Oh.. My...God...
I cannot possibly be alive, if this what heaven looks like, it was worth the wait. It was a paradise. A crystalline lake was at it's center, and the outer perimeter was all forest. The trees were very tall, like they had been growing for centuries. All manners of creatures great and small were roaming around, and the air was filled with the songs of birds, the sky was full of them. The hull of the ship was so large that this place had its own weather. Clouds very slowly wafted about, and I could feel the occasional raindrop. Meadows were everywhere with the grass swaying gracefully, while near the lake was a sandy beach. Trails ran about that looked like polished marble.
Flowers, flowers grew everywhere there was a spot to put them, and the place had an earthy, flowery fragrance . This cannot be real, I don't deserve this. I started to hyper ventilate, struck by intensity of its beauty.
"Have a seat, Michael. Are you alright?, will you need medical assistance?"
"I'm, OK. Just a bit overwhelmed." The bench I was on had the same marble appearance as the trail, but it didn't feel like stone. It was an artificial substance, when I found out how it was made, it would seem as close to magic as I ever came.
"We can stay here for a minute if you'd like, but we should get to your domicile soon. While this environment is beautiful, it is not ready for full time use just yet."
"Yea, Olaf, just give me a minute." There was so much to take in, my mind was in overload. It'll take five years just to explore all this.
"Is this our sun?"
"No Michael, you've been in stasis for about a year. This is one of many, many stars we will be visiting on our journey."
"Can you describe how this ship works to me?" There was a brief pause. I would learn that whenever he hesitated, he was confirming with the Masters.
"This ship folds space between star systems, it follows the gravity wells of the stars themselves. The engines take about one week to spool up, then the energy is released all at once. Here becomes there and we're at another star. It's a bit time consuming, but we are patient, we've been at this for a while now."
Folding space, the stuff of science fiction. How many geeks on Earth would be pissing their underoos right now? I've been given the greatest opportunity that any human has ever been gifted with, what did I do to deserve this? I have hit the cosmic lottery,... jackpot.
"Michael, we really must go, we will be rotating into nighttime soon."
"Very well, Olaf. Lead the way."
The house looked like those ski lodges you see in the mountains. Lots of glass for viewing the environment, and it had the look of wooden construction, but it was neither wood, nor was it constructed. I got to the door, and there was no lock. "I guess I wouln't be needing a set of keys, right Olaf?"
"Locking doors are quite unnecessary here. You have nothing to fear. If we have to get inside, mere walls will not stop us." Ugh, that seems kinda' sinister, still no trust for us yet.
Walking in proved anything but alien. Couches, tables, lamps. It was all very familiar and normal, these guys had done there research. It had a mid century/ danish modern feel to the furnishings. I always liked this stuff, I just couldn't afford it. While with all the glass it did lack privacy, I would come to find that wasn't necessary, it was a new way of life, and I had better just get used to it.
"Please step over here, Michael. I will show you how to use the replicator."
"Wait!, Olaf, let me take a stab at this."
"Tea, earl grey, 85 degrees celsius." A cup materialized in the cubby with the tea.
"I believe this device was in one of your science fiction works, and thus you knew how to operate it?"
"Very perceptive, Olaf. You're pretty good at this human interaction stuff."
"That's why I was assigned to you, Michael." Hmm, pretty good tea. I'm gonna' have a field day with this thing.
"Michael, can we please go the the hygiene room?"
"You mean the bathroom?, what do I need to know about in there?, oh wait, let me guess. Toilet paper isn't something we do here?"
"You are very perceptive, Michael, for a human."
"Touche, Mr. Robot Ball, touche."
"We have one more thing to attend to, then I shall retire for the evening."
Olaf led me to a back room. It was devoid of any furnishings and had several containers in it.
"Go ahead, Michael, open one." The lid lifted right off. Holy Shit! They brought my stuff!
"We brought back some things that you deemed of value, however, we did not get it all."
"That's fine, my love for material goods has gone down drastically recently." My records, and some of my stereo equipment. Wait a minute, this stuff requires electricity, that matches the equipment, and I'm not seeing any outlets.
"Olaf, what am I going to plug this stuff into?"
"What are your requirements?"
"One hundred and fifteen volts, alternating current, at sixty cycles per second, with a sinusoidal waveform."
"May I see one of your devices power couplings?"
I showed him a plug. He scanned it with a light beam.
"I will have a power pack here tomorrow, will that be sufficiently soon?"
"Yes, Olaf, It'll take some time to set all this up."
"I have to admit, Michael, I'm very curious to see this all work."
"That goes for me as well, Olaf."
How many people have set up a turntable on an alien spacecraft before?
"I will be shutting off for the evening, if you need anything, just say my name. Good night, Michael, sleep well."
"Good night, Olaf."
I decided to go out on the front veranda, the ship had almost completely turned out of the starlight. The sound was just incredible. It would echo off the hull, giving the place a cathedral like reverberation. Crickets, they brought crickets aboard. Hopefully they left the mosquitoes on Earth.
Earth, my home. What was it like back there now? Did the power ever come back? The Earth depended on the internet to survive, if it and the power were gone, millions of people would die. But Olaf said I was out for a year. Earth is hundreds of light years behind us. The sun is an insignificant dot in the nighttime sky, I'll never see it again.
I never felt more alone...