by John Bluck
"Hi, Bill," she said, captivating him with in her Nordic-like accent.
"You're stunning," Wilson said. "Please, come in."
"Thank you. I promised to tell you something new. Let's sit down."
"Okay." He wondered, what's she up to?
They sat in easy chairs near his coffee table.
"If you guessed it's about sex, you're right," she said. "Do you have any personal items such as clothes or keys here?"
"Umm, no, not except what's in my pockets." He reached in his pocket and felt his keys. My key ring flashlight's gone, he noticed. One of the aliens must have taken it.
"I reserved an apartment for you in the Sunevian Knight House for three months with an option to renew for longer," she said. She seemed to be amused that Wilson was caught off balance by her unexpected statement.
"It sounds like a classy place."
"You'll like it. It's nice, comfortable, and well furnished."
"Thank you. When do I check in?"
"You're already checked in, and so am I, if you want me. Here's your key, room 758," she answered.
"Does that mean you want to live with me?"
"Yes. I hope this isn't abrupt. In my culture a proposition like this is acceptable."
"I agree to your proposal," he said. "I would have asked you the same, except I wasn't sure what you'd say." When in Rome . . . , he began to think.
She reached in her purse and pulled out a key. As she did so, his flashlight-key ring fell and clattered on the floor.
"That's funny," she declared. "I wonder what that is." She reached down and picked up the key ring.
"It's my flashlight-key ring," said Wilson.
"I wonder how it got in my purse," she said. "It must have fallen in there. You could use it for your new apartment key." She handed Wilson the tiny flashlight on a key ring as well as his new apartment key.
"Thanks," he said. I wonder if she took it to keep as a memento, he thought. Strange.
"Tomorrow, I'll show you where the apartment is. Soon, you'll learn the Sunevian numbering system, and you'll be able to find addresses on your own."
"Thank you," Wilson said.
"For our last night here on the ship, except for missions, let's do it while we stand," she said. She stood, unzipped her green mini dress, and stepped out of it. She stripped except for her high heels and knee-high nylons.
"How could I say no?" Wilson said.
"You can't," she said as she helped him take off his clothes. She pulled him to her, and they made love as they stood. Afterward, she led him to his bed where they slept naked.
Wilson awoke at dawn when the cabin lights went on. He stretched and bumped Lena by mistake. Her eyes opened.
"Is it sunrise already?" she asked.
"Yep. Are you hungry?"
"Umm hmm. I thought we could have breakfast in a café," she said. She got up and went into the shower.
Wilson heard her splash water while he brushed his teeth. She stepped out of the shower and toweled off.
"You're nice in the nude," he said, and they hugged.
"Get dressed, dear," she said. "I'm famished."
"I could use a cup of coffee," he said as he put his clothes on. He hadn't had a cup of the brew in a couple of days, and he had a slight headache due to his caffeine addiction. He wanted to smell a pot of coffee as it brewed, and taste it mixed with cream, sugar, and vanilla. "Do they have real coffee at the place where we'll eat?" he asked.
"Yes, that's because most people on Sunev drink coffee," she said. "It's not just the ship's crew and a few select people who like it. Almost everybody on Sunev drinks it every morning. We imported coffee plant clippings and seeds twenty years ago."
"I wondered if I could get along without it," Wilson said.
She took his hand. "Let's go," she said. She pulled his arm close to her side and looked up at him, her liquid eyes sparkling.
They walked out of their mammoth ship that was sitting in its spaceport hangar. Nearby, airplanes were in line on the concrete-like surface, and spaceships stood on their tails. Bright colors in attractive, geometric designs covered the various craft.
Wilson saw a few large jetliners take off, and then a spaceship blasted off. A beam that looked like a pink Bunsen burner flame shot from the ship's tail while the spacecraft rose into the sky and disappeared within a minute.
"We have rocket liners," Lena said. "They carry passengers just like the jetliners do. The rockets go on tourist flights to our moon and to the nearby planet Athos, which is closer to our sun than is Earth. Also, Athos is nearer to us than your dimension's Venus is to Earth."
The pair stopped and looked at the sky, which was blue and violet at its zenith. A bright star-like object hung low near the horizon. Lena clasped his hand.
"What's that star?" he asked, as he pointed at the object's bright, steady light.
"It's Athos. Pretty, isn't it?" she asked. "It's livable, unlike Venus, which is hot enough at its surface to melt lead. Even so, Athos is very hot, very tropical. It's all jungle and ocean."
"Have you been there?" Wilson asked.
"A few years ago I took a vacation there," she said.
"You're far ahead of us in many ways," Wilson said. "I've never seen an exhaust like that from one of our space vehicles."
"A simple fusion engine creates the pink ray that powers our land cars, boats, and airplanes," she said.
They walked through the spaceport, which looked similar to Chicago's O'Hare Airport.
"Furniture, and everything manmade, is a lot sturdier than you find on Earth," he said as he scanned the area.
They went outside where the air was fresh, like it is in the mountains, and the two strolled to a business area. First City, the capital of Sunev, seemed like a terrestrial city, but the Sunevian city was cleaner, at least where Wilson and Lena went.
Instead of grass, moss grew between buildings, and it seemed like a thick carpet. The larger buildings looked the same as those on Earth, but bright colors and patterns covered them. The outer walls of many smaller structures looked like paintings in a modern art gallery because artists had splattered paint on them in attractive designs.
"The café is a block and a half away," Lena said, and she reached for Wilson's hand again. "The custom in our land is for the woman to hold her companion's hand if she is with a friend, male or female. Is that okay with you?"
"Yes," he said. He liked the warmth of her hand, and he felt at ease and confident as he strolled with the beautiful alien.
Birds sang strange, lilting songs. Like the buildings, many of the fowl sported gaudy hues of red, blue, gold, and green, and some even had florescent feathers.
The sidewalks and roads were made of a concrete and pebble mix, and the thoroughfares were wide by Earth's standards. Many trees grew along the boulevard where Wilson and Lena walked. Crowds of happy, healthy-looking people in brightly colored clothes wandered to and fro among the buildings and shops of First City. Most of the women wore miniskirts.
Wilson did not see one person who looked to be more than forty years old. He guessed that majority of the people that he saw were much older than they looked because they must have benefited from nano medicine. There were few children. That was proof of what Lena had described earlier – that Sunev had strict birth control laws enacted to prevent a population explosion due to the effects of nano medicine.
The government had been forced to cut the birthrate since few people died except in severe accidents. To have a baby on Sunev was a privilege; therefore, children had few friends of their age. Adults pampered youngsters who received the best education and care. Most of the elite lived in First City, the capital, and had the right to use to nano meds.
"That's the coffee place," Lena said.
"Looks stylish," Wilson commented. Above its door the eatery had a multi-colored sign with strange Sunevian letters lit in neon. Wilson still didn't recognize even one letter of the thirty-eight-letter alien alphabet.
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nbsp; The couple passed through saloon-like doors that swung in and out. People filled the café, which was dim like a bar. Leather-covered booths lined the walls, and in the center of the room were small leather love seats, larger couches, and coffee tables. Arcade-style electronic games stood in a cluster.
Patrons also sat around card tables and played board games, and Wilson wondered if they gambled. No one seated him and Lena so she picked a love seat in the corner with a view the entire room. A tall, thin robot came to take their order. He was made of brilliant stainless steel and had green, laser-like eyes.
"I know that you'd like coffee, but as for breakfast, I have some ideas for you," Lena said. "We often eat large bird eggs, and oxen meat strips with chopped white root tuber."
"Sounds similar to a breakfast I sometimes have on Earth, steak and eggs with potatoes," Wilson said. "If that's what you'll have, I'll try it, too," he said.
She placed the order. The robot bowed his head gracefully, but stiffly and walked with a jerky motion to the nearby kitchen. "I told the robotic servant that you're from a distant place on our planet, where they speak another language," she said.
"Do you have many countries?"
She moved close to him, and he felt her warmth. "We have many lands, but one planetary government. It oversees all things and everybody," she said. "Most people speak two languages, their local dialect and Sunevian, the worldwide language."
"Would a waiter, even if he's a mechanical man, think it strange that I don't speak Sunevian?"
"There are some people who don't speak it well," she said. "Since you'll be here from time to time, I could teach you Sunevian. You'll live many years, and there's lots of time for us to work together, if you'd like to do so." Her hazel green eyes gleamed in the shadows of the café.
"I'd like to take lessons from you," Wilson said.
"My name is Leibshena in Sunevian. It means red flower, or Lena."
"Leibshena," Wilson repeated. She taught him a few more words as they waited for breakfast. The robot waiter soon arrived carrying their coffee and food, which included an omelet that had small chunks of vegetables mixed in it. Wilson was hungry, and he ate fast.
"How'd you like it?" she asked.
"Excellent," he said. "It tastes like a Western Omelet."
The pair ate like two lost hikers who hadn't eaten in days. Then they sipped rich coffee flavored with honey and a grain-derived cream.
"What do you think of our planet?"
"My first impression is that life here is very good. This city strikes me as modern, at least in this district. I think the people must enjoy their lives because they don't rush as much as we do in America."
"America?"
"America is another name for the United States," Wilson said.
"Of course," she said. She touched his arm and smiled. They finished their coffee.
"That was a superb breakfast," he said. "It makes me think of country breakfasts during road trips in America's West."
"I'm glad you liked it," she said. "Now, let's tour the city."
As they walked to the front door, Wilson didn't see a cash register.
"Did you forget to pay?" he asked.
"We don't use money," she said, laughing.
They must have an advanced way to pay for things, Wilson guessed. "How do they charge you? Is there an electronic system?"
"No, we don't pay because we don't have to."
"Really?" Wilson asked as they walked towards a sleek streetcar. The time was about 11:30 a.m.
"Money is just a way to trade labor," she said. "We don't need it because robots and automation do most of the work. We work at what we like for the fun of it."
"Oh," Wilson said.
The sunshine was perfect, warm but not hot, and her blond highlights gleamed as she tossed her light brown hair back and then smoothed it. Wilson felt lucky to be with her. She held his hand, and they walked.
"We haven't used money for at least fifty years because of two changes. As I said, one was the widespread use of robots, which goes back farther than I can recall. The second is energy generation from simple nuclear fusion," she explained.
"Was the move to this non-money economy hard?"
"Yes, but our history books tell us that the shift to a moneyless society was unavoidable. However, the texts don't go into how difficult that change was. They explain that hours of human labor are chunks of each human being's life. In your culture the hours that make up human lives are what money symbolizes. We Sunevians can live much longer, if we avoid accidents or war, and energy is free," she said.
"On Earth money is power," Wilson said. "Wealth gives rich people the authority to dictate change, or to make things stay the same. If they don't spend enough of the huge fortunes they amass, they cause recessions or even great depressions. So, who has the power in your state?"
"The elected officials and judges have power here. So do writers and mass media performers," she said.
"What about the Great Leader? How much power does he have?" Wilson asked.
"We can do what we want as long as we don't harm others or the State," she said. "We elect our officials who have more power than your officials because there are no rich people to dictate the course of economics. We're all rich, but just a few people have the power to make big things happen."
A streetcar stopped. They boarded and sat on a comfortable padded bench seat. Everywhere Wilson looked, he saw that all was deluxe. This society could afford the best. A thought nagged him. Were these people as free as Lena said? Or, was this a dictatorship? Who controls the robots, the buildings, and the machines that power Sunev? Those who command the means of production and physical things on Sunev must be the leaders who are in charge of the planet and its people.
The streetcar moved along its tracks, riding like a heavy, lavish motorcar.
"What's our first destination?" Wilson asked.
"The Museum of the Planet," she said. "It's the third stop. See the museum's huge orange towers? There also are many other museums around here."
Wilson strained to see because the bright sunshine at first momentarily blinded him as he looked towards the horizon. As his eyes adjusted to the bright, clear light, he realized that the Sunevian air had no smog. Then he saw the museum – an orange and black skyscraper at least 100 stories high.
Wilson and Lena got off the streetcar near the museum entrance where its stone steps led to a doorway that was fifty feet across. On each side of this entry were large, smooth, black granite columns, and the many doors of the entranceway were tall, made of shiny brass-like metal. On the stone platform in front of the doors, guarding both sides of the doorway, were big statues of dinosaur-like creatures.
"What are those animals?" Wilson asked.
"Lizards. They're as large as the statues," she said.
"Where do they live?"
"In the jungle," she said. "They're dangerous. They eat almost any kind of animal, even human beings."
"Are there many of these lizards?"
"They're as common as your bears," she said. "Maybe we can go to the zoo and see one later."
"I'd like to look at those animals some time," he said.
Of course, there was no charge to enter the museum, and they just walked in.
"Let's look at the dimension travel exhibits first," Lena said.
She led Wilson to a slanted, moving sidewalk that took them up to the second floor. The walk and the railings on each side of it reminded Wilson of the people movers at the Las Vegas airport. "This is like what we have," he said.
"We borrowed the concept," she revealed. "Dr. Raven saw one of these mobile sidewalks on his first trip to Earth at San Francisco International Airport. He told our engineers."
"He's visited the San Francisco area before?"
"Yes, over the years, he's returned to California often. He also likes to explore Idaho, and another place called the Little Bighorn, as well as Cripple Creek, Colorado," she said.
"He'd fit
right into the Wild West," Wilson said, recalling his recent dream in which Raven stole gold nuggets near Sutter's Mill.
"Wild West?" she uttered as they stepped off the moving pathway. They were near a small model of the dimension ship that had carried Wilson to Sunev.
"The Wild West refers to a time in the 1800's when pioneers settled the western United States. It was a period of lawlessness," Wilson stated.
"Oh, yes, cowboys and Indians," she said.
"I see a model of the ship." Wilson gestured towards the model, which was part of a larger display.
"I can use this to explain how the ship works," she said. She pointed out the vessel's multiple levels, the engine room, galley, living quarters, and the various ray and particle beam weapons. Much of what she pointed out to Wilson was what he had seen in his tour of the ship, but the small model made it easier to picture the craft as a whole.
She was telling him the basics of dimension travel, and Wilson's mind began to wander. As she spoke, he glanced about. These signs and labels in Sunevian are confusing. I don't think that I'll ever learn their language, he worried.
Lena led Wilson to another display, a computer circuit board with gold and black circuitry.
"What's that?" Wilson asked.
"It's part of the ship's brain," she said. "We use nano and gold circuitry. Gold's important because it's a great electrical conductor, and we've learned to make gold wires billionths of a meter wide. The gold's also vital because we use it in our fusion power generators. Cheap, simple fusion power makes our civilization possible."
A man dressed in a gray suit approached them, and Lena greeted him. He turned on a translation box strapped to his left arm and asked her a question in Sunevian. After he spoke, a voice in English emanated from the box, "How was your last trip to Earth, Lena?"
She powered on her translator and spoke in English. "It was routine until an enemy cyborg located Mission Leader Raven and attacked and wounded him. Dr. William Wilson of Earth saved Raven, providing emergency care."
She turned to Wilson. "Bill, this is Jake McDonald from the Daily Globe who often reports on what we do. So, he'll write an article about our last mission."
