Chapter....something...
Finally hit 10k! From here on in, it's going to get a bit sloppy...I don't have much plot till they reach the home planet so it's going to be filler till then. Or rather the MC gathering clues as to what is going on...
Pearson was the first to speak.
"Is...is it real?" he breathed.
"Far out, man," the teenage boy had abandoned his phone game and was slowly getting up on his feet. His eyes were also glued to the alien in the doorway.
The alien's head turned just a hair. His eyes blinked slowly, just enough of an indication for the onlookers to believe that it was indeed real. Rider was starting forward with the intent of greeting this newcomer, but Pearson yanked him back. "What do you think you're doing?" he hissed a whisper, keeping an eye on the alien.
"I was just going to say hi, y'know...." Rider paused in his explanation as the alien took a step forward and moved into the room. His movements were as fluid and smooth as his appearance. The humans in the room collectively held their breaths, unable to look away as they watched to see what the alien would do next.
Mara suddenly realized it was moving towards her. She swallowed for a second, wondering if she should stand up or if that would be construed as a challenge to this being. Behind her, Maria was whispering a prayer and crossing herself with a shaking hand. Mara stood slowly, coming just about eye to eye with the creature. She was just a hair taller than him but she was short for her age. The alien stopped a couple of feet from her, his white eyes staring straight at her. The lack of pupils made it difficult to see exactly what he was looking at and it gave Mara the feeling that she was being looked straight through to the wall behind her. It was a bit eerie but the alien hadn't made any move to hurt or attack her in any way. Mara suddenly got the feeling that this creature was waiting for her to make the next move. She swallowed again to clear her throat. "....Hello..." she said as softly as she could manage. She was pretty sure that she would spook both herself and the alien if she spoke too loud.
The alien blinked again but gave no indication that he had understood. Now that he was closer, Mara could see the two very small vertical slits that were the nose. There still wasn't any hair to be seen anywhere on the skin that was exposed. The outfit was like sealskin on the alien's body.
Mara took a breath and slowly extended a hand as if for a handshake. She kept the palm up a bit more and open to show that it was more of a friendly gesture rather than to be thought of her reaching to take something from him.
The alien very slightly inclined it's head at her hand. Mara could just barely tell that the pearl eyes had adjusted their focus from her to her hand.
In reply, the alien brought up his hand and Mara held her breath for a second in anticipation of actually shaking hands with a real alien. But the amazement was short lived. The alien's hand was not empty, he was holding a small cylindrical object. It was silver and didn't seem to have any buttons or markings to show what it's use was for. But as he raised it, it was somehow activated. A flat beam shot out of it right at Mara. It wasn't a beam like a flashlight or even a laser. It was more of a beam made up of a green laser grid that panned up and down the front of her like a scanner. There was a small humming sound as it did so. Mara wasn't sure what was going on but it didn't seem to hurt.
"It's doing something to her..." She heard the business man Pearson say under his breath. He sounded as if he was holding his anger in check due to his fear of the unknown. She tried to turn her head and say that she was ok but instead, she stayed right where she was. Her hand was still extended. A strange feeling was creeping up her spine. The feeling was telling her that she couldn't move. She was frozen like a statue, a department store dummy. The excitement drained out of her replaced with a growing sense of dread.
"Are you just going to let it do that to you?" Pearson said with a tone of rebuke. But he stopped as he saw the look spreading over Mara's face. And he realized she wasn't able to stop it even if she wanted to. "Oh no..." he said, taking a step back.
Maria burst into a new flood of tears as the beam continued to scan Mara up and down without stopping. Pearson made a snap decision. He made a quick motion and grabbed the awed surfer to shove him towards the door. Rider tried to protest but Pearson was on a mission. "Run boy, or you're trapped here forever!" Mara could just barely move her eyes to see the two of them leaving out the open black slot of a doorway. Pearson took one look back with emotion running back and forth along his face. Mara could see he was thinking about going back for them but quickly decided against it as he flung himself through the doorway.
Amazingly, the alien had just watched them leave with no trace of emotion on it's face.
Mara still couldn't speak and was trying to keep down her panic. She wanted to yell at Maria to quit crying and run after the men.
Just then, a horrible scream cut through the silence of the white room. It was Pearson and Rider somewhere beyond the doorway. The screams set off Maria again and she screamed before passing out on the smooth white floor. Mara tensed up, wishing she could cover her ears. But then it was all silent again.
The door slid shut, or rather the black opening was slid shut and became part of the white wall again with no slits or marks to show it had ever been there.
Mara could just barely move her eyes to look at the alien. Her mouth just wouldn't move to make any words. If she could just say something...
The alien must have finished his scan because the green grid went back into the silver object in his hand and Mara fell to the floor at the alien's feet with the suddeness of being able to move again. "Who...who...why?" she tried to ask, looking up from the floor. The alien appeared to be looking at the silver scanning object. But when Mara spoke at him, his white eyes seemed to look from his scanner to her, uncomprehending. Mara licked her lips, which felt awfully dry for some reason, and tried once more. "Why are you......"
That's as far as she got. As she got to the word "doing", everything blinked out like a lightswitch. The white room, the alien, and Maria passed out on the floor just gone in a split second.
It's hard to describe what really happened. Comparing it to a lightswitch is about as close as I can get. One moment I was in that white cube of a room, looking that alien in the eyes about to ask him why he was doing this....the next moment, that reality was gone.
When it clicked back on, it seemed like both an eternity and no time at all had passed. I was sitting up in a bed...
Mara sat straight up in bed. She hadn't been sleeping, at least she didn't feel like she had been. At first, she wondered if it was all real around her. But the bed beneath her was soft under her hands, so at least she had that to go on.
This was a different room from the other one. It was a bit softer and gray-er, less severely white than the other room. And she was alone.
Except for the bed, there wasn't much else in the room. It was smaller than the previous room. About half of the other room. Mara wondered fleetingly if it was exactly half. Maybe she had been brought here after being scanned. But why? The lack of being able to figure out why this was all going on was galling to Mara. She got out of the bed a bit tentatively in case everything was going to wink out again without a moment's notice. It was then that she noticed her clothes had changed. She was barefoot and dressed in light blue fabric pants and tunic with the same color belt tied around her waist. She felt all for the world like a karate student. There was a black insignia on one of the short sleeves on her shoulder. Mara couldn't really make it out with it being upside down from her point of view. It just looked like a couple of squiggles and dots inside of a square.
Pearson was the first to speak.
"Is...is it real?" he breathed.
"Far out, man," the teenage boy had abandoned his phone game and was slowly getting up on his feet. His eyes were also glued to the alien in the doorway.
The alien's head turned just a hair. His eyes blinked slowly, just enough of an indication for the onlookers to believe that it was indeed real. Rider was starting forward with the intent of greeting this newcomer, but Pearson yanked him back. "What do you think you're doing?" he hissed a whisper, keeping an eye on the alien.
"I was just going to say hi, y'know...." Rider paused in his explanation as the alien took a step forward and moved into the room. His movements were as fluid and smooth as his appearance. The humans in the room collectively held their breaths, unable to look away as they watched to see what the alien would do next.
Mara suddenly realized it was moving towards her. She swallowed for a second, wondering if she should stand up or if that would be construed as a challenge to this being. Behind her, Maria was whispering a prayer and crossing herself with a shaking hand. Mara stood slowly, coming just about eye to eye with the creature. She was just a hair taller than him but she was short for her age. The alien stopped a couple of feet from her, his white eyes staring straight at her. The lack of pupils made it difficult to see exactly what he was looking at and it gave Mara the feeling that she was being looked straight through to the wall behind her. It was a bit eerie but the alien hadn't made any move to hurt or attack her in any way. Mara suddenly got the feeling that this creature was waiting for her to make the next move. She swallowed again to clear her throat. "....Hello..." she said as softly as she could manage. She was pretty sure that she would spook both herself and the alien if she spoke too loud.
The alien blinked again but gave no indication that he had understood. Now that he was closer, Mara could see the two very small vertical slits that were the nose. There still wasn't any hair to be seen anywhere on the skin that was exposed. The outfit was like sealskin on the alien's body.
Mara took a breath and slowly extended a hand as if for a handshake. She kept the palm up a bit more and open to show that it was more of a friendly gesture rather than to be thought of her reaching to take something from him.
The alien very slightly inclined it's head at her hand. Mara could just barely tell that the pearl eyes had adjusted their focus from her to her hand.
In reply, the alien brought up his hand and Mara held her breath for a second in anticipation of actually shaking hands with a real alien. But the amazement was short lived. The alien's hand was not empty, he was holding a small cylindrical object. It was silver and didn't seem to have any buttons or markings to show what it's use was for. But as he raised it, it was somehow activated. A flat beam shot out of it right at Mara. It wasn't a beam like a flashlight or even a laser. It was more of a beam made up of a green laser grid that panned up and down the front of her like a scanner. There was a small humming sound as it did so. Mara wasn't sure what was going on but it didn't seem to hurt.
"It's doing something to her..." She heard the business man Pearson say under his breath. He sounded as if he was holding his anger in check due to his fear of the unknown. She tried to turn her head and say that she was ok but instead, she stayed right where she was. Her hand was still extended. A strange feeling was creeping up her spine. The feeling was telling her that she couldn't move. She was frozen like a statue, a department store dummy. The excitement drained out of her replaced with a growing sense of dread.
"Are you just going to let it do that to you?" Pearson said with a tone of rebuke. But he stopped as he saw the look spreading over Mara's face. And he realized she wasn't able to stop it even if she wanted to. "Oh no..." he said, taking a step back.
Maria burst into a new flood of tears as the beam continued to scan Mara up and down without stopping. Pearson made a snap decision. He made a quick motion and grabbed the awed surfer to shove him towards the door. Rider tried to protest but Pearson was on a mission. "Run boy, or you're trapped here forever!" Mara could just barely move her eyes to see the two of them leaving out the open black slot of a doorway. Pearson took one look back with emotion running back and forth along his face. Mara could see he was thinking about going back for them but quickly decided against it as he flung himself through the doorway.
Amazingly, the alien had just watched them leave with no trace of emotion on it's face.
Mara still couldn't speak and was trying to keep down her panic. She wanted to yell at Maria to quit crying and run after the men.
Just then, a horrible scream cut through the silence of the white room. It was Pearson and Rider somewhere beyond the doorway. The screams set off Maria again and she screamed before passing out on the smooth white floor. Mara tensed up, wishing she could cover her ears. But then it was all silent again.
The door slid shut, or rather the black opening was slid shut and became part of the white wall again with no slits or marks to show it had ever been there.
Mara could just barely move her eyes to look at the alien. Her mouth just wouldn't move to make any words. If she could just say something...
The alien must have finished his scan because the green grid went back into the silver object in his hand and Mara fell to the floor at the alien's feet with the suddeness of being able to move again. "Who...who...why?" she tried to ask, looking up from the floor. The alien appeared to be looking at the silver scanning object. But when Mara spoke at him, his white eyes seemed to look from his scanner to her, uncomprehending. Mara licked her lips, which felt awfully dry for some reason, and tried once more. "Why are you......"
That's as far as she got. As she got to the word "doing", everything blinked out like a lightswitch. The white room, the alien, and Maria passed out on the floor just gone in a split second.
It's hard to describe what really happened. Comparing it to a lightswitch is about as close as I can get. One moment I was in that white cube of a room, looking that alien in the eyes about to ask him why he was doing this....the next moment, that reality was gone.
When it clicked back on, it seemed like both an eternity and no time at all had passed. I was sitting up in a bed...
Mara sat straight up in bed. She hadn't been sleeping, at least she didn't feel like she had been. At first, she wondered if it was all real around her. But the bed beneath her was soft under her hands, so at least she had that to go on.
This was a different room from the other one. It was a bit softer and gray-er, less severely white than the other room. And she was alone.
Except for the bed, there wasn't much else in the room. It was smaller than the previous room. About half of the other room. Mara wondered fleetingly if it was exactly half. Maybe she had been brought here after being scanned. But why? The lack of being able to figure out why this was all going on was galling to Mara. She got out of the bed a bit tentatively in case everything was going to wink out again without a moment's notice. It was then that she noticed her clothes had changed. She was barefoot and dressed in light blue fabric pants and tunic with the same color belt tied around her waist. She felt all for the world like a karate student. There was a black insignia on one of the short sleeves on her shoulder. Mara couldn't really make it out with it being upside down from her point of view. It just looked like a couple of squiggles and dots inside of a square.