IAOTE`: The New World Order

by Ken Harris

Genres: Alien Contact; Sci-fi Action & Adventure

Synopsis

An alien encounter opens the door to a new way of life for mankind. 

 

When a man encounters a wounded creature in his garage, a strange calm comes over him as he realizes the creature can read his mind. He is in the presence of an alien, and in that moment, his life will never be the same. He comes to call the alien Ianote`, short for I Am Not Of This Earth. Racing the clock, the man tries to save Ianote` by returning him to his spaceship. But Ianote`'s time is coming to an end. Before he passes, he bestows the history, knowledge, and technology of his race upon the man. But with this gift, comes a great responsibility and a life-changing role. Can this mere man leave behind the life he knew for the chance to make history? Can he shoulder the weight of saving mankind? And will the reality of this new world live up to his expectations? 

 

In IAOTE`, Harris introduces readers to a dreamlike utopia, where world peace and prosperity abound. Imagining a planet free of disease and conflict, Harris examines the lengths mankind must go to achieve such a world. But the reality he creates sets the stage for the ever-present battle between the good and evil within us all. Raising hope for mankind, this is a story for dreamers and sci-fi enthusiasts. After all, it could happen.

 

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Release date: April 25, 2023

Publisher: Palmetto Publishing

Print pages: 500

Sample

CHAPTER 1

FIRST ENCOUNTER

Growing up in Central Texas, I was not aware of all the things that would bother me both mentally and physically as an adult. In my early childhood, I was left mainly to my own devices to entertain myself and stay busy as my parents did not interact with my brother and me very often. My parents’ idea of child-rearing was making sure we had food, clothes, and a warm bed, and ensuring we went to school. My mom was of the Catholic faith, and my dad, who was from a Baptist family, converted in order to marry her. My first six years of schooling were at Catholic schools, and by attending these schools I was isolated from a lot of things. I was bused to and from these schools every day, while other kids in the neighborhood just walked to the local public school. I guess my mother thought Catholic schools were better, but it was the total opposite. I played mostly by myself, since I really did not know anyone in my neighborhood. It wasn’t until I entered junior high in the seventh grade that I ever had a black person as a schoolmate. I was awkward and socially behind and had a hard time making friends throughout the rest of my school years. I had friends I hung out with in high school, but they were few and not what you would call close friends.

I have always been interested in science, especially if it had anything to do with electricity. My first introduction to electric currents was when I was only three years old. I found a hairpin on the floor and, curiosity getting the better of me, I spread it apart and stuck it into a wall socket. Yeow! I can still recall that jolting experience. Growing up I always wondered how things worked and would often tear apart broken appliances and other electric-powered devices just to see how they were constructed and to see if I could repair them. In junior high I entered the science fairs that were popular at that time and usually placed first or second. I have always been a fan of science fiction TV shows and have watched Lost in Space, Buck Rogers, and every episode of the original Star Trek series several times. I was fascinated by the thought of what could be out there. I am still a big fan of shows or movies that depict science and space.

As teenagers, my friends and I played football in the street, chased the fog trucks down the street on our bikes, and stayed outside till after dark. We rode our motorcycles all over the countryside and never worried about poison oak and poison ivy, allergies, snakes, or stinging or biting insects. We all thought we were impervious to all of those maladies. I was naive as a young adult, not worrying about the future nor planning for it. My seven-year stint in the air force was when I really grew up and matured, despite myself. Now as an older adult, I’m overweight, my bones creak and ache, and I get rashes on my arms and legs by just standing in the backyard. I have a sneeze attack every other day and often wake up with a headache. What the hell happened? I often wonder. Overall, though, I am grateful for my good health with no major ailments. I have been retired now for almost three years, ever since my wife was killed by a presumed drunk driver in a hit-and-run crash. I say presumed because the driver of the other car ran from the crash and has yet to be found. There was a strong smell of alcohol and marijuana in the vehicle, indicating that whoever it was, they were likely impaired. The case is still open, and one day I hope they find whoever took the most precious thing in my life away from me. I feel it’s only a matter of time before I have real closure. I have not kept up with my wife’s side of the family since the funeral. They live in another city, and although they’re nearby, I just haven’t felt any closeness to them. My wife and I had one child together, a girl, and I also have a girl from a previous marriage. I have not kept in touch with them as often as I should. One daughter lives in Houston with her husband, and the other is in the air force and doing quite well. We keep in touch mainly with postcards, texts, and a phone call every now and t

hen. Recently, though, I have been feeling strange; it’s a weird sensation that I have not encountered before. For the last few days, I have had recurring headaches just behind my forehead. It feels like my head is throbbing. I am heavy into wine in the evenings, and I do often get headaches from drinking too much. Normally I take Advil, and my headaches go away after about twenty minutes, but not lately. I’ve also noticed that I only get these headaches and weird feelings when I am at home.

The dogs—I have six of them—have also been acting strangely over the past few days. They have started barking at the pet door, whining and acting nervous. They do not want to go outside unless I go with them.

The headaches are not going away, and now I am starting to see fuzzy, clouded images in my mind throughout the day and night. Am I going crazy? I ask myself. This is starting to worry me. My sleep is now a series of continuous images. Some I recognize as images of the countryside around my home; others are bizarre, visions of ancient ruins of Earth’s past and yet others of stars and other worlds.

I scheduled a video conference with my doctor and explained to him all the things that have happened to me over the last five days, and he has made an appointment for me to come in and be evaluated in two days.

This evening the dogs are agitated about something outside, and my head is pulsing strong. Unable to withstand their incessant whining, I go out back to investigate what’s going on. With flashlight in hand, I walk around illuminating everything in sight, and there is not a thing to be

seen, so I go back inside. One of the dogs, my little fox terrier, stays outside and continues to bark her fool head off. Now the barks are getting shriller, like she has something treed or cornered. I down four Advils and go back outside, where I find her scratching excitedly at the back garage door. “What is it, little girl?” I say, and now the ache in my head starts to subside. I think to myself, Wow, four Advils work real fast! Now the ache is being replaced with clearer images. What the hell? I am feeling afraid—well, more apprehensive than afraid. I run back into the house and retrieve my AR15 rifle just in case there is some kind of vicious animal inside.

I slowly enter the garage through the back door, and I open the large front door also. I want whatever is in the garage to be able to escape and not attack me. My brave little fox terrier has decided to stay a safe distance outside. This section of the garage is filled mostly with stored items in boxes and has not been wired, so there are no lights to turn on. I turn on the rifle’s high-intensity gun light, and the entire garage lights up. I see items strewn around like someone, not an animal, was rummaging through them. I jack a round into the gun’s chamber, thinking this might get bad quick.

I notice pinkish droplets on the floor and boxes. What kind of crap is this? I wonder. Then I see IT! What in the hell is that? At first, I can only see a light pink and off white set of thin, spindly legs. I grab a broom handle and poke at the scrap of carpet covering the rest of the strange-looking animal. Maybe this was the famed chupacabra of Southwest American folklore. I have handled various poisonous snakes, wild raccoons, bobcats,

and mountain lions, plucked leeches off my chest, and even scraped ticks off of my back with a metal spatula, and none of it really bothered me. But this is sending chills up my spine. As I poke at the carpet, nothing moves, no sound, and then suddenly I feel a sharp pain in my head, and something in my mind says STOP! I back up and stand there thinking for a moment about that cerebral shout in my head. Was I thinking out loud that strongly?

I slowly approach this thing again, this time trying to get a view of what this might be. I slowly, slowly start to lift the carpet, and I start shaking. What am I doing? This is crazy. I want to get out of there, but something is urging me to stay. I am being assured through my mind again that everything is OK, and I start feeling calmer. I cannot believe what my eyes are showing me. Not in my wildest dreams would I have ever imagined what I am seeing. There I stood, frozen, for several minutes, looking at this otherworldly creature, and somehow, I am no longer afraid. Curiosity is now taking over. The pinkish-looking droplets I saw earlier were from this creature, or alien. I can see a large gash on its right side. The alien had ripped cardboard from the boxes and used it to cover the wound. I consider what I should do next, and the alien responds in my mind that he is dying and needs help. It is as clear as if he had spoken to me verbally. I think we are communicating telepathically. I can hear him in my head without him speaking, and he can hear or read my thoughts as well. I, however, cannot read his, only what he sent to me. He explains quickly that he had been try

ing to reach out for help for several days now. The headaches were part of his effort to make contact with someone, and they were part of the learning process I am going through. He says that his species is not prone to having any exposure to humans, but he felt he had no other recourse but to reach out. The alien also explains that he is male, and his name, which is about twenty-five characters long, is such that I would never be able to pronounce it. So I come to call him Ianote`: I Am Not Of This Earth.

My first aid skills are limited to very basic techniques. I grab my trauma pack from my jeep, and then I lift Ianote` up and bring him inside the house.

Surprisingly Ianote` is fairly light. I would guess he weighs eighty-five to ninety pounds or so, and stands at around five and a half feet tall. His skin in the light is mostly light colored, with some very slight pink and blond shading. His eyes are not overly large but bigger than a human’s and slightly almond shaped. The head resembles an upside-down pear, slightly bigger than that of a human. The body shows no signs of hair, and his skin feels like a human’s, but looser.

Not knowing where to put him, I grab the comforter off the bed, place it in the guest bathroom tub, and make a pallet, where I carefully place him. Slowly pulling the cardboard off his body, I see that this is a serious wound. It is oozing this pink, gel-like substance, and I can see what looks like organs inside the wound. Not used to this form of communicating, I just think, What could have caused this? and immediately the answer comes to my mind. Ianote` tells me that he was scouting and exploring the

woods behind my property when he was chased by some four-legged animals. He says that he came upon them in a large enclosure, and when they noticed him, they became very agitated and in their frenzy were able to scale the fence. I know these four-legged animals to be my neighbor’s hunting dogs, as they have gotten out of their kennels several times over the years. My neighbor uses them to hunt quails and doves, as well as raccoons. As Ianote` was fleeing, he tripped and fell into a creek, which in that area is pretty steep, with deep sides. Luck had it that when he fell, he landed on a jagged section of old driftwood lodged in the water. The dogs, hesitant to descend such a steep slope, eventually gave up the chase and wandered off elsewhere. Having impaled himself on that driftwood, Ianote` remained there until daylight, then slowly and painfully extricated himself. After several hours, he managed to crawl out of the creek. As Ianote` was assessing his situation, he was able to see a glimpse of structures in the distance and decided that would be his best choice of refuge, since his spacecraft was several miles away. This is where he would wind up, in my garage. Had I or someone else not been able to come to his aid, he would have certainly perished, and he may still.

Not knowing much of anything about wounds of this type, especially in a situation such as this, I am at a loss about what to do next. Ianote` keeps reassuring me that I will be able to

come through for him. I know that the wound will need some kind of cleaning, and that the oozing gel should somehow be stopped—I suppose that this is the alien’s blood. I show Ianote` what I have to clean the wound: hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, and antibiotic cream. He instructs me to use a vinegar, water, and sugar solution, boil it, take it off the heat, and dump in gelatin if I had it. I boil one pint of the mixture, add some Jell-O that I found, and set it aside to let it cool. Ianote` then says to get some fine silica. I say I don’t have any of that, but I do have playground sand.

When the mixture starts to gel, I pour in the sand and stir it up into a weird concoction that looks alien itself. I clean the wound with the rubbing alcohol, expecting a cry of pain, but he does not even grimace. Instead, he just lies there, looking blankly at me. I then pack the wound with this gel mixture and wrap his abdomen fairly tight in a pillow case that I shredded into lengths, securing it with duct tape. I am very happy to see the oozing stop. Once again I ask in my mind if he is OK and if the gel is considered his blood. Again, he instantly responds that he is doing better and yes, the pinkish gel is his life fluid. I am now just letting my thoughts flow forth, and we are communicating at a fairly rapid pace. Ianote` explains that his thick gel, as I had called it, was once thin like ours, thousands of years ago, but as his species took to the stars, their life fluid became gelatinous. Over time, it evolved into a nutrient-storage medium that could store enough nutrients to last several months, depending on activity, which became very useful for their extended voyages across the galaxies.

After several minutes of “mind” gabbing, I am beginning to feel comfortable with Ianote`, and our conversation is very revealing. I can tell Ianote` is grimacing a little. I ask again if everything is OK, and he responds that if he is going to be able to survive this accident, he will have to get back to his scout ship and then return to his ship in orbit. This is blowing my mind. Scout ship? Ship in orbit? I ask Ianote`, How many of you are there? Ianote` says that he is the last of his crew, which at one

 time numbered more than thirty. Ianote`, as it turns out, was the youngest of his shipmates when their journey began. Ianote is now over four hundred Earth years old! His species was originally spread out across what we call the Sirius and Orion constellations. The species is over fifty-nine thousand years old, and has been spacefaring for over forty-five thousand of those years. They are not an aggressive race but explorers, and they are very inquisitive about other intelligent species, traveling with the purpose of gathering knowledge about their universe. Ianote` says he is amused by the pride our human species has in the knowledge we supposedly have amassed about the universe when, in actuality, we understand very little. For instance, humans have calculated that the Sirius constellation is around three hundred million years old, when in fact it is much older. Humans believe the Sirius constellation contains only one planet when it contains hundreds.

I ask Ianote` what became of his crew members, and he says that five of them died in a scout ship that crashed on the planet us humans call Mars. A violent dust storm crippled their craft as soon as they entered our solar system. Another eight or more died over the centuries due to old age. Some were left on other planets, and others are still out there, exploring. The Sirians have active ships exploring other constellations, some of which take hundreds of years to reach.

I also ask Ianote` if there are others like him currently on Earth, and he responds that his species has visited Earth many times over the centuries, and describes significant events they engineered to help humans advance, but there are none currently. He adds that other species of aliens have visited earth as well. Some of those alien species are much older than his and come from the Pleiades star cluster, which at four hundred and forty light years from Earth, would have more advanced

technology than us, probably using some type of faster-than-light spacecraft and employing wormholes to travel such distances. Some alien species are warlike, fighting among themselves. Many of the asteroid belts in various parts of not only our solar system but others as well, Ianote` says, were once planets but were destroyed thousands of years ago by the warring aliens. I am curious about his mention of wormholes since I know from watching science shows that earthlings think they might exist. Ianote` says that they do exist, but his race has not mastered them yet. It seems that the worm holes are not static and move about. They also tend to be only one way most of the time. Sometimes one will collapse while a spacecraft is traveling along its corridor, and until you enter one, you never know where you will end up. The Sirians have themselves lost hundreds of drone-type ships experimenting with the wormhole events; once they lost an entire research ship with forty-five Sirians on board. Although they are still researching this phenomenon, as far as Ianote knows, they have not yet discovered how to manipulate wormholes to be stable and accurate enough to risk more crafts and resources. The Cygnus constellation is where many of his race have ventured to over the centuries, and from there have traveled to Earth also.

Making a plan to get Ianote` to his ship is not going to be easy. He landed at night some three miles from here, and he is disoriented about where he set out. I acquire a topographical map of the area, and I spread it out to see if I can get a grip on where he may have landed.

He says that it was in a large group of trees and as he was descending, he could see a small body of water nearby. As l look at t

he map, I draw a three-and-a-half-mile circle with my house at the center. Close to my property are several large tracts of land belonging to two families. Their property backs up to a military installation. The military installation contains thousands of acres, which are used to conduct military training, maneuvers, and so on. As I study the map, I see in the installation large groups of trees and a small lake, approximately five to six acres in size. I figure that’s my best guess. It’s about two and a half miles away, and getting won’t be difficult, as there are dirt roads that lead there. However trying it at night may bring attention to any vehicle whose lights can be spotted from afar. The post has game wardens who patrol the vicinity, on guard for poachers and the thieves who like to search the base impact areas for unexploded ordnance and spent brass shell casings. I use duct tape to cover the taillights and all side marker lights on my car. I also tape up most of the headlights, allowing only a narrow sliver of light to shine on the road ahead. Hopefully I will not be noticed.

As I prepare the jeep for Ianote`, I notice there is almost a full moon. This will help me greatly in locating his ship. I prop Ianote` up just enough so that he can see the road ahead, and we head out. It doesn’t take us long to reach the cattle guard and the place where the road turns from asphalt to gravel, denoting that I am now on government property. The trip took us longer than I had anticipated due to the large amount of dust the jeep’s tires were creating. I had to keep the car’s speed under ten miles per hour and had to stop and turn off the lights twice due to helicopters flying in the distance. Finally, we arrive at the location I had found on the map. I know the area fairly well. It has not changed much from my tee

nage years, when we would ride our motorcycles through this area and skinny-dip in the lake. This part of the base does not see much activity as far as military exercises go; it’s close to the city, and a lot of nearby ranchers are allowed to let their cattle roam free range. We are now stopped. I get out to search the area when Ianote` lets me know I will not find it on my own. The ship contains technology that hides the physical appearance of the craft. I help Ianote` out of the jeep and can feel his pain. I grimace as well. I carry him on my back, and we set out walking. After about forty-five minutes and a few rest stops, Ianote` tells me to stop and watch. Slowly the craft materializes out of thin air. Simply amazing! The craft is the size of a large recreational vehicle and triangular in shape, around forty feet in length, twenty feet across the back, and both sides coming to a blunt point in the front. It is a dark charcoal color with no reflective surface.

Ianote` makes some other kind of signal, and a ramp-like door opens from the craft’s underside, about midcenter. As we approach the ramp, the interior lights come on, and I can start to see inside the craft. We board the craft, and Ianote` shows me where to seat him. He then instructs me to look in a series of cabinets with no visible handles, but which open when I am face to face with them. I get him a silver metal flask, which he explains is his nutrient-based sustenance. I hold the flask to Ianote`’s lips and slowly tilt it so that he can drink—more like slurp—the gooey, gel-like substance that oozes out. After he signals that he is done, I just sit there staring at him. A p

rofound feeling sweeps through me: awe for this being that has placed so much faith in me and his bravery to ask a human for help. After several minutes pass, I start to say to Ianote` that I am very fortunate to have met a real alien and say my goodbyes, and he abruptly interrupts my thoughts, telling me that he is the fortunate one, and that I must go with him to his ship in orbit because he is not able to pilot the craft in his condition. Now I start freaking out! Helping an alien was weird enough, but to fly a real spaceship…I am starting to feel lightheaded.

I still am not sure if this has all been a dream or a nightmare. A part of me so wants to run, but another part is full of awe and wonder. Everything is happening so fast that I cannot see things clearly. Ianote` assures me that I will do fine and tells me not to worry. I don’t know where he got this confidence in me, but it does pick up my spirits, and I feel I can trust him.

I tell Ianote` that I need to call a friend to come pick up my jeep. Once daylight arrives, it will easily be spotted, and that will start a search for me. I call a high school friend and fellow jeeper who also knows the area to come pick up the jeep, telling him I have the itch to backpack the area for a few days. He says he will. Everybody in my circle of friends are jeepers and avid campers, so this is no surprise to him.

The craft is so advanced it requires little input from Ianote`. I watch as he waves his thin, weak arms over what I assume to be the control console, which is covered with strange-looking symbols. As he does so, the craft comes to life, and we gently lift off the ground. I was expecting a large roar from the engines, but there is nothing but a hum. He explains what I need to monitor and what the instruments are for. The most important part, especially during takeoff, maneuvering, and landing, is the in

ertia control. This has to be precise because the craft can take off, land, and maneuver so fast it could turn our brains into mush. After strapping Ianote` into his console seat, I take the seat next to him, and we are on our way. Within a few seconds, we are already in space, and I am feeling very faint. As this feeling subsides, Ianote` assures me I will get used to it and eventually not notice it at all.

I learn that this scout ship, once out in space, can cruise at over ten thousand miles per second. In a few minutes, we are already several hundred thousand miles out in space. I am so nervous I do not even see Earth disappear from view. I do not see the moon, either, as it was on the opposite side of the planet by the time we took off. All the symbols and lettering are Greek to me, and Ianote` provides insight into what to perform next. It seems that when he said his ship was in orbit, he was not talking about Earth’s orbit, but Jupiter’s orbit. I ask, Why Jupiter? and he responds, Mainly to avoid detection, but Jupiter’s moons also contain certain elements that Earth does not have. I learn that there are an additional fourteen elements in the universe that are not found on Earth. The most sought after are found on Jupiter’s moons: morphium (MP), a radioactive metal with an atomic weight of 351, and sirinium (SR), with a weight of 509. Another, transidium (TR), with an atomic weight of 378, is a type of translucent mineral with metallic properties and can be found on certain asteroids. This is all foreign to me, but Ianote` thinks it is important to tell me anyway. Ianote` is very forthcoming with his thoughts, telling me a little about his species and where he is from. His race had never had any strife and hardships as we do on Earth, and his race never had wars or fought among each other. There are no race divisions,

and everyone was purpose driven for the good of others and the species overall. This way of life enabled them to advance as a civilization quickly. He tells me of the many planets throughout the solar system his species have explored and the marvels each one revealed. He describes one where a large asteroid had impacted the planet so hard it left a crater almost one mile deep. The resulting debris spread outward for over seventy miles, and the area was littered with diamonds the size of bowling balls, created by the intense pressure of the collision. He says he thinks this is amusing due to the desire humans have for precious minerals. On that planet, they were literally everywhere you looked.

With the scout ship cruising at full speed, the stars in the distance are just a blur, and around twelve hours later, we are in orbit around Jupiter. Jupiter is a myriad band of colors, strikingly beautiful. I am taken aback at its sheer size and beauty, awed that I am the first human to see Jupiter face to face. Ianote`, looking very weak, shows me the controls he says I will need to use to dock the scout ship to the big craft in orbit around Jupiter. As we come around the back side of Jupiter, between the planet and one of its many moons, I see the spaceship. It is enormous! Like the scout ship, it is triangular in shape. Ianote` tells me that in Earth measurements it is around four hundred feet long, thirty feet tall, with the rear around three hundred feet wide. As we approach the ship, I can see six berths underneath, which I am told are for the scout ships. Three are occupied and the others empty. I decide the empty one in front will be the easiest to dock. Ianote` explains that I am to use the two round metal discs that se

em to hover in the air over the console next to me to maneuver the craft up under the ship, and when I get close, the ship above will take over and dock us the rest of the way. There is a light tap, and the symbols in the scout craft light up, letting Ianote` know he is home. I try taking pictures, but my phone is completely dead, which I learn is a casualty of the craft’s magnetic-propulsion system. Ianote` guides me as I carry him through a cubicle he says is used for decontamination to an area of the ship that contains large, slightly tilted cylindrical objects, each with a glass-like door. He directs me to place him inside one and close it. I watch as the cylinder lights up with a blue glow and a low hum. I take in my surroundings and count thirty of these cylinders. This must be the crew’s sleeping area, I think. Several minutes pass. The blue lights fade, and the hum disappears. I cautiously open the chamber. Ianote` is at first unresponsive, and I think he might be dead, but then his eyes slowly open, and I ask him how he feels.

Not good, not good at all. He had hoped his sleep chamber would rejuvenate him but to no avail. The sleep chamber is also their deep space habitat, necessary for long travels that take years to arrive at new destinations. Once the crew leaves their home planet, they are revived every eighteen months to perform ship diagnostics and any course corrections. The ship also monitors any planets or asteroids it comes close to for the elements the crew must acquire from time to time for fuel.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch sight of movement off to my left. As I turn around to see what it is, I see a pewter-colored metal robot approaching us. My first instinct is to defend myself, but I do not have my concealed carry gun with me. All I have is my Leatherman multitool—not much of a defensive weapon. Ianote`,

seeing my panic, informs me that P1047 is a highly intelligent android, an AI as we would call it on Earth. P1047 is responsible for all functions and maintenance of the ship. P1047 approaches Ianote`, totally disregarding my presence, picks him up from the cylinder, and carries him to another section of the ship, which looks like some type of work area or laboratory. It is a massive space with a myriad of consoles, tables, instruments, and other strange-looking machines. P1047 sits Ianote` at one of the consoles and places one of the alien’s hands on a console pad. I learn by watching that this is how Ianote` and the android communicate. After several minutes the android goes over to another console and places his hand on a pad. The display there comes on, and images start flashing by so fast I cannot not make out what they show.

Finally P1047 disconnects from the console, turns around, and says out loud, “What is your name?” I stand there dumbfounded, not knowing how to respond. P1047 asks again for my name. Ianote` conveys to me that he instructed P1047 to access Earth’s language data banks and download them so that he could communicate directly to me. P1047 can speak in every language known on Earth. I lie and say my name is John I tell him. “No.” he says immediately. ”That is not your real name.” How he knew I will later learn, but for now I tell him my real name, and he responds, “I am P1047.” I ask P1047 directly about Ianote`s condition, and the response was, “Dire!” I am still apprehensive about this android, not ever having any real knowledge of this type of robot other than what I’ve seen on television and read in books. Ianote` says to me that P1047 will become my best friend and ally.

So my encounter

with an alien being, a species from another constellation, is not what I would ever have imagined. There is no evil purpose, no threat to wipe out mankind and take over our planet. He is an explorer, just as we were in the days of Columbus. I have always believed there are aliens in our universe but never imagined I would see one in my lifetime.

It would now be night again back on Earth, and it has been a very stressful few days, to say the least. I sit down at one of the consoles. The day’s activities are catching up to me, and at some point, I doze off. I am awakened by thoughts from Ianote` and wonder how long I have been asleep. Time seems to stand still out in space. Ianote` says I have been out for six Earth hours and that he has taken a turn for the worse. I do not need to hear this, for I do not want to be stranded here, should he die. I just want to go home and forget this all happened.

CHAPTER 2THE GIFT

Iarise from my brief sleep and walk over to Ianote`’s side to find P1047 attending to him, administering some kind of fluid to his neck. I ask P1047 what he is giving to Ianote`. He just turns and walks away, ignoring me. Ianote`, in a weak murmur, says his time in the universe is coming to an end. I am horrified and start crying, not for him but for myself. Here I am, millions of miles from Earth, and now it seems I will die here too. Ianote`, aware of all the feelings running through my mind, tries to console me even though he is in immense pain himself. I eventually gather my senses and, with tears in my eyes, stare at him. He says, Not to worry, you will see your home again and sights of the universe you could only imagine. You see, he says to me, we are more alike than you know. I respond that I do not fully understand, and he says to come closer to him and take both his hands in mine. Even though I am dying, my life’s journey, the history and story of my species, and all the knowledge that I have attained throughout my existence must be preserved. I want to bestow upon you all of this knowledge before I perish. My species, along with a few others over the centuries, has given humans limited bits of knowledge to advance their species. Sometimes there were good results, and sometimes it did not go as planned. I am dumbfounded, not only by this revelation that aliens have helped the human species in the past, but also by this incredible and unbelievable offer. I am not quite certain how to answer. Ianote` says that I will be a good receptacle for this knowledge and will quickly learn to put it to good use. You see, he says to me, we have been monitoring and studying the human species, and your planet, for centuries. You have a beautiful planet, and it is a healthy one. The only cancer is the human species, which contaminates this magnificent celestial body. We have monitored and studied this human condition since man could speak. There has been constant hate, warfare, and little concern for life in general. There have been many experiments throughout the centuries, including gene manipulation, to try and change humans for the better, but none have fully worked. We have always been in the background, studying humans and, every now and then, introducing a thought

 or idea and studying the results. Now, you will be able to take charge, and I believe you have the mindset and tenacity to accomplish what we could not.

Are you prepared to take on this responsibility, ready to take on a new life, ready to make history? You can never go back to your former life as you know it. You will have to take on a whole new existence and leave things behind that you hold dear. I sit there in silence, trying to focus on what is happening, on the meaning of all of this. Why me? What should I do? In my mind I am going over and over the last few days and all that has transpired. Here I am, a single human being sitting with an alien from another world who wants to hand me all this knowledge and technology. It is very hard to digest, and my brain just will not process it. I try to focus on my past life, my family and friends, my love of overlanding with my jeep buddies. I also try to imagine what my future will look like and how I will proceed. Will I fail or succeed in that life? I must have run a thousand scenarios through my mind in just a few minutes. Ianote` groans and it shakes me out of my thoughts. I sit there, still holding his small, feeble hands, looking at his slowly fading eyes, and I say yes.

Ianote` is now breathing with short gasps, and that pinkish gel is starting to dribble from his nose and right eye. Normally when we plant an idea or thought into a human, it only takes a few seconds. This type of transference will take much longer—the first for a human—and I must start now before it’s too late. Grasping my hands as firmly as he can with his rem

aining strength, he closes his eyes, and I can feel him in my thoughts. I can feel him taking control of my entire mind and body.

I wake up after what seemed like just a few minutes. My watch shows me it has been almost two days. I look at Ianote`. He is lying with his eyes closed, and his body has a bluish hue. P1047 is still standing there silently. I ask him if Ianote` is dead, and he says that the alien expired two hours and nineteen minutes ago. P1047 says that I am now the ship’s flight controller and that he is under my command. Not knowing what to do first, I start to ask P1047 for a tour of the ship, but then I realize that everything is clear in my mind, everything!

I ask P1047 why that name was given to him, and he responds that it is not a name but a designation. “Designation?” I say, and he responds, “P was the series production model, sixteenth generation, and 1407 was my number of the two thousand units produced. Originally, in early explorations, the early androids were sent out into space alone since the travels to other worlds took so long. They were primarily information gatherers. Later models could actually perform complex functions and would gather live specimens for study to add to their knowledge. Often these specimens would be humanoid. The androids like P1047 were created by the Sirians to monitor their ships’ systems, especially the life chambers, during prolonged flights among the stars. Every eighteen months or so they would wake the ship’s crew to perform duties the ship required. Now the androids are engineers, mechanics, tacticians, and everything in between.”

I say that his current name or designation is cold and lacks any personality, and tell him I would like to start calling him Cato, a

 a Latin name meaning intelligent and all knowing. P1047 responds, “Cato it shall be.” Cato is not a conversationist by any means. His animated voice is pleasant, but he keeps his answers and responses short and to the point.

My thoughts turn back to Ianote`, and how peaceful he looked in the end. I wonder to myself if I will ever feel peaceful again. What did Ianote` mean when he told me I had the mindset and tenacity to accomplish what they could not? What did he see in me that I cannot? Did he gift this knowledge to me because I was his last resort, his last chance, and not because I deserved any of it? After all, they have all this technology, all this power, all these centuries of knowledge. I search my mind and start recalling vast images and historical texts. They just seemed to appear vividly in my mind, like I was watching the History Channel on TV, only this history is more accurate, not conjecture or mere hypothesis about the events of Earth’s past. It has not hit me yet what all of these past few days mean, and I have not yet realized the full gravity of my new situation—or where it is going to lead me.

I ask Cato how his species normally takes care of the bodies of their dead, and he says incineration. I say, “Is there a device like this on the ship?” He answers that the incineration he was referring to was jettisoning the body into a nearby star. I was imagining a whole different approach.

I have Cato put Ianote`’s body back into the sleep chamber and turn it on deep space mode. This will preserve his body and prevent it from decomposing for the time being. I notice my jeep hat lying on the floor where Ianote` and I merged and pick it up. I guess it fell off during the exchange, and when I go to put it on, it will not fit. It is way too tight. I look at it to see if it shrunk, but I cannot

tell. For now I just fold it and stick it into my back pocket. There are no mirrors or reflective surfaces on either of the ships.

Returning to the forward area of the ship where the control center is located, I can now understand what all the symbols mean and all their functions. I decide to bring the big ship closer to Earth and settle for the back side of the moon. The ship has no official designation or number, so after some thought, I name it Magellan, after the Portuguese explorer of the fifteenth century. It only takes about an hour and a half to reach the moon from Jupiter. Magellan can travel at ninety-five thousand miles per second!

It has now been over four days since I first encountered Ianote` in my garage, and I have not eaten since. I am starting to feel week and so, so tired. I need to get back home fast!

 

CHAPTER 3MAGELLAN

As I briefly described before, this ship feels as if I am on a larger aircraft carrier in space.. It is divided into two decks. It contains a massive laboratory and three weapons bays, one at each point on the ship. The weapons are particle-beam cannons that can vaporize anything from a fly to an asteroid three miles across. There is a six hundred megawatt laser pod at the front of the ship that drops down from a hidden bay and when needed can rotate 360 degrees. It was primarily designed as a laser knife to cut and slice through solid rock and as a drill, but it can serve as a weapon as well. There is an acoustic waveform generator capable of producing three million volts and also an electromagnetic directed energy transmitter equivalent to the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) output of two hundred nuclear bombs. It is a very precise instrument that can target objects as small as two feet long and as large as ninety miles wide, as can penetrate seventeen thousand feet deep in a planet’s crust. The scout ships have similar but smaller versions of these devices. The ship’s propulsion system is a combination of magnetic drive with antigravity engines. It can reach a top speed of ninety-five thousand miles per second. Even at this kind of speed, it still takes around sixteen years to reach Earth from the Canis Major star constellation, where Sirius A and Sirius B are located. The engines take up about a fourth of the ship’s space and are located at the rear of the ship, occupying both decks. The docking area on the lower deck for the scout ships contains a large air lock and another workstation. This is also the area where the exit ramp is located, when the ship has landed on a solid surface. There are many lockers full of funny-looking space suits along this one partition, which is next to a large room with dozens of glass nodes extending from the walls and ceiling. This chamber is a decontamination room, which everything brought on board is subjected to. Samples, objects, living organisms, even the Sirians. Nothing can be chanced until it is deemed safe. The chamber is also on an ionic wave emitter and is used as a cleansing device. Toward the rear of this area, there is a strange-looking vehicle that resembles a Volkswagen bus. It is tethered to the flight deck. I do not see any wheels for it to move, like I would have imagined. Instead, it uses an antigravity drive to m

ove about. It is used to navigate, explore, and also mine the terrain of planets and asteroids, in search of everything from artifacts to exotic minerals, some of which are refined right here on Magellan to use as fuel. This small craft looks lost in this large bay. I think I will refer to it as the Rambler from now on. Magellan creates its own artificial gravity, although it is somewhat lighter than Earth’s, I would guess about four fifths. I will have to bring a scale on board to calculate it. The android says that just like the Sirians, humans will suffer from atrophy, muscle loss, and other degenerative effects of weightlessness over long periods of time without gravity. The android states that the Sirians’ body mass was much greater centuries ago, before they became space explorers. Scout ships, however, have no gravity, and all occupants must be strapped in. Although the scout ships are capable of invisibility—like that of a cloak that that bends light around an object, making it appear invisible—Magellan is not.

The scout ships have a much smaller particle-beam gun with the power to destroy targets the size of a football stadium. Both Magellan and the scout ships have pulse EMP generators that can generate over ninety-three million volts per meter.

The Sirians mastered cold fusion centuries ago, and it is used to power most of their world’s energy and spacecrafts.

Another large portion of the ship contains the ship’s brains: a supercomputer. This is no ordinary supercomputer, like the ones we know on Earth. This supercomputer has a speed of over two million petaflops, easily outperforming Earth’s supercomputers, which are rated at around five h

undred petaflops.

Cato and the supercomputer have a link that provides a virtual connection at all times. I will call this supercomputer Oracle and can’t wait to assess all its capabilities.

Both Magellan and the scout ships have energy shields created mostly by magnetic field generators. The energy shield on Magellan can deflect a seventy-two-million-kilowatt laser beam or particle-beam weapon, whereas the scout ships can deflect up to a thirty-five-million-watt laser beam or particle beam. The upper deck of Magellan houses the control room and the large crew area where the life capsules are located. Magellan has no crew mess or food-prep area, as we are accustomed to, nor any restrooms. It seems all the crew’s nourishment and bodily functions are taken care of by their life capsules. While in the crew area I see Cato at work on one of the capsules and ask him what he is doing. He responds that he is reengineering this capsule so that it will be compatible with a human for deep space travel. I ask him if this is possible, and again he responds that it should be. I ask if that yucky gel will be compatible. He says no; he is working on a substitute method and will keep me informed. Guess I’ll be the guinea pig for that one. Magellan has no windows. In the forward control room, there is a two hundred degree monitor from floor to ceiling that is so clear you would believe you were standing on the edge of a cliff. On the control consoles are monitors showing the rear of the craft.

Just to the side of the control platform is a door that leads into a room where there are about twenty dozen or more large monitors with images of Earth’s continents, countries, and television broadcasts, along with live video of traffic. The

re’s also a bank of monitors that show major countries’ military complexes and even the inside of their command centers. Oracle is tapped into every connection there is on the planet.

What is the purpose of all this? I wondered.

There is a lot more to inspect on Magellan, but it will have to wait for another time. I am literally starving and need to get back home, back to Terra Firme.