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

/> “I know where there’s an old gold mine,” said Tim. “There’s still a building foundation with an old cook stove inside of it right by there.”
“What is a gold mine?”
“Gold is a valuable mineral that people pay a lot of money for,” said Jesse.
“Yeah,” said Tim. “My crucifix is gold.” He took the gold cross from around his neck to show it to Traveller. “Anyway, you know that road that runs along the Pomerelle parking lot? It leads back to the top of the ski runs before it cuts back to the east. You can drive to the ruins of an old cabin and then there’s a creek that flows down to the highway to Ward’s store. You follow the creek east and the foundation sits on the side of a hill. I’ve never really explored the area, but we could try panning for gold in the creek or try finding the mine shaft.”
“Can you show me where it is?” asked Traveller.
“Sure, we have plenty of time,” said Tim.

An hour and a half later, the Volkswagon was bouncing along the gravel road to Pomerelle.
“I miss Lori already,” said Traveller.
“I don’t,” said Jesse.
“She does so much for you Jesse. You should treat her better,” Traveller said.
Tim agreed, “Yeah, it’s not everyone who has a sister that gets between you and a six foot four mean as hell black guy.”
“That was embarrassing,” said Jesse. “What is this, the Lori fan club?”
“I’m a fan,” said Traveller.
“I am too,” said Tim.
“Okay, I give up. You guys are right. She deserves the pedestal you two put her on. From now on she’s golden just like Pony Boy.”
“You read the Outsiders?” asked Tim.
“Yeah, believe it or not. It’s the last book I can remember liking,” Jesse replied. “It’s in your sack of books Traveller. You’ll have to read it.”
“I will read it. I will read all of the books you humans have given me.”
“You know what I’d like to do Travis? Ride in your spaceship. That would be acroluminous,” said Jesse.
“Oh yes,” said Tim, “totally worth missing church for. Totally acroluminous.”
“We can use it to find the gold mine,” said Traveller.
“Alright, now we’re talkin’” said Jesse.

They putted up the road to Traveller’s camp site. “Wow, it looks like a pregnant airplane glider,” said Tim.
“This is going to be so groovy,” said Jesse as the sewing machine sound of the Volkswagen stopped.
They climbed of of the bug and Traveller pressed his remote control. A panel narrow panel came up before a ramp descended. Everyong grabbed something from the trunk of the Volkswagen and brought it inside. “You opened the door with that little device?” asked Tim.
“Yes,” Traveller said as Tim placed the packages inside the ship. He looked around which caused him to whistle with amazement. “Man, this is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Look, there's no controls Jesse.”
“Yeah, I know. Lori and I were here before.”
Traveller pushed a button on the console. A screen lit up with several different icons on it. “These are the controls. You push a symbol,” Traveller pushed one causing the cover panels in the front windows to come down, “and it tells the ship what to do.” He pushed another and the ramp retracted, the door panel closed.
“There’s no knobs or anything?” asked Tim.
“Knobs? Everything is controlled by what you understand to be a computer. Have you heard of a computer?”
“Yeah, we were discussing them in my futurology class. They store information and perform other mental tasks. I hear you can even buy one, but you have to put it together yourself.”
“Those human devices are primitive. My computer responds to voice commands. It controls the space pod also. It can perform many tasks such as distill water or produce synthowafers.”
“It’s cold in here. Can you have it turn up the heat?” asked Jesse.
“The biosensors embedded in the floor will do that automatically,” said Traveller. “One of you sit there,” He pointed at what the boys understood to be the copilot’s seat. “And one of you sit here.” He pointed to a heavy tarp on the floor before the cargo hold.
“I get shotgun!” called Jesse jumping into the seat.
When Tim was seated, Traveller fired up the thrusters. He pushed the up arrow causing the ship to slowly ascend. There was a slight roaring sound as it elevated. Once it cleared the trees, he pushed the throttle down and pulled back on the steering wheel. The ship moved eastward as it climbed into the sky. It took but a minute to fly over the ski lodge.
“You need to angle right, up that ridge,” said Tim pointing.
Traveller adjusted course. Soon he was flying along the top of the ski runs. A few seconds after passing the open area farthest east, the dilapidated cabin came into view.
“See the crevice? That’s where the creek bed is. Follow it downward,” instructed Tim.
Taveller turned slighly left until the pod was heading due east over the creek that was little more than a trickle in late fall. The willows and pine trees were dense along the base of the canyon. On the other side, a level place had been carved into the side of the mountain. "There it is," said Tim.
Traveller veered left and was soon hovering over the ruins of a building. A gigantic rusty cook stove sat alone and forlorn inside the crumbling rock walls of the structure. He flew over it and then hovered over the road that led to the valley below. The thrusters engaged to set the space pod gently onto a cleared space where the road started.
"That was cool," said Tim.
"Yeah, when are you going to teach me how to fly it?" asked Jesse.
Traveller powered the thrusters down before cutting the engines. "I do not know Jesse. One day soon, I hope. May I see your gold cross, Tim?"
"Sure," he said taking it off and handing it over.
Traveller put it on the table in the cargo hold. He opened a storage compartment on one of the walls and pulled out a wide mouthed device that looked like a hand held vacuum with a control screen like that on his console. When he powered it up, rows of icons filled the rectangle on the back of the device.
"This is a scanner. It will analyze the chemical composition of your necklace. It can then be programmed to alert us when we find some gold. It will give the distance and the coordinates in relationship to the space pod."
"Hot damn. We're going to be rich," said Jesse.
"There is probably a reason why this site is abandoned," said Traveller sensibly. He pressed an icon then ran the device over Tim's necklace. Next, he brought up a text screen. His fingers moved rapidly as he typed in instructions. When he finished, the doors were opened and they stepped outside.
The three boys scanned the area inside the foundation first. A beacon blinked red on the scanner. Neither its rhythm nor intensity changed as they explored inside the rocky ruins.
"Dang, you'd think somebody would have been polite enough to leave us a gold nugget or something," Jesse complained.
"Let's try the hillside," said Tim.
They walked along the side of the slope taking turns holding the scanner. Several mezures from the foundation, they stumbled upon a mine shaft. "Let's go inside," said Jesse.
"I don't know. It looks pretty unstable," said Tim. He held the scanner at the opening moving it around inside the cave. The red light never wavered. Jesse took the scanner away and went inside.
Traveller and Tim followed him. "You're crazy," Tim complained.
"Come on, only the daring ever accomplish anything in this world," Jesse said.
They could only see when the red light came on. The control panel didn't radiate far enough to illuminate the cave. Jesse became frustrated after penetrating the dark shaft far enough for the daylight at its mouth to disappear. "Can't you make this into a flashlight?" he said scrambling over some rocks that were strewn on the floor. When the red light came on, he could see a round dirt area with several pieces of rope coiled together.
Traveller came up behind him. "Those are living creatures. I can smell them."
Just then Jesse heard a rattle and then another and another. "Shit those are rattle snakes," he said freezing in place.
"Give me the scanner," Traveller said holding his hand out. Jesse gave it to him. He examined the icons until he found one that looked promising. When he pressed it, the scanner made a whirring sound, but provided no light. He pressed another that produced a weak beacon.
In the dim light, Jesse could see several snakes with dark colored diamonds on their backs slithering lethargically away from him. One brushed his boots.
"Good thing it's so cold," said Tim. "Otherwise they would be having you for lunch."
"Yeah, I think we've done enough exploring in here," said Jesse wisely.
"Can we take one of the snakes back to the ship so I can catalogue it?" asked Traveller.
"They're poisonous," said Jesse. "I'm not touching one."
"I'll get one," said Traveller. "Hold the light."
"Grab it behind the head so it can't strike you," said Tim.
"How could it hit me? It has no appendages," said Traveller.
"No, I mean bite you. It has fangs and can propel its body at you if it's coiled," Tim explained.
Traveller moved into the circle of snakes slowly. He started humming and the snakes stopped moving. Slowly, slowly he approached the biggest one. When he got within reaching distance, he kneeled down. The snake's eyes locked on Traveller's. He moved his head sideways; the snake moved his head sideways. There was a blur as the alien's hand shot forward to nab the snake behind the head. Interesting texture he thought. It's like a spinal chord wrapped in thin leather. Traveller draped the snake over his neck. "Let's take it back to the ship."
"That is so gross," said Jesse with admiration.
"What do snakes eat?" asked Traveller as they made their way back out of the cave.
"Mice and other rodents. They can even kill and swallow animals much larger than themselves, like a jackrabbit." Tim held his hands out to show how large a jackrabbit was.
"I've read that they can even hypnotize a bird so it stays where it’s at until they can poison it and eat it," he continued. "I think they hibernate in winter though."
"What does that mean?" asked Traveller.
"Well the mice don't move about in the winter so the snake sort of shuts down and sleeps until spring when it can find food again,"
"How evolutionarily marvelous!" said Traveller. "What a splendid adaptation to an ecosystem. By the universe, are there other species that hibernate?"
"Several." Tim replied. "A large animal called a bear does as well as marmots and prairie dogs."
"I simply must learn more about the animals on this planet. Lemmus had nothing but Lemmings. The animal species became extinct as Lemmings encroached upon and destroyed their habitats. Even domesticated animals were destroyed to make room for Lemmings."
"You mean there were no pets?" asked Tim.
"My world became too populated with Lemmings. Only plant foods and a few animals were allowed to survive. The animals were kept in cages and force fed to provide a source of protein for the wealthy. All others existed on plant-derived foods."
"I am actually reading about population growth in my sociology class," said Jesse. "Some guy named Malthus said that people will multiply until famine or disease checks their growth. My textbook contained a graph that showed