I AM A FUGITIVE FROM ANOTHER GALAXY –3

Revised to remove several references to underage sex. This will complete the story.


CHAPTER 8

Donald went back to play baseball the following afternoon. The relieved Joey refused to pitch to him, passing the honor to another player. Donald found that he was able to hit successfully. I enabled him to keep his eye on the ball and to begin his swing in time to make good contact. Best of all, he was able to hit a variety of pitches—inside, outside, some of which curved almost a foot. We began our work on Saturday morning having picked up all the supplies we needed at Radio Shack during the week.

Gina was conspicuously absent as I placed Donald into a trance. I would use him as I would a robot, moving his arms and fingers much faster and more effectively than he could ever hope to on his own. We began with a circuit board—4 inches by 6. I soldered a number of transistors and diodes into place. I added a capacitor and stopped for the day. I didn’t want him in this state for more than an hour at a time. I covered the board with a cloth and set it aside. Donald took the toaster apart, removing the simple controls, but leaving the panels in place. They were very similar to what I had used on Aquaria years ago.

We continued Sunday afternoon. This time Gina was here, but not in the garage with us. I made some modifications to the controls, using the darkness control to determine the approximate strength of the ray and the bread slide as the trigger. We were almost done—all we needed now was a source of carbon to use as a solar collector.

Donald asked Joey to drive him to Home Depot where he bought several Heavy Duty lantern batteries. I opened them and extracted the carbon cores, cleaning any solvents from their surfaces. I placed them in the oven and baked at 450 degrees for an hour to crystallize the carbon. I coated the cylinders with a mixture of what were common household chemicals on this planet and baked them in, again at 450 degrees. I attached them to the surface of the toaster, connected the wires, and I was done. Donald, however, had a suggestion—“How am I supposed to hold this thing? How about some handles?”

We went back to Home Depot and looked at several before selecting two and some self-tapping metal screws. I showed Donald how to take aim. He positioned the handles, drilled eight holes and secured them.

“Don’t we have to test it?”

(NO, DONALD. TRUST ME IT WILL WORK AND IF WE TEST IT THE RESULTS WILL BECOME PUBLIC. THAT WOULD BE A MISTAKE. WE WILL GO TO THE ARMY BASE ON SATURDAY. THERE WILL BE A TEST OF A NEW WEAPON SYSTEM THEN. HOWEVER, IT WILL NOT BE THE TEST THEY ARE EXPECTING. I BELIEVE GINA SHOULD REMAIN HERE. IT IS MUCH EASIER FOR ME TO PROTECT YOU THAN HER. THERE MAY BE SOME DANGER—MORE IF SHE IS THERE. WE WILL SEE HER ONCE WE ARE DONE.)

Saturday morning I placed Mrs. Dugan into a trance and had her drive us to the boundary of the base. Then I sent her home thinking that Donald was at baseball practice. Donald walked around the external fence looking for some high ground or a tree. We found a tall oak some fifty yards outside the base. From there it was about ten miles to the testing grounds. Even after climbing to the high branches Donald could not see the targets, some old vehicles, but I could. I used my “Sense” to supplement Donald’s vision. I could also sense a general announcing that the test would begin shortly. This was our cue. Donald took aim—we had discussed this several times—deciding the effect would be more dramatic if the ray walked up to the target. He picked out an old transport truck and aimed about 200 yards short. He adjusted the control for ten miles and pulled the slide down.

A bright blue column of energy burst from the toaster’s two slots. Instantaneously, it struck the sand in the target area. Donald walked the ray up to the truck and when it struck the truck disappeared. I sensed the commotion among the army brass. Donald selected another target—an old tank—with the same result. I told him we could stop. We had made our point. Soldiers were already en route to us. Donald climbed down the tree. He waited with his hands clasped behind his head. He was taken into custody by the MP’s and driven to the general’s office.

Donald was respectful and polite as always. “General Tobin, I would appreciate the opportunity to speak to you privately, and, please don’t play with that. It’s dangerous.” Too late, General Tobin had pulled the slide. The beam disintegrated the ceilings and floors all the way through the roof. There was a gaping hole about ten feet wide running up the building. I decided that I had to take control. I placed Donald into a trance and spoke: GENERAL, DONALD TRIED TO TELL YOU. NOW, WILL YOU PLEASE LISTEN TO ME? I HAVE NEUTRALIZED YOUR GUARDS. IF YOU CHECK THEM YOU WILL SEE THAT THEY ARE IN A TRANCE, UNABLE TO HEAR OR SPEAK OR MOVE. MY WORDS ARE FOR YOU ALONE.

AS YOU MIGHT GUESS I AM NOT NATIVE TO THIS PLANET. I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A PLANET MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND LIGHT YEARS AWAY. I WAS NOT A CRIMINAL, BUT A LEADING SCIENTIST. THIS BOY, DONALD DUGAN, IS MY HOST. HE KNOWS OF MY EXISTENCE AND HAS GRACIOUSLY AGREED TO MY PRESENCE. I BUILT THIS DEVICE JUST AS I BUILT SEVERAL ON MY PLANET TO REPEL INVADERS. MY PLANETARY COUNCIL REFUSED TO BELIEVE ME, BUT I HOPE YOU WILL.

I SEE YOU ARE SKEPTICAL, BUT YOUR EYES AND EARS DO NOT DECEIVE YOU. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PLANETS WITH INTELLIGENT LIFE, MOST FAR MORE ADVANCED THAN EARTH. I COME TO WARN YOU ABOUT THE GORKONS. THEY INVADED MY PLANET AND ENSLAVED THE INHABITANTS BECAUSE THE COUNCIL DID NOT PREPARE. MY ESTIMATES INDICATE THAT EARTH WILL DEFEAT THE GORKONS, BUT TO DO SO YOU WILL HAVE TO USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND TENS IF NOT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF EARTHLINGS WILL PERISH IN THE FIGHT. I AM HERE TO GIVE THIS INVENTION TO YOU FOR YOUR DEFENSE. HOWEVER, THERE ARE CONDITIONS—I WILL CONSTRUCT THE CONTROLS USING DONALD AS I HAVE WITH THIS TOASTER AND THEY WILL SELF DESTRUCT THIRTY DAYS AFTER THEIR FIRST AND ONLY USE. I CANNOT ALLOW SUCH A WEAPON TO EXIST ANY LONGER THAN NECESSARY. IT IS MUCH TOO DANGEROUS, AS YOU HAVE ALREADY SEEN. NOW YOU WILL WANT TO TAKE DONALD TO SEE YOUR PRESIDENT. PLEASE PICK UP HIS GIRLFRIEND, GINA PROVANO. SHE WILL HELP TO KEEP DONALD CALM AND RELAXED. DO IT NOW.

General Tobin made several phone calls as I took Donald and the guards from their trances. All were unharmed and completely normal. Two hours later we were on our way to Washington. We met with the President in the Oval Office before being transported to Quantico for another demo of the ray. Donald handled it easily, explaining that this prototype had been designed to give eight and only eight blasts before self destruction. He was questioned on how it worked—he had no idea. What was the power source? No idea. Finally, frustrated he begged me to take over. I agreed: MR. PRESIDENT, GENERALS, IT IS A PLEASURE. I AM SURE THAT GENERAL TOBIN HAS INFORMED YOU OF MY PRESENCE. I ASSURE YOU THAT I AM REAL AND THAT I AM INDEED AN ALIEN. NO, I AM NOT GREEN, BUT I AM LITTLE—ABOUT THE SIZE OF AN ANT, BUT WITH A BODY SIMILAR TO AN OCTOPUS UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES. I EXIST WITH DONALD’S KNOWLEDGE AND PERMISSION ON THE SURFACE OF HIS BRAIN. YOUR MOST ADVANCED SCIENCES WERE TAUGHT IN OUR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS BEFORE THE GORKONS CONQUERED. I ESCAPED JUST PRIOR TO THE INVASION.
I answered a number of questions, but not about the device. YOU MAY HAVE YOUR BEST SCIENTISTS EXAMINE IT. I ASSURE YOU OF ONE THING—THEY WILL TELL YOU THAT IT WILL NOT WORK, BUT YOU WILL KNOW DIFFERENTLY. NOW, HOW ABOUT A DEMONSTRATION?

We went up in a helicopter and identified a number of targets at ranges of three, five, and twelve miles. Donald made the necessary adjustments each time and pulled the slide. The blue ray shot out the open helicopter door in an instant and the target vehicles disappeared in that same instant. I explained that this was but a crude example of what could be done. My original cannons could shoot for well in excess of a hundred million miles. We should be able to use a series of geosynchronous satellites to eliminate the Gorkon fleet long before they reached Mars.

I DO THIS FOR TWO REASONS–FIRST, TO SAVE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLE—I HAVE GROWN QUITE FOND OF YOU–AND SECOND, TO FREE MY PLANET. I CAN NEVER RETURN, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO FREE THEM FROM THE YOKE OF THE GORKONS. WITHOUT THEIR FLEET THE ROBOTS IN COMMAND WILL CEASE TO OPERATE. The discussion went on for several days. There were issues of trust and diplomacy to be discussed and resolved. I explained again that I believed the Earth would prevail, but at the expense of more than 100,000,000 people. That did the trick. We would build the satellites.

There was plenty of time and building the high-energy ray cannons would be the simplest and quickest part of the venture. The government announced as a cover that it was upgrading the Global Positioning System satellites with the hope of completing at least twenty-four during the first year. In reality these new satellites would also house the ray cannons and the much needed tracking equipment. I computed that forty, properly placed, could cover the entire earth. We were returned to Donald’s and Gina’s homes from our “field trip” to complete the school year. Then we would work in earnest.

Donald played baseball and his experience paralleled football and basketball. He began the year on the JV and was moved up to the Varsity once he had demonstrated his prowess. In four JV games Donald had produced two home runs and a triple, getting ten hits in sixteen at bats. He had also fielded flawlessly. He liked to joke that he hit a homer every time he made love with Gina who cringed at his poor attempts at humor. I attributed it to his nervousness over his role in repelling the Gorkons. Donald finished the school year with the same high grades he had achieved all year and Gina wasn’t all that far behind him. He ranked number one in his class; Gina ranked sixth.


CHAPTER 9

Now I had the opportunity to see first-hand how the government worked. We knew that everything had to be kept top secret so there was concern about involving Gina. However, I was able to insure her silence and reminded everyone that I would need a calm and well-rested Donald to develop the plans and create the controls. They finally agreed; the subterfuge began. The President had obtained special grants for both Gina and Donald, enabling them to “study” in Washington for the summer.