Quarantine for our guests lasted a month. This was as much a benefit for them as for Earth. After studying the alien microbes returned from both Keradrol (Haven) and Arctur, it was soon determined that there was nothing of danger to humans other than the deadly weed. Even the weed was harmless to us, but the pollen was deadly. That it didn’t show its hand until it was released had lulled five of us into a sense of false security, killing a version of me, the original Chi, plus copies of Bill, Tosh and the only known version of Penny.
Tissue experiments were carried out on the Heradians and this eliminated concerns over most Earth plants and microbes. Viruses didn’t seem to affect them at all, except for a version of the common cold, and this fascinated our entities who protected humans from such things. Stroya allowed an entity to enter her and it spent two days examining her physiology, adding a huge amount of knowledge of their metabolisms and teleological functions of their organs and circulatory systems. Further experimentation was planned so that the Heradians could assess the advantages, or otherwise, of entities to their species.
At long last, the aliens were released from their comfortable, but restrictive quarters on Spirit 1 and brought down to Earth on a Boeing Starliner which soft-landed under parachutes at the White Sands Space Harbour in New Mexico. Tosh and I, together with a number of dignitaries, including Earth’s First Minister Wickremasinghe, were there to welcome Stroya and Gurd, plus their two Starliner pilots, back to Earth. There was a lot of preparation before the door could be opened as there was almost no breeze and any gases and remnants of unburned fuel had to be purged from the area. The landing site was mobbed with media crews and, as the signal was given that we could approach, they and we encroached upon the cone-shaped lander.
Four portable couches, similar to airline seats, were arranged either side of the hatch. Technicians opened the door and the two human pilots emerged. Despite there being only five steps down to the ground, both needed support from the groundcrew owing to the effects of weightlessness on their muscles.
Next to emerge was Gurd, supported by two groundcrew. He was helped to one of the centre pair of seats and Stroya, shorter and slighter, soon followed.
‘Honoured Gurd Didrow and Stroya Elya,’ said the first minister. ‘Welcome to Earth. This is a momentous occasion for us and we know it is hugely significant to you of Herade too.’
‘Thank you,’ they each replied in turn.
After the shaking of hands, Neil, the space authority’s administrator, stepped forward and said, ‘The media crews have been waiting patiently for you to emerge and we intend to give them some time to ask you questions. CNN, you first.’
‘Visitor Didrow, we are aware that you have been spacefarers for centuries in your own system. How does it feel to set foot on a world circling another star?’ asked the journalist from CNN.
‘It feels wonderful and we are so excited to be able to visit your planet,’ said Gurd. ‘However, the spacefaring to which you refer was long in our past. When Captain Mark and his team visited us, it was not a simple exploration. They saved our entire species from extinction.’
‘Surely that is an exaggeration?’
‘Not at all,’ said Gurd emphatically. ‘Our home planet, Herade, had been made uninhabitable by simeral, a plant we accidentally brought back from a neighbouring world, Keradrol. Fortunately, we had a small colony on Arctur. When the effect of the Keradrol weed became clearer, some quick-thinking scientists joined us on Arctur, bringing with them sanitised seeds and food plants. We were surviving, but only just. Then we suffered a huge fire which destroyed almost half of our hydroponic farms. The resulting loss of foodstuffs was causing us to suffer from all sorts of vitamin deficiencies. When Mark arrived, our species was likely to die out within fifty years.’
‘Your help saved us. Truly!’ said Stroya. ‘We did not have the wherewithal to leave Arctur. We were marooned and all destined to die.’
Questions continued for almost an hour then Neil called a halt as it was obvious our visitors were tiring.
A small jet had been standing nearby. The aliens, their human pilots, Neil, myself, and Tosh, together with a few doctors, boarded and in less than two hours we were touching down at the Johnson Space Center where luxury accommodation was being provided for Gurd and Stroya.
The next morning, they underwent more examinations to ensure their muscles and cardiovascular systems were recovering from free fall. By lunchtime, the doctors had finished with them for the day and we had an enjoyable reunion in one of the JSC restaurants. Me, Tosh, Stroya, Gurd, both Annas, both Marys, Bill, Chi and Terry.
While we were still in the restaurant, Neil and a couple of white-coated scientists arrived to give us some preliminary results of the tests on simeral.
‘The early results are good,’ said the senior scientist. ‘We now have several isolated laboratories where we are studying all aspects of the plant and its deadly pollen.
‘Our objective is not just to discover how to kill it, but also to find methods of neutralising the effects of the pollen. That aspect of our work, I must say, is not very promising so far.
‘Regarding simply killing the weed, many of our home-grown weedkillers are extremely effective, but they all require chemical spraying. Fine in a laboratory, but not on a planetwide scale.’
‘Yes,’ said Gurd. ‘Our scientists discovered that which is why we changed tack and tried to find something which would naturally destroy the plant over time. Our problem was that we had run out of specimens. In theory, the xardrol plant should be effective.’
‘Well,’ said the scientist, ‘the good news is that we have introduced xardrol to two of our laboratories and it has been one hundred per cent effective. We’re very impressed that you achieved the genetic engineering of xardrol with your lack of facilities and specimens upon which to test it.’
‘It works, then?’ asked Stroya.
‘Indeed, it does,’ was his reply.
‘What about a planetwide rollout?’ I asked.
‘We have several tests underway, where we have duplicated the atmosphere of Herade from the information you have provided,’ said the scientist. ‘It will take a few weeks to be able to ascertain its effectiveness, but it is certainly better than promising.’
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Linda and I invited Gurd and Stroya to stay with us for a few days while they and I recovered from the effects of free fall. It protected them from the media and gave them an insight into family life on Earth. They were delighted to meet Jason but it wasn’t reciprocated at first and he burst into tears each time he saw them. Gradually, by spending some time together in the living room, the three-year-old’s fear was overcome and by the end of the visit, he was kicking a soccer ball around the lounge with Stroya and even stroked Gurd’s multicoloured, featherlike hair where it flowed over his shoulders.
Both of them were feeling much stronger after their stay with us and Anna-two, with Bill, flew them to New York for a visit, taking in the skyscrapers, Niagara and even flying over the North Pole to show them the icy part of our world. Their time was also taken up with making documentaries and conducting press interviews. It seemed that the people of Earth couldn’t get enough of our alien visitors and all the fears of xenophobia quickly vanished. My entity told me that he was sure such hatred, including racial hatred, was naturally suppressed by their presence in our minds. It could only be a good thing.
Later in the week, Linda and I had another dinner party with our good friends, Bill and Ronnie (Veronica). Inevitably, the time he and Anna-two had spent with the aliens came up in conversation.
‘They seemed happy then?’ I asked.
‘They did, but not so much Anna,’ said Bill.
Linda raised her eyebrows. ‘Tell us more,’ she said.
‘Anna is having trouble coming to terms with Wally and Anna-one. To her mind, it is her Wally living with Anna-one. This universe belongs to her and Mary two. The whole crew of our Spirit have no place here,’ Bill said.
‘What made him choose to be with Anna-one?’ Linda asked.
‘Wally’s always wanted children, but Anna-two didn’t. When Wally discovered that Anna-one was more amenable, he and Anna-two argued and then separated,’ said Bill.
‘Strange,’ I said. ‘They’re actually the same person. Why do they feel differently about children?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Bill.
‘I can understand the animosity,’ I said. ‘If my duplicate hadn’t died on Haven, or Keradrol I should say, then he should be sitting here, not me.’
Linda stared at me. ‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ she said. ‘You died on Keradrol. I should be grieving.’
‘And it was a horrible death,’ I said. ‘I am a usurper and the only reason it seems okay is that my alter ego is lying dead on that dreadful planet.’
That seemed to kill the enjoyment of the dinner party. Ronnie took Linda’s hand in hers and looked at her sympathetically. ‘I’m in the same situation, Linda. My Bill is also lying beside Mark on that horrible world. How wonderful that I have him back.’
‘Ronnie spent ages looking at the video of the landing site, trying to make sense of it,’ said Bill.
‘I guess we’re the lucky ones,’ I said. ‘I can’t imagine the situation Anna-two is in. If you and Jason were living with my other self, I think I would have real trouble with it.’
‘Yes, me too,’ said Bill. ‘I’d be trying to find a way for him to have an accident.’
‘Really?’ exclaimed Ronnie.
‘Oh yes. It would be as if you were having an affair with another person,’ he said.
‘But you know I love you.’
‘What? If both of us were sitting here!’ Bill said. ‘And you, too, Linda. Who would you choose? The Mark who you know gave you the Jason who’s sleeping upstairs or the duplicate one sitting at the table with us tonight? How would you choose?’
‘I am thankful that I don’t have to. They are the same person,’ Linda said. ‘I can see how Anna-two feels, though. She has lost her Wally, yet he is still there and living with an imposter duplicate. How do you come to terms with such a conundrum? What if they wanted to share me?’ She laughed. ‘How could I tell which Mark was in the spare room and which was in my bed?’
‘That’s a frightening prospect,’ said Ronnie. Then she laughed. ‘Mind you, double the sex, Linda. Think on that!’
That night, entwined within each other’s limbs, our loving was more anxious and frantic than normal. We were both imagining the free fall moment of conception of our son on the Lunar Gateway. Surely only Linda and I could ever share that memory. But, in the back of our minds, there was the nagging thought that we now knew that there was at least one other who’d shared that intimate experience. In fact, he’d participated in it, yet now lay dead on Keradrol. How do you come to terms with such things?
It was impossible to shrug off the thought. Perhaps, somewhere in this newly discovered entiroverse, there were many more Lindas and Marks who, at any moment, could walk into our lives and turn our cosy family world upside down in the same way that Anna-one had done to Anna-two and Wally’s relationship. As I drifted off to sleep, I had the horrible thought that this Jason was more my doppelgänger’s than mine and where was my Linda – on a different Earth, wondering why I never returned?