Unknown Planet

 

            “Captain, we’ve reached the unknown planet 2A461,” Data stated. “Our scans indicate intelligent life on the surface. This is the source of the power beam that we’ve been following.”

            “Good, thank you, Data,” Captain Picard said as he tugged down on his uniform. They had discovered a strange power source shining a beam of light deep into space. This planet appeared to be where it had originated from. Picard knew that they would need to investigate. “Lieutenant Worf, hail the planet.”

            There was a beep and Worf answered, “There is no answer, Captain.”

            “Number One, assemble an away team to investigate.” Picard nodded to Commander Riker.

            Immediately, Riker stood up and said, “Data, Worf – you’re with me.” Together, the three walked off the bridge toward the transporter room.

            When they beamed onto the planet’s surface, Riker’s first impression was of heat. It was stiflingly hot here. Tugging uncomfortably at the edge of his collar, he said, “Data, do you have a lock on that power source?”

            “Yes, sir. It is emanating from this direction.” Data immediately headed off into a thick jungle. There was a path of sorts, but it was overgrown with vines and weeds. The three officers followed this path for several meters until it ended at a seemingly solid rock wall. Data took readings with his tricorder. He appeared slightly perplexed.

            “What is it, Data?” Riker asked when Data didn’t say anything.

            “This wall appears to be made of hardened diamonds. The power source is definitely behind it, but there is no way in. The wall is several meters thick.”

            “Would our phasers be able to penetrate it?”

            “Yes, but that is not advisable. I suggest that we seek out the life forms of this planet and get some answers from them.”

            “Shouldn’t we have met some by now?” Worf asked in his deep voice.

            Data consulted his tricorder. “There are three life forms 124 meters away from us in a large clearing.”

            Riker nodded his head, saying, “Lead the way.”

            With the help of their phasers, the Enterprise officers cut a path through the thick jungle. Soon, they reached the clearing and were astounded by what they saw. Data rapidly took readings with his tricorder while Riker and Worf were left speechless.

            After several moments, Riker recovered his voice and asked, “Are those...dragons?” The massive creatures towered over the crew of the Enterprise. As the curious foreigners watched, the creatures breathed flames on the foliage around them. Instead of being burned, however, the flames seemed to make the plants grow bigger.

            Data analyzed several more readings in his tricorder before he answered Riker’s question. “They do appear to be similar to the creatures in fairy tales that are known as dragons, but these are not mythological. They are using their fire to generate the habitat around them. Interesting.”
            “Will we be able to communicate with them?” Riker asked with eyebrows raised.

            “I would advise against that, sir.” Worf was studying the dragons with their massive wings folded against their backs. The talons on each dragon were very impressive, even for Worf.

            Data opened his mouth to answer, but he was interrupted by one of the dragons themselves.

            “What are you doing in our jungle?” The voice came from the dragon nearest to them. Its red scales gleamed in the sunlight as it studied the three officers.

            Stepping forward, Riker answered, “We followed a beam of light from deep in space. We’ve come to investigate the source and wondered if you had any answers for us.” Outwardly, Riker appeared calm and in charge, but his hands were balled into fists as he addressed the dragon that was four times as tall as he was.

            The dragon stopped to think for a moment while the green and blue dragons looked on curiously. “Oh, you mean the diamond portal.” He nodded his head as he explained. “We have recently arrived at this planet for colonization, but it wasn’t exactly suited to our needs. We have put a lot of firepower into terraforming it to make it more comfortable for us. We had to create a conduit for the planet to shed the excess power from our flames. Without it, this planet would explode.

            “Interesting,” Data said again. “For the amount of power to flow through the conduit to attract our attention, your flames must be powerful, indeed.”

            The dragon nodded his great head. “We are sorry to attract your attention. As soon as we finish terraforming, the excess power will stop.” He focused his orange eyes on the crew members. “After that, we wish to be left alone in peace.”

            Riker nodded curtly and said, “That shouldn’t be a problem. We’re on our way and won’t be bothering you anymore.”

            They turned around and started back the way they’d come. When they gave their report to Captain Picard, he looked curious. “Dragons, you say? Well, this will be an interesting report to give to the Federation.” He took his seat on the bridge. “Ensign, set a course for our previously arranged assignment.”

            There was a moment when the ensign tapped on the console. “Course laid in, sir.”

            Picard held up his hand and said, “Engage!”

Figurines

 

“Surrender or die!” Cade yelled. He was holding up a figurine of a mean looking goblin that acted as his General.

            “Never!” Blake retorted, holding up his own figurine of a wizard with a staff.

            The two boys had played for hours, imagining epic fight scenes and battles. Cade’s dad had collected and painted hundreds of figurines to use in his tabletop game. Cade was allowed to play with them as long as he was careful. The boys had set up their battleground in the basement. Rows of troops lined the floor.

            They played until Cade’s mom yelled out, “Blake, your mom called. She wants you home for dinner.”

            Cade groaned. They were almost to the end of their epic battle. Cade was going to win. “Aww, man,” he said sadly.

            “Just leave them out and we can finish tomorrow,” Blake suggested.

            “Nah, I can’t. My dad will be home soon and he doesn’t like it when I leave these out.” Slowly, Cade started picking up the figurines and putting them in their special box.

            Disappointed, Blake helped, too. “What does your dad do with these, anyway?”

            “They’re for his special game. Sometimes he gets together with his old friends and they basically use these to tell the story.”

            “Isn’t that what we do?” Blake asked, studying one of the figures that was a great big dragon with its wings spread out.

            “They have books and rules that they follow.”

            “That sounds kind of boring. Where’s the fun when you have to read?”

            Cade smiled. Blake was notorious for not wanting to read anything in school. “Apparently the books tell you which kinds of characters have more powers or whatever.” He picked up a figurine of a silver alien with big black eyes and showed it to Blake. “Like, maybe this alien would defeat that dragon in your hand.”

            Blake gave Cade a condescending look. “Come on, man. Dragons breathe fire. Nothing’s better than a dragon.”

            “Well, aliens have special weapons and laser guns. They could definitely take down a dragon.”

            “No way, dude. Dragon scales are impervious to lasers.”

            “Pew, pew!” Cade held up the alien, pretending to shoot at the dragon.

            “Whoa! The dragon’s scales sent the lasers ricocheting, and they hit your own army!” Blake made the dragon fly around.

            “Blake!” Cade’s mom called. “Cade! Have you guys finished cleaning up? Blake’s mom is waiting.”

            “Aww, man, I gotta go,” Blake said, putting the rest of the figurines away. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” With that, Blake grabbed his jacket and ran up the stairs. He lived less than a block away.

            Cade pulled out the alien figurine again and set it on a side table. This was actually one of his favorites. “I bet you could take down a dragon,” he said softly.

            To his surprise, the alien moved. It held up its laser gun and said, “This would most likely be ineffective against a dragon.” He held up a small metal ball in his other hand and said, “But this would create an explosion so large it would take down two or three dragons at once.”

            Cade’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open. “You’re alive?” he said in a small voice.

            “Well, not exactly. I’m made out of metal, but I just wanted to set the record straight.”

            Then another voice sounded out, saying, “That might take me out, but it would take you out as well.” Cade was again shocked to see that it was the dragon figurine who had spoken. “You aliens won’t use them unless you absolutely have to.”

            “Maybe,” the alien said, nodding his head. “But it’s still useful in keeping your fire at bay.”

            Cade couldn’t believe it. He’d always admired the figurines, but now they could talk! “I can’t wait to tell Blake,” he said softly.

            Both the alien and the dragon looked back up at him, and the alien said, “You can tell your friend if you want, but you know, he won’t believe you.”

            “Well, why don’t you tell him then?” Cade asked.

            “I don’t think so,” the alien said, shaking his head.

            “Why not?”

            “He’s not you,” the alien said simply.

            “Huh?”

            The dragon came up closer to Cade and said, “Your friend just thinks of us as toys. You, however, have really poured your imagination into us. You are the only one who can hear us. No one else believes as you do.”

            Suddenly, Cade’s dad came down the stairs. He was still in his suit and tie from work. He saw Cade with the figurines and said, “Did you and Blake have a battle today?”

            Cade blinked and looked back at the alien and the dragon. They had both turned back into still figurines. “Uh… yeah. You’ve really done a good job on these, Dad.” He pointed to the alien and said, “Did you know the alien could blow up the dragon with a special bomb?”

            “Yes,” Dad said, picking up the alien. “We’ve had him do that a few times during our game, but it’s a self-sacrificing move. He doesn’t survive after that.” He looked a little closer at Cade. “Are you interested in learning how the actual game works? Maybe I could teach you how to play now. I think you’re old enough. We’ll get you your own figurines and you can start building your army.”

            Cade closed his hand around the alien and the dragon. “Well, I really like these two. Could I use them?”

            Dad paused and then said, “Sure, you have those. I’ll get some more to replace them.”

            “Thanks, Dad!”

            And so Cade learned how to play the game with his Dad. Dad was always surprised at how much Cade knew about what his figurines could do. “It’s like you really know who they are,” he would say.

            Cade smiled, thinking that he did indeed know his figurines well. After all, they could speak for themselves.

Abe and the Alien

 

            Abe laid down on the straw mattress up in the loft. He was exhausted. Repairing fences on a hot summer’s day wasn’t fun, but it had to be done. A cow had found a weak spot and had broken through, leading all the other cows with it. Not only had Abe needed to repair the fence, but he had also spent half the afternoon rounding up the cows.

            Abe felt his eyes close almost immediately after his long day, and felt his body totally relax. He was in a deep sleep within minutes. His dreams were full of cows and fences, like he was still continuing his work from the day. But then, something else intruded on his thoughts, and he jerked awake.

            He was no longer lying on his straw mattress in the loft. Everything around him looked so shiny. It was way different from the dusty interior of the barn. He had never seen so much metal used in one place. Abe squinted his eyes against bright lights that were shining down on him. It wasn’t the sun, but it was a lot brighter than candlelight or even a campfire. It lit up the entire room.

            Looking around him, Abe could see that he was in some kind of metallic room. There wasn’t a hint of wood or sod anywhere. It was just so clean. What was this place? He tried to sit up, but realized he was strapped to the table that he was laying on. He struggled against his bonds for a few minutes but realized he wasn’t going anywhere and soon gave up. Panic was growing inside him, and he did his best not to scream out in terror.

            A door in the shiny wall slid open with a whoosh of air, and Abe turned to see a short creature walk through to stand beside Abe’s table. Was his skin green? He was holding some kind of notebook, and his two very large black eyes stared down at Abe. “The specimen is awake,” it said in a voice filled with strange clicks.

            Fighting down his terror, Abe asked, “Where am I, and who are you?”

            The creature didn’t answer, but was writing things down in his notebook, muttering to itself. “The specimen expects me to answer its foolish questions. Typical of its species.”

            “Okay, wait,” Abe tried again. “Please could you talk to me? I’ll answer any questions you have about my…species.” What Abe really wanted to do was shout out for help, but he doubted that he was anywhere where someone could hear him.

            The creature looked directly at Abe. Abe’s skin crawled as he felt like the creature was looking inside of him somehow. “We already know a lot about you humans,” the creature said finally. “We have studied countless specimens, and you all seem to be the same. Arrogant and unwilling to work with others unless it profits yourself. For thousands of years, we’ve been trying to figure out why that is.”

            Abe gulped and asked, “I hope that you have found at least a few that aren’t arrogant.” He swallowed again and said, “We’re not all that way.”

            The creature scoffed and said, “If you weren’t all prideful, you would take better care of each other. Instead, you use other humans to be your slaves to do all the work for you.”

            Abe thought back to his humble farm and said, “We don’t all own slaves.”

            “Your society is based on wealth. You only get to own slaves if you have the means to do so. Just because you don’t personally own any slaves does not excuse you.”

            Abe thought this was a little unfair. He lived in a non-slave state where slavery wasn’t officially allowed. But then, he grimaced as he thought about how all races weren’t treated equally. The creature continued to make notes in his notebook as he studied Abe.

            Finally, the creature finished his note-taking and turned to leave. “Wait, what will happen now?” Abe asked worriedly.

            Without turning around, the creature answered, “You’ll wake up back in your bed, not remembering anything that’s happened, and the human race will continue to survive for a little longer while we gather more evidence for your extinction.”

            Abe almost swallowed his tongue. “You can’t kill us all!” he spluttered.

            “We can when that species has been judged to create more harm than good.”

            Abe’s mind raced as he shouted, “Wait, give me a chance! Let me try to make things better! Let me remember this night, so I know that we will have to change our ways to survive!”

            The creature tilted its head to the side to consider Abe’s request. “What would one puny, insignificant human from your glorious state of Indiana be able to change?”

            “I don’t know,” Abe answered honestly. “But at least give me time to try.”

            The creature slowly turned around and stared inside Abe again. Abe shivered involuntarily. It was like someone else was inside his mind, reading all of his thoughts. Finally, the creature said, “Very well. Your request shall be granted. We will be monitoring you closely, Abraham Lincoln. If you can’t make significant changes in your lifetime, we will have grounds to wipe your species from the face of the Earth so that other species may evolve and become dominant.”

            With that, the creature walked back out the whooshing door, and Abe was left alone. How was he going to change anything? He turned the matter over and over in his mind until finally, the rooster crowed, and he found himself awake in his own bed in the loft.

            Was that just a dream? He rose to get ready for the day, and noticed a sheet of paper next to his bed. There was only one thing written on it, in large letters. It said, “We’ll be watching you, Abraham Lincoln.”

            Abe gulped down the tremendous responsibility as he started his new life. He had no idea what he was going to do, but he would give it his all. He was on a mission – a mission to change the world.