Backtracking

“Shit,” said Rachel Blank, “that was not supposed to happen. Are you okay?” she looked around for her husband.

“I think so,” said Ted Blank. He stood up and looked around. It was dark, very dark. This was wrong, very wrong. This was not supposed to have happen. But what happened?

They had been working on their private project - a mass transporter unit of their own design using alien technology. And apparently they accidentally set it off when they were not ready. The device was set up in their home “office” that they never let their daughter Natalia enter and oddly enough she never questioned it. It took up half of the room. It was only supposed to transport up to two thousand pounds. But it went wrong and they had no idea what went wrong - they did not push any buttons. They were not even in the room.

“What happened anyway?” that was Ted.

“I think the transporter went off. We need to figure out where we are after we check out the transporter and make sure it won’t go all sporadic on us.”
And so they did. From the limited light they had the unit seemed to be fine. It was intact and turned off - but that was all the more reason to be worrying. If it was not warm, then how did they travel when they only got where ever here was a few minutes ago? If it was running it would be warm no matter whether or not there was no power to the house. This was truly bothersome. If it was due to their device or if their device was running on its own accord then something was very, very wrong. Rule number one is if a lifeless object appears to act on its own - run, its either not its own ruler or else it is not what it appears. So, they gathered what they thought they would need - backpacks changes of clothes, wash cloths, water and food the essentials of human life - and when out to discover where they were.
It was beautiful. It was a desert but it was beautiful. Endless red sand hills with those perfect wavy lines. But despite the beauty there was still a problem, where were they and what direction should they go? There appeared to be nothing in any direction. So, they went left. Walking, walking and walking, they eventually came to a small settlement. It was like nothing they have ever seen before. It was nothing like any human settlement they had ever seen.

“Holy shit is that what I think it is,” asked Ted.

“If you think it’s a floating house, then you are right.”
It was. All the houses here were floating about four feet off of the ground. They did not look like huts or even houses like they have on earth. These were perfectly round balls. Metallic with windows and doors going with the curve they had no obvious way of opening them but it was obvious what they were.

“Quick, run through what we know,” said Rachel, “Viibs is grassy - we are not there. Kowen is just a huge city - we are not there. Hequa is dessert, but it is not this technologically advanced - we are not there, you doing the mental math?”
“Yup, we are on a planet that we have no knowledge of. Approach with caution,” said Ted. They back track a while to circle the settlement and observe from the distance to see if it was a dangerous place. For, by their count two hours had passed and there was no movement at all from this place. They came closer and decided to be direct and just walk over there and see what happened. So, they walked. Approach in the least offensive manner they could, with their hands to their sides and nothing in them. Slowly they walked. Still no movement. When they got within ten feet of it they saw a distortion, Ted bent down and grabbed a handful of sand. They got within three feet of the distortion when he threw the sand at it. It bounced off, but it didn’t disintegrate - that was a good sign. There was movement, finally. The sensors where set off, apparently. A thing came out of the neared round house; it was short, dark and just plain odd. It looked mean; it had tusks protruding over its lips.

It hopped down from the porch of the house and walked to the distortion, it looked at them for a moment or two while they tried to look non-offensive. The alien lifted its hands up and mutter something and the distortion immediately before them disappeared it waved them in. It muttered something else and the distortion was restored. They scooted closer together and the alien motioned closer to him. They slowly did he gestured toward the house and a stair came down and they followed him up and into the place.

They entered into the apparent living room. There were cushions on the floor and the alien bided them to sit down and so they did. They looked at each other while they did so silently communicating with the “this is weird” look.

“Long we have awaited your kind,” the thing said and they gasped, “You seem surprised. Did you not intend on coming here?”

“How do you speak as we do?” asked Rachel.

“Our kinds were in contact many years ago. You may call me Puul.” He studied them then said, “Have you not been taught of our history?” They looked at each other and indicated that, no, they have not. “Your kind came here before, out of nowhere and left in the same manner. Our magic’s attract each other, we complement each other. How long have you studied the craft?”

“The craft?” asked Ted.

“Magic. How else did you come here?” Puul wanted to know.

“We do not know how we came here, we just were along with our house,” said Rachel.

“So, it was by accident. Are your kind not taught the ways of magic anymore?” he mused to himself, “no, you are finicky like that.” He looked at them and said, “You must have the talent or else this could not be happening. I suppose that you were sent here to learn, even if you do not realize it.”

“Learn, magic? I want to know more about how are kinds met,” said Ted. He looked over at Rachel and she nodded her agreement.

“Truth, it is what you desire. I speak as you do because we have been following the evolution of your kind. We’ve had all sorts of languages here and we use our magic to evolve it as yours does - this was one of the precautions we set up with our magic. It took long visits with you for use to learn the language if the day, the first to come spoke in what you call Latin. The second group to come spoke Japanese, we have also had Cherokee. It was diverse and the visits were inconsistent we had to keep up somehow and now two hundred years to the day after the last visit you have come.”

“Whoa. I guess our end did not keep up with this history…they must have been dismissed as crazy,” said Ted, “I suppose the only way back is to study magic with you?”

“Yes, to travel the corridors of magic by accident is usually a onetime thing. You must learn how to control your magic so that you can find your way home.”

“What will we need to do?” asked Rachel.

“Go to the temple. You will need to be presented to our most accomplished magicians. They need to formally accept you and then you will meet with the historians. Then you will train. A few from this village will lead your way there.”

“Wow,” said Ted as he turned toward Rachel, “do you think Natalia is okay?”

“I’m sure she’s being taken care of.”

“Sue will have it covered, I hope…”Ted trailed off. He started thinking about his daughter, she was only seventeen, so many bad things could happen to her; there were many things he had not taught her…like about aliens and what to do if anything
happened to Rachel and him.

They rested there that night with a plan to head out in the morning, they were too worried to get any actually sleep. This whole concept was very confusing and they were worried whether or not their daughter was okay. Why should they trust this guy, this Puul? The Blanks did not find any reason not to believe the story it was too weird to be fiction. No one could make up a story that outlandish and make it sound that convincing. If they don’t go with him they could get lost or die on this strange planet and if they do go, they could be killed or kidnapped or something else awful.

They went with Puul - it was their best option.

#

The venture was not that bad, it was your basic journey across a desert - hot days, cold nights, general unpleasantness. Puul shared more of the history of the two planets. Periodically humans would appear - they had no relation to one another and they came sporadically. Only a few returned to keep tabs of them. They never visited in reverse; the humans always came to them. There was no cohesion between anyone who came it was just people that had the magic because unlike on this planet not everyone has the power on earth and that is why they believe that they come here, to learn about the magic and how to control the magic. When these people returned to earth they did not often share their experiences with others. Some did, but that was a mistake. Magic is a powerful yet delicate thing and knowledge of it is rare and if it is commercialized then there is no point in having it in the first place - do not use your power for evil, or what you would define as evil, do not use your power for your own gain, use it to benefit yourself but do not use it for any type of vengeful actions. Do not share the word, you will not be trusted. That is the current truth. Back in the day, the real truth was good. You have power, you use it. If that is in an evil way, so what, someone will write a book about you.

Because all fairy tales come from some sort of truth, whose truth, however, is another story entirely. The Blanks listened to this philosophical view on the ethics of using their magic, and they listened well. It made sense. They did not openly question any of it, though in their minds they did. But supposedly this place has been keeping track of what works and what does not so there has to be some truth to all of this. It took them three days to reach the city. It, too, hovered a few feet off of the ground - it was low and flat, big and round. If they were to cross it it would take a day, or so it seemed. It also had a distortional force field around it and Puul got them through it. He slowly led them down toward the temple and as they walked more of his kind came out and followed them. It became a precession. News had traveled fast and when they reached the temple they were received thusly:

“They have returned - our mighty brethren from so far a place. So long has it been since the last came to learn, we expect to hear great and thrilling tales of our sister place - the strange and wonderful Earth. Come to my brother and sister and tell all of us your name!” this was said by a guy a bit taller than Puul but more grandly dressed.

“I am Ted Blank and this is my wife Rachel.”

“Whereabouts on the planet called Earth are you from, you are not Greek, Spanish or…”

“We are from a country called America,” said Rachel.

“Hmm, North America - the New World? When were last visited a quaint place called England had taken over the Indian lands - at least that’s what the English side of the story calls them, We had one of each come to us. Will you share how this was sorted out?”

“Um, we are from hundreds of years since that time, but, essentially, the colonists broke away from England formed a democracy and forced the Indians away and into reservations as the country grew to cover the majority of North America,” said Ted, “or at least that is it in a nutshell.”

“That is a very vague nutshell. We will get into the specifics later come inside and be renewed.”

They followed him. It was a huge ass place. There were rooms for everything you could imagine and more.