“What is that thing behind you? Some kind of ship or somethin’?” he said, ignoring his answer.
“Well as a matter of fact yes, yes it is --- I mean that’s pretty obvious isn’t it? That is a standard Holicom Mark IV personal Star craft --- I better keep my explanations simple”
The gathering crowd seemed to be growing in number. A smaller human poked his head over some of the other onlookers. “Where are the camera crews? Are there any famous celebrities in your cast?”
“No no no, I’m afraid I’m actually from another planet --- this is going to be harder than I thought. Is there perhaps someone from your earth government that I could speak with? --- perhaps someone with a higher IQ than yourselves?” said dwia.
“Hey are you callin’ us stupid feller?” said the older man.
“Well no, I just would like to speak with someone who could properly represent your planet --- and could provide more intelligent conversation.”
“Hey you are! You’re callin’ us dumb! What kind of actor are ya, why don’t you take off yer mask and say that to my face!?” his tone was rising.
This was not a good start he thought. He looked around. There was some towering buildings in the distance, perhaps they had what he was looking for. The data pad indicated the city he landed at was called “New York”. It did seem to match up to all appearances and was the closest thing to what could be considered the capital of this planet. Conceivably, the tallest of all the buildings here may be the home of its leader and he could talk with him. He would have to circumnavigate this swelling throng however before it got out of hand. But it was worth a shot he thought.
His concentration was interrupted, “I can be your friend mister!”
dwia looked down. The owner of the enthusiastic high pitched voice was small human, with bright eyes and and a bright infectious smile. Here here! Wanna be friends? He beckoned, his cap almost falling off with his vitality. dwia smiled too.
“Well sure, I would love to be your friend --- perhaps the smaller of the earth peoples are the more sentient. And what is your name sir? --- I would tell you mine, but it’s unpronounceable.”
“My name is Jonnie. What should I call you then mister?”
dwia looked him over, he was wearing a ragged T-shirt and shorts, a street urchin.
“Well, how about you call me Jonnie too? --- I don’t know any other human name.”
The little boy ran up to him and gave him a hug. “We can both be Jonnie’s!” So this was a friendly peoples, this was very fortunate, very very fortunate.
The scene was developing, what was a small mob of strangers was now ballooning to close to a hundred onlookers. The ground transportation machines seemed to have come to a standstill. There were several questions coming from the crowd, but only little Jonnie held dwias interest. Maybe he could find out more about Earth from him.
“Little one, could you perhaps point me in the direction of your leader? --- that crowd is starting to make me nervous”
“Our leader? You mean the President? Hmm, not sure who that is, but we could go looking for him if you want!”
dwia noticed that he was much larger than most of the humans, he was probably pretty intimidating. He didnt mean to be. The growing number of eyes upon him kept their distance and beheld a sense of unease. He tried to think of some way to reassure them of his benevolence. He couldnt come up with anything other than to not make any sudden motions, one of his more recent encounters ended up in needless violence because of own overbearing enthusiasm.
As calmly as he could he took his little friend and started to make his way around the crowd toward a towering building he could see. “That sounds like a great idea, let’s go that way --- before there is trouble with these people”
He thought it would be a better contact protocol to approximate the dress of the locals so as not to cause too much of a scene, but it was necessary at the same time too, besides his fur would be unfamiliar to many species anyways.
In the distance he heard the foreboding sound of sirens inching their way toward him. Maybe it was too late already. He promptly picked up Jonnie, and scurried over to some nearby bushes. It was a sudden movement.
“Wait where are you taking that child?!” cried someone in the crowd.
Being used to a much harsher environment, dwia had no problem navigating the terrain in a hurry. He didnt respond and found a niche between some boulders. He took stock of the situation.
“They seemed awful upset Jonnie. Do you think they are going to come after us?” the little boy said.
“They might, but we can move fast --- why does it always have to be like this? Are you still comfortable up there? --- you are very light and slow me down only a tiny fraction”
“Oh this is great fun! Keep going”
He carefully made his way to a concrete street and into an alleyway. Covered by trash bins, he made his way further into the alien environment. A fence barred further progress, but after securing his payload dwia simply jumped over it in one great leap
“Wooo-hooooooo! That was awesome, can we do that again? You definitely aren’t from around here are you?” said an elated little Jonnie.
“Nope --- like my home better”
They jack knifed their way through a maze of back alleyways and arrived again at a main street.
They heard a shout in the distance. “There!”
There was a man pointing in their direction. How did someone actually find them? He thought. The din of sirens was picking up steam again and seemed to come in his direction. dwia doubled back to get out of the lime light of the cities arteries.
“Hey mister, how come you always speak two times when you talk? Do you actually talk when you breathe in or something?”
“Well in my culture, we communicate all our thoughts, whenever we think or say something there is usually an opposite thought that you feel at the same time, and we communicate both --- unlike your peoples where you only say the first impulse, so there must be a lot of unspoken thoughts among you.”
Little Jonnie thought about that for a moment, “Oh! Well that’s interesting. Let me see if I can do that too --- that’s kinda weird.”
They both laughed, but their mirth was cut short. A barricade of sorts had been erected right in front of them and an armed officer was directing his megaphone in their direction.
“Let the boy go and we will not hurt you. Put down any and all weapons and we will not shoot” blared at them.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone --- but I am more than capable of violence so I will restrain myself.”
dwia relaxed his hold on his little partner.
“No! I wanna go with you! I don’t wanna go with those loud people --- they probably smell.” Said mini-Jonnie as he strengthened his grasp on the big man shoulders as best he could. “I don’t have any parents, you’re all I got, plus I like you more than any of the other foster parents they have given me. I don’t wanna get shipped all over the city again.”
“Well, I don’t think they are going to be happy with that --- but the fully grown humans are hard to talk to and I don’t really want to negotiate with them.”
He made his decision. In another abrupt flash dwia hastily jumped up onto a drain pipe and began climbing the side of one of the large buildings with his little friend still on his back.
From behind the barricade he could hear, “all right take him down boys.”
A staccato of shots were sprayed into their path. dwia was incredulous that they would fire on an unarmed boy! He quickly weaved his way behind a projecting ladder and kept climbing to where no human could follow.
SNIKT! SNAP! But it was too late. He took one in the leg. He climbed two more stories and assessed the damage to his leg while kneeling behind a crate. It was not a bullet. He had studied this culture in detail as part of his pre mission briefing and knew everything about Earth weapons should he encounter them, but this was not something he had encountered, there was a dart hanging off his lo
wer calf. He pulled it out and examined it. It contained some kind of foreign substance, a poison of some sort no doubt. He tried to extract as much of it as he could with a med kit while at the same time determining his mental alert status.
He was fading. If he climbed further he risked falling and hurting his friend. This was the end of the line and he knew it.
“Jonnie! Are you OK? You got shot!” said a wide eyed little Jonnie.
“I’ll be fine my little buddy --- but this does feel weird, I won’t be conscious very much longer. Listen very close, I am going to give you a gift and no matter what you do, don’t lose it --- I hate to give this up, but at this point I have to. I am here on a mission to convey a message --- but I fear I may have failed. If I fail completely it may have dire consequences for this planet --- but then again they should have just listened to me for once.”
“NO! Don’t leave me, you’re my best friend. I don’t want to be taken away again! NOoooo.”
He clutched his new big furry friend as hard as he could. But slowly the darkness won over and consumed his consciousness.
* * *
How long he had been there he did not know. He was in a concrete cell with the only source of light was a tiny stream fighting its way through the great iron bars of the upper window shaft. The blurred dim light was complemented by the murky feeling in his skull. He found himself surrounded by iron bars. This must be the equivalent of Earth people’s detainment area, he thought. He tried to determine the time of day as best he could. He knew there was a 24 hour revolutionary cycle on this planet and that light used to mean energy to the earliest forms of life on this planet. Therefore the darkness cycle would find them less active, and less likely to act aggressively towards him again.
He clambered up a bar to try to get a view of the outside. It was about to begin a new light cycle, was his best guess. OK well now was the time to act, he resolved himself to make his escape. Strangely there was no one to supervise him. He attempted to look around the corners of this place but found no one stirring, only a few small creatures burrowing the walls.
Silly people again. Didn’t they know he could just bend the bars? Well they will learn, he thought. Grabbing the two nearest bars he tensed his body and began to gradually pulled them apart enough to get his heavyset build through the crevice. Nimble as some Perillian duskrats he had seen, dwia made his way through the interior without being seen. There was another barred down up ahead. dwia was not really in any mood for another firefight, this had gone on long enough. One guard was half asleep and the other was fixated on a monitor. Sneaking up behind, he quietly subdued his prey without killing him by denying him oxygen with arm choke. He did the same to the other one and continued on his way.
The barred door, also had a reinforced pane of glass apparently. dwia took out one of his tools and carved enough of a hole to allow him to force an opening. It was surprisingly hard work, but after he finished the iron bars were easy to part. He emerged unto the common roads once again illuminated by a tired sun slowly warming up the atmosphere for the coming dawn. There was still ground vehicle traffic, this is a very populated planet, he thought.
Then his thoughts went to his little friend, he hoped for the best. There! The giant building loomed in the distance obscuring what luminosity this time of day had to offer. Again deciding to keep to the byroads he inched his way closer and closer, like the ant working his way towards to great tree of the meadow.
The entrance thankfully gave way to his enormous paws. There was a human female at a nearby station, time to try to make acquaintances again, he thought.
“Hi, I’m looking for you leader please --- and don’t give me more of that combative attitude if you don’t mind, I’m real.”
The secretary eyed him over. He sure didn’t look like anyone around here. It was early, let’s just go with it she thought. “Could I have your name and have you provide me with the company are working with please?”
“Sure, my name is Jonnie, and I’d like to work with the government of Earth --- although I don’t know if working with would be quite the right wording here.”
The secretary adjusted her horn rimmed glasses and hesitated a moment. “You want the government of Earth!? What are you from outer space or sumthin?”
“Yes that’s right, I’m from the Rigel sector --- not that you’d really know where that is.”
She let out a guffaw, “Oh right! Rigel, that’s where the Klingons come from right?”
“I’m sorry I’m unfamiliar with that race --- that’s odd that there is a race in the galaxy I wouldn’t be aware of.”
“Listen I appreciate your elaborate practical joke, but it’s really too early in the morning for me to want to play along, now is there someone that you actually want to see or do I call security?”
*sigh* “ Yes I told you I am looking for someone to represent the government of Earth, surely there must be someone here that could fit that role --- or did I come to the wrong building?”
“Look this building is commercial not gubernatorial. If you want political administration then your best bet is the United Nations Secretariat Building in Manhattan. Will that make you go away?”
“United Nations? That might suffice, can you give me directions? --- and I will be more than happy to discontinue interrupting your morning slumber.”
“Ok you need to make your way up the East River…” dwia listened intently and followed her instructions exactly.
* * *
OK this was more like it, thought dwia. A bevy of flags waved their hellos to the rising sun peeking its way through the eastern horizon. A lot of the countries of earth would be represented here, he thought. He walked up to the entrance. Unfortunately he was barred out this time. There appeared to be what looked like a schedule of coming events in the nearby display, however dwia wasnt up to where he could read earth written language, but he did recognize numerals at least.
A man in a blue suit, very similar to the ones who had apprehended him approached.
“Please state your business sir.”
“I am looking for a proper representative of earth to speak with, I have a message --- this is the part where you don’t believe me right?”
The guard looked him over with an incredulous look, about the same look as everyone else had given him thus far. “Can I see your credentials please?”
“You sure can --- you can also not be able to read them too.”
Slowly, dwia reached into a recess of his suit and drew forth a his Personal data pod which included all his ID signatures as well as his rank and current mission objectives, however all in his own language of course.
“I’m sorry sir, I can’t accept that. Can you please state your business?”
“I just told you. All right let’s make this simple, why don’t you just tell me where your leader is and I can have a chat --- otherwise I will just force my entrance without you, so you can have it any way you like, I’m on a time line.”
The guard looked threatened and stepped back, hand to his side. “Are you carrying any weapons on you sir?”
“Well yes, I have a few --- not that I have interest in actually using them. OK let’s try this one last time, where is there a representative I can talk to? --- we have to rethink our contact protocol, this is too hard.”
“Sir please step away and slowly put away all your weapons.”
Instead of doing that dwia slowly activated a force screen and crept towards the entrance. He easily forced the doors and an iron brace supporting the door clanked to the floor.
“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” the guard stared in disbelief “WAIT! Wait, I believe you! No human can do that.”
“Finally! --- it’s about time.”
“How did you force that door?”
“Easy I come from a heavier gravity environment --- you’re world is very pliable to me.”
“Pliable huh? You’re not going to hurt us are you?”
“No I simply carry a message ---
I knew that you could do it, just open up with questions if you want.”
The guard stuttered a bit, “I ahh… well.. umm do you have music where you’re from?”
“Sure we do, but not as much as much variety as appears on your planet, you are unique in this regard --- of course nothing really compares to some of the harmonies of our local orchestras. Anything else? --- like something more pressing perhaps?”
“Yeah umm, WHERE are you from?”
“My people’s home world lies in the Rigel sector, Rigel 5 to be precise, but we span the Galaxy and some of the local cluster --- but of course the more we spread out the more we lose our own native characteristics. Now if you don’t mind, I have a question for you --- Like a question that actually matters. Where is there a representative that I may be able to speak with to make contact --- there’s got to be at least one person somewhere that can take responsibility for your planet isn’t there?”
“Well we don’t really have a ruler of the whole planet, only Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors of separate countries. Perhaps the general assembly this afternoon at 2 o clock is what you might be interested in.”
“That sounds good, but where are these people now? --- I have to admit I’m a little impatient because we really need to get going here.”
“I believe the delegates are all currently housed in the Westin Hotel just across the ways.” He pointed in the direction.
“Great then I bid you farewell --- chances are we will never talk again.”
dwia made his way to the Hotel and walked in. There were fancier ground based transportation vehicles stationed in the front entrance. Now he was getting somewhere, he thought.
He bypassed and walked up the stairs when a human with a decent retinue caught his eye. He turned towards them. Two of the men drew weapons and stood in front of the dignitary.
“Greetings! My name is Jonnie and come representing the Bollmer Galactic Conglomerate, if I may have a moment of your time --- and if these lugs with the guns may take a moment to withdraw their weapons.”
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