Chapter 6: Take Your Time to Explain the Impossible
After a few hours the golden sun rose from the sky, though obviously blocked once more by the mountains from the shuttle. Peter woke up and got dressed, before walking around the outside. To his amazement he saw Alma using a holographic board, with it were weird drawings of some kind. He looked back towards the mountains thinking what was beyond them, and then turned back to Alma to start a conversation. "So Alma, you set up the stuff last night?" Alma stopped what it was doing, before walking over to Peter.
"Yes, most of it. Almost set up the camera when some stuff happened, but I can finish it tonight. No biggie really."
"Alma, what happened over there that would make you stop doing what we planned to do? You didn't encounter it again, did you?"
"Not 'it' Peter, 'he' is what you should say. And 'he' has a name ya know?" Alma responded, this only made things more confusing for Peter.
"You gave it a name? Huh, what did you name him then?" He asked, thinking that was the only way Alma could say it had a name.
"His name is Arlo, and I did not name him that." Alma said, before turning back to continue with whatever it was doing prior.
"Wait, if you didn't... then who did?"
"Simple: His mother did." Alma started working with the holographic board again, by now Peter had no idea what Alma was thing about, whether it made all of this up on the spot just to confuse him or if it was true, either option was too weird for Alma to do.
"And how do you know his name then?" He finally asked after a minute of silence, this time Alma stopped completely.
Alma closed the hologram, before going inside the shuttle. Out of curiosity Peter followed Alma inside. "Okay, you know I'm very serious when it comes to explaining things right? Well I know by now you're resisting the urge to believe what I was saying. But please trust me when I say the next sentence, okay?" Alma asked. "Okay?" It repeated, prompting Peter to nod his head a coupe times.
"All right then. He told me his name." Peter was about to speak when Alma closed his mouth with its hand. "I know what you're thinking, I couldn't believe it when he spoke too. In fact I almost legged it back to the shuttle when he said 'hello'. But considering this is a world where dinosaurs never went extinct, and where humans and dinosaurs coexist, you really gotta ask yourself: If all this is possible then, what makes talking dinosaurs not possible?" Alma let go of Peter, who sat on the nearest chair he could find. "So this Apatosaur- Arlo, you met him last night and had a conversation. So what did you learn then?"
"Well for starters I learned that dinosaurs can talk, and they've got a decent level of technology considering their lifestyle. They live in a homestead with a couple of farms and keep a storage of food in a silo for winter. They're also very protective of their land so you might want to be cautious when we go there tomorrow an-"
"Wait, tomorrow? Why not today?"
"Arlo has to convince his family today, me and Arlo will be meeting up tonight to discuss how things went and then tomorrow we'll meet up at their place. Is that okay?" Alma asked with some concern in the voice.
"Yes that sounds great, maybe they could help with the shuttle, they're very strong correct?"
"Considering that a whip of Arlo's tail sent me on my side as if I was a toy, I can confirm that Peter. That's both good and bad in terms of how the rest of them respond to me and you, which I'll also be discussing tonight."
"Sounds like someone is having fun without me I guess."
"Not fooling for that Peter, it's just me and Arlo tonight." Alma said, before they both went back to work.
Night-time came about once more, this time the sky was much more clear, with the ever brighter moon allowing more to be seen naturally as Alma walked past the mountains. This time it knew where the fence line was and stepped right over it. There next to where the mirror and camera once stood Arlo now stood waiting for Alma, delighted to see it again.
"How did it go Arlo?" Alma asked first, her newest companion went straight faced before responding "Not so well, you can imagine after living this long, never hearing anything that describes you. You would expect one to not believe something like you exists, and you'd be right. No one believed me when I mentioned you. How did it go for you then?"
"He's considering it at least. Me and Peter will go past this mountain at noon tomorrow; when the sun is at its highest."
"Mountain? You mean Clawtooth Mountain right?" Arlo asked, "That's what you call that then? I mean it does kind of resemble some claws, and at the same time teeth as well... okay I get it now. Could of picked a more original name for it though. Doesn't matter, I was going to say, since you were looking out to see if anyone was taking your food the other night, I'm concerned with how your family will respond with me and Peter. The last thing I'd want is for Peter to get hurt."
"W-what about you?" Arlo said worriedly, also concerned with how tomorrow might go. Alma smiled before taking one of its arms off with it's other arm. Alma had received a shocked expression from the young Apatosaur, but it was nothing compared to when Alma placed the arm back in before it worked. "Funny thing is Arlo, I'm designed to get hurt. I don't feel any pain, and even if you were to split me apart like this, I could eventually put myself back together again."
"But, how can you do that? No one I've ever met before has anything like that."
"That's because I'm unique to everyone. Peter hasn't even seen me do something like this yet. When I told you last night that I was a robot this is one of the things associated with robots. Peter on the other hand is no robot like me. He's organic just like you, but not... you know, actually looks like you. Now, back to tomorrow, Peter also wanted to know if you lot could help us out with something if we have a normal meetup."
"Uh, I'm not sure on that right now. Perhaps tomorrow when we actually meet. I'll try to reason with my family in a long time, but I don't think they'll listen to me. Buck and Libby will probably tease me if I continue."
"Buck and Libby? I'm guessing brother and sister. Nice names I guess, in fact I know a few places with their names where I come from. How long have you been living here then?" Alma asked, hoping to continue the conversation, but then sharp sound, one of a twig snapping, echoed near. Alma could make out another Apatosaur, but who it was, was uncertain until they got close enough to see.
"Arlo, what are you doing up this- what in the world is that thing?" A male-teen voice sounded from the other Apatosaur, obviously referring to Alma. "Buck, I'd like you to meet the friend I was talking about: Alma. Alma, this is Buck, my brother." Arlo replied. Alma extended its arm toward Buck "Hey Buck, nice to see you." Eventually Alma retracted the arm as Buck did not respond the way it wanted, or at all for that matter.
Buck looked oddly at Alma as he couldn't figure out just what it was. "I know I look weird, you've never seen anything like me in your life at least." Alma said, to which Buck went back into the homestead, mainly with confusion written all over him.
"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll get used to it tomorrow. Night Alma!" Arlo followed Buck, to which Alma left the area back to the shuttle.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter - and more importantly the story so far, there's much more to come. Let me know what you think so far, and as always... see you, in the next chapter. Bye for now!
Next Chapter: First Impressions