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

how Earth's population exploded starting in the twentieth century when our farming methods and medical knowledge improved."
"That is what happened on my planet," said Traveller leading the way out of the cave.
When he emerged, Jesse and Tim saw the rattlesnake. "Jeeze, that thing is seven feet long!" Jesse exclaimed. "Look at its tail; it looks just like a racoon's with those black and white stripes."
Traveller had released the snake's head. It now dangled freely about his shoulders.
"You're going to get bit," said Tim in alarm.
"It won't bite me," said Traveller knowingly as the snake's forked tongue slithered in and out of its mouth.
By the time the boys arrived at the space pod the rattlesnake had wrapped intself around Traveller neck with its head rested on top of Traveller's. Tim and Jesses stayed well away from the alien; his relationship to the snake was alien to them. The rattler looked contented, almost blissful. Traveller opened the door to the pod then placed his new found friend inside.
"Are we done exploring?" he asked as the door closed again.
"We've got a few hours before we have to leave. Let's scan the creek maybe we can find some gold there," said Jesse.
The boys followed a path down to the water. It was an old game trail that went through the creek then along the mountainside back to the west. Traveller checked the scanner for gold when they stopped at the edge of the water. The light blinked red signifying there was none.
"Let's follow the trail back up the canyon," said Tim. "There's a stretch of stream that's clear of brush about a half mile up. We can check for gold there."
They walked the trail until they got to the spot Tim described. There the path diverged with one branch headed north back through the creek. Traveller scanned the water. This time the light turned green when he ran the device over a section of the stream.
They examined the bottom of the creek bed. "I don't see any gold," said Jesse.
"I don't either," said Traveller.
"We might have to pan for it," said Tim.
"You mean cook it?" asked Traveller.
"No, you use a plate with a high side to sluice the water around. The gold is heavier than the other rocks so it stays in the bottom of the pan. When you see a shiny speck you pick it out. I brought my mess kit, I'll show you." He pulled out the mess kit from his day pack and then broke the metal plate and cooking pan apart. He used the handled pan to scoop up water and rocks from where the scanner indicated the gold was then he swished the water around. "You have to look for yellow specks."
Tim sluiced the rocks around for several minutes occasionally separating the gravelly mud with his fingers. He found nothing so he threw the residue onto the bank.
"Let me try," said Jesse with a gleam in his eye. He stepped into the middle of the water then scooped a panful of rocks from the bed of the creek. After several minutes of sluicing and separating the gravel to look for gold specks he gave up.
Traveller had watched his friends and thought about the gold being heavier than the other rocks. "My turn," he said. He joined Jesse in the water. Traveller took the unhandled part of the kit from Tim. He dug deep into the bottom of the creek where Jesse had scooped his out and got a healthy amount of gravel. Now he took the handled pan and filled it with water. In an intuitive process, he would pour a bit of mud from the unhandled pan into the handled one then sluice the water about to look for a gold speck. On the third transfer, Traveller spotted the shiny gleam of a gold nugget about the size of the end of his little finger. He plucked it out of the mud, washed it off in the water, and then held it up to the light. "Found some!" he exclaimed.
"We're rich!" exclaimed Jesse.
"Not quite," said Tim.
Traveller handed Jesse the nugget. He took the scanner from Tim then waded up the stream with the red light blinking. When it turned green, he tried his gold sluicing method again. The brown mud glimmered gold but it was but a speck on the end of his finger.
The boys spent another hour sluicing the gravel. The sun had disappeared on the other side of the mountain before the more sensible Tim called time. "It's four o'clock. We'd better head back. It'll be dark before we get outta here."
"Is that enough gold to make Lori rich?" asked Traveller. They had found the nugget and two small flecks but nothing else.
Jesse and Tim laughed. "Not hardly, but I'll bet it is over an ounce though. It might pay her rent for two weeks."
Traveller looked disappointed. "I'll have to come back and try again," he said.

When they arrived at the space pod, Traveller remoted the door open. Curled in a tight coil with it's rattle in the air sat a seven foot long diamondback. The alien locked eyes with the snake, "Hello my crawling spinal chord," he said in a soothing tone.
Jesse freaked out. He grabbed Traveller by the shoulder to hold him back. "It's going to strike you!"
"No it won't. Watch," he formed a cup with his hand then slowly moved it toward the snake keeping his eyes locked on its. Traveller covered the snake's head for a moment before it slithered through his thumb and forefinger then up his arm.
"Oh jeeze, that's so gross," said Jesse as the rattler crawled across Traveller's shoulders and around his neck.
The alien stood just inside the entrance. "Why are you waiting? Get in," he said.
"I'm not getting in until you move completely out of the way," said Jesse.
"Right," said Tim. "The only good snake is a dead snake."
"I suspect that snakes serve a useful purpose," said Traveller.
"They do," said Tim. "They hold the rodent population in check, but still, I don't want to ride in no spaceship with one."
"My snake is perfectly harmless unless you provoke him. We invaded his habitat. He was perfectly happy in the cave. I'm going to take him back to his home after I study him for a while.”
The alien held the snake just behind the head so that its mouth opened. “What do you call these two long teeth?” he asked Jesse.
“They’re fangs. He uses them to inject poison into his prey. You’d better watch out.”
“Fangs, that sounds like a good name for him,” Traveller said moving closer to the boys who were now wide-eyed and backing away from the ship. With a smile, Traveller withdrew inside.
After Traveller sat in the pilot's seat, the two boys entered the spaceship. "You get co-pilot. That way you can be closer to Fangs," said Tim to Jesse.
"No, I'll sit back here with you," Jesse replied rolling his eyes and staying well away from the snake-adorned alien.
Traveller started the engines before engaging the thrusters. The thrusters whined quietly, the ship elevated. Power was cut to one thruster making the ship twirl around in the other direction. Once it faced westward. Traveller cut power to the other thruster engaging the engines. The ship shot back up the canyon.
Minutes later, Tim's VW came into view. Traveller flew above the secluded campground, stopped the ship, and engaged the thrusters. It slowly descended coming to a rest near the car. The engines stopped, the door opened.
"Can you leave the snake here?" asked Jesse. "He gives me the heebie jeebies."
"Yeah, he reminds me of my high school Enlgish teacher," said Tim.
Traveller waited for the boys to exit before setting the snake on the floor. He slithered off into the cargo hold. The boys stood by the VW.
"I wish you could've stayed in Pocatello," said Jesse wistfully.
"Yeah, me too," said Tim. "We'll have to come back next weekend to check on you."
"I'll miss you guys. No more basketball, no more Lori, no more Mexican food, no more hamburgers. I'll be bored."
"We'd better go," Jesse held his hand out. Traveller shook it and then drew his friend to him for a hug. He did the same with Tim while Jesse got in the car.
Tim climbed behind the wheel of the terrapod. When he turned the ignition switch, the engine turned over once, sputtered, and then died. Tim put the car in second gear. "You guys get me headed downhill, and I'll pop the clutch." He turned the car to the left while the other two pushed.
Jesse jumped in as the car picked up speed. Traveller kept pushing until Tim let the clutch out. The car jumped a little then the cylinders fired as the engine started. The Volkswagen shot ahead leaving Traveller in the road waving goodbye.Chapter 19 - Alone

Traveller went back to his space pod and closed the door. He searched the sack of groceries Jesse had given him. Inside, he found two jumbo jars of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, two boxes of saltine crackers, two cans that said sardines in mustard on top, and a can of coffee. There was also a small bag of apples. He loved apples. Only Lori knew how much. She must have included them.
Next, he opened the box of books. There he found a dictionary, a set of condensed encyclopedias, a year's worth of back issues of Time magazine, and a two volume set entitled "An Outline of History." There was also a separate grocery bag with several novels. On top of the books he found a card from Lori. It read:

Dear Traveller,
I enjoyed your company. Well, except for the time we had Mexican food at the Pilot House that kind of stunk. I hope to see you next weekend if all goes well.
Love,
Lori

Traveller put the card in front of the pilot's seat and sat down with his dictionary. He had a tablet along with a pen that Tim had given him. He copied the pronunciation key then started studying it in an attempt to learn how to read.
Hours later, he turned on his console trying to find a television station. After allowing the computer to perform a random search and boosting the antennae, a black man came on standing in the middle of a stage by himself. "My name is Flip Wilson," he said. Just then a woman walked by. Flip walked behind her swaying his behind and swinging a purse imitating her walk. When she turned and saw him, she became upset and swung a purse at him. "The devil made me do it!" he screamed putting his arms over his head.
After being bludgeoned, he introduced the first act, "Tonight we be really lucky. Our musical guests are the fabulous Bee Gees from Australia."
The curtain parted to reveal a singing troupe with white sequined uniforms. They started singing what appeared to be English, except one of the words didn't make any sense. He opened his dictionary and tried to find the word 'jive'. It wasn't there. What the hell is jive talkin'?
Traveller didn't want to get confused so he had the computer search the airways again. This time "Hee Haw" came in. Roy Clark was singing, "Yesterday when I was young. So many different songs were waiting to be sung . . ." The melancholy song caused Traveller remember his parents. He wondered what they were doing right now. For a moment he missed the sameness, the routine, and even the boredom of being on Ship.
The Benwarian watched television until well into the night