Ægidius and BOB - A Cosmic Odyssey

Chapter I - A Vistitor

Ægidius Appleby lit his pipe. He looked out upon the field where the barley danced with the cool west wind. The summer had been tough, but now the harvest neared and thus also prosperity. Now he could take a well earned rest after his toil and trouble on the fields of his forefathers, which had been his vocation for the past 50 years ever since he was a wee lad. The horse was parked in its shed, the plough as well and now he was going to park his buttocks into his comfy, regular chair and listen to the news over the radio whilst he smoked on his pipe. A completely and totally ordinary, average summer's day, the very same as it had been for the last fifty years. The only difference was that his father, Augustus, had wandered heavenwards. Augustus had before his father Octavius and before his father Jack, ploughed the fields. This was the ancestral farm where generations one after another had followed the tradition. Thus sat Ægidius as the very last member in this noble lineage and pleasantly enjoyed his rest.

His son Æneas was to follow in his footsteps. If only Æneas had not had the thoughts about a doctor's degree or God forbid it law school. The traditions were to be maintained and preserved! The sun turned in, the murk of night fell over the canopy and the moon clocked in. Ægidius likewise turned in and waited for the sun to clock in. Thus the circle could once more continue its usual passage.

However.

The horse neighed uncontrollably outside. Ægidius arose like lightning. Grabbed his shotgun. Loaded it. Jumped into his dungarees and kicked the door open. Never had Faxy been so disturbed. In the very same motion he had kicked open the door he was greeted by a refulgence of indescribable colours. Purple, yellow and green. Everything blended together and separated. A fog of blinding colours. He could barely see Faxy nor hear its neighing as a tremendously piercing tone, an unearthly thunder dinned over the farm. The aether itself was vibrant and tonitrous. The tone itself increased in potency and then sank, reduced to the point where it sounded like that of a voice. Still imperceptibly deep. Ægidius could not fathom what the sound sounded like. His brain sped with several neurons an hour to process the information. It sounded like a voice yet it wasn't. Not that of a human. He could sense words, but not those of any human.

The voice continued ceaselessly with a series of unconnected utterances whereto it at last approached a recognisable language as his brain had grown accustomed to this or at the every least deciphered this fulminating Stentor-voice.

"SALUTATIONS"

Although Ægidius never had heard the word before his brain recognised it in some strange fashion. Ægidius wasn't so easily frightened though. He cocked the gun and most certainly wanted to know what this cheeky fog wanted with him and at such a discourteous hour of the day.

"Heyup!"

There went a moment and a voice tore its way through the air.

"MY MOST APPROPRIATE APOLOGIES"

The purple, yellow and green light within the blinding fog began to spin, dance and orbit each other. Their waltz had a peculiar choreography. Almost like a birth. Their astral dance became more chaotic, but it had contrarily concordance. Their dance grew tighter. Ægidius could hardly believe his eyes. The air grew humid. The heavens above him shot forth lightning. The lightning hit the fog. More lightning hit it. All of the weather went amuck in this numinous dance. Ægidius could almost see a rhythm in the lightning strikes and their contact with the light, together with the light's humming and whirling. Curiously not a bad melody, he thought to himself. Suddenly a myriad struck down in an instant down into the fog that almost glowed so strongly that night became day. Ægidius waited patiently. The fog solidified as if embraced by a field of electricity. Behind this celestial shell he noticed that the three colours went into a union. Forming an entity of sorts. Now the shape behind this transparent, but radiant cocoon took upon itself a humanoid likeness. Legs, arms, head, an entire body, but the dimensions were monstrously huge. Ægidius witnessed how this shape now towered above him. The cocoon grew denser and denser until the light had taken a firm formation. No longer danced, but still pulsated in a consistent rhythm.