The Bonding (14 page)

Tarku smiled and Janet turned to look out
the window.

Chapter Eight

Near the edge of the great city, the taxi
stopped at a large building and landed on top. Tarku paid the driver and got
out first, extending a hand to Janet. The taxi whisked away as Tarku took
Janet’s hand and led her to the edge of the building. She peered over in
wonderment.

“Oh my God! This building must be at least
three hundred stories tall.” She had never been on such a tall structure. There
was a brisk wind blowing, and she held Tarku’s hand tight as she gazed out
across the city. The view was breathtaking.

“Come, Janet. I’ll show you my home.” He
was excited to be able to share this with her, knowing that she had never been
to other worlds, with the exception of her recent visit to Poltan.

They got into an elevator, similar to the
one in the spaceship. “Zivok,” Tarku said, and the doors closed. Within two seconds
they opened and a beautiful apartment appeared before them.

“After I master your language, I want you
to explain how these elevators work,” Janet said. “It amazes me how they can
move so fast and you can’t even feel it.”

“I will teach you many things,” Tarku
replied. “But now, let me give you a tour of my home.” They stepped off the
elevator and Janet’s eyes filled with excitement.

“Oh my! This is beautiful.” She was
overwhelmed by the magnificent living quarters sprawling out before her.

“The entire top floor is my home. The
rest of the building is rented out as both homes and businesses.”

“You have the whole top floor?” She
asked.

“Yes. That way I get the best view. From
any side you can see to the horizon. Come! I’ll show you.”

She was beginning to realize that Tarku
was a very wealthy man. The furnishings were exquisite and from planets all
over the universe. As Tarku said, each outer wall was covered with windows,
providing a glorious view in every direction. There were a total of ten rooms:
a living room, kitchen, dining, workout, inside swimming pool and five
bedrooms, each with its own bath.

“This is my bedroom,” he said, as they
entered the last of the five bedrooms. It was the largest and as lavishly
furnished as the rest of his home. “Choose which of the other bedrooms you
would like to use.”

“I’d like the one next to yours,” she
said without hesitation. “I think I would feel safer knowing that you’re that
close.”

Tarku smiled. “Okay, it’s settled then.”
They went back to the bedroom next to his. “This one will be yours. Welcome to
your new home, Janet.”

She stood on her toes and reached her
arms around his neck, pulling him down to her, and kissed his cheek. “Thank
you, Tarku.”

His face blushed and lit up with a broad
smile. “You’re very welcome. Come on, I’ll show you how to use the things in
your new home.”

They went to the living room and Tarku
demonstrated how to use the entertainment equipment. The video monitor was
huge, extending from the floor to the ceiling, and was nearly fifteen feet wide.
She felt like she was standing in a small movie theater. “Here is another set
of the special teaching glasses and more disks,” he said.

Janet took the glasses. “I can’t believe
how fast I’m learning your language. I love these glasses.”

“The program makes you learn. It actually
implants the information into your brain. That’s how I have learned so many
languages. Once you have learned mine, then you need to teach me yours. Of
course, that will take longer since we don’t have a teaching program.”

“I need to get back to learning. There is
still so much that I don’t know. Do you mind if I go to my room and watch the
program?”

“I’ll be here if you need me,” he assured
her. Remember, we will be going to my father’s home this evening.” He pointed
to the clock. “When the time gets to here we will leave.”

“I’ll be ready. I hope they don’t mind my
clothing.” She was still wearing the blue coveralls that all of the astronauts
wore.

Tarku took note of her hint. “My parents
know the circumstances of how I found you. They will not judge you by your
clothing.”

“I hope not. You only have one chance for
a first impression.” She turned and walked to her room.

Tarku watched her walk away and close the
door. He had something else on his mind besides her clothing. “The dark blue
planet,” he whispered to himself. “Hmmm.”

He walked over to the huge monitor and
began commanding inputs. It was not only the entertainment system, but also the
computer and communications center for his home. The screen came alive with
images of stars and planets. They were star maps showing a multitude of
galaxies. Soon, a dark blue planet with white clouds and a moon appeared, as
viewed from an approaching spaceship. Tarku noted the name on his map. “Aulhw.”
In parenthesis was the planet’s name that the inhabitants used. “Earth.”

He gave another command and the scene
changed to the planet’s surface. He could see the people going about their
everyday business. People just like Janet. Either the Zintandian scientists
were actually on the Earth, taking pictures, or Tarku was watching Earth
television broadcasts that the scientists had recorded from space. He didn’t
know much about the Earth, except that it was a very primitive planet, compared
to his, and no one, except scientists, was allowed to go there. Only when they
determined that a planet was technologically advanced enough would he be
permitted to actually land on the surface and intermingle with the occupants.
The scientists and a government ambassador would be the first to contact a new
world and make arrangements for future visits.

He watched for a while, listening to the
Earthlings
speak
, and then he smiled. “I think our
scientists have already deciphered this language,” he mumbled to himself. Being
restricted from the Earth, Tarku had no reason to learn it, until now. He
immediately began a search of the language files. In only seconds, the language
program for Earth appeared.

“Ah! We
do
have it.” He looked
around to be sure Janet wasn’t there. He didn’t want her to know about this.

He quickly copied it to one of the small
disks for the glasses and smiled. “I’m going to have a surprise for you Janet.”
His mind was so much more developed than hers that even the most difficult
languages took no more than a week for him to master. He guessed that English
would only take three to four days. He immediately sat down, put on the glasses
and began his lesson. He was anxious to learn, but would not speak to her in
English until he could do it flawlessly.

After two hours of lessons, he looked at
the time. He had planned on surprising Janet by taking her shopping and buying
her new clothing. He knew that she would feel very uncomfortable meeting his
parents in the blue NASA jumpsuit. That was the only clothing that the
astronauts wore on the shuttle missions, besides T-shirts and occasionally some
baggy pants.

He knocked on her door. “Janet?”

The door opened and she looked up at him.
The teaching glasses were in her hand. “Yes Tarku.”

“I would like to take you to get new
clothing.”

She looked down at her jumpsuit then back
to him, and an enchanting smile lit up her beautiful face. “That would be
wonderful!” She pulled at her coveralls. “I either needed to clean these or
burn them.”

He laughed. “Come then. We can go now, so
you will have something nice to wear to dinner tonight.”

She wrapped her arms around him and
placed her head into his chest. “Thank you.”

Tarku was delighted. “You’re very
welcome.”

“Do the ladies of your planet wear
undergarments?” she asked.

He nodded. “Yes! And when I examined you
on the ship, I noticed that you and Zintandian females are physically the same.
They are mostly larger, but there are many your size. We come in many sizes and
shapes.”

“So do we,” she replied.

They got into the elevator and again went
to the roof. Only this time, instead of calling a taxi, Tarku planned to use
his own vehicle. At one side of the roof was an enclosure with a large door,
resembling a garage door. As they approached, Tarku spoke a code word and the
door slid open. Inside was a beautiful dark blue inner atmospheric vehicle or
IAV. It was about ten feet wide and nearly twenty-five feet long. From top to
bottom was six feet, with windows all around. The color was so unusual that it
almost appeared like liquid. The vehicle was already hovering about eighteen
inches off the ground and made absolutely no sound. Tarku spoke another code
word and the doors opened up, like a gull wing, and small steps extended
downward. This technology continued to amaze her. She put her weight on the
step, expecting the vehicle to dip, since it was hovering, but it didn’t move
an inch. She couldn’t believe that a floating object could feel so solid,
especially when Tarku entered.

She looked around the interior. It was
absolutely beautiful, reminding her of a very plush limousine on Earth. It
would comfortably sit six men Tarku’s size. The instruments were graphically
displayed on three monitors. Tarku’s seat looked similar to his seat on the
spaceship, with controls on both arms.

He looked over at her. “Are you ready?”

“Oh yeah! I can’t wait to see what this
does.”

“Then let’s go!” He touched the control
console and seat belts automatically extended around their waists and the
vehicle made a very low humming sound. He placed his hand on a type of joystick
and eased forward on it. The IAV began to move. Once they cleared the
enclosure, he pushed the stick forward more and they zoomed away from the top
of the building. The farther forward he pushed, the faster the vehicle went.
The same worked in reverse. To turn, he moved it from side to side. To go up,
he tilted up on the part where his hand rested. To go down, he tilted down. It
was very simple to use.

Janet was so engrossed in the vehicle’s
operation that she wasn’t even looking outside. Tarku began pointing out parts
of the city, so she shifted her attention. There were IAV’s flying everywhere,
but very orderly, as though on invisible roads in the sky. He flew down in
between the huge buildings. She was glued to the window, mesmerized at their
size and beauty.

“My God, Tarku! These buildings are so
tall. How high are they?”

“Some are over two thousand relons.”

“Relons?” she asked.

Tarku held is hands about two feet apart.
“Yes. One relon is about this long.”

Janet quickly converted it to feet and
estimated four thousand. “That’s unbelievable, Tarku. How can they make them so
tall and yet so strong?”

“You should see some of the buildings in
the capital city. They are over three thousand relons high.”

“That is absolutely amazing.”

“Not really,” he said. “If your planet
had the same technology as mine, then you would also be able to build
structures like these. The materials are extremely strong, but remarkably light
in weight. This IAV weighs only slightly more that four men my size.”

“My planet must be in the stoneage
compared to Zintandu.”

“We are a very advanced race, Janet, but still
considered primitive to others in the universe. One thing that you cannot see
is that many of the buildings extend into the ground nearly as far as they
reach into the sky.”

“Like I said, absolutely amazing, Tarku.
Another thing I noticed is that they look like they’re made from glass, and
some of them seem almost invisible the way they reflect the surrounding trees
and sky.”

“They are beautiful,” he said.

Within five minutes Tarku landed near the
top of one of the shorter buildings. This one was only about fifteen hundred
feet high. There were several openings where IAV’s streamed in and out of the
covered parking area. When they stopped, a man came over to Tarku’s side and
gave him something that Tarku put into his pocket. Tarku got out and the man
got in and glanced over at Janet, then took a second, more surprised look at
her. He had seen other aliens before, but never an Earthling. He seemed to be
taken with her beauty.

“Hello,” he said very politely.

“Hello,” she replied.

Tarku extended his hand to help her down
from the IAV. They walked away and the doors closed as the man drove off. She
shook her head and mumbled in English, “I’ll be damned, valet parking.”

They got into the elevator along with several
others. Everyone began spouting numbers and the elevator doors closed. Within
two seconds they opened again and some of the people got out while some others
got in and said the floor numbers they needed. It stopped three times before
Tarku said, “This is our floor.”

The doors opened to a tremendous shopping
mall, larger than any she had ever seen. She stood for a second staring in
disbelief at its magnitude. Tarku took her hand and gently tugged. “We have to
get off the elevator.”

She came back to reality and looked up at
him. “Oh, yeah.”