The Euclidian: Unforeseen Alliance

by Jay Cannon

  “Why do those things keep zapping me?” Asked Brian.

  “Honey, I don’t think it knows the difference between us hugging and people attacking each other. It’s probably best if we stayed apart.”

  “Why is this happening to us? Why would someone treat us like this?” A man screamed.

  “Probably the same reason it happened to the Indians and Africans. Now that you are being locked up like an animal you don’t understand why.”

  “We should all kneel down and pray to the Lord for deliverance from this captivity. Fighting amongst ourselves is not the answer”, stated a priest.

  “If God is going to get us out why would he let us get put here in the first place?” A man responded. “Maybe their God is stronger than ours.”

  “There is only one true God and he will deliver us if we only pray.”

  “Okay, you pray and I’ll light this joint in my pocket and let’s see who is the first to escape this hell hole.”

  The woman lights the joint and takes a long drag. “I can feel myself floating out of here already,” she said smiling.

  “May God have mercy on your soul.”

  “And yours.”

  A man by the food dispenser shouts out, “What kind of crap is this they are serving us? Looks like simulated meat, fish and vegetables. I bet it tastes like chicken but I’m not eating any of it!”

  “Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit?” Asked a French woman.

  “Il dit que le repas gouter comme poulet.” Replied her husband.

  The man at the food dispensers grabbed a piece of fake meat in his hand and held it up at one of the devices in the ceiling.

  “You hear me?!” He shouts. “I am not eating this swill! I want real food!”

  He then tosses the fake steak across the room. He is immediately shocked by one of the devices in the ceiling and falls to the floor stunned. He lays there in pain and looks around. No one comes to his aid. He’s breathing heavily and moans a bit. He is angry. He hates the loss of control. He starts to whimper and then explodes to his feet shaking his fist at the device.

  “Do you know who I am?! I’m CEO of one of the largest manufacturing companies in America. I am worth billions of dollars. You can’t lock me up like this without a word. I demand to speak to someone in charge! Do you hear me?!” He shouts, tears streaming down his face.

  He grabs a stack of the fake steaks and starts slinging them at the device. A moment later he disappears and shows up on the monitors floating in space.

  Two men who were captured during the sweep comment on the demise of the CEO.

  “That guy lost it. I mean the foods not great, but it’s not worth dying over. For now I’m going to sit back and enjoy the ride.”

  “I hear you brother. I just wish our lady friend over there would share her joint with us.”

  “Me too, but we know that’s not going to happen. We don’t dare try taking it either. If we so much as sit on her bed, we get zapped.”

  “Tell me about it. At least they let us enjoy ourselves in the bathroom.”

  “They’re probably watching.”

  Let them watch. It’s not like they are going to post it on YouTube. Look she’s heading for the bathroom I’m going to join her.”

  “Do you think that’s smart?”

  “The doors don’t lock and I’ll be out of the view of those damn zappers.”

  “With that he gets up and goes toward the bathroom door to join the lady who had just entered. He gets to the door and grabs the handle to enter, but is zapped before he can get the door open. Then an announcement is made.

  “Only one person in the bathrooms at a time.”

  “Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit?” Asked a French woman.

  “Une seule personne dans la salle de bain à la fois.”

  “Tampis.”

  The zapped man slowly stumbled back to his rack with his friend looking on flabbergasted.

  “Man, you got to tell me what that felt like,” his friend asked. “I always wanted to know what that feels like.”

  “It feels like someone microwaved me with a lightning bold. If you want to know so badly why don’t you grab that bathroom doorknob yourself?”

  “I’d rather keep my strikes down to zero if you don’t mind. Two and you’re out around here. Seriously out. And you never know what will cause you to be zapped.”

  “You keep yappin. I’m going to lie down and try to sleep off this pain.”

  “I wish they would show us some movies on those monitors instead of just space. It would probably help to calm people down.”

  “Yea, something like Independence Day, War of the Worlds or maybe a little Cowboys and Aliens.”

  “I was thinking about the Star Wars trilogy. The original one, not that crap with the Jar Jar Binks idiot.”

  “Now you’re talking!”

  At that moment Star War episode IV started up on the monitors.

  “Oh my goodness,” the man whispered holding his hand to his mouth. “Can you see this too?”

  “Of course I can see it. I was zapped not made delusional.”

  “Could you dim the lights and turn up the sound please?” The man asked towards the ceiling as if he had his own private valet listening to him.

  In response both happened.

  “Thank you,” the man continued. “If it’s not too much to ask, could you follow this movie with Star Wars episodes V and VI and then play the Star Trek movie series?”

  “I don’t know what just happened man, but from now on I’m sticking with you. You think you could ask them to take that strike off of me so I don’t get prematurely sent into space?”

  “I don’t want to press my luck. Just lean back and enjoy the movies.”

  Slowly everyone in the containment area moved towards the screens. Some stood, some sat on the floor. As the screens were above everyone’s heads no one was blocked from viewing the movie. The restriction of sitting on someone else’s beds was even relaxed. The mood inside the room suddenly changed.

  Back in the operations room the Euclidians were noticing. “Kristi, I thought you had lost your mind when you set that video connection up. Go ahead and duplicate that feed in each of the cells. If some cells complain just switch the video. Get a Majorellen to help you translate as needed. This will certainly decrease our spoilage. I’ll see to it that you get a bonus for this.”

  Chapter 19

  Boarding the Andrea

  Betty, Calvin and Dominique looked around at their new surroundings in wonderment and fear, not sure what would happen next or what their new adventure would bring.

  “Here are three new crewmembers for you, approved by Captain Shisal,” said Uan to a training person on duty in the indoctrination area.

  She introduced herself to the three Earthlings in English. To them this was yet another strange alien. She directed them to seats in a room in front of a monitor built into a wall.

  “I have to go now,” stated Uan. “You will be in good hands here. When you have finished here you will be assigned a guide to help you get acclimated to the ship and teach you what you need to know to participate in the ball.”

  “How do we find you once we are done?” Asked Betty worried.

  “When you are assigned your universal connection device my contact information will be programmed into it. Just say gekola Uan into it and it will direct you to me.”

  “You’re just going to leave us with this guy,” fretted Calvin. “He looks like he might eat us.”

  “So do I, but you’re still here. Just relax. Everything will be fine. Once you have finished your indoctrination we will meet back up and tour the ship together.”

  With that Uan walked out and a training video began in English giving the three an overview of the ship and their yet to be assigned UCDs.

  ..Your universal connection device will be assigned to you at the completion of this presentation. It will be tuned to your human frequency and cannot be used by anyone else. If it is lost it will be returned
to you. If it is destroyed a replacement will be provided with the same settings and content. You will be asked to indicate next of kin when it is assigned to you as it will be turned over to them in case of your demise..

  “I guess we are each other’s next of kin,” said Dominique.

  “Uan is going to be mine,” responded Betty.

  “Are you sure about that? He didn’t seem to be eager to jump into a relationship back at the apartment.

  “I know. He will probably never love me, but he won’t abandon me either. That’s the most I can hope for.”

  “I guess that’s good enough.”

  “For now yes.”

  “Do you smell ginger in the air?”

  “Pay attention you two,” interjected Calvin.

  ..The ship is vast and can easily be disorienting. Your UCD will help you by answering any questions you might have in any language. Take the ship’s transport to get to your cabin or other locations aboard the ship on other decks. Use the corridor transports to reach distant locations on the same deck..

  “I’m in information overload,” stated Betty. “My head is about to explode. This is way too much to take on at one time.”

  “I know what you mean,” replied Calvin.

  ..You will now be greeted by your guide Cobalt. Enjoy your stay aboard the Andrea.

  “Hello you three. I am Cobalt. I will be your guide over the next couple of weeks.”

  Cobalt held his hand out to greet them, but they were frozen in place to see the blue creature speaking to them in perfect English.

  “Please take my hand. I promise I won’t bite.”

  They reluctantly shook his hand.

  “Come with me. I will have a UCD assigned to each of you and then give you a quick tour of the ship. Afterwards, I’ll take you to your cabins so you can get settled. Later I will help you design and create clothing for tomorrow’s ball. Greetings and salutations will be your first Euclidian language lesson.”

  “I don’t think I’m ready to learn a new language,” stated Calvin holding up his hands.

  “You don’t want to go to the ball and not be able to greet people. The captain wouldn’t be happy about that. It would also set you back on your schedule to learn the language in two weeks.”

  “You want us to learn an entire alien language in two weeks?” Exclaimed Dominique.

  “Don’t worry. You only have to speak it and just enough to do your jobs. You won’t have to write it or read it right away.”

  “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to be possible. I took French for two years in high school and I still can’t speak a word of it.”

  “You’ll do just fine. We have great teaching aids. Anyway, it’s better than the alternative.”

  “Which is?” Asked Betty hesitantly.

  “The captain will probably put you in one of the holding cells with the other Earthling captives or kill you. I’m thinking the latter.”

  “Why would he kill us?” Exclaimed Calvin.

  “Because you are a member of the crew. Learning Euclidian is a requirement of the job. Crewmembers that refuse to do their assigned tasks usually die a horrible death. I can show you some videos if you like.”

  “You film the killings?” Asked Betty.

  “They are actually shown throughout the ship.”

  “That must be motivating for the crew.”

  “I wouldn’t complain. He permitted you to board the ship instead of staying in the wasteland, which is now your planet. He is giving you an adventure most people would kill for and he is going to pay you quite well by Euclidian standards. And if you perform poorly it will reflect negatively on Uan. Understood?!”

  “Yes,” they all responded.

  “The proper response is sah! Understood?”

  “Sah,” they all said.

  Cobalt helped them initialize their UCD and then took them into the ship’s principal corridor where they were taken aback by the enormity of it all.

  “Ohhhh myyyyy goodness. This ship is huge!” Exclaimed Dominique.

  “How large is this thing?” Asked Calvin.

  “It’s about ninety kilometers wide, one hundred fifty kilometers long, and fifty kilometers deep,” replied Cobalt. “The corridor is about one hundred thirty kilometers long.”

  “Is that why all those people are in those flying chairs?” Asked Betty.

  “Sah, and soon you’ll be flying in them.”

  “No way,” stated Dominique.

  “Say ahs for no Dominique,” replied Cobalt. “The experience can be overwhelming at first, but you’ll soon get used to it. The mauve lights point out the transport areas and the pink lights indicate where you can pick up one of the overhead chairs. Go ahead and lead the way to one of the mauve lights.”

  “Those aliens won’t mind us walking between them?” Asked Betty.

  “Ahs, they are used to seeing new aliens all the time. Proceed to the transport area,” requested Cobalt.

  The three of them navigated through the passing stream of people to what appeared to be the door to the transport unit.

  “This display lets you know how many seconds before the transport arrives. Our seconds are longer than yours. Ten of our hours is equal to one day, which is twenty-eight of your hours. We have one hundred minutes per hour and one hundred seconds per minute. I’m sure you can do the math.”

  “Sah,” replied Betty.

  “Sah,” stated Dominique. “Too bad we can’t read your numbers.”

  “Don’t worry. Soon you will be able to. Did you notice that the people walking by were pointing their UCDs at you?” Asked Cobalt.

  “Ahs, not really,” said Calvin. “I’m sort of getting the hang of this.”

  “They are using them to get information on you,” said Cobalt.

  “Isn’t that an invasion of privacy?” Asked Betty.

  “You have to be able to know who people are on the ship. You also have to know how to communicate with them. Knowing where someone is from and their attributes makes it easier to interact with them. You wouldn’t want to challenge a person to Rashnan Ball if they weren’t physically capable of playing or if the person would crush you in the match. It does however hide your personal data. Of course security has access to everything you see and do on the ship.”

  “So what does the UCD record?” Asked Betty.

  “Almost everything!” Stated Cobalt. “It’s an extension of you. It sees your environment. It knows the people who are around you. It tracks smells, sounds and on occasion will take an omnidirectional recording that it can later play back directly into your mind. All of the things that we experience are basically electrical impulses to our brain. This device can record those impulses and then play them back to our brains and give the sensation that we are reliving those experiences. Let me show you something, sort of speak. Hold my device and put your thumb here. Now close your eyes and take a deep breath.”

  “Oh my goodness,” stated Betty. “I’m somewhere else. I can see a beach. I can hear the waves crashing against the blue rocks. I can smell the water. It’s sort of a mint smell. How is that possible?”

  “Everything we experience is via impulses to the brain. This device simulates those impulses. Here’s the transporter. Step inside and say trey out loud to let the transporter know you want to get to your cabins. Only one of you needs to say it, because your cabins are all next to each other.”

  Dominique stepped inside the transport, with the others close behind, and firmly said trey! The transport shifted sideways and then moved downward, which caught the passengers by surprise.

  “That was startling,” stated Calvin. “How does it do that?”

  “These transports can move in every direction,” replied Cobalt. “Be sure to hold on while you are inside these. Unlike your science fiction movies and TV shows, you will be impacted by the ship’s movements and the movements of the transports. When we start moving through space at high speeds you will need to be strapped into a chair if you do
n’t want to be hurt or killed by the sudden acceleration.”

  The transport stopped at the deck with everyone’s cabin and the doors opened.

  “Each of you face your UCD and state trey,” requested Cobalt.

  They each did as Cobalt requested.

  “You should each now see a blue arrow on your UCD that points to your cabin. The length of the arrow indicates the relative distance from the target or next waypoint. Go ahead and use your device to find your cabin and enter inside.”

  Each of them reached their cabins, firstly surprised that the doors automatically opened as they approached them. At one-hundred square meters, the cabins were quite comfortable. A digital wall gave them the appearance of a realistic window unto the universe. This, along with the fluorescent ceiling kept the cabins from feeling claustrophobic. The cabin was full of electronic gadgets and comforts that the three were eager to investigate.

  “Each of you take thirty minutes to make yourselves at home and then say gekola Cobalt into your UCD and an arrow will lead you to me,” shouted Cobalt from the hallway. “Don’t be alarmed by your neighbors, who are from other planets, they won’t harm you. See you soon,” Cobalt ended walking off.

  The three unpacked their bags and examined their surroundings. Within thirty minutes they met in the hallway and started on the first trip alone on the ship to find Cobalt.

  “Did you see that funky toilet”, said Calvin with excitement. “It squats down as you sit on it making the process a lot more comfortable and efficient. It cleans you up finishing off with a warm blast of air on your bottom. Then it helps you stand back up on your feet. Very cool!”

  “I was checking out the makeup mirror that let me adjust the shade of my face in the mirror and when it had the shade I liked I said sah and an arm came out and applied it. How do you beat that?” Asked Dominique.

  “All I can say is I loved the storage space and feel of the bed,” said Betty.

  “Okay, we’re on the transporter like the device instructed us. Now what?” Asked Calvin.

  “It’s moving. Let’s see where it takes us once it stops,” stated Dominique.

  The doors opened and the arrows on their devices changed to point down the hall of the new deck. As the three walked down the hall the arrow stopped them in front of a door with a green colored light. The door opened and there stood Cobalt.