The Adventures of Captain Adam Smith

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Episode One: ³The Thinkers´

My boundless extraterrestrial adventures began during an unlikely Montana summer while

engaged in the pursuit of the capitalist dream. The first untruth in this tale of space

swashbuckling was that I did not disclose my drive for green backs to my current employer,

Professor Benton. For all the old coot knew, I was an enthusiast of whatever he was looking for

in those dried up dusty canyons. I nodded at all the right times, especially when I hadn¶t a clue

of what he was babbling on about and smiled a great big grin whenever he got excited over a

rock or bone.

During our apprenticeship days I only placed importance on what he wanted me to collect in

the field. I had to know the difference between the white washed bones of a coyote and the

mostly petrified encrusted bones of a dinosaur. The deal we had was that I survey the entire

area for a single Jackson a day with a bonus of one Washington for every artifact I found. With

his institute¶s federal grant backing all the old man¶s expenses, including the use of a truck and

camper trailer, I figured that by the time the first snow flake flittered to the ground I could clear

at least a couple grand. Maybe more if I found a lot of old bones. It wasn¶t a nest egg, but it was

enough to get a start. I figured it was enough to get me to Alaska where I could work on one of

those crab boats and make even a bigger haul. Maybe get my own boat. Among my many

endeavors I had been a merchant marine and sailed for about three years across the Pacific

Ocean. I liked the freedom and the salt spray on my face. I didn¶t like the boatman or the stuff

shirt executives.

³Now you see that thick layer of gray there,´ The professor instructed me as he pointed at the

wall of the canyon. I nodded my head, though I was more concerned not to trip or stub my toe on



a rock as we picked our way around scrub brush.

³In some places that is thirty feet thick. You know what caused it?´ The professor asked.

His query caught me unawares. If the old bone collector knew that my mind had already drifted

off to a mental picture of a girl I saw coming out of a grocery store in Billings, he would of spat

out one of his pre-digested pearls of wisdom. Something like, µA scientist¶s work is never done¶.

Or something like that.

³Well? Do you?´ The professor repeated.

I stuttered for a minute and then thought of a guess, ³Ah, wind?´

The old man¶s bushy white caterpillar like eyebrows wiggled at my reply. He let out a sigh

and then a chuckle.

³Well, I guess you could say wind, when in fact we are referring to one of the largest

pyroclastic flows ever found. The French called them nueeardente which meant fiery cloud.´

I stared blankly at the professor and wondered where he came up with such trivia. He was

forever speaking to some invisible person, because it was surely not me.

He continued, oblivious of my blankness, ³That is the defining layer which should reveal

countless burial sites. Like in Pompeii, anything caught up in that massive surge would be

encapsulated and after all these millions of years, waiting for us to find them!´

I could tell this was one of those moments where I should spread a big grin. I could see the

professor¶s normally pale blue eyes twinkle in excitement from under his funny ratty and floppy

straw hat. His rough leather wrinkled skin flushed with pink and his normally curved back

straightened briefly.

All I could think of was an old gold miner¶s cry and I exclaimed with, ³Eureka!´

The professor looked at me suddenly oddly and stopped. He then asked, ³Do you have any



questions before I leave today?´

³Nope,´ I replied quickly. I was excited about only one thing, and that was the prospect of

bumming around camp as I pleased. After the old man headed out for his home town in Ohio, I

was chief prospector and my pay clock could start to click with each daily installment.

Benton turned around and retraced his steps back toward the camp. I followed him as he

changed course again toward his cream colored British land rover. He didn¶t say a thing until he

opened the driver¶s door and prepared to swing himself up on to the bench.

³I left all the appropriate numbers in the camper, including my cell phone and home phone if

you find something quite incredible.´

He slid up on the seat and slammed the door closed. He started up the vehicle and rolled down

the driver¶s door window.

³Have a good summer Adam,´ He proclaimed as he shoved the gear shift forward.

I stood there feeling kind of stupid. It was rare that the professor had nothing to say. I watched

his vehicle bounce over a couple ruts in the dirt trail as he stuck his arm out the window and

waved. As he drew increasingly further away, chased by a small cloud of tan dust, I waved

feebly in return.

Once I was sure he was gone, I made a beeline for my stash of Royal Crown and poured it into

a half full can of peaches. I raised my can to the sky and announced proudly, ³Good-bye you old

coot.´

The next day I staggered from the camper with a lovely hang over. The far distant hills looked

pretty fuzzy and my breakfast tasted like dried glue. It wasn¶t until midafternoon before my

sight cleared and my head eased enough so that I felt I could make my first forage into the

canyon. I started to hike along the west side of the canyon for about two miles when I noticed a



pile of light colored rubble which had rolled down a slope of shale. I noticed a small splinter of

bone sticking out of a patch of gray rock. I looked up the slope to notice an elliptical opening

halfway up the wall. It appeared on the lower edge of the large gray layer which the professor

told me was an important bench marker.

I noticed that the light colored rocks looked to have dribbled down the slope from the cavern

above, so I decided to climb the slide to the opening above. At first it seemed for every step

which I made up the pile of rubble I slid backwards two steps. By the time I reached the top, I

was climbing on all fours. The opening was in an elliptical shape of about ten yards wide and

four feet high. The cavern did not reach back into the cliff face more than six feet, with the roof

and floor quickly coming together. I crawled slowly, parrying off the sharp pointed stones under

my knees. I searched the rubble for any signs of dinosaur bones when I noticed an odd object

that was wedged in the back of the cave. It looked like the edge of a smooth large clay pigeon.

The kind my father liked to shoot when I was a kid. I tried to dislodge it, it would not budge. I

swept away some of the dust and small pebbles around it and to my surprise the edge continued

in both directions. I was now seeing the edge of something that was more than three feet long.

The surface was so smooth and so uniformed that I could have sworn that the object was man

made. It was hard to figure Mother Nature creating such a perfect surface. I reached down for

the rock hammer which I was supposed to take everywhere with me. I realized it had not made

the trip with me. I did have a canteen and I took it out and poured water on the smooth surface. I

was astonished to see the object seemed to be metallic in color. I scratched my head and sat

back. Whatever it was it had to have been buried along with everything else when the mountain

blew up millions of years ago. How could the object seem so pristine?

The sunlight was waning and I decided it would be better to return in the morning. As I slid



down the embankment of shards and began to hike back to camp, I began to wonder if the thing I

had found was valuable. I hadn¶t a clue what it was, but I was already fantasizing on being on a

podium someplace, receiving a million dollar check from a beautiful super model in a red dress

with a plunged neckline.

I stumbled back into camp as the last rays of the sun winked out over the ridge. I reached for

the camper door knob when I noticed that the knob to the camper was missing. It took a while

before I could assess what I was looking at. I had even thought for a brief moment that the knob

could have naturally fallen off until I noticed the bent crowbar teeth marks in the thin metal

exterior of the door. I looked around to see if anyone was around. I found a pair alien tire tracks

in the dust.

I scratched my head and announced out loud, ³Looks like I had visitors.´

I opened the door to the camper to find all the cabinet doors and drawers were left open. A

partial filled bag of flour was spilled on the floor with a tennis shoe foot print in the middle of it.

I churned with disapproval to myself. It really wasn¶t that I had been vandalized, but they sure

could have been a great deal more careful in doing it. I was going to have to clean up the mess.

Then, as I reached under the cabinet to my stash of booze, I realized I had been robbed! They

took my whiskey, my scotch and my bottle of Kentucky bourbon! Now I was scorched and I

vowed if I ever met up with whomever ransacked my place I¶d introduce their face to my fist.

I swept the flour out the back door, shoved a couple dry biscuits down my parched throat and

crashed.

The next morning I threw together a small day pack with a lunch and some digging tools and

headed back to the site which I had found on the previous day. This time I started to pick away

at the hard crusty surface. Each hour was more astonishing than the last as the rim increased in



size. By night I had exposed the edge to fill the entire cave from side to side. The top edge

ascended upward into the overhanging rock and the lower edge descended downward and

disappeared into the floor of the cave. Whatever it was, it had to be more than twenty feet in

diameter and more than six feet tall. There was no telling how much remained buried in the face

of the cliff.

As I hiked back to camp that evening with clothes thick with white-gray dust, my hands filled

with minor cuts and scrapes, there was one thing I could count on. Whatever it was, it wasn¶t

supposed to be there. It had to be valuable and more precious than a pile of dinosaur bones. It

may take me a while to excavate around it, but I was certain it would be worth the trouble.

When I got back to camp I stared at the cell phone that the professor had left me. I was not sure

if I wanted to call him. In an odd sort of way, I found something that was not on his list of things

he wanted. I decided to wait until I had more of the object exposed.

Each day I would make my way back to the site and I would chip away at the hard encrusted

surface, discarding debris over the side and down the slope. Each day I exposed more and more

surface and each day I grew more astounded with what was being revealed. By the end of the

third day I had uncovered a single, seamless disk shaped object that was more than twenty five

feet in circumference and more than eight feet in height. Wrapping my shovel on the surface

seemed to indicate it was hollow and not solid. The roof of the cavern was starting to destabilize

with large rocks occasionally dropping down. After a rock the size of a car tire nearly struck me,

I decided it was too dangerous to continue to follow along the top edge of the object. I began to

excavate underneath the object exclusively, widening the space to its deepest point. On the fifth

day I broke into an open underground pit which would have been, as far as I could tell, directly

under the middle of the object. A yellowish ramp with hand railings stuck out four to five feet,



suspended into the middle of the open space. I slid down into the open space to find the ramp

was at the height of my shoulder. I couldn¶t climb onto it, but I could look up it. At that

moment I concluded that the object was indeed some sort of alien spacecraft. Although the

insides were dark and I could not see past the opening, even when I stabbed a flashlight beam

into the void, it was obviously the entrance to a flying saucer.

In order to gain access to the ramp I had to chip away at the rock and pull the rubble into the

space beneath my feet until I raised the floor and myself to a position to crawl on to the ramp. It

wasn¶t easy, as the space was only lit from the narrow tunnel I had dug underneath the ship.

With the waning of another day¶s light I decided not to enter the ship until the next morning,

when I would bring back several gas powered lamps. It was a decision that I regretted as I tossed

and turned the evening away, wondering what may lay inside. In the early gray dawn I rounded

up my materials with my breakfast and lunch and headed toward the site once more. As I started

to crawl back up the embankment which was now twice as large from my excavation work, I

couldn¶t remember what day it was. The professor wanted me to call with a weekly progress

report, and I knew it had been a week, but just what day was it. I switched on my first lamp at

the entrance of the tunnel, and the second one under the belly of the ship. My third and final

lamp I lit and carried with me to the ramp. I looked up into the dark passageway with some

foreboding. I got on the ramp on my hands and knees while holding the lamp up with my right

hand. It was awkward, but I began to crawl slowly up the ramp, pushing the lamp before me. At

first the darkness raced away from my lamp, revealing the interior ceiling as a light swirling

color of cobalt blue. Then as my head began to breach the opening I swung my lamp around to

peer into the foreign space in all directions. I was equipped to see gadgets of all types, perhaps

switches and diodes and panels heavily decorated with warning lights. But to my dismay, the



interior was completely empty. I rose from my knees to my feet and swung the lamp around

again. There was nothing but a dusty pile of something off in the distance. It was like a giant M

& M candy without the chocolate inside. As I gradually stepped onto the floor of the craft I

wondered if the immense heat from the pyroclastic flow had seared everything to crispy critters.

But as I ran my hand across the floor, the thin layer of dust revealed more of the beautiful

swirling blue pattern, like that of the ceiling. No black embers or debris, other than that strange

pile in the corner. I straighten upright and found that the craft was about ten feet high in the

center and sloped downward to about six feet at the outside edge. Yet I knew from excavation

that the ship¶s outer edge came to meet each other. I could not explain the discrepancy in sizes. I

walked over to the dusty piled of what looked like rags and sticks. I knelt down and brought my

lamplight closer and was startled to discover that I was looking at the skeletal remains of

someone. I swallowed hard and then became amused at my own reaction to a perfectly preserved

human skeleton. I then slid my rock hammer out of my belt and started to prod at the pile, slowly

moving aside the bits and pieces of clothing. I smiled at the long yellow hued femurs with a

silent thought of. µEureka!¶ If this person had died here in this craft so many millions of years

ago, then I had indeed found the strike of a life time.

µForget about breaking my back on some tossed-about crab boat in icy waters. Heck, I could

afford my own yacht!¶ I excitedly thought to myself.

Then as I looked around, it occurred to me that I might not have a human being. Perhaps it¶s an

alien. I pulled back with my fingers a flap of stiff cloth and was stunned at what I had revealed.

Lying exposed was an elongated skull with what looked like a single six inch long horn

protruding from the forehead. Some kind of a fancy pair of black glasses or goggles draped

over the face where the eye sockets were.



µWhat the heck is this, a rhino-man?¶ I asked myself.

My mind started to churn, fed by my imagination. Not only had I found perhaps the oldest

skeleton, it also had a horn protruding from its forehead. My picture of a yacht morphed into a jet

liner taking off from my own private island resort filled with beautiful models.

As I gazed at the corpse, I thought about the strange glasses. They almost resembled night

goggles that the military used, except much smaller. I wondered how much the military would

give me for a look at them. There was no telling what advance technology the glasses could

exhibit. Maybe they were part of some super laser weapon platform that could fry entire armies

into dust.

µWouldn¶t that be something,¶ I thought to myself.

I carefully lifted the glasses from its perch on the skull with both of my hands and raised them

slowly and gently upward. I was surprised to feel a slight tingling in my hands as soon as I had

first touched the glasses. I halted for a second, wondering if there was some energy transfer from

the glasses, or whether my imagination was running amuck. I decided it was the later as I took a

deep breath and blew some of the tan colored dust off them. I looked at the pair of glasses.

There were small circles on the top side and a hollow face fitting seal on the bottom side.

I looked around the empty chamber. µI sure wished I had a chair to sit in,¶ I thought to myself.

µIt would be nice to sit down and look at these things more closely.¶

I flipped the glasses over in my hands and passed them through the beam of light from the

lamp. I backed up to where I laid the lamp and bumped into an obstruction. It startled me, as I

was sure that there was nothing in the space. To my awe and disbelief I found myself staring at a

black bucket style reclining seat with arm rests. It appeared to be supported by a single metallic

post which came out of the floor without any visible legs. I reached out and touched it. It was



solid. I scratched my head in wonder.

µHow could I have missed such a thing?¶ I question to myself.

I then tried to sit on it, and found it uncommonly comfortable. It seemed to fit my butt and

back perfectly. I relaxed and leaned back as I looked at the glasses once again. I took a

handkerchief out of my back pocket and wiped the last dust particles off the glasses. The surface

of the glasses felt smooth and cool to my touch. I thought I felt another minor jolt of electricity

as I slid my fingertips over its surface.

µPut them on.¶ came a thought to my mind. But something was strange about the idea. It was

more like a command in my head than something I thought of. I looked around as if I would find

someone standing inside the ship with me. I had never believed in ghosts, but there could always

be a first time. I raised the glasses to my face and slowly placed them on the ridge of my nose.

All the time I was a bit afraid of what they might do to me. But I felt nothing and I saw nothing

in the glasses but blackness. I slid the glasses up the ridge of my nose until they rested

comfortably on my ears. I could still see only darkness. I took them off and looked for some

power switch, but I did not locate any. I slid the glasses back on and thought to myself, µI

wonder what it was like to be in the middle of a pyroclastic flow.¶

Suddenly, as if the ship¶s walls were transparent, I found myself looking at a bright blue sky

mixed with columns of dark gray churning smoke. Red hot projectiles were raining down and

glancing off the ship¶s hull with a clang. I swiveled my head around to see a massive gray

boiling wall of hot ash as it roared toward me. The fierce motion startled me and I dived for the

floor. I could feel the craft rattle and move violently and the compartment darken. I gasped for

air and pulled the glasses from my face and suddenly I saw the dusty pile of rags in the corner

and realized that I was again back to the time I had started from. I looked at the corpse with a





slowly and awkwardly to the ground until I my back was against the tire of the trailer. The first

man reached into my pockets until he came across the glasses. He grunted negatively and tossed

the pair back on my lap. I could hear the two continue to trash the camper and campsite as my

faculties lessened. I stared at the glasses in my lap and I had another odd command echo in my

head, ³Put them on.´

The command sounded the same as the first time I had heard the words in the ship. I reached

down and pick-up the glasses and slid them onto my face. I then thought how great it would be

to go back in time about twenty minutes, before I got stabbed and suddenly I found myself

sliding down the slope from the excavation above. But this time I had the glasses on. I stopped at

the base of the slide once I was on level ground and began to reach for the glasses before I

stopped. It took a few moments to clear my head of the brief confusion in orientation. I knew I

didn¶t have the glasses on when I started down the slope. In fact, I thought I was further along

toward camp than I was. Then I felt a strange quiver from my side and I remembered the

incident at the campsite. I had gone back twenty minutes into the past. I figured that if I took the

glasses off, that I might reappear in the camp bleeding to death, so I kept them on. I could see

very well with them on. In fact everything was crystal clear, almost a sparkling panorama of the

countryside. This was odd since the glasses appeared to be shaded. I wondered if it was due to

this was a replay, rather than my disastrous first trip

I started back to my campsite, fully knowing that there were two yahoos whom occupied it. I

didn¶t know how I was going to overcome them, or if I would just wait until they left. Halfway

there I started to wonder what would happen once I took the glasses off. I mean, even if I

avoided the perpetrators, wouldn¶t I go back to the time I was stabbed? I mean this was the first

time I ever played around with time travel. My attention was immediately diverted as a red dot



began to blink in my vision. Then two red dots blinked close to each other on the left side of my

vision.

¶What on earth is that?¶ I thought to myself.

³Two humanoids moving toward you at about 100 parceps,´ came the voice again.

I was mystified. I had not expected the glasses to have other abilities. Not to mention that I

didn¶t know what a parcep was. But right on cue, as soon as I thought it, I heard the same toned

voice reply, ³Converting to earth measurements. Parcep is close to a yard.´

I nodded my head and then felt that such a gesture was absurd. The thought of answering the

strange mechanical voice made me smile. I stopped in my tracks at that point. There was little or

no place to hide. From canyon wall to canyon wall was only sand and an occasional mound of

sagebrush. As I stood there trying to decide where I should go, it occurred to me that I shouldn¶t

be in this spot. If I had gone back in time, the rascals should be unaware of my approach and

would still be rifling through my stuff. Why were they now on the move toward me?

The voice responded, ³Only your timeline has been changed.´

My mouth dropped in awe. I couldn¶t quite understand this accounting, but the two individuals

were moving closer and when one of them raised a rifle upward and I saw the small puff of

smoke appear, I knew they were also armed. The crackle of the shot echoed over and over in the

canyon and I heard a brief buzz as the bullet sailed by my right ear.

I turned and began to run back the way I had come. I heard another crack of the rifle and I

began to zig and zag back and forth as I made my way back to the dig. I knew that the cave and

the ship hosted the only protection and I started up the slope, as fast as I could. By the time I

reached the top of the slide I heard another shot and the ricochet it caused only inches from my

hand. I squeezed in, head first into the dark hole and blindly scrambled up into the ship. I rolled



over onto the floor, puffing and panting madly. I didn¶t have any tools with me inside, just my

small day pack. I didn¶t have anything heavy or big enough to be used as a club. If they poked

their heads up through the opening I hoped that the darkness would conceal me inside. Then I

thought about the glasses and how I could disappear again. I looked around in the dark space of

the ship. I found the seat was still there in the middle. I picked myself up and thought how nice it

would be to have some light and suddenly a glow illuminated the entire inside of the saucer.

There seemed to be no source to the light, just the absence of darkness. I pulled the glasses down

the ridge of my nose far enough to peek over the rim and confirmed to myself that the space ship

was still dark. It was only the glasses which had changed my view of the inside. I slid the glasses

back up my nose and heard the crunching of gravel under feet. My persistent pursuers had

climbed the slide and were just outside the ship. I heard one of them shriek in surprise, ³What in

the world!´

Of all the thoughts you could think at that moment, I wonder where this space craft had come

from. Suddenly the ship lurch forward, nearly snapping my head off.. This time when a voice

sounded in my head, it seemed to have a bit of emotional tone and a sense of relief. What was

said did not particularly follow what I had thought. It just communicated, ³Finally! Thank you

very much, I am finally home. It has been a long, long time. This is where this ship came from.´

Before me two seamless side by side rectangular windows appeared. They displayed a foreign

landscape of red sky with purplish swirling streaks of clouds. The red hew permeated

everything, including the inside of the ship. I pulled down my glasses from my nose expecting

the image to disappear, but it did not. I saw the same alien landscape in front of me with or

without the glasses. I sat up as I heard the ramp re-deploy in an open position. It startled me,

because I had not thought to have it open. I stood up slowly and took off the glasses and placed



them in my chest shirt pocket. I cautiously walked down the ramp to a layer of strange bright

yellow and orange soil. It occurred to me that I should be afraid of the atmosphere and worry

about if I could breathe, but apparently it was ok, because I had not yet dropped to the ground

choking. I stood at the end of the ramp and took in the unusual landscape. There were tall

spiraling rock formations made of bands of the same colors as the soil. The towering pillars stuck

up like a dispersed forest of stone trees. There were no plants, nothing green or leafy anywhere.

I took a few hesitant steps forward when I heard something thundering toward me. I turned in

time to get a glimpse of something about my height charging at me with its head down like some

snorting bull. The next thing I knew, I was flying backwards in a low arch before striking the

gritty ground with my back. The impact jolted every joint of my body and rattled every tooth I

had in my sore jaw. As I sat up I heard a snort which was followed by a cackling laughter. It

took a while for me to clear my head. I slowly tried to stand as a chorus of protests from my sore

body let me know how it was not appreciated.

³Hey! You don¶t have a horn. How do you rut or defend yourself?´ A voice announced. The

voice seemed to enunciate with a squeaky whistle after pronouncing every syllable. My vision

cleared and I was surprised to see a blue and green leathery face with tiny black eyes on each

side of a curved horn, curiously studying me. It produced a horrid smell which spread forth with

every passing of air it exhaled through an opening directly under the base of its horn.

I didn¶t know what to say or feel. I was obviously staring down the face of some Rhino-man

creature. Perhaps he was of the same species which lay in the dust on the space ship¶s floor;

maybe he was same one in a different time. Heck, I could not be sure. The alien reached out

with stout arms and a hand of four stubby fingers and pinched the skin on my arm.

³Hey!´ I protested, ³That hurts!´



³You have soft squishy skin. How can something like you survive? What are you doing in a

Thinker¶s ship?´ The Rhino-man asked.

I adjusted my feet beneath me and I rose back to a standing position. The alien rose in unison

and squinted at me. ³You want to rut again?´

³No, Hell no!´ I replied waving my hands back and forth. ³I think we got off on the wrong foot.

³Maybe I should introduce myself.´

³Why?´ The alien asked. ³What do I care if I know what or who you are? It¶s a waste of time.

If you don¶t want to rut, then you don¶t want one of my females, and if you are not interested in

mating, then you¶re not very interesting.´

I stood there baffled by the creature¶s logic. He was obviously single minded and he used the

horn on his face with the same single purpose.

³Can you at least answer a few questions?´ I asked.

³What is in it for me?´ The alien asked in reply.

I scratched my head. I couldn¶t understand what to say or do. I looked down and noticed that

the glasses that I had put in my breast pocket were laying in pieces on the ground.

³Oh no!´ I squealed. ³They are broken!´ I bent over and picked up a piece.

³Don¶t blame me, you shouldn¶t bring breakable things to a rut,´ The alien replied.

³You don¶t understand! These glasses help me to run that ship. How can I get home now?´

³Do you see someone around here that cares?´ The alien replied. ³Say, if you are not going to

be able to use that thing, it might be a good shelter. Can I have it?´

I stared at the strange Rhino-man with contempt. His lack of sympathy was beginning to rub

me the wrong way. He refused to grip the tragedy that had befallen me. I thought for a second

and then I said, ³I tell you what, you answer my questions, and I¶ll loan you this ship to use.´



The alien nodded his head and whistled out of his single nostril before saying, ³Sound idea.´

³Ok, where am I?´ I asked.

³Here,´ the Rhino-man answered.

³What do you call here?´ I asked impatiently.

³I call here, here. Until you are over there and then you are there.´ The alien replied.

I shook my head and realized I was not getting anywhere. ³Ok, you mentioned that this was a

Thinker¶s ship. What can you tell me about Thinkers?´

³Not much. No one has come across one in eons. They made a lot of stuff which was not very

useful.´

I thought again and then asked, ³Is there someone whom may know more about Thinkers than

you?´ I asked.

³Sure, Captain Ajar. My oddball cousin, Jenisco works for him. You two would probably get

along. He asks useless questions too.´

³Great!´ I replied with some delight. ³Where can I find your cousin?´

The Rhino-man turned and pointed across the plain. ³You see that long flat plateau way over

there. Just off to the right is the City of Ram. If Captain Ajar is not out on a run, he will be there

on one of the city¶s launching pads.´

I stared off into the red and purple distance. I could make out a thin line just beneath the

horizon. ³Just how far is it over there?´ I asked. When I received no answer I turned around to

find the Rhino-man was gone.

³Hey!´ I shouted to no avail. I looked around and decided that the City of Ram was my best

chance for answers and I went back into the ship and picked up my day pack and flung it over

my shoulder before starting out across the alien surface. I began at a good pace on a nice level



surface scattered with shattered and splintered stones, but soon the terrain began to dip and rise

sharply. Halfway across I realized that the air was muggy and thick. I was sweating profusely

and I didn¶t have much water in my bottle. A thought hurried across my mind concerning if the

inhabitants of this place drank water, or needed it. I shoved the idea back, scoffing at the thought

of someone not needing H2O.

I also noticed that I had not seen a sun. It seemed the purplish clouds were thick enough to

block it out. But as I continued the purple clouds grew darker until they were a menacing black

above a pale pink sky. Either the sun was going down, and nightfall was approaching, or the

gods on this planet liked to change the scenery every once in a while. I had not planned to camp.

I pressed on across the ground, aiming for the increasingly larger plateau directly ahead of me.

Hopefully I could reach this City of Ram before all the light had faded. But luck was not in my

favor. The sky drew darker and darker until I could not see the obstructions in my path. I stubbed

my toes several times on boulders and was tripped by an occasional unseen pot hole. Just as I

was about to give up and wait for morning, I noticed a yellow glow to my right. I figured that it

must be the city lights of Ram and that it could not be too far away. I continued on, the

temperature began to plummet and my thin t-shirt designed to be sufficient during the summer in

Montana, was not comforting on this strange world at night. I finally could make out black

boxes like structures, silhouetted by a yellow glow beyond them. Once I got close, I noticed the

structures seemed solid, with no noticeable doors or windows. I passed a couple of them and

made my way toward what seemed like the middle of town and where the light emanated from.

As I turned a corner around one of the dark and larger structures, I could plainly see a single

round circular landing pad with a space ship resting in the middle. In the gray wash of the lights I

could tell that there were several other round pads, but they were barren and without any activity.



The perimeter of the pad nearest me was lit up by several yellow casting flood lights. I saw two

figures briefly walk across the pad away from the triple tailed ship.

My hopes had lifted. Maybe I could get some answers. Maybe I could find out how to get back

to earth and maybe they had some water and food to share. I started out with a quicker pace and

almost tumbled end over end as the path shifted down very steeply. I had to balance myself with

my hands in order to not slide down the gravel surface to the bottom. Finally I reached the

bottom where the launching pad was. I hesitantly stepped on the platform and studied the lights.

There were no bulbs, no evidence on how they illuminated the pad. I then walked slowly toward

the ship. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was much bigger than I had anticipated. It

made the Thinker¶s ship look like a peanut alongside her. She rested on four skids extended

from what looked like giant spring coils, and her large bay doors were swung aside to expose a

lighted interior.

I heard something behind me and as I turned to see what it was. I felt a jolt whack my body. A

electric shock spread to all my limbs and I dropped to the deck like a wet noodle. I managed to

look up at a strange face with a black eye patch over a single eye cut out of the middle. Then my

world faded to blackness.

The next thing I knew I woke up on the floor of a stark gray metal room. The floor was

rumbling beneath me and I could hear a constant drone of the engines. I deduced that wherever I

was, we were in motion and the sounds reminded me of my days as a merchant marine. I rose to

my feet, noting the tingling of my fingers and toes. There was a slight alcove in one wall, and as

I walked toward it, a seamless sliding door whooshed open before me. Beyond the doorway was

a rectangular steel riveted paneled hallway. I looked down one way and then down the other. A

stale musty odor slapped me in the face. I heard the heavy plodding of footfalls as they grew



louder and louder. Emerging from around a corner was another Rhino-man type alien whom

filled the entire hallway from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling. He stopped dead in his

tracks when he spotted me and his dark small beady eyes seemed to retract.

He fumbled with something hung around his thick neck and in a high squealing tone

announced, ³Ah captain, your sleeping pink thing is in the hallway. What should I do?´

A deeper in tone and raspy voice replied with, ³Arr, that be my sleeping beauty. Bring him up

to the bridge.´

³Yes sir, I mean Aye aye sir.´

³You heard the captain. The bridge is straight ahead, Mr. Pinko.´

The Rhino-man pointed down the hall, and I remembered from my last encounter that the horn

on his face served as a battering ram. I also remembered the name of the cousin whom had been

reported working for a Captain Ajar. I took a chance that this large fellow was the same Rhino-

man. ³So« you must be Jenisco.´

The big fellow halted in his tracks and asked in a wining voice, ³Hey! How do you know my

name? I don¶t have no badge or anything on.´

³I met your cousin out of town. He said you and I would most likely get a long,´ I replied.

³What cousin, I have one hundred and forty nine at last count.´

³You know he never told me his name. Just that you were much more intelligent than him.´

³Well that¶s not tough, all my cousins believe thought is a waste of time,´ Jenisco replied.

³Never the less, it was because of your cousin¶s recommendation that I am here,´ I added.

Jenisco did not reply other than a grunt and continued to prod me down the hallway until we

came to another sliding door which opened when Jenisco pressed a button on the device he held

around his neck.



Inside was a whole chorus of miniature colored flashing panel lights blinking on and off as if in

sync with the numerous noises which also were many and distinctly different from each other.

The bridge was hexagonal in shape, with each side except the forward side having a black chair,

much like the chair I used in the Thinker¶s ship. In the middle was a larger chair with a broad

shouldered individual hunched over. The figure straightened and stood up to reveal a whip like

tail and fine dark green scaly skin covered by a gray and red uniform. Around his waist was a

wide red sash which seemed to support a thick stubby sword on his right hip and what appeared

to be the handles of two flint locks sticking out under his rounded belly.

The creature turned to face me and I realized it was he who I had last saw before I fainted. He

had one eye peering through the middle of black eye patch which covered his un-proportionately

small face. He reached down to the floor and picked up a chocolate colored three corner hat with

a red plume sticking up in the air, and placed it on his hairless head.

³Arr, and who may you be, mate,´ came a gruff voice.

I had the urge to laugh. The captain was obviously enamored with being some kind of a pirate.

But being I was in some other solar system, a pirate might be a respectable profession.

³My name is Adam W. Smith,´ I announced with all the dignity I could muster.

³Arr, and what rank have you?´ The captain asked.

³Rank?´ I asked.

³Arr, you have deck legs about you boy. Not a planet lover I suspect. So who be your master

and what plot sent you to spy on my ship?´ The captain boomed.

³No one has sent me, other than the suggestion of one of Jenisco¶s cousins. I was not spying!´

I replied with an indignant shout.

³Arr, so you say. Jen¶s here has more cousins than there are stars in the blue nebula. But you



have still not explained how you are able to walk my ship with such sturdy legs.´

³Well,´ I stammered, ³I was a merchant marine for a number of seasons on the San Francisco

to the Orient run.´

³Arr, I never heard of such places. What was the name of your ship?´

³I sailed on the Prince Valiant,´ I replied.

³Sailed, did you say? Arr, you must of had one of them newfangled solar wind ships I often

heard about.´

³No sir, Prince Valiant is an ocean going vessel.´

³A what?! You mean one of them cold clammy wet worlds?´ The captain asked.

³Yes sir.´ I answered.

³Arr, I don¶t much like water. My base is located on the driest place this side of the Carius belt.

But there is no accounting for taste. You looking for a job lade?´

³Not really, I came looking for answers,´ I replied.

³Arr, and what be such important questions?´ The captain asked.

³I arrived here in what they call a Thinker¶s ship. I am trying to get back home to my planet,

but Jenisco¶s cousin broke my glasses and I can¶t operate the ship. Do you know how to pilot a

Thinker¶s ship?´

³Arr, A Thinker ship!All this time you have been telling me you¶ve been on a water ship. Now

you tell me you own some Thinker¶s ship?!´ The captain shouted.

³Well..´ I stuttered, ³It¶s really not mine. I kind of found it on my world. I don¶t even really

know how to fly her. It kind of just goes by thought.´

³Well of course she fly¶s by thought. Why do you think they call her a Thinker¶s ship!´ The

captain howled with a large belly laugh.



³Look kid, you are stuck. I need me cargo loaded and unloaded. Me cargo mate up and had a

little accident last time out. You need answers to them Thinkers, whom I think they should be

called Stinkers. As far as I am concerned, they left the place a mess. Thinkers were all over the

place at one time. A long time ago they had pretty much the run of the candy store. They could

be found in every nook and cranny of the known universe. I think you should join up with us lad.

I get me cargo moved and you get your noggin filled with all kinds of worthless crap from all

sorts of worlds. Maybe you can sort it all out and make some sense out of it. I personally leave

that rubbish to them philosophers and braincases in some dusty white tower. All I know is I have

a schedule to keep. How about it lad?´

I thought long and hard about the captain¶s offer. It was tempting. Who else did I know whom

was actually able to fly from one planet to the next. Besides, it wasn¶t like I had too many

alternatives.

³I accept your offer captain,´ I finally replied.

³Great, welcome aboard mate. Let¶s go down to the galley and pour us some grog and

celebrate our newest crewmen. What da ya think of our new pink friend Jens?´

Jenisco had not been paying any attention the whole time. He was busy munching on something

in the corner. He swallowed hard and replied in a muffled voice, ³Sounds super.´

I forced a smile to my face and looked at my two new shipmates. The thought of having a

drink to cross my parched lips was a great idea, though I had second thoughts about what I had

agreed to. But, if I had known what lay ahead, I would have had second, third and perhaps many

more thoughts concerning my association. Two days ago I was in Montana looking for bones,

and now I was employed on a strange space craft headed for some unknown destination. I

wonder if they have a good medical plan.



Documents

The Adventures of Captain Adam Smith