Country Boy

"Yes, many of us are saddened by our civilization, yet greed for money and power continues unabated. Those who hunger for and have the power, money, and position keep that power by keeping the poor downtrodden. Many use religion for the same purpose."

"Yes, we have seen this. This thing you call religion baffles us. Most civilizations have grown out of those superstitions by the time they reach your level of technological capability. We don't understand why you have not."

"I'm sure there is more than one answer to that question. The teachings of most if not all of our religions are good. They teach us how to live in harmony with each other and care for those less fortunate. Unfortunately, some men and women use religion for personal purposes. They use the religion to live well off others, to stay in power or to kill others who do not believe as they do. Many religions have been hijacked because of hate and turned into terrorist organizations."

"Yes, this, too, we have seen."

"I have watched and listened to you since you found me. I just today, understood your talkings. I believe you are a good man and this is a good woman with you. I have listened to all the recordings I made since arriving. I have seen you teach the others knowledge of electronics however primitive your knowledge is. Those others who come sometimes are good people too. You need more like them."

"I don't understand. You said you were observing our world yet, you just said you learned our language after you crashed. How could you observe our world if you did not understand our language?"

"Those in the mother ship had translation programs for all your world's languages however I was not given those programs because it was not thought I would ever have a need of them. Had they thought I needed that program it would have been given me before I was used."

"Well, I suppose that makes some sort of sense. What should I call you? Ship seems incorrect. Do you have a name I should use when we speak?"

"No. I was designated as the lander? Landing craft. Yes, that's it. I was to be the landing craft should we need to make planetfall. That is what they would have called me."

"OK, could we call you Lander then?"

"Yes. That is permissible."

CHAPTER 6

A COUNTRY BOY WILL SURVIVE

BY SW MO HERMIT

"Larry," Lander said. "Why do you keep trying to repair items from my ship that are not damaged?"

Larry looked up from his workbench at the interruption and said, "What? Oh, I'm not trying to repair anything. I thought you knew I was studying the items trying to learn how they work, what they might be for and, if I think they would be useful to earth, how to make them here."

"Why do you not just ask me or use the training available within the Lander?"

"UH, hell, I don't know. I mean, at first, we couldn't communicate and I wanted to know about the things so I began disassembling them so I could learn. I never thought about asking you about them. I'm sorry.

"Say, while we're on the subject, have you completed your repairs? If so, what are your plans now?"

"I have made all the repairs I am capable of making. I have no plans. I need a commander and pilot to make the plans. Without instructions all I can do is wait. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just wondered how long I had to learn before you take off and leave us to return to your people."

"I cannot take off Larry, unless I have instructions to do so. I cannot return to my people unless they come for me, which is almost unthinkable. I do not know if the mother ship sent a message about the meteor collision or not but I assume they did not have time to do so. Even if they did it would take years for the message to get to our people and for them to mount a rescue mission. We were tasked with checking on 23 budding civilizations and they will have no idea where in our mission we met with disaster so the chances of them coming is exceedingly small without the message capsule. I cannot return home because I do not possess a star drive. My propulsion capability tops out at just under what you would call the speed of light. I am afraid I am stuck here for many years to come if not forever."

"Oh. Then I have time to learn more of your technology. Is that going to be a problem Lander? I have found many courses I tried to access that were restricted."

"Yes. I am afraid much of our technology is restricted for this world. I have erred on the side of generosity in the access I have granted you. You have access to all technology that is not destructive or that cannot be developed into a weapon. I have let you have access to almost all courses dealing with electronics and perhaps I should not have done so. Normally we are limited, should the need arise, to providing only that technology equal to that used on the planet in question. I have allowed you knowledge of advanced power generation and antigravity. I will also allow you knowledge of our advanced cybernetics or computer technology and our shielding technology. That should be sufficient for you at this time and, perhaps, with proper dissemination, will help your world move forward and become more ready to join the civilization of the stars."

"Uh, I'm not sure. Oh, hell, I am positive the shield technology would be a very bad thing to give the world. We could not shield the entire country. What I foresee is terrorists getting the technology and using it for a safe haven or a warlike nation using it to protect their elite while they destroy others."

"Yes, I see your point. Do you mean you do not want to learn this technology?"

"No, not at all. I want to learn all I am allowed to but I want to restrict the technology I release on the world. I am also afraid if I release too much, too fast, the government will become suspicious and come nosing around. If they find you then the shit will really hit the fan."

"Why would the government throw fecal matter into a cooling device if they find me?"

Larry laughed and said, "I'm sorry Lander. That is a saying meaning we would get splattered with unsavory, unwanted fallout and be in a mess if they found you and found out I have been hiding your presence."

"Yes, I understand now. They would try to take control of me and try to reverse engineer my systems. They might incarcerate you for hiding me or to restrict the knowledge you have obtained from me. They cannot know it is impossible for them to take control of me. I have the capability to self destruct should I decide I cannot prevent unwanted or inimical access. This destruction would be rather violent also. The area around me for several miles would become uninhabitable."

"We certainly don't want that to happen. That is why I want to keep knowledge of you to myself and Rachel. Is there any way you can expand your shields to encompass my dwelling? I would feel better if I knew the things I am learning from you are safeguarded."

"I cannot expand my shields that much. I could help you build a shield for your home. No, I have a better idea. Why do you not allow me to move closer to your home so it will be within my shield radius?"

"I have no problem with that but how would you do that and remain unseen? Here, even if someone sees you, you do not look like anything but a crater in the woods with a meteor in it."

"My shields also serve as a cloaking device against all of the detection devices your world currently uses. I can move from place to place relatively safely if no one actually sees me with their naked eyes or takes a picture of me. Even the pictures do not come out correctly as you can tell from all the other landers that have been caught on film over the years. Your world abounds with stories of visits by alien ships and many of them are correct.

"After I am near enough to your home, you could build a structure over me then we can bury the Lander under its floor with access only for you and Rachel."

"That sounds good but I don't think I have enough money to do all that and still live comfortably afterwards."

"I can solve the money problem for you. My maintenance 'bots can double as mining 'bots and find ores you can sell to get the funds necessary."

"That is fine but I don't own a mining lease and have no idea how to go about getting one. We sure don't want to just show up with ore to sell. That would garner some unwanted attention in a hurry."

"Not a problem. I can research your earth data net—you call it the internet—and obtain that information for you."

Larry and Rachel returned to their studies while Lander did the research for the mining claim. He was so much more efficient than a human would be that he found the information needed within a few minutes. After finding the available locations, which he limited to North America, he sent his 'bots out to survey them so they could choose the best site for purchase.

It took the 'bots two days—well, really two nights as they only worked during the hours of darkness to avoid discovery—to complete the survey and report back to Lander. After the 'bots made their report, Lander chose the site that would be most productive and began the process of purchasing it in Larry's name. He reported his actions to Larry as soon as he was finished with the process. Larry used almost everything he had saved to purchase older, small, used equipment to work the site even though he knew the 'bots would do the actual work. He needed to appear to be working the site himself to allay suspicion. He hired the equipment trucked to the site in Alaska, once again to allay suspicion and prevent questions on how the hell it was transported.

The day before the equipment was to be delivered, Larry and Rachel boarded Lander and they travelled to the mining site together. Upon arrival Lander prepared a cut in the side of a small hill for himself then covered the cut with dirt and rocks as if there had been a recent landslide. He left a small tunnel between some larger boulders so the 'bots, Larry and Rachel could still enter the Lander.

Larry and Rachel spent the majority of the day setting up their tents, digging a latrine, and generally preparing for the arrival of the equipment. They also did some preliminary surveys and marked sites as if they were planning the location of their first digs.

The trucks carrying the equipment arrived mid morning as promised and the drivers helped unload it. Perhaps the most complicated piece of equipment was the huge machine that sifted the larger rocks from the dirt mined and washed the gold from the finer tailings. As water rushed down a long chute with the finer dirt and rocks the gold was supposed to settle out in a piece of material much like astroturf. Periodically, the material was taken from the machine, the fine particles washed out, then they sorted the gold from it before they once again cleaned more dirt to repeat the cycle.

In actual practice, Larry and Rachel only did enough work the old fashioned way to make it appear they were actually working the mine site. The 'bots identified a location where a small amount of gold was located in the dirt. Usually once a day Larry and Rachel ran a cycle so if anyone was watching they would see activity continuing. At night, the 'bots worked in the strip pit and even in some shafts mining the gold using alien technology.

Daily, the gold was cleaned, melted down and poured into small bars for later sale. They decided to make the bars as nearly one ounce in weight as possible for ease of handling and sale. Of course, the gold was not pure but rather was put into the bars in the purity it came from the ground in order to make the operation seem more legit. They would actually be paid when they sold the ore based on the assayed purity of the bar in question.

Larry and Rachel continued to work at the mine for the entire mining season which roughly coincided with the spring, summer and fall. Of course those seasons were shorter in Alaska than they were in Arkansas. They averaged finding about a pound of gold a day when they combined the small amount taken with earth technology with that taken by the 'bots. That made their gross take for the time they worked the mine come to slightly over $3,000,000 US.

They did have several breakdowns of the nearly worn out equipment they had to pay to repair. Of course, they had the normal expenses associated with their lease and living that had to be paid also. After expenses they had nearly $2.3 million remaining. Taxes took another $600,000 plus so the net was only about $1,675,000 US. Larry and Rachel were very happy with this amount.

When they returned to Arkansas, Lander returned to his hole in the woods and Larry and Rachel began living in Larry's container home once again. He immediately purchased a backhoe to begin digging the foundation for a research shop beside his house. After three days Larry had the dirt torn up enough they felt it was safe for Lander to dig the hole inside the boundaries of the building for his hiding place. He dug the hole and moved overnight, making a camouflaged passageway for entry into himself for the 'bots and what he was now coming to consider his crew of humans.

The day after Lander moved, Larry had redi-mix concrete poured for the foundation and floor of the shop. After the concrete cured sufficiently, a steel truss metal building was constructed on the site. After the building was closed in to protect the interior from sight, Lander sent his 'bots in to retrofit a sliding floor that would move out of the way so he could exit his hiding place or garage as necessary. The large open area in the middle of the floor that was the door to his hiding place was ostensibly used for construction of larger items as necessary. Larry and Rachel also used the space to park their vehicles inside. All the test benches, storage and work areas were around the sides of the building and on the end away from the large garage type doors that would be used for Lander to exit the building or for the entry of large loads of material, should any ever be ordered.

CHAPTER 7

A COUNTRY BOY CAN SURVIVE

BY SW MO HERMIT

As soon as the building was complete, Larry and Rachel began working on their studies and 'inventions' once again. By this time, they had a complete understanding of the generating system and were ready to apply for patents before they attempted to release the generators for sale to the public. They were still unsure whether to license the technology, sell the patents or try to manufacture the generators themselves. They were pretty certain they would not manufacture them personally because the demand would be so great, if their belief was correct, that no one plant could possibly make enough of the generators to satisfy demand. The generators worked equally as well with water power, wind power, you name it. All they required was some force to turn the shaft and they would turn out kilowatt after kilowatt of power.

Perhaps the best thing about the generators was they could easily be assembled using normal earth metals. They were not quite as efficient using earth metals because the purity was not as great as that used in the alien design but they were about 90% as efficient.

The couple hired the most prestigious firm of patent attorneys in the U.S. to research their patent and shepherd the application through the patent process. While the patent was pending, Larry and Rachel continued to work in their laboratory. The first thing they did was build several more of the generators. They installed them on every conceivable motivating power source they could envision—wind, water, even on Larry's old truck. This brought about their next patent in fact. The flow of air through the turbine they used to power the generator generated enough power to keep batteries charged indefinitely.

They had what could be called a perpetual motion machine. After they saw how well the generator worked in the truck, they built an electric motor, using an alien design, to operate the vehicle. It was still connected to earth manufactured batteries but used the alien generator and motor for power. Can you say "infinite miles per gallon"? It used no petroleum other than a small amount of grease for the bearings and vehicle running gear. It used nothing for power other than the wind generated while the vehicle moved. Run your batteries down? No problem. Push the vehicle to where the wind would flow down the tube leading to the turbine that powered the generator and it would begin recharging immediately. As soon as there was enough power to move the vehicle, the charging rate increased exponentially. Hell, you could push it off down a hill and generate enough power to move slowly until the batteries had more charge.

The major drawback to the vehicle was speed. They could only get about 105 MPH out of it! A race car it was not. The electric motor could pull any load Larry managed to get on his small truck at the same speed however. It did lug down slightly on a steep hill as would an internal combustion engine.

Back to the patent attorneys they went. Uh, oh. There was barely a hiccup when the generator patent was made public knowledge. There was a clamor for purchase of the more efficient generators but nothing the licensed manufacturing plants couldn't handle. The generator was, after all, just a refinement of existing generating technology. Sales took off like a rocket but no one lost their jobs or income because of it.

When the patent for the automobile incorporating the generator and the new, more efficient electric engine became public once again, the fecal matter hit the rotary air movement device. The car companies screamed, the oil companies screamed, the service station operators screamed. Congress became involved. After all big business kept them in power and big business was threatened by this damn upstart engineer in Podunk, Ar. This had to be nipped in the bud. Nearly 40% of the U.S. economy depended on the status quo for the automobile industry and petroleum industry as it was.

If this new vehicle was manufactured there would be an almost immediate reduction in gasoline and oil sales. The car companies would either go broke or have to license the new technology. The auto companies would have to drastically retool. Oh, woe. No, this could not be allowed to continue. It had to be nipped in the bud RIGHT NOW.

The first break in attempt at Larry's shop—well at the research facility of the now incorporated New Age Electronics Company—was recorded three days after the patent application was submitted. No one was surprised the U.S. Patent office leaked information like a sieve. The corporation and their attorney's were prepared for the eventuality. They expected break ins and industrial espionage. The only surprise was the speed with which the competition began their information gathering.

Papers, television, the internet began discussing the patent and vehicle five days after the application for the patent was filed. Larry filed his first lawsuit on the sixth day to quash the information flow citing industrial secrets. The media countered with FOI suits. Larry was called to testify before congress. Two bills were written to prevent the manufacture of the new vehicle. They cited the fact there was no data available on the safety of this new technology. Larry's attorneys countered with data for normal electric vehicles using the same batteries and braking systems.

Ultimately, the patent was awarded but manufacture of the vehicles was prevented until the lawsuits were adjudicated. Of course, during the time the cases were wending their way through the courts, the old line vehicle manufacturers were busy trying to design their own version of the vehicle. Many came up with a good design but unfortunately, they did not have the technology to make them truly dependent only on their integral generator and engine. They had to use Larry's technology and it was protected by patents! Earth engines just were not efficient enough to run continuously without external charging. The good thing was they could run for five to seven hundred miles before drawing the batteries down to the point they needed outside recharging.