A story about an Earthling in alien world. If you're just tuning in, consider starting with part 1
Part 36
Anton's successful immigration proved to be anomalous. The next several candidates, when approached, flatly refused to have anything to do with the emissaries. Elsewhere on Mother, other emissaries were encountering similar resistance. It turned out that many Earthlings were unprepared to leave behind everything they'd ever known with little notice. "It's so illogical not to trade in that world for this one," said Nina, complaining about the issue on a call with Archie. "No one on my list wanted to go."
"I think we should pause immigration until we get this sorted out," said Archie. "What if we made a website on Earth that explains all about Mother? Somewhere to send candidates while they decide whether or not to show up for their exit appointment."
"True, our PR needs work," said Nina. "I can make a website happen. Also, I'm establishing a shell company over there to handle program finances."
"Good," said Archie. "Keep me posted. But still, I mean, we've got to figure out a way to really sell it."
"Could we show them advanced technology?" asked Nina.
"Maybe," said Archie. "Like what?"
"Something flashy," said Nina. "There's a type of cooking rod here that's used to boil water with sound waves. Something like that, but flashier."
"Dot currency tokens are an absolute marvel of engineering, but our candidates aren't likely to recognize that if presented with one," said Archie.
"Do the Motherlings have anything that would enable one to hover or float above the ground?" asked Nina.
"I'll ask Rander," said Archie.
After the call, Archie connected with Rander and asked about flashy tech to show to Earthlings. Rander had just the thing. Invisibility cloaks. In a closet in Small Parts Factory #6, there were dozens of these cloaks left over from a passing fad, and the emissaries were welcome to use them. That sounded perfect to Archie.
The Motherling website Nina promised was ready in a month. It had pictures and video from Mother, as well as a comprehensive written history of the planet. The website also posted the locations of future immigration windows, a month in advance, in dozens of places around the world. With the website up, emissaries like Archie and the Outcast Five began approaching candidates with less haste.
One afternoon, Archie and Natlin appeared at a door in suburban Chicago. They rang the bell and their target Sandra Bull answered. "Missionaries?" she asked. "Wait, what the fuck are you people even wearing?"
"The current fashion in New Oro," said Natlin, smiling. "On our home planet, Mother."
"ET missionaries?" said Sandra, leading them into the house. "Alright, we can talk, but I don't have any money for whatever it is."
Sitting on worn furniture, sipping water with little lemon slices to make up for the fact that it was just water, they talked about the other world and the opportunities it held. At first, Sandra was merely being polite, hearing them out. But then Archie showed her the invisibility cloak, and Sandra started to believe about the new world.
The emissaries left Sandra with the address of the website and waited until the end of the month to see if she'd utilize the downtown Chicago exit window. Sandra wasn't the only one they waited for. There were five other candidates who might also show up. When the window opened, Sandra wasn't there. But three others were. Two had, like Sandra, been actively recruited. The third was an interloper, not on the candidate list.
The interloper took out a gun and pointed it at Benko. "Chicago PD," he said. "What just happened? I need answers!"
"Be cool," said Archie. "You aren't supposed to be here. We don't even know your name. Can you put the gun away and tell us your name?"
"Officer Ben Bradley," said Ben, holstering his pistol. "I'm off duty but I see someone stepping through a broken fence between buildings and I want to see where he's going. So I followed and ended up here. Like I'm going batty."
"You saw Jack Tendermint," said Archie, pointing to the other side of the alcove, where Jack was trying out his new handset. "And here's Donna Dean," he said, as a woman appeared suddenly in the room and then sat down, dizzy. "Maybe we should talk outside to let them get their bearings."
Ben followed Archie out into a hall, examining everything he saw and finding it alien. "Where are we?" he asked. "Some kind of space ship?"
"We're on a planet called Mother, millions of light years from Earth," said Archie. "I'm sure we can get you back there without too much trouble."
"Good, I guess," said Ben. "But how'd I end up here in the first place?"
"We run an immigration program," said Archie. "This planet is a paradise, and people here like having Earthlings around. You accidentally stepped through an immigration window meant for other people. Sorry about that."
"A paradise, you say?" asked Ben. "How so?"
"Food is plentiful, everyone has a place to stay, crime is almost nonexistent, and you can do whatever you want," said Archie.
"Crime is almost nonexistent?" asked Ben.
"When Earthlings like me started immigrating, crime did go up slightly," said Archie. "But here, even the roughest neighborhoods are totally safe."
"Yeah," said Ben. "How does that work?"
"The Motherlings have technology that can see anyone, anywhere, at any time," said Archie. "So crime is trivial to detect and there's never any question of what happened or who was involved."
"Huh," said Ben. "Guess you don't need many cops in your paradise."
"Oh there are security forces here," said Archie. "They mostly play competitive sports with each other, though they also respond to complaints and stuff like that. Security Chief Kavennul has become something of a friend to me since I came here. He has a new book on crime in the region that I highly recommend, though it would have to be translated into English for you to read it."
"What if I wanted to take a look around here before you send me home?" asked Ben.
Archie considered the request. "You'd have to surrender your weapon for sure, but we could probably work something out. But like, don't you have stuff to do on Earth?"
"What, can't you send me back to the moment of my departure?" asked Ben.
"Not how that works," said Archie. "Time is time. We can look into the past, but changing it isn't possible."
"Huh," said Ben. "I'll be honest, this whole thing feels like a psychotic break. But on the off chance that it's not, I want to see what you mean by paradise, and I want proof that we're on another planet."
"There's something else," said Archie. "The Motherling observation tech. Earth has been under observation for a thousand years. There's seriously no such thing as a secret with these people."
"Consider me an open book," said Ben.
(Feature image from Pixabay)
Read my novels:
- Small Gods of Time Travel is available as a web book on IPFS.
- The Paradise Anomaly is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Psychic Avalanche is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- One Man Embassy is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Flying Saucer Shenanigans is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Rainbow Lullaby is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- The Ostermann Method is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Blue Dragon Mississippi is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
See my NFTs:
- Small Gods of Time Travel is a 41 piece Tezos NFT collection on Objkt that goes with my book by the same name.
- History and the Machine is a 20 piece Tezos NFT collection on Objkt based on my series of oil paintings of interesting people from history.
- Artifacts of Mind Control is a 15 piece Tezos NFT collection on Objkt based on declassified CIA documents from the MKULTRA program.