Village by the Shore

[Floyd Looney]

MacDougal stopped rowing the boat when he could barely make out the shore line. He lays the oars down neatly atop one another and picks up a large stone with a rope tied to the hole through its center. He throws it overboard and watches the rope slide quickly from its coil. Soon the rock anchor reaches the bottom and MacDougal begins preparing his net.

This net was his life and his employment. Nearly everyday for twenty years he had rowed himself into the sea and fished. He brought his catch back to the village where he sold most of it and brought home a bit for his own dinner. He would stop at the bakery and sundries shop on the way back to his shack.

As he let his net drift just a bit MacDougal checked the clouds and judged the winds. Just another nice day, he noticed some grayer clouds in the distance but the wind would be pushing them away.

The fish were swimming into the net today and he would have a good haul. He could even retire early for the day judging by the amount of fish in his boat. Yes, a good days catch a few hours early.

Then something got his attention. He thought he had felt a cold breeze but it was judge his imagination trying to tell him something. He looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary until he looked directly behind him.

That gray cloud was bearing down on him. How could a cloud be moving against a wind? It made no sense to MacDougal, in fact he found it downright frightening. He grabbed the oars and began rowing back towards the village as fast as his calloused hands would allow.

It seemed to grow darker, the wind was picking it fast. The wind coming from the cloud itself! The cloud was right there and it might be small for a cloud but it towered over MacDougal and his rowboat. MacDougal was being showed with spray caused by the wind from the cloud. The water was getting choppy.

Then there was calm.

MacDougal looked up from his rowing. He could see villagers starting to amass at the seashore. He didn't want to but he turned his head and looked behind him. Hovering around fifteen feet above the wavetops was a metallic object with stubby protrusions.

It was much larger than his shack. Bigger, even, than the public house he frequented on Saturdays. Might not be as big as the church he sometimes visited on Sundays. But those were made of stone, not this highly polished metal.

Something was competing for his attention. From the very back of his mind he remembered being taught that proper manners were always important when dealing with strangers.

MacDougal took off his woolen knit cap and stuffed it into a jacket pocket. Then he held up a hand and spoke to the object, he assumed those inside would hear.

"My name is Shane MacDougal. I am not your enemy. My neighbor Tom is likely your enemy. He always seemed a bit off"

His mouth opened to speak again but then the boat began moving. He grabbed the sides and looked behind, at the bow. The cloud vessel was moving toward the shore at a rapid rate of speed and without touching his boat, was pushing it.

.......

Tired. Will add to it tomorrow.

[Attero Dominatus]

That was interesting. Curious how this will turn out.

[Floyd Looney]

Soon MacDougal found himself laying on the sandy beach next to his boat, his catch partially spilled around him. His net and anchor strung out towards the water. His head was spinning and started to clear up. There were villagers starting to mill about but most of them stood up on the higherland looking down.

MacDougal looked around and noticed that strange metal object was now hovering inches above the sand. He shook his head to clear the remaining cobwebs and slowley stood up.

A young boy and girl were laughing and chasing each other around the vessel, their mother grabbed the boy by his collar. "Seamus, don't get too close!" she scolded him.

It was obviously a vessel, what else could it be? A vessel from another world, another star. They were here to visit our planet! MacDougal tried to straighten his loose gray hair and wipe his face. At least have to try and give them a proper welcome.

The small group of villages were now bunched up in front of the ship, looking straight at Shane MacDougal. Do they think I know what we were supposed to do? What do I know of diplomacy? Especially with people from another world? The rest of the village was on the rise looking down quietly. He wondered what they were thinking or what they expected?

The biggest question is why were they here? What could possibly be their reason? Not trade, surely they had no need of anything we could make. Candles? Why should they need something so crude as a candle when he knew they could produce better light with less smoke. He tried hard to remember some of the old writings, handed down for generations.

Yes, electricity. They had electric lighting. He thought maybe they just wanted to see how this village was doing? MacDougal hoped not, as far as he knew they were about where they had been when the last visitors came so many decades ago.

Ah, here comes Stevin the Keeper. He was carrying the Book of the Visitors.

"Hello Shane" the man said as he opened the book and looked through its pages.

"Morning Keeper" MacDougak replied. The man reached a certain page and began reading aloud to those around. "And so they left us with one message. The visitors who had been in our midst for a moon told us that someday their childrens children would return. They would be curious, they want to know about us. The visitors who come again will seek to understand their long lost cousins. They shall come, even if we do not see them again until our grandchildren are having children."

Yes,MacDougal remembered, The Farewell, Chapter 4, verse 9. Yes they will come again, in the time of the grandchildren, we shall see them again. He remembered being taught that and never considered he would be alive when they returned. Then he thought about it, yes, if I had children they would be about the age to have their own. So it did fit.

"Keeper. Why do they not come out?" the young boy asked before being pulled back by his mother. The Keeper smiled and answered "They must regularize the atmosphere inside their vessel and likely cool down their engine. Then they will open their hull and we shall greet them".

People can change a lot in two or three generations. The thought broke through to MacDougal, how do we know they're still friendly?

He was about to ask the Keeper when a loud noise came from the vessel. Then a hissing noise.

[Floyd Looney]

The small crowd backed up a few steps as the hatch began to open, it lowered to the ground and soon figures could be seen inside. Then two of the figures stepped out onto the lowered portion of the vessel. They, of course, looked human.

One of them was closely watching an instrument in his hand. He kept saying things like "No toxins detected, atmosphere appears clean". The other simply regarded the villagers with a smile, he held something else in his right hand. MacDougal surmised it was some kind of self-defense weapon.

Soon four humans had exited the ship. Two tall and lean males and two females, a little skinny if MacDougal had to say. They looked around and smiled, the females jumped around for a moment as if they were children. They seemed very pleased to have arrived here.

Finally the man with the weapon put it away into a holster on his belt. Then he walked right up to MacDougal who was several inches shorter. He put out a hand and MacDougal did the same, soon his hand and arm were being given a shake.

"My name is William Davis, I am the skipper of this ship" the man said "Do you understand me?"

MacDougal smiled, this Davis did not seem to be a smart one, why would we be speaking a different language than a couple of generations ago?. "Yes Mr Davis, I understand you fine".

"We have come to your world, your village, as friends. We are not your enemies. We only seek to know more about you".

Okay, MacDougal told himself, that seems supportive of the book, "I am happy to accept you to our humble villiage, Mr Davis. You are welcome to stay as long as you'd like".

MacDougal noticed the other visitors playing with the villiage children. They seemed barely more than children themselves. He supposed they were restless after their impossible-to-imagine long trip and happy to be outside.

Stevin came forward and greeted Mr Davis. "I am the Keeper of the Tome, the writings about our last visit. I was hoping to be able to meet with you and your crew, mutual understanding is the very cornerstone of friendship."

William Davis looked momentarily puzzled before agreeing whole-heartedly that on the morrow a meeting shall take place. The "skipper" also seemed very interested in seeing what was in the book. MacDougal wondered what to think about this development. Then he remembered his bountiful catch, "Do you like seafood?"

"Yes" said Davis who seemed caught off-guard.

MacDougal then proposed that they all stay at the Inn but the crew declined. They wanted to stay the night in their vessel. MacDougal then offered to cook them a seafood dinner with bread, cheese and wine. They accepted the invitation.

As MacDougal was putting his net and anchor back onto the boat and trying to find a way to get his fish to the market he thought about how something was odd about the visitors. Something was nagging at the back of his mind. Something wasn't right.

[Attero Dominatus]

I liked that. I am curious where this will lead.

[Floyd Looney]

I'm thinking, I'm thinking

[Floyd Looney]

Something was very fishy about these visitors. They seemed to know nothing about earlier visits. They played with the children as if they were children themselves. But they had accepted his invitation to a cookout, that was something at least.

MacDougal found himself spending his day preparing for the dinner. It'd been years since he had to put on any sort of fancy dinner. He went to the bakery, the grog shop, he had to buy extra candles and some torches and many other things.

He cooked several kinds of fish and set out what used to be a fence atop two wood piles for a table. He laid out the wooden plates and platters. There was fruit, vegetables, cheese, fish, bread, wine and rum.

The Keeper, Stevin, was also invited and he had shown up early so that MacDougal put him to work. MacDougal had to clean himself up by washing from a water basin and putting on his cleanest clothes. When he finished and left his cabin he noticed there were flowers on the table and more candles. Not lit because it was still light out.

Stevin's wife showed up next, bringing her best Veg-Pie and some linen napkins. MacDougal hadn't thought of napkins, probably should have crossed his mind. Then again it was something he had not thought of in many moons.

The Boatwright and his talkative wife soon appeared, they had brought some kind of peach salad and a small barrel of that loathesome sugary ale the kids liked. She thought some of the guests might like it instead of rum. Never know, MacDougal thought.

Before darkness befell them MacDougal watched four figures walk up the cliffside toward his cabin. No doubt the smell of the food had reached them and reminded them of the feast.

William Davis shook hands with MacDougal again and introduced the others more formally. "This is Jacob Henries, the girls are Lena Thompson and the brunette is named Rachel Malloy".

Shane MacDougal bade them to sit and they all did. Stevin's wife Anna filled their mugs with either rum or the sugary ale, whatever their choice. Food was piled onto the plates, he noticed the visitors tended toward the fruit.

Shane stood and addressed them. "I am glad to have lived to see your people return to the village as in the days of my grandfather. I didn't like being pushed by your vessel through the water but no harm was done. I would, though, like to know more about your world and your journey".

Then he sat down as the visitors bent toward each other in whispered conversation. Finally William Davis addressed the table "Thank you Shane MacDougal. This meal and the greeting we have recieved is most appreciated. Tonight is not the right time to tell you all of our reasons for being here, but I will tell you things about our world".

All of five of the villagers at the table sat in rapt attention, he knew the Keeper would be taking mental notes to write down later. William stood up.

"Our world orbits a star many light-years distant. It is blue and green with white clouds, like this one. On the ground though, it is not like this area. Your village is very special, you know? Anyway, on our world there is a single large city with a billion people spread over an entire continent. Food is produced by machines as are most of the things humans need.

"It is very crowded, buildings are taller than the mountains and thousands of people live in each of them. We work in them, go to school in them and we never leave them except on a few occasions in our entire lives.

"The first reason we leave our building is a field trip while we are in school at about thirteen years of age. They bring us to the middle of the largest forest reserve, it is hundreds of square kilometers. We spend days learning about the perils of nature and told why man had to conquer nature as it conquered himself.

"The second reason we leave our buildings is to visit other buildings, we spend time in the other buildings in order to find a life mate. We do not get to choose which buildings, thats all determined by a system that balances the populations of each.

"Our life is regimented and controlled from birth. The system tells us when to wake, how much to eat, how much to exercize, what we will study, what jobs we will be assigned. We do not get to make many choices for our own lives.

"It was not always this way, of course. Once upon a time our world was free, the people were free that is. We could determine the course and actions of our own lives. We never see our leaders, we are never to question their rule. Failure to follow their law is met with swift and severe punishments, from the withholding of a meal to physical torture.

"Somehow about a century ago, our world brought to leadership of the government a group of people promising to alleviate all of our problems. They promised everything for nothing and the people elected them. That was the last election we ever had".

Then William sat down. The Boatwright Jonas Hanson looked around at everyone else, who were still and silent and said "That sounds like a hellish place. How did this happen to a free people?"

William answered "That is something many of our people would like an answer to".

Stevin was dumbstruck. "But your people had wonders to behold, technology, prosperity, innovation... how did this come about? What happened to your society once so promising?"

The dark-haired man, Jacob, spoke. "The people of that time were complacent. They thought they had it tough like none before but they were very wrong. They had become spoiled and when the economy hit a roughspot they were all too willing to follow leaders with blame and promises and nothing else but bad intent".

Shane MacDougal had been in deep thought. Everyone stopped to look at him when he finally cleared his throat. "You stole that ship and escaped, didn't you?"

[Attero Dominatus]

That was very interesting. I loved the description of William Davis's homeworld and the political conditions there.

[Floyd Looney]

So why are there? Are they being persued? Have they come to hide from the authorities of their world?

[Attero Dominatus]

I assumed they came to hide. Remote village without any advanced technology, seems like a place the authorities would not consider to look.

[Floyd Looney]

Candlemaker might get a bit miffed if the newcomers show people how to make light-bulbs from jars, corks and bits of wire and then how to build a photovoltaic cell using sand and algae. The Keeper of the Tome would have nothing to keep him employed, his old book vs 4 actual visitors and reams of information in their ships computer. Who knows what kind of problems could come up?

What if the authorities do come and look for them??

[Attero Dominatus]

I would suggest the turn all communication systems on the ship off to avoid giving off emissions that can be detected from scanning equipment. Efforts should be taken to keep the ship below the planet's average ambient temperature so it is not detected by infrared scanning equipment. The ship itself should be hidden if possible.

If the authorities discover them, then the only option would be to stand and fight if the ship has weapons. If they just take off, the authorities would land and interrogate the villagers or use them as hostages to lure them into coming back.

[Floyd Looney]

William Davis has a device that can make the ship go to the bottom of the bay where it could become nearly undetectable. This causes problems because many villagers want to have some of their advanced technology.

Does that sound pretty good?

[Attero Dominatus]

Yes it does. Very.

[Floyd Looney]

I'll think about the next part some before writing it