Hybrid, Chapter 12: The Museum

Chapter 12:
The Museum

April 12, 2348

    Alexander woke up early on the morning of his fifth grade field trip. He never had been to a museum. He smelled freshly made cinnamon oatmeal Alice made. He jumped out of bed and grabbed his clothes. Alice waved as he touted down the stairs as she was happy to see him.  

    "Hey Alice," said Alexander.

    "Morning Alex," said Alice as he snatched his bowel to the table. "You must be excited for today?"

    "Yeah," he nodded with oatmeal in his mouth. "I'm very excited."

    She asked. "Do you know the name of the museum you're going to today?"

    He reached into his backpack and pulled out a slip of paper. "The Smithsonian 51 Museum."

    "That's the new museum that just opened a month ago," she said. "You're going to have a fun time there."

    "Thanks Alice!" he smiled.

    Then his hover bus stopped at his house to pick him up.

    "Oh my, my ride is here! I will see you this afternoon!" He threw his backpack on and sprint out of the door.

    "Bye Alex!" she waved. "Have fun!"

    Alexander got on the bus and sat next to Vyla and Hoot. Hoot hooted with joy when he saw him. Vyla patted her hand repeatedly on his head.

    "Howdy Alex!" cheered Hoot.

    "Howdy!" smiled Alexander.

    "I heard you kids are going to a museum today," said Hoot.

    "Yeah we are!" said Vyla. "We will be going to the Smithsonian 51."

    "The Smithsonian 51? Gosh, that is lucky of you!" smiled Hoot.

    "Do you know what they will be displaying?" Alexander asked Hoot.

    "Honestly, I really don't know," said Hoot.

    "I bet they will be displaying artifacts they found on Mars," said Vyla.

    "I have been to Mars before," said Hoot. "Those sandstorms appear without warning and you have to get out of there before you are completely buried alive."

    "That planet sounds pretty dangerous," said Alexander.

    "Only if you don't know where you are going," Hoot pointed out. "You should have seen me when I was young and made it to the top of Olympus Mons, the largest mountain in the Solar System."

    "You are so lucky!" said Vyla. "I want to be a traveler just like you!"

    "I bet you will someday," Hoot chuckled. "Alright, we made it to school! Have fun at the museum."

**********

    Alexander and Vyla got out of the hover bus and got in line with their fifth grade class. Their teacher, Mrs. Clarke checked to make sure no one was absent. David was the only one missing in the group. Then a hovercar landed near their group and David jumped out. He ran to the group as fast as he could.

    "I'm so sorry!" David tried to catch his breath. "I slept through my alarm clock."

    "That's ok," said Mrs. Clarke. "You came just in time."

    David rushed in line as two hover buses flew down. They landed right next to the group. Then Mrs. Clarke decided to divide her group into two.

    "Ok," Mrs. Clarke instructed. "I'll be counting you by two. Those who are one go on the first bus. Those who are two go on the second bus."

    She divided the group into two making Alexander in the first group and Vyla and Tak in the second group. Alexander mumbled as he didn't like being separated from his friends. He barely knew the people in his group. This was going to be tough for him.

    Alexander got into the hover bus last and looked for a good place to sit. He barely knew anyone on this hover bus and so it was hard for him to make a friend. But then he saw David sitting by himself. No one was sitting at that seat, so Alexander decided to sit next to him.

    When he got in his seat, he turned to David, and said "Hi!"

    "Hi," said David. He then quickly went back to writing in his journal.

    Alexander looked at a glimpse of David's writing and asked, "What are you writing? Is that your diary?"

    "Umm, yeah," David kept his eye on the page.

    "Alice gave me a diary too. Those things come in handy."

    "Yeah they do."

    "So where do you live?"

    "I live at Bear Mountain near Swan Bay in the polar regions."  

    "I bet it's cold there."

    "That is if you are not dressed right."

    "Do you have any pets?"

    "No, I don't. I'm not allowed to have pets."

    "Why not?"

    "Because my dad said so." David mumbled and put his pencil down. "I hate it that you ask me so many questions!"

    Alexander retreated to another seat, believing David wanted to be alone. Then a crab was thrown at him. The crab got its claws hooked onto his nose and earlobe. He screamed as it pinched him. The claws were strong and it squeezed harder as he resisted. He got up and spun his head around. David pushed something on his watch. A green glowing arrow shot the crab out of the window.

    He finally got the crab off his face and got back in his seat. Who threw the crab at me? Hortor and his gang sitting in the middle of the hover bus bared their vampire fangs at him. He ducked so they wouldn't taunt him.

    He then turned to David and asked, "What did you do to the crab?"

    "I just got the crab off your face and threw it out of the window," said David.

    "Thank you so much," said Alexander.

    "You're welcome," said David.

    Alexander looked at David's watch. "Where did you get that watch?"

    "This watch? My grandma gave it to me as a gift," said David.

    "Can I look at it?" asked Alexander.

    "I really don't want to show it to anyone. Sorry," said David.

    "Ok then," said Alexander.

**********

    They got out of the hover bus. Alexander and his group walked single file into the Smithsonian 51 Museum. The students waited in the lobby for their tour guides to come. Alexander's tour guide approached to them. She was a female Tunain, wearing a suit that resembled a diver suit. Her helmet was filled with sea water and carried a filter on her back.

    "Hello children," she said. "My name is Tunasala. I'll be your tour guide for today."

    The children cheered for Tunasala.

    "Welcome to the Smithsonian 51 Museum. This museum was just build last month by the humans who build the Smithsonian of Earth. This museum has a huge display of artifacts that were found from Mars, the fourth planet from the Solar System. You will learn so much about the planet, the recovered cities, and the people called Martians who lived there thousands of years ago."

    Everyone was very excited to see the artifacts and learn about Martians. Alexander didn't know about Martians. But he was very excited to learn about them.

    The group stopped at many displays of old spacecrafts that were the first to land on the surface Mars. Old rovers used in the 20th and 21st century including the Curiosity and the Opportunity. Displays of various microscopic organisms that were native of Mars. Another set of displays showed ancient artifacts from Martians.

    They came up to a spacecraft as she began her lecture. "This is the Viking 1. This was the first spacecraft that ever landed on Mars and took pictures of the surface."

    "How can people get inside it?" asked Bobby.

    "People did not fit in this spacecraft, but the Human scientists controlled it from the surface of Earth. Back then, Humans did not have the technology to send people to the planet. So they used robots and satellites to explore the planet. Let me show you the other probes that explored the surface of Mars."

    They went to the Mars rover exhibit and saw all the rovers that were recovered from other Mars missions.

    "Mars 2 and 3 were the first rovers to be sent to Mars, but then they were destroyed right after landing. Sojourner was the first Mars rover to successfully land and be able to explore the surface of Mars in the year 1997. Then came the two famous rovers named Spirit and Opportunity and they landed on Mars in the year 2004 and discovered the rivers, lakes, and gullies made by water billions of years ago."

    "What about the Phoenix spacecraft?" Alexander asked.

    "The Phoenix did, but the water is frozen. But billions of years ago, it was liquid and highly abundant."

    "When did they find life?" one of his classmates asked.

    "The Curiosity rover in the year 2015 discovered life forms a few feet below the surface and sealed in the polar ice caps, which was one of the biggest discoveries that humans ever discovered."

    After they looked at the rovers, they looked at different microscopic life forms that live on Mars. Each of them got a turn using microscopes to look at these organisms. Alexander enjoyed seeing and learning about Mars in this museum.

    They looked at the first manned spacecraft. Tunasala lectured them on the development of warp technology helped the Humans get to Mars. This helped them get to other planets and moons. Different computers and tools used for manned missions were also on display. The kids even got to see someone use one of the old spacesuits. Four hours they had spent in this museum, but Alexander was never bored.

    They headed to the final exhibit and it was going to be the exciting part of the tour. Tunasala smiled, "Alright children, I have saved the best for last. Since the first manned mission, the Human astronauts discovered that had changed the history of the human race."

    "What changed the Human race?" asked Bobby.

    "Artifacts and ruined cities made from Martians," said Tunasala as they entered the exhibit.

    Computer models showed what the temples and palaces may have looked like. Shelves filled with tools and weapons. Tables covered with pots, jewelry, pans, books, manuscripts, tablets, and old notebooks. Gold statues, mannequins with Martian clothes, and remains of vehicles were displayed in every corner. When Alexander entered, he got a sudden feeling he knew about them. Tunasala began their tour.

    "Thousands of years ago, Mars was colonized by a race who believed came from a different region in the galaxy about 3.5 million years ago."

    "Why are they called Martians if they were from a different world?" asked Alexander.

    "We really don't know what they were called, so we call them Martians."

    "On our left, we have a set of tools that may have been used for heavy duty jobs like mining, gathering resources, building, and repairing. As the Humans found these cities and other remains, they knew that they were not alone in the Universe. Discovering what was on Mars urged them to travel beyond Solar System."

    Alexander took a good look at the tools. One of them looked like a drill, large gauntlets, a limb of a Spacer medical probe, and a set of building tools. He then got a strange feeling, like he knew how they worked. He put his hand on his stomach thinking he might throw up.

    "Are you ok?" asked Tunasala.

    "I'm fine," Alexander took a deep breath.

    She continued the lecture. "This shelf here contains a collection of tools that the Martians may have used as weapons based on the appearance and the orientation."

    Alexander examined the weapons. These weapons may have been swords, guns, detonators, pistols, shields, and some kind of launcher. He took a longer time than anyone else looking at the Martian weapons.

    "You like to look at these artifacts a lot longer than anyone else," Tunasala commented.

    "They're so amazing!" Alexander smiled.

    "They're out of this world!" smiled Tunasala.

    Next they looked at models of the cities that the Martians built. "This is the model of what the Martian city may have looked like. This city was surrounded by some kind of glass, which protected them from the Martian environment."

    Alexander looked at the model as it was surrounded by a glass dome. Pillars, hangars, docking bays, parks, skyscrapers, pyramids, and temples made up this city. Tunasala showed them what it looked like now. The dome collapsed, ships crashed, and the city got buried by Martian sand.

    "What happened to the Martians?" worried Alexander.

    "No one knows. There may have been an accident or there was some kind of invasion that caused the empire on Mars to fall."

    "Are they still around, but in a different star system?" asked Bobby.

    "We have no idea why they disappeared. All that was left were their artifacts. They could have moved to another galaxy."

    Then they looked at the Martian clothes next to the models of cities. "These clothes lost their colors and texture due to overexposure of the Martian environment. These robes you are looking at were silky and metallic. Their colors would range from red, blue, green, and gold depending on the ranking of the individual. The person wearing the gold robe and a crown may have been a wealthy individual based on possession."

    He stared at the golden robe while Tunasala kept talking about the clothes they wore. He reached out and tried to touch the robe. But Tunasala warned him. "Don't touch it! But you can touch the replica of this robe."

    He turned around and saw the replica of the same robe he looked at. He rubbed the replica robe against his fingers. It literally shocked him. He remembered feeling that texture. Then he spaced out, which made Tunasala puzzled.

    "Are you sure that you are all right?" worried Tunasala.

    "I will be fine," he nodded. "I am just very excited."

    "Alright then," said Tunasala. "Let me know if you are not feeling too good."

    They looked at remains of vehicles. Most were thrusters, boosters, brakes, cannons, turrets, joysticks, navigation systems, hover parts, and doors. "We don't have the whole vehicle in this museum, but we are still trying to get ideas on what these vehicles looked like and how they might have functioned."

    Alexander carefully looked at the remains piece by piece. He looked at the robes, the tools, and weapons and they made Alexander feel as though he knew more about them than anyone. He started thinking that he might be going crazy. But he didn't want to say it to Tunasala because she knew something suspicious was going on.

    "Next, let's look at the accessories that the Martians made. Over here we have some jewelry made with diamonds, gold, and titanium. We have necklaces, rings, and earrings. Based on the size and the value, this kind of jewelry may have been worn by the wealthiest Martians in the kingdom," said Tunasala.

    Alexander looked at the jewelry and stood as a statue. The jewelry looked exactly like his mother's amulet. Alexander thought this couldn't be possible. He took out his amulet and made sure no one was watching. He compared his amulet to the jewelry and discovered that they were the same. This then started to scare him.

    "Next to the jewelry is a set of handheld computers that may have been for reading, writing, or emailing each other. There are some templates with some kind of writing. But we are not sure what they are saying or what their language may have sounded like. Right now the scientists are working on trying to translate the writings," said Tunasala.

    Alexander looked and the templates and his heart literally stopped for the moment. He started to translate the writing to himself. He quietly read what one of the templates was saying. This scared him. He could read the Martians' language.

    One of the templates read:

    "To the entire kingdom’s Spacers, for years since our allies from different worlds were wiped out near the beginning of time, we were the only ones that remained in our galaxy. For so many years, we finally discovered new worlds across the galaxy emerging from the newborn stars. As these worlds formed, specks of life emerged, and many became our own children. As new superiors of our galaxy, it was important that we nurtured these children and watch them grow just like us. They shall not make the same mistakes that we made. We shall never let our sail turn to the next storm ever again. This galaxy shall be ruled by peace, respect, and love. Shuka!"

    He discovered that the Martians were called Spacers. As he kept looking at the artifacts, his head spun with questions. "How can I understand this writing? How do I know about these artifacts more than anyone? What is going on with me?" he kept asking himself.

    He really needed to get out of the museum as fast as possible. When he turned around, Tunasala was behind. Tunasala watched him muttering over the artifacts like if he was having a panic attack. She was looking at him like she was spooked by him or something.

    "Alexander, maybe you should get some air," said Tunasala.

    Alexander more anxious than he continued to look at the artifacts. He ran out of the exhibit and out of the museum away to get back onto the hover bus. He caught his breath as thoughts were racing in his head. “Why do I know this? Why did my mother never tell me? What is going on? Am I one of them?”

    He sat on the pavement as he never felt so confused in his entire life. His thoughts swirled like a whirlpool draining everything into the bottom of the ocean.

    When he got back on the hover bus, David looked at him with concern. He asked, "Are you ok? You were acting very strange the whole time."

    This was the first time that Alexander heard David start talking to him. "I’m fine.”

    "I really did not like how our guide was looking at you. It was as though you were up to something," said David. "Or you were feeling sick. Were you?"

    Alexander put his amulet back under his shirt. "You will not understand because I don't understand. Trust me."

    "What is that thing you are wearing?" David asked.

    "It's an amulet my mother gave to me for luck," he said. Alexander showed it to David and was amazed.

    "This looked like the ones we saw in the museum," said David. "Did she stole it or buy it? Is it a replica?"

    "I don't know. She never told me," he said. "I swear this was not stolen from here."

    "Why not?" asked David.

    "She died before she could tell me," he said.

    "I am so sorry to hear that," said David. "But this amulet looked like the ones from the exhibit."

**********

    The hover bus returned to the school. Alexander and Vyla went back to their hover bus home. When Vyla sat next to him, she felt concerned about him as much as David.

    "Alex, what's wrong?" she asked.

    Alexander was not sure if he should tell her or not. If he told her, she would have to keep it as a secret from other kids.

    "I'll tell you, but promise you'll keep it a secret?" he asked.

    "I promise!" she nodded.

    "Since we got into the Martian exhibit, I got this strange feeling that I knew about them," said Alexander.

    "What do you mean?" she asked feeling confused. "You learned about them from a book or the internet?"

    "Neither of those!" he raised his voice just a tab. "I just started to know about them without my tour guide talking about them."

    She drew closer in so he could whisper. "Tell me more about this."

    He explained. "While I was looking at the artifacts, I was feeling some kind of connection between me and the artifacts. For example, when I was looking at the weapons, I found out how they work and the scientists don't know how they work. I am the only one that knows about them."

    She looked at him feeling so shocked and said, "That sounds crazy! How is that possible?"

    "I don't know!" he said.

    "Is there more?" she asked.

    "Yes," he said. "I was looking at one of the templates with the writing. No one knows what the writing says. But when I looked at the writing, I could read it like a book!"

    "You know that language?!" she backed away for a second.

    "Yes!" he nodded. "And these Martians are not called Martians. They were called Spacers."

    "Oh my gods!" she placed her hands at the sides of her head. "This is serious!"

    "Very serious!" he shook his hair. "I was scared because I did not want them to know what was going on. So I ran out of the exhibit, blended in the crowd, and ran back to the hover bus."

    "What are we going to do?" she asked.

    "I don't know," he said. "But don't tell this to the other kids, ok?"

    "Got it!" she nodded.

    The hover bus stopped at Alexander's house. He leaped out and rushed into his house. Alice sat on the deck, watching parrots flying with her binoculars. She turned around and smiled as she aimed it at him.

    "Hey Alex!" she waved. "It's good to have you home."

    "It's good to be home too!" he smiled.

    "How was the trip to the museum?" she asked.

    "It was great at first," he said. "But then I did not enjoy the rest of the time."

    She looked at him with surprise. "What? You didn't enjoy it?"

    "I did not enjoy the Martian artifacts," he said.

    "How come?" she asked.

    Alexander took a moment to answer her question. He did not want to think she may find him crazy. He told this to Vyla because she was trustworthy and so was Alice.

    "I might be going crazy," said Alexander. "At the museum, there was an exhibit with artifacts found from Mars. And I looked at them and I realized how these tools, weapons, and vehicles work. And that is not all, I can read their language?"

    "Read their language?!" she jumped. "You got to be kidding me?"

    "I am serious!" he yelled. "I read one of the templates and my tour guide wanted to know what I was doing. But I did not tell her what I was doing because I didn't want everyone to know that I was some kind of Martian or some exotic being that knows everything!"

    "Wow!" she let her jaw hang down. "I was reading books about Mars and no one found Martians at all. Somehow you may be related to them."

    "This is really bothering me!" he waved his hands up and down. "I am so confused about why I know about this stuff!"

    "I know you are," she placed her hands on his shoulders. "Maybe it'll lead you to find out the other half of you."

    Alexander took a deep breath and calmed down for a moment. "So you're telling that this is like putting the pieces of a puzzle set together?"

    "Yes! Based on what I am hearing, you might be closer to the truth. Maybe we should go back to the museum some other time and you can show me those artifacts."

    "Maybe," he said.

    After he had dinner and finished his homework, Alexander wrote some more in his diary:

"Dear: Diary,

    Today I went to a museum. I was looking at the artifacts that were made by Martians who disappeared thousands of years ago. Somehow I have a connection with Martians. The reason I am saying this because I looked at different kinds of tools and weapons. Somehow I know how they work without seeing them. I never saw or learned about them before, but I know how they work. This doesn't make any sense to me. I even looked at the writing on one of the templates and I can read their writing! No one can read the writing but me. When I read it, the Martians were not called Martians, they were called Spacers. I kept asking myself, why do I have a connection with the Spacers? If they are still around, why have I not met them? Am I closer to the truth? Am I really a Spacer? If I am not, what am I? I really need to know what I am and understand why. I am very confused!"

    Alexander relaxed for a moment trying to erase those thoughts in his head so he could go to sleep. He went into bed and Hobbes leaped on his bed to be cuddled like a little kitten. He petted him until they both fell asleep.