An Unexpected Complication Named Gary

Hitchhiking

With the destruction of Earth imminent and apparently unavoidable, XUDE decided that only one outcome was required:

Hitchhiking.

There would be no further transmissions from Headquarters. No extraction instructions had been provided for XUDE, and biological material had been specifically designated as irrelevant to the operation.

Marbles was biological material.

So was XUDE, technically, at least while wearing the WOACA suit.

There was nothing to be accomplished by remaining inside the field residence waiting for instructions that Headquarters had already indicated would not arrive.

The universe contained travelers.

Travelers required ships.

Ships occasionally passed Earth.

Therefore, XUDE required a sufficiently open location, a clear view of the sky, and some method of communicating the universally recognizable condition of being stranded and in need of transportation.

Humans had already developed one.

XUDE packed several necessities, placed a deeply uncooperative Marbles into his carrier, and walked until they located an open field with an unobstructed view of the night sky.

They set the carrier down.

Marbles complained.

“I am attempting to prevent your deconstruction,” XUDE explained.

Marbles continued complaining.

XUDE looked upward.

There were stars.

Statistically, some of them were occupied.

Statistically, some occupied systems produced travelers.

Statistically, some travelers ignored planetary access restrictions.

The universe also contained smugglers, tourists, surveyors, religious pilgrims, fugitives, merchants, recreational explorers, unlicensed transport operators and several species known for becoming lost with extraordinary frequency.

Someone would eventually pass.

XUDE raised one hand toward the stars.

And waited.

From the trailer at the edge of the property, Gary David Smith had been watching the woman in his field for approximately six minutes.

He had first assumed she was looking for something.

Then he noticed the cat carrier.

Then she put it down.

Then she raised one arm toward the sky.

Gary watched for another minute.

The woman did not lower her arm.

Gary sighed, put on his boots, and went outside.

Marbles saw him first.

XUDE was still scanning the northeastern sky when a human voice came from behind them.

“Ma’am?”

XUDE turned.

A man stood some distance away. He wore work boots and an old shirt and carried nothing that suggested immediate hostility.

“Are you okay?”

XUDE considered the question.

Earth had been scheduled for deconstruction.

Headquarters had apparently abandoned them.

Marbles had urinated in his carrier.

No passing spacecraft had yet acknowledged the distress signal.

“No,” XUDE said.

Gary nodded slowly.

“All right.”

This was not the response XUDE expected.

Gary looked at the cat carrier.

Then at XUDE.

Then at the sky toward which XUDE had been extending one arm.

“You waiting on somebody?”

XUDE looked back at the stars.

“Yes.”

Gary followed their gaze.

There was a long silence.

“Coming from pretty far off?”

XUDE looked at him.

“Yes.”

Gary nodded again.

“Well.”

He put his hands in his pockets and looked toward the sky with them.

“Hope they know how to find the place.”