Traveller by L.W. Samuelson (reading comprehension books .txt) 📖

brother, I’ve done some very stupid things, but now is not the time or place to talk about them.”
Porter broke the spell of everyone thinking about the stupidest thing they had ever done by announcing, “Willy has a plane to catch in about forty-five minutes.”
Traveller, whose head hung low, looked up. “I hardly got to talk to you. We’ll have to get together soon. When is spring break?”
“Last week in March,” Willy said. “If we don’t make the NCAA tournament, I’ll give you a call.”
“If you do make it, maybe I can catch a game,” Traveller said suddenly realizing that Austin wasn’t in the room.
“Hey, what did you do with my friend?” he asked Porter.
“He was going to load Willy’s bags and wait in the Corolla,” the Benwarian replied.
“He okay?”
“He talked all the way home about the band and music. I think he’s feeling profoundly better,” said Porter.
Overcome with emotion, Traveller stood up from the table and approached Porter with his hand out. Porter beamed as he shook Traveller’s hand. He was able to control the tears until Traveller pulled him forward and hugged him.
“You can’t imagine how much that means to me,” Traveller said.
“That’s what it means to be a Benwarian, to leave the world a better place than you found it,” Porter replied as they parted.
While Porter and Traveller were having their moment, Willy was saying his good-byes to the rest of the people in the household. He had just hugged Lori goodbye and was now shaking hands with Jesse. “Damn Jesse, I be missin’ you like a bad cold. No, more like a cold sore. No, like a hot hemorrhoid..”
Jesse laughed. “You’re still upset about Tim and I beatin’ your butt to the spaceship. I can’t help if it white people are smarter than black and blue dudes.”
“You be a black and blue dude, you keep it up.”
“I hate to break you two love birds up,” said Porter, “but it’s time to go.”
“See you guys at the next Klan rally,” Willy said waving with a broad smile flashing white teeth like rows of corn as his friends shouted a final goodbye.
Once outside, Traveller and Willy sat in the backseat with Porter in the front passenger side. Austin was at the wheel whistling to a song on the radio. “Ready?” he asked after everyone was buckled in. “Let’s make like birds and get the flock out of here.”Chapter 48 - Contact with the Benwarians

Porter sat in the pilot’s seat of his spaceship talking to Traveller. He had backed the ship out of its hangar and sat it down in front of the compound’s doors. They were waiting for the moonless night to overcome the dusky light that was rapidly relinquishing its hold on the day.
“Your parents will be so glad to hear from you,” Porter said.
“And I them. I haven’t contacted the ship since we landed here.”
“I know. I download my journal log every three months. The Communications Office has a permanent request from your father and mother to ask about you. They don’t even know if you’re alive or not.”
“I’ve been so self-involved that I’ve rarely thought about my parents. Since your tea party, I’ve felt totally different about them and a lot of other things. I can’t believe my callous disregard for those I care about.”
“They will be so happy to hear from you that they won’t care what you were thinking about. Communications is going to patch your through to father’s lab so you can talk directly to him.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s a standing order from your father. Communications tells me every time I contact the ship.”
The compound dome had become black with the dark night. Porter used his remote to open the door before he engaged the pod’s thrusters causing it to glide out into the night air. “I’m going to elevate above the clouds before I contact Ship,” said Porter.
The ship’s engines engaged building up thruster pressure. The pod accelerated straight up into the night air passing through the thin, misty clouds. Ten thousand, eleven thousand, twelve thousand mezures, after rising another thousand mezures, Porter brought the ship to hover-stasis and contacted the Benwarian mother ship.
After his log containing atmospheric, oceanic, and terra form measurements of chemical compositions was downloaded, he gave the news to the communications technician. “Tell the Orgens I’ve made contact with their son. He’s in the pod with me now, if they would like to speak to him.”
“I’m instructed to immediately transfer this communication to Fa Orgen,” he said. Their was a slight blip on the screen before Traveller’s father appeared. “Yes?” he said when Porter appeared on his console.
“Fa Orgen. Greetings. I’ve found him.”
The normally stoic Benwarian visibly brightened. “How is he?”
Porter moved aside to let Traveller continue the communication. “I’m fine Father. How are you?”
A smile flashed briefly on Fa Orgen’s face before he regained his composure as he sat in his laboratory. “Traveller, how nice to see you. You can’t imagine how worried your mother has been. From all accounts, the world you find yourself in is a hostile, violent one. It seems humans are full of Lizerian aggression. We thought you might have fallen prey to their thirst for blood.”
“They are not that bad. I’ve actually made some great friends. Most humans aren’t violent. How is Mother?”
“I’m going to transfer you to our quarters. You can see for yourself. Take care. I hope to talk with you again”
Another slight blip and suddenly Traveller was viewing his parent’s living room. A second later, his mother appeared on screen. “Yes?” she inquired, staring at someone that seemedt too old to be her son.
“It’s me, Mother. How are you?”
“Traveller? My Traveller? By the universe, you look so much older,” she said with tears in her eyes. “Oh Traveller, I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“I’m very well. And you?”
“You’ve lifted a heavy weight from my heart. I felt so guilty after you left. I thought it was my fault.”
“Not at all, Mother. I was bored.”
Traveller visited with Mame’ Orgen for several minutes relating some of his more sanguine adventures before the communication’s technician interrupted them. “General Battier will speak to you now.”
Traveller barely had time to say good bye before General Battier’s stern countenance appeared. “I see you’re still alive. I wondered after Space Pod Three’s signature ended. What happened?”
“It was shot down by the United States Air Force,” Traveller replied.
“That is a blatant act of aggression! You had no offensive or defensive capabilities. The pod posed no threat. Why did they destroy it?”
“I was spotted. They intercepted me and ordered me to land. The pilot warned me that I would be fired upon if I didn’t. I didn’t want to compromise the other Benwarians’ presence so I engaged self-destruct just before they shot. I obliterated all evidence of our existence. I’m sorry.”
“And well you should be. You’re lack of judgment and training have cost us a valuable resource. I’ll have the engineering team prepare offensive as well as defensive weapon systems before we get to Earth. We cannot risk any more damage from these primitive barbarians.”
“But General, they are …”
General Battier cut him off, “You forfeited an opinion when you subverted our mission. Don’t waste my time with your ill-considered views. Put Fa Tellez back on.”
“Yes sir,” Traveller said miserably.
“I commend you for finding our young renegade. You are to keep him with you and employ him as you see fit,” the general ordered.
“Yes sir,” Porter answered. “Anything else?”
“Yes. Find out all you can about the primitives’ weapon systems and technologies. I don’t want to be caught unawares when we land,” the general answered before communications ended.
“What have I done?” Traveller asked as Porter cut the transmission.
“You’re not responsible for what is going to happen. The general’s job is to protect the Benwarians aboard ship. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Okay, but he ordered you to keep me with you. No offense Porter, but I’m an adult. I don’t want to stay with you.”
Porter smiled. “There’s something about Earth that makes one into a renegade. I was told not to interact with the “primitives.” What’s he going to do when he finds out I married one?”
“So you’re not going to try and keep me with you?”
“You are so good at stealth and subterfuge that you’ll escape from beneath my very nose,” Porter said smiling.
“Thank you, Porter. General Battier means business. Will he destroy the human population?” Traveller asked.
“General Battier is under the command of the Sanctum Just. He’ll do what they tell him to.”
“But won’t they have to eliminate humans to save the planet?”
“I don’t know,” Porter said to keep Traveller from getting upset. “I do know that that’s a question we don’t have to worry about. The decision isn’t in our hands.”
The two men rode in silence as the pod descended. Porter hummed gently as Traveller thought about what the general had said. He felt bad about losing the pod, about the heavy burden his mother had felt worrying about whether her son had survived or not. I’ll do something to redeem myself he thought.
The pod whirred to a stop in front of the docking doors. Porter pressed a button on the console and they separated. When he moved the spaceship inside, the panels slid shut again. Porter came to a gentle stop cutting the engines.
Porter had been deep in thought for several minutes; it worried Traveller to see that something was bothering his fellow Benwarian. “What’s the matter?” he finally asked.
“I’m worried that you don’t understand the culture you came from. Our biologists have discovered that the main driving force of all living organisms is to procreate to keep one’s genes in the pool of existence. We are no different. The Sanctum Just’s primary goal is to ensure the survival of the Benwarian race. That comes first. After that prime objective, their goal is to preserve all other life forms.
“In the predicament we find ourselves in, saving Earth and establishing a sustainable civilization for our people must take precedence over all other considerations. This is what we were told in our last briefing. The Sanctum Just’s second consideration will probably be to restore the balance of nature. I suspect that once they discover how similar humans are to us that they will want to save the more evolved members of this civilization.
“Unfortunately, humanity is creating more problems than they are solving. The planet already suffers from many symptoms of overpopulation. The atmosphere, hydrosphere, and terrasphere all suffer from the build up of harmful chemicals and other pollutants. My measurements of green house gases in the air and mercury and other chemicals in the water clearly demonstrate a rapidly accelerating degradation of the environment.
“My projections of population increases and the resultant increase in heat trapping particulates indicate that the “tipping point” whereby Earth will spiral into environmental chaos and the damage caused becomes irreversible will occur in approximately thirty-five years. Earth will lose its ability to sustain life in the second decade of the twenty-first century unless we can effect the changes needed to preserve the integrity of the planet,” Porter concluded.
Traveller shook his head vehemently from side to side. “It isn’t going to happen. There are too many people to educate and too few leaders to make a difference in their consciousness. It would take a massive shift in the way this civilization is headed.”
“I agree. The only thing we can do is educate all those we come in contact with in the hopes that they will be saved from the purge. I hope