Shrongs -Part IV

This is a piece of fiction from about four years ago…one of my favorites that was never featured on www.MyStrangeStories.com or www.theweirdcrap.com. Which seems sort of odd in retrospect, since I run both. Hope you like part IV of “Shrongs”

In part one we saw how our hero (me) was chosen to travel to another dimension. The next episode, we jumped to our hero’s return to Earth after the inter-dimensional traveling. Instead of being greeted by humans, he is greeted by an alien from the world he just left. In episode three we told the brief story of what happened when he arrived on the other dimensional planet. Now, in episode four, we continue the conversation of our main character and the alien that greeted him here on Earth..

Now we continue…I think “So how did you get here?” I asked. “You want the long version or the short one?” “Short” I replied. “You’ve left our planet 140 years ago.” She explained. “Really?” “I’m sort of a historian, I was just curious to meet the man who made first contact.” She continued. “The record showed that your return to your world was less spectacular than your arrival to our world. I wanted to change that.” “I still don’t get it.” I admitted “Traveling thru dimensions and time is trickier than first perceived. You traveled across to our world, but there was no control of the time. You actually arrived in our world 70 years after you left. When you returned, it was another 70 years. 140 years have passed, give or take a few months. When you first arrived, you flipped out when you found that about everything you knew was gone.” “When I first arrived?” “I’m from the future, well your planets future. I’ve come back in time.” “So now we can travel through time?” “We can only travel backwards if we are traveling from one world to another.” She explained. “And only someone from my world can travel back in time to your world, and only someone from your world can travel back in time in our world. I don’t know why, but that’s how it works.” She told me. Continuing she explained, “So if someone from your world traveled back in time to our world, then came back with a setting that would set arrival prior to their leaving, then they’ll end up at the same point in time in which they left.” ”Seems a little confusing at first, but it makes sense the more you think about it. Anyway on your first visit,” she continued, “the reception party for you was just a hand full of undergrads who were about the guy who made first contact. They didn’t break the news so well. In fact, they treated you like a joke from the past, and that, plus the fact everything you were familiar with was gone was a little too much. You of freaked out and they had guards come and handcuff you, you became a bit violent and you ended up in…what you call, ‘a padded room.’ Not much of an end for someone who helped change our world. And I’m here to make your return a bit more comfortable.” “So everyone I know is dead?” I asked. “Yes, but but you have a whole new world to explore and I think you’ll be impressed. You can travel to our world and see the changes that have happened thanks to you. You have missed a whole lifetime, but there’s so much more you get in exchange.” “I had ‘Gmail’ you think it still exists?” I asked, still a little dizzy. “I wonder if I got messages from folks after they realized I would not return. Oh wait, that doesn’t make sense, I’m sure the account was deleted by now.” Remembering the world I left I thought I should explain, “Email is a network mail system using computers.” I paused. “You know what email is don't you?" “Yes, I know what a computer is.” She added. “Your famous, we archived your account and you can access it from either planet…It may take a while to read it all. We have a lot of your technology, and to tell the truth we’ve improved on a lot of it, and currently we’re contracting with AT & T to set up a similar network …” “Others are here here on Earth?” I replied. “Yeah, we’re pretty much all over the place.” She explained. “You’ll be my guide?” “Your future awaits.” She bowed. THE END COMING NEXT: Reality bites!