* A little about Ding Xi Nozalot: (Ding Xi is pronounced like “ding she”, Nozalot is pronounced “No-za-low”, probably French) His mother gave him his first name in honor of her beloved grandfather. Little did she realize that his school chums would tease him mercilessly, calling him “Thinks he knows a lot.” Ding Xi taught … Continue reading
“Don’t look so bewildered. I know it’s a lot to swallow. It sounds like nonsense that I was here in 1876 and knew your great, great grandfather, but it’s true. It has to do with time dilation, which is a fact of life when you travel as we have at nearly the speed of light. … Continue reading
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” said Ding Xi, “but we may not have much time. Ben, I don’t want you to take offense at this, but the people of Earth are profoundly ignorant, compared even to other human populations. I’m talking about both technologically and socially. Ordinarily, we wouldn’t even be here. We’d just leave you … Continue reading
“So, Jonathan is correct. You’re actually from another planet.” “Yes.” Kiri said matter-of-factly. “Actually.” “Then you’re not human.” “What do you mean?” she said, a little indignantly. “I’m as human as you are. You know, you get some pretty provincial ideas isolated here on this rather backward planet circling a rather insignificant star – actually … Continue reading
Glorious Saturday. Cool Maine summer morning. Soft goose-down duvet. Slight breeze flowing across the bedroom. Wonderful to sleep in a little. She stretched and yawned. She looked over. It was still quite dark, but she could see that Ben was up. She heard him in the kitchen. All night she had lain close by his … Continue reading
Ben stood watching, spellbound. Something appeared on the windward side of the island. It didn’t appear to be a boat but a disturbance in the air just above the waves. It was ovoid and moving rapidly and seemed to be out of focus. Ben blinked a couple of times and then looked again to make … Continue reading
“Let me see. … That’s ridiculous! … Maybe the engine’s in the rear.” They hurried around to the back, opened the hatch, and searched around. “Nope. Not here,” said Ben. “You really don’t know where your engine is, do you.” “Well … no,” he said sheepishly. “How long have you had this car?” “Only a … Continue reading
Friday evening the wind whistled through cracks around the old windows in the house. Ben looked out. It was prematurely dark. Earlier, Greta had indicated that she wanted to go out, but when Ben had opened the door she just stood there, then looked at Ben as if to say “No way! Jose’.“ Ben went … Continue reading
“So … what’s up, Jon ?” said Ben. “What’d you find out? Why did you want me to bring my laptop to the café?” “I found out something really surprizing. They have a Wi-Fi setup here and I thought we might need to access the Internet. But first of all, puzzle man, did you solve … Continue reading
“The usual, Jake? Black Fly?’ “Right, Al. Better make it a pint.” “Caleb?” “Newcastle … a pint.” “You guys seem a bit subdued. Where’s Mike?” “Had a wicked fright.” said Jake. “Thought we was gonna lose the Molly B. and our lives in the bargain. Lost most of our gear.” “What happened?” “Snagged on a … Continue reading
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