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

the planet. There are only three other Benwarians in the world.”
“You’re right; we can put you in the alien nerd minority. Tim and I will beat you to the ship and prove once and for all white superiority. Okay you’re on,” Jesse said. “Let’s do this.”
The young men loaded their day packs with food and water. When everyone was ready, Traveller explained the race, “This is a Benwarian team race. I’ll tie myself to Willy. Jesse you tie yourself to Tim.” He pulled two ropes from the back of the scout. “As a team, you have to remain tied together or you’re disqualified. The first team to touch the space pod wins.”
“What are me and Tim going to get if we win?” Jesse asked.
“Sobered up,” said Traveller. “Ready?”
When Jesse nodded his head, Willy said, “Go!”
Jesse took off at a jog with Tim behind. Traveller and Willy followed at a more leisurely pace.
“No sense getting in a hurry,” Traveller said. “Jesse isn’t sober enough to pace himself.”
“That’s right. Slow and steady wins the race,” Willy agreed.
They headed west along the base of the mountain until coming to the game trail that led upward. Traveller went just fast enough to keep Jesse in sight. He couldn’t tell, but it looked like Tim was being pulled up the hill by his teammate.
For the first half hour, Jesse and Tim were able to put distance between themselves and their pursuers, but then the night of partying began to weigh on them. Traveller’s relentless pace had put him and Willy within thirty yards of them over the next half hour.
Tim took the lead when he saw that Traveller and Willy had closed. As the teams came to the trail through the shale, they were within touching distance. Traveller could smell stale beer mingled with Jesse’s flatulence.
“My turn Bro’” Willy said. I’m not smellin’ that stuff leaking from Jesse’s butt any mo’.” He took the lead position before picking up the pace.
Willy burst past Tim with Traveller right behind.
At that moment, Jesse stumbled and fell. “Timeout!” he called. “I hurt myself.” He was holding his ankle writhing in the middle of the trail. His chest heaved; sweat drenched his clothes and face.
Traveller and Willy stopped their ascent. Traveller turned hurrying to the aid of his friend. When he knelt to examine the injured ankle, Jesse moaned, “Don’t touch me. Just let me get my breath.”
Fifteen minutes later, Jesse’s breathing had returned to normal. “Okay Travis, you can look at it now.”
Traveller positioned himself facing Jesse. He sat down placing the injured ankle that rested in the heavy hiking boot in his lap. “Ah, be gentle!” Jesse cautioned wincing.
Traveller put his fingers on the boot’s shoe strings and started to untie them. Before the alien could react, Jesse rose up on both arms and pushed Traveller in the chest with his foot thrusting him onto the shale at the side of the trail.
He landed on his back. The momentum of the push kept him sliding on the flat rocks. When the rope tightened, it jerked Willy off of his feet. He landed with his palms out on the loose shale following Traveller down the hill. Neither man could gain purchase to stop their descent. Both of them were able to turn to slide on their rear ends as they cascaded down the steep mountainside.
“My foot slipped,” Jesse yelled after them. He turned to Tim to say, “Minorities are stupid. Let’s get out of here.”
“Stinkin’ Jesse!” Willy called after them pulling the sound down the mountain with him.
“Slow down and keep a steady pace this time,” Tim said. Before resuming their journey, they waited until both their rivals slid to a stop several hundred yards down the mountain. When Traveller and Willy stood up unharmed, Jesse let Tim set the pace upward.

At the bottom of the shale, Traveller helped Willy to his feet. They dusted each other off. “I’m gonna smack that fakin’ honkie. Smell like a skunk, act like a coyote. Idiot could’ve killed us,” Willy said.
“I’ll take the lead. Maybe we can catch them,” Traveller said. Before Willy had a chance to reply, the rope grew taut and he was pulled forward.
The alien powered up the trail with long strides and Willy in tow.
It took over thirty minutes to regain the top of the shale slope where Jesse had tricked and kicked them. “Gotta rest,” Willy panted.
“Five minutes,” Traveller said breathing rhythmically. He watched his watch until time expired then pulled Willy up. They wound their way through the sagebrush and pinion pines at an even quicker pace than before.
It took another forty-five minutes to get through the forested area. When Traveller and Willy burst through a copse of trees, they could see Jesse and Tim making their way through the rocks a hundred yards farther up the trail.
“We will never hear the end of it if Jesse beats us to the pod,” Traveller told Willy. “Two minutes to rest,” he continued with an eye on his watch.
“Damn cheater. If I get close enough, I’ll tackle him, twist his ankle all up so he knows not to try that again,” Willy said between breaths. “Dang, my lungs be burnin’ worse than they was when I be chasin’ that Arizona forward all over the court.” His chest heaved, sweat poured down his face, arms, and back.
Traveller checked his watch, “Time is up!” he said taking off again.
“Linclon freed the slaves, Mr. Driver Sir,” Willy complained when the rope pulled at his waist jerking him forward.
Twenty minutes later they arrived at the part of the trail that cut to the right. The path led due west. They had closed to within fifty yards of Jesse and Tim. The space pod rested only a half mile farther along the trail.
Traveller increased his pace. He, too, was drenched in sweat. His mouth was opened as he breathed in and out. Jesse’s got heart, I’ll give him that he thought with admiration.
Traveller’s brisk pace brought them to within twenty yards when they got to the straight stretch that led to the pod. Jesse glanced back spotting them. He sprinted in front of Tim and took the lead running.
Traveller and Willy broke into a run also. They moved to within ten yards as the pod got closer. At five yards Traveller could almost touch Tim.
He could hear Jesse laughing as he sped up.
At the slight incline of loose talus that led to the over crop, Traveller got within striking distance. He grabbed Tim’s ankle, pulled him down, but Tim turned and kicked Traveller’s hand away while Jesse yanked him up the slope backwards.
A second later, a shout echoed from the rock outcropping that sheltered the pod, “We won!”
Traveller and Willy rested at the bottom of the talus for a moment. They found their friends in the shade of the overhang when they finally made it to the top. Spent and panting, the two teams looked at each other and started laughing.
“Man, you two sure are clumsy,” Jesse wheezed.
“You cheated, we win,” said Willy.
“There’s nothing in the rules that says you can’t outsmart the other team if they’re stupid,” Jesse chided.
“Damn honkie, if I had the strength to get up, I’d give you that knuckle sandwhich we all talk about,”
“Now, now, Willy don’t be a sore loser.”
“I got to admit that did add a little spice to the race. Me and Traveller was kickin’ your butt till you kicked us down that shale. Oh man, I gonna be sore in the morning.”
Jesse sat up and passed his canteen around. After everyone drank a pull, the men looked at each other and started laughing again. “So, so . . .,” Jesse gasped, “so aren’t you going to ask, ask . . . Aren’t you going to ask me?”
“Ask you what, fool?”
“How my ankle is,” Jesse said causing four men’s laughter to echo throughout the cave for several minutes.

The men rested for over an hour before Traveller suggested, “Why don’t you guys gather some firewood while I open up the pod to make sure there’s not a rattlesnake named Fangs striking at anything that moves.”
“Help me up Jesse,” Willy ordered untying the rope from around his waist. Jesse pulled him up then untied his own rope. They moved like octogenarians in the old folk’s home as they shuffled off into the brush.
After the three men left, Traveller opened the pod. The color of the pod blended in with the surrounding rocks making it almost impossible to see so everthing was just as he left it. Traveller engaged the climate controls setting the temperature at seventy-two degrees. He laid out the tarps before bringing in everyone’s backpacks. Jesse’s was so heavy that he opened it to see what was inside. A six pack of beer and a bottle of brown fluid call Jack Daniels lay on top of his gear. He was carrying extra weight when we raced Traveller marveled.
It took Traveller a while to find Fangs. He was still hibernating in the far corner of the cargo hold. The diamondback didn’t move when Traveller petted him, but the dry yet slimy feel of the snake never ceased to please the alien. He stroked the reptile for a few minutes before going back outside.Chapter 35 - Jack Daniels

Dusk was descending. In the subdued lighting and shadows of the ourcropping, Tim had a small fire burning. Traveller watched as he built it into a sit-around fire. The pile of wood by the pod grew when Jesse and Willy dumped their final armloads of branches on top of it.
Jesse climbed through the opened pod door. He emerged with the bottle of Jack Daniels. “You know Traveller,” he said, “Jim Morrison loved Jack Daniels. He recorded most of his songs drunk so I thought I’d let you experience what he went through.” Jesse unscrewed the cap then took a belt.
He handed the bottle to Traveller.
“Don’t do it man,” Willy cautioned. “It’s the road to Hell you’re takin’.”
“Don’t be such a mama,” Jesse said. He turned to Traveller, “You’re here to research humans, to find out what makes them tick. Jim Morrison’s one of your favorite singers. Maybe it’s because he drinks whiskey or he drinks whiskey because he doesn’t care, but you’ll never find out if you don’t try it.”
Traveller sniffed the bottle neck. There was substantially more alcohol in this concoction than beer. “Come on be a man,” Jesse encouraged.
The alien took a sip. It tasted horrible causing him to wince in displeasure. The liquid burned all the way down to his stomach where it settled into a warm pleasant feeling. That’s not so bad he thought. He took another sip and it wasn’t so bad. “Tim?” he said tipping the bottle toward him.
“No way. Don’t let Jesse lead you astray. That stuff will kill you,” Tim replied.
Traveller handed the bottle back to Jesse who took another swig and said, “Don’t let those two pussies scare you off. We’re in the middle of nowhere. What harm can come from a few shots of whiskey?”
The relaxed feeling that the amber liquid induced enticed Traveller, made him want another drink. This seductive temptress called whiskey made everything all right. He held his hand out for the bottle. When Jesse handed it to him, another swig was taken, a somewhat longer one this time.
“No more!” Willy thundered. “Damn you Jesse, no more!”
Jesse grabbed the bottle back and took another drink. “You’re not my momma,” he said quietly.
“No, but I’m Travis’s brother. You keep givin’ him whiskey, he’s