunch for breakfast."
This surprises Lynette.
Then Avery says; "I want to talk to the leader of your group."
"How do you know I'm not the leader" she says confidently.
"You are not the boss, I'm not going to waste my time with you. Get your leader now."
Then Kling comes on camera, and Avery says; "Aw, there you are."
Then Kling says; "I had to come see the rude one. Who are you? And how do you know I'm the leader?"
Then Avery says; "I know things." Then he says; "You don't want this ship, go away."
"That doesn't sound nice. People don't talk to me like this. Who are you?"
PAGE 64
Then Avery says; "You know, when a tiny insect dies... Does it know that it's dead? Does it know that it had a life? And now that it's dead, does it know that that life is now gone? Go away. Go away, while you can."
Kling is taken aback by Avery's strange behavior and threatening cryptic language. Not sure of how to proceed. But she soon finds her footing again, and says; "Whoever you are, so you're not having any trouble with your ship? And what do you carry in this ship, and what sort of ship is this?"
"You don't need to know. Leave this area and do not return to us."
"Again, that doesn't sound nice. And who are you to talk to me this way?"
"I'm Mister Nobody. And you will leave us alone."
"And if we don't?"
Then Avery looks at Kling more sternly and says; "You will, in about 12 seconds." And then Avery says to someone off camera; "Now!"
So then the pirates notice that the Pluto is starting to rush toward them, coming at them. It's unthinkable what they are doing. No one in a spaceship would ever do this. And as the Pluto is rushing toward the Mercury, Mike is heard yelling off camera; "They're going to ram us!!!" And Kling in a desperate manner is yelling at Avery; "Who are you?!"
Then the Pluto hits the Mercury.
The Pluto was not coming straight at them, they were a bit off to the side as it got to the Mercury. The Mercury was tossed away, being pushed by the Pluto's strong shields, tossed aside, as if it was only a cat toy being batted at by a cat, and it went flying and tumbling through space. And the Pluto went by and is gone.
And who knows what the condition of the Mercury is in now...
A NEW TREK A .
Volume One.
END
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