The Gerfnit Chronicles

By Michael Pickard

"The Gerfnit Chronicles is wonderful! ... kids would love it. The premise of this book is unique and of great interest to kids. The manuscript is really well written."

- Alice Flanagan, Flanagan Publishing Services

"Mike Pickards style of writing reminds me both of Heinlein and early Phillip Dick. Unlike some science fiction books, the appendices were extremely helpful."

- Wayne Allen Sallee, author

The Frobs were merely curious about the inhabitants of the third planet orbiting around a distant sun. The natives were rumored to have unique attributes that the Frobzbians wanted to understand.

At least, thats the way the mission started.

But when Gerfnit the mission specialist, surgically altered to look like an Earthling child, decided it wanted to make a return visit after an enjoyable summer at camp, Earth suddenly drew the attention of several other planets and species, not all with friendly intentions. Now, both the planet Earth and Gerfnit were in grave danger as the visitor from Frobzb went from being camper and data collector to Earths self-appointed protector.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 1, 1998
• ISBN: 9781462807314

Michael Pickard

Mike Pickard’s writing serves as the bridge between his professional work in technology and his passion for the creative arts.Several of Pickard's short stories have been published, including Hardwired, which won a Ray Bradbury Creative Writing Prize in 2005.Pickard's first major work was The Gerfnit Chronicles, a science fiction mystery/adventure and his first novel. The story began as a series of letters to his daughter who spent several summers at overnight camp. Pickard’s extensive backgroud working with cutting edge technology has proved helpful for imagining fictive universes and societies. Strong satire keeps readers grounded and laughing.Pickard has studied writing at the University of Chicago, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Northeastern Illinois University and at the Science Fiction Novel Workshop at the University of Kansas. He has also been a member of several writers groups over the last 14 years, and is currently both a member and the webmaster at the Chicago area-based “The Writers of Glencoe.”Pickard’s “day job” for the last 45 years has been in Information Technology (IT). Here, too, his “inner writer” played a role. In addition to countless technical reports and position papers, Pickard penned dozens of articles as lead columnist for a microcomputer newsletter.Among his other creative exploits: amateur theater, playwriting, paper mache sculpture and inventing a board game.

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Micro Paraphernalia Press

Copyright © 1998 by Michael Pickard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Smithsonian Museum Overview reproduced by permission of The Smithsonian Institution.

Spacetime Splashes: Catching the Wave in Einstein’s Equations reproduced by permission of Ed Seidel, University of Illinois-Urbana.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-7-XLIBRIS

www.Xlibris.com

Contents

The Back Story¹ Up Front

Part One

1. The Preparations

2. First Encounter

3. Among The Natives

4. Getting Into The Spirit

5. In Living Color

6. New Creatures And New Comforts

7. Roughing It

8. Reluctant Departure

9. The End Is The Beginning

10. Change Of Plans

11. Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

12. Preparing For Camp

13. Camp Disorientation

14. Lights, Camera, Activities

15. Close Encounter Of The Bzelian Kind

16. A Closer Look

17. Take Care Package

18. More Visitors, More Preparations

19. Happy B-Day!

20. Many Happy Returns

Endnotes For Part One

Cliffhangers From Part One

Part Two

1. The Wheels On The Bus

2. Wheels Of Fortune

3. Home Is Where You Hang Your Bogyxk⁷

4. Hard Times For An Honest Frobzb

5. Evening Rituals

6. Stacks, Lies, And Various Togs

7. Tangled Webs

8. The Unknown Enemy

9. Around The Block

10. Testing, One, Two, Ten

11. Psyched Out

12. School Daze

13. Beginning Commencement

14. Sky Watchers

15. Extra, Extra, Hear All About It

16. Out Of Sight

17. Out Of Date And Time

18. Snips And Sneaks

19. Moldy Oldies

20. Come Together, Right Now

21. Nzorglq Ncounter

22. When Publicity Comes To Shove

23. Melted Down And Out

24. Click Your Heels Together Three Times

Endnotes For Part Two

Appendix A

Cliffhangers From Part Two

Part Three

1. Bigger Than Life Goes On

2. Big Apple With A Worm

3. Big News, Big File, Little Alien

4. Little Time To Assemble A Big Team

5. Big Reply, Little Conversation

6. Teamwork And Technology

7. Final Preparations

8. Forward, Forward, And Away

9. High-Flying

10. My Kind Of Town

11. Waves Of Applause

12. Departures And Arrivals

13. Getting Home, Sick

14. Out Of The Blue, Gridlock, Period

15. Uninvited Guests

16. Talk Is Cheap, Conversation Is Hard To Come By

17. Yubllez From The Sky With Deals

18. Beware Of Aliens Bearing Gifts

19. Coming In For A Landing

20. One Bitten, Twice Chi

21. Short First Session

21. Wave Forms Out Of Africa

22. Hello, I Must Be Going

Endnotes For Part Three

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Appendix E

Cliffhangers From Part Three

Part Four

1. Alien Nation

2. Puppet Masters

3. See Your Travel Agent

4. Now Departing On Track Twelve

5. Take Two Aliens And Call Me In The Morning

6. Planet All Out

8. Archie’s Bunker

9. Negotiations On Tap

10. Calls To Action

11. Out Of This World Tv Repairman

12. On The Road Again

13. Group Train-Ing

14. Heads Up!

15. A Surprise Inside

17. Aliens Do Make House Calls

18. Some Assembly Required

19. It Does A Body Good

20. Data Mining

21. Closing Arguments

22. Origins And Departures

23. Family Reunions

24. Fertile Opportunities

Endnotes For Part Four

Cliffhangers From Part Four

Acknowledgments

To my daughter Samantha, without whom there would have been no opportunity or encouragement, and

to my life partner Rheta, without whom there would have been no Samantha

THE BACK STORY¹ UP FRONT

I was in trouble! It was summer of 1993 and my daughter was planning to go to her first overnight camp. As I suddenly became aware, kids going off to overnight camp like to get letters. Lots of letters!

"You have to write to me, daddy… every day," she pleaded. What in the world was I going to write about, every day, that wouldn’t put me to sleep writing it and her to sleep reading it? My friends told me they wrote their children about things out of their daily lives — where they went, what they did, what they ate, who they saw. I wanted something much better, and certainly less boring. After all, if I was going to the trouble of writing the letters, I wanted my daughter to read and even look forward to them.

Mixed in with her excitement was a bit of anxiety. After all, this was her first time away from home. I wanted to come up with something that was entertaining and simultaneously supportive, with some humor to make her smile and some suspense so she’d look forward to the next envelope with my return address.

I decided to tell her a story about someone who, in comparison, was having a harder time adjusting to overnight camp. And who would have the hardest time of all adjusting to an overnight camp on Earth? Why, an alien from another planet, of course. Who knows what kind of trouble and adventures an alien impersonating an Earthling child might get into!

This is the origin of the book you are about to read, adapted from the collected chapters of stories I wrote to my daughter during her four overnight camp experiences from 1993 through 1996, and the collaborative writing she did with me in 1997. Enjoy the book, and have a Gerfnit summer!

PART ONE

Strangers From Strange Lands

Collide in a Stranger Land

0173-PICK-layout.pdf

1. THE PREPARATIONS

It was a dark and stormy night, but the Frobzbians {frob zob’ ee anz} in their spacecraft hovering high over the planet could not tell what the weather conditions were like below. Besides, they were too busy with final preparations for the mission — a mission they had been planning for hundreds of chrontins². It took that long for them to complete the plastic surgery of their mission specialist, and then there was the training. And what training it was! Never before had they spent such time and effort to capture, collect, and attempt to analyze the communications of an alien planet.

Over a long period, Frobzbian scientists had monitored the electromagnetic transmissions that permeated the target planet’s atmosphere. After much effort and trouble, they determined that these transmissions contained audible, textual, pictorial, and some unidentifiable data types. Some of those audible transmissions contained waveforms that required small, portable electronic filters to separate the sounds so that they could be individually examined.

It wasn’t just the amount of data, either, although the Computing and Data Storage Subcommittee of the Interstellar Exploration Division of the Science Council on Frobzb filed many unexpected requisitions for expansion during the project. The worst part was that the lesson plan constantly needed to be changed, as standard practice by the inhabitants changed. Verbal communications content was in constant flux, and meanings of intended sounds could be reversed overnight, or at least that’s how it seemed.

The surgeries had taken much longer than the doctors ever imagined. In many cases, the surgeons made educated guesses about which Frobzbian organs to connect to their human equivalents. In some cases, they had to invent biological mechanisms which had no Frobzbian equivalents. But that was all past. Now it was time for Gerfnit {gurf’ nit}, the Frobzbian mission specialist, to make its way down to the surface, to mingle with the local inhabitants, and get an up-close Frobzbian-eye view of the culture. Actually, Frobzbians don’t have eyes exactly. That was one of the hardest things for them to implement during the extensive plastic surgery.

So many changes had been made to Gerfnit that it was not comfortable with its appearance. It no longer looked like the typical sleek, smooth, shiny Frobzbian that it had once been. Now it was oddly misshapen, with things sticking out all over, and dents and curves where smooth surfaces had once been. Gerfnit held a matter of fact attitude towards its current situation and its selection.

I must have been the best candidate of all the applicants or I would not have been chosen as the sole mission specialist, considered Gerfnit as the time for launch grew closer.

Schedules had been moved up, for no disclosed reason, reinforcing Gerfnit’s impression that this particular mission was of extreme importance. As a result, Gerfnit had little time to get used to its revised body and was still hesitant with simple motions and audible communication. Not only did Gerfnit have few practice opportunities, but there wasn’t anyone to practice with.

On this mission, the best that Frobzb has to offer might or might not be good enough. I will be letting down the Science Council and all of my fellow Frobzbians if I do not succeed, thought Gerfnit.

There was the real possibility that Gerfnit might forget some of its many lessons or perform poorly and be exposed as an alien visitor. Ignoring the possible personal risk, the shame and dishonor accompanying such an event would prevent Gerfnit from ever holding its fleckham {flek’ hem} up high again — except that its fleckham had been surgically removed for the mission. What a loss! Unbeknownst to Gerfnit, it would soon get something much more valuable in exchange for that decorative body part.

During these last chrontins, Gerfnit noticed that the expectation levels of the project leader had risen considerably. On at least one occasion, Gerfnit heard the project leader talking to Committee and Division representatives high up in the Frobzb governmental hierarchy. Gerfnit found it odd that the mandatory chain of command was so obviously broken. This was unusual, to say the least. Frobzb government hierarchies were not to be violated, or at least that was the universal understanding. Yet, it seemed that Gerfnit’s mission was no longer being directed by the next level of bureaucracy. The assumption Gerfnit made was that it was under direct control by the highest Frobzb authorities.

There must be more importance to this mission than I’d thought. Only something extremely critical might justify such a breach in protocol, analyzed Gerfnit.

It had more important things to do in preparation than investigate this occurrence, so Gerfnit cataloged the issue away to be pursued later and turned its attention to the mission with greater intensity.

As Gerfnit went about its final tasks, it heard the warbles and whistles of the crew as they performed theirs. The spontaneous harmonies and complex patterns were a Frobzbian trademark, yet another thing Gerfnit knew it would miss.

The time had come, and Gerfnit was packed into the transfer craft, which would take it from the large Frobzb ship down to the planet’s surface, and would later return it back to the large ship. For this first encounter, a period of fourteen of the planet’s star cycles was selected. There, it was planned for Gerfnit to join a collection of native inhabitants, and observe their culture (or lack thereof) while living with them. The Science Council hoped that many important things could be learned about the natives, especially regarding their alleged special attributes, unseen by the widely traveled Frobzbians in any other culture on any other stellar body in any other solar system.

The collection of native inhabitants that Gerfnit would join during its mission had been chosen with great care. The decision had been to make Gerfnit into a young native, since they are more or less ignored by the older ones of this society. This would reduce the likelihood of exposure. And to gain the widest possible variety of unstructured experiences, it had been decided that the visit would be performed during the scheduled non-educational periods of the planet’s young natives’ time cycle. To further prevent identification of Gerfnit as an impostor and alien, a location away from mass quantities of adult natives was chosen.

The transfer craft was launched, packed with Gerfnit and many necessary accessories, the same as those required by the natives Gerfnit was joining. Gerfnit’s transfer craft was tracked by the large ship as it descended swiftly toward its target: the planet known as Earth, the land mass known as the Northern Hemisphere, the land area known as Fremont, Michigan, the landing site known as… Camp Echo.

2. FIRST ENCOUNTER

It was a dark and stormy night, but Gerfnit was too busy being shaken and rattled around its transfer craft to care what the weather conditions were like below. Although the accessories and Gerfnit had all been secured in place, the atmospheric entry was so turbulent that many of the straps holding items in place had stretched or broken, causing almost total chaos in the cabin. Gerfnit felt both blunt and sharp items colliding with its not-yet-comfortable new body, but the pain was real nonetheless.

The turbulence subsided, but now Gerfnit noticed the transfer craft was very hot, making Gerfnit hotter than it had ever been before in its life. In the past, a quick dip in the moogly ponds provided Gerfnit pleasant relief from the occasional high temperatures on Frobzb. Gerfnit hoped there were moogly ponds on the planet below.

With a loud crash and an abrupt thud, the transfer craft landed. Gerfnit hoped that the craft was in good enough shape to propel it back to the large ship when the fourteen star cycles had passed. Gerfnit pushed the lever that released the hatch, allowing the first wafts of native atmosphere to enter the cabin. Gerfnit had been training on the Frobzb scientists’ simulated version of this planet’s atmosphere, but it was only a close approximation. Gerfnit could feel the foreign particles that floated in the atmosphere as it inhaled. These were not part of the simulation back home.

Home, reflected Gerfnit, as unusual thoughts began to form in its mind, thoughts about the differences between familiar and unfamiliar surroundings, and the associated comfort and discomfort those experiences bring. Gerfnit shook its head to regain focus, exited the transfer craft, and began assembling what remained of the accessories. Many of them were badly damaged or broken altogether, and Gerfnit left those in the craft. Some random pieces of native foliage scattered on the surface provided good camouflage after Gerfnit assembled them around the transfer craft. It was too dark for Gerfnit to go wandering around in the native vegetation, so it decided to gather up the salvageable accessories and wait until the darkness subsided.

The thunderous arrival of Gerfnit’s ship did not go undetected by some happy and boisterous but light sleeping campers. A few of the more adventurous among them threw on an extra layer of clothing, took up their flashlights, snuck out of their cabins, and proceeded out into the woods in search of an answer for the loud noise they had heard. After a few minutes of walking, bumping and shushing, the group came upon a most bewildering sight — a fully equipped camper standing in a clearing, just waiting.

They approached Gerfnit, and started asking it questions, all at the same time. Who was it? What was it doing out here in the woods? How old was it? What grade was it in? Some of their questions caused Gerfnit to remember its lessons on native procreation and lifestyle. Did its parents drop it off late? What was the loud noise? Gerfnit built up its courage. This was the moment of truth. Could Gerfnit pass for a young native inhabitant, or would it be exposed for the alien creature it was?

Gerfnit drew upon all of its courage and attempted its first vocal communication.

Hello it rasped from its artificial vocal cords.

The resulting sound made it clear to Gerfnit that the surgeons had only done a mediocre job on this part of the adaptation. However, that single word seemed to be enough communication to satisfy the campers, who resumed their questioning. Suddenly a beam of light darted through the trees, accompanied by shouts from the same direction. The camp counselor’s cries for the campers to return to the cabin interrupted the lopsided dialog. The campers helped pick up Gerfnit’s accessories and escort it back to the campsite. Most of the campers moved off in different directions, but two of them stayed with Gerfnit, making a shushing sound with one of their extreme digits in front of their oral cavity. They snuck Gerfnit into an artificial enclosure, filled with two- story platforms on which the young natives reclined horizontally. The natives seemed to be in some form of suspended animation, yet no machines or devices to assist in such a process were evident. The two shuffled Gerfnit over to one of these platforms, and pushed it gently down to the unoccupied lower position. Gerfnit was uncomfortable, because it was laying on a tender spot where one of the last surgeries had been performed, so it rolled over to one side.

Gerfnit laid there for what seemed to be forever, the silence punctuated occasionally by squeaky or rough noises coming from the faces of the horizontal natives. These sounded nothing like the harmonic warbles and whistles of communication on Frobzb. Gerfnit noticed that the darkness was receding, and that another star cycle was about to begin. A sudden blast of a cacophonous horn startled Gerfnit, as it saw the young natives begin to arise from their horizontal positions. Gerfnit’s first day at camp was about to begin.

3. AMONG THE NATIVES

It was a dark and stormy night somewhere on the planet, but at Camp Echo the morning was bright and sunny. Gerfnit was trying to fit in with the other young native inhabitants, mimicking their actions and rituals. Evidently, these people were fond of temporally structured activities, for they acted like slaves to the mechanized chronometers most of them wore near the ends of their upper extremities. They called these things watches and it was certainly the case that the natives watched them constantly.

No one seemed to notice that there was a new, unaccounted for camper in their midst since Gerfnit arrived on the first full day of the session, a fact for which it was grateful. All of the natives had gathered around a tall thin stick, onto which a colorful piece of cloth was attached and moved upwards. Most of the natives said some words at the same time, and the mood seemed rather somber. Then suddenly everyone went running for a large artificial structure. Strange odors emanated from the structure, but this did not slow the rush of native bodies toward it.

At the entrance was an older native, who was passing out small pieces of writing material and small sticks with dark points.

In order to get into breakfast, you have to write a postcard home, said the authoritative human.

Gerfnit knew that a postcard with a Frobzbian address would raise questions. Besides, the postcard had only local postage, and it would take at least special delivery to get all the way to Frobzb. From memory, Gerfnit filled in an Earth address it had learned in its Society and Government training and scribbled a brief Hello, I’m enjoying camp message on the back. The authoritative human who collected the cards only made sure there was an address, and didn’t look too closely. The following week, a mail clerk at the White House was puzzled by an unsigned postcard from overnight camp, addressed to Mr. President, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C..

By the time Gerfnit arrived at the structure, most of the young natives were resting on a bi-level platform, bent at their midpoints, their posteriors on the lower level and their upper extremities resting on the upper level. Other young natives were walking on their lower extremities, carrying containers with an aromatic material in them. These containers were placed on the upper level of the structures, and the young natives passed them around, each taking some of the material onto their own flat containers (called plates).

Gerfnit found the smell appealing, and took its share of the material. The natives were placing varying quantities of the material into their oral cavities and moving their facial muscles around. Eventually the material seemed to disappear. Gerfnit did likewise, and although its surgery had not given it the equivalent of taste buds, it found the material most pleasant. And, merely by extending an upper extremity towards one of the large containers, young natives would pass the container back to Gerfnit so that it could obtain more.

What’s with you? asked one native, You’re eating like this stuff tastes good.

Gerfnit just smiled to be friendly as it had been taught from various pictorial transmissions, and some of the material leaked from its mouth back onto its plate.

One native shrieked Ooooh, gross!

Gerfnit replied with a phrase it had learned from a recent lesson. No, duh! it rasped.

While the young natives returned to the structures of horizontal position, Gerfnit wandered around the camp grounds, exploring the sights and sounds. The camp was beautiful, with a large body of blue-colored liquid and many instances of tall foliage. Gerfnit appreciated the short high pitched noises that emanated from the upper portions of the tall foliage. Gerfnit’s exploration was cut short by one of its two evening acquaintances, a native named Almer, who came and hustled it back to the structure of horizontal position.

Come on, it’s time for the cabin activity. We can’t be late.

More temporal conditioning, thought Gerfnit.

At the structure of horizontal position, which Gerfnit learned was called a cabin, the young natives were making strange noises together. There was a combination of dissonant amplitudes and frequencies, but beneath it all was a common effort and an attempt to blend the sounds together. Frobzbians have very keen hearing, and this capability was not lost to Gerfnit despite the surgeries. The clash of sounds made Gerfnit shudder inside itself, and it was difficult for it to retain the material from the previous consumption period.

Another temporal period must have begun, thought Gerfnit, as the young natives departed from the cabin for various destinations around the camp grounds. Almer once again grabbed Gerfnit’s upper extremity (called an arm) and dragged it to another structure. This one also had bi-levels, which Gerfnit learned were called tables and benches.

After listening to the explanation by an older native, Gerfnit understood the activity to be performed. This was to be its opportunity to personally assemble random pieces of material, yielding a decorative but functionless artifact. The older native called it Arts and Crafts. Gerfnit impressed the young natives by successfully assembling a model of its large ship from some fuzzy flexible sticks, pieces from papyrus sheets, and a milky adhesive. Gerfnit wondered if this notoriety would cause problems for it later, especially if it grew. But in the meantime, the attention and the positive experiences were better than Gerfnit’s expectations.

4. GETTING INTO THE SPIRIT

Another temporal period must have elapsed, and this time Almer hurried Gerfnit off towards the blue-colored liquid. Almer stuck like glue to Gerfnit. It seemed that, no matter where Gerfnit went or what it did, Almer was there too.

Perhaps there is some kind of mammal magnetism phenomenon on this planet, considered Gerfnit.

Young natives in much less body covering were walking and jumping into the liquid, splashing it all over themselves and each other, shrieking at the top of their air exchange cavities. Gerfnit, still in its camp shirt and short trousers, walked hesitantly into the blue-colored liquid with the young acquaintance, and found it to have no color at all.

How strange, thought Gerfnit as it tried to examine the properties of the water by pushing at it.

The small wave caused by Gerfnit hit a young native in the face, and the native returned the favor. Suddenly an older native (which Gerfnit learned was called a counselor) hollered Buddy check! Buddy check! Find your buddy! and all of the young natives made frantic movements to locate other young natives with whom they had some undetermined relationship. The older native made disparaging gestures and sounds at Gerfnit, who just smiled pleasantly back. Almer saved the day by pulling Gerfnit’s hand skyward.

After several more steps, the colorless liquid had reached the top of Gerfnit’s face, and suddenly an older native entered the liquid and had thrown his arm across Gerfnit’s torso and was dragging it back toward the soil.

Evidently, they thought I was in some harm, thought Gerfnit, and it nodded in the affirmative when asked if it was all right.

Gerfnit’s outer coverings were soaking wet, and the breeze made Gerfnit uncomfortably cold, so Gerfnit was escorted back to its cabin for fresh coverings.

This is much better than the moogly ponds back home, realized Gerfnit, because when you come out you are clean, not all covered with moogly.

Gradually, two things began to happen. First, the number of young and older natives taking an interest in Gerfnit began to grow to a large number. And second, Gerfnit began to feel a sense of belonging, as if it was entirely appropriate for it to be there, sharing the experiences with these natives. Back home, the Frobzbians were an individual-centered culture, with few group interactions except for unusual business situations or mating and procreation.

Gerfnit knew that something was happening within its new body. Whatever it was, was as internal as it was external. It was distracting. It wasn’t based in logic. It was something completely alien to Gerfnit. Its brain was having trouble processing all of the new signals.

I know I’m supposed to do something, but I don’t know what! lamented Gerfnit.

Gerfnit forced the thoughts out of its mind, and tried to concentrate on something else.

Evidently these creatures exhaust their energy supply quickly, thought Gerfnit, as the throngs again descended on the consumable material structure (which was called the mess hall).

Gerfnit thought the name was appropriate, as the young natives made an absolute mess of the place after every temporal consumption activity. Gerfnit had no need to consume additional nutritive material, but sat with the young natives as not to arouse suspicion.

Pass the bug juice one native asked Gerfnit. Gerfnit did not understand the request. Although it knew from its studies what bugs were, there was nothing at the table resembling those small creatures. The young native next to Gerfnit picked up a tall container with red-colored liquid and passed it to the native who had made the request.

I wonder how many bugs it takes to make a container of juice that large, wondered Gerfnit.

The mob departed from the mess hall and proceeded back to their cabins for what was called rest hour or saska. The young natives seemed to be doing everything but resting, Gerfnit observed. Some of them were using pointed implements and making marks on pieces of paper. Gerfnit recognized only a few words on one native’s paper.

Are you going to write a letter home? asked Almer.

Gerfnit just shrugged, which seemed to be an acceptable answer for almost any question it was asked. It wandered outside the cabin with its backpack and walked a short way into the woods. There, Gerfnit opened the zipper and took out a small shiny device with a short antenna. Gerfnit moved the dials and pushed the buttons until it heard sounds — it had made contact with the large ship. Gerfnit gave its report on the activities it had experienced thus far at the camp, but its counterparts on the ship did not seem to understand anything that Gerfnit had to tell them.

I guess you had to be there, Gerfnit rationalized to its shipmates aloft.

Arrangements for Gerfnit’s return to the large ship via the transfer craft were confirmed, and Gerfnit ended the transmission.

Funny, Gerfnit mused, "I am having thoughts