“Yeah, man. This is all weird as Hell. And that’s saying something for you,” Darrell replied.

“Let me get my boys, and I’ll tell the entire tale. Trust me, they will help make it even more believable,” I said, getting out of my seat.

Darrell nodded and I retrieved my companions from their little cell. They happily perched on my shoulders and together, we rejoined my family.

“So. About ten days ago…” I spun my journey from the meeting with Bel’Chazz all the way into the end of the week I spent with my Goblin.

“...and here we are. I’m going to do absolutely everything I can to build this communications device, and get humanity out onto the greater universal stage,” I finished.

“Wow. If I hadn’t heard your conversation with your friend, I’d never have believed it. Even now, I still don’t know if this is an elaborate hoax or not,” Darrell said in wonder.

“I mean, what kind of proof do you have besides that…commblock thingy, anyway? You know how the alphabet agencies love their proof,” Kristen added.

“Ok. Well, for starters, I can show you two my bank account. And, I managed to get a couple pictures and a video of Gruldia. Would that suffice? For you guys, I mean. For the various agencies, I have the rest of that packet. There’s a video of Daktu’un’s home world, and the skies above him. Not to mention a picture of him and his family. The amount of information there would be invaluable to the right agency. Trouble is, I don’t trust our government to not prepare to annihilate his planet, or to try and weaponize them in some manner. I honestly don’t know who to take this to, because just some random guy building a random machine that just so happens to communicate with another planet isn’t going to be very trust-inducing. Got any ideas, guys?” I asked.

Both of them just stared at me. “You’d show us your bank account? No offense, man, but you’ve always been kinda broke,” Darrel said with a laugh.

“That’s true, I have been.” I pulled up my account, and turned the phone around. “But not anymore. I am now able to do what I want, when I want. What I’d like is to bring Humanity to the stars, and hopefully foster some sort of planet-wide peace,” I said quietly.

Darrell’s eyes got as big as saucers when he saw the amount on my screen. “This…is this real?” he asked dumbfounded.

“Yeah. It is. I got my new computer with that, have some clothes and other stuff coming my way in the next day or three, and now, I will be going over the blueprints I was sent, and designing what I need to purchase to build this thing,” I said tiredly.

“Ivor? Would you show me a picture of this woman?” Kristen asked softly.

I smiled and pulled up the video, and turned the phone around. “Just hit play.”

Kristen took my phone and hit play, listening to Gruldia telling me she loved me. “Aaawww… She looks so cute. Darrell, there’s no way this is fake. Look at the shadows, and the lack of artifacts. Even AI introduces some artifacts in the resulting video. And looking at the camera roll at the bottom, there’s a couple of pictures as well. May I?” she asked, receiving a nod. “Oh, my. She looks so sad. Why?”

“That was the night she had to leave. The Multiversal Entity allowed for a week here. She has duties to perform for her Temple, after all. She’s a Cleric of Krathu. I’m not gonna get into what all that entails, so just know that it’s important. Once Humanity is introduced to the rest of the galaxy, it said that she would be free to come and go as she wished. Its main concern was for her safety. If she were seen and started a panic? Or, people attacked her for being different? Y’all know how people are. Best thing to do is get us skyward and see where things go,” I said with a shrug.

“Well, let me go over the blueprints. If it’s not a big machine, we might be able to get it built a little easier, and without arousing suspicion. Hopefully, it won’t consume too much power to send a message,” Darrell said, clapping his hands on his thighs.

“Darrell? You’re serious? How will you get the time from work, honey? It’s not going to be a small project, and you’ve always disliked working from home,” Kristen said, her concern mounting.

“Work? Hell, this man has finally brought me something that sounds like fun to me after thirty-something years. The dreams we had as kids might finally come true. And, if this works the way I’m sure we both hope, none of us will have to worry about anything again. I’ll take some vacation time, go through these and we’ll get to building. This is gonna be cool!” my cousin exclaimed, rubbing his palms together like some old-timey villain.

Kristen I both chuckled at this childish display. If there was one thing my cousin never lost, it was his sense of wonder and enjoyment. I rose with a yawn and a stretch. “I’m getting tired, guys. Eleven hours on the road, and this much excitement has me whooped. I’ll see you two in the morning. Feel free to play around on the computer. It’s a beast. G’night, guys,” I said with a smile.

“Nite, bud. Sleep well,” Darrell said as he slid into the chair in front of the monitor. Kristen echoed him as they explored the skies above the Aarund homeworld.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I trudged to my room, and lay down, falling into a deep sleep almost immediately.

**********

I awoke to birdsong. And a seven-year-old staring at me. “Ack!”

I jumped back, nearly falling off the bed. Noah started giggling uncontrollably and ran out of the room. I shook my head with a grin, got dressed and went downstairs.

When I got down, Kristen was scolding Noah for scaring me, “...know you’re not supposed to do that to a guest, Noah. Why did you do that?”

“Because it was funny,” I said from the stairs. “Morning everyone.” I turned my attention to my cousin’s wife, “It was funny, Kristen, and I’ve never met the seven-year-old yet who didn’t love to stir trouble and pull pranks. He’s just fine. I promise,” I said with a yawn.

Noah laughed and, using his talker, he said, “He is right. Was funny ha-ha!”

“What’s all the noise? Noah? What did you do to Mr. Ivor?” Will asked with a yawn as he rubbed his eyes.

“I woke up to your brother staring at me this morning. Scared me almost off the bed. Your mom was just fussing at him, that’s all,” I explained to Will.

“Yeah, he’s done that to me a couple of times. Little weirdo,” he said with a smile and stuck his tongue out at his brother.

Noah stuck his own out in reply and blew a sloppy raspberry at his brother, then ran off to play. I looked up at their mother who was shaking her head with a smile.

“The energy in that kid, huh?” I said, sliding into a seat at the table. “If we could bottle that energy up-”

“We’d be millionaires.” Kristen finished for me, her chin on her hand.

Darrell stumbled into the kitchen. “Dude. That’s crazy,” he said, bleary-eyed.

I turned to stare at him. “What is?”

“The blueprints. Some of that stuff is pretty high-tech, but attainable. If this all works right, we could have this built in a month,” he said, slumping into a chair.

“Darrell was up all night, Ivor. You’ve brought him a true project. Now, I’ll never see him,” she mock-cried.

Darrell snorted. “Yes you will. All the components are available out there, but this is a truly novel way of combining them. The thing is about the size of a VW Bug, and just as heavy. Power-wise? It’s a huge sink. We would be best served by contacting the Department of Energy. It’ll take a huge amount of power to run. You could probably get a permit for an “experiment”, if you worded it right. If it doesn’t work, we can try Plan B,” he said.

“Plan B?”

“Plug it into the Hoover Dam.”

“Oh.”

“Maybe I could purchase an industrial building for this specific thing? Industry uses a massive amount of power, right?” I asked the pair.

“Unfortunately not. The Burj Khalifa is the only building that I can think of that uses this much power. Honestly, it uses about double what this would. Talk to the DoE. Maybe you can get a grant or something at a nuke plant. I’m gonna eat a bit and pass out,” he said with a yawn, and rubbed his face with his hands.

I nodded and got to planning.

Over the next two days, Darrell and I brainstormed over how to best get an energy source for my communications array. Building it would, apparently, not be terribly difficult. Sure, I’d need a lot of specialized, custom built components, but the actual construction would be doable by myself. Especially if I had all the time in the world to devote to it, which I now did. Kristen and Darrell both helped me source the components and some specialized fabrication companies to do the more intricate builds. Darrell was also nice enough to create the blueprints in a way that would be easy for my layman’s eyes to understand. Building the structure wouldn’t be difficult for me. I loved making things, and this would be no exception.

New files and information obtained, I packed my computer up into my car and gathered my things early in the morning. The entire Paul family was waiting for me in the kitchen when I came in.

“I hope you come around more, man. I miss you. Will seems to like you, too,” Darrell said, giving me a tight hug.

“He’s right, Ivor. Come see us more often. I’ve not met much of Darrell’s family, and this has been an absolute treat. Please be safe getting home,” Kristen said, hugging me.

“I will, guys. I can’t promise I’ll call or anything with any sort of regularity. You know how I am. Mom sure wishes I would, though. I just…don’t,” I finished lamely.

“You don’t have to apologize to us, man. We get it. You have your own life to worry about. Tell Aunt Beev I love her, would you?” Darrell asked.

“I will. William? Noah?” I said, kneeling. “I’ve really enjoyed my stay with you two. Byron and Bailey have, too. I hope I get to see you two again, okay?” I said to the pair of boys.

William hugged my neck, and said, “Be safe, Mr. Ivor. Dada loved having you here.”

Noah looked at his brother, who nodded, and came up to me. He patted my arm gently, and pushed a button on his talker. “Byebye, Mr. Ivor. Please be safe. We will miss you.”

I gently patted his little hand. “I’ll miss you too, little guy. Be good for your parents. Bye, everyone!” I said, rising.

I turned and headed out to my car, sent a text to Chandra, and began my long trek home.

**********

I got home around seven pm, and saw a few packages on my doorstep. I got myself and my computer inside, then brought in my goodies. I set my new computer back up, and let my boys run free around the house. They were extremely happy to stretch their legs, and showed it with little hops and jumps.

As for myself, I was ready for bed. Eleven hours on the road in a single sitting is no mean feat when you rarely drive more than two hours one-way.

“Guys, I’m going to bed. You two have fun, and I’ll see you in the morning,” I said with a yawn. I received a pair of squeaks in return. Those two would hopefully never change.

**********

When I awoke, it was to the smell of coffee being brewed, and the sound of humming. I got up, put on a pair of comfy house pants and walked out to see Chandra sitting at my table, drinking a cup of coffee with Byron on her shoulder.

“Hey Bubbs. We need to talk, man,” she said, taking a sip of her coffee.