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Impossible Tech, Part 2

Do I Dare to Eat a Pear?

By Nancy BrissonPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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Impossible Tech, Part 2
Photo by Олександр К on Unsplash

Captain Tom “T-Bone” Thompson and Beauregard “Beau” Jackson had been “transported” to some unknown destination by the force signified by the green light. As they wandered in an orchard of ripe and nearly ripe fruit trees, they attempted to collect data to try to reach some logical conclusions about where on earth they were (Were they still on earth?), what had happened to them, and why that green light was always present when mind-boggling things happened. Had someone discovered a new force that made solids navigable?.

They sat under a ripe pear tree and Beau picked up a pear.

“I’m not sure you should eat that,” T-Bone said.

“I’m not sure either,” Beau said, looking sideways at T. “But whoever these people are, they did not kill us immediately, and this is a really good pear, so I thought I would take a chance.”

“Well, I’ll wait and see what happens to you.” T-Bone said, raising his eyebrows and smiling.

“Smart,” Beau said, “now I’m your food taster, your highness.”

“Toss me one of those pears you got there,” T said.

“That’s why I love you Beau.” T said between mouthfuls of his own pear, “You bring common sense to our little team. I would not have overruled my danger alerts, at least not until I got much hungrier.”

Both agreed that the pears were stellar, just perfectly ripe and juicy without a blemish on the yellow and rose-blushed skin.

“This orchard must be enormous,” T said. “And so many different varieties of fruit. I could just walk here forever. The short grass pathways through these perfectly straight rows of tree. You can smell apple, pear, plum, or peach depending on which way you walk. The air is clean, and everything is so fresh. When do we ever have an opportunity to walk in a place like this, Beau? What geolocation do these fruits require? What location did our instruments show last time you looked?

“We were over the Atlantic, following the tracker on one of those ‘unidentifieds’, not too far from Washington DC,” Beau replied.

I concur,” said T. “Let’s take a walk. We’ll stand right here a moment, and then just turn left and walk. What direction will we be walking in, Beau?

“Not a compass, T,” Beau said with a laugh. He patted his vest and found his phone in one of the pockets. “Here’s my phone, no bars, but it still has some power and I have a compass that I downloaded.” He held it out so T could see it too. But the compass dial just spun around wildly. Both men were disappointed. They were scientists with little access to facts.

So, they turned left and walked. The air was a comfortable temperature that did not seem to change as the day wore on. They were in their flight uniforms, and they had no change of clothing, of course. If it got much colder, they were out of luck, but this orchard did not look like temps would go down any time soon. Was this a giant greenhouse enclosed in invisible glass, they wondered aloud. They threw out hypotheses as they walked. They had both experienced nothing as they were transported. It had been an instantaneous transfer. What technology does that?

They were walking among the apple trees now and stopped to eat another piece of fruit. The smell made it almost impossible to resist tasting. They each kept a flask of water in their vests because they flew over salt water so often, so, for now, water was not a problem. It wouldn’t last very long though. They walked on between the seemingly endless rows of trees when suddenly, on the horizon, a small building appeared.

“Maybe it’s an equipment shed,” T said, “but I would think it would take an entire barnful of equipment to maintain all of this.”

“It looks like a cabin, like one of those cabins that you find along a isolated hiking trail sometimes.”

“Beau, my man,” said T, “you may be right. Could be a trap though. Wish I had a gun.”

“You have a more highly-developed ‘Spidey” sense than I do. All this peace and order relaxes me, and we both know that will not do in a strange environment, eh T? And this place certainly qualifies as bizarre.”

For two days and nights they explored their new world. They found that the orchard was laid out in quadrants, and they finally found the metal barn, full of farming equipment appropriate to growing fruit. There was a worktable and all kinds of reference books. There was a video device with a prodigious menu related to growing fruit that accessed ‘you tube’ style instructional tapes. There was a small kitchen and a stocked pantry. There was a bunk house. On two of the beds there was a note, one for Tom Thompson, E6, USAF and one for Beauregard Jackson, E5, USAF. Each note contained the same message.

"You have been brought here to tend this orchard. Your wives and children will arrive soon. You will each choose a cabin to live in. There are no dangers there, and no cameras or recording devices. You will each harvest the fruit in your section and take it to the docking area behind the barn. You can keep for yourselves as much as you can preserve. Study hard. Learn how to tend to your section of orchard. Help each other, don’t compete. Two more USAF families will be joining you. All jets will be grounded to help save earth’s environment and all pilots and flight teams, even private jets owners will be snatched and given work to help save the earth. Automobiles will be zapped into their component parts. We have discovered the power of chlorophyll and will use it to save the planet.

The Global Committee to Use Green Technology to Save Us All"

T-Bone smacked himself on the forehead. “I guess my Spidey sense was both right and wrong, Beau. Let’s whip up something to eat. We will keep trying to find a way out of this, but it looks like we are back in the Garden for a good long time.

“Nice place to raise kids, though,” Beau said as he followed T-Bone into the pantry to take stock of their provisions.

Sci Fi
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