The Old Man peered into the round Monitor that rose from the floor of the ship, which was set into a shielded geostationary orbit of 22,236 miles high over the World. The Monitor gave off a eerie greenish glow that lit up his face in the otherwise darkened hold of the vessel.
“Well, I’ll be Hogged”, he muttered, “So that’s how things worked out.”
"It appears to be so”, drifted a thought from one of the silent silverly beings gathered around him.
”Are you not pleased, Grant ?”“No tears being shed over that spineless weasel Crabblesnitch, that’s for sure”, Grant mused, “But I cana hardly kin to all them other happenings, what with all that evil being spread about down there.”
"Much evil is inherent in your race, is that not so ?”, drifted the thought from another of the silverly beings.
“Tis so”, Grant answered, “Seen a lot of that in the War. But...There is some good, lika that boy I teached how to fight, and some o’ them that came after that.”
”They need proper guidance, from those who would teach them”, drifted the thought from yet a third one of the silvery beings, who appeared to be somewhat the Leader.
“You were a Teacher of them once, were you not ?”“Aye, for awhile, till that cursed drink took me over”, Grant replied, his eyes watering just a bit. “It was all too much despair, it was, that drove me to it....So much corruption, so much waste....Too much evil influences on them for me to be able to overcome...”
”You could go back now”, a thought drifted suddenly from a fourth silvery being,
”The Corrupt Ones have been vanquished for now, though others will arise to take their place without intervention.”“Go Back ?”, Mr. Grant exclaimed. Startled, he lifted his gaze from the Monitor. “Nah, I be too old...Besides that, I like bein’ with you fellows. That’s why I built that Transmitter, so’s your Ship here would come beam me up, away from all that madness down there.”
“Age does not matter, Grant”, the thought from the fourth silvery being came, stronger this time.
”We can restore what you call your DNA to an earlier time in it’s cycle. You can be whole again, at the peak of your corporeal strength.”“But I wanna stay here”, Grant said, the thin whine of an old man showing through in his voice, a whine he hated. “It’s safe here, and I don’t hafta get any older and don’t never hafta die, like you fellows.”
”That is not the way of the Universe, Grant”, the thought from third silverly being came.
”You are corporeal, we are not. But everything dies in due time, even us. The Universe itself will end in a cataclysm some trillions of years hence.”“That doesn’t seem very fair”, Grant commented. “Life is most Precious.”
”Indeed so”, the third silverly being’s thought replied,
”But everything comes to an end....Worlds, Stars, Galaxies....All are born and all will die.”“I still wanna stay”, Grant said stubbornly, “Like them others you fellows told me about. The ones you returned to the Earth.”
”Those were the enlightened ones we trained to help save your planet from extinction”, the thought drifted from the third silverly being.
”Many of them were with us for years as you count time, and were released at a high place called the Devil’s Tower in your year of 1978.”The irony was not lost on Mr. Grant as to the location of the release of the Earth’s Saviors. He had been, after all, a Teacher of such things. “So long ago...”, he mused. “Did they do any good ?”
”Your world has not yet destroyed itself”, the thought came from the first silvery being.
”It is all we can hope for. In your future, more evil will arise.”“Exactly why I wanna stay here”, Mr. Grant answered. “I’m done with all that nonsense.”
”It will not be possible for you to stay”, the thought from the third silvery being revealed.
”We must leave soon for our home. What you know of as a wormhole, our way back, will close soon.”“Then...Take me with you !”, exclaimed Mr. Grant. “I won’t no trouble, honest !”
”That will not be possible”, a thought drifted from a fifth silverly being, deeper in the vast bowels of the ship. Grant could not see this one in the darkness, but knew somehow that this being was akin to the Chief Engineer of the ship.
”Inside the Event Horizon on the way to our home, this vessel will be stretched into a wire string many parsects in length. Your corporeal form would not survive such a thing.”"Gorr, that's too bad", Mr. Grant said dejectedly. "You Sure 'bout that ?"
"Most definitely, Grant", the fifth silverly being drifted the thought,
"You would be stretched like one of your worm-beings.""Then...Why don't you fellow just hang around to the next Wormhole opens up ?", Mr. Grant said hopefully.
"Alas, we cannot", the thought from the third silvery bring drifted,
"We are near the end of our mission here, nearly 62 of your years, as you count time....There is only one revolution of your world before we must leave, else we will not have enough blue fuel to power the long travel back.“Blue Fuel ?”, Mr. Grant asked, “What is that ?”
”It is the Fuel of the Stars”, the thought drifted from the fifth silvery being.
”It is how we power our Craft. Behold !”A shimmer appeared, and it was like Grant could see through the whole ship, as if it was translucent. In one part, what resembled Blue Sapphire Gems pulsed brightly, their color going from dark blue to light blue and back again, over and over.
“Dilithium Crystals !”, Mr. Grant exclaimed, thinking of Star Trek.
”If that is what you wish to call them”, the first silvery being’s thought floated his way.
”They are of Immense Power, and must be mined from the Blue Dwarfs themselves.”“They glow !”, Mr. Grant said, fascinated. “Are they hot ?”
”When they were Star-Matter, they were indeed very hot, as you know heat, millions of your degrees”, the thought from the fifth silvery being informed him.
"But cooled and condensed, they give off their power by Cold Fusion. That is why they pulse.” ”But as in everything, there are limits to their power”, a thought floated from the fourth silverly being.
”While they allow us to do many things, their power is not Immortal.”“Could a fellow....Rule a Planet with one of them Rocks ?”, Mr. Grant asked.
”No, it would take much more than one”, the thought from the second silverly being answered,
”And they are very dense. While in Space they weigh not much, but in gravity, they weigh very much, as their molecules are packed tightly together.”“But...You fellows could carry some down there”, Mr. Grant speculated, “Mebby do some good for the World....End the Madness !”
”No, we could not survive long on your world”, the thought from fourth silverly being drifted in.
”There is only one way, and that was already tried.”“Tried ?”, Mr. Grant asked, “Tried how ?”
”About 400 of your years ago, some of ours went down to your Planet”, the thought answered him from the third silverly being.
”They...Incorporated themselves into some of your being’s DNA, using the power from the Blue Fuel. But by becoming mostly Human, they corrupted themselves. They were no longer us, they became....A Mutation.”“What happened to them ?”, Mr. Grant asked, “Where did they go ?”
”We do not know what became of them”, floated the thought of the third silverly being.
”They went down to a place you call England. But since they were no longer us, but mostly Human, contact was lost after their forms....The bodies they inhabited....Ceased to live.”“So...They Died ?”, Mr. Grant said, “I thought you fellers lived a long, long time ?”
”Yes, that is so, Grant”, the thought flowed from the third silverly being.
”We are not corporeal as you are. But by inserting their essence into your kind’s DNA, they became mortal.””And not only that, they changed from themselves, from their thinking”, floated the thought of the second silverly being.
”Long before contact was lost, they had organized themselves into what your people refer to as a Cult.”Mr. Grant sat considering. “Well, I’ll be Hogged. I suppose we are just way too different after all”, he mused. “So, why take the effort with our World ? What does that matter to your kind ?”
He could almost see the Alien smile as it answer floated to him,
”If properly guided, your Earth will gain enlightenment, and your people will ascend and leave their corporeal forms behind. They will travel the Stars as we do, and nourish others along their way in this part of the Galaxy, as we do. That is why we take and teach those of your kind, it is why we watch. There are many who have come before us, and many will come after us, until your fellow beings are able to do as we do, for every World needs a Teacher.”Mr. Grant understood then. It was finally clear to him what he needed to do. So it was in 2009, he was returned to the Earth as a young man, and in the year of Tony Calderone’s Graduation, he was hired as the new History Teacher at Bullworth Academy.
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----{END OF CHAPTER 10}----
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END OF THE BULLWORTH NEVER ENDING STORY