He pushed the lever up with a thud
and watched the di-chro-locator spin down, the three number panels slowing from
a black blur to individual numbers. The Donsalvians tempered their elaborate
sense of justice with a great sense of humor. It was easy to appreciate when
your lifespan measured in the thousands of years rather than a few decades, of
course.
They were also, unfortunately,
great sticklers for their baroque laws, which all Donsalvians began to learn in
utero, during their twelve year gestation. They had tried to modify the
training systems for his use, but they only gave him migraines. Even his
handler hadn’t been able to prevent his simple blunders on the few occasions of
freedom he had won or wheedled.
The court had acknowledged that
their sentences were not fair to someone with such a small fraction of their lifespan.
They modified them proportionately. But they would not – could not – waive his
responsibility to follow the letter of the law. Every single one. He never had
a day of freedom that didn’t result in another sentence. The court did at least
grant that his sentences should be carried out within the scientific compound,
so that he could continue to work with the think tank brought together to
rebuild his capsule and send him home.
If only they could find it. As
they learned to communicate externally with Henry, then to share knowledge via
external sensory perception, the scientists realized he was not the dumb animal
they had first believed. Their frames of reference were farther apart than any
of them could imagine. Whatever the confluence of the wild storm that brought
his mangled capsule to Donsalvian space and shores, he did not recognize a
single star system in any of their navigation records.
It was only by chance that
Peeehuuullbia had been sitting quietly at her research station near Henry’s quarters
and began humming a tune so familiar to him, he raced out to join her. Shouting
the notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Henry grabbed her loose tentacles and
swirled her around the room. She blushed blue and purple and slid away to put a
table between them. He hadn’t realized the purpose of those tentacles before.
That cost him another sentence for indecency, although she refused to accuse
him of sexual assault.
Peeehuuullbia spent weeks digging
through the audio records until she found the one that contained the music she
had enjoyed so much. She brought it to Henry, and he cried as he listened to
the Voyager Golden Record. Surely, now they could send him home.
If only they could figure out
where that was. And when it was. And intersect the right dimension. Which, as
it turns out, is harder than you might think.
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Dogs in house
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Houdini, Brindle
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Time writing:
|
40 minutes
|
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July word
count:
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5,098
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