You Can Call Me Al (4 page)

“Follow me, Johnny, we must not tarry here,”
Al said urgently.

Johnny glanced behind him and saw a window
showing his camp area. “Can these things get into my camp?” he
whispered shakily.

“They could but they won’t. These beings are
not going to go someplace where they could possibly alarm the
native populace,” Al explained.

Suddenly, a brown claylike figure emerged
from another window to their rear. It fell to the floor with a dull
thud. It was as big as an average washing machine and was
constantly changing its shape as it slid along the floor. There
were bright colored lights around a good portion of its body -
eyes? The window it had arrived from showed an image of a huge
arena where two titanic monstrosities were engaged in some type of
wrestling match. All around the arena were various
extraterrestrials of all shapes and sizes. They appeared to be
cheering the combatants on.

The creature ignored Johnny and Al as it
oozed over the floor towards the center of the concourse.

“I never knew there was a place like this on
earth,” Johnny gasped.

“We aren’t on earth, Johnny. We are on a
moon of a remote planet.”

Johnny just shrugged this explanation off.
He was getting tired and a little cranky. “It’s so cold in here,
and there is a strange smell,” he whimpered.

“Yes, Johnny, this area is acclimatized to
support a lot of different types of life. Some however would have
to enter here with their own life support systems. There are other
gateways which accommodate those with drastically different
environmental requirements.”

“This isn’t real, this isn’t happening,”
Johnny mumbled.

“We must not delay any longer. Come,
Johnny.”

Al led Johnny to a window to their far
right; beyond the window was a turquoise colored courtyard with a
tall monument at its center surrounded by stone walls with turrets
at each corner. The stone walls were the same color as the
courtyard, the monument reminded Johnny of the one he had seen in
Washington D.C. when his Mom had taken him there a couple of
summers ago. This monument, however, looked like it had been carved
out of a giant emerald.

“We must step through this window, Johnny,”
Al instructed. “We will be going through a mild force field. You
will feel some slight resistance, but don’t try to stop or pull
back by any means. Do you understand?”

“Yes, let’s get this over with,” Johnny said
despairingly.

Al pulled Johnny through. The boy didn’t
resist, but he felt limp and lethargic.

“
Johnny has been up a long time, he is
going to need some rest soon,”
Al thought.

They appeared at the base of the monument.
There was an arched opening on the side facing them, they went
inside and came into an elliptical shaped area. There were two
spiral staircases on each side which curved and went up and into an
opening into the interior walls.

Al led Johnny to one of the staircases. As
they stepped onto the first stair, the entire staircase started to
move like they were on an escalator. It carried them up and through
the wall to a landing where Al gently ushered Johnny off. He then
guided him down a short hallway, before entering another arched
opening leading to a room which was stark white in color. There was
a long convoluted couch along one side of the room with a low oval
shaped table nearby. Two easy chairs were against the opposite
wall. There were tall pole-like porcelain lamps at each corner of
the room; in the back was a doorway which led to a small bathing
area.

Johnny no longer felt frightened, just numb
all over.

“
He is in sensory overload; he must rest
for a while
,” Al thought with concern.

Al administered a mild sedative to Johnny
with a sharp but tiny syringe. Johnny didn’t even seem to notice
it. He got drowsy and started to collapse. Al picked him up and
laid him on the couch; within minutes Johnny was asleep. Al then
extracted a blood sample from Johnny and removed the timepiece from
Johnny’s pocket.

Al quietly left the room and proceeded
further down the hallway. He stopped and placed his palm against
the emerald colored wall. A section of it slid away revealing
another room inside. The entire room was bathed in a gentle blue
light. About eight feet away was a large video screen. A
semicircular desk with two chairs was directly in front of the
screen; on the desktop was a small hand held remote device. There
was a large porthole on the wall to the left which gave a view of
the courtyard and the scenery beyond. Outside the stone walls of
the courtyard was a sandy shoreline; a great expanse of water
stretched from the shoreline all the way into the horizon. Just
above the horizon was a small dark red sun, the color of dried
blood.

Al picked up the video remote and pressed in
his numeric code using the appropriate buttons on it. The screen
brightened with the following text:

“CONTACTING HOST PLEASE WAIT.”

Then the screen flashed with the following
words:

“
Hello Almericana. Were you able to
secure the last timepiece?”

“Yes I did, Roberterian. I also brought the
boy as instructed and have a sample of his DNA. He is presently
sleeping in the white room.”

Al just had to vocalize his words and they
would appear on the screen. No keyboard was necessary.

“
Excellent. How did he manage the
journey?”

“Not too bad considering how young he is. I
tried to enter earlier but the window was inactive.”

“
Yes, I had to make some adjustments to
this area to better accommodate Johnny’s arrival. I noticed a robot
followed you through here.”

“I saw it in the gateway area. It was the
one that I stole the last timepiece from. I haven’t been able to
completely evade it.”

“
Have no fear; I neutralized it as it
entered this realm.”

“Thank goodness for that, I thought I would
never get rid of it.”

A clear cylindrical container about three
feet tall and one foot in diameter appeared in the room and off to
the right of the screen.

“
Place the DNA sample and the timepiece
in the cylinder so I can extract it.”

Al removed the cylinder’s top cover and
placed the items onto its bottom tray. He then resealed it; several
seconds later it disappeared.

“Awaiting further instructions,” Al
replied.

“
Let the boy waken naturally, then
explain some things to him so he grasps the significance of what
has been happening, then bring him here so I can converse with
him.”

“Yes, Roberterian.”

“
Thanks, Almericana.”

“COMMUNICATION TERMINATED,” the screen
read.

Johnny awoke to the soft white lights of the
room. On a table before him was a platter of sliced fruit, bread,
and wedges of cheese, there was also a glass of orange colored
liquid. Tentatively Johnny took a sip, it was the sweetest orange
juice he had ever tasted. Johnny started to consume the food, he
was ravenous.

“
I wonder how long I have been
sleeping?”
he thought restlessly.

As Johnny was finishing this thought, Al
appeared in the archway.

“I see you have had your nourishment,” Al
said.

“So what do we do now?” Johnny asked.

“Well I promised you an explanation about
the timepiece.”

Reflexively Johnny felt for it inside his
pocket. “It’s gone,” he said, agitatedly.

“I had to return it to your father. You see,
Johnny, the timepiece can literally stop time, but only for a short
period, and it has a limited sphere of control. Machines are not
affected by it, that includes robots and androids. That is why the
bus continued to move once you turned it on. You see how dangerous
that could have been for you.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Of course you didn’t, only three time
pieces were made by the higher order and brought into this
universe, the timepieces were originally designed to assist
travelers when moving into different realms. Some realms move at a
faster rate of time, others move much slower. It is possible for an
individual to enter another realm for just a few seconds and then
once returning to their home realm find that many years had passed.
This would cause a lot of inconveniences and potential problems.
The time pieces were created to bring the traveler’s home realm
more into sync with the ones they were visiting, eliminating the
time dilation effect.”

“What is this Higher Order?” Johnny asked
ponderously.

“A team of scientists: your father is one of
them. After creating three timepieces, they realized that they were
not functioning properly, so the project was scrapped. They were
stopping time instead of just altering its flow, and their
effective range and duration was very minuscule. My mission was to
return all the timepieces to your father. Unfortunately a couple of
rebel robots got a hold of two of the timepieces and were using
them for their own evil purposes. I had to follow the robots and
get the timepieces back from them. The last one chased me
relentlessly after I made off with the timepiece it had taken. I
couldn’t shake its tail so I had to leave the timepiece with
someone else while I led it on a fruitless trail. That is why I
gave it to you to hold for me.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me what it did?
Then maybe I wouldn’t have tried to turn it on.”

“Two reasons, Johnny, one is that you
probably wouldn’t have believed me. Secondly, I didn’t have time,
the robot was getting too close. I didn’t want to jeopardize your
safety, I am expendable but you aren’t. I can move very fast,
Johnny, faster than any ordinary man, and the timepiece has no
effect on me. That is one of the reasons your father selected me
for this mission. I am an android, Johnny, a synthetic human
being.”

“Robots? Androids? This is just too much to
believe.”

Al reached around and removed a small plate
from under his scalp, exposing his electronic flashing hardware
inside.

“Oh my God!” Johnny said in amazement.

Al replaced the plate. “I know you have a
lot more questions. Come, your father is waiting.”

Al and Johnny entered and sat down at the
desk in front of the large monitor in the other room. Al initiated
the communication contact sequence.

“Is my father some kind of computer or
machine?” Johnny shrieked.

“No Johnny, but this is the only way we can
communicate with him. Just say the words you want him to hear and
they will appear on the screen and he will reply in kind.”

The screen flashed.

“
Hello Almerican.”

“Hello Roberterian. I am here with
Johnny.”

“
Hello, Johnny: it is so nice to talk
with you at last.”

“Are you… you…. you my father?” Johnny
stuttered.

“
Yes, Johnny, I am. I apologize for not
being able to talk with you in person; I wish it was somehow
possible.”

“Why isn’t it?” Johnny interrupted

“
Johnny, I am a member of a team of
scientists. Quite some time ago we created a miniature universe, a
continuum structured with containment forces. Think of it as a
bubble containing planets, stars, and solar systems on a
microscopic level. Your universe exists in my laboratory: you are
the size of a bacterium compared to people of my world.”

“I don’t believe you,” Johnny said
defiantly.

“
I can’t blame you, Johnny, the concept
is very hard to grasp.”

“What are you, God or something?” Johnny
screamed.

“
Oh no, Johnny, not even close. Please
hear me out; perhaps I should have waited until you were a little
older to meet with you like this.”

“I’m old enough!”

“
Your universe contains only one galaxy,
the Milky Way. There are many solar systems in that galaxy. A lot
of those solar systems have planets containing intelligent life. So
far most of the evolved life has not achieved significant space
travel. Our team of scientists had to create a catalyst in your
universe to enable the beings of other worlds to more easily make
contact with each other.”

“Oh”? Johnny murmured.

“
We needed to observe this interaction so
we could comprehend the consequences resulting from different forms
of intelligent life interrelating together. That way we would be
better prepared when it happens at our level. We established the
gateways so travel could be made more expeditiously between your
planetary systems. There was some time distortion when using the
gateways to other realms, we tried a quick fix by creating some
timepieces; unfortunately they didn’t function like we had hoped.
We are still working on the problem.”

“My science teacher told me there are a lot
of other galaxies besides the Milky Way in the universe,” Johnny
said haughtily.

“
Your teachers cannot see things from our
perspective. The other galaxies are false images, phantoms; maybe
someday we will develop them into real planets and stars.”

“If I am no more than bacteria to you how
can you be my father?” Johnny asked.

“
That explanation will even be more
difficult for you to comprehend.”

“Go ahead,” Johnny said unsteadily.

“
I wanted to see if I could reproduce
with life at your level. I am a microbiologist and this was an
important undertaking because we were being faced with cutbacks on
our capital allotments for this project. If successful we would get
a continuation to our grant. So I created Almericana, an artificial
form of life, and injected him into your universe.”

“Almericana? Is that your real name?” Johnny
asked as he looked at Al in the adjacent seat.

“Yes it is, Johnny, but you can call me
Al.”