The Space Traveler (The Space Traveler Saga Book 1)

by Devon Shubin

  On the dark side of the planet, the stars and moon would glow as the light formations from burning rock would glitter in the backdrop. The Fequians thought it was a cosmic natural selection. Little did most Fequiankind know, that it was a deliberate action by the secret section of the space agency to test the weapon for a future purpose. That purpose you may want to know. Not so fast, you must wait until later in the chapter to find out.

  Back to the Space Traveler who is navigating his ship through the asteroid field. He looks forward to this part of the trip as he treats his weaving of his ship left, right, up and down like a 1980’s video game to avoid destruction. His wrists twist with perfect accuracy controlling the joystick like apparatus of his controls. His face, serious and competitive. Wining a video game is a huge thrill, but not dying is even better. No extra men, unlimited tries or invincibility powers. This is real and even though his ship is equipped with a laser fortress, a couple of large asteroids would take the ship out. The good thing is that the asteroids are floating and not rocketing like meteors do. Occasionally, a comet or meteor will come through the asteroid field and cause a ripple effect. That is like when you toss a stone into water, the ripples create a cause affecting the entire body of water.

  His face still focused as a Duradasks face can get, remember, he doesn’t look like a famous movie star okay. He is a purple alien with green and orange stripes running diagonally across his face and body. It's quite cool I must say and there is an illustration later in this book for visual reference, if you purchased the special edition copy that is. Under and over a large asteroid he quickly darts left as a moving rock came at him smacking into the large asteroid he just missed. “Close one,” he said as he wiped the sweat from his noodle like hair and accelerated toward the inner and more dense section of the asteroid field.

  As he dodges the floating rocks, some the size of elephants and some the size of mini-moons, his intercom announces a transmission from Fequ.

  “Good day Inspector. This is Qwallaguda of the Internal Health and Sanitation Department.”

  Dodging an incoming asteroid by swooping his ship downward, he then controls it and avoids a free floating one. The Space Traveler responds, “Hey there Qwallaguda, long time. How are things?”

  “Very good here Inspector. We are anticipating your arrival today.”

  Grunting, the Space Traveler forces his controls right, up and then down he quickly says, “Same here Qwalla. Do you have the containment area prepared for my inspection of plants ten, fifty-two and….ugh…hold on Qwalla, I’m trying to get my way still through the barrier.”

  The display screen lights up and Qwallaguda’s face is visible. “Oh, I see Inspector. I assumed you were in the safe zone by now. Please forgive my intrusion and we will be patiently waiting until your landing.”

  The screen goes black again and the Space Traveler bites his lower lip as he shifts down, down, right up, down up and then left. After a couple of hours of this and trust me I don’t want you to have to read through this explanation of his navigation, let alone do I want to write it, so let’s just fast forward until he is ready to land on Fequ.

  “S.T., that took a lot longer than last time,” the Space Traveler lamented to himself as he looked out at Goff who was not only sucking her sister dry, but also consuming some of the rock from Hyskpada. He squinted to try and get a closer look and when that did not work he reached into a container under the console for his binocular scope. He placed the long silver and bronze scope up to his right eye and focused on the star. Indeed, the star was sucking in the asteroid field.

  Placing the scope away from his eye he thought, “If the star is eating the asteroid field and its little sister, what would prevent it from sucking in Fequ?” That question would need to be raised during his meeting with the Administrator of Fequ, who is the equivalent to the President of Earth, if Earth had a President.

  Hitting the controls forward his ship races toward Fequ. The red and black planet with space rings which are gases made of nitrogen, dioxide and ice rocks. Now, why the planet looks red from space is because it is a very volcanic planet with exterior magma oozing from the planets pores. You know what happens when you pop a pimple or if your body is real nasty and you have a boil. That’s just disgusting and I seriously recommend that you consult a dermatologist if that’s your fortune. Anyways, the blackness against the red is the color of the planet's soil. The soil is so rich with nutrients and ground creatures that its exhibits more nitrogen than any other planet. This gives it a potting soil look. There is one other reason that the soil is so fertile and I need an entire paragraph to explain it so here it goes.

  Remember, the alien beings on this planet, the Fequians are fifty feet tall or so. Can you just image the size of their bowel movements? Let’s do another scale comparison. Say an average human being has a banana or two. Maybe on a really good day, three bananas. Scale that twenty times. Wow! Not only would the look gross you out, the smell may cause seizures or unconsciousness. I am thinking the best way to size this is like two canoes tied together. Maybe three on a good day. Smiling.

  Back to the planet. The planet Fequ is dying and the Fequians with all their knowledge and experience are naïve to this eventuality. Why you may ask? Well, because no one can travel into space without commissioned appointment from USHA. (Universal Safety and Health Administration.) Thousands of years ago, when they bumped Hyskpada toward the star Goff, the Galaxy was not governmentally united. Now, permission to travel in space is almost impossible. The Space Traveler may be their only hope for identifying this problem early enough. But we shall see.

  Entering the atmosphere, the ship rocketed across the morning sky on the face side of the planet. Now, you may not realize this but what makes Earth such a special planet is that it is not tidally locked like our moon is. You see, the moon does not rotate on an axis, that is why everyone on the planet enjoys the moon at night, or sometimes during the day, but we all see the same man on the moon, the face. There is a dark side of the moon which never receives light from the sun. Fequ is the same. Only one side of the planet faces its star Goff, which means it is always sunny outside. This could be the reason the planet has such rich soil, an overabundance of ground worms and high concentration of volcanic activity. The scientists are still studying their planet so when they have all the data we may let you know.

  The Space Traveler positions his windshield downward dipping his ship at a 45-degree angle as he overlooks the red and black planet which becomes detailed with mountains of volcano tops oozing hot magma. Trees that grow spiked fronds up toward the sky and not downward. The bodies of water look white from the crystallites and mineral deposits. Herds of giant dinosaur like animals, bald and black galloping through the landscape. The buildings in the city poke the top of their heads through the clouds and the Space Traveler must immediately dodge a few skyscrapers. He thrusts the controls to the right and downward complaining to himself, “I forgot about that. I always forget how small I am compared to these giants!”

  Flying down toward the civilized city of Lo he taps the console and slows his ship down. Looking out at the enormous buildings he feels like an ant in a house. The thick brown smog distorts his view also as he navigates his way through the buildings flying just a few hundred feet above some of the citizens. One of the females looks up at him startled. What appears to be her husband tries to calm her down and speaks the language of Fequ. The sound that emits from his mouth is so loud that it shakes the Space Travelers ship and he almost loses control of it. His ears start thumping, but he cannot hold them and control the turbulence his ship is experiencing. He pulls his ship up a few hundred more feet, still flying above the hundred foot plus tall houses. He reaches back into his console cabinet drawer and pulls out his sound reducing translation device (SRTD). Time for me to explain.

  Remember earlier in this chapter I made the statement something along the lines that when the Fequians speak your eardrums may explode inside your brain. Well
, if you can imagine your vocal cords fifty times larger and the recipients ears fifty times smaller? Well, we have a huge problem when those two meet. So, the SRTD is used to not only reduce noise levels like Fequians voices, but it is also a translation device when the Space Traveler is off ship. This wonderful invention kills two birds by preventing his ear drums from exploding and allowing him to understand what in the world a Fequian says.

  “Thank you SRTD,” he says to himself as he lowers his ship now spotting the waste plant some hundred or so miles ahead. He thrusts his ship forward and begins his landing. Approaching the waste plant, he can clearly see Qwallaguda and another Fequian just about thirty miles away now, that is how giant these beings are. Just image having a conversation with a five-story building. That is what the Space Traveler was about to do this week.

  Now, before our Space Traveler lands his ship and we join him on inspecting the Fequian waste plant, there are a couple of things you should know about the environment on this planet. It's hot…very hot. If you have ever traveled to a desert location, think about upping the temperature twenty degrees. So, one of the hottest locations on earth is Death Valley California USA. It has reached 130 degrees in the summer with zero percent humidity. Fequ, since it always faces its stars, is right around an everyday average of 150 degrees. The Space Traveler’s planet is quite different and it’s a rotating planet with rain and humidity so he cannot just step outside and get to work. He must wear personal protective equipment and not just from the hazards of the waste plant, but due to the heat which could kill him within hours.

  Qwallaguda and his assistant, each hold there twenty-foot-long arm up in the sky as if he could not see them. The Space Traveler shakes his head and says to himself, “Alright guys, I think I can see you.”

  As he makes his landing on the large open concrete-like gravel tarmac, Qwallaguda says to his assistant, “You made certain that the containment areas are set to the standards?”

  “Yes boss,” his assistant answered him.

  “This is your first experience with the Inspector and he is most detailed.”

  The Space Travelers ship settles on the ground, emitting soft white smoke from the thrusters that whistle and chirps as the engines begin shutting down. He taps on a few random buttons, locking the ship in no-fly mode. “Okay S.T. It’s time to get back to work.” He stands up and looks at the outside temperature which reads 152 degrees Fahrenheit. “Summer in paradise,” he says to himself and then grabbed his safety suite that hung up on the hallway wall.

  After suiting up he grabs a golden disk from a shelf and presses the center ring. It lets off a buzz and he tosses it to the ground. It hovers on the floor. He walks on top of the aerial lift and leans forward. The aerial lift takes off and he commands the ship, “Computer, open the main access door.” The door opens just in time, sliding up into the ceiling as he speeds out into the hot dusty climate of Fequ.

  Standing there like two goofballs are Qwallaguda and his assistant whose name is not important enough to mention. Let’s just call him assistant to keep things simple. Plus, he may die soon and I don’t want you getting emotionally attached to sub-characters.

  Qwallaguda, with a huge smile, spoke in Fequian, “Lipson Jiosk u a u a u da da mo da da moo ah do a eye ooh da!” The Space Traveler just stood there on top of his aerial lift disk and shook his head, “Crumbs, I forgot to set the translator.” He pushes a button on his wrist display of his suite and sets the language from Jioskian to Fequian.

  “Okay,” he says while facing Qwallaguda forty-five feet in the sky, “let’s try that again.”

  “Yes Inspector. I asked how was your flight from Jiosk?”

  “Yeah, I got the Jiosk part. Oh, well, everything was fine and dandy like cotton candy.”

  The two Fequians stood there looking dumbfounded.

  “Yeah, um, I got that from Earth programs from the twenty first century.”

  Still, the giant alien beings looked at him dumbfounded. “You guys don’t get any transmissions from Earth, do you? No radio, no T.V. no internet blog cast?”

  “Inspector,” Qwallaguda responded, “We cannot receive transmissions due to the barrier.”

  The barrier he was referring to was the asteroid field. Only transmissions from the other six planets were possible, Earth's technology was too primitive and it was still too far away for open communications. Earth had no idea these folks were around even though they are still searching extensively and expensively. Think, Hubble telescope?

  Qwallaguda opens his hand now, which is the equivalent of a full size pickup truck, revealing worms. The long fat green worms squirming around, eyeless, earless and brainless. “These are the smaller ones,” he said.

  “Thank you Qwalla, but no thank you,” the Space Traveler kindly rejected as he watched the snake sized worms slide through the three fingers of Qwallaguda.

  His two robots 41-A and 21-B emerge from the Space Travelers ship. They had chrome frame bodies and the joints at their arms and legs were emitting blue lights. They hovered over on a small convertible pod like vehicle. They brought with them equipment from his ship.

  “I understand,” Qwallaguda responded, “I most likely would not like to eat the worms on your planet. What kind of worms do you have Inspector?”

  The Space Traveler lowered himself, floating down toward the ground where his robots on the pod await him. He then began to load his inspection equipment and answered, “We don’t eat worms on Hibot’s.” He then loads an air test into his tripod and explains, “Duradusks eat Kookalisk. It’s a fruit that grows on trees.”

  Qwallaguda was perplexed, “Tree’s that grow food? Very interesting Inspector. I would like to see that perhaps one day.”

  “I tell you what,” he acknowledges while loading the testing equipment onto his aerial lift, “I will sync you some photos from my ship's computer files after the inspection this week.”

  “Yes, I would like that very much. Inspector, please do not take me for being rude to inquire, however, if you had some of this fruit on your ship I would like to taste it.”

  “Nope, can’t let you do that Qwalla. And you know why from our last six or seven conversations. Importing of other worldly foods is in violation of the USHA galaxy protection act.”

  Qwallaguda’s face became sad now. Just imagine this alien being, with his mouth where your forehead is, his nose where his chin should be and his one eye where your mouth is. Confused?

  “You try that every time Qwalla, don’t ya. I’ll give it to you, you Fequians are curious and persistent giants.” He straps up his tripod, air tester, spray guns and cases of sample containers.

  “Yes, you are correct Inspector. We are a curious group. Now, if you are ready, shall we begin?” He extended his loose arm, with his two elbow joints that seemed to sway in the heavy wind. The Space Traveler climbed off the aerial lift, grabbed it and tossed it into the pod.

  “I’m ready. 41-A, take 21-B back to the ship and wait for my call.”

  “Yes Captain,” 41-A replied and wheeled off as the robot followed her.

  The Space Traveler then climbed inside the pod and lifted it up into the air forty feet or so where he was face to face with Qwallaguda and his assistant.

  “We do not have any robotics on our planet Inspector. How do you deal with machines that try and think for themselves?”

  “Well Qwalla,” answering them he held the two joysticks controlling the pod, “we actually imitated the technology of the Wurthians since all of the products come from their planet. You know about their capabilities, right?

  Qwalla scratched his shoulder (where his head should be if he were human). “No, I am certain I do not know much about the Wurthians other than what we are taught at education news.”

  “Taught educational news? The translation device must be malfunctioning. Do you believe everything your media tells you?”

  Qwalla waves both of his flappy arms in the air and replied, “Yes. Our society is free of dishones
ty. Just like we are free of hate and non-compliance with all fellow Fequians. It is a great place to live.”

  “Yeah, if you can tolerate the smog and heat,” he ridiculed.

  “Yes Inspector, we have over one hundred and twenty-two billion years adapting to our planet's ecological environment.”

  They continue walking toward the plant entrance. “All sanitation sections are contained. What area would you like to inspect first Inspector?”

  Flying through the entrance on the pod, side by side with the fifty-foot-tall Fequian as he walked, the Inspector thought about the last time he inspected this plant. “You know Qwalla, it's been at least a decade since I was here at the Lo plant. I don’t believe you were with the sanitation department then, were you?”

  “No Inspector. I was still in education evaluation programs.”

  His memory came back to him now. The Space Traveler started laughing inside, “Yes, yes, I remember what happened last time I was here. Very funny thing. The previous facilitator was Nyak Nyook right? He was quite the character. He brought me to a containment room where they had a large amount of dlom.”

  If the two Fequians could gasp when they heard the word dlom, they would have. But these beings do not gasp. They are way too serious and emotionless for that. However, what they did do was stop in their tracks. The Space Traveler halted his pod and looked over at the two giants. “What?”

  They were both facing the pollution tanks directly in front of them. The steam from the open containers where rising. “Is there a problem Qwalla?” He assertively inquired of them.

  Qwalla then faced him. If he could gulp in nervousness he would, but he cannot because he doesn’t have a throat nor an Adams apple. “Problem. Yes. We are honest people here on Fequ Inspector and I will confess to you that the previous director of this facility was killed by dlom.”