A loud ringing sounded in Kevin's bedroom. It was three in the morning, and the twenty-four year old hadn't anticipated being woken up so suddenly. With a groan, an arm reached over and swiped the cell phone off of the nearby nightstand, hands fumbling with it until he was able to answer the call.
"...Do you know what time it is?"
"Dude, get up." Kevin sat up slowly and rubbed his temple with his free hand as the other pressed the phone to the side of his face haphazardly.
"It's like...- four...three, right now, man. What do you-"
"I'm serious, get up. There's something weird going on and you need to see this. Get over to Vanessa's." The male voice rung through Kevin's ears.
"Shut up, Tony. I'm going back to bed. No more hunting ghosts, or demons, or whatever you and Nessa like to do late at night. I'm tired and I have work tomorrow."
"I swear to God, Kevin. You get over here right now or I will come drag your ass out of bed myself. That, or Vanessa will. And you know how she is."
"If this is stupid I swear I'm going to kill you." Kevin hung up his phone, giving several loud grunts as he forced himself out of bed in a haze. He slid his jeans on, fumbled with his belt, and threw on a t-shirt. About ten minutes later, his old Chevy pulled up into Vanessa's apartment complex. After finding a spot to park near the dumpster, he unbuckled and went to open his car door, when a bright flash nearly blinded him through his windows. "What the hell-.." Suddenly, there was a banging on his driver's side window.
"Kevin! Get out of the car!" There, in her pajamas, was Vanessa: a fair-skinned girl with dark hair and glasses. His door swung open as he stepped out of the car.
"What was that? Lightning?"
"Come on-!" She grabbed his arm and started to drag him, but he put up a bit of resistance.
"Nessa, you know I love you, but this obsession with UFOs and stuff has to stop." With a sigh, he followed her as she tugged him along. "Remember last time? You thought the light at the top of an air-traffic pillar was a space ship? There's always a reasonable explanation for this sh-..." As they approached the center of the complex, which was normally a serene square with picnic tables and barbecues, Kevin froze. Tony was there, too. Staring. There was a pillar, there, of bright, white and blue light. It seemed to be coming from nowhere and attached to nothing, as if it were just floating on air. "...O-Okay. You have my attention." It was Tony who spoke, next.
"What do you think it is?"
"How am I supposed to know?" They kept their voices somewhat low. "Your sister is the expert, not me."
"Hey, she's your girlfriend. Doesn't she tell you all of her secrets?"
"Stop it, you guys." Vanessa took a few steps closer to the light after speaking, but Kevin grabbed her by the arm.
"What are you doing? That could be some kind of..., government thing. We should just leave it alone. Or, you know, maybe it's like...the Northern lights, or something. Still, I wouldn't touch it."
"Well if you don't have the balls, I'll do it." Tony stepped forward.
"Anthony!" Vanessa pulled from Kevin's hold and accompanied her brother, until they were inches away from the light-pillar. Kevin stayed back and watched, hesitant to move any closer. The two looked at each other and, slowly, reached a hand out to touch the light. As their hands made contact, they seemed to vanish within the light, startling the siblings. They pulled back- though nothing seemed to come of harm due to their actions. The looked at their hands, perfectly fine and visible once out of the pillar. Vanessa then, boldly, stepped into the light completely, which snared the attention of the two boys. Kevin approached then, standing next to Tony.
"Vanessa!" Kevin called out to her. "Are you okay? We can't see you!" The light flashed again, nearly blinding them as the closed their eyes and turned their heads. Though after a moment, they opened them again. "Vanessa! Can you hear me!? Get out of there!"
"Fuck it." Anthony charged in, disappearing.
"Damn it, you guys! What the hell-..." Kevin paced back and forth, waiting, praying that his girlfriend and her brother would come back out.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Where do you think we are?" Anthony and Vanessa were in an alleyway between two large buildings, which were lit up with hundreds of lights. "Los Angeles?"
Vanessa shook her head. "No way. Not even the buildings in L.A. are this big. Maybe we're in New York." Right as they made it up to the street, they stopped abruptly.
"Uh, Nessa. I don't think we're in New York, either." There were lights racing in the sky, streams of flying cars and other such vehicles, zooming through the air at high speeds. In the distance they could see a large tower, stretching up so far into the sky, they could not see the top. And everywhere there were lights: tall buildings and spires stretching high and wide as far as the eye could see. A woman walked by, looking entirely human, walking a dog- except it wasn't a real dog. It was a small robot, who looked like a dog. It tugged on its bright, neon leash and barked at the two in their sleepwear before moving on.
"What..." It was Kevin's voice that sounded, then. He had apparently made his way through and stood behind the other two. "Are we on another frickin' planet, or what?" They started to walk down the street: there were various stores, restaurants, banks. Everything was familiar, and yet entirely foreign. The signs, written in English, were painted in bright neon lights- some were even holograms, pictures floating in the air. Ads, billboards, hovering and changing rapidly. "Okay, that's it. I'm dreaming. That's the only possible explanation for this."
"You three!" The shrill voice of a woman was heard, causing the trio to turn around. Vanessa was first to speak.
"Hi-..." The strange woman had bright, purple eyes and wore a tight, black bodysuit. She was tall, thin, and had a big, blue hat on that curved like the swirls of an ice cream cone.
"What designer are you wearing? I haven't seen anything like it! So-...cutting-edge!" Vanessa looked down at her lacy pink pajama top and her cherry-print pants, blinking hard a few times. Anthony spoke then, regarding the woman with interest.
"We'll tell you if you tell us where we are."
"Where you are? Are your navigation systems down?" Kevin and Anthony looked at each other.
"Yeah..., they're um..., malfunctioning."
"You're in Beta Sector, District Two."
"In what city?" Vanessa asked.
"Is your navigation broken because you hit your heads? It's almost curfew. Tell me where you live and I'll get you there. I'd hate for The Enforcers to come and retrieve a couple of kids just because they had a little too much fun tonight. I was quite the party animal too once, you know." Vanessa's attention was caught by a nearby holographic billboard, which displayed models walking down a runway in strange and alien fashions.
"We're..., models. Visiting. We don't have a place to stay, yet."
"Models! I should have known. Fabuloso. But you only have a few minutes- not long enough to find a place. I suppose you can stay at mine for the night, then. Are your time clocks malfunctioning, too?" Suddenly, a robotic voice boomed through the air.
"Curfew effective in five minutes. Return to your homes or you will be taken by force. Fines for staying out past curfew will be issued starting at five-hundred OWDs."
"Are you..., real?" Kevin reached a hand out towards the mystery woman, though not out far enough to touch her.
"...You poor things. Come along." The woman pressed down against a small, mechanical bracelet on her wrist. She raised her arm up, talking into it like a speaker. "Home." In front of them, a door appeared- as if magically, from out of thin air. It opened up, a slight force being exerted as if to pull them inside.
"I'm not going in there!" Kevin protested, but Vanessa and Tony made their way inside. Feeling as if he had no choice, he followed along. The building they had arrived in looked like a very modern, high-tech apartment. Something they would have only seen in science-fiction movies and episodes of Star Trek. They marveled at it- looking out the window. They were up so very high, and could see the flying cars moving past the building just a few yards away.
"What's your name?" Vanessa stood with the others, looking to the woman. As she took off that large, swirly hat, tussles of long, black hair shook out from underneath.
"Giera Fourteen."
"Fourteen?"
"My surnumber-..., yes." The woman looked to the three for a moment, raising an eyebrow inquisitively at their confusion and lack of knowledge. "Have a seat, why don't you? Let me refresh your memories a little bit, since the drugs must have altered them." And so they sat, and Giera continued to speak. "I am Giera Fourteen, the fourteenth to be given the name, 'Giera,' in West City."
"So, West is the name of the city we're in?" Anthony asked her.
"Yes, this is the West cardinal city." Kevin wrapped an arm around Vanessa, partially to comfort her- or more-so, himself, and also to make sure that she was in fact,real. Anthony spoke again, then.
"You don't have a last name? You know...- family name?"
"I was selected by the labs from a lovely couple. Angeline Six and Gerald Nine. They parented me as best as they could in my youth. They're still around, somewhere. Though I hardly speak to them. I've thought about selecting a child of my own to parent- but truth be told, I'm simply too busy of a person.
"So, you were adopted, then?" Vanessa spoke quietly whilst looking around at the various sculptures scattered about the domicile.
"Sometimes couples like to contribute their own genetic material, and other times they simply pick up good pre-designed stock. I was of the highest caliber, genetic-wise. Grade A, which is as high as is allowed. They paid a fortune." Giera reached for a nearby end-table and retrieved a small metal tube, which she placed between her lips. She pressed a button and the far end lit up as if it were a cigarette, and she smoked it as if it were. It gave off smoke that was much more pleasant smelling than cigarette smoke. It smelled like honey, and sweet nectars.
"I don't understand." Vanessa continued to speak. "You don't just-..., have babies?"
"Oh my no! It is forbidden. Do not forget that. Any woman who conceives a child naturally will be terminated. Luckily, it's so very easy to avoid, unless you go out of your way to commit the crime." As Vanessa and Kevin leaned against one another, Anthony rose from his seat and made his way to the big window overlooking the city.
"What about that tower? The big one." As hard as Anthony tried, he could not see the top. Though at their elevation, he could see the faint outline of a giant, circular structure surrounding the highest visible point of the spire.
"New Babylon, remember? That's where God's chosen live." As Anthony looked out the window, the voices of those behind him seemed to grow softer, for a moment. The lines of lights blurred together, and he felt a peculiar sensation. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Giera Fourteen approached the door, clearing her throat. "Yes? Who is it?" A deep, booming, robotic voice was heard from the other side.
"This is Enforcer One-One-Zero-One-Zero-Zero-Zero-Zero. Open the door, Giera Fourteen." And so she opened the door. Standing there, a metal, armored, humanoid android with blue and silver casings. Filling its eye-sockets, however, appeared to be human eyeballs. It barged right in, forcing the hostess to move out of the way abruptly. It approached Vanessa, Kevin, and Anthony. "You are unknown entities. Cannot identify. Please display your identification modules." The trio looked to Giera with confusion, as she pointed to that metal bracelet attached to her wrist. They realized, in that moment, that it was not a statement of fashion. It was welded to her skin.
"We um-..., ours were malfunctioning. We took them in for repairs." Vanessa hoped her excuse would be just valid enough to not throw them into harm's way.
"You. Are. Outsiders." That metallic voice sounded again.
"We're just visiting!" Kevin said frantically as sweat began to build at the back of his neck.
"No identification. You. Are. Outsiders. You will come for processing." The android raised his arms with what looked to be handcuffs in his hold, save for the fact they were made of what looked like lasers. He released them and they flew onto Vanessa arms, causing her to collapse and send the other two boys into uproar. Giera, frightened, hid behind her kitchen counter. They charged the android and attempted to kick it, but a small piston shot out from its abdomen and shot them with something resembling electricity. They fell to the ground, shaking, as their minds went blank and everything turned to black.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
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