by Jack Doe
"When?" Charles asked.
"I–I dunno," Bryce said, stopping his bouncing abruptly. "I didn't ask."
"Invite Anul'thek inside, and let's discuss it like adults," Charles said, giving his grandson a wry smile, who gave a sheepish grin and went to fetch the centaur.
Chapter 16
The humans sat and the centaur stood in the tiny room, each holding a glass of the finest wine Charles had. It wasn't fancy, but it was the best he had to offer, and it seemed only fitting to open it up for such a once-in-a-lifetime event.
"To new friendships," Bryce said, lifting his glass.
"To dreams long in coming but finally realized," Charles added, raising his glass.
"To a joyous life," Anul'thek said reverently, touching glasses with the other two. Bryce and Charles touched their glasses and sat, sipping the wine. It was excellent.
Bryce gave Anul'thek a curious look. "That saying really does mean a whole lot to you, doesn't it?" he asked. "You say it a lot." His voice expressed curiosity, not judgment.
Anul'thek nodded. "Ing'ma has told you parts of my people's history," he said. "From the way we order our maxims, you would think that it would be the least important, right?"
The humans nodded.
"And it would be, were it not for the fact that it is the most practical." Bryce frowned and Charles lifted an eyebrow. "Where I come from," Anul'thek said, "there is no desire to harm anyone. While it is the most important of our maxims, we very seldom encounter it." Grandfather and grandson nodded. "The same is true for doing our part during planting and harvesting. While it is very important, you may only find a person trying to shirk his work once in a lifetime."
He paused, took a sip of the wine. "This is very good," he said. "It would rival some of our better vintners."
Charles smiled. "Thank you," he said, "although mankind does have far better to offer," he admitted.
Anul'thek smiled. "It is wonderful," he said, and then continued. "Happiness comes from within. Centaurs tend to have naturally buoyant spirits, and so it is not common for us to have to repeat that maxim, either. You do occasionally find some foals having trouble here and there. Adolescence can be a very trying time emotionally."
Bryce's eyes widened for emphasis as he nodded. "That's the truth!"
"'More' not guaranteeing happiness is something that we have to deal with occasionally, and by remembering that happiness comes from within, we are able to help our friends and neighbors to remember it. Too, as 'more' goes, it tends to be self-fixing. If someone decides to overindulge in wine, he quickly remembers that more does not mean happiness." He grinned ruefully. "Spoken from experience."
"Been there!" Charles said, raising his glass.
Even Bryce had to admit to having overindulged a time or two.
"And so we're left with 'life is joyous,'" Anul'thek said. "Life is not all happiness and roses for centaurs any more than it is for you," he said. "We suffer disappointments, and we have family members die. People part and go separate ways to pursue things that give them joy. Disease is not common, but it does happen. Sometimes the weather acts up and messes up a crop, or it gets cold and we're uncomfortable. We have bad sex." He grinned and shrugged. "But reminding ourselves that life is joyous—that there is joy to be had, and that we should look harder—usually helps us find it."
He turned to Bryce. "You asked me what it meant when you left," he said. "Let me show you."
Bryce nodded, cradling his wine glass in his hands in his lap as he listened intently.
"I told you that we were not to be reunited, right?" Anul'thek asked.
"Yeah?" Bryce said questioningly.
"That is disappointing news," Anul'thek said, and Bryce nodded. "But if you remember that life is joyous, you start seeking the joy. I contented myself with the fact that I have met you both, something that no centaur has done in ten generations of centaurs."
"I contented myself knowing that a lifelong dream of mine had been achieved," Charles piped up.
"What can you content yourself with?" Anul'thek asked Bryce.
Bryce hesitated and then gave a wry smile. "I got my wish," he said.
"What wish?" his grandfather asked.
"The night I started working at Stonehenge, I went out to look at it after dark," Bryce replied. "I saw a meteor, and I wished that I'd get to see a centaur." He paused. "I felt silly wishing on a shooting star like that. That's something little kids do." He glanced at his grandfather. "But you told me to make a wish on every one I saw, and I did like you told me." Charles beamed. "My wish was always the same."
Anul'thek chuckled. "You see? Look at how happy you are right now." Bryce realized he was grinning ear-to-ear. "As I said," Anul'thek said, "life is joyous."
Bryce reeled slightly. "Wow," he said. "That really works."
Anul'thek nodded. "It really does."
The three sat and enjoyed the revelation for a moment, and then Anul'thek got down to business. "I suspect we're not here to share wine, though," he said, "although it is wonderful. We need to work out logistics of your visit: when, where, how, and how long."
The humans sat forward excitedly, nodding.
"The where and how, I have covered," Anul'thek said. "It's the when and how long that my people need to know."
Charles piped up. "Care to fill us in on the where and how?"
Anul'thek took a sip of wine and grinned. "You'll use scouting pods like the one I arrived in," he said. Bryce and Charles gave blank stares. "Oh, yes, you haven't seen it," he said. "I've kept it hidden." He began to describe the pod. "It is intended for centaurs to use, and so I'm afraid it may be a bit uncomfortable," he said. "We sit in them with our legs tucked under us. We'll have to figure out how to position you inside it so that you're comfortable. It will shrink itself down around you, nearly immobilizing you. It may be a little unnerving," he said apologetically. "It was for me the first several times. It gives it a much smaller footprint, though, which makes it harder to see, it heats up less, and it requires less energy to propel." The two nodded. They could endure a bit of discomfort for something like this.
"How long will it take to get there?" Bryce asked.
"Less than a minute," Anul'thek replied. Bryce's eyes widened. "Don't worry," Anul'thek said. "You don't have to steer it; it'll do it itself.
"What if we throw up?" Bryce asked, looking a little queasy.
Anul'thek shrugged. "It wouldn't be the first time," he said, grinning. "You'll wash, and so will the pod. Remember, life is..." He lifted his hand expectantly, cueing Bryce.
"Joyous," Bryce said, grinning.
"Right," Anul'thek said. "As for the where, we can take off from your driveway, if you like, or to divert attention, we could do it from the field where I landed."
"That might be better," Charles said. "We'll have to come back at some point, and I'd just as soon our neighbors weren't hounding us forever."
Anul'thek nodded. "Duly noted," he said. "We'll all take off at the same time, which will minimize the chance of someone taking notice. I'll put all of our pods together, which will make us look smaller than if we took off from different places."
"That sounds...great," Charles said, holding his hands up helplessly. Not that he had any better ideas for leaving the planet.
"So, when are we going?" Bryce asked eagerly.
"That's up to you," Anul'thek said. "As far as my people know, mankind does not know of our presence. We could realistically stay on the backside of your moon for at least a century before having to return home, unless mankind developed to the point of being able to discover us before then. We have no preference as to when you make your visit. On that note, we also have no preference as to how long you make your visit, but we do not want to interfere with your lives here." His tone grew grave. "We had considered offering to let you accompany us back home," he said, "but Charles, you would be at least seventy by the time we made it back, and Bryce, you would be in your thirties. We did not think it was fair to tak
e you from your species." He gave a look of confession. "That is what my mentor asked me to ponder, Bryce," he said, "and I ultimately told him that I did not wish that on either of you."
Bryce nodded. He tried to imagine a world without the Internet, without Stonehenge, without gay dating apps, without any other humans. He hated to admit it, but while he could live without gay dating apps, life without any other humans, even if he had Anul'thek and his people for company, might get lonely once his grandfather died.
Anul'thek clasped his hands by way of bringing the conversation back to the topic. "When would you like to visit?" he asked.
Bryce and his grandfather looked at each other. "I'm guessing it would be a one-time thing, right?" Bryce asked.
Anul'thek nodded. "The more trips we take, the greater risk of us being found out," he said.
"We could go right now!" Bryce said eagerly.
Anul'thek started forward excitedly, but Charles shook his head. "Bryce, at some point, you have to come back here," he said.
"I know," Bryce started to interrupt, but Charles pressed on.
"And when you do, you don't want to have lost the job at a place where you are finally really excited to work, a place that opens up so much opportunity for you."
Bryce started to speak, but Charles was right: if he took off work his first week without notice, it wouldn't go over very well, and he didn't want to make Sheila—who had put in a god word for him as she promised—look bad. He sighed. Even if this was a once-in-ten-lifetimes opportunity, he had to be practical.
"I work today and tomorrow," he said to his grandpa after some deliberation. "What do you think about this weekend? Get home Friday night, go visit, and be back Sunday night in time for work on Monday?"
Charles nodded. "Yes, I think you're right," he said. "It would be bad form to take off vacation in your first week of work," he said wryly, "and you don't want to jeopardize your dream job."
Bryce nodded, grinning. "You're right about that, Grandpa." They glanced at Anul'thek. "What do you think?"
Anul'thek nodded. "My people are already making the arrangements," he said.
Chapter 17
The next two days dragged on for what seemed like eternity. Bryce's days were spent anxiously awaiting the weekend; Charles's days were spent trying to learn as much about the centaurs as Anul'thek was willing to teach him, and Anul'thek's days were spent playing with Bryce's iPhone, learning as much as he could about mankind as he could.
On Friday, Bryce went to work, and Sheila caught him before he started his shift. "Pay day," she said with a wink. Bryce's face lit up. In all the excitement, he'd completely forgotten! He logged onto his bank account from his phone and reeled at the amount. It was double what he'd been making at the convenience store. He made for the gift shop.
"Don't spend it all at once!" Sheila called after him playfully.
Bryce looked up and down the aisles. Snow globes, plaques, coasters, collectible teddy bears. No, no, no! Where was what he was looking for? Figurines! Yes! He came across a little model for fewer than £20. It was perfect. It was made of resin and showed the stones that stood, the horseshoe clearly visible. He reached for it, but his eye fell upon a beautiful collectible model that showed Stonehenge as it must have looked 4300 years ago. His hand drifted towards it. It was £100. He could afford it, he thought. He picked it up carefully. Made of resin, copper, and gypsum, it was a spectacular piece that even showed all of the Q and R holes, filled with their respective bluestones. He hesitated. This was a beautiful piece, he reasoned, but the other piece was representative of what was actually here now. This was a much nicer piece, a collectible, and the other was mass-produced. He put the figurine back down. Cheap, mass-produced, but true-to-life model...or beautiful collectible that made some assumptions? Oh, he couldn't decide!
The centaurs' maxims floated through his head, and he stopped on the fourth one: "More does not guarantee happiness; it only complicates your life." Looking at it that way, the collectible was probably more fragile and would require maintenance of the brass. The resin model was built to be robust. The resin model would show the centaurs what they were missing; the collectible would show them what mankind thought they had missed. He shook his head in reverence: those centaurs sure were wise. He took the resin model to the counter and paid for it.
"Being here every day isn't enough? You've got to take some home, too?" Sheila needled him as he tucked it away for later.
"I have a friend from out of town coming over," Bryce said innocently enough, "and I wanted to get him a gift from Stonehenge."
Sheila mock-gasped. "And to think you actually have friends that aren't made of stone!"
"Hey!" Bryce retorted. "I hang out with you, don't I?"
Sheila pursed her lips petulantly. They both laughed.
The rest of the day was uneventful. He left with much enthusiasm.
"Off to the pubs tonight?" Sheila asked, grinning at Bryce's hurry to leave.
Bryce shook his head. "No, going to spend some time with a friend," he said. It was true, after all.
"Oh, that's right," Sheila said. "You two have a good time! We'll see you Monday."
"Thanks, Sheila!" Bryce hopped on his bicycle and took off, making it home in twenty minutes, sweaty and out of breath.
"Whoa, there," Charles said, "where do you think you're going?"
"To space!" Bryce said, putting his hands up like Superman.
"Not all filthy like that, you're not," Charles said with an eyebrow raised. "Go get cleaned up and put on your Sunday best."
"Grandpa, centaurs don't wear clothes!" Bryce protested. "We wouldn't want to come off as uppity, would we?" His grandfather paused. "Remember, more is just more complicated?"
Charles nodded approvingly. "You're a good kid," he said with a grin, ruffling Bryce's hair fondly. "I'll keep you." He glanced down at his fine attire. "Let me go change out of this peacockery," he said ruefully.
Twenty minutes later, Charles was wearing trousers and a polo shirt, and Bryce was showered and wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Both were comfortable in their attire, which Anul'thek assured them was the most important part. Outside, darkness had fallen over the shire. A waxing crescent moon was just beginning to appear on the horizon. It was time.
"You'll have to leave your phone," Anul'thek told Bryce. "We don't want to accidentally alert anyone down here where you're going." Bryce nodded and put it on his nightstand.
"Are you both ready?" Anul'thek asked. The two nodded. "All right," he said. Under cover of darkness, the three made their way out to the field. It was slower-going than it had been the last time they'd met, since they were all on foot. Anul'thek made his way from tree to tree, staying covered as much as possible as the other two walked. Eventually, they came to the hedge where Anul'thek had hidden his pod. He retrieved it and placed it just outside the canopy of a tree.
"Where are the others?" Bryce asked. Anul'thek shushed him and hummed in a very deep voice, lower than the humans had ever heard a person hum. Two faint glowing lights appeared on the ground nearby. The two humans went to them and laid hands on them. Anul'thek stopped humming, and the lights disappeared.
"That is quite a way to find your ship," Charles said appreciatively. Anul'thek nodded.
"All right," he whispered. "I'm going to get you two situated, and then I'll get into my pod, and we'll take off." He felt along Charles's arm and down to his hand, where he felt the familiar feeling of a pod beneath Charles's fingers. He felt his way along it towards the back and found the opening. He grasped the opening with his hands and pulled it apart. Silently, it gave way, splitting open like a pea pod from back to front. "Step inside," he whispered to Charles. "Put your feet behind you, and put your head up this way," he said, indicating that Charles's head should go towards the front of the pod. Charles did so.
"All set?" Anul'thek asked.
"I think so," Charles said, his voice quavering.
"Don't worry," Anul'thek said reassuringl
y, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It'll be over before you know it."
Next he went to Bryce and helped him into his pod. "Ready?" he asked. Bryce gave a thumbs-up, his lips trembling. "Hang in there," Anul'thek said. "It won't take long."
He gently shoved the two pods right beside each other and then took his pod and put it beside them.
"All right," he whispered. "Time to go. I'm about to close your pods. Don't panic. It will be tight, but just breathe, and you'll be fine."
The two nodded. Anul'thek tapped Charles's pod, and as if being zipped up by a zipper, the two halves of the pod fused together around his body, mummifying him. Vegetation inside the pod converted the carbon dioxide from his breath back into oxygen. Anul'thek tapped Bryce's pod, and it, too, sealed itself shut. He hopped into his, deftly positioned himself inside of it, and tapped a control on his yoke. His pod sealed shut and enclosed him.
