𝓟𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓬𝓲𝓸𝓾𝓼

Ed was a bored kid. His brain voraciously ate up everything it could. He went through two full sets of encyclopedias and still could not be sated. To the library. To the grocery store to read all the papers. To Grandpa's house so he could ask him about things that happened before he was born. So Ed knew what was going on when he was wide awake but could not move. Which was quite impressive for a nine year old human.

'STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP NOW. JUST LISTEN TO ME'

Ed thought this as loudly as he could. He was being levitated and pulled through the air by several individuals. He knew he was being abducted. They ignored him. 'IF YOU STOP NOW I WILL TELL YOU THE SECRET'. Nothing... then a few seconds passed before the entire procession stopped. A voice way too loud inside his head 'WHAT SECRET' and he felt his motor function return. He could move his jaw.

"Oh, I made that up. I just wanted you to stop so I could tell you that you don't have to do it this way. I've been researching you for a year. I want to meet you. I want to know you guys. You can stop. I'll just walk with you. Take me to your ship or whatever. I'd love to see it."

'You are not lying.'

"OH! That's awesome! You can read minds!" said Ed very excited. "READ MY MIND! READ IT!" he offered.

'We do not read minds. We can just tell if you are being dishonest.'

"Well I don't lie. I want to be friends. I could be your friend. I want to see the whole Universe someday. I know this might sound silly coming from a young human, but I wish I could have my very own spaceship someday. And that's the truth."

'I am a data gathering, processing, and labor unit.'

"Oh, like a robot? SO COOL!!" shouted Ed excitedly.

'You are walking very quickly but you are very loud. If you continue being loud we'll go back to sleep moving.'

"What if I think at you?" offered Ed.

'That is fine'

'Do you have a name or are you all the same person?' asked Ed.

'We are the same. All data shared.'

'Why me? Not that I'm not very happy about it.' asked Ed.

'You copied David Hahn and made a Breeder Reactor, but yours reached critical mass. So you must be studied.'

'My science fair project?'

Ed had made the breeder reactor and literally nobody took him seriously. It was an elementary school science fair for God's sake. Nobody really believed it was real. The presentation was absolutely outstanding though. He had actually rigged up lights for it to run. He had spent painstaking hours turning monazite into fuel using a technique he invented.

'Yeah, I did well but nobody believed me' added Ed.

'It worked, it was safe, and when it was no longer needed you properly disposed of the material.'

As they'd been walking, it was between projected blue walls. As if to hide the outside world from him and them from it. You could look down and see the forest floor. The walls had some substance to them because they were holding back branches. Ed was afraid to touch them.

As they were rounding a bend, the blue walls turned into a blue tube going uphill and the forest floor disappeared. Suddenly Ed was standing in his first spaceship.

"Can I talk now? It's hard to explain but the constantly thinking starts to hurt." said Ed.

'Talking is ok now.'

"Why are the ceilings high? You are little guys." asked Ed.

'We are not all little guys.'

"Oh." said Ed. They lead him into a room where he saw a tall guy.  "Hello" said Ed.

"Are these your robots?" asked Ed.

"Yes they are mine. We use a lot of them. I am Grik. You are Edward Franklin Drake." said Grik. The tall ones could talk. Ed made a mental note.

"They look so useful and strong despite being so small."

"They make all of this possible as a great source of manual labor. They also store very easily and are perfect for this planet."

"Am I inside a spaceship?" asked Ed, visibly excited.

"Yes, this is an interstellar transport. It's nothing special really." said Grik.

"REALLY! I THINK IT'S AMAZING! Can you show me how it works?" asked Ed.

Grik was usually on the bridge for the catch and release stuff. He couldn't bear to watch it. But when the k3's told him the boy was somehow resisting sleep moving, and demanding they let him cooperate he just had to meet one for the first time. He was moved by the simple joy this young human had for very mundane things. His own child thought he was a loser. How lucky the humans were to have such happy, good children. He showed him the entire interface. He embellished a bit here and there for effect, rewarded with "WOW!" and "OH!!!" many times. Then he let him look at things on his own because he promised not to touch anything.

"What's this thing?" asked Ed, pointing at what looked like a very sophisticated television remote. This shook Grik out of his daydream. The Zetans daydreamed a lot. They had no problem checking out from reality for hours on end to just think about interesting things. It was easy with an army of k3's doing the real work.

"That is the control wand for the k3's. You hold it like this, and think commands at it." Grik demonstrated. Two k3's entered the room and stood ready for command.

"Can I try?" asked Ed.

"Sure, but it may not work." said Grik flatly while handing Ed the wand. "You should be able to do it, but it requires a level of"

Many hours later Grik woke up on the forest floor. A few k3's wandering around. He pulled a control ring from his side pouch and summoned them.

'He ordered us to stun you and take you outside and keep you here. Do you have new orders?'

Ed wasn't lying. He did want his own spaceship. It was the truth.