The Old Man and the Rocketship

Visitors on the Backpoarch

The day the two boys had helped repaint the ship. Halloween evening, Jed was sitting in the front parlor when the knock came at his door. Eddy had long ago gone to bed, so he moved quickly to avoid her being disturbed. For a moment he was dizzy, maybe from moving too quickly. But getting a hold of himself and grasping a side table, Jedediah flicked on the back porch light and opened the screen door. There could be no doubt that two aliens stood on his backstoop.

"Trick or treat's over boys." Jedediah tried being funny. However, just by looking at the two slender figures, he knew that no human frame could fit inside such costumes. He passed his hand over their heads, no wires. They meanwhile gazed back up at him.

"Is this a new kind of human greeting Mr. Starker?"

For lack of anything better, they looked like broccoli stalks with three eyes sitting just under the green clumps that passed as their hair or brains or whatever. Just below the slit, which had moved when the one spoke, there was a gold ring and from that point on down, their bodies were blue. In the middle of what would have been the chest of a human was an insignia, the planet Saturn.

"Greeting? Oh um, no. I was just checking the obvious. Won't you come in?" Like their eyes, the two aliens also had three arms and three legs, all of which were located below the gold ring and so, were encased in blue as well. The legs, which sprang from a central joint, were attached and moved from the bodies in a spider-like motion.

"Greetings Mr. Stalker, we have come to claim the ship."

"The ship? My ship? My rocketship? The Excelsior?"

"Yes, but, in point of fact, the ship is ours. We built it in your mind, and you built it out of scrap."

"Now wait a moment, I've seen rocketships like that a thousand times in movies and magazines, especially back during the fifties. And, come to think of it, I've seen aliens like you in comics as well. In fact, why do you have the planet Saturn on your chest? You don't expect me to believe you're from there do you?"

"Don't be absurd, the planet you call Saturn is a gas giant. We'd have to be helium blimps to survive on that world. This" and here the alien touched its chest with one of its appendages "is Zgatrion, and the rings are the remains of our one moon, pulverized by a mini black hole that now provides the gravitational pull needed to keep our ecosystem alive. As for the wide appearance of the rocket design in various science fiction works as well as our own appearances, all of what you noted is true and exactly to our point. We knew that we would be on this world by this time, but we also knew that our transportation would be burned out."

"So," continued the second being, "we contacted you, not just you but a wide range of yous, using tachyon waves to communicate. As you may or may not know, such waves travel faster than light and thus go backward in time. So various individuals tried to make our ship. Some didn't make it real enough and settled for drawings and models; others were too real and got themselves burdened with what they knew could work. A good portion of your government's space program comes from that. Helpful for your people but not appropriate for us."

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble boys, but I blew it too. That ship outside can't fly. I did the best I could, but there were two kids here earlier that brought up a whole series of ideas and technologies that make The Excelsior look pretty primitive. Even when I built her fifty years ago, I knew that I had no clue what kind of engine could provide the right amount of thrust to make her fly."

"Leave that to us, come and see."

The two visitors led the way with Jedediah in tow. Only at the last moment did he recall himself to catch the screen door before it banged shut.

"My wife's asleep."

"Yes, we know."

At the base of the driveway, Jed found that the rocket had been lowered and the hatch was open. The two visitors stepped quickly in and he followed. The first thing he noticed was that the air was cooler and there was a strange, if not unpleasant, smell. Then his eyes fell on the engine room hatch. It was swung wide open and inside something had taken the place of his old turbine-powered engine, something that bubbled and thrummed while giving off a greenish glow.

"That is our star drive. We won't attempt to explain everything to you now, but it actually creates a bubble within the time-space continuum. The "primitiveness" of the rocket ship is misleading. What you call primitive we call simplicity. This rocket ship will maneuver well in both your and our atmospheres. As for stellar guidance and protection from the dangers of space, the shield takes care of the rest. In point of fact, the vehicles used by our race could be even simpler and still adaptable to the field. In fact some of our operatives have actually used native wooden vessels. However, what you built will be both comfortable and practical."

Jedediah looked hungrily at the machine. There was more than he had seen on Earth. There were worlds where technology bordered on what would seem like magic. And there was also at last confirmation that all he thought of, dreamed of was, in fact, the truth. Being called Crazy Jed Stalker for years wears on a man. The Excelsior had been a great source of pride, but it also had been a bit of a worry. He had in the middle of Middle America constructed a rocket ship. No one else had gone as far as he had, so he did wonder at times whether, in fact, he was just a little crazy. The first being brought him out of his reveilles with a touch on his arm.

"We know you have labored on this craft for years, built it, maintained it, even protected it. We have little to offer you for it, except for one possibility. You can, if you wish, come with us." It was only then that Jedediah saw that someone had installed a third chair.

"Go with you?"

"Yes, come, be one of Earth's emissaries. You will be in great and important company. Although most of your world still struggles for their first steps into space, many of your people have joined us and have already begun to lay down the foundations of the kind of role Earth people will play in its stellar future."

"I don't know. The farm, Eddy, my whole life is here."

"We know your life. For years you have sat at these controls and aimed this ship to the stars. You even at times have played with the idea of actually bringing the rocket engine you had installed up to full power, even though you knew you would die in the blast. Just on the off chance to see if it might work. Well, now it will work, and you can come see everything you ever desired.

"Couldn't I bring Eddy with me?"

"No, she hasn't been cleared. Her mind has not been receptive. Don't trouble yourself too much. Your daughter is very involved with a young man who will care for this farm and will care for your wife in the same way you cared for your mother."

"Oh, but still, to leave her..."

One of the alien's eyes belonging to the alien who was speaking caught the attention of the three eyes of his companions. The companion bowed which seemed similar to a nod.

"Mr. Stalker," the first continued. "I violate a directive by doing this, but it will make no difference to us. You are not well. You may have already noticed moments of dizziness, which strike you when you move suddenly. Within your body is an aneurysm that like a bomb is ticking. The countdown is almost over. If you come with us, we will save you, and you will live hundreds of years more. If you stay you will be dead in the morning, and even if you spoke to your wife now about us, people will think it only the delusions of a dying man. If you come, your wife will grieve, but we will make it look as if the rocket blew up, and she will get over it. If you stay you die and she will grieve anyway, and will still get over it. The only loser if you choose to stay here is yourself. Will you come?"