The Encounter (2 page)

She walked to the end of the counter. "Back there in the back, how about the blue one?"

He turned back to the keys. "The Mustang, lots of get-up-and-go." He took down the key, turned and brought up a contract on his computer screen. "I'll need a major credit card and a valid driver's license, please."

She walked back to him. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. Being stared at always made her a little nervous. She opened her bag to get what he asked for.

"You just fly in", he asked?

"You could say that." She handed him an American Express Gold Card and her driver's license. "Will this do?"

He took them. "Yes ma'am, that'll do just fine." She watched him run the card. He got an approval and printed out the slip. "We need to fill out a few things. Would you like the insurance?"

"Sure, why not." She watched him type. "What else?"

He picked up her driver's license. He studied the picture, then her, then the picture again. "Is everything on here correct?"

"Yes, it is."

He kept staring at her. "I see you're from Baltimore. How long do you need the car?"

"About a week."

"Planning to stay with us a while?

She pointed to the screen. "Could we finish, please? I'm really tired."

"Right, sorry." He filled out the rest of the contract, taking the information from her license. "There, that's got it" He printed out the paperwork, passed it to her and offered his pen for her signature. "Sign in both places at the bottom, please."

She took the pen and signed the contract. "Is that it?"

"That's it", he said. "You want me to bring it up for you?"

"Thanks anyway, I can do it."

"You're sure?"

She nodded.

He folded her copy of the contract, put it in an envelope and handed it to her with the keys, "be sure the contract stays with the car."

"I will, thanks." She put the envelope in her bag, and picked up her license and credit card.

He wanted to continue the conversation but their business was done and she didn't seem very interested anyway. He smiled. "Have a nice night."

She smiled back, picked up her bag and left the office. He watched her through the glass until she was out of sight.

You just never know what's gonna show up here at night, he thought, going back to his sandwich.

The Mustang was parked at the back of the lot. Margaret walked up to the driver's side door, unlocked it and got in. She shut the door and looked over the controls. She opened the glove box, put the contract inside and shut it. This wasn't the first time she'd rented or driven a car on this world, just the first time in a while. She inserted the key and turned it. The car came to life. She looked at the shift lever for a moment, put it in reverse and backed out of the parking space. Now, she thought, they drive on the right side here. She shifted into drive, pulled around to the exit and left the rental lot.

She moved from lane to lane getting a feel for the car. The Mustang cruised along Will Clayton toward the airport. The traffic was light.  She crossed an overpass and dropped down onto JFK Boulevard heading south toward the Sam Houston Parkway. The highway lighting, and the lights from the airport complex, obscured the nighttime horizon. It was a clear night and higher in the sky an ocean of stars were visible. She let down the window, leaned her head out and looked in the direction of home. She was a little homesick. She hated that. She was a scientist. It didn't seem professional, somehow.

She had just covered a distance of five million light-years in little over a week, Earth time. That explained the slight state of disorientation she was feeling, jet lag on an intergalactic scale.

This distant area of the universe had been explored by her ancestor’s centuries ago. It held little interest for her people until the discovery of the portal brought them back.

Her family had been involved with the scientific community for generations. Her Great Grandfather had been part of the research group that finally proved the theory that overlapping energy fields held the universe together. He also discovered a small, open, seam apparently caused by the ever expanding nature of the universe itself, and that passing through this tear in the fabric of space, folded time.

When you go up against the powers of nature your victory is seldom, if ever, complete. This
Time
Portal
turned out to have very limiting characteristics. Lateral movement, from the point of entry, was restricted too less than a light-year. After that you ceased to exist. Travel into the future wasn't possible at all. Apparently the future was constructed one moment at a time with each new moment generating the next. If it hadn't happened yet, you couldn't go there. Finally, at about a hundred thousand Earth years the thread of energy tying the vessel to the present became an elastic cord and recoiled, with devastating effects to the ship and crew.

The first portal was thought to be unique until the discovery of this second one in Earth’s solar system. The first one was located near a planet too young to support life. This one proved to be much more interesting.

All current time travel research was centered on the development of a more stable link to the present and a way to expand the diameter of the tunnel.

How it worked hadn’t concern her. She had used the technology, within its established limits, to better understand the social evolution of this species. Understanding what motivated a culture allowed for more than just an educated guess at what effect a first contact could have.

She watched the Sam Houston Parkway pass overhead and turned east onto the access road. Her family again consumed her thoughts.

While she was still a girl growing up at home, her father had headed one of the research groups assigned to document early life on Earth. She had been allowed to accompany him on numerous field trips. These trips had always been something she looked forward to.

After her father moved into politics, she continued in his scientific footsteps. This pleased him very much. Her older brother had become part of the military and her younger brother was still at home.

Earth’s history, past and present, had been chronicled in detail. From a cloaked vessel she had observed the cultural change from that of roaming nomads, to that of a collective and educated society.

The rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the journeys of Columbus, the American Revolution, World War Two and more recently the fall of the Soviet Union were all observed. These, and many more moments in history, had been recorded as a living record of humanities passage through time.

Where a cloaked vessel had a minimal effect on the time line, to physically walk around in the past could very well affect the planet’s future. That never happened. It was a rule that was never broken. When she
could be
out and about, being fluent in a hundred different human languages and dialects, made mixing with the locals fairly easy.

The portal added another layer to the decision making process. Because of the portal, nowhere else had so much time been invested in getting to know, and understand, a species prior to making contact. Over the years this project had become very personal to those involved. But time had run out and this visit would bring about the culmination of a series of long-term projects. It would determine if the Human Race would join in the battle or perish in the crossfire. In the end the safety of the Empire would come first.

The final decision would come from the Council. That decision would be passed to her and she would either coordinate the evacuation of her people, or the planet wide proceedings for making contact. How she spent her time waiting was up to her. She had always wanted the chance to get closer; to get a place to live, to get what humans called “a job.”

                                                        *** 

The Hilton hotel appeared on her right. She was tired and hungry and wanted the final leg of this journey to end. She turned into the parking lot and into the first available parking space. Just as she touched the door handle, a cold chill went up her back. She released it and rubbed her arms. The strange feeling left as quickly as it came. She sat for a moment, and then got out with her handbag and headed for the hotel entrance.

Her ties to her family were very strong. Even at this distance, death had a way of making its presence known.

                                                        ***

The third story hotel room faced east. The drapes were open and the morning sun highlighted the bed. Margaret had the covers pulled up to her chin. Her raven black hair spread out in all directions. She was asleep, but her sub-conscious listened for any change in her environment.

Something changed and she was instantly awake. Her eyes opened, then closed against the bright sunlight. She shaded her face with her hand and listened to the sound of footsteps moving away. She tossed off the cover and pushed herself up in the bed. Naked, she reached out with her hands, and then briskly rubbed her arms. With out the cover she quickly became chilled. She was never really comfortable here.

She looked at her reflection in a mirror on the wall at the end of the bed. Except for her head and eyebrows, she was virtually hairless. Her coloring was very light, with a few exceptions. The skin covering the tendons on the tops of her hands and feet was slightly darker. The skin, just above and around her genitals, changed texture and color. Her nipples were a shade darker than the rest of her breast. What stood out most of all was something that wasn't there. Her stomach was smooth, no belly button.

She swung her feet off to the floor and stood by the bed. Her hair hung to her hips. She took the few steps to the balcony, held the drape in front of her and looked around outside. It would take a couple of days to acclimate herself to Earth's lighter gravity and thinner atmosphere. The cooler surface temperatures would have to be endured. After a moment, she turned and went to the bathroom.

There was no tub, just a shower. She opened the shower door, reached in and turned on the hot water. She judged a human hotel by how long the water temperature would stay above a hundred and ninety degrees. That was comfortable for her. She walked to the mirror. She looked at her reflection, shook her hair, stretched the skin on her face with her hands and licked her lips.

The steam from the shower began to fill the room, and then fog the mirror. The warm, moist air felt good against her skin. She tucked her hair into a bun on top of her head. From the base of her neck her spine was three inches wide, creating a half-inch ridge down the center. Three quarters of the way down it forked providing two points of support at her pelvis and where the spine forked, sat a special joint to allow flexibility. In the middle of the fork was the missing belly button. It was something that couldn't be explained away. Sun bathing on the beach was definitely out. A lot had to happen today. She stepped into the steamy shower and closed the door.

                                                        ***

Margaret was dressed and out on the balcony waiting for breakfast. She stepped back into the room and sniffed. Breakfast was about to arrive. She crossed the room and opened the door. The porter, with his cart, had been just about to knock. He jumped back

"I'm sorry", she apologized. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"That's quite all right. I guess the timing was perfect".

"Seems like it."

She followed him across the room and watched him transfer her breakfast, and a newspaper, from the cart to the table. When he was finished, he turned and handed her the breakfast ticket and a pen. She took it, signed it and handed it back. He looked at it, and then at her.

"Oh, I forgot", she said, "just a moment." She went to her bag and returned with a one ounce, unmarked, gold disk. She placed it in his hand. He stared at it, and then turned it over.

He looked at her. "Is this what it looks like?"

"Is that enough?"

"Oh, yes ma'am!" He started for the door; afraid at any moment she might regain her senses. He looked back. "Thank you... Thank you very much." He left the room and closed the door. This was one piece of information he would keep to himself and hoped room three thirty-seven would order lunch.

She watched the door for a moment. "Is that enough... What am I saying?"

Gold had no monetary value on her world, but occurred throughout the universe. And, like Earth, was considered quite valuable on many worlds. The first order of business would be to exchange some for local currency.

She sat at the table, removed the metal covers from the two plates and sat them aside. Under one was an assortment of fruits. Under the other, bread and cheese. She picked up the insulated coffee container and poured some of its contents into the cup beside it. It was filled with clear, hot water.

She flipped through the paper until the Want Ads came up. She reached for a small metal box, opened it and tapped some of the contents into the cup. She scanned the paper while she stirred the drink. It took less than a minute to memorize the real estate section of the paper. She leaned back with the cup in both hands and sipped. The aroma reminded her of home.