by Travis McBee
Dennis had gone straight to the authorities and told them the entire story. They simply laughed and dubbed him “A Redneck Lunatic” before shooing him out of their office.
From that night on Dennis had become obsessed with UFO’s and six months after the ordeal sold everything he owned so that he could move to what he called “Alien Country” or the middle of the Arizona dessert. His move hadn’t paid off as far as he was concerned and he hadn’t seen a single flying saucer. His search for fellow UFO hunters had also not gone well and when he ventured into Dikon for supplies the locals would call him a “Hillbilly Lunatic” behind his back.
Dennis kicked a rock out of frustration and watched as it arced through the air before bouncing off the silver exterior of his trailer.
“This sucks,” He muttered to himself.
He had almost reached the door and was even stretching his hand out to pull it open when a pulsing light stuck his shadow against the trailer’s surface in front of him. He turned around to see the same black flying saucer hovering a few inches above the ground only fifteen feet away from where Dennis stood. He screamed a shriek that a banshee would be proud of and pelted across the desert in pure fear. What was I thinking moving out here?
His feet slipped and skidded across the loose sand but he kept his balance and jumped over a boulder in a surprising display of athleticism. He turned his head and saw the UFO streaking across the desert chasing him and he screamed and turned to look where he was running. He turned too late.
Dennis was able to get his hands over his face before he hit the cactus and that was extremely lucky for him. The spiny needles would probably have been able to puncture an eye. None the less he smashed into the cactus with enough force to snap it off at its base and was unfortunate enough to roll over on it as both he and the cactus toppled to the ground.
When Dennis regained his feet he was covered in the barbs of the cactus. His arms and chest go the worst of the punishment but he could feel more than a few of the terrible needles tucked into his fleshy backside. He wasn’t concerned about those at the moment however and was staring around into the sky searching for the cause of his little run. The UFO had vanished like a fart in the wind and the stars that filled the sky all remained motionless.
Dennis began to laugh. He didn’t know why he was laughing but he was and he continued laughing all the way back to his trailer. He was still laughing during the next hour while he jimmied the barbs out of his skin although that laughter was punctuated by howls of pain.
An onlooker would have decided that Dennis was most assuredly a lunatic but as for Dennis he had decided that he had never had so much fun in his life and found himself hoping another UFO would come soon. Even though he knew he would run away in terror.
* * *
“Ha-ha did you see your ex’s face?” Abby laughed at Will
“She probably had to change her pants after that one!” Corey agreed who was sitting next to Abby
The ticking run had been the most fun Will had had since arriving at Bridgeworld, except for zegma of course, and the four of them now discussed the day’s events over dinner in the cafeteria.
“What about the moron that fell in the pool on that ship?” Jon voiced, “That was hilarious!”
Corey nodded his head, “The best was that smiley face in the field though. It’s all over their news,” he held up his micro showing an Earth newspaper with the smiling barley on the front page, “That was brilliant Will!”
“I thought it’d cheer up the poor kids stuck in school,” Will smiled back at his friends, “What was up with that guy in the desert though?”
“Oh him? My brother scared him into moving a few years ago and wanted to check up on him,” Corey replied
“How kind of your brother,” Abby told him with a flirtatious giggle that made Will raise his eyebrow.
“Well you know kindness runs in the family,” Corey replied in a tone that skyrocketed Will’s eyebrow.
The rest of the dinner passed in cheerful conversation about the day’s events but Will couldn’t keep his eyes off of Corey and Abby who had begun to relentlessly flirt back and forth with each other. The flirtation obliterated Will’s appetite and he could only stare in horror as his newest friend stole away the girl he had longed for since he had arrived. He felt himself fade from the conversation as he tried to search his memory for the start to their apparently mutual attraction. It was a terrible ending to an otherwise fun day and Will became more and more ticked off as he ate his dinner.
Chapter Eleven
Firsts
The weeks following the ticking run were awkward at best for Will. Abby and Corey started dating officially the next day and Will had felt like he was going to cry when he saw the extra Amor dangling on her slender wrist. The two of them still hung out with Jon and Will but they were constantly either kissing, hugging, or holding hands, and Will soon began to dismiss himself from the room whenever the couple would begin to show their affection.
Jon was well aware of Will’s crush on Abby before the fact and could sense the misery her new relationship brought on his friend as easily as a dog smells a steak on the grill. He tried valiantly to rescue his friend from the clutches of depression at every opportunity and would guide Will to parts of the school that were Abby-less whenever things got too awkward.
Will was given a brief reprieve from his love life misery by his school life misery. The Bridgeworld courses had transformed themselves from the intriguingly hard classes they had first been and became downright nastily difficult. Will spent almost every second of his free time studying and found himself in the Study Hall deeply immersed in his micro which would scroll complex equations and obscure facts across its shiny screen.
When schoolwork granted a reprieve on his time, Zegma would quickly step in to take its share. The practices were intense and every time he stepped into the shower a cascade of dirt and sweat would flow off of his body and through the hole at the top. He was getting much better as he played more and more and no longer resembled a human pinball. He had even managed to work his way into being a starter although he was the ninth and final starting doubler.
* * *
“Okay guys come on down,” Coach called to the team after a particularly intense practice.
Will pushed himself towards the floor from his position on a satellite halfway across the gym. Around him a dozen other boys did the same.
“You all know that we have our first game on Saturday against Mugoy Central so I need all of you to be on the shuttle by no later than eleven, understand?” Coach announced as the last person floated into the huddle at the center of the gym.
The team murmured that they understood him and they would be there. It was a distasteful murmur laced with doubt and uneasiness.
“Now I know that with them being both a surface school and a public school they are heavy favorites,” Coach continued correctly interpreting their moans, “But just because they have over four thousand students doesn’t mean any of them are any good at Zegma!”
He chuckled and the team echoed his laugh halfheartedly. The fact was that Mugoy Central was that good. They had won the league championship the year before and were heavy favorites to repeat. Will had heard nothing but how good they were from his teammates in the locker room for weeks.
“They won the championship last year,” Coach was finishing up his speech, “But that doesn’t mean they are going to beat us this year! Now hit the showers you all smell like five month old glosh.”
* * *
Saturday came faster than Will would have cared for and that morning he found his stomach was tied into a knot. He sat at the breakfast table with Jon, Abbey, and Corey unsure if he was ready for his first real Zegma game.
“So what do you think Jon, do we have a chance?” Will asked him while moving his food around his tray with no intention of eating it.
“Well yeah, you always have a chance. That said ours isn’t very good,” Jon replied laughing
casually while spooning food into his mouth.
“Abigail! I. Do. Not. Want. To. Go!” Corey’s voice broke over the table loudly, “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
Abby and Corey had been in a heated argument during the entire course of breakfast. Corey didn’t want to go to the game to cheer on Will and Jon but Abby was adamant that they would both attend.
“We are going to support our friends,” Abby lashed back with a viciousness Will had never seen “That is final! Do you understand that?”
She had lowered her finger to point at Corey’s chest like a knight would lower a lance towards their enemy. The calm face of Abby had broken into a nasty frown and her eyes raged fires of anger.
“Okay, okay!” Corey said quickly suddenly afraid of his previously cute little girlfriend, “You’re the boss!”
Corey exchanged an exasperated look with Will and Jon. Jon broke into laughter and Will couldn’t help but smile himself. After a second of glaring at her laughing friends Abby joined in and the rest of the breakfast passed by cheerfully.
The school had several shuttles. The one Will had first arrived on was called the Terra Shuttle and it was the only one that resembled a flying saucer, Will thought that it was probably more than a coincidence.
The shuttle they were taking to the surface was a glittering silver vehicle that was remarkably similar looking to a jumbo jet. It had stubby little wings that jetted out of the long fuselage at right angles. The front of the craft was adorned with the windows of the cockpit while the end tapered off into a sharp cone that had tall tail fin resting over smooth lines that appeared to be a rear door. The rear door, if it was a door, was closed but a large ramp descended from the front of the shuttle allowing them to board. It was the largest shuttle in the hanger and was used to take the students all over the universe. It could seat the entire populous of the school but today there were barely a hundred and fifty people aboard the sleek ship.
Will entered along with Jon, Corey, and Abby. The seats were arranged in sections with three seats facing forward and three seats facing rear so that groups of people could look at each other while they conversed. Every section was also equipped with a window, they weren’t the tiny portholes that afforded limited views on terrestrial aircraft but large windows that allowed every occupant to clearly see the outside world.
Will and his group of friends walked down the center aisle and when they arrived around the middle of the plane chose an almost deserted section. One boy sat staring out the window lost in his own thoughts and didn’t see them approach. He was a short stocky boy with a small protrusion of a belly that threatened to throw him into obesity in the future. His head was dusted with a short layer of blonde hair that was quickly turning black as he aged.
“Hey Russell,” Will greeted the boy as he chose the seat directly across from him. Corey and Abby sat down next to Russell and Jon chose the seat next to Will.
“Oh hey Yall,” He replied glancing away from the window and up at Will and Jon.
“Ready for the game big guy?” Jon asked him a tone so airy it approached apathetic
Russell Mcorley was on the zegma team along with Will and Jon. He was the freer and was the one responsible for dislodging magnetized teammates. Will had gotten to know him fairly well in practice because of the innumerable times that he had been clubbed.
“A lot readier than I was the first time I went down to Broglio. I just about flipped out, it was a lot different from home I can tell you that,”
“Where you from?” Will asked him trying to keep Corey and Abby out of his peripherals, they had begun to cuddle.
“Earth. Didn’t have a clue about all of this until the day before I left. Some dude named Mr. Roberts showed up and explained it all to me. Guess I still thought it was all a kind of scam until I got down on Broglio. That’s when it set in that it was real and I almost came apart.” Russell finished with a shudder of memory and an embarrassed smile.
“Where are you two from?” he said breaking a brief pause of silence
“Broglio, nothing exciting there,” Jon replied looking disappointed he couldn’t provide a more exciting answer.
“I’m from Earth also,” Will said, “Your story is identical to mine except Mr. Roberts decided to follow me around for a few days before hand and scare the tar out of me.”
“He followed you?” Russell asked raising an eyebrow, “That’s sketchy,”
“Tell me about it,” Will laughed
Russell returned the laugh before asking, “So where are you from on Earth?”
“United States,” Will answered, “Small town in Alabama to be more specific
“No way! I’m from Georgia bout as polar opposite of this place as possible eh?”
“Ha-ha you know it,”
* * *
They continued to talk about Earth and the southern United States until the ship gave a shuddering jolt and began to skid sideways five minutes later.
“Well off we go then,” Russell said looking back out the window as the hanger began to move past it.
“Bout time too,” Corey voiced up, it was the first thing he had said since coming onto the shuttle.
“How longs it take to get down to the surface?” Will asked staring out the window like Russell.
“Bout five minutes,” Russell answered without glancing back
Russell was spot on with his estimate. The voyage to the surface was quick and completely smooth after the bump that first sent the shuttle in motion. The hanger doors slid open smoothly and the sleek ship flitted through a thin skin of light that Will guessed held the air in. The ship slipped out into the space that surrounded Bridgeworld. The first thing Will could see was the metallic black wall of the school stretching away into the distance as the ship was parallel and after a few moments he could only see the deep black of space.
The ship turned and afforded Will’s eyes a glimpse of the cube of metal that he called both school and home. It was framed against the sickly red sun of Broglio and the light bounced over its glistening surface in waves of beauty. Beneath it the gray world seemed to stare up at the cube as if envying it for its space in the heavens. It’s amazing.
The ship nosed over and flew almost straight down towards Broglio itself and Will felt his stomach cringe as he saw the gray world growing steadily larger. Outside their window he began to see streaks of fire embracing the shuttle as they started to pass through the atmosphere. The flame intensified until the small group was illuminated in the blinding light of the flickering white flames. Even with the intensity of the fire Will noticed he felt neither heat or the shudders of turbulence and began to relax as his confidence in the mechanism of his voyage grew.
The shuttle turned itself parallel to the surface only a few thousand feet above the city of Mugoy. Will could see monolithic buildings stretching upward to meet them from the gray surface below. Each of the massive constructs was a bleary brown and all of them appeared to be identical except for the varying sizes. In the distance he could see the blue gleam of an ocean and its brilliance was the only mark of color he could identify.
As the shuttle descended on the city Will began to see pods streak by the window. Some of these were the saucer shaped craft that he had ridden in with Adrian, others were simple boxes ringed with windows that reminded Will of antique cars for some reason. One pod that putted by at a sedate pace had no roof and Will was pleasantly surprised to find the pod was painted a vivid red and driving the convertible red pod was a beautiful woman whose blonde hair waved in the wind.
“Somethings stay the same in every world huh?” Russell laughed as he saw the same pod.
“Ha-ha yep, I guess so.” Will responded easily
Another thing that remained constant in every world was parking lots and the large shuttle he was riding in landed in one among the giant buildings of Mugoy. The large empty space was filled with pods and other shuttles of varying sizes and shapes.
Outside his window he cou
ld see wide streets barreling along in perfectly straight lines on three sides of the parking lot. Along the streets pedestrians hobbled along at varying speeds. An old lady with snow white hair was obviously in no hurry and she was constantly being passed by hurried looking business men, at least Will thought they looked like business men, and impatient teenagers most of which were scuttling into the large building that bordered the fourth side of the massive parking lot.
A tittering jingle perforated the ship and the occupants of Will’s section rose to their feet. Will followed suit and let the retreating back of Corey lead him down the aisle, off of the shuttle and onto the surface of Broglio.
Broglio was a slightly larger planet than Earth and Will could feel it as soon as he stepped onto the black surface that appeared to either be asphalt or the galactic equivalent of asphalt. The planet seemed to tug at him and he felt suddenly heavy and sluggish. Bridgeworld was kept at the same gravitational pull as Earth but Broglio’s gravitational force was one and half times as strong as Will’s distant home and as a result he now felt as if his slim one hundred and forty pound frame had packed on an additional seventy pounds.
Russell noticed his teammate swaying on his suddenly overloaded knees and patted him on the back lightly so as not to throw him onto the ground.
“You’ll get used to it,” he told Will, “Just think about something other than the gravity,”
Will nodded and tried to think of something else. He thought of zegma, of school work, and of Abby but for once none of those could overrule what his mind was contemplating. After all, how do you just ignore gravity?
Will hobbled along in line after his friends as they approached the gargantuan building that took up an entire side of the parking lot. It was a dwarf compared to many of the buildings surrounding it but it was still huge to Will who had only been in an Earth city a few times in his life. It appeared to be around twenty stories high and its exterior was punctuated at even intervals by windows that glistened cheerfully in the afternoon sun. A sign clung onto the brown facade directly above a row of dull gray doors, but it was in the still alien symbols of Ligurian and Will had no clue what it said. He followed the procession towards the doors that sat under that alien sign and when he was less than fifteen feet from entering a familiar voice hailed him.
