I dropped onto the boulder, my heart feeling like a lead weight, sinking slowly into my chest. I heaved a sigh, my face in my hands. I knew I’d see her again, but it was already taking too long.

I stood, my mind lost in the haze of loss, and turned toward my home.

“I’m sorry, Bubbs. I know you miss her, but you’ll get back to her soon enough. You know that,” came a familiar voice from the shadows to my right.

“Chan? Wha? How? Hang on…” I said, thoroughly confused.

“I knew she was leaving tonight, and I knew you had to make sure she wasn’t seen. I waited down the road a bit until I saw you two leave. Don’t worry, all I could see was a silhouette. I followed you two from a short distance, making sure I could only see you. Seeing that…portal thingy open up was wild, though. I figured you wouldn’t want to be alone tonight, so I told Kev that I’d be coming by to sit with you for a bit. Can’t leave my big brother to face his sorrow alone, can I?” she said.

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tight, thankful that I had someone like her in my world. “I love you, Chan. Thank you,” I said softly.

She squeezed me as hard as she could, and smiled. “Of course. You’re my brother and I love you, too. Let’s go,” she said.

Guided by my flashlight, we made it back to my front door in just a few minutes. I opened the door and sat on the couch. Chan took a seat beside me, and crossed her legs, facing me.

“So! What are you going to do now? No moping. You did enough of that a couple of years ago. Time for action, dude,” she said.

I thought for a moment and scratched my cheek. “Well, if the ‘no moping’ rule is in effect” -I looked askance at her and she simply nodded- “then I guess I have little choice but to do something. I know! I’ll check and see how much longer that packet has to upload,” I said, and headed to my computer.

“Packet? What packet?” Now it was her turn to be confused.

“Daktu’un sent me a packet containing the plans for the comms device and star charts and pictures of the night sky from his world. Plus a bunch of other stuff. It was something like four terabytes of data. I set it to upload to a new Dropbox account last night,” I explained, pulling up the website.

The packet was almost finished. Less than a gigabyte left to upload.

“Just about done. Then we can open this up and see what’s in it. Just think. You and I will be the first Humans to see a new, habitable planet. How’s that sound?” I asked, excited.

“Sounds pretty badass, if you ask me. So, what do the other aliens look like? Are they like the Greys that we keep seeing depictions of?” she asked.

“The ones I’ve met aren’t. Daktu’un is from the planet Aarund. He looks kind of like a bipedal jaguar. Xemu is from the planet Urave. He looks like a bipedal bear if you shaved its fur off, colored his skin red, and gave him the head of an eagle.

“Daktu’un is our galactic neighbor, he’s about forty light years away, in the direction of M13. He gave me the commblock there on my desk, and now, we’re going to see what he sent me. Transfer is finished,” I said.

Chandra looked excited, and watched as I opened the folder containing the information. My laptop in my room at the Council had done a good job anticipating what I would need, and had organized the packet neatly into folders. I opened the one that said “Aarund” and found several pictures and videos, as well as an executable that was labeled “Star charts”. I downloaded that one, and opened the pictures.

The pictures showed a landscape not dissimilar to one you would in a national park. The vegetation was starkly different, and the animals we could see were…odd, to say the least. Bird-like creatures with fangs, some small furry rodent-like animals, and something that looked like a rock on legs. Weird.

Best of all though, was the picture of Daktu’un and his family. He had a partner who appeared female to me, and three children. All were dressed in what appeared to be simple clothes akin to t-shirts and pants.

“That’s Daktu’un in the middle there. I’d guess that’s his wife, and those are their kids. Good to see him happy,” I said.

“Wow. That’s a handsome family. I still can’t believe this is all real, though. You’ve cavorted with aliens, and now you’re going to help us reach out and say hello. That’s seriously awesome, man,” she said.

I opened the video, and it was Daktu’un showing me their constellations, along with some of the stories his people attached to them. It was altogether pleasant.

“Dude. What the fuck am I hearing? It sounds like growls and chirps and barks,” Chandra said.

“Oh, it’s just Daktu’un telling me about his constellations and their stories. What do you mean ‘chirps and barks’?” I asked.

“You mean to tell me you understood all that? How?” she asked.

I tapped my head where Doc had implanted the translator module. “The implant, remember? I have to connect it with the internet soon, so I can learn to speak and understand all of Earth’s languages, too. It’ll be a huge help for the future,” I said.

“Wait. So, how was I understanding Gruldia, then? She sounded like she was speaking perfect English.”

“Oh, I sent her a file with the English language on it. This chip is fantastic. She kind of downloaded the information into her head like in ‘The Matrix’. Pretty neat, huh?”

“Pretty terrifying, I say. What’s to stop them from, like, invading your head and planting ideas in your brain?”

“They’re not Humans. That’s what. Face it, Chan. We are a species that will fuck each other over for just a little more money. For imaginary currency. We’d do it for laughs. Humanity, as a whole, has some serious growing up to do.”

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She nodded and conceded the point. The download had finished, and I opened up the executable. Immediately, my computer bogged down and crashed. I shrugged and rebooted in safe mode, cleared the cache, and rebooted again. Instead of trying to reopen the file, I went to build a new computer.

“I intended to do this last night, but, well… I got busy. I’m gonna build an absolute beast of a computer, and hope I can use it to model the communications array and run that executable. Gaming will be a side benefit,” I said with a shrug.

“You seem like you have a purpose now. Are you gonna be okay?” Chan asked.

“Yeah. I’ll be okay. Thank you for thinking enough about me to want to help me through this. We’ll have to get together for dinner, soon. My treat. Anywhere y’all wanna go, I’ll take you. Sound good?” I asked, standing up.

Chandra wrapped her arms around and hugged me tightly. “I’ll hold you to it, Mister,” she said.

At that moment, Byron and Bailey scampered up to her leg. “Hey guys! What are you doing out of your cage? Did he leave the door open?” she asked, kneeling down to my boys. They climbed up into her hand, and sat there, watching her. “What? What’s wrong? You usually come up to give me kisses,” she said, a little hurt.

“Guys, she doesn’t have one,” I said to my rats. To Chan, I said, “Ask them yes or no questions. Humor me.”

“Okayyy…. Do you guys know who I am?”

They nodded their heads.

“Okay. That’s creepy. Uh… Do you want to come up and give me kisses?”

Another nod.

“Come on, then.” At her words, my boys scampered up her arm and began to groom her hair and ears. Chandra squealed and giggled as they assaulted her with love.

“Okay, okay. That’s enough, boys. Back to Ivor you go,” she said, extending her arm.

My rats climbed down her arm and leapt to my chest, where they climbed up to my shoulders. They stood, each holding onto an ear, watching my best friend.

“That’s incredible. It was like they understood me. How did you teach them those commands?” she asked, bewildered.

“I didn’t. They got the same treatment I did by mistake. They’re now as smart as you or I. I don’t know if it’ll pass on to their offspring, but I’d like to find out,” I said.

“Wow. So much crazy shit has happened to you in the past two weeks. I’m glad you’re still sane. Anyway, I gotta run. Love you. Take care of yourself, Bubba,” she said.

Bailey and Byron both waved goodbye and we all watched her leave. I sat down at my computer again, and went back to building my computer. I kitted out a massive beast of a machine, thanks to several different websites recommending nearly the same builds. The total cost was nearly five thousand bucks, but I didn’t worry about a thing, thanks to my stipend. I bought the thing, and had it shipped Next Day Air, impatient to get started.

I looked down at my two companions, and smiled. “Well guys, it’s just us, now. We should probably get this place cleaned up tomorrow, huh?” I asked.

Two squeaks were my answer, and I nodded. I shut down my computer, and went to bed, clutching the soft brown bear that still smelled like my Goblin.

**********

I awoke in the morning, hungry and feeling like I had been run over by a truck. I stumbled to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, planning on making some breakfast.

Empty. Why was it empty? Oh, yeah. Gruldia and I ate everything over the past week. Well, it was mostly empty.

Sitting on the top shelf in a small cup was milk. Gruldia’s milk. No better time to test our theory, then. I was alone, and likely to be alone for the foreseeable future.

I drained the cup of sweet milk, relishing the flavor. She certainly earned her reputation. No wonder she had people all across this plane clamoring for her bounty. Thinking back, it should take no more than fifteen minutes for the effects to happen, if there were any. I sighed, and sat down at my computer, checking on my shipment, which was due to arrive tomorrow, and then figured that I may as well upgrade my wardrobe.

After a while of searching, I realized the milk was having no effect on me, and nodded with the new information.

I perused various websites selling clothing, and selected a few kilts, shirts, and boots. I intended to not only look good, but to feel good. I made my purchases, then checked my bank to double-check my money situation.

There was more in there than I started with. A lot more. Confused, I checked my messages, and found one that was just from “The Council”.

Ivor,

Apologies for the delay. Your dependents [Bailey and Byron] were not initially added to your stipend. This oversight has been rectified, and your accounts have been updated accordingly.

Please be aware that your stipend will process on the [1st cycle] of every calendar notation. You can expect the same amount every time.

Be well.

And now I was certain I’d be able to purchase an island within a year. The few purchases I’d made were almost non-existent compared to what I now had. Looks like I’d be moving after the next Council session.

I made a few more quality of life purchases, and then went after groceries. No sense in having nothing in the house, after all. I scooped up my boys, and we headed out to the store.

We got stares as I walked in with a cart, a pair of rats perched on my shoulders, holding onto my ears for support. I ignored them, intent on getting what we needed, and leaving.

After my experiences over the past two weeks, this world seemed so small compared to the vastness I now knew was out there. I simply couldn’t care about how others felt, anymore.

I composed a message to Gruldia, telling her I loved and missed her, and how I couldn’t wait to see her again. I also informed her that my stipend was quite a bit larger than originally seen, and that her milk had almost no effect on me after it had sat in the refrigerator overnight. I let her know that I had thought of a lead on how to get the communications array built. I closed the message and continued shopping, grabbing steaks and seafood that I hadn’t been able to have in years.

I paid for my purchases and headed home. Home. What exactly did that word mean to me, now? Was it the place I slept at night? The comfort and security of my family and friends? What exactly was it?

Certainly, I called Earth my home. Even now, after having seen and experienced what had happened, I could still call Earth my home. What would happen to my home when we finally had definitive proof that aliens existed?

Panic, for starters. The different religions of Earth would now have serious competition. Centuries of dogma turned on their heads in an instant. Some would certainly perish. Which ones, I couldn’t say, but I knew that some would be unable to maintain their control over their flocks once we knew we weren’t alone out there, and that other deities definitely existed.

I knew that a vast majority of humanity would be overjoyed to know that we had neighbors that wished peace and prosperity. Some would be their usual, loud, angry, bigoted selves, but they were thankfully a minority. We had, collectively, looked to the stars for our entire history. Now that that could be a reality? Life would change, and certain beliefs would have to change with it, or we could easily perish as a species.

These thoughts and more filled my head as I got home and put the groceries away.