Part 1 - Part 02

I suddenly lowered the pipe fast. The dog jumped to its feet and went outside. Then, when I slowly raised the pipe it sat down again.

I gently placed the jar with the water on the ground and flipped the lid open but got no reaction from the dog.

I left the jar on the ground and climbed back to the top of the woodpile and sat down. It was hot up there.

The dog ran inside and attacked the jar but didn’t tip it. Its mouth was too small to grasp it.

I sat there watching the dog and in my disappointment I looked away, outside.

Moments later I heard the dog lapping the water. It kept lapping and lapping until the jar was dry. It then licked its lips and kept looking at me.

I suddenly stood up and jumped hard on top of the woodpile. The dog instantly ran towards the other end but came back with no creature in its mouth. I saw its tail wag for the first time but only slightly.

Were we playing a game? Were we becoming friends?

I took the pipe and stepped down to the floor. The dog stepped away towards the door to the outside and stopped. I took a step towards it. It moved an equal distance away. I guess it didn’t want to leave me but didn’t want to get hit either.

I wondered what would happen if I dropped the pipe? I’d better not, it was too risky I thought.

I kept moving towards the dog and it kept moving away, past the broken down front door and outside. We were both outside now, looking at each other.

There was a small woodpile on my right side so I climbed on it and jumped hard to see what the dog was going to do.

The dog dashed towards the fence and came back with a rodent in its mouth. It clamped its teeth on it, dropped it in front of me, moved several steps away and sat down looking at me. I didn’t do anything with the creature but stepped away from it.

Moments later the dog came back and started eating it, head first. Seeing that the dog was distracted I decided to walk away towards the big gate. Keeping its distance the dog picked up the half-eaten creature and followed me. What is with this dog, I wondered?

I walked away towards the side of the building and the dog followed me. I walked towards it, it backed up. We sat there in the middle of the yard looking at each other like we were dancing the tango. I was leading. I think my stick or, should I say, my dog repellent pipe was leading.

Then, suddenly, as if the music had stopped, the dog dashed away towards the big gate as if looking for the next dance partner. I felt a sense of relief but it was short-lived. I was overpowered by a sense of fear when suddenly a figure, a human figure, appeared on the dirt road in the distance. It looked like a man and he was headed our way. Who was this man and what did he want, I wondered?

Meeting Voskot

The dog ran to the gate and anxiously stood behind the large door with its tail wagging. It was obvious the dog knew the man. I suddenly felt like a stranger, an intruder who had invaded this compound. I had no idea how this society worked and what their laws were. But it wasn’t my fault that I was here. I had been brought here, dumped and locked up.

The man was wearing dark clothes, black, blue, brown, I couldn’t tell from this distance. He was carrying a long stick and using it to brace himself with every step. He was carrying something on his back, a backpack perhaps. As he got closer I noticed he was short, shorter than me. His was wearing a dark red shirt and blue pants, the colour of my new pants. Maybe they were his pants, I thought.

He had a big head with long reddish-brown hair sticking out. He looked like Albert Einstein from the distance. I couldn’t see if he was looking at me or not but I was sure he had seen me. There was no reaction from him as to my presence. In other words, he didn’t pause or pull out a gun or anything, which led me to believe he knew about me.

I didn’t move a muscle as he approached. He stopped in front of the gate, took something out from a chain around his neck and opened the gate. He closed it again and it automatically locked. He bent down, said something and petted the dog on the head.

He stood up, looked at me, pointed at the dog and said something in a language I didn’t understand. I stood there motionless staring at him. He looked at the pipe in my hand. I felt uncomfortable but didn’t want to drop it. He didn’t say anything.

He was breathing heavily and perspiring profusely. He looked old, very old. His eyes were greenish brown and his teeth were tinted yellow, like a smoker’s teeth. The others I had met and had had a close look at had pearly white teeth and very smooth skin. This guy was definitely very old.

He braced himself on his walking stick, twisted a little and his backpack slipped into his hand. I was impressed by how he had done that.

He took a couple of steps towards me and extended the bag to me. I hesitated but took it. It was quite heavy. Was this a package for me or was I supposed to carry it for him?

He began to walk away from me towards the building with the broken door. The dog followed at his feet right behind him. I stood there not knowing what to do. I saw his left hand wave slightly. I recognized the wave. On earth it means come, follow me. I followed and we entered the building through the broken door and went all the way to the far end.

The man was closely followed by the dog and me about ten steps behind. He stopped in front of the metallic door, pulled something out from the chain around his neck and opened it. The dog was about to enter. He said something and the dog came out and sat to the side.

He pulled out what looked like a bucket full of water from the other side of the door and sat it beside the dog. The dog didn’t drink. He looked at me and waved me to come closer.

He took the backpack from my hand, pulled something out, broke it in half and gave one half to the dog. The dog took it but instead of eating it, hid it under the woodpile. The man made a face, looked at me and waved for me to go inside.

He took my pipe and leaned it vertically outside the door. He walked in, closed the door and leaned his walking stick on the wall near the door. He pointed at something in the room that looked like a seat. I went there and sat down.

He took the backpack to another room and came back with a cube that looked like brownish red cheese and a flexible plastic bag full of a clear liquid which I figured was water. I remembered that bag; it was similar to the one the man gave me after the woman and the two men took me into their ship.

He went back to the back room and brought two cube glasses that looked like the jelly jar but smaller and without lids. He flicked the water bag with something and poured the water into the two glasses.

He then broke the cube that looked like cheese with his hands and gave me half. It was wrapped in a very thin plastic-like substance. He rolled the plastic back and took a bite. He then picked up the glass, raised it, said something and took a long gulp. I did the same. I guess we were having lunch late in the day.

The dried stuff that looked like cheese was actually processed meat and perhaps other stuff. It was quite good. I could have gulped this thing in seconds but I took my time biting small chunks and drinking water just like the man did.

We ate in silence and I thought perhaps that’s how they ate here. I finished eating last. The man looked at me and said something. I didn’t understand what he said so I stood there looking at him.

The man looked up at the ceiling, twirled his index finger and said something that sounded Arabic. No reaction from me. He then said something else which may have sounded like Hebrew. Still no reaction from me... He said something that sounded Indian, then Chinese….

Finally I got the courage to say, “I don’t understand you!” in English and raised my arms up with hands open.

He made a face and shook his head.

This is useless I thought. He doesn’t know my language and I don’t know his. I decided to step outside and went and sat on top of the woodpile. The dog didn’t follow me and neither did the man. I’m sure he was frustrated with me too.

I sat there and looked outside. It was getting dark and the birds were coming to roost and singing the same old song. Someone needs to teach them something new, I thought. But not today…

As I sat there contemplating my new misery I wondered if those languages the man spoke were truly earth languages. I understood his motions and hand gestures. They were almost the same as those on earth.

Who am I kidding I wondered. Earth languages…? Earth gestures…? This is another galaxy? My desires and logic of the inexplicable were colliding, making a mockery of everything I knew. I had almost convinced myself that this was a dream, a nightmare from which I was going to awaken.

But then, at the same time, I thought of the people who had kidnapped me. They’d visited earth. What were they doing there, observing us? They could have easily picked up our mannerisms, even words from our languages.

Suddenly I felt cold. The wood I was lying on was hard. Dream or not, I figured I’d better go down into the next room and get my clothes and things.

The well-washed coat would make an excellent mattress. My shirt and long pants should do to keep the cold away. I picked up the empty jar; it was exactly where I had left it. I went down to the next room, washed it and filled it with water, picked up my clothes and a full jar of jelly and put them on top of the woodpile.

I debated whether I should open the jelly jar or not. I voted for “no” but opened it anyway. I ate some, with the piece of wood, of course and felt much better. It tasted like a sweet dream.

The next thing I remember was waking up to the man’s voice calling out. It was a raspy old voice, not very loud and very difficult to produce. Was he calling me or the dog? It was light outside. I must have slept through the entire night. I looked outside and noticed the birds had gone and the dog was nowhere to be seen.

I stood up, came down to the bottom of the woodpile and looked in the direction of the voice. The door was open and the man was standing in front of it. He saw me and waved and I waved back. He motioned for me to come towards him, left the door open and went

inside. I could hardly walk; my back and legs were stiff. I stepped into the room and closed the door behind me. I didn’t want the dog to come inside. In fact I didn’t see the dog at all that morning.

I sat in the same chair as the day before and waited for the man to show up. This time he brought a couple of glasses full of fruit juice and a block of white stuff. He broke the white block in half and gave me a piece. The fruit juice looked disgusting. It was red and full of dark green chunks. It looked like a blended version of the fruit I had picked outside.

I took a sip; it tasted just like the fruit. I took a bite of the white substance, it tasted like the condensed milk that came in cans back in Canada and was just as sweet. This time I finished eating first. I put my finger up to suggest “excuse me”, ran out, up the woodpile and picked up the jelly jar with jelly in it, brought it back and put in on the table. I flipped the lid open.

The man looked at me and went into the back room, brought a couple of small clear square glass plates and a couple of tiny triangular spoons that looked like canoe paddles. He scooped some jelly from the jar and put it on the plates. He pushed one of the plates towards me.

I began to eat and he did the same. He was impressed with the taste I assumed because he made a face and shook his head with approval. He looked at me and spoke hesitantly because he remembered the last time he had spoken to me I had become frustrated and walked out.

He lifted his finger up, signaling me to wait, then went into the back and brought back a little black block with a clear shiny surface and something that looked like a keypad on the side with alien symbols. It looked funny. The symbols were alien to me. He then picked up the glass half full of juice, pointed to it and said a word. I was confused, was he talking about the glass or the juice. He must have sensed my confusion and ran back to the room and came back with an empty glass. He said the same word again. I shook my head in agreement and repeated it. He gave me a nod of approval. He did the same for several items on the table.

After waving his hand over the black block on the table he tapped a few keys and a glass appeared hovering over it. It was exactly the same kind and size as the glass on the table. He called it the same as before and pointed at me. I looked at it and reached over to take it. It was not a real glass; it was lights dancing on the surface of my hand.

He laughed out loud and tried to hide it so as not to embarrass me, I assumed. He seemed very patient and sympathetic. He tapped more buttons and a small clear square plate appeared. He looked at me and pointed at it.

I had already forgotten what it was called and in my frustration said, “Gospo da me chua, ovoi chovek ke me pukni!” in Macedonian. This is what some of the women in the village used to say when they were frustrated with their husbands, which roughly translates to “God protect me, this man will make me blow up!”

I was startled by his reaction; the man froze in space as if I had said some magic word to make him stop moving. He was frozen still and looked at me. I didn’t know what to do so, just like him, I stood there frozen. A very slow smile began to develop on his face. He opened his mouth wide. I could see his teeth and they looked disgustingly yellow. Then a loud raspy sound came out of his mouth.

“Makedonski ah? (Macedonian, eh?).”

It took me several seconds to realize what he had said. I then instinctively said, “Da, Makedonski!” (Yes, Macedonian.)

I grabbed my face with both hands and squeezed it. I stared at the man. He was not an alien anymore; he was my grandfather whom I had never met. I felt an instant connection between us. Wild thoughts ran through my mind. This was unbelievable!

He composed himself and in Macedonian said: “Finally a common language we can share.”

I didn’t understand all the words he said but I understood enough to know what he meant. I sat there frozen in space and time and stared at him.

“What’s the big deal; we have been to many planets and have learned the languages of many alien cultures,” he said.

I wanted to jump out of my chair and hug him. I had so many things to say to him and so many questions to ask but this is what came out of my mouth:

“Of all the Slavic languages spoken on my planet you chose to speak Macedonian, why?”

“I studied Macedonian years ago when I was a school boy, the kind of Macedonian that was spoken a long time ago. I studied it for historic and scientific purposes. I understood that Macedonian was the root of all Slavic languages, which meant it was one of the oldest languages in existence on your planet,” he replied and then went on to say. “Studying alien languages was a prerequisite for many students who wanted to be space explorers. I just wanted to study the ancient languages of your planet, that’s all, no big deal…”

I looked at him and said, “It is a big deal for me because according to some people on my planet the Macedonian language doesn’t exist. They claim it was somehow recently artificially created and we weren’t allowed to speak it. I wasn’t allowed to speak it where I was born so, you see, it is a big deal for me. Our enemies say it doesn’t exist in its home where the language was born and yet it exists and is spoken out here, in a different galaxy… For me that’s a big deal.”

“I am sorry, I didn’t know that!” he said and added. “I can assure you from what I know the Macedonian language exists and it is a big deal and, like I said, it is the mother language of many countries and people on your planet. That’s why I chose to study it.”

It seemed like he wanted to get off this topic and go on to another topic.

“I’m sure we have plenty of other things to discuss but where do we begin…? How about we start with you asking me questions and I will try and answer them,” he said.

The ball was in my court now and it felt like a heavy burden. Where do I begin?

Then, without thinking, I said, “I assume you knew about my presence here, how about I ask you questions about why I am here and how I got here. Let’s clear that out of the way first.”

“Excellent point. Yes, I did read all the reports on you and saw the… (a word I did not understand),” he said. “Please begin.”

“What was that creature I tangled with when I first met that woman back on earth? Who were those people who took me and how and why did they bring me here?” I asked.

“The creature you are referring to we call Karon, it comes from the planet Barkon. These creatures were created (I think he meant genetically engineered) by a race of people who lived on this planet. People’s materials (I think he meant genes) from this planet were combined with those of the planet’s local life forms to create workers (I think he meant slaves) capable of surviving on Barkon and serving the needs of our people. That planet had a lot of useful raw materials that we needed here to build our cities and civilization.

Then, about one thousand earth years ago, there was a devastating war between us and the two closest planets. After we achieved peace we abandoned all ideas of using the Karons and forced them out to stay on Barkon. Well, some politicians didn’t want them here because they were hard to control and not intelligent enough to know to stay out of trouble.

Since then our society had grown very complacent. One day people decided to get rid of all weapons. They argued that ‘if they didn’t exist, they couldn’t be used’. Peace is great if everyone follows the rules. They even disarmed our ships. The only ones that have weapons now are the border guards, the pirates and the criminals.

The people here have grown soft and arrogant. They have become non-carrying. The Karons need trade to survive. They sell their raw minerals and metals to buy food, of which we have plenty, but our politicians say no!

We no longer need their raw materials and don’t want the Karons around. So, the Karons are forced to trade with the pirates, thieves, criminals and weapon’s dealers. There are rumours that lately the Karons have been buying up our decommissioned freighters (I think he meant old space ships) and converting them to warships. But our politicians are saying the Karon’s don’t have the intelligence to repair, refurbish, or arm them.

Our politicians ignore the fact that the Karons can pay others, criminals, to do it for them. And even though we have no warships, except for the few small ones used by our security forces in space, our politicians feel we can protect ourselves because the Karons don’t have the capacity to plan and carry out massive attacks. I hope they are right because I am afraid one day they will attack and it will be a disaster… for us.”

He paused, took a deep breath, looked at me and said, “Forgive my absentmindedness, I don’t even know your name. I am Voskot, the first born of three in my family. I am the chief science officer and leader of this planet’s military… A planet which has no military.”

“My friends call me Riki. I just finished school and was on my way to look for a job when I ended up here.”

We shook hands and Voskot, whom I later began to call Vos, said, “I know it is customary to do this on your planet. Besides learning Macedonian in school I also studied your mannerisms, hand gestures and body language.”

I noticed he didn’t mention the other ancient earth languages he had studied. For some reason that made me happy, he emphasized my culture’s importance. If that were the case then why hadn’t he spoken Macedonian to me earlier when he spoke the other earth

languages? I didn’t want to ask him. I was very happy, ecstatic, that he spoke Macedonian and knew about Macedonia.

Before I had a chance to open my mouth he started talking again. He said, “Riki means something awful in my language, what if I call you ‘Otsiron’ which means ‘great friend’ in my language, would that be okay with you?”

I motioned yes with my head. He understood and smiled.

He began talking again and said, “The woman that you ran into is Princess Anelia, the fourth of seven daughters of King Velion.

She took the science ship that brought you here without authorization and went to study the earth cultures in a place called Canada, where you were. But, unfortunately, she did it without permission. She was not authorized to study your people because she was not prepared for it.

She didn’t know the languages spoken there or how to interact with the local people. Also, there were rumours that the Karons were looking to grab someone from the royal family to force the government in Ostikon, on this planet, to negotiate terms of trade with them.

Young Anelia ignored all the rules because she wanted to prove to her father that she was the most capable of her sisters and should be the next in line to rule Ostikon.

And then you happened and, from the visual reports I obtained from the ball that was flying over her, she appeared like a coward and you saved her life. However she denies that, she says she saved your life. She said she had to take you with her to stop the Karons from killing you. But the truth is, she took you because you had seen too much and if left alive it would have caused your planet irreparable damage.

So, you had to go, either die or be abducted. She knew you had saved her life and probably didn’t have the heart to kill you, so she took you with her and hated you for what happened to her.

Had she left you there alive after what you saw, it would have been a death sentence for her, well not for her per se because she is a member of the royal family, but for an ordinary scientist.

We have strict rules about revealing secrets to alien species on other planets. Her punishment…? It wasn’t much but she lost her father’s favour and brought shame to the royal house.

But… none of this is your fault… As for the other two, the men, they were her aides, assistants, guards… Whatever you want to call them.”

He stopped talking and looked at me as though he felt sorry for me so I took the opportunity to ask him something that bothered me.

“Did I kill the Karon that attacked me and what was that policeman’s whistle I heard all about?”

He looked at me with a puzzled look so I made the sound “frrrrr”. He understood but only because he knew that this was the call Karons made to locate one another.

He smiled and said: “No, you didn’t kill the Karon, you just knocked it out. It was up and about in no time (an expression I had heard my grandmother say). They had to send guardians from the mother ship to hunt the two Karons down. They killed them and disposed of them. They had to be beheaded. That was the only way to put them out of their misery quickly without much suffering.

Unfortunately what happened there, the entire fiasco, became big news here on our three planets and on Barkon, the Karon planet. It was a big scandal. The Karons threatened to retaliate, if not on us here then on planet earth. In the visual report it looked like you had killed the Karon to save Anelia and that the earth people had conspired with her to do the Karon’s harm. I tell you it was a mess.

The Karon’s felt that you should have been killed for harming one of them. And if not for that, then you should have been killed for what you had seen. And they were right. The fact that you are alive

and here on Ostikon convinced not only the Karons but also some people on this planet that there was a conspiracy and that the royal family was in the middle of it.

Many said this was Anelia’s doing. It was a real mess, the scandal refused to go away so, at the insistence of some politicians, the authorities were ordered to monitor your every move. They even had a flying ball (he meant a tiny drone) watch you day and night. The craziness exploded when the entire planet saw you kill that rare baby Aktap, an old protected and sacred species loved by everyone.

And when they saw you cutting it open? Oh, there were no words to describe their disgust. The only place they couldn’t see you was inside the hole under that park (cave). But when they saw that degenerate drug junky (the woman with black veins) spend the night with you and you came out with the black mark of the aker (drug addict), you became more than just a monkey in the zoo.

Lucky for you there were reports that you were sick with an incurable virus and people were told to stay away, otherwise you could have been lynched.

King Velion had finally had enough of this nonsense and ordered Anelia to dispose of you. He also ordered the media to stop reporting on you. Instead of having you killed, Anelia brought you here.”

“You mean to tell me the entire planetary system saw me naked out there?” I asked.

“Yes!” he replied and then said. “Is that all that concerns you?”

“Who was that woman, the junkie, and why did she come to see me?” I asked.

“She is an outlaw, a renegade, and because of her habits of selling and using illegal substances she was sent to jail by King Velion. So, now she will do anything to bring harm to the royal family. She used you to make Anelia look bad. The black lines are a visible indication

of substance abuse of this particular poisonous fruit seed. It is very dangerous… ” he replied.

I scratched my head and said, “When the two men were bringing me to your planet off the mother ship all I saw was parks and fruit trees. Where are your cities, your buildings, your multitudes of people?”

He looked at me, shook his head and said, “Good question. After the long and devastating wars ended about one thousand earth years ago, before the peace treaties between the planets were signed, the people here feared another war would be coming and began to build their cities, factories, facilities, homes, transportation routes, etc., underground. Methods were developed to preserve food and store it underground. Space was at a premium and expensive so everything had to be built with efficiency in mind. Standards were adopted so that everything could be stored efficiently, standards we use to this day. Everything had to be packed tightly. This is why we have square jars, glasses and plates like the ones here on the table. Even the ogalb (jelly) we ate earlier was made to last. That stuff is over one hundred years old but tastes like it was made last season. It was made with natural products.

Many years ago people cared and worked hard to build a future for themselves. They built quality stuff that lasted for a thousand years. The underground structures have served us well and are still going strong. But since then we have become lazy and complacent. I will go as far as to say that we no longer care about anything. We live meaningless and pointless lives. We don’t know how to do anything anymore. We go on living like we did years ago. We don’t even know where our food comes from anymore. We got used to using preserved food and prefer it over fresh food. We think only wild animals eat food from the trees.

You asked me about all the fruit trees in the parks. Those trees were created (genetically engineered) and planted to provide food for us. In times of plenty we stockpiled food for many years in case of a war. We became used to eating from the stockpiles. Our machines (robots) go out to collect, process and store the food in storehouses. The only thing people know how to do now is take it out of the

storehouses, put in on the shelves and sell it. Where does it come from? Who cares!

Machines pick, machines clean and machines repair machines. Machines maintain our parks at night. There is nothing wrong with the fruit but people have become so accustomed to eating the processed stuff they are disgusted by the real stuff.

It’s so primitive they say. Some people don’t care where their food comes from. If they stop selling it in the stores they will starve.

I am going to be honest with you, when I saw you eat that fruit and kill that creature, I was sure you did so because you needed to eat, to survive. I kind of admired that because you have the spirit of a pioneer, an adventurer, something we lack here. You even had a fire inside that hole. I recognized the smoke, and you probably cooked and ate the Aktap for self-preservation. I don’t think people here know what that means. When I heard the news that King Velion wanted to get rid of you, I contacted Anelia and asked her to bring you here to me. I wanted to study you.”

Vos probably thought he had overstepped the line with all the things he had said, especially the part about studying me, so he apologetically said, “I’m sorry I talk too much. Do you have any more questions?”

I enjoyed listening to him talk, he made a lot of sense. His world didn’t sound much different than mine. It also seems we had something in common; we were both complainers and blamed the establishment and others for things that were wrong in our lives.

I was lost in my own thoughts and didn’t have my next question ready for him. He must have sensed that so he changed the subject and said:

“Perhaps I should give you some more information about my planet Ostikon. The city that you were brought to is the capital of Ostikon and is called Nirelon. This ancient and now abandoned city we are standing in is called Apserpon. My county’s name is Nodekam. We have two suns around which our planetary system orbits, the yellow

sun is called Proteron and the silver one is called Belikon. Our three planets from the largest to the smallest are called Ostikon, Simbolon and Sredeon. This planet, because of its size, has the largest gravitational pull, about one and a quarter that of earth’s…” but before he finished talking I interrupted him and asked:

“Is that why I have been feeling so heavy lately?”

“Yes!” he said and continued. “This city we are standing in now was abandoned years ago; it used to be an industrial complex. This is where a lot of research was done on energy weapons and space propulsion systems. In those days people lived above ground and worked underground. But after we were attacked everything went underground. This city was completely destroyed and the workers were killed. Those left alive simply left. The city was never rebuilt; it was completely abandoned. But this was many years ago. Most people today have forgotten what happened and those who know seem to think none of it matters… It’s ancient history only for the historians to worry about.”

Vos looked tired, disappointed and burnt out. It was time to change the subject.

“Vos,” I said, “may I call you Vos?”

“Yes, by all means, I would like that,” he replied.

“Vos, the little animal, outside, the one that looks like an earth dog, is that yours?” I asked.

“You are asking me about Sep, right? His name is Sep, a male Klovion. His kind was domesticated and bred for guarding houses when they were on the surface. The species is not from this planet. It was brought here from another planet. And since we have no houses now on the surface we used the creatures to guard our buildings, such as this one, and our farms. They keep intruders and destructive critters away. They are notorious killers and will eat anything they catch.

That reminds me, I didn’t feed the little bugger this morning. If you don’t feed them they are liable to turn on you, excuse me for a moment.”

As Vos left the table I followed. We had been sitting down for hours. My legs felt stiff and sore and I had pains in my back. Even though I was much younger than him, I acted like I was older. It could have been the gravity. I stood by the door and when he came back from the other room I opened the door for him. He tossed something outside and it rolled away. I saw Sep scurry to catch it. We both watched him grab the block and run under the woodpile.

“He will eat it, don’t worry, he must be very hungry by now,” he said.

Why Vos told me that I don’t know. I looked to the side and saw that Sep had been drinking water from the flat bucket.

“Vos, may I ask you a question, it’s kind of personal,” I asked.

“Ask away,” he replied.

“May I ask how old you are?”

He looked up, closed one eye, paused for a few moments, enough to make me feel uncomfortable and said, “Approximately 106 of your earth years.”

I was about to say, wow that’s old but I caught myself and instead said, “Thank you.”

He didn’t ask me how old I was and I didn’t tell him. But I thought somehow he knew.

“How would you like to go outside?” he asked and added. “You won’t need that.”

I was reaching for the pipe leaning against the wall when he said that. I don’t know how he knew I was reaching for it because he couldn’t see me. He didn’t take his walking stick either.

“I would love to go outside,” I replied.

He led the way walking very slowly and I followed behind. He looked at the top of the woodpile and noticed my clothes there. He didn’t say anything. We came out of the big door. He looked at it and made a face.

“Maybe it’s time to get this fixed,” he said.

I didn’t respond. We both stepped outside. He closed his eyes and faced the sun. It looked like it was almost midday. I pushed back my shirt sleeve and looked at my watch as if that was going to tell me what time it was.

Vos saw my watch and said, “That is a nice piece of machinery, I used to have one like it. It was given to me as a gift for being a good student. It’s in a museum somewhere now. It was probably brought here from your planet.”

I didn’t know what to say so I didn’t respond. We both turned around and went to the side of the building.

Vos raised his arm, pointed and said, “See that tree over there, that’s my tree. It’s as old as me. My father planted it there when I was born. Everything around it went to ruins but the tree survived… like me,” he said.

“Yes, I see it,” I said. “I was out here earlier and admired it too. I even ate some of its fruit. It was delicious,” I said taking a chance that I might offend him by eating the fruit without permission.

“Ah, how wonderful!” he said and added. “Most people today would be disgusted by its fruit, especially the younger ones, but wouldn’t hesitate to eat processed fruit. The juice you drank this morning was squeezed (I think he meant to say it was run through a blender) from its fruit.”

“Yes, I thought so, it was very nice,” I replied.

He saw me looking at the piles and piles of bird droppings and said, “They were made by a rare kind of bird that talks. The birds only sleep here now. They fly all day hunting for insects and return here at night to sleep. I like them. I allow them to stay. They keep me company. I don’t feel alone at night. They used to talk but now they have stopped.”

“They spoke to me. I yelled at them the first night I was here. I saw shadows of them in the night and I yelled ‘who is there’ in English and all night long and every night after that they have been chirping ‘who is there’, ‘who is there.’…”

He shook his head several times, tightened his lips and said, “It’s wonderful to hear that; you are now one of us.”

I don’t know what he meant by that. I didn’t respond. He then reached up, picked off a fruit and gave it to me. He then picked another one and held it in his hand. We looked at each other and stood there…

Finally I said, “It is customary in Macedonia for the host to start eating first.”

To my surprise he cracked up laughing loudly. Sep ran towards us with all his might and sat next to him. He ignored me as if I wasn’t there. Watching Vos laugh made me laugh. There was no reason for me to laugh but I kept laughing, making him laugh even more.

“I love that,” he said. “I haven’t laughed like this for a long time.”

It was good to be alive, I thought, despite the circumstances.

He bit the fruit with his yellowed teeth and I did the same.

“Let’s go inside,” he said, “we have a lot to discuss, but first we should eat.”

He put his hand on my shoulder and motioned for me to go ahead. I walked slowly and he followed and after him Sep followed. The

door wasn’t locked so I opened it. He went inside and motioned to Sep to stay there.

I went back to my seat. He cleared the table. He had to go back a couple of times. I was about to stand up, I wanted to help, but he motioned for me to sit. He brought a couple of empty glasses and a clear bag of water. He then went back and brought a block of the purplish red stuff, broke it in half and gave me a piece. He poured the water into the square glasses.

He then looked at me, smiled and said, “I suppose the host has to start eating first,” and then rolled the plastic back and took a bite from his block of dry food.

Before we finished eating he said, “I must seem like a hypocrite to you, eating processed food, for which I criticize others. Forgive me but I have nothing else to offer.”

“No problem, I understand,” I said.

He then went on to say, “One good thing about these dry slabs of food, besides lasting forever, they have all the vitamins, salts and irons (he meant minerals) that we need to survive. They were added after the food was processed. The water too is processed to remove living organisms (he meant bacteria) before it’s packaged.”

“You do have running water in the building,” I said. “I’ve been drinking it for a couple of days. It’s not a lot but enough for drinking, washing dishes and having a shower.”

The man looked surprised and said, “This is a miracle. There has been no running water here for years. The water dried up at the source a long time ago during the dust storms and the pumps haven’t been working ever since. I think they are broken. Are you sure there is water in here? It’s a miracle indeed. Thank you. You are a good omen, a saviour. I had to bring water from the city, carry it on my back.”

“When I went into the other room, over the woodpile, I found running water in the fountain with the two spouts. I then figured out

how to make one of the showers work. Then I made a sink and a toilet work. I thought you always had running water back there. But there is no pressure.” I paused for a moment and said, “Why a fountain with two spouts side by side?”

Vos laughed out loud and said, “That fountain was not for drinking, it was for washing eyes. The work done down here was dangerous and if toxic materials spilled on a worker’s face, they ran to the fountain to quickly wash it off, especially from their eyes. The fountain had to run at all times.”

“Ah, now I understand,” I said and asked, “what about all the brown dust everywhere? Why so much dust? You mentioned dust storms, was the dust from the dust storms? What happened?”

“The dust storms took place recently, about eight years ago. The government scientists were experimenting with putting clouds up in the sky so that they could control the weather but, up here in Apserpon, something went wrong. There was no rain for a couple of years. They tried to fix it and made it worse. Big winds were raised and blew for months. Everything was buried in dust. It was carried from the deserted farms beyond the valley and dumped everywhere. The king ordered the experiments to stop and over time the winds subsided and things returned to normal. Only the large trees with big roots survived. Everything else dried up. Thanks to Mother Nature my tree survived. It turned out to be a lot more durable than I thought. But since then its fruits have been smaller and much darker. But all in all I guess the climate in this region is slowly returning to normal,” he replied.

“I noticed it rained like clockwork in Nirelon, every second day or so at about the same time. Was that part of the same experiment?” I asked.

“No, no, the weather here has been controlled for years, but sometimes it goes out of whack and needs resetting,” he said and then asked me to go with him into the next room. He pointed to a tap with a single handle and said, “This is the source of my water (he meant the tap) in here and, as you can see, it doesn’t work. Can you make it work?”

I shook my head and grabbed the handle. I tried to twist it, push it, pull it, but nothing. I looked around for something to whack it with. There was nothing there. I opened a cupboard. Nothing! Everything there was made of glass and nicely stacked. Three sets of glasses with five glasses each, three sets of plates with five plates each. No bowls, no pans and no pots, only two juice pitchers, also square. I ran outside over the woodpile and into the other room. I looked at the fountain, it was still flowing. I looked around and found the piece of metal I had used to whack the shower head. I dashed back and found Vos waiting for me at the door.

We both went back to the tap. I raised the block of metal and began to gently tap the handle on the top. I then twisted it with my hand but nothing happened. I looked at Vos, he was motioning for me to tap front and back, front and back. I tapped it on the back and then the front. I could feel it loosening. I did it again but very gently. I then used my hand and worked the handle back and forth very gently. Vos kept watching me with much interest.

After a few minutes of working at it a black liquid began to drip. I kept pushing and pulling until a stream of water began to flow. I kept turning it on and off until the handle felt easy to work. I moved away and pointed at the handle. Vos swung it back and water flowed, he swung it forward and the water stopped flowing. There was a big smile on his face and he looked like a child with a new toy.

“I don’t know what to say my friend, you just restored my faith in humanity. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“All I did was make a rusty tap work,” I said.

These people were capable of making flying machines that could travel at “warp speed”, if I can borrow a term from Star Trek, and here was this man impressed with me kick starting a kitchen tap? How low had this world fallen?

“I am impressed with your initiative and ability to take charge,” he said. “It’s something my people aren’t willing to do. With them it’s

always someone else’s problem, someone else’s fault.” He then looked at me and said, “If you don’t have any more questions I want to take you for a tour. But first I want to show you your accommodations, I don’t want you to sleep on those hard boards anymore.”

I said, “I had no more questions for now and would love to explore this place, but could we do it tomorrow? Every part of my body hurts. It must be the gravity on this planet.”

“Of course!” he said and grabbed two glasses from the cupboard and handed me one. We both had a drink of water from the tap and Vos said, “Ah, this is nice!”