It was a sunny mid-summer's day on Cylosis, and Samuel was in the backyard of the Kanzler palace, playing a rousing game of tag throughout the verdant green gardens with some friends. The sun's warm rays reflected off of his golden hair and gave a rather startling glisten to his deep blue eyes, though his pale skin clearly had not seen it's rays too often. "You're it" a five year old friend of the boy managed through excited pants as he caught up to the younger Samuel and touched him on shoulder after having surprised him by coming through a topiary.
"Hey, that's cheating!" Samuel protested with a small pout. "No wule 'gainst comin' through the bushes." His friend returned as he folded his arms and stood fully upright. "Well now there is, Will" the blond toddler shot back, looking at his taller companion who shook his honey blond hair covered head and giggled. "I'm older then you, I make the wules." Will responded with a smile. "But my Dad's the Kanz-Kan...big boss!" Samuel retorted, verbally fumbling with his father's title and going red in the face when Will laughed at his inability to pronounce it properly.
"I'm older and bigger then you Sam, you don't get ta make the wules." Will informed Samuel before tackling him and pushing him to the grass covered ground and lifting up his shirt to expose Sam's stomach before tickling him. "H-h-hey s-heheh-stop!" Samuel barely managed between laughs. "I'll only stop if ya say you're wong!" Will informed Sam. "O-heehee-okay okay hehehe I'm wrong." Samuel chuckled out, at which point Will got off of him and allowed the smaller boy to readjust his white shirt.
But Sam's young ears soon picked up the sounds of conversation, so he and his friend sat upright and turned their heads as the source of the noise made itself apparent. It was his father, a tall man dressed in rather...anachronistic to say the least; Prussian Officer's dress and sporting a distinctive golden van dyke walking side by side with an tremendously tall and lanky being whose tear drop shaped head floated above it's chest with no apparent neck.
The other being had a silvery exoskeleton and a single yellow...eye and no other apparent facial features on it's head, though it had a noticeable gash in it's exoskeleton to the right of it's central eye. What Samuel didn't know was that this being was an Alimbic, one of the very, very few who had escaped their civilization's demise at the hands of Gorea 10,000 years ago. To the three year old child, he was simply known as Uncle Stretch, a very bizarre and frequent visitor to his father.
"I am telling you Heinrich, keep on your course, everything will be fine." Uncle Stretch told Heinrich, who despite standing at 6'6, was dwarfed by the Alimbic whose lanky form brought itself up to eleven feet in height. "But my spies are telling me that the Galactic Federation is preparing for war." Heinrich protested as the two walked through the Garden, with Uncle Stretch holding out one of it's clawed fingerless appendages to allow a bird to perch upon it.
"And I am telling you that it is simply more saber rattling." Uncle Stretch responded, his voice coming out of a special electronic modulator that created a highly digital tone, not unlike the famed bounty hunter Ghor's. "I have been following your advice for years, and well...I'm just unsure of myself...what should I do?" Heinrich answered, waving his arms around, showing a level of anxiety he never displayed in public.
"You simply need to continue with what you are doing now...I assure you it will be alright, you had the wisdom to repair my broken form so many years ago old friend...remember when you found my crashed ship and dissuaded those scientists who wished to cut me open or lock me away? That was when I knew that you had wisdom Heinrich, you need only realize it for yourself." The Alimbic informed Samuel's father reassuringly as he looked at the swallow that had perched itself on his outstretched hand.
"I...suppose you are right...now...I have some affairs to attend to...I was glad to have this chat with you." Heinrich informed the Alimbic with a nod as he headed back for the chancellery. The Alimbic then turned to Samuel and Wilhelm after watching Heinrich walk back to his palace for roughly three seconds. "Yes, I was aware of your presence for the whole time little ones. Your youthful minds broadcast much in the way of telepathic noise." The Alimbic informed the two cheerily.
"The rest of you can come out too." He continued, directing this comment to the rest of Samuel's friends who emerged from their various hiding places. "What were you talking about with father?' Samuel asked nervously, rocking back and forth on the heels of his polished black shoes. "Important government matters, you're a bit too young to understand them." The Alimbic informed Samuel as he kneeled down, though his Torso alone was a good deal taller than the toddler.
"Awww, everyone tells me I'm too little to do anything...it's not fair..." Samuel protested as he folded his arms. "While you are indeed smart, creative, and given the best education around, you are still a three year old...It is hard to take someone as undeveloped as you are seriously." Uncle Stretch told Samuel as gently as he could. "But I'm not a baby!" Samuel shot back. "But you are a toddler, a remarkably verbose toddler, but still ...a neophyte..." the old Alimbic informed.
"Here, let me show you something." Uncle Stretch offered to the nods of the children as he telekinetically brought down a bird's nest and showed him the birds within it. "See this bird? The one who has sprouted feathers before the others? Though he has developed ahead of the rest, he still can't be expected to fly." Uncle Stretch told Sam as he lifted the baby bird telekinetically and dropped it, though he caught it and placed it back in it's nest which he returned to the tree branch upon which it sat.
"You are like that hatchling...you may be a remarkable toddler, but you still cannot be expected to fly." Uncle Stretch told Sam. "But that's silly, I'm not a bird, I couldn't fly even if I was a grown up!" Samuel shot back sharply but not angrily. "See? You do not yet even understand simile, neophyte." The Alimbic pointed out. In the face of this, though Samuel didn't understand some of what he had been told, he realized that he had lost the argument and bowed his head.
Stretch noticed this and cocked his floating head and placed his fingerless "hand" at Samuel's chin and tilted his head upwards. "Do not let this drag your spirits down Samuel...You have great potential, I am sure of it. You will grow up to be a fine man, mark my words." The ancient alien informed the young blond who nodded as he removed his hand from his chin.
"Now, if my knowledge of your eating customs is correct, I think it's about time for lunch. Now...I must be off, I will see you later." Stretch told Samuel as he stood up to his imposing full height that made him seem like a walking mountain to the young kids gathered around him. It was indeed time for lunch, as Sam's checking of his watch confirmed. He called forth his friends who swarmed into his house.
He managed to pull himself into his chair and sit himself down next to his mother, Eva Sanders. She was a radiant and lovely woman with long golden locks that went down to the bottom of her shoulder blades; she looked at her only son and gave him a warm smile. "Did you have fun Samuel?" She asked to the nodding of her son. "Yes! Uncle Stretch talked to me too! I saw him talking to father." Sam informed his mother, who was a good deal more active in his life than his father.
"Ah Uncle Stretch, what did he teach you?" Eva asked her head tilted. "He said that I'm still a neophyte but he also said that I'm a smart one!" Sam said with a smile, trying to massage his still somewhat wounded pride. "And he's right, you are a smart little boy, now get ready for lunch. You know how to eat like a big boy right?" she asked with a smile full of maternal affection.
"Ja!" Samuel affirmed, trying to impress his mother with his knowledge of the ancient and rather dead language of German, which like most other languages of the Earth died out in favor of English, which had already become humanity's language of business. "Ah I see you're picking up on your German. That's very good!" Eva stated as she clapped her hands together just as the servant drones arrived to serve lunch.