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03:57 pm - Stranger at the Gate

Junior come runnin' in from the yard an' I knew somethin' was up. "Papa!" he shouted, all outta breath-like. "There's a stranger out on th'road. He sure is dressed funny!"



I sighed an' got my gun from offa the mantle an' headed out to the gate. Sure enough, there was a tall fella, all neat an' trimmed an' dressed all shiny suit-like. He didn't look no different from you or me, not really, other than the clothes and the dumb-bunny expression on his face as he was lookin' all around-like. Like, all a-wonderment. As I come up, he turned quickly to focus.



"Hello!" he said, extendin' a hand t'shake. I didn't take it, on account of I don't shake hands with no stranger until I have reason to believe they ain't trouble. Also on account of I already had my hands fulla gun. Not brandished or nothin', just, y'know, crooked in the arm an' ready if need be. After an awkward moment, he pulled his hand back.



"Mornin'," I said, for so it was. "Can I do you fer somethin'?"



The momentary lag in his smile come back somethin' fierce. "How quaint!" he said excitedly. "How long have you all been out here? We had no idea there was anyone this far beyond the perimeter!"



I scowled at him. "Well, now, this particular-here farm was started by my grandpa. But it ain't fer sale, if that's what you're buildin' up to."



The stranger looked confused. "Sale…?" His eyes flicked around for a moment as if he was lookin' at gnats near his face that only he could see. Then the confusion were replaced by somethin' like amusement. "Oh! A transactional exchange moderated through the use of currency. Ha! What a lovely idea. No, sir. My goodness, it's a good thing we found you all. It's amazing that you all have been able to survive so long behind the Interdiction!"



Junior's basic curiosity overcome his raisin'-up an' he spoke without permission. I'd have given him a knock to remind but I suspected the larger lesson he was about to learn was more important than a slip-up in manners. "Interdiction?" he said. "What's that?"



The stranger hunkered down a bit to be more on Junior's level. "Have you ever heard of Earth?" he asked.



Junior nodded. "That's where all good folk go when they pass on," he said quietly. "At least, that's what Mama said."



The stranger, suddenly a bit more wary, glanced up at me as he continued, indirectly to Junior: "Oh, yeah? And what does your Papa say now?"



I spat on the ground. "I say, his Ma was a good woman who died too young an' whatever happens when we pass on is God's business. I dunno about all that. But in this life, Earth is gone an' best forgotten. The Bogeys saw to that."



The stranger nodded slowly as he stood all the way back up. "Well, actually, you'll be pleased to know that Earth is alive and well and the Bogeys have finally been defeated. The war's been over for years and the Interdiction has been lifted. Everyone can come home!"



"What makes you think this ain't our home?" I asked him, shiftin' the weight of the gun a bit.



He looked around at the farm an' barely suppressed a roll of his eyes. "I understand that you've had a few generations invested in this colonial… homestead… but let's be honest. It's unhygienic and unhealthy, difficult and dirty. You're scratching in the mud to eke out a few vegetables and… Back in the Core Worlds, with the Recovery underway, we have everything. You understand?"



Junior couldn't help himself again. What can I say, he's still young. "What do you mean, you have everythin'?"



The stranger looked down to him again. "I mean, nobody wants for anything. Ever. Hardly anyone ever gets hurt unless they want to, and when accidents happen, they get fixed up good as new in no time. I mean, nobody is ever hungry and nobody is ever colder or hotter than they want. I mean, we have tools to help everyone find the most fulfilling ways to use their time and to connect them with the people they will be most happy around. I mean, in the Core Worlds there is no crime and no sickness."



"Well that sounds pretty good!" Junior said. He pulled at my sleeve excitedly. "Pa, is that true? Are we goin' back to Earth an' havin' everythin?" I shot him a significant glance, where his fingers were yankin' my arm too near the gun, an' he got the meanin'. But he was too excited still. Turnin' back to the stranger, he gushed: "Will my Mama be there?"



The stranger smiled like an angel. "The Reconstructors are very smart. I don't know if your Ma is already there, but once you're there they can learn from you what she was like and…"



I raised the gun. "I think it's time fer you to leave now."



He put his hands up defensively. "Whoa, sir! I don't mean any harm. We're not forcing anyone to relocate. We're just trying to find all the lost outposts, all the generations of human beings who got cut off behind enemy lines, and give them a chance to come back to civilization!"



"You think you're the first one to show up here with such an offer?" I threw back at him. "Nice try, goblin, but we're wise to this particular trick now. I dunno how you keep slippin' through the warpshield all onesy-twosey, but I'm gonna give you one chance, just this very minute right now, to slip on back out an' tell your masters to leave us the hell alone."



"Goblin?" Once again his eyes made the flickery twitch. "Wait… you think I'm a Bogey?"



"Always have been before," I shrugged. "Eventually, after all the sweet talk, it comes around to askin' us to unfold the warpshield so that, I dunno, the transports can pick us up or some such. As if we don't know what would happen if we opened the shield."



He looked horrified, genuinely shocked, at this. "Of course the warpshield needs to open. We can't transport all of you back home through the pinholes that… Look, you don't need the shield anymore. The Bogeys have been eradicated. We exterminated them with a retrovirus. Trillions of them, all dead. Twenty years later, we're still digging worlds out from under their corpses. Don't you understand?" He was practically shouting now. "It was horrible but it was the only way to insure our survival, so we did it! We went ahead and committed total genocide against the only other sentient species we've ever encountered in the galaxy! And you're going to stand here with that ridiculous shotgun and accuse me of being…"



I pulled the trigger an' unloaded the left barrel into his body. Junior shrieked in surprise. That fancy-schmancy suit of his absorbed a fair amount of shock, I know, so it didn't cut him right in half. He staggered back, face utterly in shock, mouth openin' an' closin'. He reached out for me, lookin' like he wanted to say somethin'.



"Don't say I didn't give you a chance," I shrugged, an' popped the second barrel into his head. He went down in a crumpled pile.



Junior was shakin', lookin' at the body. "Was.. Is… Was he really a Bogey, Pa? Was it that close to us?"



"Sure was," I reassured him. "Thank the good lord the shield keeps them from landing in force, huh?" He nodded fervently an' I made a friendly ruffle of his hair. "Now go get the wheelbarrow an' then pile up some wood. We gotta burn it before it starts to decay on its own."



He ran off like a good boy while I stepped through the gate to make sure the stranger was dead. I promised myself, not for the first time, that when he was a little older I'd explain the truth to him. Right now, he was still young enough to trust his Pa an' not question why a supposed Bogey looks so much like us an' talks just like us an' bleeds red like us. He'll understand when he's a man, but it's too much for a boy. Maybe by the time he's grown, it won't be a problem anymore.



Of course, that's probably what my own Pa hoped. Twenty years on, you'd think the damn Earthmen would learn to leave well enough alone.



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