Arthur Clarke - Cradle

Carol backed away and Troy saw the computer sheet in her hand. “We were going to try to notify your family…” she started. Troy reached out to take the page and Carol noticed a bracelet on Troy’s right wrist that she had never seen before. It was wide, almost an inch and a half, and looked as if its twenty or so links had been made from flattened gold nuggets. “Where did you get this?” Carol asked, holding his wrist up so that she could see the bracelet more clearly.

Nick was unable to restrain himself any longer. Before Troy could answer Carol’s question, he jumped into the conversation. “According to Carol,” he said, “you were last seen disappearing down a corridor in an underwater laboratory. With a six-foot amoeba in hot pursuit. How the hell did you escape? We searched all over the area…”

Troy held up his hands. He was enjoying being the center of attention. “Friends, friends. Wait a minute, will you? I will tell you the story as soon as I take care of the necessities of life.” He turned and walked into the bathroom. Nick and Carol heard a familiar sound. “Get some beer out of the refrigerator and go into the living room,” Troy shouted from behind the closed door. “We might as well enjoy this part of it.”

Two minutes later Nick and Carol were sitting together on the large couch in the living room. Troy plopped into the chair opposite them just as Nick took a huge swig from his beer. “Once upon a time,” Troy began with a mischievous grin, “there was a young black named Troy Jefferson, who, while diving with his friends, vanished for almost two hours in a strange building underneath the ocean. When he emerged from his underwater adventure, he was rescued by divers from the United States Navy, who just happened to be in the area at the time. Soon thereafter young Troy was flown in a military helicopter back to Key West. There he was interrogated at length about why he was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, all by himself, ten miles from the nearest island. An hour later he was released without anyone believing any part of his story.” Troy looked back and forth from Nick to Carol. “Of course,” he added, now more serious, “I didn’t tell them anything that really happened. There’s no way they would have believed the truth.”

Carol was leaning forward on the couch. “So the Navy picked you up. Just after we left.” She turned to Nick. “They must have been following us for some reason.” The missile must have been there after all, she thought to herself. But where did it go? Did the Navy find it? And how are they involved with this crazy laboratory? Nothing makes sense…

“We spent over an hour looking for you.” Nick was saying. He was feeling remorseful because they had abandoned the search for Troy so quickly. “It didn’t occur to me that you might still be down in that place, whatever it was, and of course we couldn’t hang around forever. All of our electronics were zapped by this funny carpet thing that came out of the sea. So we lost all nav—” He stopped in mid-sentence and looked at Troy. “I’m sorry, friend.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Troy replied with a shrug, “I would have done the same thing. At least I now know that you have met one of the bizarre characters in my story. You didn’t, by any chance, also meet one of the wardens did you? Great big globs of clear jelly, amoebalike, with little boxes in the middle and removable rods hanging out all over the top?”

Nick shook his head. “Warden?” Carol asked quickly, her brow knitted. “Why do you call that thing a warden?”

Warden, sentinel, whatever,” Troy answered. “They told me the warden things protect the principal cargo of the ship.” Troy stared into the blank gazes of his friends. “Which leads me back to the first question,” he continued. “They gave me this bracelet. It is some kind of two-way communications device. I couldn’t begin to explain how it works, but I know that they are listening and watching as well as transmitting messages to me. Only a few of which I understand.”

Carol was starting to feel overwhelmed again. In her mind this already complex situation had added a new dimension. Hundreds of questions were crowding into her brain and she could not decide which one to ask first.

Meanwhile Nick stood up. “Hold it a minute,” he said, looking dubious and just a little confused. “Did I hear you right? Did you say you were given a communications bracelet by some extraterrestrials and then released into the ocean? And then the Navy picked you up and brought you back to Key West? Christ, Jefferson, you do have an imagination. Save your creativity for that computer game. Please just tell us the truth.”

“I am,” replied Troy. “Really—”

“What did they look like?” Carol interrupted, her journalistic training taking over. She had pulled a small tape recorder, the size of a fountain pen, out of her purse. Troy reached over and switched it off.” For now, angel,” he said, “this is strictly between us… I don’t think I saw any of them anyway. Just the wardens and the carpets. And my guess is that they’re just robots, machines of some type. Intelligent, yes, but controlled by something else—”

“Jesus,” Nick interrupted, “you’re serious.” He was becoming exasperated. “This is turning into the most amazing shaggy dog story that I have ever heard. Wardens, carpets, robots. I am lost. Who are they? What are they doing in the ocean? And why have they given you a bracelet?” He picked up one of the little pillows on the couch and threw it across the room.

Carol laughed nervously. “Nick’s not the only one feeling frustrated, Troy. I was with you down there and I must admit that I’m having a hard time tracking your story. Maybe we should stop interrupting and let you talk. I’ve told Nick what happened in that solar system room up until you ran out and the thing or warden followed. Start from there, if you would, and tell the story in logical sequence.”

“I’m not sure there is such a thing as a logical sequence, angel,” Troy replied, echoing Carol’s laugh. “The whole episode defies logic altogether. The warden thing eventually trapped me in a blind alley and sort of anesthetized me with one of its rods. It was like I was dreaming, but the dreams were real. I remember a similar feeling, after a fistfight when I was a teenager. I had a small concussion then. I knew that I was alive, but I was very very slow to react. Reality seemed toned down, out there in the distance somewhere.

“Anyway, another warden character showed up, same kind of body but different fixtures sticking in the jelly, and carried me to what I think was an examination room. I don’t know exactly how long I was there. I was stretched out on the floor and touched by all kinds of instruments. My brain felt as if it were in superfast motion, but I don’t recall any specific thoughts. Some images I do remember. I relived my brother, Jamie, breaking through the line on a trap play and going forty-five yards for a touchdown in the Florida state championship. Then the bracelet was put on my wrist and I had the distinct impression that someone was talking to me. Very quietly, perhaps even in a foreign language, but every now and then I understood what was being said.

“What they told me,” Troy continued with an intense and distant expression on his face, “was that what we call the laboratory is really a space vehicle from another world. And that it has crash-landed, in a sense, on the Earth to allow time for some difficult repairs. They, that is, whoever built the ship, need help from us, from me and you, to obtain some of the specific items necessary for the repairs. Then they can continue on their journey.”

Nick was now sitting on the floor just opposite Troy. Both Carol and he were hanging on every word. They sat in silence for almost thirty seconds after Troy had finished. “If this story is true,” Nick finally spoke, “then we are—”