Chapter 9: Invitation

As Peter worked on the Shuttle, he would every now and then look at the family as they kept asking it questions, with it responding to everything. Alma would always keep listening in on whatever topic they were on, as anything could lead them to anything that Peter or Alma didn't want them to know about. There was one topic Peter didn't want them knowing; the topic of Dinosaurs. It was a very ironic topic for him to choose, but they both agreed that they needn't know about it until later on. Alma chose several topics that it thought wouldn't be of any safe use for them, and with good reason. As the day went on the topic kept changing, Peter was almost done with the shuttle which was surprising even to him. The only thing he had to do was something that required Alma as well.

They both worked together to put the last thing in it's place, but both had forgotten about the hologram. They went to the family to see what they were talking about, and sure enough it was about the Earth in the past. Had Alma and Peter stayed longer at the Shuttle and who knows which topic they could've gotten into. For the first time Peter realised just what was really happening, he had encountered a species at human intelligence and yet he and Alma had just tried to block off almost any knowledge of humanities bad traits. The thought of something like that was unheard of where he had came from, in fact no one would even consider something like this could happen. But it was the next question that Buck spoke to him that really started to boggle his mind.

"Hey uh Peter, we were wondering if you could take us to where you come from." He said innocently. Peter was mind-blown from the mere fact of a species that went extinct in his world long ago and yet in this world was already in the stone age. If he took them to his world, who knows what would happen, if the world would turn to absolute chaos from a domino-effect starting from this or if the world would think it was a mere hoax. Whatever would happen if he brought them there, the hopes that nothing bad would happen would be slim at most.

Before Peter could do anything, Alma quickly dragged him to the behind of the Shuttle. "Are you considering it!? You know what might happen if we take them there. It's too risky!"

"Shh, keep your voice down Alma. As far as we know they have little knowledge of the complications of our world. I'm completely aware, and I honestly agree, but what happens when we go back. This shuttle has cameras on the side that can hear, if they took that, along with the knowledge you gained, who knows what might happen. What if one day we figure out just how to get back here, it could mean more than just us coming to this world, it could even mean... The loss of the integrity of this world. And both you and me can agree that the one thing worse then a chaotic world, is two chaotic worlds." Peter said quietly, by the time he had finished the family were just walking around to them.

"I'm sorry to all of you, but we can't take you there. Not yet, we uh... still have more to fix with the Shuttle. But there's a chance that once it's completed we can take you there. It'll have to be a limited time though, no one even knows anything about you guys. Our world is so complicated that just the sight of you guys might cause something bad, we don't want that to happen." Peter explained. As the sun started to set, Alma went into the shuttle to turn the lights on. The mere act of doing so caught the attention of Arlo.

Peter was outside watching the glow of the sun beaming from behind the mountains, which were casting long shadows onto the plains. Sitting down on the grass he took a piece of paper and started drawing the outline of the mountains, along with the minor details. After ten minutes he was interrupted when something from behind lifted him up. He soon found himself 18 feet in the air sitting on the heard of Arlo. "Wotcha doing Peter?" He asked thoughtfully. Peter had to adjust to the new view, accidentally sliding down Arlo's neck, before they both laughed.

"I'm just drawing the mountains, they're so nice. Ya know what, would you like it if I took a photo of you guys?" Peter questioned. A few minutes later Peter was gathering everyone to the front of the homestead, some of the chickens from the coop managed to escape and started climbing on the roof. He took the photo just as one of the chickens jumped into view, not blocking the main aspect of the photo but was visible on the bottom left. However something about the photo was wrong, it didn't look right. There was something about the photo that was missing in it but whatever it was Peter couldn't tell. It wasn't the lighting, that was good as it was, everything about it was fine apart from the fact that something was missing!

"What's wrong Peter?" He heard from in front, "Nothing, the photo's great!" Showing them the photo, they shared the same expression, but more deeply. Deciding it was best not to ask, he went back to drawing the mountains. The sun fell even further and soon the only thing giving light was that from the Shuttle, which didn't last long either. Peter was the only one still outside, this time lying on the grass while looking up to the stars. It had become so dark that more stars could be seen than ever before. No moon was to be seen which made it better, and for an extra surprise, a stream of shooting stars went by.

Looking up, Peter did what he did naturally and tried seeing any patterns in the sky. For the first time in history he was the only one in the world who knew what constellations were, and that he could make up his own right now as the sky was not that like the one he came from. It was very hard though as the number of stars made it impossible to get anywhere. A thumping movement on the ground was felt in short, steady bursts. Someone large had walked close-by to create that movement, and sure enough it was Ida.

"There's something I need to show you Ida. The sky you see right now is not the sky I see where I come from, it is much different from this one. Allow me to show." Peter set up a circular 3-D printer, which instantly made a dome big enough for the two of them to fit under, in fact it was big enough for the shuttle to fit under. The walls of the dome where made from nano-pixels, meaning that the dome could display anything Peter wished. On command, the dome lit up with the sky Peter knew more. There wasn't as many though, as the footage used for this had some light pollution in the way.

"This is the sky I see, or at least would see if it wasn't for the light we have. Here's what it looks like being in a city." The walls changed from the middle of nowhere to the middle of a large city. Skyscrapers lit up the sky while moving vehicles raced around the roads.

"It's... It's-"

"Ugly I know." Peter said as the dome started dismantling itself. "It's the world we made, and the world had to pay for it. The world you have is so pure and peaceful, the world I have is impure and noisy. It's a hard life knowing that humanity made a world from what you have to what I have. And it's an even harder life knowing that humanity will stop at nothing to do this to other worlds. Our goal on Earth right now is to colonize Mars and explore outward, finding what ever we can. And yet my world is on the brink of collapse thanks to us. I find it lucky that we have come so far. But I find you guys even luckier than you haven't had the chance to see us until now."

"Tell me Ida, what is the most destructive animal you've seen roam the world you live in? Cause in my world, we are the most destructive species. Our world is nothing short of dying thanks to us, and we're trying to find ways to improve. However those improvements are coming slow, and it's only a matter of time before we become desperate. There's also the fear of ignorance, as we humans make mistakes, but one of those mistakes could destroy the world quite literally. Alma didn't want you to see how complicated of a species we are and how bad we really are. But I just wanted to tell you this so that when you say you want to come to our world, you are definitely sure about it."

Peter sat down once more, trying to relieve his thoughts for a while. Ida sat next to him and looked up as the sky, before Arlo came along. "So Alma told me a couple days ago that it has a meaning behind all of our names. Is that true?" He asked, Peter thought for a moment before responding to him.

"Yes, as you know Arlo your name means 'brave' and 'courageous'. Ida, where I come from there is a state called 'Idaho', kinda sounds like your name actually. These mountains here resemble the 'Grand Teton Mountains' in Wyoming, which happens to be next to Idaho. South of the main Teton mountains is a mountain known as 'Buck Mountain'. There's also a town in Montana, north of Wyoming, called Libby. That's all I really have for you. I went to the Tetons not too long ago, took a hike all the way up and all the way down, stopped at a river that's part of Henry's fork." Peter finished talking, grabbing a quick snack and eating it, not realizing that Ida and Arlo had left shortly after he finished speaking. When he found that he was alone, he went to the Shuttle to get some rest.

A/N: This chapter is the one that reveals some of the things I had found about the names of the Arlo family, I had saved this information up until now to find the right moment. The talk about how uncontrollable humans are was thought about while watching a video about the times we came close to destruction. I think it's time for the story to take a turn, and this is where I myself am not too sure where this'll take the story. I hope you enjoyed this chapter - and more importantly the story so far, there's much more to come, though how many chapters specifically I'm not sure. Let me know what you think so far, and as always... see you, in the next chapter. Bye for now!

Next Chapter: Preparing For a Ride

Notable Facts: All the things Peter said about Buck Mountain, the Libby town in Montana, and the Henry's fork behind the Grand Teton Mountains, are real locations in real life.

This leads me to believe that the Pixar team put some deep thought into renaming some of the characters (Ivy, Forrest, Cliff and Clay are all earthy-themed names that were going to be used for the characters, the last two never made it into the film). I might talk more about the meaning behind the names of all the characters after I've done this story.