All the time in the world chapter 2
#2 of All the time in the world
All the time in the world chapter 2
By twobunny
Chapter two
It's been half a year and I have learned a lot. I can carry a basic conversation with Doc and the Nanny bot in Galactic standard. (The native language) This day I am allowed out into the public and allowed to take in the sites. I am admitted to a concert hall and listen to music. I get tears in my eyes at the sad parts and feel the joy during the happy ones. At the end I thank Doc for allowing me to do this.
That evening we enter a restaurant and enjoy a good meal. We do get into an argument about who is going to pay the check. I want to repay him for everything he has done. He says save my money, that I am going to need it. I take his advice and listen to it.
The next day I return to learning the language and Doc goes into work. Doc corners me that night
"Hi Doc."
"Andrew, I want you to come by work tomorrow and we will try to send you home."
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"Thank you for trying to send me home."
"Don't thank us yet, I think I have the settings down to return you home but I am not sure. I hope I can get you home."
The next day I am escorted to the lab and handed a badge that allows me entry into the building. I follow Doc to a lab and see in a sealed chamber the device as a long hollow tube about seven feet tall on the inside. I am asked to stand aside and watch as the bunnies, foxes, wolves and a skunk work on the machinery and with a bright flash the device activates. Several reading are made and a probe is sent down the line. Reading from the probe come fast and I understand little of what is said. Doc turns to me with sad eyes and shuts down the device. I wonder what is going on.
"Andrew, I am so sorry. We were unable to establish a wormhole to your planet. Where our probe ended up was somewhere near a gas giant. The atmosphere wasn't livable. Do you understand me?"
"I understand."
"Please come into my office."
I follow Doc to his office and he pulls out two glasses and a bottle. Pouring a little into the glasses he hands me one. I sniff at it and it has a fruity nose to it. I take a sip and find out the hard way that it is a hard alcoholic drink. Doc goes on and berates himself on not being able to return me home. I retort with maybe it was a one in a billion shot that got me here in the first place and maybe it is random on where it shows up. He agrees and tells me that he will not give up.
We fly back home and the Nanny bot asks if we had a nice trip. I tell Lisa (the nanny bot) all about my adventure. Doc prepares dinner and I go back to learning the language. After dinner I retire to the bedroom and the Nanny bot follows. I ask Lisa to sit down and I pour out my heart to her. All my fears and hopes and dreams. I take Lisa's advice and don't give up.
Over the next half a year I go into the labs fifteen time and fifteen times they fail. This time I think they will succeed.
I am in the lab and they activate the portal. Everything is calibrated and suddenly a bright flash appears. Everything stops as they look and see a form on the ground and it is hurt. I rush to the airlock leading to the device and enter. I turn over the form and see it is a human female about my age. Doc and the staff get into action when I tell them she's alive but unconscious. Emergency services are called and the device is shut down. Doc asks the emergency team to sedate her and inform the doctors they have another human on their hands. Doc climbs into the ambulance and I head for the hover car and head for the medical center. I am prevented from entering the emergency treatment area but I get a message to Doc that I am here.
Several cronars later Doc comes out and says, "Andrew, she is going to live. We have her sedated and in a private room. I want you there when she wakes up. Hopefully she won't freak out upon seeing a human face."
I follow Doc to the private room and take my vigil next to the bed. I watch as the woman slowly wakes up and with a little surprise, she jumps and asks, "Who are you?"
"My name is Andrew Withers and I need to ask you a few questions."
"Ask away."
"What is the last thing you remember before waking up."
"I was trying to find a comfortable place under the overpass on I 95 near Washington D.C."
"Are you homeless or a runaway?"
"I ran away from home when I was 15, a year ago. I am not going back."
"No one said that you are being returned home. What is your name?"
"Jasmine Witherspoon. Were am I?"
"That is going to take a little explanation. We are in the regional medical center in the city of Lansrath on the planet Cyrex 3."
"No really, where am I?"
I kid you not, You have traveled through time and space to another planet. I have bad news though."
"What?"
"The Earth is a dead world, due to a nuclear exchange. We don't know who shot first but the world ended a long time ago."
"I don't believe you."
"I have more things that you might not believe. We are not alone in the universe."
"Little green men from Mars. I believe it when I see it."
"They are not little or green, but they may look familiar to you. Do you wish to see my friend?"
"Ok."
I open the door and shut it again and wander to the waiting room and ask Doc to follow me. I tell him not to make any sudden moves.
I enter the room and ask, "Are you ready to see your first alien."
I motion to Doc to enter the room and when she see him, she passes out. Jasmine come to moments later. Her reaction is unlike mine. She gets the courage to touch Doc on the paw and arm and then asks if she could touch his face and ears. Doc approves and his muzzle and ears are pulled to make sure they aren't glued on.
"So realistic, are there more aliens out there?"
"There are ones that look like rabbits, wolves, ferrets and skunks and that is all I have seen so far."
"I believe you, now. What is going to happen to me?"
"Well the doctor is going to check you out and you are going to come home with us. We are going to teach you everything about their culture and language using the technology of the time."
"I am hungry, I haven't eaten in days."
"Poor dear, lunch is being served. I'll have a nurse bring you a lunch tray as soon as possible."
"Why is his lips moving different than what I heard?"
"That is the translation program they have set up. It seems that all the transmissions have been picked up and analyzed and when they tried to contact Earth it was destroyed. I was told it was over religion."
"I was not very religious at home. Do these beings even believe in God."
"I never asked."
"I don't need to know, then."
Lunch arrives with a rabbit nurse and after being asked if she could touch her, the nurse approves then after words leaves to do other chores. Lunch is a little different than my first meal. It is a casserole of meat and vegetables and it looks good. Jasmine takes one bite and decides that it is edible. She tries the tea like drink and says it is good. I watch as Jasmine eats and then I tell her I will be right back. I go down to the cafeteria and order me some lunch.
After lunch I return to the room and the doctor is examining Jasmine. The doctor comes out and says, "She's a little malnourished but perfectly healthy otherwise. You can take her home tomorrow."
"Thank you, doctor."
I go in and tell Jasmine the news. I tell her about the house we are going to live in. And of the technology of the time, including the toys that help me learn the language. I tell her things about this world that I have seen with my eyes. I continue talking when dinner arrives and I excuse myself to eat.
I catch Doc and return to the house after visiting hours are over and when we return, Doc goes and makes up the third bedroom. I go in and help. That evening I fall asleep with visions of Jasmine in my head.
The next morning I wake up and we head in for the medical center. As we goto the room we catch a flurry of activity from several nurses. We are stopped by a nurse from going in. I hear Jasmine and the doctor in a question and answer session. The doctor talks to a nurse and she runs off. The nurse comes back with several packages. The doctor comes out and looks at us.
"Just a minor emergency, nothing to worry about. Give her a little privacy."
I wonder what the emergency was and then we are allowed in.
"Jasmine, what was that all about."
"I was having a female problem and the nurses panicked."
"I understand."
Doc asks what she was talking about and I have to explain the human reproductive process.
"You mean humans don't go into heat."
"True, we don't know when we are the most fertile."
This day gets less fanfare than my release day. Several reporters ask questions to Doc and Jasmine and that is it. I hand Jasmine the headset and translator block
"This is to translate for you."
She takes and puts on the headset. And I can return to speaking the Galactic Standard. We arrive at the house and Jasmine looks at the beauty of the country side.
"Beautiful isn't it."
"Yes it is."
We set up the house to allow Jasmine to access the systems and I show her my toys and Lisa.
"Jasmine, this is Lisa, she is a Nanny robot. She is here to keep us out of trouble, feed us, and is a great conversationalist."
"Nice to meet you, Lisa."
"Nice to meet you, Jasmine."
"Lisa, your duties are expanding. You are to care for Jasmine as you care for Andrew."
"What is going to happen now?"
"Tomorrow after we get some documentation on you, we are going clothes shopping."
We talk for hours on customs and manners. That evening we dine on the same meal of steak and steamed vegetables that I first ate in this house. Jasmine wonders about the food processor and I tell her as much as I know.
That night I lie awake wondering if we are ever going home. I look at the door and see Jasmine standing there.
"Yes."
"Can I sleep with you?"
"Come here."
I sit up and Jasmine climbs into bed with me. She starts crying.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't want to be here. On this world. I want to go home."
"They are trying to send us back home. They were trying to send me home when you showed up. I have one question. What day was it when you got kidnapped."
"June 8, 2015."
"That's weird, I was kidnapped on June 7, 2015 and I have been here a year. We got to tell Doc about this in the morning.
We lie down and fall asleep.
The next morning I awake to a warm body snuggling next to me. I shake Jasmine awake and we rise and greet the day. Lisa has breakfast all ready for us and I relay the information I got last night.
"That is strange but possible. We don't know how it finds its target time and location but we are certain we can get it to work. I'll call my assistant about this."
Doc finishes his breakfast and heads for the video phone. He finishes and the door announcer goes off. A courier hand him a packet and leaves. Doc opens it and hands everything to Jasmine.
"These are your documentation and payment cards. Don't lose them. The payment card has 50,000 dactaries on it. It should cover everything you need."
"I need something to hold it with."
Doc goes back into his bedroom and comes out with a adjustable belt pouch.
"This was my wife's pouch. I think she would like you to use it."
We climb into the car and head for town. I ask a few questions of Doc.
"You never told me you were mated."
"We were mated for twenty years."
"You don't have to say but what happened to your mate."
"I don't mind. She was killed while we were being robbed. Her killer was caught and with the evidence convicted. He is on a penal colony for the rest of his life. I hear he tends the vegetable gardens with his fellow inmates"
"Do you have any children?"
"I have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. My research keeps me from seeing them when I want."
"You are working yourself to death. You need time off. Go see your grandchildren."
"What about my research?"
"It will still be there when you get back and you will have less stress when you do."
"What about you two?"
"I would love to see more of your family. What about you, Jasmine?"
"I would love to meet more of your people."
"Ok, I will call and take a couple of days off and let you meet some of my family."
We arrive at the clothier and enter. The salesfur is busy with another customer.
"Hello, Doc. Another human I see and its a female."
"Yes, she needs a full wardrobe and like Andrew, nothing flashy."
"If you would come with me, we will get you measured."
Jasmine goes back and I sit down on a chair in the front room. Fifteen cronacs later and all of us leave for the department store. We purchase the same stuff the first time around and we stop at a small restaurant and eat. After the required time we pick up everything in three arm loads.
"I hope they didn't forget anything."
We get them home and Jasmine shows off some of the things she bought. From frilly underwear to dresses to catch the eyes.
That evening Jasmine comes back into my room. She falls asleep by my side and I wonder if this is going to be a habit.