The Shimmering Ship

By: Radio Rancher
(Copyright 2015 by the author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 6

It was time for Dorn, Ellen, Marsh, and Greg to meet Bish at the ship.

As the four people rounded the corner, Ellen gasped, "It's beautiful!

You never told me how beautiful it would be, darling."

"That's odd. It doesn't seem to have attracted much of a crowd" said

Dorn. "You would think there would be some curious onlookers, wouldn't you?” He asked?

"Not really," said Marsh, "No one can see it. It's still cloaked."

"Wow!" said Dorn, "Ellen, you can see it just like Fred does. I wonder

what percentage of non-Arphoans can see it?”  Thought Dorn. "Can you guys see it with your sunglasses, now?" Dorn asked the boys.

"Yes," said Marsh, "It seems the Arphoans didn't check all possibilities when they designed the cloak, now did they?"

"It seems so strange that cameras and radar can be fooled, but someone wearing polarized sunglasses can see it so plainly, and some people can see it plainly without any glasses. The mystery deepens, doesn't it?" said Marsh.

"Well, let's go find Bish and let him know what is happening, and what

we have decided." said Dorn.

They walked to the entrance of the Dawntreader and went inside.

"Wow!" said Jamie and Ellen together as their jaws dropped in awe as their eyes took in the beauty of the Dawntreader's interior.

"Ellen, Jamie, This is Bish," said Dorn.

"Welcome to the Dawntreader!" said Bish. "Dorn has told us about you, Ellen, and of course we have heard a great deal about you and Jamie, from Greg and Marsh as well, and we are very glad to meet both of you.” Bish gushed, "I can certainly see that Dorn is a very good judge of people. Please make yourselves at home here. Dorn will show you where you will be staying while you are with us."  

"Ellen and Jamie can see the cloaked ship just like Fred can." Said Dorn. "We are also beginning to receive each others thoughts. That goes for Jamie as well. Ellen told us how beautiful it was as soon as we turned the corner, and Jamie here saw it yesterday as he came home from school. In fact, he saw us land. He came home right away and told his mom what he saw, even though he figured she wouldn't believe him, he told her exactly what he saw, then he recognized me as being one of the people who came out of the ship when it landed. This young man has a very good head on his shoulders, Sir, and he is very intelligent, too.

Bish looked around for the other passengers aboard the Dawntreader. They were sitting in the lounge talking.

Bish motioned Ellen and Jamie over to the others.

"Excuse me please, this is Ellen and her son, Jamie." said Bish,  "Ellen, these are the people that Marsh, Greg and Delaren sent us to rescue.

“This is Arlen Spencer, and his wife Stacie.”

“This is Parker Avalon and his partner Finchly Byrd.”

“This is Mary Luman. Her husband, Bob died on board their ship.

“Finally, this is Carla Banks; she is the first person from her world to discover the ability to read minds." said Bish.

"By the way, Bish," said Dorn, "How was the meeting with the heads of state from Earth?”

"Well, it was not as bad as I was afraid it would be." Said Bish.

"The U.S. president was rather rude, but since I could prove who we were and that we had genuine interests in making diplomatic contact, with Earth authorities, he agreed to talk and we were able to come to an agreement on what items of interest we will share in exchange for an embassy here and diplomatic immunity, as well as some particular minerals that we are rather short of, on Arphoa. We will provide a medical team to bring Earth into compliance with the intergalactic organization's standards." Bish grinned. "That kind of annoyed him, I think, because I believe he thinks it is in his political best interest to keep the populations of the underdeveloped countries under control, even if it means killing a large percentage of them through starvation, and illness." said Bish.

"Our doctors have the ability to remove the toxicity of any bacteria or other harmful living organism, in plants and animals alike. This makes food last a lot longer under less than ideal conditions, such as a lack of proper refrigeration for instance." Said Dorn.

"When we bring our detox teams here, we will also reverse at least most of the damage caused by your extensive use of fuels that increase the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere." said Bish.

"By the time our work here is finished, it will take centuries for the planet to be as toxic as it is now." Said Dorn.

"By the way," said Bish," I should mention, that you were highly recommended to head the medical team here on Earth, Mr. Dorn." Bish grinned.

"This trip to Arphoa is to acquaint my father and the council with the situation here, and to let our people meet your son and the lovely Ellen, and perhaps perform a special ceremony involving your becoming officially married to one another." said Bish.

"After all the fun is over on Arphoa, I expect we will be back here for quite a long time, getting all the tees dotted and the eyes crossed or some phrase like that, or is it cross your fingers and dot your eyes?  It is so hard to remember all the idioms." Said Bish. Everyone laughed and corrected Bish's mistake.

"Anyway, you know what I mean, Getting everything right.” He said.

"Of course we knew.” said Marsh, "but it was still funny."

"Seriously," said Greg, "I never did understand how you got the language down so well. You are all quite proficient at English. You seem to have an American accent, and you only miss a few phrases. I am actually very impressed."

"Well,” said Bish, “after all, we have spent a great deal of time here. I have lived here on and off for more than ten years, and I am pretty bright, if I do say so myself." He giggled. “Most of the time, I don't miss things like the phrase I screwed up earlier. When I said the T's were dotted I realized that I had made a mistake. It was a slip of the tongue. I knew the right thing to say. It just slipped out the wrong way, so I just went down the road of the joke and acted like a smart ass." Said Bish, "But it got me a pretty good laugh though, didn't it?" he asked.

"I really like the way that you can see things here from a different perspective, Bish, It is very refreshing and interesting,” said Fred.

"Most of us just let things go right past us and we pay no attention to things that are really beautiful and awesome,” said Greg.

"Like when we looked down at the earth from orbit, it was magnificent." said Marsh.

"Arphoa is beautiful, too, but in a different way entirely," said Dorn. "It is wonderful that we can enjoy both.”

"Yes," Said Bish.

"Now that the process of integration has begun, our cultures can blend and build on one another, and expand both or possibly many viewpoints together." Said Fred.

"We can all help bring that about. Once our people have been exposed to you and your friends, Fred, and can see, through your example, what Earth people are like, I am sure that there will be little to no controversy regarding completely accepting Earth into the alliance." said Bish.

"Jamie," said Fred, "I think it is time to get you started on your lessons in Mind Speak."

"Yes sir," Said Jamie. "What do I do?"

"The first thing is for you to "Think" something at me." said Fred.

"I love my dad," Thought Jamie.

"Good, and I'm sure he loves you too," Thought Fred as strongly as he could.

Dorn walked over to Jamie and gave him a big hug, and thought, "I love you, too, son."

Jamie jumped, and said out loud, "You do?"

"Yes Jamie, of course I do," Dorn said.

"You heard him," thought Fred.

"Yes, and I hear you, too." said Jamie.

"And, I can see the surprise in your mind, too," said Jamie," 'He won't be able to do it since he is so young',you were thinking."

"Right," said Fred, “you read my mind. That is so wonderful, Jamie,

Congratulations, You have a very keen mind."

"Well, what else would you expect?" asked Fred grinning, "with the two wonderful people, he has for parents." Dorn's smile broadened so wide, Fred thought it would split his face in two.

Then Jamie jumped. “What was that?" he said.

"I didn't notice anything," said Fred.

"Neither did I," said Dorn.

"What was it like?" asked Fred.

"It was a real cold feeling, like hate or fear or maybe both. It was so intense." Said Jamie.

"I wonder why we didn't notice it?" asked Fred.

"Well it's gone, now." Said Jamie.

To be continued... 

Now that was interesting. What was it that Jamie noticed? And why didn't anyone else notice it? Warning, Will Robinson, this could be serious. I hope everyone pays attention to what Jamie heard, and that they don't ignore him, because he is so young. Sometimes it is the young people who notice things the adults miss.

Don't YOU miss the next exciting chapter.