Chapter 11
As strange as it sounded to him, Jim felt out of place on his own land.
The day the alien craft landed in one of his fields, he did as his friend directed. The Sheriff asked him to “clear out to a safe spot”, and the safest place Jim knew was his home. Mike told him they were going to have a 2-mile perimeter around the spaceship. Jim’s house was two and a quarter miles from the craft.
It took a day and some heated words between the two friends, but Jim convinced the Sheriff to let him stay in his house. The aliens, the police and the federal government were all on his property and, in return, he wanted to keep an eye on things directly. And, on the day after the landing when Sheriff Mike came back around to see Jim about leaving, Jim knew Mike had bigger issues to deal with and used his friendship and his past history to reach the agreement that he would not cause issues. And Jim had remained true to his word.
By the morning after the landing, local and regional news had arrived and were having live broadcasts of events (which weren’t really anything newsworthy, as there was no coming and no going from the alien craft) all day Monday. There were also more and more onlookers showing up every hour. They were ten times worse than the news crews, since the uninvited were clogging up the roads and even taking their transpods across his fields, ruining what little planting he had completed prior to the arrival of the spaceship.
Finally, by the end of that day, the County Sheriff’s department had been supplemented with reinforcements from the State Highway Patrol and they were starting to clear people out of the area. The Army, which had a minimal presence on Monday, had come in force overnight and were actually establishing a perimeter about a half-mile around the craft on Tuesday morning. That’s when Jim had another tense exchange with the Sheriff.
Mike eventually was able to get a face-to-face meeting between Jim and the Army commander in charge, Coronel Enriquez, where Jim established a deal. The Army would notify Jim of anything they were doing to his property and he would grant them access to his farm and assign temporary “control” of the acreage around the alien craft to the government, in return for their agreement to let him continue living in his house. When the Colonel said he didn’t think Jim had much say in the matter, Jim reminded him there were plenty of judges he thought would be supportive of Jim’s position and put an injunction on further actions by the Army. The Coronel realized he didn’t want to mess with any delays, saw minimal risk in the agreement, and signed the form Jim had put together.
It actually made it easier to get rid of the onlookers, since the Army now had legal right to patrol and control the area. So for giving up some bit of control, Jim got the overrun of out-of-towners dealt with. It wasn’t quite so easy to stop people from bothering him altogether.
His commblock was sounding almost every five minutes and he stopped answering any calls except those from the Coronel and from the Nemaha County Sheriff’s office. He stopped reviewing most messages as well, since nobody was really interested in talking to him. Until Day 3, when he saw a message title “I respect your land.” That struck him at a time when no one was respecting his property or his rights, so he reviewed the message. It was from somebody calling herself Luna.
“Hello. My name is Luna. I imagine you want to delete and move onto your next message with a name like mine, but I truly do respect your land, which is why I ask you to finish this message.”
“My family originally came from the Winnebago Reservation,” Luna continued. “We understand the value of home, the importance of land, the relationship that people have with their ground, and the disrespect that comes from not appreciating and recognizing that relationship. My grandfather, Nicholas St. Cyr, moved away from the reservation early in his adulthood. He helped Ho-Chunk Inc. start up their autonomous farm machinery factory in Fremont. But, even though he was very proud about the accomplishments of this business and the good livelihood it brought to many people that worked there, including many Native Americans, two main thoughts pained him his entire life in Fremont. The first was that he was living off the Reservation, away from the people he loved and the land they had claim and control of. The second was that the land he lived on and the property on which the factory complex was built on was land that Native American ancestors had rightful claim to many centuries back. While he personally and the factory in general improved things overall around Fremont, he still felt disrespected by the ‘local people’ and was thought to be an outsider, even accused of being an “invader” at one point by a Fremonter whose family had arrived fifty years before my Grandfather.”
These last few sentences had made Jim wince unconsciously, as he remembered times he too had said unkind words about the Kickapoo and other Indians around Nemaha County. But by this point, Luna’s speech had him captivated and he wasn’t going to stop watching because of a pang of conscience.
“My Grandfather passed away when I was a little girl. I love many of the things my Grandfather cherished and honored, but something he never quite understood was the interest and desire I had to study and bond with the stars and planets and all that is seen when looking into the sky at night. I’m not sure it was coincidence, fate, or a self-fulfilling prophecy that came with my name, but that interest was there ever since I can remember. Even Grandfather recognized it and called me his little Loonie Bird because of how much I was always looking up at the sky and telling him how I wished I could be up there.” Up to this point, Luna hadn’t shown much emotion, but Jim noticed the pause in her speech, her eyes and chin both dipping a bit, and the hard swallow she took when she mentioned the nickname her Grandfather had given her.
Luna composed herself and continued, “So when the alien ship arrived this past Sunday, and the message about the possibility of visiting those stars and planets became a reality, I began wondering if this could actually happen for me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was more than a chance to see another world. It was the chance to establish a new homeland for me and my descendants, a way to claim what my ancestors had lost, and a way for Grandfather to be proud of what his granddaughter could bring forth.”
“And as I was getting ready to drive the 150 miles from Fremont to Seneca and pull right up to the alien ship, I heard my Grandfather speak to me. No, I didn’t actually hear a voice,” she said with a slightly embarrassed look on her face, “but I felt him tell me not to follow the example of the Fremonters who barged into the Nebraska Territory without concern of who was there already, or the example of the alien ship itself that took no interest in whose ground it was landing on. I felt him tell me to offer the respect that others hadn’t, and ask permission first.”
Luna leaned forward and looked intently at who she was hoping was watching this cast. “Jim Kaufmann, I am asking for your permission to come onto your land and seek out my future. I will await your response and respect your decision, but I pray that you will see my sincerity and grant my request.” And with that, Luna’s message ended.
Jim was impressed, amazed, honored and intrigued. This woman had been honest about her goal to see the ship and meet the aliens, but made it clear she believed an individual’s personal and property rights were paramount. She had obviously felt compelled to track down the landowner and ask permission to come onto his land. And that was exactly the thing that he was wanting right now.
So Jim sent Luna a reply and said “Yes”, she was welcome to come onto his property.
He recognized that the invitation itself was not going to be enough for Luna to get her wish to drive right up to the alien craft. So they spent the next two days trading more messages and arranging a place to meet and plans to get her past the 5-mile perimeter roadblocks the military had set up.
Then on Thursday, five days after the aliens ‘invaded’ his property (a phrase he used quite often after he heard Luna’s original message) and two days after he first saw her image, Jim pulled into the parking lot of the Nemaha County Historical Museum and looked for his new online friend. He found Luna waiting for him sitting on the visitors bench on the front porch of the building, looking a bit nervous. Jim wondered if she felt out-of-place herself, but was glad when she smiled as she noticed him walking up the sidewalk.
“Luna?”, he asked.
“Hello, Jim!” Luna said as she extended her hand. She gave a vigorous shake to Jim’s hand that he had extended in return. “I’m so very glad you agreed to this. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate this opportunity.”
“Uhm, yeah, no problem,” Jim replied, thinking she seemed overly enthusiastic compared to the person he had seen in the messages and talked to over the commblock in the past couple of days.
Luna pulled back her arm and stuck her fingers in her pants pocket. “I’m sorry if I’m coming across a bit too… strong? That’s just how I get when I’m a bit nervous.”
Now it was Jim’s turn to show a smile. “There’s no need to be nervous here. Yes, things are a lot more active in Seneca than usual, but trust me when I say that there are so many people wandering through town now that nobody is paying you any attention.” Then, realizing this probably wasn’t the most comforting type of greeting, he added, “Besides, I’m here to welcome you to town and make sure you know you are my guest and I don’t want my guests feeling nervous about anything. Anybody messes with you, they have to mess with Jim Kaufmann.” And with that, Jim straightened his shoulders and put his own hands in his pockets in a ‘and that’s the way it’s gonna be’ sort of way.
Luna relaxed and a more natural smile appeared on her face. There was a brief pause, and then Jim looked around, thinking things were getting a bit …too serious? …too cozy? …too something, and he needed to move things along. “So, do you have any luggage or anything?”
“Well, no. Just my backpack.”, Luna answered. “I’ve got a couple of changes of clothing, but I’m guessing that if this actually takes place and I’m selected to go, I won’t be expected to bring a bunch of stuff along with me.”
Jim nodded his head. “I hadn’t thought about it, but that makes sense. Here! Let me take it.” and he leaned over and grabbed the well-worn, olive-green backpack sitting next to the bench.
“That’s OK,” Luna started to say, reaching for the pack.
“No, I insist.” Jim interrupted. “You’re my guest! The truck is over here, if you want to head out to the farm now.” And with that, they went over to his vehicle and started out of town.
They had worked out a plan that Jim was hiring Luna to help him finish his spring planting. Things had gotten crazy enough around there that many of the townsfolk had left town for the time being, so there was a shortage of available people to help. He told Sheriff Mike that he was bringing in someone to help, since the neighbor high school kids he would normally help him by moving seed and chemicals around couldn’t get to him reliably, with the traffic restrictions and the hesitancy any parents had in letting their kids get near the alien craft. So he was going to have to have someone stay at his place. He wasn’t sure Mike bought the story, but Jim had been very accommodating since he had reached his agreement with Coronel Enriquez, and Mike seemed willing to cut his friend some slack. So when they got back to the checkpoint outside of town, Jim had the Army guard check his records to find the note authorizing Jim’s guest to pass, and they made it through with a minimal wait.
Since it was late in the day when they got out to the farm, Jim made a sandwich and salad for his guest (which Luna gratefully accepted, since she hadn’t eaten since the morning), gave her a brief tour of his house, pointed out some key landmarks on his farm from his front porch, and then showed her to the guest room. It was only 9:00 PM when they both retired for the evening, since the day had been long for both of them. But nearly an hour later, without realizing what the other person was doing, both Luna and Jim were sitting on the edge of their respective beds in their separate rooms wondering what they had gotten themselves into.
The next morning, both guest and host seemed a bit more at ease. After breakfast, Jim offered to drive her closer to the alien craft, but Luna asked for a tour of the entire farm, of which Jim was only too happy to give. There wasn’t much to show, but Luna seemed genuinely appreciative of the trip and was pleasantly surprised to see the creeks running through the property and the ponds that Jim made sure to explain had fish quite worthy of a good backyard cookout.
Late morning they made it over to the fields near where the craft was parked. Jim explained that they wouldn’t be able to make it much closer, due to the perimeter fencing the Army had established. He did give her his binoculars for a better look. Luna was able to zoom in past the exterior fence row inside which the Army operated, past the interior fence row that no one had yet been permitted to pass, and got a view that nearly made her feel she was a hundred feet from the structure.
It wasn’t exactly what a younger Luna had imagined an alien spacecraft would look like. This had the appearance of an oddly designed small factory with half of the supports, pipes and ventilation shafts stuck on the outside. Jim shared how it looked when he saw the outside items grow and extend from the core structure, although he only saw it occurring from a distance. As of today, the other six craft the aliens talked about earlier in the week had all landed. While there were ‘live casts’ focused on each ship around the globe, most of them had started hours after the craft had landed in that spot. There were recordings that had been made of the ship near Mexico City starting moments before it touched down, however, since people had been on the lookout and had spotted the contrail to know where to begin transmitting. So Luna had seen those recordings on various casts already, but the in-person description Jim gave of this particular ship as she was seeing it with her own eyes, made it seem so much more real than anything she had brought up on her console back in Nebraska.
They returned back to Jim’s place, and after lunch (which Luna insisted on making for them both), they took a walk down the road and along the creek that crossed it about a half-mile away. Jim was normally quite comfortable being on his own and not having to be a good conversationalist, but he found himself continually asking questions about Luna’s family and her history, learning more about her interests in the larger universe. For her part, Luna was happy to talk about her ancestors, her older brother and his young family, and especially her Grandfather. She didn’t really talk about her parents much and shied away from any details about what she did for a living or other personal details. But when she talked about what drew her to study space, the stars, the planets, and what she found so fascinating about them all, the words couldn’t stop flowing. And this was something a bit different for Luna as well, since she – like Jim – was more the wallflower than the bright daisy drawing attention to herself.
That evening, Jim brought down a bottle of Rockcastle Bourbon and asked if Luna would like to toast her future adventures. He had gotten this from a cousin that had moved to Kentucky and brought a couple of bottles back as a gift to Jim for letting her stay at his place during a recent family reunion. Luna happily agreed to the toast. Without intending to, they finished three-fourths of the bottle over the next six hours, talking about the love of place, more about the stars, and sharing their complaints about rude people and what Jim referred to as out-of-town (meaning people not from Kansas or Nebraska) ‘road hogs and disturbers of the peace’, which Luna found particularly amusing and couldn’t stop giggling at for nearly five minutes. It was well past midnight by the time they both weaved and wobbled to their separate rooms, and well past sunrise by the time they woke up the next morning.
Luna came into the kitchen, embarrassed about the way she felt her hangover, wondering how much of a fool she had made of herself to this person who, for all intents and purposes, was a stranger. But at the same time, she was glad to see Jim already there – and especially glad to see and smell the fresh pot of coffee he had brewed.
“Good morning, Jim” she said as she came in, not wanting to surprise him as he was sitting at the table, facing the window and away from the staircase she had just come down.
Jim quickly turned around in his chair, set his coffee cup down and gave a weak but cheerful, “Good morning!” reply. He then stood up, pulled out a chair and said, “Please, sit down. I’ll get you some coffee.”
“Thanks,” Luna replied, “I could really use some.”
Jim filled up a cup, set it on the table, and before he sat down himself, went back to the coffee maker and brought the whole pot over to the kitchen table. After he sat down, they were both quiet for a bit, sipping at the strong brew he had made.
Finally, he opened up the conversation. “I apologize for last night. I didn’t intend for it to go like that, and hope you’re feeling OK this morning.”
Luna tilted her head up over her cup, looked at Jim a moment, and then got a big smirk on her face. “I wasn’t planning on it either, but it was a lot of fun. I just wish I didn’t have to pay for it this morning.”
“I’ll admit I’m feeling pretty rough myself,” Jim confided as he reached for the pot to fill his cup.
A bit more quiet passed between them and then Luna offered, “I can’t expect you to believe it without knowing me longer, but I don’t drink a lot.”
“Well, I never said you did,” Jim replied, sounding a bit defensive.
“It’s just that people still have this stereotype of Native Americans as being sedentary alcoholics, waiting for their casino dividend payment.,” Luna said, looking at her coffee. She wasn’t necessarily directing this thought to Jim but more so to the general population. Jim could tell this, since he saw the look on her face of someone who had thought about and dealt with this thought a lot. He didn’t think about stereotypes a lot, but he had to admit he could relate in his own way.
“People have false ideas about single guys living on a farm, too.,” Jim said with his defensiveness now becoming a chip on his shoulder. “I mean it’s like this idea of a “bachelor farmer” involves a guy who couldn’t get up the nerve to talk to a girl, or was too ugly or dumb or just creepy to get someone to marry him. And he was this person that had a basement of torture equipment and went off to a college town to kidnap some co-ed and stash her away down there.”
This made Luna snap out of her coffee stare and look at Jim, a bit taken aback at first. And then let a little grin appear. “I didn’t know there was a stereotype like that, but, gee, that sounds pretty unique, and a lot scarier than a drunk Indian,” she said to Jim.
Jim brought his thoughts back to the kitchen table, paused for thought, and said “Well, I don’t know if everyone has that idea, but I’m guessing some folks might.” And then he started grinning as well. “How about some breakfast?”, he asked.
They had a light meal of toast, cinnamon oatmeal and orange juice – along with plenty more coffee. It was going to be a busy day, and neither person felt like getting weighed down with a lot of food.
Today was seven days since the craft had landed, and it was the day that the state and federal governments agreed to let a limited number of volunteer colonists approach the alien craft. It was a bit of an odd process to work through, as it ended up being a negotiation worked out by the ESA communicating with the lead ship in the Ukraine. Each of the initial three sites: Seneca, Kansas; Kremenchuk, Ukraine; and outside the Omo Forest Reserve in Nigeria, would each allow 100 people to approach the craft that landed in their respective territory this day. All of the volunteers from each site would be taken inside the craft for no more than three hours. At which time, they would all be allowed to exit, return to answer questions from selected media and government contacts. After another maximum three hour time period had passed, those that still wanted to go would return to the alien craft to stay for 24 hours. After that, 10 of the volunteer colonists would come out the following day, and welcome the next 300 volunteers into the craft. Then the third day, 40 volunteers along with any of the initial group that had changed their mind would come out, and the final group of 600 new volunteers (plus any extra to fill in for those having second thoughts) would accompany them back to the craft.
The aliens had no clear understanding of what the ESA translators / ‘negotiators’ were getting at when the ESA first shared the idea of volunteers arriving in waves. But they were able to get two main points across. First, it would be chaos if any of the barriers that had been erected around the ships were removed and people were allowed to storm the craft. Second, it would be much more likely to avoid a repeat of the attack on Kremenchuk if people on Earth had more to convince them there was no direct harm by having interaction with the craft or the aliens. And so the aliens agreed to the plan, even though some felt they were lying by not understanding what was being agreed to.
Luna wanted to be on the first ship leaving. She wanted to even be part of the first 100 to go onboard. But Jim had talked her out of that plan yesterday, and got her to agree to being dropped off today with the understanding he would use his contacts with Sheriff Mike and the Coronel Enriquez to allow her to be part of the remaining group heading to the ship. While Jim realized he couldn’t promise this would be good enough, Luna felt it was better to use his connection than walk up to the Army checkpoint and say “Hello. I’m here to see the aliens.”
So after they finished breakfast, Luna showered, gathered all her goods, and was ready to leave by mid-morning. She placed her wallet on his kitchen table and said “I’ve got my ID card with me, so I won’t need anything else. Please keep the money as a thank you for letting me stay here. You can do whatever you’d like with the other items.”
This really threw Jim for a loop. “You’re leaving it here? What if you change your mind? What if you need anything in it?”
Luna had thought through the steps and had a ready answer. “I don’t think I’ll need to buy anything inside the alien gift shop, and I won’t be sending any post cards. The only reason I’m taking my commblock along is that I plan to take care of a few final transactions on the way, and then I’d like to leave that with you as well.”
Jim looked confused. Not because he didn’t understand what she was saying, but because he was struck by the finality of how it all sounded. He had to deal with some of this when his Dad had died five years back, but in that case, his father was already gone. All of the work he had gone through his adult life to establish his name, get a good credit rating, build up enough financial assets to allow him to continue the family farm business, ensure proper title to any new land he had acquired, and generally live a modern life had been a significant undertaking. The idea of closing everything out and leaving the remnants on someone’s kitchen table was something he really couldn’t wrap his head around. But he didn’t have anything that made sense to say in response, so he just nodded his head.
“I’m just going to fill up my water bottle, and then can we head out?”, Luna asked as she went over to the sink. Jim walked over and picked up her backpack. “I can get that,” Luna said when she saw what Jim was doing.
“Like I said, you’re my guest. I insist.”, he replied. And with that, they walked out to the truck.
Jim drove down the road and was quiet for nearly a minute as Luna was bringing up her bank account to transfer funds to her parents and cancel her credit account. Jim finally asked, “So you don’t want to change your mind?”
Luna looked up from the commblock at Jim, this time being the one with the confused look on her face. “Do what?”, she asked.
“Change your mind,” Jim replied. “It all sounds so final.”
Luna didn’t say anything in response, but just looked at him.
“I mean you seem like a great person and I’m sure there are so many opportunities for you here.”, Jim continued. “You can see how things work out for this first group and then join in later after you know it’s safe and all. You don’t have to head back to Fremont or wherever. You can stay at my place as long as you’d like.”
Then Luna spoke up. “Really? Now you’re becoming just like everyone else. ‘Luna, you don’t want to do this. This is a crazy idea, Luna!’ Well, it is what I want to do, and no – I am not crazy. This is one of the most logical things I’ve thought through in my entire life!” Luna returned her attention to the commblock and started typing and swiping with a fury. “I thought I had finally met someone who got me. Well, Jim Kaufmann, you certainly “got” me, didn’t you.” Tears started running down Luna’s cheeks. “You set me up, made me real comfortable and then, BAM, ‘You really wanna do this?'” Luna said in mocking male voice.
Jim realized he had gone too far. “I’m sorry, Luna. I can’t pretend to understand everything about you, but I do understand you are passionate about this and it means a lot. I can’t relate since I can’t imagine leaving everything behind that I’ve worked so hard for. But I know from what you told me over the past two days that this is what you’ve worked for. And if this means half as much to you as all my land, equipment, crops, and all of the sweat and effort I’ve invested in it mean to me, then you need to go. I’m sorry I said that, I wished I hadn’t, and I’m sorry for hurting you.” And with that, a tear ran down Jim’s cheek, which he quickly brushed away, but not before Luna got a glimpse of it.
Another minute of silence passed, with Jim looking out the windshield and Luna looking out the side window. This time, she broke the silence. “I know nobody really understands where I’m coming from. My parents don’t, my family doesn’t, my friends think it’s stupid. Even my Grandfather didn’t really get what I was trying to explain, and he understood me better than anyone else. But this is exactly what I’ve been dreaming of for over 25 years. I know it sounds weird that a three-year old would want to go into space, but ever since Grandfather explained to me what the lights in the sky at night were, that’s where my heart wanted me to go.”
Jim jumped in, “Then I’m honored to drop you off so you can start your journey there.”
Luna looked at him and smiled. “Thank you, Jim,” she said softly.
“That’s the fence a half-mile ahead, and as far as I can take you.,” Jim noted.
“Shit!”, Luna exclaimed as she looked down at her commblock and started quickly working the screen again. “Slow down, please. I need to finish this!”
Jim had to slow down anyway. Despite the Army control of the county roads, there was additional traffic today because of the initial volunteer approach. He pulled off to the side about 200 feet before the gate. Luna took another minute and then turned off the commblock’s power source. “The account is closed, so you shouldn’t have to worry about anyone contacting me on this.”, she said.
“What would you like me to do with this and with the wallet?,” Jim asked.
Luna looked at him, hesitated for a second, and then said “Hang onto them for a week please. After that, take them to a recycling center, if you don’t mind. Oh, and take the cash from the wallet! It’s not much, since I just wanted to make sure I had enough to get me here from Fremont. But no sense throwing that out.”
“Deal,” Jim answered. “I figured it would be easiest to walk the rest of the way, if that’s alright.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Luna replied. She and Jim both turned around to grab her backpack at the same time. “Jim, you’ve been a wonderful host, and I am truly glad you let me stay there. But I can’t be your guest any longer, and I need to carry this myself now.” Jim held on for a moment and then loosened his grip so Luna could take the pack.
They walked up to the guard, who had identified Jim as they approached. Jim was hoping Sheriff Mike would be out here today because of the activity, and Jim asked to talk to him. Thankfully his friend was there and came out of the guard building. Jim came clean on why Luna was there and asked for this third and final favor from his friend. Let her in the perimeter and let her be one of the people to get on the ship. The Sheriff was angry and began yelling about Jim being such a pain in the ass and that he was done with any friendship he had with him. Jim didn’t stop him and took the yelling without wincing.
Once the Sheriff was done, Jim looked at him. “You’re right, Mike. Everything you say is right. But I can tell you this is my third and final favor I’m asking. I promise you that if you do this for me, I won’t ask any more favors. You can do whatever you’d like with the farm. And I’ll even clear out of the house if you want me to. Just let this young lady in, and they’ll have the finest example of what it means to be a human being join them on their ship.”, Jim finished as he nodded towards the alien craft.
Sheriff Mike looked at him and asked “Are you serious?” Then he turned to Luna and said “Do you realize what sort of deal he’s trying to make for you, lady? This guy practically pulled out his shotgun to keep the U.S. Army off his farm, and now he’s willing to walk away from it all so you can go hop on a suicide trip?”
Luna began crying again. “Yes, Sheriff, I do realize what he’s doing. And I don’t think I could talk him out of it if I tried.”
“Dammit it, Jim. I’m a Sheriff, not your therapist. You have a habit of showing up at exactly the wrong time lately.” the Sheriff finally said. And he motioned for Luna to go ahead. Luna nearly squeaked with joy, turned and gave Jim a huge hug, a kiss on the cheek, and said “Thank you for everything, Jim. Don’t leave your farm unless they make you, OK?”
Jim nodded. “And send me a postcard and something from the gift shop when you get there, Luna. I’ll be checking my post box for packages.”
Luna started jogging to the gate, stopped, turned around to return to Jim, gave him a big kiss on the lips, and then ran to the gate without looking back.
Jim just stood there and watched her go inside the guard station. After a minute of waiting, he turned, went back to his truck, drove home and finished off the rest of the bourbon, sitting on his front porch, watching a Spring rainstorm come in from the west.