CAPITULO I DESCRIPCIÓN DE LA PROBLEMÁTICA
1.1 Introducción
T
he first stop will be your sleep area. Should you choose to stay with us, you will find you need less and less of that as you begin to draw your energy and life force from the transporter's power supply. I personally find one hour's synchronised meditation is enough each day. We can try that together a little later," Zeena added.We arrived at another of those doors I had trouble with early on. As we passed through it we were engulfed by a dull, red light.
"You may use that area nearest the entrance. Just inside you will see a light circle on the wall. If you touch it firmly, I shall be aware that you need my presence. Our power system prevents me from reading your thought patterns when I am out of the room.”
"That's a relief!" I thought to myself.
"Just look for and use one of these light circles in any room, and I shall get the message," she added.
I was momentarily embarrassed yet again, thinking back to the way I was looking at her when I saw her for the first time, knowing now that Zeena must have been able to read my mind at that point.
"Oh, that's alright," she said, embarrassing me for a second time in as many minutes. "We are not used to it, but I think I quite like the idea that someone may actually like the shape of my body. I will have to give that some more thought."
The sleeping area I was allotted was probably no more than two metres (seven feet) square. There was no bedding as such, and the bench-type affair she suggested I sleep on did not look all that comfortable. Its cover had a texture not unlike that of my bodysuit—smooth and plastic-like. I jumped up on the 'bed' and to my astonishment I found it was soft and comfortable. It seemed to be able to mould itself to my shape no matter how I sat or lay. Perhaps this trip was not going to be too bad after all!
In describing this room as square, I don't want you to get the wrong idea. Nothing I saw over the next week or so was ever just square. I don't recall seeing a seam, joint or sharp edge in any item of construction. As with my sleeping room and bench-type bed, all corners were rounded or moulded. It was obvious their construction materials and techniques were well ahead of anything we use on Earth. Most items appeared as if they were all part of the whole, or made as one unit.
"Next stop, entertainment and recreation, as you would call it," were Zeena's words as we exited the sleeping area.
We seemed to be skirting the ring of neon-type light we had passed through on my first trip across the ship's interior.
"What's that over there?” I asked, pointing to the blue light.
"An anti-static device, among other things," she said. "We pick up a lot of that entering and exiting atmospheres. It is also one of our receiving antennae for energy-collecting. You may wish to spend most of your time in here," Zeena suggested, ushering me into one of the biggest single areas I had yet seen on the transporter. She seemed keen to change the subject whenever technical material was being discussed.
"There will be others from your home planet in here, plus some of our crew who are off duty. I am sure they, too, would communicate with you if you wished it. If I am not available at the time, there are many things to do. There are visual devices over here and there," she said pointing ahead and to one side. "They will give you a rundown on how to play some of our contestable games, and also a panorama of space, at least as we approach and leave planets. These recordings can all be played back.”
"I still have a million questions, Zeena, but I must confess to feeling more than a little tired. Could I just rest for a while?” I asked. The distinct need for sleep descended upon me in a matter of moments.
"Not a problem. Is that how you say it? I will take you back to the sleep area, but first I should get some liquid for you. We are approaching transition sector and it would not do for you to go through that in a dehydrated condition. If you would care to wait here for just a short space of your time, I shall return with the sustenance for you," Zeena said before leaving the area.
I was just too tired to be bothered even asking what the transition sector might be. Later, perhaps. Zeena then returned with a piece of information that quite amazed me, even in my drowsy condition.
"It has been thirty-six Earth hours since you entered our time-space. For one of your type, that is quite some time without rest, is it not?"
I added the other five hours on Earth before all this began, bringing the total to forty-one hours. No wonder I was out on my feet! This lack of sleep was shock enough to my system as it was, without everything else that had recently transpired.
"It's a little longer than optimum," I replied, but this was something of an understatement.
Zeena led me back to the sleeping cubicle via a path which seemed to have a spiral shape, but its scale was so immense that its dimensions were difficult to judge.
Arriving back at my 'bed', I must have gone to sleep almost immediately.
When I opened my eyes again, Zeena was sitting opposite my cubicle. "Verva," she said. "Did you sleep well?"
"Like a rock," I replied.
"Curious expression," was her reply.
"How long has it been?” I added, enquiring as to the duration of my sleep.
"One half of an Earth day—twelve hours," she answered. "What's 'verva'?” I asked.
"Oh, 'good spirit, fresh energy to you'. It is a greeting we use a lot, like your 'hello'," she explained.
"What's on the schedule?” I enquired.
"Some more liquid replacement for you," was her reply. "Come on. We have only two more of your Earth days and there is much to learn if you desire, and quite a few questions I have for you, too, before I return home."
Zeena appeared most anxious, but how could she be more inquisitive than I? In any case, I was still reeling from awakening to find myself 'dream-bound' and not back on Earth as I had expected.
"Her home! Now there's something I'd like to know about," I thought to myself but realised almost immediately that Zeena would read it.
"About the size of the planet Mars in your system," she replied, right on cue. "But it is not in the best of health, for our sun is slowly dying and we are being roasted with radiation. We are also losing our atmosphere. We can patch that up to a degree, but not for ever."
"Doesn't sound good. What are you guys doing about it?” I asked. "Well, we have been looking for a new home for many of your years. The best bet is still Earth, but we cannot take your gravity, among other things. That has always been the major factor, but it is also not of the right conformation for us yet. It used to be, but we are not quite like we used to be.”
Zeena hesitated, as if pondering whether to go on with this topic. She chose not to continue.
"There is every chance that the Earth is about to change in the not-too- distant future," was her revised answer.
"Change its conformation?” I enquired, startled.
"It shall mutate to a different density level, as you would understand it. It's no big deal. It's happening all over, all the time," she replied.
I think she might now have been trying to downplay it all after she noted how panicked I must have appeared.
"It'll what?” I queried, looking at her in amazement.
"Well, that is another of those long stories I promised to tell you about. It is best we get comfortable first and you get some fluid intake.”
"I don't feel at all hungry," I commented, still feeling more than a little worried about her previous statement.
"No, you should not need any solid nourishment while you are with us. We take only a little liquid now and then, drawing most of our energy from the forces around us with the help of our transporter's interchanger. That's one of the major tasks performed by the suit you are wearing," Zeena explained.
"Do you ever take them off?” I enquired, in no way meaning to be rude. "There is no need, except to renew, for sometimes they do get damaged. Without them we could not take nourishment in the form needed, so we would die after a few days—just as you would on your home planet without eating your foods," she replied.
We entered the recreation room and headed for a side exit.
"In here," she explained, "is the nourishment room for this sector. There are various strengths of nourishment depending on your needs. I would suggest the strongest of them for you right now. That would be the same as you had before your sleep period.”
She pointed to the station at the far end of a row of seats and said, "Let me show you how to use it.”
As she was attending to my needs, two other crew members entered the refreshment room. I cannot be one hundred per cent sure that I was the cause of their reaction, but they took one look at me, turned, and left the room.
The fluid was unusual: not so much the taste, which was quite sweet and left one with a rather warm feeling not unlike the after-taste of ginger beer, but its colour was a glowing gold, almost luminescent.
"I should now start to answer some of those questions of yours," Zeena continued.