Another Saturday has come, and David and I are going to sit at the bar and discuss recent events—don’t worry, we never go near the topics that just sent shivers up your spine. Not here, and not when alcohol is involved (which is why we’re here).
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “sum.” Use the letters “sum” in a word in your post or use the word “sum.” Enjoy!
Linda G. Hill’s—Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt.
If we were having a beer, you’d be pretty excited about something in the news.
“What’s the good word, Dan.”
“It’s your turn to buy.”
“I guess that is good from your perspective. What about some good news for me.”
“Voyager-1 is operational again.”
“What?”
“Voyager-1. Don’t you remember the Voyager spacecrafts?”
“Before you two get lost in space, are you planning to take on some cargo while you’re docked at the bar?”
“Clever, Cheryl. Yes, I think we will have what has become our usual Saturday order.”
“Modelo and a John Howell’s Special. You guys certainly are predictable.”
“I like to think that we’re consistent.”
“Like your spacecraft duo, Dan.”
“Indeed, Cheryl. We were launched our careers at the same time. I’ve retired, but they are still adding to the sum of man’s knowledge.”
“Face it Dan. Voyager added more to man’s knowledge the moment it flew past Saturn that you have in your entire life.”
“That’s true, David, but that doesn’t depress me, it makes me feel good. Think about it, those guys really got something right with both those crafts.”
“I’ll tell you what’s amazing.”
“What’s that, David?”
“That there’s still a team working on the Voyager Program, and that they fixed a problem in a spacecraft that’s over fifteen billion miles away. My dealer can’t fix the backup camera in my car.”
“That is sad, when you think about it.”
“Do you think they’ll be disappointed?”
“Who?”
“The people who Voyager runs into.”
“Why would they be disappointed, David?”
“Well, Voyager is carrying that golden record thing, right?”
“Yes, they both carry one.”
“That’s never been updated. So, they find that, they read it, play it, whatever, and they think they know who we are. What if they decide to come here and find us the way we are today? Do you think they’ll be disappointed?”
“Wow. That’s a good question. I mean, in some areas, we’ve added a lot to the pile. We’re better in so many ways.”
“Yeah, but in some areas, we’ve made a fine mess of things. Dan.”
“Well, if they’re capable of coming here, I guess if they don’t like what they find, they could just exterminate us.”
“Sheesh, Dan. That’s a heck of a thought. I was coming to see if you guys want another round and here you are talking about being exterminated.”
“Not only that, Cheryl, He said it like it’s a a good thing!”
“No, David, Cheryl, not a good thing. I just tried to put it in perspective. Besides, Voyager is no where near any place that has people. We’ll all be dust before anyone shows up.”
“You are just a fountain of comforting thoughts, Dan.”
“You’re the one who asked if they—whoever they are—will be disappointed, David.”
“You’re looking at this all wrong, guys.”
“How’s that Cheryl?”
“Maybe they get here. Not earth, but right here. Maybe where they come from, no one ever invented beer. Maybe no one ever made bourbon, or pizza or stuffed mushrooms.”
“Voyager-one doesn’t get close to another planet for forty-thousand years. This place might not still be here.”
“We should have packed a cooler to go with that golden record.”
“Dan, did they even put recipes on there?”
“No. No recipes.”
“Idiots?”
“David, what food from nineteen seventy-seven would you have described?”
“Hey, we had cheesecake back then. We had chocolate chip cookies. We had ice cream and pie and German Chocolate cake. We had beer, wine, bourbon and milkshakes. Hell, Dan. We had Twinkies—we could have put a pack of Twinkies on board, they’d still be good.”
“That’s it. If we had only thought to include some chocolate, a pack of Twinkies and a freeze-dried pie. They wouldn’t be coming to eradicate us.”
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