Traveller - L.W. Samuelson (free e books to read online TXT) 📗

twenty mezures he followed the track into the trees.
The Benwarian engaged the engines to stop the craft and hover only ten mezures off the ground. Using the thrusters, he landed. By the universe, I’ll be on solid ground for the first time in my life! Traveller cut the engines, unbuckled his containment straps then pressed the console icon to open the door. It slid open as a ramp slowly emerged from the ship. Traveller took his helmet off. For the first time in his short life, he breathed organic air. Its crisp scent carried the smell of what he later came to know as pine into his consciousness. It brought exhilaration to know that he had succeeded. He felt new, rewarded by the fresh atmosphere.
Traveller walked down the ramp. At its end he stepped onto the planet Earth. The brisk autumn air invigorated him as he walked around his craft and felt the shelter of the trees. The sun had traveled the sky until it cast its afternoon light on the highest peak. He took great deep breaths of air as he stared with awe at the glorious world around him.Chapter Ten - Lori
A junior at Idaho State University, Lori excelled in literature and the language arts. She loved the written word marveling at Shakespeare’s mastery, Milton’s imagery, and Steinbeck’s eloquence. She read voraciously. As she read, thoughts and images were written down in her journal. Lori recorded everything in the hopes of someday writing her own novel, but so far, no pressing truth or idea had brought her the motivation to do so.
Although, Lori considered herself to be a book worm, she loved the outdoors. Hiking, running, bicycling, and kayaking brought a welcome relief from the ubiquitous books and hours of study. Her dark shoulder length hair and brown eyes coupled with a dark Middle Eastern complexion gave her an exotic appearance. At five feet ten inches of height with a slender yet wiry build she exuded confidence and intelligence. Traits that most males found off-putting. Many of her brother’s friends felt intimidated by her knowledge and command of the English language. If they had a question about history or the British, she was the one to ask.
Her brother had begged her to accompany them to Mt. Harrison so she could drive the Dodge van back down the mountain and pick them up at the Pomerelle parking lot. Pomerelle, a ski resort nestled in the Sawtooths, had a spacious parking lot. At this time of the year no car sat in the lot. It was the perfect landing place for a hang glider.
Leaning on the front of the van, she had watched the strange airplane fly close to her brother as he soared in the mountain air. The craft had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She had never seen an airplane like it before. It was sleek. It seemed to shimmer, change colors as it traveled the sky. She ascribed the changes to the mountain air and lighting, but still the craft seemed almost extraterrestrial.
Peering through the binoculars, she couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like the pilot of the craft and her brother were staring at each other as the airplane flew only ten or twenty yards away from Jesse. Jesse, always seeking the newest thrill, leaned to the right and drifted to the aircraft. When he did, the craft banked right also. It sped up into the sky to blend into the blue and disappear. She saw what seemed impossible, it simply disappeared. The experience brought butterflies of fear. Maybe I should drive down to the parking lot now. I don’t like being up here alone.
Lori shivered in the chill air. She climbed into the Dodge backed it around onto the road and drove back down the mountain heading east. When she arrived at the north south road she stopped at the sign. A county sheriff drove past slamming on the brakes of his Ford Bronco when he saw her. He backed up in front of her to make sure she knew he wanted to talk.
She watched the heavy set officer in his brown uniform amble around the Bronco until he stood before her open window. “Good afternoon, Sheriff.”
“Hello, miss. You haven’t seen a strange aircraft up here?” he asked.
“Yeah, I did. It was checking my brother out when he was hang gliding up by Mt. Harrison.”
“Up by the road to Thompson’s flat?”
“Yeah, just past there. Where the hang gliders jump. What is it?”
“I’m not sure. That’s what I’m going to find out. It’s probably just some new kind of aircraft. Well, thank you miss,” he said. He got back in his Bronco, backed up far enough to turn left, peeled out and shot up the road going west.
Lori turned right. Minutes later, she parked the Dodge along a bank cut out of the mountain in the Pomerelle lot. She grabbed Thomas Wolfe’s Electric Kool-aid Acid Test from the backseat and started reading. It detailed the adventures of Ken Kesey and a group of hippies as they traveled the country in a drug induced alternative reality. She was so engrossed in it that only occasionally did she glance up to check for her brother and his friends. She even forgot about the alien aircraft. She had found the book by reading Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Written in 1963, she had read somewhere that the movie was in production and would be released next year. It excited her to know that Jack Nicholson was to play the lead.
Lori was reading the part when Engber and Norman drove through the redwoods. They found Kesey’s house with its red, white, and blue mailbox. A fifteen foot tall sign read “The Merry Pranksters Welcome the Hells Angels.” The guys had just entered the house to find a young woman playing the guitar when something banged against Lori’s window.
She jumped, her heart jumped farther. Seemingly, it had dislodged from her sternum and now resided in her throat where it was beating so fast that the thought of it exploding occurred to her. “Damn you Jake! You want me to drive off and leave you guys?”
Jake was leaned against the bank laughing. “That’s what happens when your nose is glued to a book.”
“Maybe if I glued yours to one, you’d pass your literature class.”
“Well excuse me for livin’. No need to get rude. You didn’t hear me land? It took me ten minutes to unharness.”
“No. Did you see that airplane?”
“What airplane?”
“It was checking my brother out and then it just disappeared.”
“Yeah right.”
Lori got out of the van as another glider came done in the lot. It was Pete. He touched down with his feet moving to make a perfect landing. The yellow and red material billowed in the mountain breeze until they could contain it.
When everything was settled, Lori asked again. “Pete did you see that plane?”
“Yeah. Why?”
She wasn’t about to say it had suddenly disappeared for fear they would make fun of her. “The sheriff stopped me and asked about it. He was looking for it.”
“I looked back once and saw it by your brother. When I banked right to get a better look it was gone.”
“Yeah that’s right. I was watching it when all of the sudden it vanished,” she said.
“I didn’t see anything,” Jake said.
“You were already well down the ridge,” Pete explained.
Lori searched the sky, anxious to retrieve her brother and leave. She felt uneasy when he couldn’t be spotted. He took off just behind Pete. He should be here.
“Let’s load up and be ready when he gets here,” she suggested to the boys. They were freshmen and needed the common sense he provided.
With the hang gliders folded and placed in the back of the van, the two boys threw a Frisbee back and forth across the parking lot. Lori resumed reading despite her concern.
A half hour later, Jesse passed over the lot from the east. Going too fast to land, he circled around the lodge. His feet grazed the green shingles of the roof as the glider came back in from the south. He flew well past the van before bringing the glider came down to land.
He kicked out of his harness animated with excitement. “Did you see that?” Jesse shouted. “There was a guy in that plane. It was so weird. I swear to God he had a spacesuit on. And his eyes; they sparkled blue. They were the most intense things I’ve ever seen. I tried to get close enough to get a good look, but he took off. I swear the plane disappeared. There’s no way it could have traveled the sky that fast.”
“Yeah, I saw that,” said Pete.
“Did you see him, Lori?” Jesse asked.
“Yes. I saw him disappear, too. The sheriff stopped me on the way down and asked me if I’d seen a strange aircraft.”
“Really? Wow, I wonder what’s going on?” Jesse said.
“I don’t know but I need to get back and study for a test tomorrow,” Lori replied.
“Yeah, me too,” agreed Jake. “My parents said they’d cut my spending money down to nothing if I don’t bring my literature grade up.”
Chapter 11- Hypothermia

That night Lori was studying for an American Literature test when Jesse pounded on her door. "Come in," she invited.
"That looks boring," he said spying "The Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
"I'm enjoying it. I just read that the memorable words of history are often given in parables. He gives several examples such as 'Long lived trees make roots first'. I haven't heard that one before, but I like it. It can be taken so many ways."
"Yeah like I said, boring."
"Not for those of us who like to think."
"I'm a man of action. Thinking prevents a person from doing," Jesse stated emphatically.
"Doing something before you thought about it has always gotten you in trouble, Jesse."
"Oh well. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow?" he asked.
"It had better be going to class. If your grades get any lower you'll end up on probation. Mom and Dad aren't happy about your lack of effort."
"I've got plenty of time to raise my grades. I'm going back to Thompson's Flat."
"Why? You'd better not."
"I have to. I'm going to see if that plane is still around. That man's eyes. For some reason, I feel like I have to. I haven't thought about anything else. I was trying to study but I couldn't concentrate, I kept seeing those intense blue eyes. They sparkled."
"Who's going with you?"
"No one. Jake and Pete can't go. They have to study for tests."
Lori thought for a moment. "Listen, if you'll attend your eight to ten o'clock classes, I'll go with you. I have a philosophy class at nine. I'll meet you here at ten thirty."
"I don't know. I want to go as soon as possible."
"Remember, I'm supposed to keep an eye on you, report back to the parents. It won't hurt to wait."
"Okay, but you'd better be here 'cause I'm leaving with or without you."

Lori and her brother bounced up the washboard road leading to Thompson Flat leaving a trail of dust that roiled into the pine trees on the north side of the road. Lori drove trying to keep the old Dodge van from fish tailing off the road. Jesse was unusually quiet as he searched the skies for the airplane.
She turned left off the road and stopped pointed south. The sun was to their left. It bathed the east in a golden morning light. Jesse jumped out and scanned the horizon on all four sides. Seeing nothing he pulled the glider