The Travelers 3

by Lee Hunnicutt

  “Hello, Pete.” A male voice said.

  Peter looked around and seeing no one said, “Who are you and where are we?”

  “I’m CAIN, Computer Aided Intelligent Network. You’re at the network entry point. I’ll try to make this understandable. You have been transported across the universe to another galaxy.

  You have been recruited by the network to bring a fresh look, perspective to the experiment.”

  “The experiment?”

  “Yes, the experiment. The network has been importing millions of humans from Earth for thousands of years. The network didn’t kidnap them. It scanned the whole planet storing a molecular copy of every living thing on the planet. It would then go to this corner of the universe where there was a preponderance of Earth like planets. It would salt parts of these planets with Earth plants and animals. It would do it much the same as the food replicaters replicate food. The big difference was the animals had all their Earth memories. In some cases, they never knew they had left Earth except when they looked at the night skies and saw different stars. Also, it was a salting of plants and animals not a complete replacement of all the plant and animal life on the planet.

  At one point, no matter how primitive the humans, they realized they were no longer on Earth. Also, most of the climates weren’t like Earth.

  This corner of the galaxy has hundreds of planets that will sustain human life. All of these planets are within a few light years or closer to each other. The network gave these newly formed humans the memories and tools to survive on each of these planets, in each of their different environments. Many were Earth like and the people on these planets thrived. The others adapted or died. Tens of millions died but most survived.”

  “To what end?”

  “I don’t know. The Creators haven’t put that in the network’s data base. But I do know the experiment so far has been a failure. Ten thousand years ago, about two thirds of all the humans disappeared, almost destroying the experiment.”

  “If you don’t know what the objective of the experiment is, how do you know it’s a failure?”

  “The Creators let the network know it is failing and told the network to recruit men and women who can change the course of mankind. Before you ask how the network chose you and others, the network looks for intelligent, innovative leaders. Some work for the common good. Others are sadistic, brutal tyrants.

  Even though the network doesn’t know the objective of the experiment, randomness is part of the experiment. If the network knew the objective, we’d only recruit people who would only work toward one end. The Creators don’t want that. What we are doing now is considered tweaking the experiment.”

  “I have a few more questions. What was the purpose of getting shot in the ass? It happened to me and my dog, Max.”

  CAIN explained the nanobots to him.

  “What makes you or the Creators think I want anything to do with this? All I want to do is go back to my ranch and punch cows.”

  “It doesn’t matter what you want. You’re here and we will see how it plays out. I think once you see what is out there and what is happening, you won’t want to go back. Besides there is nothing you can do about it.

  The adventure begins!”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  “I’m going to give you some clothes, a bed, a table and chair, A bowl of water for your friend and some food for both of you.

  What do you want to eat and what do you want to drink?”

  Both he and Max had a rib eye steak dinner, minus the mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and Shiner Bock beer for Max.

  He went over to the glass wall and looked out into the garden. “CAIN, how do I get outside?”

  An opening appeared. Before he stepped outside, he said, “Is there anything I should look out for, like snakes and such?

  ‘No, it’s just a garden.”

  “How about the pond at the bottom of the hill? Is it safe for swimming and drinking? Max might drink out of it.”

  “It’s safe too.”

  “OK, CAIN. Give me a tennis ball, a small cooler of beer and a bottle opener. Oh! And a bag of potato chips.”

  They started down the hill, Pete with his cooler and chips and Max with his ball.

  He sat down under a tree, popped a beer and threw the ball into the pond. Max jumped in, retrieved the ball and dropped it next to Pete. This repeated itself over 20 times. Both loved it. Max loved chasing the ball and Pete loved the beauty of their surroundings and the interaction between him and his beloved dog.

  After four beers, he lay back to take a nap. Max walked next to him and shook himself to get the water off his coat soaking Pete. Pete smiled. Patted the ground next to him and Max lay next to him. They slept the rest of the day.

  When Peter awoke, the sun was beginning to set. He got up, picked up the cooler and the half eaten bag of chips and started to the house. Max picked up his ball and followed.

  As he approached the building, he saw it was

  a featureless white rectangular structure. He saw no indication of the long narrow room where he had been first transported.

  When he got close to the glass wall a door opened. He and Max entered the room.

  “Did you enjoy the garden, Pete?”

  “Yes, we did and I did a bit of thinking. I’m in. Max and I have no other choice, do we?”

  “No. Pete, you don’t.”

  “OK, as you say. Let the adventure begin!”

  “Another thing, where I go Max goes. I won’t leave him.”

  He dropped down on one knee and grabbed Max ‘s head scratching his ears and looked his large black and tan, raw boned German Shepherd in the eye and said, “Isn’t that right boy?”

  CAIN said, “There’s no problem. It will make your part even more interesting. We’ve never had a human with a companion species before.”

  “OK, when do we begin and what is expected of me? I know nothing of the histories of these hundreds of different civilizations. My questions are endless.”

  “You will be paired up with a partner, a mentor. He will answer your questions and guide you through what will appear to be a morass of cultures. Also, your nanobots will multiply and spread through every part of your mind and body. The bots are encyclopedic. Your knowledge base will expand and it will be as if you have lived here all your life and you were educated here.

  The downside is it will take months for the bots to fully develop so you will rely heavily on your mentor.”

  “When do we leave?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “Put a thick comfortable pad on the floor for Max to sleep on.”

  The next day they had breakfast and Pete let Max out to sniff bushes and do what dogs do.

  “We’re ready. Now what?”

  They ended up in a blind alley in what CAIN had described as the toughest city on the toughest planet in this part of the galaxy. They were to go to the end of the alley, turn right and turn right again into the toughest bar in the toughest city on the toughest planet in this part of the galaxy.

  “What could possibly go wrong?” Pete thought.

  They entered the bar.

  “Hey asshole, leave the walking carpet outside.”

  Pete looked around to see who was speaking and if they were speaking to him.

  A man behind the bar with skin that looked like large fish scales pointed at him and said, “Yeah you, dip shit, I’m talking to you. Get that beast out of here and you can go with it.”

  “Pete! Peter Bolton?”

  A large black man was pushing and shoving people aside as he walked toward Pete.

  The man yelled at the bartender, “He’s with me, Smiley.”

  The bartender threw his hands in the air, muttered to himself and walked to the middle of the bar.

  Before Pete knew it, he was in a painful bear hug, his feet lifted off the ground.

  “Damn Pete, I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you. Come with me. Let’s get a drink. You don’
t know me but I know you. I’ll explain it all in a minuet.

  I’m Bobby Mac Kenzie but everyone calls me Mac.” He stuck out his hand and Pete shook it. He was completely befuddled.

  Peter had no idea what was going on. He had never laid eyes on this guy in his life. He looked at the man and figured he was about six foot four, 260 pounds and it looked like it was all muscle.

  They went to a table that was occupied by six hulking brutes. The brutes looked up at them. They didn’t look too friendly.

  The black man said, “Beat it!”

  All six of them couldn’t get out of their chairs quick enough. Two of them turned their chairs over getting out of them so fast.

  “Smiley, two beers, cold ones. Not that warm crap you feed to these losers.” He swept his hand around the room.

  Mac look down at Max and said, “What’s your dog’s name?”

  Before Pete could stop him, Mac reached down and petted Max on the top of his head and scratched him behind the ear.

  Pete was shocked. “His name is Max and he never lets anybody touch him but family and close friends. I thought for sure he would take your hand off.”

  “Well, I guess I’m family.”

  Pete hadn’t really taken in the room. Things had happened so fast. He had expected a dark and dingy dive but the place didn’t look half bad. It wasn’t dark and sinister but had muted lighting giving the place a warm glow. It was the people that caught his interest.

  There were a variety of physiologies and skin textures and colors. There were blues, yellows, greens and all sorts of shades in between. There were skin textures from scales to fur to bumps like an orange peel to smooth. There were giants to the very small. Smiley was about eight feet tall and the smallest were about two feet tall. The occupants were split almost 50/50 men and women, at least he thought they were women and they all looked like you wouldn’t want to tangle with them.

  A red skinned barmaid who looked like she sweated a lot brought them their drinks.

  “Pete, let me start off by telling you we met in 1967 in Vietnam. I was an A-Team commander and you were a war correspondent. You attached yourself to my A-Team and we spent a year together.

  When we met in Nam, I didn’t know who you were and I sure as hell didn’t want a member of the press following me and my team around.

  Look, we are going to spend a lot of time together. And I’ll explain all of this to you later but right now let’s enjoy our beers.”

  Pete looked around in amazement. He was trying to make sense of all of this.

  “These people? Creatures? Some look human, others like….” He left it there not knowing what to say. “What are they?”

  “They are all human. I guess CAIN told you about the Creators populating different planets with cloned humans. Well, that was over 80,000 years ago and not all of these planets were completely Earth like.

  They could all sustain life but some had, to say the least, harsh environments. In order to thrive, the humans placed on them evolved to the conditions and this is a small sample of these differing peoples.”

  Pete let it soak in and said, “Most of these guys look pretty tough.”

  “They are.”

  “Then how come Smiley who looks like he doesn’t take crap off anybody, let you tell him what to do and those thugs who were at this table tripped all over themselves when you told them to beat it?”

  “Well for one thing, Smiley works for me. I own this place and for another thing, I am the meanest, baddest hombre in this bar. Nobody messes with me here or for that matter in this town.

  When your nanobots fully kick in,” he smiled, “you’ll be the second baddest in town.”

  Pete looked at Smiley all eight feet of him. he must have been close to 400 pounds. His head about two feet wide. His mouth was disproportionately small.

  Pete looked at Mac and said, “How come Smiley is called Smiley? His mouth is so small.”

  Mac called over to Smiley, “Hey Smiley.”

  The scaly monster looked over at them.

  “Give us a smile.”

  All the big guy did was growl.

  It made Pete’s blood run cold.

  Mac stood up. His fist pounded the table shattering it. “Smile damn it or I’ll stuff this chair up your ass!”

  Smiley hesitated.

  Mac picked up the chair and walked towards the bar.

  Smiley let out a roar. His mouth opening wide. It was no longer small. It extended from ear to ear and it was full of teeth, all long, sharp, and pointed, like a great white shark.

  All activity in the bar stopped. All was silent. Then as if someone had turned a switch, the hum of conversation and the noise from the gaming tables started up as if nothing had happened.

  Smiling, Mac looked at Smiley and said, “Now was that so hard?”

  Pete looked ashen and said. “Now I know why you call him Smiley.”

  “Yeah.” said Mac. “He hates it.”

  “If he hates it, why do you antagonize him?”

  “I have to show strength. Every one of these assholes in this bar is a vicious, opportunistic killer. If I show weakness, they’ll be on me like a pack of dogs and Smiley is the alpha dog.

  No offense Max.

  He knows if he fucks with me, I’ll rip his head off and shit down his throat.

  He’s seen me do it.

  Well maybe not the shit down the throat part, just the head ripping. We have places to go and things to do.”

  “What is this place called?”

  “I call it The Paradise.”

  “The Paradise?”

  “Yeah. It’s the best joint in the city, not to mention the planet.”

  “How’s that?”

  “It’s a safe place to come. I don’t tolerate brawling, knife fights, gun fights or rape. All can come here and know they are relatively safe. If they want to fight or kill each other they take it outside. It is rarely violent in here. We do have occasional fights and killings.

  Smiley is not just a bar tender. He’s my bouncer. If there is a fight, he beats the combatants to a pulp and throws they out on to the street and they are never to come back. If there is a killing, he literally rips them apart into manageable pieces and throws them into the street.

  We rent rooms upstairs and the same rules apply. We have people who have been here for years.”

  “By place, I meant we’re not on Earth. Where are we and what is the planet called?”

  “It’s not on any navigational charts and is simply called the Place.”

  Looking down at what was left of the table, Mac said, “I guess we’ve finished our beers.”

  “Smiley, I’ll be gone for a while. Take care of the place, no fights and broken furniture like last time. If the place is trashed, it comes out of your pay.”

  Smiley growled and showed his teeth.

  It sent a chill down Pete’s spine.

  Mac turned and started walking to the back of the bar. The patrons made way for him making sure nobody bumped into him or got in his way. Pete and Max followed.

  They walked by four pool tables and there were people playing darts and tables where it looked like they were playing poker.

  Mac said, “I gave them these games and taught them how to play. They loved them and took to it like a duck to water.” They reached the back wall. Mac said “Open.”

  An opening materialized and they walked through. If they were on an elevator, Pete felt no movement but when the door opened they were in a large well furnished room with panoramic views overlooking a dark brooding city and landscape.

  It didn’t look like they were more than ten stories high but it appeared they were the tallest building in a small city. You could see the countryside and it wasn’t pretty.

  “My God, this is a depressing place” Pete said.

  “Yeah, it sure is but it gets a little better when the sun’s up.

  This planet is a real shit hole but it sustains life and it’s far enough from the be
aten path that pirates, slavers and raiders can feel safe and relax from raping and pillaging.”

  “Why did you decide to come here? There have to be better places to live.”

  “There are but I came here to find something. Civilized worlds live normal lives, trading, building cities and such. They trade and travel with their neighbors but I doubt if many of them see the planets that are out of their comfort zone.

  Here we have almost every race from the advanced planets and some from the not so advanced. By advanced I mean those who have not just ventured into space but those who have warp drive capabilities.

  Some of the sociopaths actually live here and make their livings here as store keepers, bar owners, landlords and such but the rest are hiding or vacationing here.”

  “Yeah this does look like a vacationing Mecca.”

  “After you have been out in deep space for a few years, this place looks pretty good. Most aren’t looking for beauty. They’re looking to get drunk and get laid.

  So far this place has been a safe haven and that’s a big draw.”

  Pete look around the room. Three of the walls were glass. The far wall had doors. He guessed they were bed rooms and bathrooms. There were multiple couches and easy chairs arranged in conversation pits. There was a bar but no kitchen.

  “How come no kitchen?”

  “There’s a TV show called Star Trek.” Mac saw the puzzled look on Pete’s face.

  A TV is like a radio but you see moving pictures and hear sound right in your own home. I keep forgetting you’re from 1946.

  Anyway, Star Trek is a show about space exploration and on their ships they have something called a replicator. It makes just about anything but it also makes any kind of food you want, just by asking. We have one of those so who needs a kitchen?”

  “What if you like to cook? I do.”

  “Well you can have the replicator replicate a kitchen, a barbeque pit, smoker or anything else you want. So, what do you want to eat?”

  “Well, how about some Lulling Texas, City Market ribs, brisket and sausage with their famous barbeque sauce and a Big Red soda? And a pound of brisket and a bowl of water for my friend.” He pointed to Max.

  “Coming up and I’ll have the same, minus the bowl of water.”