Aphelion Issue 292, Volume 28
March 2024
 
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The Construction Job

by Denny E. Marshall




Neno is sitting on a barstool at the Logbook Bar enjoying a bottle of Wormhole Dark, when he spots his good friend Ripal sitting at a booth a few rows down.

He walks over to the booth and joins his friend. Neno is from planet 88 and Ripal is from the planet Dor. Both planets are two of a few that study planet Earth and make some of the footage available to citizens.

“Did your people really build that crude structure on Earth?” Neno asks. It is obvious to Ripal that Neno has seen the footage of Earth that has been broadcast the last few weeks on both planets. Ripal replies, “No my people did not build that in a sense, Dorians would not build something like that on purpose. Besides Neno I have thought you would have seen the broadcast that explains it all by now.” Neno looks surprised and said, “No I have not seen it, why don’t you just tell me the story.”

“Once upon a time--just kidding,” said Ripal and then continues, “It all began long ago when the Nunni ambassador to Dor at the time, wanted a large house and garden built. Some of the building materials were imported from the planet Nasho. Earth lies between Nasho and Dor. Long story short the construction supply ship returning from Nasho had to make an emergency landing on Earth. The problem with the engines could only be partially fixed. Too be able to leave the atmosphere the ship had to lose weight. A large amount of the cargo was dumped out, all the heavy materials. The ship crew had only a few hours to dump the material. They did want too just dump it out, so they arraigned it in a shape that left a message. Before they finish, the ship’s captain orders them to leave. It would have only taken only another hour to finish the message. The partial message is classified.”

“I wonder why Earthlings call it what they do.” Asks Neno. “I have no idea why they call it Stonehenge.” Ripal answers.


THE END


© 2017 Denny E. Marshall

Bio: Denny E. Marshall has had art, poetry, and fiction published. One recent credit is fiction at Dime Show Review.

E-mail: Author

Website: www.dennymarshall.com

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