The Symbiotic Travelers

The symbiotic Travelers

The Mission

BADSAM

"We are not gathered here today to say good-bye to a brother and a sister. We are here to celebrate the entrance of Lilian and Satchel into God's kingdom, knowing that they will be eternally happy in their union with him." The elderly minister looked up and pursed her lips in a sad smile and then looked down at the two preteen children, clutching hands and lying side-by-side in their plexiglass enclosed bier. The children's parents are quietly crying, as are several onlookers. Others are just standing by in solemn respect. The clergywoman closed her eyes in sorrow and gently clasped her counterpart's hand; he lovingly squeezed hers in return.

Yaphet and Zlatex are among those watching and listening to the eulogy; she too has tears in her eyes. They are the Godparents of the two children. Yaphet loved helping Lilian with her homework. Together, they had just finished a social studies project about the birth and growth of their nation, the United Governments of Ameraland. She and Zlatex had hoped to watch the two preadolescent siblings grow and mature into adulthood.

Meanwhile, in another churchyard, in another part of the metropolis, a similar gathering of beings is saying good-bye and offering their prayers for another pair of symbiotic partner children.

The same scene is being repeated in several areas of Starman City on the planet Herth. A school bus with ten syngeneic equivalents plunged off a cliff the previous day, killing eight pairs of children along with the driver and his female consort. An investigation discovered that the driver lost control of the vehicle as it slid into a curve on a wet, slippery road and then plummeted 45 meters down to the rocky bottom.

After a few moments, Satchel and Lilian, as well as the other children, the bus driver and his lover in the various churchyards of Starman City, then dematerialized into a glowing display of colored lights. As soon as the light dispersed, one bloodred rose, and one white orchid momentarily appeared where each body lay. Next, after a brief pause, the flowers then dissolved into nothingness.

Yaphet quietly, solemnly approaches the children's parents to offer her condolences; Zlatex, standing behind her, nods respectfully. Then they leave the gathering; they have to prepare for their departure to Herth-II.

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Twelve years later.

As the spaceship approached its destination, SAM, the Simplified Automatic Mainframe onboard computer processor, sent electronic stimuli to the two sleeping pods. It was time to awaken the two alien symbiotic occupants from their deep hyper-sleep.

After several seconds, the clear plexiglass dome of each pod opened. A small cirrus cloud arose from each cubicle and then dissipated into the air.

When Yaphet opened her eyes a few moments later, the first thing she thought of was Zlatex, her male equivalent. She looked to her left. His pod was open too and she could see the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. He was still in deep hyper-sleep. She breathed a sigh of relief. They both made the multiyear journey through space safely. But then, since they are syngeneic beings, the death of one of them would automatically bring about the death of the other in about an hour or two. In fact, even if one of them gets sick or hurt in any way, the other also feels that illness and that pain.

Like all symbiotic beings of the planet Herth, they cannot be physically too far away from each other in any fashion. If they do become separated by more than about ten meters or they are divided by a barrier with a density of more than ten grams per cubic centimeter, like lead, gold, uranium, silver or platinum, then all their bodily functions will soon begin to fail. If they remain disconnected for an extended length of time, they will both die when their hearts stop beating. What one physically experiences and feels, the other experiences and feels it too. Because of this, many conservative Herthians refuse to wear gold, silver or platinum jewelry.

However, like all Herthians, they are also different in many respects. They both have their own likes and dislikes, dreams and normalities, idiosyncrasies and impracticalities, needs and desires for their future.

Yaphet stretched her arms and legs and then arched her back. Her naked breasts, lightly covered with a gentle sprinkling of ice crystals, bounced like two golden gelatin spheres. Next, with a little effort, she sat up and yawned. She winced; a dozen years of hyper-sleep had caused her muscles to stiffen somewhat. She wasn't worried about that. She would be back to normal as soon as she got something to eat and exercised.

She shook her shoulder length fiery red mane, and snowflakes fell silently to her bare shoulders and tits. She glanced down at her pubic mound. Her blazing red hair was speckled with a light coating of frost, reminding her of a yuletide red bough decked with slivers of ice. She reminisced and smiled, her favorite season of the year. Then she shivered; the spacecraft was cold. She removed the two pads and wires attached to her wrists and her temples and the three wires and pads affixed to her chest, one below each pink areola and nipple and another above her sternum. Then she detached the one just above the flaming curls of her vagina and the two pads and wires stuck to her ankles.

Ignoring the Velcro slippers and clothes lying near her feet, waiting for her to awaken, the nude astronaut immediately crawled out of her hyper sleeping pod. She went to the control panel on the other side of the room. She pressed some buttons to raise the inside temperature of the craft.

Immediately, a metallic female voice welcomed her. "Hello Yaphet, it's good to perceive that you are awake and up. Your male counterpart is in the process of arousing from his hyper-sleep. Is there anything I can do for you at this time?"

"No thank you SAM," she answered the computer. "Although after I get dressed, I'll want something to eat. So, I guess you should warm up some water and heat up the kitchen area."

"Right away, Yaphet."

She glanced over to Zlatex's pod. He was just starting to wake up. He had removed the pads and wires from his wrists, his temples and his chest and was rubbing the back of his neck. Then, "SAM, how far away are we from the star which Herth-II orbits around?" The astronomers and cosmologists of their world got together and named their target planet Herth-II, to match with their own world, Herth.

"The spaceship is just beyond the spherical debris field of ice, stone and iron rocks left over from the solar system's development. You and your syngeneic equivalent are approximately 175 million kilometers from Herth-II. If you recall, a similar Uort cloud surrounds Proxi, the star you and Zlatex departed from twelve years ago. I'll put the target planet's location relative to its star up on the computer screen if you like."

"Yes, do that for me, will you SAM."

She stood naked in front of the gigantic screen, leaned over and intently scrutinized the solar system before her. Ice crystals, looking much like frost on a field of hay, cling to the flesh on her smooth back, perfectly round buttocks and shapely thighs and legs. They glistened in the dim light. Some of them were starting to melt and formed little streams trickling down and dripping onto the floor.

The arrangement of the planets on the monitor was purposely not to scale. The computer displayed it that way so that whoever was looking at it, they could get a comprehensive view of the position of their destination planet, Herth-II, relative to its star and the other planets and the many dwarf orbs of the system.

Yaphet could see that it would take them at least two weeks to reach the orbital plane of Herth-II. That was great. It would give her and Zlatex enough time to get their spaceship cloaked, plot a trajectory to the planet and then familiarize themselves with their new surroundings, the physical topography of the world they are going to explore, i. e., its geography, its atmosphere and the life forms living on it, particularly any intelligent life forms that may inhabit it. They will cloak their spacecraft because they want to examine the biosphere without being detected by any intelligent life forms that may exist there. If in fact it harbors any such life; there may not be any advanced life forms living on the intended planet.

Although Statlick and Yada, the supreme planet analyzers of Herth, and their team of astronomers and cosmologists, were able to find a star with a world suitable to sustain life, they were unable to determine if any intelligent life lived there. They had not detected any electronic broadcasts coming from Herth-II. For all Yaphet, Zlatex or anyone knew, the planet may not have evolved any sophisticated forms of life. Maybe they haven't progressed scientifically or industrially. They may still be in some kind of middle age or dark age without any modern conveniences. Or, maybe warm blooded animals have yet to dominate, and the planet is still in its dinosaurian stage of development. In fact, maybe life is just getting started there and the planet may not have progressed beyond its bacterial stage of evolution.

Yaphet hoped that australopithecine type hominoids or possibly Neanderthal type hominids and early Cro-Magnon type hominins were the most intelligent animals on their destination planet. Maybe that was the reason no electronic transmissions had been identified coming from their future home.

It had taken the symbiotic Statlick and Yada and other astronomers and cosmologists of their own world several months to find a suitable planet for their exploratory mission. It was these two who named their future home Herth-II. It was a small planet in a solar system, only 4.24 light years from their own star, practically in their own backyard.

The planet's luminary is a yellow, medium size star, unlike their own, which is a red burning star. It is less massive than their star, which Herthians named Proxi several centuries ago. Also, unlike their own star, which is one of a triple star system, Herth-II has a single star. Studies of it have further shown that it has eight planets and several dwarf planetoids revolving around it. Only one of those worlds appears to be habitable.

The orb in question is the third planet out from its star. Its surface is covered by about 71 percent water and 29 percent land with two polar regions. The planet analyzers reasoned that it is probably salt water, but they have also concluded that where there is salt water, then there is in all probability freshwater on the terrain. Studies have revealed that its atmosphere is 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon and 0.1 percent trace gases with carbon dioxide making up a large percent of that 0.1 percent.

It appears to be a perfect place for Herthians to live; better than any of the other worlds that Statlick and Yada and the other planet analyzers have found. Since it is in their own galaxy, Yaphet is amazed that it wasn't discovered earlier.

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The mission of Zlatex and Yaphet will be the third undertaking to find a place the citizens of their own world can escape to. In fact, it will most likely be the last attempt. If the assignment of Yaphet and Zlatex to explore the world, and give Herthians a "New Beginning," is unsuccessful, then everyone on their planet will die when their own star explodes in a supernova. The astronomers, cosmologists, astrophysicists and other interested scientists now predict that that will occur within the next sixty or seventy years.

The first exploratory mission to find another livable planet left eight years before that prediction was made public. It has never returned. Contact with the two syngeneic beings onboard was lost within a year after they left. A year later, the second mission left; it is currently in the process of returning. After studying a planet, the two astronauts went back into hyper-sleep for their journey home. Before doing so, they radioed ahead that they discovered that the world they surveyed was too inhospitable; the atmosphere is 69 percent carbon dioxide, twenty percent nitrogen and only about ten percent oxygen, with trace gases making up the remainder. That is not enough oxygen to sustain Herthian life. Biologists, zoologists and medical doctors all agree; Herthians need an atmosphere of at least 19 percent oxygen to sustain their life.

But their radio message wasn't received until after it was revealed to the people that Proxi was going to explode in a super nova. By that time the government had already started to construct "city sized" spaceships for those who wanted to leave the planet. In the meantime, the third mission of Yaphet and Zlatex departed six weeks after receiving the second mission's notice.

Their spaceship has three main sections. The front of the craft is the guidance and control section. The entrance is located here. Next, is their living section, which rotates, giving them artificial gravity. The engine is in the rear. The living area is designed to give the two symbiotic travelers comfort after they come out of their hyper-sleep, if they need to live there for an extended period of time. The spacecraft is mainly controlled by SAM, the Simplified Automatic Mainframe computer processor. But they can override SAM using the guidance and control section. They will do that only if the need to do so arises.

Their ship vaguely resembles a giant football with five rocket engines on the rear end and a docking port on the bottom of its front end. The craft is hermetically sealed, but neither the control room nor the rear section rotates. However, the flooring in these two areas is harmonious with their Velcro slippers, allowing them to walk around if they choose to do so instead of floating to their destination within the craft. When they are in the forward or rear sectors, the ever cautious Zlatex prefers to walk but Yaphet would rather float.

The front part has an upper flight deck and a lower entrance deck. The lower level has an entrance room connected to the docking port with two airtight doors opposite each other. One is an extra wide cargo door and opens to the loading dock; the other is for going into the living quarters. There are two space suits hanging on the bulkhead for any work that may have to be performed outside the craft, one on the starboard side of the hatch and one on the port side.

Next to the entrance leading into the living section is a spiral staircase leading up to the bridge with an airtight door dividing the two levels; it is kept open except when someone needs to go outside the spaceship.

There are eight swivel cameras attached to the craft, two fastened to the belly of the ship, two cameras on the port side of the craft, another two on the starboard side and two more affixed on top of the starship.

The helm has three large windows that wrap around the nose of the ship, three smaller ones below these and three smaller ones above them. Together the nine windows give anyone on the bridge a 260 degree starboard to port view of everything and a 210 degree view of anything from just below the front of the ship to just above the spacecraft. Whoever is sitting in the pilot's seat also has a TV screen on the console in front of them and can also use the eight cameras in order to discern what is outside the craft, giving them a 360 degree view of the universe in all directions.

The midsection is the living area. It has two levels and a central utilities area. It rotates giving the occupants artificial gravity. The central part is where the water and oxygen tanks, the hydrogen fuel tanks and many of the ship's controls are located. The living area is entered through the rear hatch on lower flight deck using an elevator room. This allows the two explorers to go to either of the two levels. There is no need to go to the central weightless utilities area, although there is a hatch for entering there if either of them needs to for some reason. The outermost deck is for storage of extra food and supplies. The symbiotic travelers live on the inner level, the first floor.

Deck one is where they reside and work. It has one large sleeping section, with a sleeping cubicle on each side of the shower room and the adjoining toilet room. When touring the craft before liftoff, both Zlatex and Yaphet questioned why there were two sleeping compartments. They were told that it was built that way in case they wanted to sleep alone. The two syngeneic lovers frowned, looked at each other and shook their heads in disillusionment. They sleep naked together every night, united in loving embrace, giving each other numerous orgasms while they dream of fantasies, surreal environments and whimsical domains.

There is a television and movie lounge with thousands of motion pictures, documentaries, biographies, serial programs and historical records on DVD to choose from. The small lunchroom has a modest variety of menus to choose from along with a microwave oven, an electric oven, an electric stove and a refrigerator as well as miniature washer and dryer. There is also a library with millions of books on DVD, a game room with one video gaming machine, one pinball machine, a billiard table, a card table and an exercise room with one treadmill, an exercise bike, a workout bench, a punching bag and some weights.

All built with the thought that the syngeneic astronauts may have to live onboard the spacecraft for an extended period of time after coming out of hyper-sleep. They could sit around, read, play cards, checkers, chess, video games, watch a movie or do whatever would keep them from becoming totally bored to tears.

The engines are in the rear of the spaceship. Entrance to the one large room is through level one of the midsection of the ship. It does not rotate but it is a hermetically sealed weightless environment.

Construction on fifty spaceships was finished three days after the first explorers left Herth's solar system. It took three years to construct these transports. They are now in the process of being stocked with various crops and vegetation, livestock, poultry and other animals and supplies, including saltwater and freshwater ponds complete with aquatic life. Also, boarding are those Herthians who wish to leave the dying world. Assembly on another twenty-five "city sized" spaceships is just getting started, with another twenty-five still on the drawing boards. All the crafts are being built in outer space. Each spacecraft is a virtual metropolis, growing, raising and producing everything that Herthians need to survive.

Each ship is expected to house over ten million residents. Except for three pairs of symbiotic pilots and copilots, all of them are in hyper sleeping pods until they reach their destination. The attentive syngeneic beings' tasks are to monitor the sleeping pods, ensure that the spaceship is on its correct trajectory, make sure that the craft's life supports are working properly, and the animals are properly fed and other general maintenance duties.

Raw material for the construction of all the transportation vessels is gotten from the stone and iron remnant debris of a planet that did not form when their solar system was formed 4.5 billion years ago.

Leaving Herth is voluntary; there are many Herthians who do not wish to go. In fact, the vast majority, almost 79 percent of the population, have made the decision to stay on Herth-I, as they now call their planet. Their reasoning is that they don't know what they will be going to. Many are afraid that once they come out of hyper-sleep they will run out of food, water and oxygen long before they reach their final destination, or that their sleeping compartment will fail and they will die before coming out of hyper-sleep. Others just do not want to leave the home they have lived in all their lives. Still a few extremists do not believe that the star around which their planet revolves will explode.

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While Yaphet is quietly examining the screen, Zlatex comes up behind her, puts his arms around her, cupping her pliant beckoning breasts, and gently kisses her on the nape of her neck. He too is naked. He thrusts himself against her; she can feel his manhood pressing against her bare cheeks. She turns around, putting her arms over his shoulders. He cups her ass cheeks and pulls her into himself. They kiss openmouthed, their tongues dance together. She raises her right leg and wraps it around his thighs, pressing her hips into him and moaning sensuously.

When they break their kiss, she looks down. His circumcised penis is erect. "I don't want to do anything right now, Zlatex. I need to get something to eat first. Aren't you hungry too?"

"I'm starved. But after we eat, you're mine."

"Anything you say lover."

"Will you do me a favor?" he asks his counterpart.

She sits on the console behind her, wraps both her thighs around his waist, while pulling him into herself with her legs. Her hands are on his chest, tweaking his dark nipples with her thumbs. "Sure, whatever you want me to do."

He cups her breasts and lightly pinches her pink tits. "Will you stay naked until after we've made love? I enjoy seeing you nude. You have a pair of perfectly round ass cheeks that remind me of two recently baked honey buns that are still warm and fresh from the oven. Your supple pouting breasts, with teats that protrude out like cherries resting on top of delectable sugar cookies, fill me with hunger for you. And your lovely clitoris that peeks out from between your vagina lips like a luscious strawberry surrounded by a thin crop of fiery red pubic hair, gets me hot. It's a raging forest fire that I long to extinguish to cool your sultry desires."

"Sure, I'll stay nude if you want me to." She pauses and then says with mock sarcasm, "You're an incurable satyriasis sex maniac." Then she throws her arms around him and kisses him again, openmouthed on the lips. Their tongues tango together. She presses her heals into his buttocks, and pulls him closer into her, grinding her pubic mound into his groin.

The two symbiotic travelers complement each other. They are fraternal twins; she was born first, ten minutes before him. Yaphet is bronze and slightly taller than him. Zlatex is light tan, although some say his complexion is white. Her hair is flaming red; he has relatively long black hair that barely covers his ears. She's liberal and he's conservative. She's an early riser, while he prefers to sleep late. She enjoys reading, particularly science fiction, mystery and romance. He would rather watch a movie or a sports game, preferably professional football. Yaphet is quiet and emotional; Zlatex is talkative and impassive. She likes things neat and orderly; he is messy and disorganized.

He's clean shaven; she prefers him that way. They like to socialize and go to parties, but not wild, raucous ones. They both hate all forms of boxing, sparring and pugilism and believe it should be outlawed because of the concussions it gives to those who participate in it. Neither of them likes chauvinistic, arrogant, self-centered braggarts and those who are prejudice, narrow minded, bigoted or racist in their beliefs.

They both consider their ideal date to be a private diner and then making love together while completely naked. They both take pleasure in nude sleeping, bathing and swimming together. They also enjoy just walking around their living quarters while naked. Neither considers their relationship to be incestuous because all Hertains are syngeneic consorts. They were in their mother's womb united together and they will die if they cannot "bond" with each other on a regular basis. However, when the female of the pair is fertile, she doesn't mate with her symbiotic equivalent. She copulates with another male Hertain until she is pregnant.

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After they break the lip lock, the two nude extraterrestrial beings walk toward the spacecraft's kitchen area. Zlatex asks SAM if there are any urgent messages from Herth mission control. The computer answers him that there are only four messages, none of which are marked urgent. Zlatex tells SAM to hold the messages until he or Yaphet asks for them.

After they finish eating, the two naked space travelers went to Yaphet's bed in the living section and made love. Before he entered her, she had asked her Hertian lover to spank her butt as a form of foreplay to enhance her climax. Upon leaving her cheeks red and stinging with her face streaked with tears, he remained inside her for over three hours, each receiving numerous orgasms the entire time. Then they performed oral sex on each other. Now, they are relaxing, exhausted and discussing their exploratory options of Herth-II.

The metallic female voice of SAM interrupts their conversation. "Yaphet, Zlatex have either of you two forgotten about the messages from mission control?"

"No SAM, we haven't. We were busy making love," Zlatex answers the computer. Following a momentary pause he asks, "SAM can you see us, and do you know what making love means?"

"No, I don't know what that means, Zlatex. Love is an emotion, an inner feeling that one person has for another individual. I'm not programed to have or express emotion. Nor can I see either of you; I don't have eyes. But I can sense when either of you have any type of movement or make any kind of noise. So, when the two of you are grunting and moaning, I assume that you are making love. I know that you do not want to be interrupted at those times, so I try not to disturb you when you are occupied that way."

"Thank you, SAM. Would you give us the messages now?"

The first message is computer generated. It wishes Yaphet happy birthday. She would have made 24 were she not in hyper-sleep. The second message is also a birthday greeting, but to Zlatex. He would have made 24 ten minutes later. While they were in hyper-sleep, they did not actually age; they are the same age physically as they were before they started their twelve year journey from Herth. They are both still only 23 years old.

The third message is from Statlick and Yada. They inform them that Proxi, the star Herth orbits around, is exploding earlier than it was expected to nova. The planet and the transport spaceships have less than an hour before the fires of the star reach them and obliterates the whole solar system. He wishes them good luck; they are on their own.

The fourth message is from the second mission. The two symbiotic astronauts came out of hyper-sleep only to discover the remnants of Proxi, now a red giant star that has engulfed the entire solar system. They too had a message from Statlick and Yada. Although they have sufficient supplies to last them a couple of months, their oxygen tank is extremely low. Something must have caused all the oxygen to leak out. Even if they went back into hyper-sleep and attempted to join Yaphet and Zlatex, there is not enough oxygen for that. Once the oxygen is depleted, then they too will die. They hope the two of them have a safe journey to Herth-II and have long, healthy lives living there.

Upon receiving the four messages, Zlatex breaks down and cries uncontrollably. Yaphet has never seen him cry before. She is surprised by the emotion, but she understands his grief. She too is greatly saddened. She tries to comfort him, but he answers her, "Yaphet, we are the only Herthians left. Our whole race has been wiped out."

"But Zlatex, we have each other; we are symbiotic. Together we'll get through this. We'll make it together somehow."

It took Zlatex over seventy hours to get over the shock. During that time, he didn't sleep or eat. He wasn't the same person he was when they were living on Herth. He wandered aimlessly throughout the spaceship as though he was a lost soul. Gone like a summer breeze was the lively, free spirited, young male Yaphet enjoyed talking to, bantering with, frolicking with and making love with. She left him alone during that time; they still had a couple of weeks of travel before reaching the orbital plane of Herth-II.

Luckily, after what would amount to about three days on Herth, he then fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up, he was over his grief and ready to proceed with their mission. Yaphet read a romance novel while he lamented and slept. It was a fictional story about a civil war of Ameraland when the nation was divided, the North against the South. Two lovers got caught up in the war. He was a ship captain and blockade runner who didn't give a damn about anything except her love; she was loyal to Taram, the cotton plantation built by her father.

After getting dressed, they both immediately went to the forward section of the spacecraft. The first thing that Zlatex did was to look up to the sky. Then he asked SAM where Proxi should be located relative to their present position; he wanted one last look at the area his world should be, a world that was now lost to them forever.

After a few seconds, the computer answered, "Zlatex, using the cameras attached to the outside of the spacecraft, I cannot detect the same Proxi that was your home star when you left Herth. It is still in the constellation Centaur, but it appears to have already exploded and has become a red giant. Relative to the present location of the spaceship, Proxi is at Right Ascension 14 hours, 29 minutes and 43 seconds and Declination minus 62 degrees, 40 minutes, 46 seconds."

"Thank you, SAM," he answered. Both Zlatex and Yaphet then looked up through the ship's windows to the sky to see where the remnants of their home star should be located. They stood together, arms wrapped around each other, for several minutes, just observing a world they could never return to. Yaphet put her head on Zlatex's shoulder and sighed. He rubbed his hand up and down her back. He pursed his lips in acceptance to their fate.

Not wanting to dwell on the past, Yaphet quietly whispered, "Zlatex, we have to cloak the ship before getting any closer to Herth-II, in case any beings that might be living there have advanced telescopic equipment which would allow them to detect our approach. If they're hostile, they could attack us, maybe even destroy our spaceship and kill us along with that destruction."

"Do you think we need to cloak it?" he answered her. "Neither Statlick and Yada nor anyone else has ever detected any electronic transmissions coming from the planet."

"Yes, I think we should. What if they have developed a method of concealing their electronic broadcasts?"

"I guess you're right, Yaphet. We can have SAM do that now. After that, we can have SAM plot a trajectory to the planet's orbital plane. Then let's strip down again and go to the exercise room. I'll use the exercise bike. But I want to see your tits bounce up and down while you walk naked on the treadmill.

Yaphet didn't answer her consort. She just smiled dryly. She also delights in seeing him nude. She knows they will make love again after they finish exercising.

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Two weeks later, SAM put their spacecraft in orbit above the planet. After circling the orb for several days, using the ship's telescopic cameras, they discover that none of the inhabitants have developed an advanced industrial or technological civilization. In fact, the most advanced culture among them was still using bulky sailing ships to travel across their larger seas and lakes, small rowboats and sailboats to cross rivers and ponds, animal drawn buggies and wagons to get around on land. They were communicating with each other through printed leaflets and papers.

Some societies have not progressed that far and are just starting to cultivate their first crops and alphabetical and logographic writing. While other beings are living in adobe huts and conical teepees made of thatch or animal hide and haven't even progressed beyond the hunter-gatherer stage of development.

Nothing electronic was ever detected by SAM coming from the planet.

The weaponry of the most advanced society was something their own culture hadn't used in over nine hundred years, flintlock muskets and cannons. Although they had no weaponry onboard their spaceship, Zlatex and Yaphet knew that they had nothing to fear from these individuals. Yaphet asks SAM to uncloak their spaceship. There was no need to keep it hidden. They were high enough above the surface that the inhabitants could not see them orbiting the planet. The only thing anyone would see would be their spacecraft reflecting the sunlight, appearing as a meteor traveling slowly across the sky.

Their physical appearance and mannerisms are just like those of the two syngeneic astronauts. Their skin colors are also the same as Hertians, which runs a gauntlet from white to bronze to brown to black. Upon observing some of them bathe in rivers and streams, Yaphet and Zlatex also noticed that even their male and female sexual organs are the same as theirs. The clothing they wear is similar to the clothes their ancestors wore hundreds of years ago, not the comfortable trousers, denims, sport shirts and T-shirts Zlatex and Yaphet wear. Although some of the less developed cultures wore just loin cloths.

The only difference that the two extraterrestrial lovers noticed was that the inhabitants were not equivalent consorts. They all lived separate lives!

From SAM they learn that just as the scientists of Herth-I predicted, Herth-II is 71 percent water and 29 percent land with numerous lakes and rivers. They assume that the larger seas are salt water, while the lakes and rivers are probably fresh water. It has mountains and valleys, deserts and forests, vast plains and savannas, as well as two poles that appear to be covered with ice. Except for their technology and clothing, all very similar to the world they left behind.

They had SAM time the rotation of the planet on its axis. It takes a tad over 24 hours to make one complete turn. Then they had SAM measure Herth-II's average distance from its star and the length of its year. The computer figured that it takes 365 days, plus about 6 hours, for the planet to make one complete revolution around its luminary.

They both know they will run out of food and supplies soon. At present, they have enough to last about 400 of the Herthian-II days. They know too that they have no home to return to and they will spend the remainder of their lives on this planet.

After talking it over between themselves, they have decided not to reveal to anyone that they are alien beings from a distant world. They do not know how the indigenous populations will react to that kind of knowledge. They might kill them, maybe even torture them before doing so. Hence, since their physical appearance is the same, Zlatex and Yaphet have decided to do their utmost to just blend in with them and live as one of them for as long as they are alive.

Before landing there to begin living there, they know that they will need to learn more about the planet and its inhabitants, in order to acclimate with them without arising any suspicions about where they are actually from. So, after discussing it between themselves, Yaphet and Zlatex decide to take a small shuttlecraft to the surface of the planet.

They are not worried about breathing the air. The atmospherer of their home planet was 19 percent oxygen with 80 percent nitrogen, and according to SAM the atmosphere here on Herth-II is 21 percent oxygen with 78 percent nitrogen. They are positive they will be able to live there.

Late one night, they select a small town and land their shuttle alongside and above a building with a bell tower and cross on top of it. They park the shuttle high enough above the ground that the residents will not bump into it if they happen to walk by it. While still out in space, using their cameras, they have noticed that many of the inhabitants periodically congregate inside these types of constructions. They both wonder about these structures, and they speculate that these beings go there to worship their God, just as they did back home on Herth.

They check the outside temperature and put on jackets, remove their Velcro slippers and put on boots. Then they climb down a ladder to the ground. Next, Zlatex uses his personal mobile handheld communicator and asks SAM to raise the ladder and cloak the shuttlecraft. Then he turns the little black box off and puts it in his jacket pocket.

Under the cover of darkness, the two travelers then conceal small microphones and minicameras in various places where they observed the inhabitants meet and converse. They do this in order to observe and listen to the conversations of the residents. The two extraterrestrials want to learn their language, their ways of living, their habits and their idiosyncrasies before they land permanently. They also collect numerous flyers and papers that have printing on them, and they take several photographs of signs, buildings and other structures with their personal communicators. Finally, they collect a few articles of clothing that these beings wear that some of the residents have left outside their houses hanging on cords. The task takes about two hours. Then they return to their spaceship.

They keep the spacecraft uncloaked so they can receive the transmissions from the microphones and cameras. They are not worried about the inhabitants seeing their craft. They are high enough in the sky that it cannot be seen without telescopic equipment. Then each night, after changing into their new clothing, they take the shuttle to the ground to collect food and to check on the surveillance equipment in order to make sure none of it has been tampered with.

It takes them about ten months to learn how to fluently speak their language enough to get by. Also, with SAM acting as a code breaker, after they scan the printed material they collected, Yaphet and Zlatex, learn how to read and write the language. They get so proficient that they also begin to come down during daylight hours. Each trip finds them staying longer and longer. They soon learned that in order to get anything, they have to have what the inhabitants call money. They don't have any, but they discover that all they have to do is offer their services in exchange for the money; all very similar to what they had on Herth.

Since they are symbiotic and cannot physically be too far away from each other, Zlatex gets a job tending the bar at Pierre's Liberty Tavern, while Yaphet waits on the tables in the establishment. After earning enough money, they rented one of the rooms in the tavern and lived there. They tell everyone that they are what the residents call wife and husband. When they are among the inhabitants of the planet, they call themselves Julia Sandra Starman and James Ridley Starman. They chose the name Starman because they are from Starman City on Herth. The other names from female and male inhabitants they have observed. When they are alone together, they use their Herthian names when talking to each other. It was Zlatex who wanted this. He didn't want to "loose" their last connection to Herth.

At first, the yellow sun prevents them from seeing clearly; their vision is slightly blurred. But after several visits to the planet, their vision adjusts to the light. Further, the lower oxygen level and higher nitrogen concentration affects their breathing. They both get headaches after breathing the air for an extended length of time. But as with the sunlight, they grow accustomed to that too. The headaches soon stop.

Since it is no longer needed, they remove all the surveillance equipment. Living among the townspeople, it is easier to learn more about their customs and their language. However, they continue to make regular visits to their spaceship in the evening hours after the tavern where they work closes for the night. When they are not using the shuttle, they keep it cloaked and parked by the rear stairway of the tavern near their apartment.

Finally, after eight months of living among the citizens of the planet and ignoring the rumors they have heard coming from the tavern's patrons about the hostilities they have with another nation, Yaphet and Zlatex decided that it was time to permanently move there. They have become more proficient in speaking and writing their language, learned enough about the citizens living there and have become better acquainted with their ways and have saved a substantial amount of their money to purchase almost anything that they might need.

They made the decision to land their spacecraft in the deep waters of what the residents call simply "the Harbor." It is near enough to the township where they are presently living. James rents a small sailboat, and that night they load it in the shuttle and go back to their spacecraft for one last time. They cloak the spaceship and bring it down to the middle of the harbor, just above the water.

Next, they store the main component of SAM, the Simplified Automatic Mainframe computer processor, a solar powered battery pack and an electrical cable to connect them into a wooden chest that they have purchased. They leave the computer peripherals, screen, speakers, microphone, printer, and SPoD, the screen pointing device, onboard the spacecraft. They conclude that these apparatuses are too cumbersome and harder to conceal than just one central processing unit. If they need to use SAM, they can communicate with it with both verbal and text messages through their personal mobile communicators. These handheld devices use solar energy coming from the sun for electrical power. Thus, they know that they will have no problem with these not working. Yaphet puts a padlock that they purchased on the trunk; they each have a key.

After loading some of their personal items in the sailboat, they set the onboard detonator to explode and completely destroy their spaceship. Zlatex sets the timer to go off in sixty minutes. He figures that amount of time will give them plenty enough interval to get away from the ship. Then they sink their spacecraft. No one will hear the underwater explosion. It will just cause a small wave to come onshore. While sitting in the sailboat, they watch the spaceship sink. They hug each other tightly. It is their last connection to their home. Yaphet cries quietly; Zlatex just purses his lips.

According to the residents of the planet called Earth in the city of Boston, Massachusetts it is Monday, the third of February in the year of our Lord, 1766.

To be continued...