THE OLD MAN ACROSS THE STARS

By Terry Joy

     “But Mr. Anderson, don’t you think that in all the galaxies in the universe there’s another planet with life on it?”
     “Well, Timmy, to me there’s nothing but stars ‘n planets ‘n stuff out there, and even if there was anybody like you or me, I’d think they’d want to find out if they weren’t all alone too.”
     Shawn Anderson paused and gathered his thoughts while Tim munched on an oatmeal cookie.  He was a crusty octogenarian, set in his ways, and skeptical of any new-fangled technology.  Tim took a swallow of milk.
     “Yep, Timmy, I think God made us alone in all this universe.  As far as I’m concerned we’re the only life in existence.”  Tim, silent and in deep thought, pondered Mr. Anderson’s words, and slowly spoke.
     “Ya know Mr. Anderson; I’d like to be an astronaut when I grow up and be one of the first men to find life on other planets.”
     Shawn grinned.
     “Well Timmy I suppose that’s the dream of every twelve-year old boy.  Ya know, you’re pretty smart Tim, I think you’d make a good astronaut, but I don’t think you’re going to find anything out there.”  He smiled at Tim and remembered being young and having dreams and the time to fulfill them.
     Tim realized Mr. Anderson might be tired. 
     “Well, I gotta go now, Mr. Anderson, thanks for the milk and cookies, I’ll see you later.
     “Good-bye, Timmy, take care of yourself now.”

     Tim Stover was a shy, quiet twelve-year old, the kind who spoke only when he was spoken to, but when he did speak, he meant what he said.  He was unusually intelligent for his age and did well in school.  Naturally, for a boy wanting to be an astronaut, his favorite subject was science.
     It was a beautiful spring afternoon.  He unbuttoned his coat as he walked down the street in the warm sunshine.  He thought of his old friend and the conversation that just ended.  “Mr. Anderson is a nice old man, but I just can’t see why he doesn’t think there’s life on other planets.  Poor old guy, he’s living in a shell.  I can’t believe he’s so narrow-minded.  He should get out of his house more and enjoy himself and meet some other old people.  Oh well, he’s an old man now, so I guess he can do what he wants.”

     Tim was rounding the corner a couple of blocks from his house when a big shiny black SUV drove up, slowed down and stopped in front of him.  Tim saw the official NASA insignia on the door.  Inside were a couple of middle-aged men with short hair and expensive-looking clothes.

“What’s going on?” Tim thought to himself.  The man on the passenger side got out and called to him.
     “Are you Tim Stover?”  Tim stopped and looked at the man.
     “Yeah.”
     “Tim, my name is John Bellinger, I’m from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, division of Inter-planetary science.  I know this may sound strange to you, but it’s very important that you come with me now.  There’s no need to be scared or frightened, I won’t hurt you.  This is a matter of national concern.”
     “What’s this all about?”
     “We’re in a hurry Tim.  Hop in and I’ll tell you along the way.”
     Very slowly Tim approached the car, opened the rear door, and sat down.  The driver pushed on the accelerator and drove down the street.
      “Listen Tim, you may find this hard to believe, but around 10 O’clock this morning intelligent, human-like life arrived from the Andromeda galaxy.  The two persons on board the spacecraft talk, walk, have emotions, feelings, and personalities exactly as humans do.  Now the strange thing is that they are both exactly identical to you.”
     Tim was shocked, silent, listening.
     “We were really shocked they resembled human beings like us, but we still don’t know everything about them.  They just might be harmful to us, we don’t know, that’s why we’re taking you to the Space Center in Houston now.  Our scientists there want to take a few tests with you as a control to see if there’s any danger or risk with having these aliens on earth.  Right now this whole thing is top secret, we don’t want to expose these extra-terrestrials to publicity yet, they might react negatively.  That’s why we can’t tell your parents about this and why we picked you up when no one else was around.”
     “We’re keeping them guarded and quarantined at the Center, so there shouldn’t be any problem.”
     The car pulled into the airport.
     “We’ll board a jet here and be in Houston in about 10 minutes.”

     Tim tried to comprehend the events of the past hour.  He knew his parents would be worried because he should have been home a half hour ago.  But he was on his way to Houston, this was the first time he had ever been on an airplane, and he couldn’t do anything about getting home.  He remembered talking with Mr. Anderson about life on other planets, and now finding out that there is life on other planets—and it looks just like himself!  Right now he found it hard to believe.  Tim was not the kind of boy who could be easily fooled.  But the way things were going now he almost had to believe it.                                          
     Two NASA officials greeted Mr. Bellinger and Tim as they stepped off the plane.  They walked briskly to a waiting car and drove off to the Space Center.
     Tim was both excited and nervous in anticipation of what was to come.  “This is too much,” he thought to himself, “this just can’t be true, I’m dreaming, I’ve got to be dreaming.  People from another planet who look exactly like me?  That’s impossible, I can’t believe it.  And now I’m on the way to the Space Center—the place where all the astronauts train!”
     “O.K. Tim, we’re here.”  Tim slowly stepped out and followed the men into one of the modern gray and black glass buildings.  They walked down a corridor, entered an elevator, and walked out on the tenth floor.  They walked down another long hallway and entered a door with the name HERBERT ASHBURG, M.D. emblazoned across the top.  Mr. Bellinger opened the door and Tim and the two men followed.
     “Good afternoon, Doctor”
     “Oh, John, you’re back, and not a moment too soon.”  Doctor Ashburg looked over at Tim.
     “This must be Tim Stover.  How are you, Tim?  Welcome to Houston.”  He reached out his hand and clutched Tim’s.
     “As I’m sure Mr. Bellinger told you, we’re going to do some tests, which should only take about twenty minutes.  If the tests prove that the alien people are harmless, we’ll arrange a news conference and inform the rest of the world of this happening.  Either way, Tim, you’re going to be famous.”
     “The scientists here were astounded when they found out the spacecraft was piloted by two boys, and almost equally astounded again when we all found out there was a boy on earth that resembled them exactly.”
     “Well, it’s just about time, gentlemen.  Shall we proceed?”

     The tests were all affirmative.  Tim had not yet seen the aliens, and his head was spinning.  “Gosh, if what they say is true, it’ll be just like looking in a mirror,” he thought.  He had been kept in a small exam room while the testing was going on.  His mom and dad were probably worried sick by now.  He remembered his homework and the geography report due tomorrow.  He wondered if he would get it done.
      Doctor Ashburg came into the room.
     “It’s O.K. Tim, the aliens are exactly like us in almost every way, and there’s no danger or risk.  We’ve talked with them and they’ve agreed to speak at the press conference and tell us about themselves and their planet.  I’ve told them about you and they’re quite anxious to meet you.  They’re in the pressroom now.  Shall we head down there?”
     Tim followed him out the door and into the hallway as the thoughts raced through his head.  He began to wonder again.  “Why do these people from outer space look like me?  I haven’t even seen them yet; maybe they really don’t look like me.  Man, what a weird day, first I’m talking to Mr. Anderson about life on other planets, the next thing I know people from another planet land on earth and look just like me.  My God, something like this only happens in science fiction movies.”
     Tim was led through a door labeled PRESS ROOM.  He prepared himself for a shock.
     Their eyes locked on Tim’s, who stood there petrified with fear.  Although their clothes were different, their face, hair, hands, size, everything was exactly the same as Tim’s.  Doctor Ashburg made the formal introduction:
     “Tim, uh, this is Tim Stover number forty-two and Tim Stover number forty-three.”  His voice was slow and shaky.
     Tim Stover number forty-two, showing courage and friendliness, spoke first.
     His voice was even the same as Tim’s.  Tim was dumbfounded, totally confused, he didn’t know what to say.  He stood there frozen, staring at the aliens, his heart was pounding and he broke out in a sweat.  Everyone in the room was looking at him.
     Suddenly Doctor Ashburg spoke up to ease Tim’s discomfort.
     “Uh…. the conference is supposed to start soon, so we’d better be on our way.         
     Tim was shaking now.  Doctor Ashburg looked at him.
     “It’s O.K. Tim, it’ll be O.K, just follow me.”

     Tim and the two alien space travelers sat in front of a large table with microphones pointing at each one of them.  Out in the auditorium reporters and photographers were talking, smoking and adjusting their cameras.  Doctor Ashburg addressed them:
     “Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, today, at approximately ten this morning, here at the Space Center in Houston, human life from a planet in the Andromeda galaxy contacted us and landed at our airport.  The most amazing thing about these two people is that they both bear an exact resemblance to Tim Stover, a twelve-year old boy from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who is seated to my left.  These people are friendly, harmless, and right now, anxious to talk to you.  Let me introduce Tim Stover number forty-two.”
     “Thank you, Doctor.  As Doctor Ashburg said, we come from a planet in the Andromeda galaxy, where approximately two million of us live.  We are all members of the Stoveroid race and our society is much the same as yours.  In our galaxy, there are over six billion planets, each inhabited by identical individuals, and these individuals are all copies of everyone on earth, just as number forty-three and I are copies of Tim Stover here.”
     The auditorium was frozen in silence. You could hear yourself breathe. 
     “As for our reason for being here, a great debate and controversy has divided our planet.  For the past few months we have been wondering if life existed outside our galaxy.  Various reasons have been proposed for and against the speculation, and we decided that the only way to find out was to start exploring the universe.  We were very lucky we discovered Earth; we really didn’t have any set course.  It all happened just by chance that we were able to come close and contact this planet.”
      Number forty-two spoke with an intelligence and maturity well beyond his years.  He was almost a seasoned professional in front of the press.
     “By far, the most amazing thing we’ve discovered is our resemblance to Tim Stover here.  We’re just about as shocked as he is.  It’s amazing that even our names are the same.  I can see how it would be hard to believe that number forty-three and I come from another world.”

     After the press conference was over, Doctor Ashburg, the Stoveroids, Tim and Mr. Bellinger went back to Doctor Ashburg’s office.  Tim Stover number forty-two spoke:
     “Doctor Ashburg, now that we have discovered the life we were supposed to find I think it’s about time that we make our return trip.  But before we do leave, Doctor, I think we should take Tim here back with us.”
     “Tim and Doctor Ashburg cast a nervous glance at each other but didn’t say a word.
     “Our president, Tim Stover number one, instructed us to bring back some examples of the life that we discovered to show to all the Stoveroids.  Our scientists will be very pleased to see Tim, since he’s identical to us, yet comes from another planet.”
     Doctor Ashburg responded.
     “I’m afraid you can’t do that, you see, we have to get Tim back home tonight.”
     “Fine, we can have him back in two hours.”
     “TWO HOURS!  That’s impossible!  The Andromeda galaxy is two and a half million light years away, you can’t travel that distance in two hours.”
     “Yes we can, Doctor.  Our ship travels about a billion times the speed of light.  We can have him back here by ten o’clock tonight.”
     Not knowing what to do or say, Doctor Ashburg looked at Mr. Bellinger.
     “Well, what do you think, John?”
     “I dunno, Herb, I guess it’s O.K., as long as they get him back in time.”
     “We will, Mr. Bellinger, there’s no need to worry,” said number forty-two, “We’ll get him back in time.”

     The return trip was the best part for Tim.  So far, he hadn’t said a word all the time he was with the Stoveroids.  Then he remembered what Tim Stover number forty-two had said at the press conference and got an idea.  He was sitting in the Stoveroids’ spaceship blistering through the universe as he spoke to them for the first time.
     “Can you take me to the planet that has all the Shawn Anderson’s on it?  He’s my best friend on Earth, and I was wondering if I could talk to him for a while.”
     Tim Stover number forty-two looked at him for a moment, then at number forty-three.
     “Well, Tim, let me see.”  Number forty-two looked through his planet directory.  “Yes, I think we can, you might get home a little later though.  Before we get there I guess I should tell you there’s probably not a person on that planet that thinks there’s life outside of their galaxy.  They were one of the most vociferous groups against life on other planets in our debate on inter-planetary life.  They’ll be quite shocked to see you as well as us.”
     Tim Stover number forty-two looked over to his cohort.
     “Put us on an Anderon trajectory.  Tim wants to see his friend.”
     “Anderon trajectory set.” He replied.

     About five minutes later they landed near a small town on the planet.  Tim and number forty-two got out and walked down a street—there wasn’t a soul in sight.  It was a bright sunny day and the air was clear and fresh.  Tim looked around, the houses seemed strangely familiar, and then he saw it.
     “Gosh, that’s Mr. Anderson’s house, the one on Earth,” he shouted, “I wonder if he’s home.”
     “Why don’t you go up and knock?  He’ll be glad to see you,” said number forty-two.
     Tim felt his knuckles hit against the hard wood of the door.  After a moment Shawn Anderson number two hundred thirty-six appeared at the door.
     “Yes?” he said.
     “Mr. Anderson, my name is Tim Stover, can I ask you a question?”
     “Why sure, young man, go ahead.”
     “Do you think there’s intelligent life outside of this galaxy?”
     Mr. Anderson number two hundred thirty-six stared at the boy intently, thought for a while, then replied.
     “Why sure there is, God didn’t make us to live all alone in this universe, there’s got to be someone out there besides us.”