Lives Of The Unknown Book 1: The Legend of Andrew Lockeford (2 page)

“Welcome, fellow life form,” said
Juvir as he stood about ten feet away from the waking mortal. Juvir
was the one to ultimately decide to keep the life form and
interrogate it, so he felt the most responsible in introducing
himself first. “Do you understand me?”

“Unngghh….Yeah, I hear you. If you’re
speaking English,” it said drowsily, “then is this
Earth?”

“No, there is no Earth here. I suppose
Earth is the planet you came from?”

“Yeah, but why—”

At this moment, the
creature—rather, the human—widened its eyes and inhaled deeply as
it sat up immediately, just as most people would from waking up
after a terrible nightmare. As it looked around to make sure that
nothing would move too suddenly, it said, “
WAIT! DON’T MOVE! Don’t move a single fucking
muscle!
” It looked around for a weapon as
though it had one earlier, growing more frantic when nothing could
be found. It then raised an arm and directed its hand towards the
alien it was currently looking at, tightening its hand so it would
look remotely like a eagle talon. However, the nails on each talon
did not look pointed, but rather just looked like plates on the top
of each finger. Not exactly an effective backup weapon, let alone
fearsome.

None of the surrounding aliens moved
or lost their composure. Everyone would stay exactly as they were
until the human calmed down. No one dared to speak except for
Juvir.

“Calm down, please, there is nothing
to be afraid of. We have no reason to harm you anytime yet.
Although we did find that sword you were keeping in the pod with
you once we took you out.”

“
Yet
? What’s that supposed to mean?
And where’s my sword?”

“It means that if you’re friendly, we will be
friendly. If you’re hostile, we will be hostile.”

The human thought about this statement for a few
moments, then it decided to lower its fake claw and listen to what
these alien people might have to say. They were already better than
the previous aliens he/she had encountered. Still, that person
appeared attached to the sword Juvir was talking about, and since
Juvir did not answer where it was currently at, he/she was sure to
ask for it again.

“So then, what do you call yourself? Tell me
about your species.” said Juvir.

After a moment’s pause, the human thought about
a suitable way to introduce itself, then proceeded: “My name is
Andrew Lockeford. I’m a human, from the planet Earth. And until a
few months ago, I never had any certain proof that there were
intelligent species outside of my own planet.”

“Really? Your species isn’t even sure whether
there are more intelligent species in the universe or not?”

“Well, we know for a fact that there is
intelligent life somewhere light-years away from Earth, but nothing
for certain about specific— FUCK WHY AM I NAKED???” Andrew finally
realized that he hadn’t been wearing any clothes, thus deciding to
cover his privates with his hands. What’s funny about humans is
that they sometimes mentally prioritize their most beloved
possessions (his sword) above their necessities, such as clothes
and food.

“We were just figuring out your anatomy, Andrew,
and we had to take you out of the spacesuit that you were in.
You’re a male, correct?”

Andrew developed a wary expression as though
some creepy individual asked him the question. “Yeah?”

“Just checking. We’ve seen some species with
reproductive organs like yours who were actually female. It’s a big
universe, you know. I’ll give you a suit now.” Juvir pulled out a
ball that was slightly over an inch in diameter then said, “Stay
still, and don’t try to catch it.” He tossed the ball towards
Andrew and, once it hit his arm, it immediately expanded and
covered his body. Andrew tensed his body but otherwise did not
move. He found himself covered in a thick, black material that lay
everywhere on his body except for his head.

“As you can see, this suit is flexible,
breathable, light, and very durable. Think of it as armor that you
can wear anytime.” All of the aliens around Andrew were wearing
this material, as it happens that most of the creatures on the
planet wore this anywhere they went. Even the two scientists wore
this kind of suit as they found Andrew in his escape pod.

“There’s something I want to ask,” said one of
the aliens across from Juvir. This alien was a different species
from Juvir, although it appeared that each alien surrounding Andrew
was from a different species anyway. Andrew turned around to hear
what this alien—or person, since Andrew is the alien here—wanted to
say. “These increments of time that you state—‘months,
light-years,’—how exactly long are they?”

This confused Andrew at first. He didn’t quite
know how to describe the human’s version of time, so he said what
he could think of.

“Well, to begin, my species’ measurement of
time starts with the second.” He began to tap his finger each
second onto his wrist, making sure that the guy was paying
attention. “The amount of time that passes between each cycle that
my finger is making here is equal to one second. Sixty seconds is
equal to one minute. Sixty minutes is equal to one hour.
Twenty-four hours is equal to one day. And about thirty or
thirty-one days is equal to one month.”

Andrew doubted that this person could have
understood everything immediately, but this person replied, “Got
it. But I’m still curious about the light-year.”

“Actually, it’s a measurement of distance. A
year is equal to twelve months, but a light-year is used to
describe the distance that light can travel in one year.”

“Why use light as a basis?”

“Because humans believe that light is the
fastest thing in the universe. At least, that’s all we know.”

“We believe trechens are the fastest particles
so far, and they’re several times faster than light. However, none
of our interstellar vehicles can go faster than light.” Andrew had
no idea what trechens were—he guessed that maybe they were some
weird subatomic particles.

“That’s enough, Lee,” said Juvir, “I know you
wish to ask plenty of questions and tell him everything about
ourselves, but have you considered how much information a being
such as Andrew can take in so quickly?”

Andrew did have a slight headache from
everything that was happening, although he was slightly amused to
hear that the person he was just talking to had a familiar-sounding
name such as Lee. Even so, with Andrew’s paranoia boiling up again,
he said, “Why? Are you afraid he might slip some secret out? That
you know something that you don’t want me to know?”

Lee’s countenance had then added a hint of
guilt and denial, as though he may know some secrets, but Juvir
responded without any reaction that would show: “Even if we did
have some secret that we would not tell you, it would be very
difficult for someone such as you to comprehend.”

“That doesn’t exactly prove your words.”

“Then you’ll just have to take my word for
it.”

Andrew bent his head down and rubbed his
forehead. He needed a break, and everyone could tell. Juvir said,
“Alright, meeting adjourned. I will take responsibility for Andrew
from here on out.” All the other people left by walking through the
sliding doors and into some teleportation caches—one for each
person—in the hallway.

“I’ll leave you here to give you a quick break.
In the meantime, take this.” Juvir pulled out a pill, saying, “You
are low on nutrients, so this will restore your body.”

“So, it’s just some kind of food pill?”

“Precisely. Judging by the size of your stomach,
I will give these to you four times per ceth.”

“Okay, what? You’re flinging all these weird
terms around and I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“My mistake, how would you say this….oh, six
times per day.”

Andrew thought that if these pills were
supposed to be his meals, then he wouldn’t need them as many as six
times per day. Then again, these pills were the size of any other
pills on Earth, so there could be no way that one of these could
suffice for a decent meal.

“Once the pill hits your stomach acid, it
will expand to a size large enough to sustain you for about….four
hours.” Andrew’s thoughts had been answered instantly. “I’ll be
back soon.”

Just as Juvir walked up to the doors, which
had opened at his presence, Andrew interrupted him to ask another
question. “Hey, who are you people, anyway? I know this has got to
be part of some sort of organization, considering how you just had
a ‘meeting.’”

Juvir turned his head around to answer: “We
are The Alliance of Interstellar Beings, or the AOIB, for
short.”

And so Andrew was left alone in the room
with just a pill. He still wanted to ask where his sword was being
kept at.

Chapter 3

Going back a few months,
Andrew is living on his home planet. He resides in a suburb in Los
Angeles, California—the place where American ideals are
established, the kind that can never actually be achieved because
they are so artificial. Women wanting to become so scrawny that the
space between their ribs look like canyons. Men trying to gain so
much muscle mass that people start to guess that they’re
compensating for something. Andrew didn’t have much muscle tone,
let alone muscle mass; add that on to the fact that he wasn’t fat
and thus he’s labeled a skinny person. There’s one thing that
American culture implies: men either look skinny, buff, or fat—not
much else in between.

Celebrities are the representatives of
anything that’s popular in a modern culture, as well as the
culture’s ideals. Most of these representatives are found here in
L.A., telling people indirectly that they’re not rich enough, that
if you want a happy life, you should be making more money and
caring less about whether it affects other people in doing so.
That, along with the idea that you should go out to parties and
drink alcohol until you want to throw up, followed by drug use and
sex and other antics that everyone remembers the next day except
for you. What exactly do they have to say that makes these things
OK?

“We all need fun once in a while. You
ought to live life to the fullest.”

Maybe, except that you forget how you
may not face the consequences after doing something the first time,
then you do it over and over again, up to the point where it seems
you are desensitized, turning your life into an empty dream that
you can’t escape from. Plus, one must think about all the other
people that gave celebrities their privileges. Without their
managers, their servants, their fans, and even their fellow
celebrities, they would be the same as everybody else, struggling
through life to achieve their wants and possibly even their
needs.

At least, this is all what Andrew
believed.

Of course, this
isn’t the only place where artificiality comes from. Fast food
advertisements make their food seem more appealing by spraying
paint onto them. Not only is the food much more unattractive in
reality, it never decays from bacteria or flies—they don’t want to
get near the stuff. Consumer products leave some person’s pocket a
few hundred dollars empty each year, just to end up as a decoration
that has no concrete use anymore—or had never
been
useful. People all over the
nation argue over which of two candidates they want to win for the
upcoming presidential election. Usually, it ends up as the wrong
choice either way, considering both candidates typically make empty
promises to the people, ignoring the issues that ought to be taken
care of the most. People trust their leaders because they expect
them to make changes and solve the problems that people won’t
resolve themselves; little do the public know that their leaders
may be just as confused as they are about solving such
problems.

Andrew is just tired of all this; he wants to see all
the artificiality disappear so that he can drive to a small town
and not have it feel similar to a large city. It used to be that in
small towns, people were more relaxed and content than those
enduring the havoc of the big city. In a way, that still
remains—but not entirely. In both towns and cities, you will find
billboards, television, Internet, and other sorts of media in which
society’s representatives can make their influence. Not everybody
looks at each advertisement and says, “I WANNA BUY THAT,” but the
message still gets through unconsciously, almost like osmosis.

Andrew—at this moment in time—currently lives in Los
Angeles so that he can get his college education at Cal Poly
Pomona, where he studies for a good engineering degree. He was
never as interested in engineering as he was in art and philosophy,
but many people know that a philosophy student is not as likely to
be successful. The former may wish that he or she didn’t have to
sit in a cubicle several hours per day, but the latter will more
than likely wish for a steady job in order to put food onto the
table. You can’t seem to go anywhere in this world without
money.

Perhaps once Andrew
got his engineering degree, he could get a stable job, save up some
money, and go on a road trip. A really long road trip. One that
would take him through every state west of the Rockies and let
him
explore
,
experience all the scenic views that would delight his soul like
nothing else had. He didn’t want to see gray skyscrapers—he wanted
to see mountains, white from snow or green from vegetation. He
didn’t want to see traffic lights once every hundred meters. He
wanted to see an open, deserted highway on which he could drive for
dozens of miles without seeing another soul. That person most
likely wanted to get to a predetermined destination by a preset
time, while Andrew would be going with the flow, taking in the
view.