Message from Friends

     They heard a squeaking sound coming from one of the large blue consoles. 

It started to "speak" in English. "Now that we've got your attention, the first thing we 

want to tell you is that you are in a very real danger. The two young fellows who 

kidnapped you are not very nice people. You have to escape. The good news is that

you've got friends on this world who can and will help you. After you climb back up to 

the surface, you'll notice a grove of very tall trees about half a mile in the same 

direction that you were headed when you fell into the pit. Walk down to the right of 

that grove and you'll see a large red house about another half mile along. Go there 

and we'll contact you there. Make as little noise as possible along your way."

     Rinny was very tired and very hungry from all this, and as they approached the 

"large red house" he began to wonder if they were really here, crossing this soggy 

field or if he was hallucinating somehow. "No way a dream could be this wet and 

uncomfortable", he thought. "Where are we, Shep?" Shep responded to the feat in 

his little brother's voice and answered. "We're on our way home Rinny", and he 

remembered getting lost with him when they were very young, in an amusement  

park, both of them crying, just before their mom found them.  "Remember 'New 

Atlantis' Rinny?", and they both started to laugh, 

 

                                                              The Pit

     Their first escape attempt started late at night when they figured their captors 

were fast asleep. They had noticed a window up toward the front of their apartment 

and hoped they would be able to open it without making any noise. When Rinny 

questioned the logic of making a break for it, Shep had answered, "got any better 

ideas?", and so he just followed along. After all, he was the younger brother. 

     It opened easily and in less than a minute they were standing in the middle of 

what could have been a courtyard. It was still too dark to tell and they were simply 

feeling their way around. 

     There was a gate, and out they went, "free" in some other world sense. "Keep 

going", Shep kept whispering to him. The idea was to put more and more distance 

between themselves and wherever it was that  they were being held "prisoners."

     About an hour out and Rinny said, "it's getting lighter, there must be some kind of 

sun here." He felt more comfortable. It's funny how a sunrise on a different world can 

make you feel more at home.

 

                                                             Active Duty and 

                    Intro to the Escape from the Tuna Fish

    

    Both Rinny and Shep had added reserve officer training to their study rosters in 

college. It saved them time and allowed them to enter their active duty at a higher 

rank. Military service had become compulsory in the US since the 50's because of 

the widespread terrorism from the East. Both young men and women who reached 

the age of 18 had to serve in the military, the men for four years and the women for 

two.

     Six months of concentrated training, and they were posted with a working unit

in their chosen specialty. Often, because of the need for personnel, they were 

appointed more or less arbitrarily to units well outside of their experience. This was 

often the subject of much humor. Taking care of guard dogs for example became 

known as "Zoo Duty". The dogs were notorious for their nonstop hyperactive 

"playing" with their caretakers. They had been trained to immobilize terrorists and 

they would play at this with their caretakers. If you started to move, they'd growl 

and bring you to the ground. Unless you blew the whistle. This you had to learn. 

     Another "all hands" activity was "shield and baton" combat which had been 

developed to a fine art and which no terrorist could stand up to for more than a few 

seconds. The problem with this was that it often turned into serious brawls with  

broken necks and limbs following clashes. They called this "The Rodeo". 

     

     Both Shep and Rinny had a shared interest in something else they learned in 

their advanced training. "Real Space Sliding". They added "life saving techniques" 

to their list of personal interests in their early surveys and found themselves on 

similar courses jumping from a helicopter-type craft into water, as well as high 

altitude gliding in body suits that featured extendable "wings" and navigable "sails", 

again allowing maneuverability into otherwise physically forbidding terrain for 

similar type rescue efforts. This would develop into personal techniques which 

were great fun for the both of them and which they called "real space sliding" This 

would prove extremely important to them in their escape from "Tuna Fish" which is 

what they called the prison-like lock up they found themselves in later. 

"All they want to do is skeeze;" Rinny pleaded. "That's what they say. Let them

skeeze wherever and whenever they want. We're getting out of here!" Shep

answered sharply. "The next time they move us up the ski slope, we go. There's

three feet of fresh snow. We slide down. You know real space slide down,"

That was it, they were going to jump right out the side doors! And that's exactly

what they did, on Shep's count. "Three, two, one - jump"

There's never been so much commotion on Stowe's slopes - ever!

"We were abducted by aliens who wanted skeezing lessons - I swear," said

Shep.

You can imagine the laughter. "Sure, what have you been drinking, and who was

flying that helicopter?" The rescue team asked. "Never mind" - Rinny joined in,

nudged Shep, and said "we were just playing around" 'Yeah, you're lucky you're still

alive. That must have been twenty to thirty meters. The snow saved you!"

     

 

                                                                The Abduction

     It was early April and great weather for skeezing. Bret Halloway had been 

credited with designing the first pair of practical skeezos. "You can skeeze all day

or for a hundred yards", he'd say, "whichever comes first". Then he'd laugh. The 

entire skeeze population would laugh too. Skeezing had a rough but intensely 

enthusiastic start. Built somewhat like ordinary skis, they had rotating wheels with

plates that bit into the snow, built-in under and behind the boot area, that propelled 

the skeezos forward. They were powered by a mixture of liquified hydrocarbon 

gases they called "go-juice" which drove a generator that powered the skeeze 

rotors. The entire generator fit neatly onto a backpack and would, in fact, power the 

skeezos all day if needed. "The days of ski lifts were over. The world is your 

mountain." The ads would say, 

     Maybe these ads had made their way to a far off galaxy and tickled  the curiosity

of two teenage aliens who found it a simple matter to cruise their little sport 

spaceship to the ski mountain area of Stowe Vermont. 

     More interesting, perhaps, was how the two had managed to dress in the 

appropriate skeeze custom and position themselves at the top of the new skeeze 

slope, SKEEZOO, bodily and hurriedly painted out in six foot red lettered signs, 

and pointed to the slope entrance which required a modest payment before 

entering.

     It was here that two galactic cultures held their first historic meeting of minds.

"Excuse me sir, how do we get through the entrance here?" Rinny, immediately 

realized that these guys were new here and were also probably from another state 

altogether judging from their accents. "Don't worry about it, follow me. Be my 

guests." This is what happens to even the best trackers when they simply don't 

follow up on their hunches. An hour later, both Rinny and Shep found themselves 

in a large salon, of very unusual proportions and furnishings. One very large 

"window" and an incredibly beautiful "sunset" if you can imagine a deep violet-blue 

sun setting against a blue sky and another pale yellow "sun", not so far from it, 

setting as well. 

     "Is this a dream?", Rinny asked. "No", came the reply. "It's just the way we 

transport you." Both Rinny and Shep threw up and were given towells and 

something like tea to clean up and settle their stomachs. 

 

                                                   Dancing with Veronica 

     Sometimes things just seem to happen all by themselves. Rinny didn't dance. He 

never learned how to dance or even played at dancing when he was young. He was 

not shy and he was very sociable. It was just that every time the subject of dancing 

came around, he would disappear into the background, withdraw into places he felt 

more comfortable.

     "Would you like to dance?", just came out as she smiled up at him. It was as if

it was just the right thing to do at the time. She said "sure", and after a short walk 

across the dance floor and trying to step around with the music they smiled at some 

of the other couples and Veronica said "I'm thirsty". "We'll dance over to the bar and 

then we can go outside and dance in the snow", offered Rinny. The two of them burst 

out laughing and it would be their moment for years to come. 

                            

 

                                                           Interview

     It had been a bit warm for January and Rinny had run up the stairs rather than 

wait for the elevator to keep his appointment. So here he was, usually the coolest 

guy you'd ever meet, nearly sweating. He sure didn't want to look desperate for 

this job. As luck would have it, his interviewer liked people who took their work  

seriously.

   "It has you here as a tracking specialist. Is this correct?" The interviewer looked 

right at him and waited. Rinny loved to act. That's all he ever really did. So he slid 

right back easily into his former role where he would amuse himself at being a 

victim in a world where nothing ever went right for him, and yet he just kept going 

anyway.

     The room was warm too. it was going to be a warm day. "Do you guys have the 

heat up too high or is it me?" He asked. The interviewer didn't even smile. "Never 

mind, it seems I came to the wrong place", and he got up to leave. "We need a 

tracker badly", came a concerned reply. "Please, just make yourself comfortable. 

Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?", followed by the slightest of smiles.

     A "tracker" is what they called a person familiar with the process of locating 

potential clients for different kinds of sales or promotions, a screener who would 

narrow down large markets of individuals or agencies to smaller numbers of 

persons or groups who would be more liable to purchase or use their product in 

some way. Perhaps a subscriber or just someone who would offer an opinion about 

one product or another. A professional tracking specialist could locate clients or 

customers extremely quickly and simply knew their way around people and 

businesses. They simply didn't waste any time or effort they knew would not be 

productive. They were worth their weight in gold. They knew it and they demanded 

it.  All 24 carats of it. Rinny was a pro. He was also a reformed Jew and came from

a family of highly successful businesspeople including his older brother Shep.

  

                                                      Veronica 

          Her name was Veronica and she was in the kitchen early mixing up something

and sliding it off a plate into a sizzling fry pan. Rinny stirred in the bed as the smell of 

a fresh breakfast reached his nose. Veronica was from Florida and the sight of newly 

fallen snow was still new to her. Rinny came up to her and kissed the back of her 

neck. "Mmmm, she smiled, how'd you sleep?" "Great, thanks, what smells so good?' 

"We call it alligator stew, she laughed."Green peppers and tomatoes mostly, lots of 

onions and potatoes from last night too." 

     The sun was bright in the back yard. His heart was light too. It was going to be one

very warm day in January in southern Vermont.