New to Space Traveler Fargone? Start at the beginning.
The canyon was teaming with life. There was green vegetation running along a wide river at the bottom of the canyon. Some of it looked like farmland. There also appeared to be orchards. The rest seem to be wild growth. It was hard to tell, as we were hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of meters above the canyon floor. There were also flying creatures similar to Earth birds darting around in every direction.
But the walls of the canyon were the real attraction. They were lined with countless openings—like caves—that ran three-quarters of the way up the canyon walls. And there were cables strung between the two sides of the canyon with large platforms riding on them. The platforms carried passengers and goods back and forth between the two sides of the canyon. The passengers looked humanoid, but we would need to get closer to tell how much they resemble us.
“Incredible. It appears the inhabitants of this planet have learned to survive and thrive in the canyon, protected from the violent wind on the surface,” Flow said.
“Amazing,” I added.
Em didn’t say anything; she was too busy taking video.
“Flow, do you think you can get us down to the top layer of caves? I wouldn’t want to try to fly Rustbucket in there with all those cables.”
“I believe I can,” Flow replied.
Flow walked to the edge and shape-shifted her arms into two spikes that she sunk into the rock surface. Then she transformed into a ladder leading down to the highest cave. It took some coaxing to get Em to start climbing. It was a long way to the bottom of the canyon.
“Don’t look down. Keep your eyes on the ladder,” I said, trying to encourage her.
“I will grab you if you slip,” Flow added.
I also kept my eyes on the ladder rungs as we made our descent.
When we reached the cave floor, Em quickly took a few steps inside, getting away from the edge. I followed her in, and Flow transformed back into her usual shape. The cave was about 30 meters wide and 4 meters tall. There was a table and several chairs set off to one side of the cave. And what looked like some kind of cabinets on the other side. About five meters ahead of us in the cave, a stone wall filled the cave opening, with a beautifully carved door in the center of it.
I walked over to it and knocked. I waited a few moments and then knocked again.
“Perhaps they don’t understand what knocking is,” Em said.
“Or perhaps they cannot hear,” Flow added.
They were both wrong. The door swung inward and out came an alien who looked very much like an old man. He had an untamed mane of gray hair and wore tan clothing made of rough fabric.
“Well, break my cables. Look what the wind blew in,” the cave-dweller said. “We ain’t had visitors in years. What brings you here? I’m Cava, by the way.”
“I am pleased to meet you, Cava. I’m Fargone. This is Emma. And this is Flow. We are travelers exploring the Universe.”
“You don’t say? Where you from?”
“Em and I are from Earth. And Flow is from Metallum.”
“I know of Earth. Can’t say I heard of Metallum. No matter, I would be happy to show you my canyon if you like,” Cava said.
“That would be great. Thank you,” I replied.
“Follow me,” Cava said and walked back inside the door.
Em looked at the open door and then looked at me and asked, “Do you think we should?”
“Why not? It’s what we came for.”
“Cava appears harmless enough,” Flow added.
So we walked through the door.
Inside we found typical home furnishings. A bed, chairs, a place for cooking. And books. Lots of books. The walls were lined with bookcases filled with books.
Cava saw us looking at the books.
“I see you noticed my collection. I love books. Many folks call me The Writer,” Cava said.
“Oh, did you write some of these books?”
“Not some. All of them.”
“Really? There must be hundreds of books here,” Em said.
“I never thought to count them,” Cava stated.
“1276,” Flow said.
“Pardon?”
“There are 1276 books in this room,” Flow said.
“That is more than I thought,” Cava said with a surprised look on his face. “When I was a boy, a space traveler visited us and stayed with my parents. One evening I saw him reading a book. I had never seen a book, and I asked him about it. He showed me the book and explained what it was. Then he asked me if I would like to learn to read and write. Well, it seemed like magic to me, so I said yes. He taught me, and I started writing books. At first, I just wrote about the canyon, but later I started making up stories. I guess it became sort of an obsession.” Cava let out a loud laugh.
“That is amazing. May I look at one of your books?” I asked.
“I would be honored.”
“Physical books are rare on Earth. Most of our kind read on coms now.”
“What are coms?”
I showed Cava my com. Then I showed him my latest splog.
“Hoo-wee, you’re a writer also. We got to talk. No one here has any interest in reading or writing, ‘cept me. Got any more stories?”
“Lots of them.”
I opened one of Cava’s books. Cava’s penmanship was impeccable. The story was titled, The Space Traveler. Curious, I started reading and was shocked when I saw the name of the space traveler—Paul Longdistance.
“Paul Longdistance was here? I read every one of his splogs when I was a boy. I loved them. They made me want to fly and explore new worlds. But the splogs suddenly stopped, and he disappeared. I wonder why he never splogged about this planet?”
An old man stepped out of an opening in the wall and said. “Because I never left.”
“Well, break my cables. Look what the wind blew in,” I love it! Lol!
Ooooooh TWIST.