Originally posted on Shades of Us.
‘Life’ scared the shit out of her. She knew that NASA and a host of scientists were really testing the possibilities of life on other planets. She also knew that for life to exist on any of these planets, they would have to be super intelligent and greatly evolved.
That wasn’t what scared her.
That last scene in the movie where the alien was freed from the sealed hatch was what did.
‘What if life (she smiled at the pun) imitated fiction? What if a single cell brought back from any of these planets could mark the disruption of earth’s stability and the extinction of human life?’
She imagined that like War of the Worlds, the aliens might be defeated by something as simple as earth’s atmosphere, but she knew that loads of people would have to die in the process. Seven billion people pushing on ten. What would happen if aliens got two? She sighed. Who was she kidding? Five billion people will definitely die.
But would there be good aliens? Like Optimus Prime (before that evil Quintessa cast her metallic spell on him) or Curtis from Deen Koontz’s ‘One Door Away From Heaven’?
‘Arggghh! This is what happens when I watch horror films at night!’
She knew she would sleep fitfully. She just hoped she didn’t have dreams where Calvin chased her around for his late night snack.
She pumped her pillows and settled in to sleep.
Thirty minutes later and her mind just wouldn’t settle down. It was preoccupied with alien life and being in space. If she was true to herself, she would admit that she wanted to experience outer space. She didn’t want to just learn about these things from books, movies and her daily newsletter from Space via IFTTT. She wanted to feel things in real time. Heck, she wanted to meet an alien.
She jolted out of bed.
‘Girl, you are getting stark raving mad! Meet an alien?!’
She shook her head and laughed.
As she settled back into bed, she wondered. ‘It would be really cool to meet an alien though. To learn their thought process, understand their existence.’
‘Yeah. Just before it swallows you up in one gulp.’ Her rational mind countered.
She laughed…and swore it was the last time she would smoke weed before watching a movie.
With that, she fell asleep.
People were whispering above her. Had her village people come to torment her? But she wasn’t feeling any tightness in her chest. In fact, she wasn’t feeling any fear. She just knew that she should be afraid…but wasn’t.
She kept her eyes tightly shot, hoping they would go away, hoping they were not some criminals with guns ready to do her harm.
‘You can open your eyes now. We know you are awake.’
She did, sat up in bed…and shouted, ‘Jesus Christ!’
‘Hahahaha…pay up. I told you they use that name for every emotion they are feeling.’ The cute one with the geeky look — glasses, white shirt tucked into brown Chinos trousers with a light blue cotton sweater on top — couldn’t contain his excitement.
The older, seemingly more mature one who was dressed in all black denim and the newest Kobe A.D NXT 360, looked at her and smiled; or something akin to a smile.
‘Hello Ada Evans.’
She blanched. How do they know her name?
‘For the sake of this meeting, you may call me One. He is Two.’
‘Hey! That was not the name we agreed on. Why do you like to be so…drab?’ Two was angry, very much like a teenager.
Ada could have sworn he gave out some light in his anger. Her eyes widened. She looked away from both men to study her environment. She was on her bed alright but this wasn’t her room. And wherever she was couldn’t be real!
The walls seemed to be made of pulsing Citrine, with light snaking through them and giving out warm, brown tones that had a surprisingly calm effect on her. It was weird because the light in the room should have been a mixture of gold and brown but it was…clear. How did they achieve that? How did they balance out the light? She looked up, trying to find the source of light.
She shouldn’t have done that.
The ‘ceiling’ (could she even call it that) was beige with rivulets of as many shades of brown as possible constantly intertwining to form a story. On closer inspection, she saw that the stories were from aspects of her life; the happiest ones. When she was playing basketball and scored her first three, when she first tasted Maltesers and let that chocolatey goodness melt in her mouth, when she finished her first short film, when she sunbathed in Seychelles…
‘Wait! That hasn’t happened!’
‘We know. We also know that is one of your biggest dreams so we thought to throw that in so you could calm down.’ Ada was sure it was Two’s idea. He seemed so happy with himself.
Their plan had worked though; she was calm. What type of sorcery was this? And where the heck was this place?
‘You are aboard the Athena. We heard your request to…’
Ada interrupted One. ‘What is the Athena? And where is this? Have I been kidnapped? And how did you get my bed out of my room?!’ She jumped out of bed and took a fighting stance. The floor felt…very comforting; like how she read a sheepskin rug should feel.
‘I have a black belt and you nerds don’t look like much! I will beat you guys faster than you can say Ava Duvernay!’
Two started to pacify her but One interrupted him.
‘You don’t have a black belt and you know you cannot fight wimpy looking Two, talk more of both of us.’
‘Hey!’ Two showed his indignation.
One continued. ‘So if you would settle down, I can explain where you are and answer your questions.’
Ada knew he was right; the goody two shoes.
‘You deserved that!’ Two laughed.
‘It is okay if you think I am a goody two shoes. But, I will like you to please sit down so I can explain what this entire…thing is about.’
Ada and Two heard the ‘waste of time’ under his breath.
First, these people could read minds; which meant that she was doomed. If she so much as thought of running, they would know. If she even thought of breathing, they would know. There was no escaping these men. So maybe she should just listen and hear what they had to say. And why wasn’t she afraid?! She knew she should be scared shitless but why wasn’t she feeling any fear?!
‘You are not feeling any fear because we channelled some of your emotions into this room; fear, anger, the need to faint when you find out where this is and the likes. That is why the walls are pulsing. Those are your emotions lighting up the walls.’ Two was excited. And this time, Ada was sure he was giving out light.
‘Pipe down. You don’t want to scare her.’ One said in his flat, fact-of-the-matter tone.
‘Such a bore.’ Two responded and rolled his eyes.
‘Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on?!’ Ada shouted. She wanted to be afraid. Fear would get adrenaline to cause her to do something! And she wanted to be angry!
‘Fine. Have you emotions. If that will help you get through this.’
The walls stopped pulsing. And Ada went into survival mode.
‘Please be calm’, Two said. ‘As Marcus…oh sorry, One said, you are aboard the Athena. The Athena is a…ermmm…how do I say this in the gentlest tone…ermmm….’
‘Spaceship.’ One said.
‘What the hell man! Why would you do that?! Must you always be the brusque?’
Ada wasn’t listening. Her heart was nearly exploding in her chest. ‘What do you mean, spaceship? Do you work for NASA? And since when is NASA into kidnapping people?’
‘Work for NASA? Wow! Just wow!’
This was the first time One showed any emotion beyond bored cynicism.
‘Don’t mind him. He just hates to be compared to NASA. The youngest person where we are from is a million times more advanced than the entire people who work at NASA. I am that person.’ Two glowed.
‘Where you are from? Are you saying you are…?’
‘Please don’t use that word.’
‘She is going to use it.’
‘…aliens?!’
One pulsed white.
‘Oh wow. I haven’t seen him this angry since we were paired on this assignment. Kudos girrrl! Did I get the drawl right? I have a thing for black people’s accent. Wait…is it okay if I call you black? Is that racist? Is that…?’
Ada was shaking. She looked pale. And she was going to throw up.
‘Bucket.’ One said just as Ada bent over.
Her eyes bulged as a bucket appeared to collect the remnants of the Eba and Afang soup she had the night before. She felt her head tilt back as a cup of water drained into her mouth. Just before gag reflex set in, her head was bent back towards the bucket.
‘Rinse.’
Ada scurried away as quickly as she could and fell to the floor. THERE WAS A PERSON…THING…ALIEN…THERE!
‘Marla, that was disrespectful! You should have asked her permission. Marla, don’t you dare walk away from me. Marla! Marla!’
‘They are not going to catch on. So stop it with the names already.’
Ada watched as the shape of a comely older woman retreated to the far side of the wall and disappeared. Her heart couldn’t take anymore. She got up and started running. The faster she ran, the more the walls retreated from her. She started shouting; screaming really.
‘Adrenaline is their biggest weakness. Has way too much control over them.’
A chair materialized and One sat down, looking at his nails in a picture of..boredom. ‘This is going to be a long day.’
Two went after Ada. When she looked back and saw him coming, she thought he was chasing her. So she ran faster. Two could appear in front of her but he didn’t want her heart to fail. So he ran after her, like a human would, making sure to keep a little distance so she thought she was faster. This went on for maybe 15 minutes before she fell in a heap, exhausted. She really should start working out.
In a blink, she was right back on her bed.
‘Ready to talk now?’ One asked.
Ada look at him, then at Two, and just nodded.
The story just began. Read full story here.
