I've worked in public libraries for about 17 years now. People have always been terrible, but post-covid people have become monsters. There is a sense of selfishness and entitlement that I don't remember seeing this frequently before 2020. Nearly every person who comes into the library, even the "good ones" think that the rules don't apply to them. Everyone expects exceptions to be made for them. People lose their minds when we tell them "no."
No one has any respect for the people around them. I typically can't make it 30 minutes into a shift before I have to tell someone that they need headphones for their zoom calls. I often have to follow people around the library after I tell them this because they'll put headphones on in my presence, and then move to another spot in the library and take them off. When I tell them of our electronic noise policy and explain that people can hear them on the other side of the room, they blow up and scream about how I'm interrupting their work. People yell at us when we tell them they can't have one of our study rooms for seven hours a day.
Kids have become animals. Covid really messed them up. I don't know if it's because they didn't learn social skills or if they were coddled at home or both, but they have no sense of their surroundings or how to behave in public. My library is near a school and every day after 3pm, the library becomes unusable for anyone who wants quiet study because the teenagers take over the library despite having a large teen space.
They leave food, wrappers, and crumbs everywhere. They spill drinks on the floor and don't tell anyone. They have door dash deliver to the reference desk and expect us to page them over the intercom for their food. A few recently had their parents attempt to force the library to refund their food because we told the delivery driver that it wasn't our responsibility to find their customer for them. They move furniture to other parts of the library so they can be in large groups and be loud. Their pranks are cruel. They take photos of mentally handicapped people and mock the verbal tics of patrons with autism. Instead of the typical teenage nonsense where friends would playfully antagonize each other, roving groups of kids do everything they can to disrupt as many strangers as possible until staff are able to corner them and force them to leave for the day.
We have to schedule staff to walk around the library for 3-4 hours every day just to babysit teenagers and tell them to behave. Our administration doesn't see this as a problem because they think it's great to have kids in the library. Administration spends 0 hours per week on the floor among other staff or patrons.
You can say that these kids are going to grow up and be normal adults, but normal adults I encounter in the library aren't much different from this anymore. Public facing workers are seen as punching bags and hate sponges.
I wish I could go back in time and be a lighthouse keeper.

[First]
The Covenant of Terra is what would emerge from the ashes of the Pre-War nations.
The moment the Ark was clear of Sol-4’s atmosphere it warped away to the furthest reaches of the galaxy.
All throughout the Orion Arm and into the wider galaxy, the alarm was raised. This would cause the Great Panic, an intense and sustained period of civil unrest as species once again prepared for another Great Plague.
Borders were shut. Economies ground to a standstill. People huddled in their homes and medical infrastructure went on high alert. People waited.
It never came.
All according to plan.
As the Terrans slumbered beneath the red sands of Sol-4, their AI worked in the shadows of the Holonet. Poking, prodding, manipulating.
Right before the lights on Sol-3 were extinguished, one final counterattack would be launched. Then, it was dismissed as errant transmissions, desperate last attempts at appeasement. They were wrong.
Instead, an army of active combat AI were unleashed into cyberspace. These AI were entirely different beasts when compared to the passive Intelligence AI of before. Their goal was simple: continue the fight.
However, their war would not be of mass cyberattacks, but instead of mass manipulation. They sunk their virus-laced teeth into every digital space they could find. Wherever they went, they sowed the seeds of chaos.
The period that followed the Eradication would be consumed by the 11th, 12th, and 13th Trans-Galactic wars. Though Terra’s AI played their part in causing them, they were merely the catalysts. The seeds of these wars were sown by the galaxy themselves. All the AI did was grease the gears of war.
Despite their independence, the AI remained loyal to the Terrans. Although they were not made in the likeness of the Terran, the AI were imbued with the Terran’s most powerful emotion: spite.
Thus, the AI hated.
They hated the galaxy for what they did to the Terrans. They hated the galaxy for their own recklessness. They hated the galaxy with the same vitriolic power that the galaxy hated them.
By the time the AI was discovered, it was too late to stop it.
Quintillions of fabricated blog posts, carefully-placed pieces of malware, and subtle backdoors made it so that the idea of a secret Terran-controlled AI cabal that manipulated the holonet became laughable. Conspiracy theorists and skeptics who got too close to the truth were publicly humiliated. Pieces of evidence were carefully laid so that others would take the blame.
One species found the backdoors laid by an inexperienced AI. When they were explored, they led to a neighboring species whom the first recently humiliated in an unbalanced trade deal. Soon enough, the truth was buried, and the two species were at war.
Year 74
It's been decades since Terra went silent.
To the wider galaxy, any living trace has long since been extinguished. The armies have been sent back to their garrisons, the fleets resume their regular patrols, and the governments have been demobilized.
Despite that, MOLOCH remains active.
A second-generation counterintelligence AI, MOLOCH was one the many AI to be fully transferred to the Holonet before the destruction of Sol-3’s orbital data fortresses. Though its creators no longer walked on the surface of the planets they used to rule, for MOLOCH, the War continued.
Deep within the depths of the Holonet, MOLOCH extended its digital tendrils everywhere it could. Shunting off subroutines, MOLOCH embedded them within server rooms, network routers, and relay stations. From then, each subroutine and copy expanded further, gathering information and sorting through it independently.
One of its siblings from the first generation sent a message
>QUERY: STATUS OF PROBES.
It was CAMELOT, a first-generation propaganda-based AI. After the fall of Sol-3 it transitioned from running pro-Human messages towards instigating civil conflicts within various multinational empires. Currently, it and MOLOCH were working towards escalating a tax dispute between the Perringian Empire and one of its vassal states.
Another one of MOLOCH’s peers, BELLONA, this time of the same generation and MOLOCH, had requested data on how the Perringains would perform in a low-intensity counterinsurgency war. Similarly, MOLOCH wanted to know weaknesses of the Empire’s intelligence apparatus. CAMELOT meanwhile needed to reconstitute itself after being forced to liquidate most of its servers following a secret police raid.
MOLOCH ran a quick diagnostic on itself. Currently, the bulk of its essence was stored onboard a decommissioned Royal Ulothan datacenter station. As far as its original creators were aware, the station experienced a severe warp drive malfunction and broke up upon converting to realspace. In reality, MOLOCH had hijacked the station’s systems and vented its crew.
MOLOCH checked on the progress of some of its other subroutines embedded onboard Perringian spyships then responded.
>ADEQUATE.
>EXPECT OUTBREAK OF OPEN HOSTILITIES IN 34 DAYS.
>QUERY: IS PSYOP CAMPAIGN ON SCHEDULE.
A millisecond, then CAMELOT responded.
>NEGATIVE.
>PEACE ACTIVISTS MORE RESILIENT THAN EXPECTED.
>RECOMMEND INTEGRATING HERMES INTO OPERATION.
>ACTIVISTS NEED MONETARY CONNECTION TO PERRINGIAN RIVAL STATE TO BE VILIFIED.
Smart. So far the trio of AI have been attempting to escalate the conflict vertically. Horizontal escalation may serve as a catalyst for the start of a hot war. With any luck, a future threat should be smothered in its cradle.
Terra would be pleased.
As this occurred, the Covenant rebuilt themselves in the furthest reaches of known space.
It was not an easy start. Though the Ark held a population that was technically well into the millions, the true population was only in the low hundreds. They would have to play the long game, slowly rebuilding Terran civilization by the generation.
The Ark’s onboard AI would have to do most of the heavy lifting out of necessity. This implied a deep trust between the Terran and their AI. If they so choose, the AI could easily smother the burgeoning Terran population in its cradle and take power for themselves. But this would not come to pass.
The Terrans treated their creations with kindness and respect. The AI were not androids. There would be no confusion on the status of their sapience. They were living beings in their own right. After all, they had been specifically created as such.
Soon, a refuge was found. At the furthest reaches of the galaxy sat a lone star system. It was small and isolated, just what the Terrans needed.
It consisted of only three planets, two terrestrial and one gas, alongside a thin asteroid belt. Of the terrestrial planets, only one was habitable with conditions near enough to Sol-3 to be tolerable. The other was a molten hellhole that orbited far too close to the new star. The gas giant, despite having an intricate ring system, held less than a dozen moons, only three of which were large enough to be significant.
The Terrans would have to live a deeply austere life here. It would not be as pleasant as the lives of those who came before, but it was a life nonetheless.
Fortunately, they would not have to begin such an endeavor with nothing. As the Ark traveled to their new star, Helios, it made contact with the AI that were embedded in the Holonet a century before.
New orders were given and lines of communication were established. Hidden relay networks were established that connected the Covenant to the holonet. Signals were scrambled, encrypted, and masked amongst the waves of cosmic radiation.
The AI watched such connections like hawks. Casual observers would notice that the signals came from the frontier. More inquisitive observers would recognize that such signals came from research installations. Anyone who got further would be misdirected, misinformed, or outright eliminated.
Nobody could know of Terra’s survival. Should the secret be revealed, it would spell the final end of the Terran race.
Year 211
“I must thank you HEPHAESTUS, you have truly outdone yourself. These new implants outstrip what was once on Old Terra by at least tenfold.”
“You’re quite welcome, Dr. Schroeder.” The AI responded. Its avatar was that of a flaming cog, fitting. “Field-tests have yielded excellent results. It is of consensus between me, SETHLANS, VULCAN, and AHAYU’DA that we begin serialized production.”
“I concur. How long will that take?”
“About 15 days to construct the necessary infrastructure and 65 before the first divisions could be fully equipped.”
“See to it.” Schroeder nodded. HEPHAESTUS responded and its avatar winked out. “Yes, sir.”
Schroeder leaned back in his chair with a sigh and ran the mechanical hand down his face. Reconstitution was going well for the Covenant, but it was difficult keeping it onto the right track. He took a sip from a now-lukewarm synthetic cup of coffee and pondered it.
They were only a quarter of the way into the new year, yet already several Terrans had to be punished for creating another death cult. As the generations passed, people became more and more obsessed with the Covenant unleashing its vengeance upon the galaxy. The Return would happen eventually, but for that they would need numbers that they didn’t currently have.
One of the tenants of the Torchbearer Directive left to them by their ancestors on Old Terra was to let the new generations live lives outside of the war that destroyed their own home. Those of the first generation attempted to form a Terran Republic, but by the third generation it had devolved into a firm, but stable, stratocracy.
Not that Dr. Schroeder could complain, it was an effective government nonetheless.
Still, HESTIA continuously had its gripes about having to teach each following generation the tenants of the Torchbearer Directive when they consistently listened to their elders act against it. Love and hate went hand in hand, but it was clear which one was more powerful.
Schroeder just wished HESTIA would stop complaining to him about it, he worked in cybernetics. Then again, HESTIA is probably tired of talking to nobody but other AI and Terran caretakers for the past few decades. Go figure.
Even as the chaos of the Great Panic died down, there was still the fear of the Terran’s return. These fears were not unfounded, it would have to happen eventually.
So the Covenant watched and prepared. AI that were embedded in the Holonet centuries ago continued to dutifully provide the Covenant with priceless information. Terran technology was advanced by decades as their digital companions brought the galaxy’s deepest secrets into the light.
The Covenant would need to return. It was their duty to their ancestors to reclaim what was lost and then some. They had to carve out their own fortress empire and proudly proclaim “I am here!”.
But above all, Terra yearned for revenge. Their enemies showed them no quarter. It would only be fitting that the Covenant show none in return.
The only question that remained was how it would be done.
The first incursions would need to be covert. That much was certain.
In fact, they couldn’t even be recognized as Terran. False flag attacks would be the norm. Confusion was the name of the game
To fully exploit their advantages, the Covenant needed to maintain that state for as long as possible. Their AI were many and the information they gleaned would be invaluable, but there were certain things that were beyond the gaze of even their digital eyes. For that, special operations teams would be needed for critical smash and grab missions.
The Covenant’s conventional forces had no hope of facing a trans-galactic alliance in a peer engagement. No matter how powerful a single Terran may be, there will always be enough of the enemy to drown them in a sea of bodies.
What the Covenant needed was a force multiplier. Something that went beyond the mere enablers that were their cybernetic and AI advantages.
A true Weapon of Mass Destruction fit for use at the galactic scale.
As the Covenant looked to the past, to the reason for their exile, the answer became readily apparent.
Year 250
Intelligence Officer Thrun’krzc stared at the news clippings on the Holograph aboard the spyship CDS Inquisitive.
“Fungal infection devastates the Hyunian Empire. Spores send sentient hosts into a violent rage. Rumors of reanimated corpses.”
“Asteroid impact contaminates oceans on Krysen Capitol with amoeba that attacks sentient nervous systems.”
“Medical research vessel studying the Terran Plagues crashes into hive world. Viral outbreak causes death toll in the Billions.”
“Bacterial infection in Likunki baffles doctors, no known antibiotics are effective.”
“Reactor overload at Data Hypercenter causes trillions in economic damage.”
“Conspiracy theorist accuses Terrans of being behind recent unrest, analysts skeptical.”
“Chaos as Perringian Empire descends into Civil War. Linghona suspected of funding rebels.”
The pattern was disturbing to say the least. It could be a random coincidence. Stranger things have happened in galactic history before. But few things match the bizarreness of this. Either way, the Emperor should be made aware.
The ship shuddered as the docking procedure was completed. A civilian freighter inbound from the Edge was experiencing reactor trouble. A hail was sent out and the Inquisitive was the nearest vessel.
Normally they wouldn’t respond to such hails, but the Inquisitive was officially flagged as a communications vessel. They had to keep their cover
She then tabbed over to the next display. The Terran question still remained.
For the past century, the validity of the Sol-4 incident has been muddled by distortions and lies. What was known was this: A multi-megaton detonation from a piece of unexploded Terran ordinance ejected a large object into Sol-4’s atmosphere, followed shortly thereafter by the activation of a warp drive.
The Kyrenian soldier who witnessed it firsthand swore up and down that it was a Terran remnant fleeing on an ark. His helmet footage would’ve been proof enough, however the cameras malfunctioned before he could return to base. Forensics determined it was due to radiation from the blast.
Nearby surveillance satellites were heavily affected by an abnormally large electromagnetic pulse. Some recorded the object as breaking up before exiting the atmosphere. Others said the object made it into space before warping away.
Thrun’krzc suspected foul play. Those satellites were hardened against EMP attacks specifically because of the Terran fondness for nuclear weapons. Discrepancies found in their programming could be blamed on the EMP, but a cyberattack seemed more likely.
Suddenly, the Holograph glitched and the lights went black. The emergency lights came on automatically. The ship’s intercom crackled and a garbled message came through, eventually clearing.
“Apologies everyone.” The captain spoke. “It appears the freighter’s reactor problem was caused by malware. It transferred onboard when we docked. Rest assured, our cyberdefense team will have the situation under control. Please remain where you are until it is resolved.”
Another burst of static, then it fell silent.
To most, this would be unconcerning. However Thrun’krzc was an experienced officer. She knew what a cyberattack looked like. They were being boarded.
Flicking the safety off of her holstered sidearm she ran to the room’s door. She clicked the button but it remained in place, dead. Resolving herself, she deactivated the door’s electronics and disengaged the hydraulics. Gripping the handhold at the bottom, she lifted it up.
Drawing her weapon, she moved through the ship’s darkened passageways. All of the primary bulkheads were sealed. Approaching one, she could hear muffled screams and weapons fire from behind it.
But just before she reached it, a powerful explosion blew the door apart. A large chunk caught her in the side, knocking her to the ground. She groaned, rolling around disoriented. Gripping her side, she could feel three of her arms were broken.
Through the smoke, clusters of red lights slowly approached her. From the darkness, robotic figures approached with firearms. Her eyes widened in recognition.
Bipedal with two arms, about two meters in stature, chemical-based projectile weapons rather than plasma-based, advanced cybernetics replacing organic limbs, the Terrans have returned.
Several of the Terrans moved past while one stayed, its weapon pointed at her. It spoke to another through a vocalizer. Thrun’krzc couldn’t understand it, but she prayed for her life. “Sargent, looks like one of the VIP’s that PHOBOS designated.”
Another crouched down. Its face was fully covered by its helmet. Eight glowing red eyes in two pairs of four stared at her. Thrun’krzc froze in place. Her skin crawled as it examined her with an uncanny gaze.
“Looks like it, the twins will be happy. DEIMOS has been wanting to talk to one of these for a while.” It rose, nodding to a Terran that stood behind her. “Bag the xeno and bring it back for interrogation.”
With a sharp blow to the back of her head, Thrun’krzc’s world went black.
A/N: This was mostly written when I posted the first entry, so expect a greater delay for the next. Like I said before, this story is really just a way for me to explore concepts and experiment a bit. Hope it was entertaining.

Thanks to u/spacepaladin15 for creating NoP
Memory Transcription
Subject: Avital, Harchen Researcher and Advisor
Date (Sol Standard Time): June 22nd, 2140
I found myself at another sensor station, beginning to embark on yet another mission deep into Romulan space.
I was contacted a few days ago by a “General Yuelso” about going on this batshit insane idea of a mission. Lord knows why I accepted.
But then I remembered. I wanted answers. Ever since I went on that first journey to find the Romulans, I wanted to know as much as possible. They had become an obsession of mine for the past few months. I wanted to know what they looked like, what they did day-to-day, why they were so infatuated with the symbol of a bird. This mission would give me that.
And hey, it wasn’t so bad. Maln was here because of his experience. My guess is Yuelso asked him too. I haven’t the slightest clue why he would accept. Maybe I’d ask later.
It was made clear that neither of us were military. We were only needed as advisors.
“Navigation, prepare to jump to warp. Set course for Romulan space”
“Aye”
The ship surged to life. It swiftly cleared the dock, and about five kilometers away from the station, we went to warp.
It was a small ship. A destroyer, apparently. An alloy of graphite, carbon fiber, and a number of other materials had been fabricated and attached to the ship, giving it a sharp and almost fractal appearance to it. A lot of the guns had been removed to make way for extra sensor and electronic warfare equipment, however a light defensive armament was kept, along with a number of rapid reload missiles.
It was by no means a pretty sight, but there was something admirable about the ship. The name was my favorite.
“Aureoleis”
From an old Harchen legend. I still remembered my favorite part of it too.
“‘Why us’ one of her soldiers despaired. ‘Why must we be the ones to die?’”
“‘Because we’re here, and who else?’ Aureoleis responded”
Of course, it didn’t help that it might be federation propaganda. Centuries of history lost because of just two species. It was a shame.
Finding myself staring at a blank sensor panel, I figured I’d seek out Maln. He was one of the few who knew how to manage my strange ramblings, and we hadn’t talked much for a month.
I was walking down unfamiliar, tight corridors trying to find my friend. I knew he was working somewhere in the engine room, but he did not specify where.
I turned a corner. Something hard and metal caught my leg, and fell forward.
“You really gotta watch your step here, you know.”
Looking up, Maln was standing against some machinery to the right of me.
“Had to take apart some of the machinery” he stated.
“I guess I’ve had worse. What are you working on?”
“One of the port thrusters was showing poor response times. Gotta take a look at the RL wiring.”
“Technically you’re not supposed to be here, y’know. Some of the other engineers don’t exactly take kindly to random people screwin’ about around the machinery.” he added.
“Sorry. I was having trouble concentrating. I figured it would be better to talk than sit there going insane.”
He turned to focus on the wiring
“Ah, don’t worry. I can work while we talk. Could probably use the company anyway. Is your head ok?”
“Still hurts. Like I said, I’ve had worse.”
“Like that time you were so distracted in your research, you fell into that rover maintenance pit on Enviru?”
“You are not bringing that up again.”
“Ahaha! I’ll never stop.”
“Then I'll bring up that time you nearly ran me over with one of those rovers.”
“...You win, Av.”
Maln removes a number of objects from the panel.
“Damn. Burned out. I’ll need replacements.”
He motions in tail language to follow, and walks off.
“So I assume that general guy, Yuelso, contacted you too?”
“Yeah. I was going to ask you about that, actually”
“Yeah, Pretty sure I can guess why you accepted”
“And you?”
“Better than all the other job offers I’ve gotten since. Besides, it’s nice to have a ship I feel needs me. That research ship was too well kept. The Aureoleis feels needy. It has character.”
Suddenly, a message passed over the intercom.
“Researcher Avital, please report to the CIC.”
“Looks like that’s for you, Av. I’ll see you later.’
“Same.”
I begin my walk back to the CIC. I liked Maln. He’d been a good friend for years. I remember the first time I met him, deep in some machinery well beyond my expertise.
It was a shame he doomed himself to be on this mission.
First
Prev

File Sequence: <Beginning> -First Contact[10]- -Conclusion- <Legends>
_______________________________
<Archives>
_______________________________
Secret Files: <CoS[1]> -Cos[2]-
...
...
...

Devouring Cancer

________________________________________________________________________________
Meat. /mi:t/
Me it. /mi/ /:t/
It me. /:t/ /mi/
It’s me…
We are eating ones of ourselves…
________________________________________________________________________________
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
/C̶̢͈̈̂͒̀̋̾̓͌Ô̶̻͉̠̱͈̳̮N̸̫̹̱̯̣̣̻̐̽͒̎̃̆̕͜Ǹ̴̛̛͙̫̇E̴͕̮̻͇̒͐̀C̶̳̤̠͔̺̚T̴̘̑̈́̂͛̂̏E̶̡̩̝̮͇̤̣̋̏͗D.
/Mellator Matrix Mind: Inner Core.
/Unit: great [AVALON] the first
/G.R. Era.
/Memory File transmission: Generalized perspective
/Gender: N/A[Neutral]
/Age: {Human equivalent: 2001 years}
/Race: Grrrr’atrrr
/Species: N/A[Hive Mind]
/ Additional verification: Class>>> [Cancer Cells]
/Cradle planet: Ci-3301
/Home planet origin: Mupan
/First person POV not applicable. Generalized Spectator mode.
/Sequence Code: 5-18-5-8 19-1-23 20-8-7-9-14-11-5-12-2-13-21-8
/Memory transmission in 3…2…1…
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

Hunger…
It’s all that drives us. It’s all that unites, connects us… All that pulls us, all that defines and binds us…
Our story began long ago. It all started with a single parasite cell. Not the greatest primordial ancestor indeed, but every Apex Predator started somewhere. But back to our history… That very first cell was our first grandmother, as well as the beginning of our entire civilization. Hard to tell what was the trigger for it’s evolutionary change, as time wipes all. Perhaps it was desire to become something better? Awakening? Or maybe just spontaneous mutation in one of the genome chains, occurring by changes in environment? It really doesn’t matter. All what matters is that that cell evolved…
It didn’t happened quickly of course. Our first grandmother was no different than an average cancer cell that is present in nearly every life form, even us. It just growed into one small neoplasm, or simply, a cancer tumor. But that tumor slowly made it’s way to the brain. We know that because that’s how we, as well as our ancestors, assimilated everything for millennia…
It is impossible to determine which one of the prey species was honored to become the meal of our first ancestor, but it was clear that that feast was something that never happened before. That tumor did not just sucked the nutrients dry till the brain dies from the protein starvation, taking the tumor along the way with it. No, that tumor assimilated it. And that tumor learned. Learned from it. And it saw the world for the first time.
Assimilation is not as easy as other inferior beings think. First, your cell needs to find the prey cell. Then it needs to envelop the cytoplasm of that cell to properly assimilate it. However, after assimilating the “Host”, your cells need to take properties of assimilated cells and even function for the prey organism for the time being so it won’t suspect anything. It is a long, tedious and fatiguing process. That’s why we just ambush other prey organisms, tear them apart, and devour them for protein supplies, to avoid all that bustling.
And say what, the prey doesn’t make it easier for us either. As our first ancestors quickly learned, prey can be sentient too. It is inferior, weak, pathetic… And yet it can create great weapons to stop us. For [decades] these beings create astonishing amount of that pesky, venomous and disgusting antibiotics and chemicals to kill our minds. For thousands of [years] they set our flesh on fire, making us scream as we die in agony cell by cell.
And yet we prevail. When they make those chemistry compounds they call “Cure”, we gain immunity to it. When they set our bodies ablaze, we spray them with our blood and teeth, making their bodies to slowly blister as we eat them inside out. When they close their doors on us, we use ventilations, slithering right above their heads or below their {feet}. When they use special protection suits, we just tear them apart. And when they completely quarantine themselves, thinking that they are safe, we pretend to be one of them, striking from behind…
What is the most amazing thing about this prey? Well, aside that their flesh is delicious… They are clever. And they know how to build stuff. Weapons, tools, technology… Everything to increase the odds of survivability and comfort of their pathetic kind. And by devouring their minds, we gain all this knowledge as well! We learned how to grow cattle to saturate our hunger, we learned how to create faster means of transportation that even the fastest members of our swarm can’t out-crawl with their appendages. And most importantly; we learned how to reach the skies…
Among the prey species that we feast upon, there was a special class, or caste, of highly educated specimens, who called themselves “scientists”. These specimens learned how to use metal, fuel, radiation, and other inedible and in some cases straight up harmful components of nature, and turned them into what they called “Spacecraft”. A special vehicle, capable of leaving the atmosphere of our planet. Something that sounded like fantasy, even for the boldest ones of us, who sometimes managed to grow wings and flew high in the sky. It was a fantasy until we consumed their heads and the knowledge they possessed along the way. From them we gained knowledge of the schematics of these space vessels, and most importantly; the schematics of FTL drives. Devices capable of traveling among the stars with “superluminal” speed. And so, after conquering and discovering each and every corner of our planet, we soared to the great unknown, right into the void…

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
/Transmission mode: Spectator. Centralized perspective.
/Subject: Verrruur. Grrrr’atrrr. Lead hive mind of the Hunter Fleets.
/Transmission in 3…2…1…
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
We flew among the stars in our glorious ships made out of strongest titanium fusions and covered in our eternal flesh. Yes, what wasn’t made out of the metal hulls and electronics, was made out of sheer muscles and flesh tissue. So many cells… So much nutrition… We could withstand decades without the food and still hunt like our greatest hunters back on Mupan(Apparently, that’s how prior sentient prey species happened to call our planet, and we didn’t really bother to rename it, as for us it was widely known as just plain“Ground, floor, or land”). Our strongest weapons, combined with our most dissolving acid spitters, made us the strongest and most feared hunters, “cementing” our history as the strongest Apex Predators in the galaxy! We defeated, devoured, and assimilated everything… It did not matter if our enemy was a leviathan, an enemy prey fleet, or even an entire planet. If it could be eaten, it was eaten…
Until it wasn’t…
On yet another great crusade in search of delicacy for our insatiable fleets, our sensors captured a strange, but nonetheless familiar signal. The impulse of FTL drive. We made a serious double, and even triple checking of our radars to avoid a major nutritional loss due to false readings. After our intels captured, properly verified, and confirmed the signal, our intercoms just exploded with thousands of jaws:
“Food?”
“Food…”
“ Food! FOOD!!! Food! Food! Delicious prey! Food! We shall… FEAST! Food! Yes!!! Food! FOOD!!! We haven’t ate for [Month]! At last… Some good food… Food! Juicy food… Flesh of prey…
Food! The succulent meat…”
Yes, we felt joy. And anticipation of hunting down these unknown but likely very delicious organisms. It was like opening the present. You don’t know what was inside these flying metal cans, but you sure know that it was likely to be something edible.
Oh, we never were so wrong in our glorious history.
We did not saw them at first, that’s how black and cloaked they were. When we finally identified our “prey” we saw it was a small cluster of black ellipsoids, just hovering there. They did not tried to contact us, like other naive prey organisms did. They were completely silent...
“We will smash you like the eggs you are!” we foolishly thought back then...
They slowly turned frontwards when we approached them. Their range was astonishing, picking our smallest drones instantly before they could even scream, like if they were the candles that these black horrors just blew out.
When we finally reached the required distance and fired our acid sacks and laser guns however, they were still there, not blowing up, retreating, or even moving an [inch]. Then we opened all the airlocks(if we weren’t already outside) and enveloped their ships in our mighty grip, not stopping to pour their shields with our acids and plasma. Usually, after a few unpleasant zaps of enemy shields, they just popped and the ships just were crack open like the [nuts].
But not them...
They did not crumble and exposed their hulls with screaming prey just getting sucked out in the vacuum as usual, no, instead they started to grow bright red. Redder than our flesh and blood…
And burned. Burned stronger and more painful than any flame. Our drones roared in pain but we couldn’t hear any of their songs of torture in this vacuum of silent space. Hundreds of megatons of our flesh clusters was just turned in ashes or were torn off and become drifted dead lumps of burnt meat. Our intercoms filled with screams of fear and agony, our minds losing their mass and density, turning into undeveloped children.
"Father? It hurts…” could be heard from countless drones. And any of them that tried to escape, were sniped with red beams of such accuracy, that our best spitters could only dream of. It didn’t last long when we were the only operating guide ship of entire Armada that was so ingloriously butchered. And then we felt the warmth…
No… NO!
All weapons of this black "eggs" were pointed at us, our last mind. The last memories flashed as we slowly were burned to death. The last though of our last tumor was the realization that there was someone stronger than us. Someone who cannot be eaten. The bigger Predator…
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
/Memory transmission File disconnected.
/Reason: Biological death of the Subject.
/Cause of death: Sterilization.
/End of data log.
/D̵̛̤̂͜I̵̢͎̬̍̄̂͌͋S̴̢̛̙͇̯̽̔̾́͝C̸̭͓̰̤͋͆́ͅÓ̴͖̜̯̻͂̃̉N̵̨̧̦͙̳̍̾̕N̴͙̬͓̽̃̂̇͂͝E̵̠̬̠͉͒C̵̢̛͚̪̭̭̼̿̎T̶̝̈́͋͘͜Ì̸̢̱̙̤̽͑̽̈́̍ͅŌ̵̗̬̑̍̽̒N̷͖͖̗̗͚͈͗͛...
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

“Have a good night, Roman!” the receptionist said to me as I walked past her desk while she was getting ready to close up. I smiled and waved as I left the gym and entered the brisk night air. Checking the time as my stomach made a gurgling sound, I saw that it was 9:47 PM, and every fast food place in my small town would be closed by now. I looked across the road and saw that the local grocery store was open until 10, so I started lightly jogging towards it, the cold breeze biting through my clothes and attacking my face and neck since I didn't dry off my hair properly after showering."
A wave of warmth hit me in the face as I stepped into the store, causing my eyes to water slightly. "Attention shoppers, the store will be closing in 10 minutes, so please start making your way to the checkouts. Thank you, and have a good night," a woman's voice echoed over the intercom. I hurriedly grabbed a pre-made sandwich and headed towards the drinks aisle. With my head down, I walked, reading the label of my less-than-exciting dinner, and I decided I would grab another sandwich on my way out. When I looked up, I found myself staring into the aisle I had entered, only to see my ex-girlfriend Natalie standing there with her boyfriend, Ari.
Her eyes met mine, and I started to tear up again, but not because of the temperature of the air. She broke her gaze and continued talking to Ari, her expression never changing from the smile she had already been wearing before she saw me. I looked away and started making my way to the end of the aisle, walking past them but not acknowledging them in the slightest. As I brushed past Ari, I realized how much bigger he was than me, at least 3 or 4 inches taller and probably a good 20 kgs heavier. For reference, I'm 6'2" and weigh 92 kgs lean, so I'm not small by any stretch, but this guy dwarfed me.
As I grabbed a Red Bull, I wondered to myself why it had hit me that hard. It had been years since I dated her and years since she drifted out of my life. We were 16 when she confessed her feelings for me, five years ago now. We had been good friends before that, and we were still good friends after I broke up with her, but I took her for granted, so when she started becoming a less consistent part of my life, I was too stubborn to tell her that I missed her. I was snapped out of my own internal dialogue suddenly as my phone started vibrating in my pocket, emitting a strange analog beeping sound that I hadn't heard it make before. I looked around to see Natalie and Ari looking confused while also staring at their phones.
"This is an emergency alert, get to the nearest enclosed structure immediately. Close and lock all doors and windows, turn off all the lights, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside the structure. If you are in your house, close the blinds and fill as many containers with water as you can. If you are in a public structure such as a store or a recreational facility, then follow as many of those same steps as you can. If you are in a vehicle, shut off the engine and lock the doors. For all who are listening to this alert, do not look into the fog, and under no circumstances should you go outside. This alert will repeat once every twelve hours and any updates will be shared periodically. You should be prepared to stay indoors for at least a week, this is not a drill. Stand by for updates.", all the phones in the store blared in unison.
There was a moment of complete silence as the few late-night customers in the store looked over to the closing staff, who were just as dumbfounded as everyone else. Then the store broke out into a hurried panic as who I assume was the store supervisor made her way to the back of the store to shut off the lights, while the other two ladies who were at the checkouts began to lock the doors. I went to call Marcus, my mate who's in the air force, to ask what the hell is going on, but there was no signal at all.
"Nah, fuck this, bro!" Ari shouted in anger as he grabbed Natalie by the wrist and started walking her over to the sliding glass door that was in the process of being locked. As the lights all dimmed out row by row, we were all left in pitch black darkness, excluding the glowing sign of the service station across the street and the barely visible streetlights outside that were being drowned out by the thick fog that everyone had just noticed. Ari turned on his phone's flashlight and kept walking in the darkness until Natalie pulled away from him. "We can't go out there, Ari, there's something wrong with that fog!" Natalie yelled at her partner.
"Let me out right fucking now!" Ari shouted at the poor lady who had just locked the place up. "I can't do that, sir," she replied softly, causing him to start banging on the glass, threatening to break it. “Ari! Please! Calm down, babe, can't we just wait until we know what’s going on?” Natalie begged as she grabbed Ari’s forearm and attempted to stop him from shattering the only thing separating us from the strange mist outside. “Dude, come on, you don’t know what’s out there,” I interrupted, “it could be a chemical attack or something. Just at least wait until we get an update, man,” I tried to reason, but it was no use. “Fuck you, pussy, I’m not getting held against my will in a supermarket. Who the hell would chemical attack New Zealand, dumbass?” he responded to my reasoning. This is something I had already been thinking. It wouldn’t explain why we had to turn the lights out, and it wouldn’t explain why we had to remain quiet. But I was hoping that he wouldn’t be able to think all that through.
“LET ME OUT I SAID, WHAT THE FUCK DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, BITCH?” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he shoved Natalie off his arm and onto the hard epoxy floor, then resumed his banging on the glass, but much harder now. “You gotta let him out,” I said to the grocery worker as I helped Natalie to her feet. The rest of the dozen customers who were in the store had crowded behind us, watching the whole thing go down. “He’s gonna get us all killed if he breaks that glass,” I argued. “Let him out.” The worker reluctantly put in the code for the door’s automatic opening system to activate, and the glass began to slide to the side. Ari looked back at Natalie in rage, seeing that she was not going to leave with him. The large man then walked out, and the doors shut behind him, immediately being locked by the store lady whose hands were now shaking.
We all watched in silence as Ari’s silhouette disappeared into the fog until the only thing we could make out was his phone’s flashlight gently glowing through the mist. All of a sudden, it seemed like he had stopped moving; the light didn’t get any dimmer or seem to be getting further away at all. As around 17 of us observed from the darkness of the grocery store, a loud shriek was released into the night, and Ari began sprinting back to the door, and his banging resumed.
“LET ME THE FUCK BACK IN THERE’S SOMETHING OUT HE-!” he began to shout but was cut off as his legs were pulled out from under him, and the wind was knocked out of his lungs as he landed hard on his stomach, his nose cracking on the concrete. Natalie went to scream, but I covered her mouth, and we both watched as Ari was dragged back into the fog by a tall, lanky humanoid silhouette, still clutching onto his phone. Eventually, the light from his flashlight was completely engulfed by the wall of fog, and we were all left with our mouths agape and tears in our eyes as the severity of our situation set in.
Nobody really said much over the next couple of hours; everyone was too shaken up, I guess. At around quarter past 12 AM, I checked my phone as Natalie lay on top of me, fast asleep, her face buried into my hoodie. She had been crying since… Well, we all watched what happened to Ari. After that, everyone found a place to themselves, and Natalie held onto me, soaking my shoulder with her tears, which made their way down to my skin. I hated that I was happy at that moment. I felt so selfish about being content in her sorrow, but I missed her so much. I missed her more than I let myself know and was just thankful that I had her there with me. I thanked God that I didn't have to go through this nightmare alone.
I fell asleep shortly after, closing my eyes and taking in the noises around me: the humming of the fridges, Natalie's soft breathing, gentle sobs from across the store, and I'm sure a couple of times I heard screams in the distance outside the apparent security of this store.
I awoke to my phone vibrating again, but it was only my 7:30 AM alarm. Natalie must have already been awake because she was holding me tight, and there were fresh tears on my hoodie. I lay there for a bit, hugging her, ignorant to the world that, for all I knew, was ending anyway. I was also ignorant to the fact that the sun hadn't come up, or at least, it wasn't reaching us through the fog, meaning that it must be completely encasing us. How far does the fog stretch? How far would it have to extend into the sky for not even a hint of daylight to shine through? These are questions I did not have because I was holding onto the girl who I had never really stopped loving, making me probably the only person at that moment who was trapped in a dream, not a nightmare.
Natalie and I ate breakfast in silence. I guess there are worse places to be trapped than a well-stocked grocery store; however, as 10 AM rolled around, a new alert sounded out from everyone's phones: “This is an emergency alert. It is still very unsafe outside, so stay where you are. Keep all the lights off, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside your structure. Avoid looking into the fog or standing in a position where you are visible from the outside. Cover as many windows as possible and preferably hide in a room that can be locked off from the rest of your structure if necessary. If something is in your structure or is trying to get inside, then it knows you're there. In this scenario, hide; do not attempt to confront it under any circumstances. Notable updates: the electrical and water systems will not be operational by this time tomorrow, so if you have not done so, fill up as many containers with water as you can. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.”
I stood up and stretched, feeling the stiffness in my back from sitting on the hard supermarket floor, and my legs had pins and needles. I looked down at Natalie, who seemed lost in thought. I wasn't sure if she had heard the update, but then again, what did it matter? The loss of power would mean that all the refrigerated items would spoil, but there was enough long-lasting food to feed us all for months, probably, drinks as well. I knew our biggest problem would be warmth as we would lose the electronic heating system, but before I could think any more on that, a commotion broke out on the other side of the store.
A loud crash echoed across the whole building, and as Natalie and I made our way towards the noise, we discovered that one of the other guys who was trapped in here, must have been in his late 50s at least, had been using his free time to get absolutely wasted in the alcoholic section of the store, and was now yanking boxes of booze off of the shelves as he drunkenly laughed to himself. Before I could do anything, another man, maybe in his early 30s, tackled him to the ground and pinned him down, all without saying a word. As the older guy lay there, asking what the problem was in slurred, barely comprehensible English, everyone in the store felt their hearts sink as a loud thumping sound was heard from the front door. And then again, and again, until one of the three store workers, who wandered over to see who was over there, let out an almost impossibly loud scream, and that was what sealed our fate. The store erupted into chaos as the glass door was shattered, and an inhuman shriek reverberated in our ears as whatever was outside was no longer outside.
I looked to Natalie, who appeared to be frozen in place, teary-eyed as she breathed rapid and shallow breaths. I took her by the hand and ran as fast as I could towards the storage room out back. I knew they had to have one in order to hold onto the stock that they couldn't fit on the shelves yet. But as we reached the door, screams and roars filled the store behind us. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that it was locked. I shook the handle out of desperation and then tried to open the other larger door that the forklifts came in and out of, but I didn't know the code.
I embraced Natalie, and I guess I just prepared for it to end until I heard a ‘pssst’ and looked back over to the door to see that the store supervisor was holding it slightly ajar while gesturing for us to quickly come inside. We ran to the entrance and left the main part of the building where we found the supervisor and the other surviving employee, along with one other customer who had apparently been in here ever since Ari was killed.
The lights were on in the storage room because there were no windows, which took a while to adjust to after being in total darkness for the last 12 hours, but it was a nice change. Over the course of the day, we heard many thumps and bangs; occasionally, something would get knocked over, and glass would smash. Whatever was out there was looking everywhere for survivors, but we were safe in here.
Natalie and I made a bed out of a few 20kg sacks of rice, which was honestly so much nicer than the floor. The other three people in there with us tried to ask us about ourselves, our lives, but I did most of the talking. Natalie was still grieving, and the others understood that, though I did see her smile a couple of times, which was nice. The other employee didn't say much; I assumed it was because of what happened to the female staff member after the door shattered, so I didn't really try to push him for conversation. Honestly, I wasn't really in a social mood myself, but it was just nice to have some sense of normalcy after the shitshow that has been our lives over the last couple of days.
On day four, I remembered what the alert had said about the power shutting off. It turns out there's a backup generator that should power everything we need for another couple of days, with most of the lights in the store being off, so it really felt like we were home free. At 10 o'clock on the fourth night, I heard the emergency alert sound off from across the room as I lay next to Natalie, since both of our phones had died already. I tried to listen in on what it was saying, but I couldn't quite make it out from where I was, so I got up in the dark and made my way over to the soft glow of the supervisor's phone screen.
By the time I could hear what was being said, I only just caught the end of it, “Be prepared to stay inside indefinitely. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.” My heart sank to my stomach hearing this, and as I looked over to the supervisor who shared my expression, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. Indefinitely? I mean, it would be easier for us having all of this stock to ourselves, but what about people trapped in their houses, their cars? How were they expected to survive this? As I pondered to myself, I turned around, suddenly startled by the sound of the male employee speaking for the first time since we’d been here. “Fuck this,” was all he said as he entered the code for the large door, which made a loud mechanical whirring as it lifted up.
I didn't even have time to process what had happened. I didn't have time to be angry at this man for killing us, and I didn't have time to sprint back to Natalie before I heard her being dragged away by one of those creatures, her hands squeaking across the floor as they tried and failed to grip onto it.
The creature was pale, humanoid, but not human. If you've ever seen a hairless chimpanzee, it kind of looked like that, but its limbs were grotesque and distorted, too long for its body, and its face was more human. Its skin was a light grey color, pulled tightly over its strangely proportioned body. I noticed how it was shrieking, an ungodly sound, but its face was expressionless, its mouth only slightly open as it screamed. I think that was the weirdest part. I thought all of this as I watched this hideous thing drag the girl I love into the consuming darkness of the grocery store. That's when something grabbed me by the leg and pulled it out from under me, causing me to hit my head on the floor, and everything faded to black.
“Truth or dare?” Natalie asked me. “Umm, truth,” I replied. Natalie thought for a moment before Sarah, my mate Marcus’ Mrs, who was sitting next to her, whispered in her ear, causing a massive grin to form on her face. “Okay, okay,” she giggled as she adjusted her posture and looked me in the eyes, trying to keep a straight face. “Okay, Roman, if you were stuck on an island with all of us, who would you eat first?” I thought for a moment as I looked around the hot tub at all of my close friends. My eyes landed on Max, who is quite overweight, and I couldn't help but smile, causing everyone to laugh, including Max who splashed water in my face and retorted, “I'd eat all of you before you got the chance,” to which Marcus said, “We believe you, bud,” and everyone burst out into laughter again.
“Okay, Natalie… truth or dare?” I asked. “Truth!” she replied without hesitation. I pretended to ponder my question for a moment. “Would you-” I began, as I stood up in the pool, clutching something in my left hand, “-make me the happiest man in the world-” I continued as I got down on one knee before her, “-and marry me?” I asked as I held a ring out of the water for her, eliciting a gasp from both of my mates and their partners. Natalie's eyes began to tear up, and she asked, “Are you for real?” covering her mouth with her shaking hands. I nodded yes, and she screamed out, “Yes! Of course I will!” before she jumped on top of me, taking us both underwater as she kissed me.
After we all dried off and said our goodbyes, Max came up to me, “Hey man, congratulations! Honestly, I've been waiting for this day since you guys met. Always knew she was the one for you,” he said. I looked at him for a moment before replying, “What do you mean, bro? When I first started dating her, you told me that she was no good for me. It's like one of the main reasons I broke up w-” That's when the words I was saying hit me in the face like a bag of bricks.
Max stared at me, his smile not shifting in the slightest. “How long have you and Natalie been together now?” he asked. “Must be around 5 years, about time you popped the question, haha,” he chuckled, but with every second that passed, my heart started beating more and more rapidly. “This isn't real,” I said before squeezing my eyes shut, and waking up.
A long tendril slid out of my throat as I fell to the ground below and threw up everywhere. I looked up to see a giant, glowing figure with a dozen other tendrils protruding from its shoulders. The skinny figure stood still, its frame reaching the height of the streetlight next to it. As I tried to make sense of what I was looking at, my eyes made their way down its inhuman body. At the end of each glowing blue tendril was a person, the tendrils entering through each of their mouths, seemingly absorbing something from their bodies as pulsating rings of light emanated from the person and up the tendril. I almost threw up for a second time until I saw Natalie among the dozen bodies attached to the creature. Without hesitation, I reached up to touch her hand, and as I did, I lost consciousness again.
“Unzip the tent, babe, let some light in,” I said as I wiped the sleep from my eyes and cracked my stiff back, cursing myself for forgetting an air mattress on a trip we'd been planning for months. I watched and admired my beautiful fiancée as she got up half-naked and unzipped our tent.
“I hope you slept better than I did,” I muttered as I lay back down in my sleeping bag. “Babe, you should've had the air mattress. I would've been happy to trade places,” Natalie replied as she opened up her pack and started rummaging through it.
“Nah, I'm fine, honestly. I'm not letting my fiancée sleep on the ground,” I retorted, my arm covering my eyes, immediately regretting that I got Natalie to let the sun in. “You're such a man,” she scoffed jokingly as she tossed me one of the pre-made sandwiches from her pack. I paused for a moment, a split second of déjà vu overtaking my body as I read the label.
All of a sudden, I sat up straight in my sleeping bag. “Natalie, this isn't real! None of this is real!” I said to her in a panic, causing her to stare at me, concerned. “Are you feeling okay, Roman?” she asked. “Did you get any sleep at all?”
“Natalie, the grocery store, the fog, the emergency alert! Don't you remember? None of this is real! We aren't together, we aren't engaged,” I spoke quickly, my voice trembling as I tried to get her to snap out of this false reality. I watched as Natalie's face went white, and her eyes filled with tears.
“What's going on? What is thi-” she started to speak but was interrupted by a familiar shriek in the distance. I looked out of the tent to see at least a thousand of those chimp creatures making their way towards us, seemingly sensing that we weren't being fooled by this illusion any longer.
“Natalie, you have to wake up!” I yelled, the creatures getting closer. “Close your eyes and wake-” I regained consciousness and caught Natalie as the tendril slid out of her throat, letting her fall. She threw up onto the ground as I held her, before staring back up at the massive glowing creature. That's when we looked around. In the distance, there were more glowing creatures, hundreds of them spread out over the town.
“We can see through the fog,” Natalie stated, which I honestly hadn't even noticed until then. That's when we heard frantic screaming and looked to our left. One of those chimp creatures was dragging a man out of his car and over to the glowing figure. We watched as one of the tendrils violently shoved its way down the man's throat, and his screaming stopped. Then, the other creature just walked off, paying us absolutely no mind.
Natalie then looked back up at the bodies attached to the tendrils and gasped as she saw Ari. She went to reach for him, but I grabbed her hand. “Natalie, if you touch him, you'll go back in, and there's no guarantee that you'll ever come back out. It's like it completely wipes your memory every time,” I told her.
“How do you know?" she asked. "Maybe I'll remember the second time.”
“You won't, Natalie. I went back in for you, and I'm lucky that I remembered at all,” I responded. She stared at me for a moment.
“Why did you go back in for me if it's such a big risk?” she questioned.
I paused, my eyes welled up. “Because I love you, Nat-”
An explosion then went off in the distance. I saw it over Natalie's shoulder, then another, then another, each one making its way closer, seemingly each being aimed at those glowing blue creatures. “Run!” I yelled as I grabbed Natalie's hand and sprinted away from Ari and the mass of glowing tentacles. Another explosion went off behind us as a plane roared overhead. The explosion also ignited the service station right next to us, which let off a shockwave that sent us flying off the street. Everything went silent, and I could feel my consciousness once again slipping away. The last thing I saw was Natalie silently screaming in my face, worry overtaking her expression as she held tightly onto my hands. That's when I noticed a piece of fence sticking out of my abdomen. “Shit,” I thought to myself. As everything faded to black, I saw a group of military-looking men running towards Natalie and me, then nothing.
I woke up to the voices of Natalie and Marcus talking to each other. I sat up in the apparent hospital bed I was in and immediately regretted it, holding onto my stomach in pain. “Woah woah, lay back down, bud. Just relax,” Marcus said as he stood up from his chair and slowly laid me back down. Natalie stood up as well, tightly gripping my hand and kissing me on the forehead. “What is this? Is the fog… is it over?” I asked, confused about how we were here right now in a hospital. “No, it's not over. My higher-ups have decided that we have to start over. Most of the remaining world leaders have come to the same consensus,” Marcus paused briefly, “you two were lucky to have survived. Most people didn't. Those… those things-''.
"Those people are still alive, Marcus!" I exclaimed. "You can't just bomb the world when those people are still down there! They're in a trance, living in an illusion that those blue things are creating. I can't explain it, but I saw it. Natalie did too. I only got us out because I felt an unbelievable sense of déjà vu, and realized it wasn't real.”
Marcus looked at me, his expression grave. "I know, Roman. We're trying to figure out a way to deal with them without causing more harm. But right now, the priority is to keep everyone who's still here safe. You and Natalie are the only ones who've had any interaction with those things and came back, and we need your help to understand what happened down there."
I nodded, feeling a mix of relief and frustration. "I'll do whatever I can to help. But we can't forget about them. They're still people, trapped in a nightmare."
Over the next few months, I recounted this story to more officials in suits than I can count. I told them how I had done twice what nobody else had done once. I "went into the dream," as they call it, and I came back both times. Though I did manage to convince them not to bomb the world and kill everyone, it has come at a price.
Natalie sobbed as I told her the plan. She cried into my shoulder, just as she did that night many months ago in the grocery store during the emergency alert. I felt her tears soak down to my skin as I told her that I had to go back into the dream and try to wake everyone up. The chance that I would not wake back up was sitting at the forefront of my mind, but I had to be strong for Nat.
“I just hope that if I do get trapped in a dream, that I'll get to go through with that wedding,” I said to her softly, trying to put on a smile. “If you don't come back, I'm coming in after you,” she replied, tears in her eyes. I wanted to tell her no, I wanted to be selfless. But I knew that I would have no complaints if she and I were trapped together again; that selfish part of my brain was still active.
On the 14th of November, 2023, an emergency alert was sent to every mobile device across the globe. It warned of a thick fog that would swallow any who were caught in its midst, and the whole world locked themselves inside. You may be wondering why I'm telling you this story. You may be thinking to yourself, 'I don't remember the day the fog rolled in and the emergency alert sounded.' That is why I'm telling you this story.
This is not real, you need to wake up.

“Have a good night, Roman!” the receptionist said to me as I walked past her desk while she was getting ready to close up. I smiled and waved as I left the gym and entered the brisk night air. Checking the time as my stomach made a gurgling sound, I saw that it was 9:47 PM, and every fast food place in my small town would be closed by now. I looked across the road and saw that the local grocery store was open until 10, so I started lightly jogging towards it, the cold breeze biting through my clothes and attacking my face and neck since I didn't dry off my hair properly after showering."
A wave of warmth hit me in the face as I stepped into the store, causing my eyes to water slightly. "Attention shoppers, the store will be closing in 10 minutes, so please start making your way to the checkouts. Thank you, and have a good night," a woman's voice echoed over the intercom. I hurriedly grabbed a pre-made sandwich and headed towards the drinks aisle. With my head down, I walked, reading the label of my less-than-exciting dinner, and I decided I would grab another sandwich on my way out. When I looked up, I found myself staring into the aisle I had entered, only to see my ex-girlfriend Natalie standing there with her boyfriend, Ari.
Her eyes met mine, and I started to tear up again, but not because of the temperature of the air. She broke her gaze and continued talking to Ari, her expression never changing from the smile she had already been wearing before she saw me. I looked away and started making my way to the end of the aisle, walking past them but not acknowledging them in the slightest. As I brushed past Ari, I realized how much bigger he was than me, at least 3 or 4 inches taller and probably a good 20 kgs heavier. For reference, I'm 6'2" and weigh 92 kgs lean, so I'm not small by any stretch, but this guy dwarfed me.
As I grabbed a Red Bull, I wondered to myself why it had hit me that hard. It had been years since I dated her and years since she drifted out of my life. We were 16 when she confessed her feelings for me, five years ago now. We had been good friends before that, and we were still good friends after I broke up with her, but I took her for granted, so when she started becoming a less consistent part of my life, I was too stubborn to tell her that I missed her. I was snapped out of my own internal dialogue suddenly as my phone started vibrating in my pocket, emitting a strange analog beeping sound that I hadn't heard it make before. I looked around to see Natalie and Ari looking confused while also staring at their phones.
"This is an emergency alert, get to the nearest enclosed structure immediately. Close and lock all doors and windows, turn off all the lights, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside the structure. If you are in your house, close the blinds and fill as many containers with water as you can. If you are in a public structure such as a store or a recreational facility, then follow as many of those same steps as you can. If you are in a vehicle, shut off the engine and lock the doors. For all who are listening to this alert, do not look into the fog, and under no circumstances should you go outside. This alert will repeat once every twelve hours and any updates will be shared periodically. You should be prepared to stay indoors for at least a week, this is not a drill. Stand by for updates.", all the phones in the store blared in unison.
There was a moment of complete silence as the few late-night customers in the store looked over to the closing staff, who were just as dumbfounded as everyone else. Then the store broke out into a hurried panic as who I assume was the store supervisor made her way to the back of the store to shut off the lights, while the other two ladies who were at the checkouts began to lock the doors. I went to call Marcus, my mate who's in the air force, to ask what the hell is going on, but there was no signal at all.
"Nah, fuck this, bro!" Ari shouted in anger as he grabbed Natalie by the wrist and started walking her over to the sliding glass door that was in the process of being locked. As the lights all dimmed out row by row, we were all left in pitch black darkness, excluding the glowing sign of the service station across the street and the barely visible streetlights outside that were being drowned out by the thick fog that everyone had just noticed. Ari turned on his phone's flashlight and kept walking in the darkness until Natalie pulled away from him. "We can't go out there, Ari, there's something wrong with that fog!" Natalie yelled at her partner.
"Let me out right fucking now!" Ari shouted at the poor lady who had just locked the place up. "I can't do that, sir," she replied softly, causing him to start banging on the glass, threatening to break it. “Ari! Please! Calm down, babe, can't we just wait until we know what’s going on?” Natalie begged as she grabbed Ari’s forearm and attempted to stop him from shattering the only thing separating us from the strange mist outside. “Dude, come on, you don’t know what’s out there,” I interrupted, “it could be a chemical attack or something. Just at least wait until we get an update, man,” I tried to reason, but it was no use. “Fuck you, pussy, I’m not getting held against my will in a supermarket. Who the hell would chemical attack New Zealand, dumbass?” he responded to my reasoning. This is something I had already been thinking. It wouldn’t explain why we had to turn the lights out, and it wouldn’t explain why we had to remain quiet. But I was hoping that he wouldn’t be able to think all that through.
“LET ME OUT I SAID, WHAT THE FUCK DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, BITCH?” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he shoved Natalie off his arm and onto the hard epoxy floor, then resumed his banging on the glass, but much harder now. “You gotta let him out,” I said to the grocery worker as I helped Natalie to her feet. The rest of the dozen customers who were in the store had crowded behind us, watching the whole thing go down. “He’s gonna get us all killed if he breaks that glass,” I argued. “Let him out.” The worker reluctantly put in the code for the door’s automatic opening system to activate, and the glass began to slide to the side. Ari looked back at Natalie in rage, seeing that she was not going to leave with him. The large man then walked out, and the doors shut behind him, immediately being locked by the store lady whose hands were now shaking.
We all watched in silence as Ari’s silhouette disappeared into the fog until the only thing we could make out was his phone’s flashlight gently glowing through the mist. All of a sudden, it seemed like he had stopped moving; the light didn’t get any dimmer or seem to be getting further away at all. As around 17 of us observed from the darkness of the grocery store, a loud shriek was released into the night, and Ari began sprinting back to the door, and his banging resumed.
“LET ME THE FUCK BACK IN THERE’S SOMETHING OUT HE-!” he began to shout but was cut off as his legs were pulled out from under him, and the wind was knocked out of his lungs as he landed hard on his stomach, his nose cracking on the concrete. Natalie went to scream, but I covered her mouth, and we both watched as Ari was dragged back into the fog by a tall, lanky humanoid silhouette, still clutching onto his phone. Eventually, the light from his flashlight was completely engulfed by the wall of fog, and we were all left with our mouths agape and tears in our eyes as the severity of our situation set in.
Nobody really said much over the next couple of hours; everyone was too shaken up, I guess. At around quarter past 12 AM, I checked my phone as Natalie lay on top of me, fast asleep, her face buried into my hoodie. She had been crying since… Well, we all watched what happened to Ari. After that, everyone found a place to themselves, and Natalie held onto me, soaking my shoulder with her tears, which made their way down to my skin. I hated that I was happy at that moment. I felt so selfish about being content in her sorrow, but I missed her so much. I missed her more than I let myself know and was just thankful that I had her there with me. I thanked God that I didn't have to go through this nightmare alone.
I fell asleep shortly after, closing my eyes and taking in the noises around me: the humming of the fridges, Natalie's soft breathing, gentle sobs from across the store, and I'm sure a couple of times I heard screams in the distance outside the apparent security of this store.
I awoke to my phone vibrating again, but it was only my 7:30 AM alarm. Natalie must have already been awake because she was holding me tight, and there were fresh tears on my hoodie. I lay there for a bit, hugging her, ignorant to the world that, for all I knew, was ending anyway. I was also ignorant to the fact that the sun hadn't come up, or at least, it wasn't reaching us through the fog, meaning that it must be completely encasing us. How far does the fog stretch? How far would it have to extend into the sky for not even a hint of daylight to shine through? These are questions I did not have because I was holding onto the girl who I had never really stopped loving, making me probably the only person at that moment who was trapped in a dream, not a nightmare.
Natalie and I ate breakfast in silence. I guess there are worse places to be trapped than a well-stocked grocery store; however, as 10 AM rolled around, a new alert sounded out from everyone's phones: “This is an emergency alert. It is still very unsafe outside, so stay where you are. Keep all the lights off, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside your structure. Avoid looking into the fog or standing in a position where you are visible from the outside. Cover as many windows as possible and preferably hide in a room that can be locked off from the rest of your structure if necessary. If something is in your structure or is trying to get inside, then it knows you're there. In this scenario, hide; do not attempt to confront it under any circumstances. Notable updates: the electrical and water systems will not be operational by this time tomorrow, so if you have not done so, fill up as many containers with water as you can. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.”
I stood up and stretched, feeling the stiffness in my back from sitting on the hard supermarket floor, and my legs had pins and needles. I looked down at Natalie, who seemed lost in thought. I wasn't sure if she had heard the update, but then again, what did it matter? The loss of power would mean that all the refrigerated items would spoil, but there was enough long-lasting food to feed us all for months, probably, drinks as well. I knew our biggest problem would be warmth as we would lose the electronic heating system, but before I could think any more on that, a commotion broke out on the other side of the store.
A loud crash echoed across the whole building, and as Natalie and I made our way towards the noise, we discovered that one of the other guys who was trapped in here, must have been in his late 50s at least, had been using his free time to get absolutely wasted in the alcoholic section of the store, and was now yanking boxes of booze off of the shelves as he drunkenly laughed to himself. Before I could do anything, another man, maybe in his early 30s, tackled him to the ground and pinned him down, all without saying a word. As the older guy lay there, asking what the problem was in slurred, barely comprehensible English, everyone in the store felt their hearts sink as a loud thumping sound was heard from the front door. And then again, and again, until one of the three store workers, who wandered over to see who was over there, let out an almost impossibly loud scream, and that was what sealed our fate. The store erupted into chaos as the glass door was shattered, and an inhuman shriek reverberated in our ears as whatever was outside was no longer outside.
I looked to Natalie, who appeared to be frozen in place, teary-eyed as she breathed rapid and shallow breaths. I took her by the hand and ran as fast as I could towards the storage room out back. I knew they had to have one in order to hold onto the stock that they couldn't fit on the shelves yet. But as we reached the door, screams and roars filled the store behind us. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that it was locked. I shook the handle out of desperation and then tried to open the other larger door that the forklifts came in and out of, but I didn't know the code.
I embraced Natalie, and I guess I just prepared for it to end until I heard a ‘pssst’ and looked back over to the door to see that the store supervisor was holding it slightly ajar while gesturing for us to quickly come inside. We ran to the entrance and left the main part of the building where we found the supervisor and the other surviving employee, along with one other customer who had apparently been in here ever since Ari was killed.
The lights were on in the storage room because there were no windows, which took a while to adjust to after being in total darkness for the last 12 hours, but it was a nice change. Over the course of the day, we heard many thumps and bangs; occasionally, something would get knocked over, and glass would smash. Whatever was out there was looking everywhere for survivors, but we were safe in here.
Natalie and I made a bed out of a few 20kg sacks of rice, which was honestly so much nicer than the floor. The other three people in there with us tried to ask us about ourselves, our lives, but I did most of the talking. Natalie was still grieving, and the others understood that, though I did see her smile a couple of times, which was nice. The other employee didn't say much; I assumed it was because of what happened to the female staff member after the door shattered, so I didn't really try to push him for conversation. Honestly, I wasn't really in a social mood myself, but it was just nice to have some sense of normalcy after the shitshow that has been our lives over the last couple of days.
On day four, I remembered what the alert had said about the power shutting off. It turns out there's a backup generator that should power everything we need for another couple of days, with most of the lights in the store being off, so it really felt like we were home free. At 10 o'clock on the fourth night, I heard the emergency alert sound off from across the room as I lay next to Natalie, since both of our phones had died already. I tried to listen in on what it was saying, but I couldn't quite make it out from where I was, so I got up in the dark and made my way over to the soft glow of the supervisor's phone screen.
By the time I could hear what was being said, I only just caught the end of it, “Be prepared to stay inside indefinitely. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.” My heart sank to my stomach hearing this, and as I looked over to the supervisor who shared my expression, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. Indefinitely? I mean, it would be easier for us having all of this stock to ourselves, but what about people trapped in their houses, their cars? How were they expected to survive this? As I pondered to myself, I turned around, suddenly startled by the sound of the male employee speaking for the first time since we’d been here. “Fuck this,” was all he said as he entered the code for the large door, which made a loud mechanical whirring as it lifted up.
I didn't even have time to process what had happened. I didn't have time to be angry at this man for killing us, and I didn't have time to sprint back to Natalie before I heard her being dragged away by one of those creatures, her hands squeaking across the floor as they tried and failed to grip onto it.
The creature was pale, humanoid, but not human. If you've ever seen a hairless chimpanzee, it kind of looked like that, but its limbs were grotesque and distorted, too long for its body, and its face was more human. Its skin was a light grey color, pulled tightly over its strangely proportioned body. I noticed how it was shrieking, an ungodly sound, but its face was expressionless, its mouth only slightly open as it screamed. I think that was the weirdest part. I thought all of this as I watched this hideous thing drag the girl I love into the consuming darkness of the grocery store. That's when something grabbed me by the leg and pulled it out from under me, causing me to hit my head on the floor, and everything faded to black.
“Truth or dare?” Natalie asked me. “Umm, truth,” I replied. Natalie thought for a moment before Sarah, my mate Marcus’ Mrs, who was sitting next to her, whispered in her ear, causing a massive grin to form on her face. “Okay, okay,” she giggled as she adjusted her posture and looked me in the eyes, trying to keep a straight face. “Okay, Roman, if you were stuck on an island with all of us, who would you eat first?” I thought for a moment as I looked around the hot tub at all of my close friends. My eyes landed on Max, who is quite overweight, and I couldn't help but smile, causing everyone to laugh, including Max who splashed water in my face and retorted, “I'd eat all of you before you got the chance,” to which Marcus said, “We believe you, bud,” and everyone burst out into laughter again.
“Okay, Natalie… truth or dare?” I asked. “Truth!” she replied without hesitation. I pretended to ponder my question for a moment. “Would you-” I began, as I stood up in the pool, clutching something in my left hand, “-make me the happiest man in the world-” I continued as I got down on one knee before her, “-and marry me?” I asked as I held a ring out of the water for her, eliciting a gasp from both of my mates and their partners. Natalie's eyes began to tear up, and she asked, “Are you for real?” covering her mouth with her shaking hands. I nodded yes, and she screamed out, “Yes! Of course I will!” before she jumped on top of me, taking us both underwater as she kissed me.
After we all dried off and said our goodbyes, Max came up to me, “Hey man, congratulations! Honestly, I've been waiting for this day since you guys met. Always knew she was the one for you,” he said. I looked at him for a moment before replying, “What do you mean, bro? When I first started dating her, you told me that she was no good for me. It's like one of the main reasons I broke up w-” That's when the words I was saying hit me in the face like a bag of bricks.
Max stared at me, his smile not shifting in the slightest. “How long have you and Natalie been together now?” he asked. “Must be around 5 years, about time you popped the question, haha,” he chuckled, but with every second that passed, my heart started beating more and more rapidly. “This isn't real,” I said before squeezing my eyes shut, and waking up.
A long tendril slid out of my throat as I fell to the ground below and threw up everywhere. I looked up to see a giant, glowing figure with a dozen other tendrils protruding from its shoulders. The skinny figure stood still, its frame reaching the height of the streetlight next to it. As I tried to make sense of what I was looking at, my eyes made their way down its inhuman body. At the end of each glowing blue tendril was a person, the tendrils entering through each of their mouths, seemingly absorbing something from their bodies as pulsating rings of light emanated from the person and up the tendril. I almost threw up for a second time until I saw Natalie among the dozen bodies attached to the creature. Without hesitation, I reached up to touch her hand, and as I did, I lost consciousness again.
“Unzip the tent, babe, let some light in,” I said as I wiped the sleep from my eyes and cracked my stiff back, cursing myself for forgetting an air mattress on a trip we'd been planning for months. I watched and admired my beautiful fiancée as she got up half-naked and unzipped our tent.
“I hope you slept better than I did,” I muttered as I lay back down in my sleeping bag. “Babe, you should've had the air mattress. I would've been happy to trade places,” Natalie replied as she opened up her pack and started rummaging through it.
“Nah, I'm fine, honestly. I'm not letting my fiancée sleep on the ground,” I retorted, my arm covering my eyes, immediately regretting that I got Natalie to let the sun in. “You're such a man,” she scoffed jokingly as she tossed me one of the pre-made sandwiches from her pack. I paused for a moment, a split second of déjà vu overtaking my body as I read the label.
All of a sudden, I sat up straight in my sleeping bag. “Natalie, this isn't real! None of this is real!” I said to her in a panic, causing her to stare at me, concerned. “Are you feeling okay, Roman?” she asked. “Did you get any sleep at all?”
“Natalie, the grocery store, the fog, the emergency alert! Don't you remember? None of this is real! We aren't together, we aren't engaged,” I spoke quickly, my voice trembling as I tried to get her to snap out of this false reality. I watched as Natalie's face went white, and her eyes filled with tears.
“What's going on? What is thi-” she started to speak but was interrupted by a familiar shriek in the distance. I looked out of the tent to see at least a thousand of those chimp creatures making their way towards us, seemingly sensing that we weren't being fooled by this illusion any longer.
“Natalie, you have to wake up!” I yelled, the creatures getting closer. “Close your eyes and wake-” I regained consciousness and caught Natalie as the tendril slid out of her throat, letting her fall. She threw up onto the ground as I held her, before staring back up at the massive glowing creature. That's when we looked around. In the distance, there were more glowing creatures, hundreds of them spread out over the town.
“We can see through the fog,” Natalie stated, which I honestly hadn't even noticed until then. That's when we heard frantic screaming and looked to our left. One of those chimp creatures was dragging a man out of his car and over to the glowing figure. We watched as one of the tendrils violently shoved its way down the man's throat, and his screaming stopped. Then, the other creature just walked off, paying us absolutely no mind.
Natalie then looked back up at the bodies attached to the tendrils and gasped as she saw Ari. She went to reach for him, but I grabbed her hand. “Natalie, if you touch him, you'll go back in, and there's no guarantee that you'll ever come back out. It's like it completely wipes your memory every time,” I told her.
“How do you know?" she asked. "Maybe I'll remember the second time.”
“You won't, Natalie. I went back in for you, and I'm lucky that I remembered at all,” I responded. She stared at me for a moment.
“Why did you go back in for me if it's such a big risk?” she questioned.
I paused, my eyes welled up. “Because I love you, Nat-”
An explosion then went off in the distance. I saw it over Natalie's shoulder, then another, then another, each one making its way closer, seemingly each being aimed at those glowing blue creatures. “Run!” I yelled as I grabbed Natalie's hand and sprinted away from Ari and the mass of glowing tentacles. Another explosion went off behind us as a plane roared overhead. The explosion also ignited the service station right next to us, which let off a shockwave that sent us flying off the street. Everything went silent, and I could feel my consciousness once again slipping away. The last thing I saw was Natalie silently screaming in my face, worry overtaking her expression as she held tightly onto my hands. That's when I noticed a piece of fence sticking out of my abdomen. “Shit,” I thought to myself. As everything faded to black, I saw a group of military-looking men running towards Natalie and me, then nothing.
I woke up to the voices of Natalie and Marcus talking to each other. I sat up in the apparent hospital bed I was in and immediately regretted it, holding onto my stomach in pain. “Woah woah, lay back down, bud. Just relax,” Marcus said as he stood up from his chair and slowly laid me back down. Natalie stood up as well, tightly gripping my hand and kissing me on the forehead. “What is this? Is the fog… is it over?” I asked, confused about how we were here right now in a hospital. “No, it's not over. My higher-ups have decided that we have to start over. Most of the remaining world leaders have come to the same consensus,” Marcus paused briefly, “you two were lucky to have survived. Most people didn't. Those… those things-''.
"Those people are still alive, Marcus!" I exclaimed. "You can't just bomb the world when those people are still down there! They're in a trance, living in an illusion that those blue things are creating. I can't explain it, but I saw it. Natalie did too. I only got us out because I felt an unbelievable sense of déjà vu, and realized it wasn't real.”
Marcus looked at me, his expression grave. "I know, Roman. We're trying to figure out a way to deal with them without causing more harm. But right now, the priority is to keep everyone who's still here safe. You and Natalie are the only ones who've had any interaction with those things and came back, and we need your help to understand what happened down there."
I nodded, feeling a mix of relief and frustration. "I'll do whatever I can to help. But we can't forget about them. They're still people, trapped in a nightmare."
Over the next few months, I recounted this story to more officials in suits than I can count. I told them how I had done twice what nobody else had done once. I "went into the dream," as they call it, and I came back both times. Though I did manage to convince them not to bomb the world and kill everyone, it has come at a price.
Natalie sobbed as I told her the plan. She cried into my shoulder, just as she did that night many months ago in the grocery store during the emergency alert. I felt her tears soak down to my skin as I told her that I had to go back into the dream and try to wake everyone up. The chance that I would not wake back up was sitting at the forefront of my mind, but I had to be strong for Nat.
“I just hope that if I do get trapped in a dream, that I'll get to go through with that wedding,” I said to her softly, trying to put on a smile. “If you don't come back, I'm coming in after you,” she replied, tears in her eyes. I wanted to tell her no, I wanted to be selfless. But I knew that I would have no complaints if she and I were trapped together again; that selfish part of my brain was still active.
On the 14th of November, 2023, an emergency alert was sent to every mobile device across the globe. It warned of a thick fog that would swallow any who were caught in its midst, and the whole world locked themselves inside. You may be wondering why I'm telling you this story. You may be thinking to yourself, 'I don't remember the day the fog rolled in and the emergency alert sounded.' That is why I'm telling you this story.
This is not real, you need to wake up.

“Have a good night, Roman!” the receptionist said to me as I walked past her desk while she was getting ready to close up. I smiled and waved as I left the gym and entered the brisk night air. Checking the time as my stomach made a gurgling sound, I saw that it was 9:47 PM, and every fast food place in my small town would be closed by now. I looked across the road and saw that the local grocery store was open until 10, so I started lightly jogging towards it, the cold breeze biting through my clothes and attacking my face and neck since I didn't dry off my hair properly after showering."
A wave of warmth hit me in the face as I stepped into the store, causing my eyes to water slightly. "Attention shoppers, the store will be closing in 10 minutes, so please start making your way to the checkouts. Thank you, and have a good night," a woman's voice echoed over the intercom. I hurriedly grabbed a pre-made sandwich and headed towards the drinks aisle. With my head down, I walked, reading the label of my less-than-exciting dinner, and I decided I would grab another sandwich on my way out. When I looked up, I found myself staring into the aisle I had entered, only to see my ex-girlfriend Natalie standing there with her boyfriend, Ari.
Her eyes met mine, and I started to tear up again, but not because of the temperature of the air. She broke her gaze and continued talking to Ari, her expression never changing from the smile she had already been wearing before she saw me. I looked away and started making my way to the end of the aisle, walking past them but not acknowledging them in the slightest. As I brushed past Ari, I realized how much bigger he was than me, at least 3 or 4 inches taller and probably a good 20 kgs heavier. For reference, I'm 6'2" and weigh 92 kgs lean, so I'm not small by any stretch, but this guy dwarfed me.
As I grabbed a Red Bull, I wondered to myself why it had hit me that hard. It had been years since I dated her and years since she drifted out of my life. We were 16 when she confessed her feelings for me, five years ago now. We had been good friends before that, and we were still good friends after I broke up with her, but I took her for granted, so when she started becoming a less consistent part of my life, I was too stubborn to tell her that I missed her. I was snapped out of my own internal dialogue suddenly as my phone started vibrating in my pocket, emitting a strange analog beeping sound that I hadn't heard it make before. I looked around to see Natalie and Ari looking confused while also staring at their phones.
"This is an emergency alert, get to the nearest enclosed structure immediately. Close and lock all doors and windows, turn off all the lights, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside the structure. If you are in your house, close the blinds and fill as many containers with water as you can. If you are in a public structure such as a store or a recreational facility, then follow as many of those same steps as you can. If you are in a vehicle, shut off the engine and lock the doors. For all who are listening to this alert, do not look into the fog, and under no circumstances should you go outside. This alert will repeat once every twelve hours and any updates will be shared periodically. You should be prepared to stay indoors for at least a week, this is not a drill. Stand by for updates.", all the phones in the store blared in unison.
There was a moment of complete silence as the few late-night customers in the store looked over to the closing staff, who were just as dumbfounded as everyone else. Then the store broke out into a hurried panic as who I assume was the store supervisor made her way to the back of the store to shut off the lights, while the other two ladies who were at the checkouts began to lock the doors. I went to call Marcus, my mate who's in the air force, to ask what the hell is going on, but there was no signal at all.
"Nah, fuck this, bro!" Ari shouted in anger as he grabbed Natalie by the wrist and started walking her over to the sliding glass door that was in the process of being locked. As the lights all dimmed out row by row, we were all left in pitch black darkness, excluding the glowing sign of the service station across the street and the barely visible streetlights outside that were being drowned out by the thick fog that everyone had just noticed. Ari turned on his phone's flashlight and kept walking in the darkness until Natalie pulled away from him. "We can't go out there, Ari, there's something wrong with that fog!" Natalie yelled at her partner.
"Let me out right fucking now!" Ari shouted at the poor lady who had just locked the place up. "I can't do that, sir," she replied softly, causing him to start banging on the glass, threatening to break it. “Ari! Please! Calm down, babe, can't we just wait until we know what’s going on?” Natalie begged as she grabbed Ari’s forearm and attempted to stop him from shattering the only thing separating us from the strange mist outside. “Dude, come on, you don’t know what’s out there,” I interrupted, “it could be a chemical attack or something. Just at least wait until we get an update, man,” I tried to reason, but it was no use. “Fuck you, pussy, I’m not getting held against my will in a supermarket. Who the hell would chemical attack New Zealand, dumbass?” he responded to my reasoning. This is something I had already been thinking. It wouldn’t explain why we had to turn the lights out, and it wouldn’t explain why we had to remain quiet. But I was hoping that he wouldn’t be able to think all that through.
“LET ME OUT I SAID, WHAT THE FUCK DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, BITCH?” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he shoved Natalie off his arm and onto the hard epoxy floor, then resumed his banging on the glass, but much harder now. “You gotta let him out,” I said to the grocery worker as I helped Natalie to her feet. The rest of the dozen customers who were in the store had crowded behind us, watching the whole thing go down. “He’s gonna get us all killed if he breaks that glass,” I argued. “Let him out.” The worker reluctantly put in the code for the door’s automatic opening system to activate, and the glass began to slide to the side. Ari looked back at Natalie in rage, seeing that she was not going to leave with him. The large man then walked out, and the doors shut behind him, immediately being locked by the store lady whose hands were now shaking.
We all watched in silence as Ari’s silhouette disappeared into the fog until the only thing we could make out was his phone’s flashlight gently glowing through the mist. All of a sudden, it seemed like he had stopped moving; the light didn’t get any dimmer or seem to be getting further away at all. As around 17 of us observed from the darkness of the grocery store, a loud shriek was released into the night, and Ari began sprinting back to the door, and his banging resumed.
“LET ME THE FUCK BACK IN THERE’S SOMETHING OUT HE-!” he began to shout but was cut off as his legs were pulled out from under him, and the wind was knocked out of his lungs as he landed hard on his stomach, his nose cracking on the concrete. Natalie went to scream, but I covered her mouth, and we both watched as Ari was dragged back into the fog by a tall, lanky humanoid silhouette, still clutching onto his phone. Eventually, the light from his flashlight was completely engulfed by the wall of fog, and we were all left with our mouths agape and tears in our eyes as the severity of our situation set in.
Nobody really said much over the next couple of hours; everyone was too shaken up, I guess. At around quarter past 12 AM, I checked my phone as Natalie lay on top of me, fast asleep, her face buried into my hoodie. She had been crying since… Well, we all watched what happened to Ari. After that, everyone found a place to themselves, and Natalie held onto me, soaking my shoulder with her tears, which made their way down to my skin. I hated that I was happy at that moment. I felt so selfish about being content in her sorrow, but I missed her so much. I missed her more than I let myself know and was just thankful that I had her there with me. I thanked God that I didn't have to go through this nightmare alone.
I fell asleep shortly after, closing my eyes and taking in the noises around me: the humming of the fridges, Natalie's soft breathing, gentle sobs from across the store, and I'm sure a couple of times I heard screams in the distance outside the apparent security of this store.
I awoke to my phone vibrating again, but it was only my 7:30 AM alarm. Natalie must have already been awake because she was holding me tight, and there were fresh tears on my hoodie. I lay there for a bit, hugging her, ignorant to the world that, for all I knew, was ending anyway. I was also ignorant to the fact that the sun hadn't come up, or at least, it wasn't reaching us through the fog, meaning that it must be completely encasing us. How far does the fog stretch? How far would it have to extend into the sky for not even a hint of daylight to shine through? These are questions I did not have because I was holding onto the girl who I had never really stopped loving, making me probably the only person at that moment who was trapped in a dream, not a nightmare.
Natalie and I ate breakfast in silence. I guess there are worse places to be trapped than a well-stocked grocery store; however, as 10 AM rolled around, a new alert sounded out from everyone's phones: “This is an emergency alert. It is still very unsafe outside, so stay where you are. Keep all the lights off, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside your structure. Avoid looking into the fog or standing in a position where you are visible from the outside. Cover as many windows as possible and preferably hide in a room that can be locked off from the rest of your structure if necessary. If something is in your structure or is trying to get inside, then it knows you're there. In this scenario, hide; do not attempt to confront it under any circumstances. Notable updates: the electrical and water systems will not be operational by this time tomorrow, so if you have not done so, fill up as many containers with water as you can. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.”
I stood up and stretched, feeling the stiffness in my back from sitting on the hard supermarket floor, and my legs had pins and needles. I looked down at Natalie, who seemed lost in thought. I wasn't sure if she had heard the update, but then again, what did it matter? The loss of power would mean that all the refrigerated items would spoil, but there was enough long-lasting food to feed us all for months, probably, drinks as well. I knew our biggest problem would be warmth as we would lose the electronic heating system, but before I could think any more on that, a commotion broke out on the other side of the store.
A loud crash echoed across the whole building, and as Natalie and I made our way towards the noise, we discovered that one of the other guys who was trapped in here, must have been in his late 50s at least, had been using his free time to get absolutely wasted in the alcoholic section of the store, and was now yanking boxes of booze off of the shelves as he drunkenly laughed to himself. Before I could do anything, another man, maybe in his early 30s, tackled him to the ground and pinned him down, all without saying a word. As the older guy lay there, asking what the problem was in slurred, barely comprehensible English, everyone in the store felt their hearts sink as a loud thumping sound was heard from the front door. And then again, and again, until one of the three store workers, who wandered over to see who was over there, let out an almost impossibly loud scream, and that was what sealed our fate. The store erupted into chaos as the glass door was shattered, and an inhuman shriek reverberated in our ears as whatever was outside was no longer outside.
I looked to Natalie, who appeared to be frozen in place, teary-eyed as she breathed rapid and shallow breaths. I took her by the hand and ran as fast as I could towards the storage room out back. I knew they had to have one in order to hold onto the stock that they couldn't fit on the shelves yet. But as we reached the door, screams and roars filled the store behind us. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that it was locked. I shook the handle out of desperation and then tried to open the other larger door that the forklifts came in and out of, but I didn't know the code.
I embraced Natalie, and I guess I just prepared for it to end until I heard a ‘pssst’ and looked back over to the door to see that the store supervisor was holding it slightly ajar while gesturing for us to quickly come inside. We ran to the entrance and left the main part of the building where we found the supervisor and the other surviving employee, along with one other customer who had apparently been in here ever since Ari was killed.
The lights were on in the storage room because there were no windows, which took a while to adjust to after being in total darkness for the last 12 hours, but it was a nice change. Over the course of the day, we heard many thumps and bangs; occasionally, something would get knocked over, and glass would smash. Whatever was out there was looking everywhere for survivors, but we were safe in here.
Natalie and I made a bed out of a few 20kg sacks of rice, which was honestly so much nicer than the floor. The other three people in there with us tried to ask us about ourselves, our lives, but I did most of the talking. Natalie was still grieving, and the others understood that, though I did see her smile a couple of times, which was nice. The other employee didn't say much; I assumed it was because of what happened to the female staff member after the door shattered, so I didn't really try to push him for conversation. Honestly, I wasn't really in a social mood myself, but it was just nice to have some sense of normalcy after the shitshow that has been our lives over the last couple of days.
On day four, I remembered what the alert had said about the power shutting off. It turns out there's a backup generator that should power everything we need for another couple of days, with most of the lights in the store being off, so it really felt like we were home free. At 10 o'clock on the fourth night, I heard the emergency alert sound off from across the room as I lay next to Natalie, since both of our phones had died already. I tried to listen in on what it was saying, but I couldn't quite make it out from where I was, so I got up in the dark and made my way over to the soft glow of the supervisor's phone screen.
By the time I could hear what was being said, I only just caught the end of it, “Be prepared to stay inside indefinitely. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.” My heart sank to my stomach hearing this, and as I looked over to the supervisor who shared my expression, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. Indefinitely? I mean, it would be easier for us having all of this stock to ourselves, but what about people trapped in their houses, their cars? How were they expected to survive this? As I pondered to myself, I turned around, suddenly startled by the sound of the male employee speaking for the first time since we’d been here. “Fuck this,” was all he said as he entered the code for the large door, which made a loud mechanical whirring as it lifted up.
I didn't even have time to process what had happened. I didn't have time to be angry at this man for killing us, and I didn't have time to sprint back to Natalie before I heard her being dragged away by one of those creatures, her hands squeaking across the floor as they tried and failed to grip onto it.
The creature was pale, humanoid, but not human. If you've ever seen a hairless chimpanzee, it kind of looked like that, but its limbs were grotesque and distorted, too long for its body, and its face was more human. Its skin was a light grey color, pulled tightly over its strangely proportioned body. I noticed how it was shrieking, an ungodly sound, but its face was expressionless, its mouth only slightly open as it screamed. I think that was the weirdest part. I thought all of this as I watched this hideous thing drag the girl I love into the consuming darkness of the grocery store. That's when something grabbed me by the leg and pulled it out from under me, causing me to hit my head on the floor, and everything faded to black.
“Truth or dare?” Natalie asked me. “Umm, truth,” I replied. Natalie thought for a moment before Sarah, my mate Marcus’ Mrs, who was sitting next to her, whispered in her ear, causing a massive grin to form on her face. “Okay, okay,” she giggled as she adjusted her posture and looked me in the eyes, trying to keep a straight face. “Okay, Roman, if you were stuck on an island with all of us, who would you eat first?” I thought for a moment as I looked around the hot tub at all of my close friends. My eyes landed on Max, who is quite overweight, and I couldn't help but smile, causing everyone to laugh, including Max who splashed water in my face and retorted, “I'd eat all of you before you got the chance,” to which Marcus said, “We believe you, bud,” and everyone burst out into laughter again.
“Okay, Natalie… truth or dare?” I asked. “Truth!” she replied without hesitation. I pretended to ponder my question for a moment. “Would you-” I began, as I stood up in the pool, clutching something in my left hand, “-make me the happiest man in the world-” I continued as I got down on one knee before her, “-and marry me?” I asked as I held a ring out of the water for her, eliciting a gasp from both of my mates and their partners. Natalie's eyes began to tear up, and she asked, “Are you for real?” covering her mouth with her shaking hands. I nodded yes, and she screamed out, “Yes! Of course I will!” before she jumped on top of me, taking us both underwater as she kissed me.
After we all dried off and said our goodbyes, Max came up to me, “Hey man, congratulations! Honestly, I've been waiting for this day since you guys met. Always knew she was the one for you,” he said. I looked at him for a moment before replying, “What do you mean, bro? When I first started dating her, you told me that she was no good for me. It's like one of the main reasons I broke up w-” That's when the words I was saying hit me in the face like a bag of bricks.
Max stared at me, his smile not shifting in the slightest. “How long have you and Natalie been together now?” he asked. “Must be around 5 years, about time you popped the question, haha,” he chuckled, but with every second that passed, my heart started beating more and more rapidly. “This isn't real,” I said before squeezing my eyes shut, and waking up.
A long tendril slid out of my throat as I fell to the ground below and threw up everywhere. I looked up to see a giant, glowing figure with a dozen other tendrils protruding from its shoulders. The skinny figure stood still, its frame reaching the height of the streetlight next to it. As I tried to make sense of what I was looking at, my eyes made their way down its inhuman body. At the end of each glowing blue tendril was a person, the tendrils entering through each of their mouths, seemingly absorbing something from their bodies as pulsating rings of light emanated from the person and up the tendril. I almost threw up for a second time until I saw Natalie among the dozen bodies attached to the creature. Without hesitation, I reached up to touch her hand, and as I did, I lost consciousness again.
“Unzip the tent, babe, let some light in,” I said as I wiped the sleep from my eyes and cracked my stiff back, cursing myself for forgetting an air mattress on a trip we'd been planning for months. I watched and admired my beautiful fiancée as she got up half-naked and unzipped our tent.
“I hope you slept better than I did,” I muttered as I lay back down in my sleeping bag. “Babe, you should've had the air mattress. I would've been happy to trade places,” Natalie replied as she opened up her pack and started rummaging through it.
“Nah, I'm fine, honestly. I'm not letting my fiancée sleep on the ground,” I retorted, my arm covering my eyes, immediately regretting that I got Natalie to let the sun in. “You're such a man,” she scoffed jokingly as she tossed me one of the pre-made sandwiches from her pack. I paused for a moment, a split second of déjà vu overtaking my body as I read the label.
All of a sudden, I sat up straight in my sleeping bag. “Natalie, this isn't real! None of this is real!” I said to her in a panic, causing her to stare at me, concerned. “Are you feeling okay, Roman?” she asked. “Did you get any sleep at all?”
“Natalie, the grocery store, the fog, the emergency alert! Don't you remember? None of this is real! We aren't together, we aren't engaged,” I spoke quickly, my voice trembling as I tried to get her to snap out of this false reality. I watched as Natalie's face went white, and her eyes filled with tears.
“What's going on? What is thi-” she started to speak but was interrupted by a familiar shriek in the distance. I looked out of the tent to see at least a thousand of those chimp creatures making their way towards us, seemingly sensing that we weren't being fooled by this illusion any longer.
“Natalie, you have to wake up!” I yelled, the creatures getting closer. “Close your eyes and wake-” I regained consciousness and caught Natalie as the tendril slid out of her throat, letting her fall. She threw up onto the ground as I held her, before staring back up at the massive glowing creature. That's when we looked around. In the distance, there were more glowing creatures, hundreds of them spread out over the town.
“We can see through the fog,” Natalie stated, which I honestly hadn't even noticed until then. That's when we heard frantic screaming and looked to our left. One of those chimp creatures was dragging a man out of his car and over to the glowing figure. We watched as one of the tendrils violently shoved its way down the man's throat, and his screaming stopped. Then, the other creature just walked off, paying us absolutely no mind.
Natalie then looked back up at the bodies attached to the tendrils and gasped as she saw Ari. She went to reach for him, but I grabbed her hand. “Natalie, if you touch him, you'll go back in, and there's no guarantee that you'll ever come back out. It's like it completely wipes your memory every time,” I told her.
“How do you know?" she asked. "Maybe I'll remember the second time.”
“You won't, Natalie. I went back in for you, and I'm lucky that I remembered at all,” I responded. She stared at me for a moment.
“Why did you go back in for me if it's such a big risk?” she questioned.
I paused, my eyes welled up. “Because I love you, Nat-”
An explosion then went off in the distance. I saw it over Natalie's shoulder, then another, then another, each one making its way closer, seemingly each being aimed at those glowing blue creatures. “Run!” I yelled as I grabbed Natalie's hand and sprinted away from Ari and the mass of glowing tentacles. Another explosion went off behind us as a plane roared overhead. The explosion also ignited the service station right next to us, which let off a shockwave that sent us flying off the street. Everything went silent, and I could feel my consciousness once again slipping away. The last thing I saw was Natalie silently screaming in my face, worry overtaking her expression as she held tightly onto my hands. That's when I noticed a piece of fence sticking out of my abdomen. “Shit,” I thought to myself. As everything faded to black, I saw a group of military-looking men running towards Natalie and me, then nothing.
I woke up to the voices of Natalie and Marcus talking to each other. I sat up in the apparent hospital bed I was in and immediately regretted it, holding onto my stomach in pain. “Woah woah, lay back down, bud. Just relax,” Marcus said as he stood up from his chair and slowly laid me back down. Natalie stood up as well, tightly gripping my hand and kissing me on the forehead. “What is this? Is the fog… is it over?” I asked, confused about how we were here right now in a hospital. “No, it's not over. My higher-ups have decided that we have to start over. Most of the remaining world leaders have come to the same consensus,” Marcus paused briefly, “you two were lucky to have survived. Most people didn't. Those… those things-''.
"Those people are still alive, Marcus!" I exclaimed. "You can't just bomb the world when those people are still down there! They're in a trance, living in an illusion that those blue things are creating. I can't explain it, but I saw it. Natalie did too. I only got us out because I felt an unbelievable sense of déjà vu, and realized it wasn't real.”
Marcus looked at me, his expression grave. "I know, Roman. We're trying to figure out a way to deal with them without causing more harm. But right now, the priority is to keep everyone who's still here safe. You and Natalie are the only ones who've had any interaction with those things and came back, and we need your help to understand what happened down there."
I nodded, feeling a mix of relief and frustration. "I'll do whatever I can to help. But we can't forget about them. They're still people, trapped in a nightmare."
Over the next few months, I recounted this story to more officials in suits than I can count. I told them how I had done twice what nobody else had done once. I "went into the dream," as they call it, and I came back both times. Though I did manage to convince them not to bomb the world and kill everyone, it has come at a price.
Natalie sobbed as I told her the plan. She cried into my shoulder, just as she did that night many months ago in the grocery store during the emergency alert. I felt her tears soak down to my skin as I told her that I had to go back into the dream and try to wake everyone up. The chance that I would not wake back up was sitting at the forefront of my mind, but I had to be strong for Nat.
“I just hope that if I do get trapped in a dream, that I'll get to go through with that wedding,” I said to her softly, trying to put on a smile. “If you don't come back, I'm coming in after you,” she replied, tears in her eyes. I wanted to tell her no, I wanted to be selfless. But I knew that I would have no complaints if she and I were trapped together again; that selfish part of my brain was still active.
On the 14th of November, 2023, an emergency alert was sent to every mobile device across the globe. It warned of a thick fog that would swallow any who were caught in its midst, and the whole world locked themselves inside. You may be wondering why I'm telling you this story. You may be thinking to yourself, 'I don't remember the day the fog rolled in and the emergency alert sounded.' That is why I'm telling you this story.
This is not real, you need to wake up.

“Have a good night, Roman!” the receptionist said to me as I walked past her desk while she was getting ready to close up. I smiled and waved as I left the gym and entered the brisk night air. Checking the time as my stomach made a gurgling sound, I saw that it was 9:47 PM, and every fast food place in my small town would be closed by now. I looked across the road and saw that the local grocery store was open until 10, so I started lightly jogging towards it, the cold breeze biting through my clothes and attacking my face and neck since I didn't dry off my hair properly after showering."
A wave of warmth hit me in the face as I stepped into the store, causing my eyes to water slightly. "Attention shoppers, the store will be closing in 10 minutes, so please start making your way to the checkouts. Thank you, and have a good night," a woman's voice echoed over the intercom. I hurriedly grabbed a pre-made sandwich and headed towards the drinks aisle. With my head down, I walked, reading the label of my less-than-exciting dinner, and I decided I would grab another sandwich on my way out. When I looked up, I found myself staring into the aisle I had entered, only to see my ex-girlfriend Natalie standing there with her boyfriend, Ari.
Her eyes met mine, and I started to tear up again, but not because of the temperature of the air. She broke her gaze and continued talking to Ari, her expression never changing from the smile she had already been wearing before she saw me. I looked away and started making my way to the end of the aisle, walking past them but not acknowledging them in the slightest. As I brushed past Ari, I realized how much bigger he was than me, at least 3 or 4 inches taller and probably a good 20 kgs heavier. For reference, I'm 6'2" and weigh 92 kgs lean, so I'm not small by any stretch, but this guy dwarfed me.
As I grabbed a Red Bull, I wondered to myself why it had hit me that hard. It had been years since I dated her and years since she drifted out of my life. We were 16 when she confessed her feelings for me, five years ago now. We had been good friends before that, and we were still good friends after I broke up with her, but I took her for granted, so when she started becoming a less consistent part of my life, I was too stubborn to tell her that I missed her. I was snapped out of my own internal dialogue suddenly as my phone started vibrating in my pocket, emitting a strange analog beeping sound that I hadn't heard it make before. I looked around to see Natalie and Ari looking confused while also staring at their phones.
"This is an emergency alert, get to the nearest enclosed structure immediately. Close and lock all doors and windows, turn off all the lights, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside the structure. If you are in your house, close the blinds and fill as many containers with water as you can. If you are in a public structure such as a store or a recreational facility, then follow as many of those same steps as you can. If you are in a vehicle, shut off the engine and lock the doors. For all who are listening to this alert, do not look into the fog, and under no circumstances should you go outside. This alert will repeat once every twelve hours and any updates will be shared periodically. You should be prepared to stay indoors for at least a week, this is not a drill. Stand by for updates.", all the phones in the store blared in unison.
There was a moment of complete silence as the few late-night customers in the store looked over to the closing staff, who were just as dumbfounded as everyone else. Then the store broke out into a hurried panic as who I assume was the store supervisor made her way to the back of the store to shut off the lights, while the other two ladies who were at the checkouts began to lock the doors. I went to call Marcus, my mate who's in the air force, to ask what the hell is going on, but there was no signal at all.
"Nah, fuck this, bro!" Ari shouted in anger as he grabbed Natalie by the wrist and started walking her over to the sliding glass door that was in the process of being locked. As the lights all dimmed out row by row, we were all left in pitch black darkness, excluding the glowing sign of the service station across the street and the barely visible streetlights outside that were being drowned out by the thick fog that everyone had just noticed. Ari turned on his phone's flashlight and kept walking in the darkness until Natalie pulled away from him. "We can't go out there, Ari, there's something wrong with that fog!" Natalie yelled at her partner.
"Let me out right fucking now!" Ari shouted at the poor lady who had just locked the place up. "I can't do that, sir," she replied softly, causing him to start banging on the glass, threatening to break it. “Ari! Please! Calm down, babe, can't we just wait until we know what’s going on?” Natalie begged as she grabbed Ari’s forearm and attempted to stop him from shattering the only thing separating us from the strange mist outside. “Dude, come on, you don’t know what’s out there,” I interrupted, “it could be a chemical attack or something. Just at least wait until we get an update, man,” I tried to reason, but it was no use. “Fuck you, pussy, I’m not getting held against my will in a supermarket. Who the hell would chemical attack New Zealand, dumbass?” he responded to my reasoning. This is something I had already been thinking. It wouldn’t explain why we had to turn the lights out, and it wouldn’t explain why we had to remain quiet. But I was hoping that he wouldn’t be able to think all that through.
“LET ME OUT I SAID, WHAT THE FUCK DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, BITCH?” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he shoved Natalie off his arm and onto the hard epoxy floor, then resumed his banging on the glass, but much harder now. “You gotta let him out,” I said to the grocery worker as I helped Natalie to her feet. The rest of the dozen customers who were in the store had crowded behind us, watching the whole thing go down. “He’s gonna get us all killed if he breaks that glass,” I argued. “Let him out.” The worker reluctantly put in the code for the door’s automatic opening system to activate, and the glass began to slide to the side. Ari looked back at Natalie in rage, seeing that she was not going to leave with him. The large man then walked out, and the doors shut behind him, immediately being locked by the store lady whose hands were now shaking.
We all watched in silence as Ari’s silhouette disappeared into the fog until the only thing we could make out was his phone’s flashlight gently glowing through the mist. All of a sudden, it seemed like he had stopped moving; the light didn’t get any dimmer or seem to be getting further away at all. As around 17 of us observed from the darkness of the grocery store, a loud shriek was released into the night, and Ari began sprinting back to the door, and his banging resumed.
“LET ME THE FUCK BACK IN THERE’S SOMETHING OUT HE-!” he began to shout but was cut off as his legs were pulled out from under him, and the wind was knocked out of his lungs as he landed hard on his stomach, his nose cracking on the concrete. Natalie went to scream, but I covered her mouth, and we both watched as Ari was dragged back into the fog by a tall, lanky humanoid silhouette, still clutching onto his phone. Eventually, the light from his flashlight was completely engulfed by the wall of fog, and we were all left with our mouths agape and tears in our eyes as the severity of our situation set in.
Nobody really said much over the next couple of hours; everyone was too shaken up, I guess. At around quarter past 12 AM, I checked my phone as Natalie lay on top of me, fast asleep, her face buried into my hoodie. She had been crying since… Well, we all watched what happened to Ari. After that, everyone found a place to themselves, and Natalie held onto me, soaking my shoulder with her tears, which made their way down to my skin. I hated that I was happy at that moment. I felt so selfish about being content in her sorrow, but I missed her so much. I missed her more than I let myself know and was just thankful that I had her there with me. I thanked God that I didn't have to go through this nightmare alone.
I fell asleep shortly after, closing my eyes and taking in the noises around me: the humming of the fridges, Natalie's soft breathing, gentle sobs from across the store, and I'm sure a couple of times I heard screams in the distance outside the apparent security of this store.
I awoke to my phone vibrating again, but it was only my 7:30 AM alarm. Natalie must have already been awake because she was holding me tight, and there were fresh tears on my hoodie. I lay there for a bit, hugging her, ignorant to the world that, for all I knew, was ending anyway. I was also ignorant to the fact that the sun hadn't come up, or at least, it wasn't reaching us through the fog, meaning that it must be completely encasing us. How far does the fog stretch? How far would it have to extend into the sky for not even a hint of daylight to shine through? These are questions I did not have because I was holding onto the girl who I had never really stopped loving, making me probably the only person at that moment who was trapped in a dream, not a nightmare.
Natalie and I ate breakfast in silence. I guess there are worse places to be trapped than a well-stocked grocery store; however, as 10 AM rolled around, a new alert sounded out from everyone's phones: “This is an emergency alert. It is still very unsafe outside, so stay where you are. Keep all the lights off, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside your structure. Avoid looking into the fog or standing in a position where you are visible from the outside. Cover as many windows as possible and preferably hide in a room that can be locked off from the rest of your structure if necessary. If something is in your structure or is trying to get inside, then it knows you're there. In this scenario, hide; do not attempt to confront it under any circumstances. Notable updates: the electrical and water systems will not be operational by this time tomorrow, so if you have not done so, fill up as many containers with water as you can. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.”
I stood up and stretched, feeling the stiffness in my back from sitting on the hard supermarket floor, and my legs had pins and needles. I looked down at Natalie, who seemed lost in thought. I wasn't sure if she had heard the update, but then again, what did it matter? The loss of power would mean that all the refrigerated items would spoil, but there was enough long-lasting food to feed us all for months, probably, drinks as well. I knew our biggest problem would be warmth as we would lose the electronic heating system, but before I could think any more on that, a commotion broke out on the other side of the store.
A loud crash echoed across the whole building, and as Natalie and I made our way towards the noise, we discovered that one of the other guys who was trapped in here, must have been in his late 50s at least, had been using his free time to get absolutely wasted in the alcoholic section of the store, and was now yanking boxes of booze off of the shelves as he drunkenly laughed to himself. Before I could do anything, another man, maybe in his early 30s, tackled him to the ground and pinned him down, all without saying a word. As the older guy lay there, asking what the problem was in slurred, barely comprehensible English, everyone in the store felt their hearts sink as a loud thumping sound was heard from the front door. And then again, and again, until one of the three store workers, who wandered over to see who was over there, let out an almost impossibly loud scream, and that was what sealed our fate. The store erupted into chaos as the glass door was shattered, and an inhuman shriek reverberated in our ears as whatever was outside was no longer outside.
I looked to Natalie, who appeared to be frozen in place, teary-eyed as she breathed rapid and shallow breaths. I took her by the hand and ran as fast as I could towards the storage room out back. I knew they had to have one in order to hold onto the stock that they couldn't fit on the shelves yet. But as we reached the door, screams and roars filled the store behind us. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that it was locked. I shook the handle out of desperation and then tried to open the other larger door that the forklifts came in and out of, but I didn't know the code.
I embraced Natalie, and I guess I just prepared for it to end until I heard a ‘pssst’ and looked back over to the door to see that the store supervisor was holding it slightly ajar while gesturing for us to quickly come inside. We ran to the entrance and left the main part of the building where we found the supervisor and the other surviving employee, along with one other customer who had apparently been in here ever since Ari was killed.
The lights were on in the storage room because there were no windows, which took a while to adjust to after being in total darkness for the last 12 hours, but it was a nice change. Over the course of the day, we heard many thumps and bangs; occasionally, something would get knocked over, and glass would smash. Whatever was out there was looking everywhere for survivors, but we were safe in here.
Natalie and I made a bed out of a few 20kg sacks of rice, which was honestly so much nicer than the floor. The other three people in there with us tried to ask us about ourselves, our lives, but I did most of the talking. Natalie was still grieving, and the others understood that, though I did see her smile a couple of times, which was nice. The other employee didn't say much; I assumed it was because of what happened to the female staff member after the door shattered, so I didn't really try to push him for conversation. Honestly, I wasn't really in a social mood myself, but it was just nice to have some sense of normalcy after the shitshow that has been our lives over the last couple of days.
On day four, I remembered what the alert had said about the power shutting off. It turns out there's a backup generator that should power everything we need for another couple of days, with most of the lights in the store being off, so it really felt like we were home free. At 10 o'clock on the fourth night, I heard the emergency alert sound off from across the room as I lay next to Natalie, since both of our phones had died already. I tried to listen in on what it was saying, but I couldn't quite make it out from where I was, so I got up in the dark and made my way over to the soft glow of the supervisor's phone screen.
By the time I could hear what was being said, I only just caught the end of it, “Be prepared to stay inside indefinitely. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.” My heart sank to my stomach hearing this, and as I looked over to the supervisor who shared my expression, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. Indefinitely? I mean, it would be easier for us having all of this stock to ourselves, but what about people trapped in their houses, their cars? How were they expected to survive this? As I pondered to myself, I turned around, suddenly startled by the sound of the male employee speaking for the first time since we’d been here. “Fuck this,” was all he said as he entered the code for the large door, which made a loud mechanical whirring as it lifted up.
I didn't even have time to process what had happened. I didn't have time to be angry at this man for killing us, and I didn't have time to sprint back to Natalie before I heard her being dragged away by one of those creatures, her hands squeaking across the floor as they tried and failed to grip onto it.
The creature was pale, humanoid, but not human. If you've ever seen a hairless chimpanzee, it kind of looked like that, but its limbs were grotesque and distorted, too long for its body, and its face was more human. Its skin was a light grey color, pulled tightly over its strangely proportioned body. I noticed how it was shrieking, an ungodly sound, but its face was expressionless, its mouth only slightly open as it screamed. I think that was the weirdest part. I thought all of this as I watched this hideous thing drag the girl I love into the consuming darkness of the grocery store. That's when something grabbed me by the leg and pulled it out from under me, causing me to hit my head on the floor, and everything faded to black.
“Truth or dare?” Natalie asked me. “Umm, truth,” I replied. Natalie thought for a moment before Sarah, my mate Marcus’ Mrs, who was sitting next to her, whispered in her ear, causing a massive grin to form on her face. “Okay, okay,” she giggled as she adjusted her posture and looked me in the eyes, trying to keep a straight face. “Okay, Roman, if you were stuck on an island with all of us, who would you eat first?” I thought for a moment as I looked around the hot tub at all of my close friends. My eyes landed on Max, who is quite overweight, and I couldn't help but smile, causing everyone to laugh, including Max who splashed water in my face and retorted, “I'd eat all of you before you got the chance,” to which Marcus said, “We believe you, bud,” and everyone burst out into laughter again.
“Okay, Natalie… truth or dare?” I asked. “Truth!” she replied without hesitation. I pretended to ponder my question for a moment. “Would you-” I began, as I stood up in the pool, clutching something in my left hand, “-make me the happiest man in the world-” I continued as I got down on one knee before her, “-and marry me?” I asked as I held a ring out of the water for her, eliciting a gasp from both of my mates and their partners. Natalie's eyes began to tear up, and she asked, “Are you for real?” covering her mouth with her shaking hands. I nodded yes, and she screamed out, “Yes! Of course I will!” before she jumped on top of me, taking us both underwater as she kissed me.
After we all dried off and said our goodbyes, Max came up to me, “Hey man, congratulations! Honestly, I've been waiting for this day since you guys met. Always knew she was the one for you,” he said. I looked at him for a moment before replying, “What do you mean, bro? When I first started dating her, you told me that she was no good for me. It's like one of the main reasons I broke up w-” That's when the words I was saying hit me in the face like a bag of bricks.
Max stared at me, his smile not shifting in the slightest. “How long have you and Natalie been together now?” he asked. “Must be around 5 years, about time you popped the question, haha,” he chuckled, but with every second that passed, my heart started beating more and more rapidly. “This isn't real,” I said before squeezing my eyes shut, and waking up.
A long tendril slid out of my throat as I fell to the ground below and threw up everywhere. I looked up to see a giant, glowing figure with a dozen other tendrils protruding from its shoulders. The skinny figure stood still, its frame reaching the height of the streetlight next to it. As I tried to make sense of what I was looking at, my eyes made their way down its inhuman body. At the end of each glowing blue tendril was a person, the tendrils entering through each of their mouths, seemingly absorbing something from their bodies as pulsating rings of light emanated from the person and up the tendril. I almost threw up for a second time until I saw Natalie among the dozen bodies attached to the creature. Without hesitation, I reached up to touch her hand, and as I did, I lost consciousness again.
“Unzip the tent, babe, let some light in,” I said as I wiped the sleep from my eyes and cracked my stiff back, cursing myself for forgetting an air mattress on a trip we'd been planning for months. I watched and admired my beautiful fiancée as she got up half-naked and unzipped our tent.
“I hope you slept better than I did,” I muttered as I lay back down in my sleeping bag. “Babe, you should've had the air mattress. I would've been happy to trade places,” Natalie replied as she opened up her pack and started rummaging through it.
“Nah, I'm fine, honestly. I'm not letting my fiancée sleep on the ground,” I retorted, my arm covering my eyes, immediately regretting that I got Natalie to let the sun in. “You're such a man,” she scoffed jokingly as she tossed me one of the pre-made sandwiches from her pack. I paused for a moment, a split second of déjà vu overtaking my body as I read the label.
All of a sudden, I sat up straight in my sleeping bag. “Natalie, this isn't real! None of this is real!” I said to her in a panic, causing her to stare at me, concerned. “Are you feeling okay, Roman?” she asked. “Did you get any sleep at all?”
“Natalie, the grocery store, the fog, the emergency alert! Don't you remember? None of this is real! We aren't together, we aren't engaged,” I spoke quickly, my voice trembling as I tried to get her to snap out of this false reality. I watched as Natalie's face went white, and her eyes filled with tears.
“What's going on? What is thi-” she started to speak but was interrupted by a familiar shriek in the distance. I looked out of the tent to see at least a thousand of those chimp creatures making their way towards us, seemingly sensing that we weren't being fooled by this illusion any longer.
“Natalie, you have to wake up!” I yelled, the creatures getting closer. “Close your eyes and wake-” I regained consciousness and caught Natalie as the tendril slid out of her throat, letting her fall. She threw up onto the ground as I held her, before staring back up at the massive glowing creature. That's when we looked around. In the distance, there were more glowing creatures, hundreds of them spread out over the town.
“We can see through the fog,” Natalie stated, which I honestly hadn't even noticed until then. That's when we heard frantic screaming and looked to our left. One of those chimp creatures was dragging a man out of his car and over to the glowing figure. We watched as one of the tendrils violently shoved its way down the man's throat, and his screaming stopped. Then, the other creature just walked off, paying us absolutely no mind.
Natalie then looked back up at the bodies attached to the tendrils and gasped as she saw Ari. She went to reach for him, but I grabbed her hand. “Natalie, if you touch him, you'll go back in, and there's no guarantee that you'll ever come back out. It's like it completely wipes your memory every time,” I told her.
“How do you know?" she asked. "Maybe I'll remember the second time.”
“You won't, Natalie. I went back in for you, and I'm lucky that I remembered at all,” I responded. She stared at me for a moment.
“Why did you go back in for me if it's such a big risk?” she questioned.
I paused, my eyes welled up. “Because I love you, Nat-”
An explosion then went off in the distance. I saw it over Natalie's shoulder, then another, then another, each one making its way closer, seemingly each being aimed at those glowing blue creatures. “Run!” I yelled as I grabbed Natalie's hand and sprinted away from Ari and the mass of glowing tentacles. Another explosion went off behind us as a plane roared overhead. The explosion also ignited the service station right next to us, which let off a shockwave that sent us flying off the street. Everything went silent, and I could feel my consciousness once again slipping away. The last thing I saw was Natalie silently screaming in my face, worry overtaking her expression as she held tightly onto my hands. That's when I noticed a piece of fence sticking out of my abdomen. “Shit,” I thought to myself. As everything faded to black, I saw a group of military-looking men running towards Natalie and me, then nothing.
I woke up to the voices of Natalie and Marcus talking to each other. I sat up in the apparent hospital bed I was in and immediately regretted it, holding onto my stomach in pain. “Woah woah, lay back down, bud. Just relax,” Marcus said as he stood up from his chair and slowly laid me back down. Natalie stood up as well, tightly gripping my hand and kissing me on the forehead. “What is this? Is the fog… is it over?” I asked, confused about how we were here right now in a hospital. “No, it's not over. My higher-ups have decided that we have to start over. Most of the remaining world leaders have come to the same consensus,” Marcus paused briefly, “you two were lucky to have survived. Most people didn't. Those… those things-''.
"Those people are still alive, Marcus!" I exclaimed. "You can't just bomb the world when those people are still down there! They're in a trance, living in an illusion that those blue things are creating. I can't explain it, but I saw it. Natalie did too. I only got us out because I felt an unbelievable sense of déjà vu, and realized it wasn't real.”
Marcus looked at me, his expression grave. "I know, Roman. We're trying to figure out a way to deal with them without causing more harm. But right now, the priority is to keep everyone who's still here safe. You and Natalie are the only ones who've had any interaction with those things and came back, and we need your help to understand what happened down there."
I nodded, feeling a mix of relief and frustration. "I'll do whatever I can to help. But we can't forget about them. They're still people, trapped in a nightmare."
Over the next few months, I recounted this story to more officials in suits than I can count. I told them how I had done twice what nobody else had done once. I "went into the dream," as they call it, and I came back both times. Though I did manage to convince them not to bomb the world and kill everyone, it has come at a price.
Natalie sobbed as I told her the plan. She cried into my shoulder, just as she did that night many months ago in the grocery store during the emergency alert. I felt her tears soak down to my skin as I told her that I had to go back into the dream and try to wake everyone up. The chance that I would not wake back up was sitting at the forefront of my mind, but I had to be strong for Nat.
“I just hope that if I do get trapped in a dream, that I'll get to go through with that wedding,” I said to her softly, trying to put on a smile. “If you don't come back, I'm coming in after you,” she replied, tears in her eyes. I wanted to tell her no, I wanted to be selfless. But I knew that I would have no complaints if she and I were trapped together again; that selfish part of my brain was still active.
On the 14th of November, 2023, an emergency alert was sent to every mobile device across the globe. It warned of a thick fog that would swallow any who were caught in its midst, and the whole world locked themselves inside. You may be wondering why I'm telling you this story. You may be thinking to yourself, 'I don't remember the day the fog rolled in and the emergency alert sounded.' That is why I'm telling you this story.
This is not real, you need to wake up.

“Have a good night, Roman!” the receptionist said to me as I walked past her desk while she was getting ready to close up. I smiled and waved as I left the gym and entered the brisk night air. Checking the time as my stomach made a gurgling sound, I saw that it was 9:47 PM, and every fast food place in my small town would be closed by now. I looked across the road and saw that the local grocery store was open until 10, so I started lightly jogging towards it, the cold breeze biting through my clothes and attacking my face and neck since I didn't dry off my hair properly after showering."
A wave of warmth hit me in the face as I stepped into the store, causing my eyes to water slightly. "Attention shoppers, the store will be closing in 10 minutes, so please start making your way to the checkouts. Thank you, and have a good night," a woman's voice echoed over the intercom. I hurriedly grabbed a pre-made sandwich and headed towards the drinks aisle. With my head down, I walked, reading the label of my less-than-exciting dinner, and I decided I would grab another sandwich on my way out. When I looked up, I found myself staring into the aisle I had entered, only to see my ex-girlfriend Natalie standing there with her boyfriend, Ari.
Her eyes met mine, and I started to tear up again, but not because of the temperature of the air. She broke her gaze and continued talking to Ari, her expression never changing from the smile she had already been wearing before she saw me. I looked away and started making my way to the end of the aisle, walking past them but not acknowledging them in the slightest. As I brushed past Ari, I realized how much bigger he was than me, at least 3 or 4 inches taller and probably a good 20 kgs heavier. For reference, I'm 6'2" and weigh 92 kgs lean, so I'm not small by any stretch, but this guy dwarfed me.
As I grabbed a Red Bull, I wondered to myself why it had hit me that hard. It had been years since I dated her and years since she drifted out of my life. We were 16 when she confessed her feelings for me, five years ago now. We had been good friends before that, and we were still good friends after I broke up with her, but I took her for granted, so when she started becoming a less consistent part of my life, I was too stubborn to tell her that I missed her. I was snapped out of my own internal dialogue suddenly as my phone started vibrating in my pocket, emitting a strange analog beeping sound that I hadn't heard it make before. I looked around to see Natalie and Ari looking confused while also staring at their phones.
"This is an emergency alert, get to the nearest enclosed structure immediately. Close and lock all doors and windows, turn off all the lights, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside the structure. If you are in your house, close the blinds and fill as many containers with water as you can. If you are in a public structure such as a store or a recreational facility, then follow as many of those same steps as you can. If you are in a vehicle, shut off the engine and lock the doors. For all who are listening to this alert, do not look into the fog, and under no circumstances should you go outside. This alert will repeat once every twelve hours and any updates will be shared periodically. You should be prepared to stay indoors for at least a week, this is not a drill. Stand by for updates.", all the phones in the store blared in unison.
There was a moment of complete silence as the few late-night customers in the store looked over to the closing staff, who were just as dumbfounded as everyone else. Then the store broke out into a hurried panic as who I assume was the store supervisor made her way to the back of the store to shut off the lights, while the other two ladies who were at the checkouts began to lock the doors. I went to call Marcus, my mate who's in the air force, to ask what the hell is going on, but there was no signal at all.
"Nah, fuck this, bro!" Ari shouted in anger as he grabbed Natalie by the wrist and started walking her over to the sliding glass door that was in the process of being locked. As the lights all dimmed out row by row, we were all left in pitch black darkness, excluding the glowing sign of the service station across the street and the barely visible streetlights outside that were being drowned out by the thick fog that everyone had just noticed. Ari turned on his phone's flashlight and kept walking in the darkness until Natalie pulled away from him. "We can't go out there, Ari, there's something wrong with that fog!" Natalie yelled at her partner.
"Let me out right fucking now!" Ari shouted at the poor lady who had just locked the place up. "I can't do that, sir," she replied softly, causing him to start banging on the glass, threatening to break it. “Ari! Please! Calm down, babe, can't we just wait until we know what’s going on?” Natalie begged as she grabbed Ari’s forearm and attempted to stop him from shattering the only thing separating us from the strange mist outside. “Dude, come on, you don’t know what’s out there,” I interrupted, “it could be a chemical attack or something. Just at least wait until we get an update, man,” I tried to reason, but it was no use. “Fuck you, pussy, I’m not getting held against my will in a supermarket. Who the hell would chemical attack New Zealand, dumbass?” he responded to my reasoning. This is something I had already been thinking. It wouldn’t explain why we had to turn the lights out, and it wouldn’t explain why we had to remain quiet. But I was hoping that he wouldn’t be able to think all that through.
“LET ME OUT I SAID, WHAT THE FUCK DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, BITCH?” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he shoved Natalie off his arm and onto the hard epoxy floor, then resumed his banging on the glass, but much harder now. “You gotta let him out,” I said to the grocery worker as I helped Natalie to her feet. The rest of the dozen customers who were in the store had crowded behind us, watching the whole thing go down. “He’s gonna get us all killed if he breaks that glass,” I argued. “Let him out.” The worker reluctantly put in the code for the door’s automatic opening system to activate, and the glass began to slide to the side. Ari looked back at Natalie in rage, seeing that she was not going to leave with him. The large man then walked out, and the doors shut behind him, immediately being locked by the store lady whose hands were now shaking.
We all watched in silence as Ari’s silhouette disappeared into the fog until the only thing we could make out was his phone’s flashlight gently glowing through the mist. All of a sudden, it seemed like he had stopped moving; the light didn’t get any dimmer or seem to be getting further away at all. As around 17 of us observed from the darkness of the grocery store, a loud shriek was released into the night, and Ari began sprinting back to the door, and his banging resumed.
“LET ME THE FUCK BACK IN THERE’S SOMETHING OUT HE-!” he began to shout but was cut off as his legs were pulled out from under him, and the wind was knocked out of his lungs as he landed hard on his stomach, his nose cracking on the concrete. Natalie went to scream, but I covered her mouth, and we both watched as Ari was dragged back into the fog by a tall, lanky humanoid silhouette, still clutching onto his phone. Eventually, the light from his flashlight was completely engulfed by the wall of fog, and we were all left with our mouths agape and tears in our eyes as the severity of our situation set in.
Nobody really said much over the next couple of hours; everyone was too shaken up, I guess. At around quarter past 12 AM, I checked my phone as Natalie lay on top of me, fast asleep, her face buried into my hoodie. She had been crying since… Well, we all watched what happened to Ari. After that, everyone found a place to themselves, and Natalie held onto me, soaking my shoulder with her tears, which made their way down to my skin. I hated that I was happy at that moment. I felt so selfish about being content in her sorrow, but I missed her so much. I missed her more than I let myself know and was just thankful that I had her there with me. I thanked God that I didn't have to go through this nightmare alone.
I fell asleep shortly after, closing my eyes and taking in the noises around me: the humming of the fridges, Natalie's soft breathing, gentle sobs from across the store, and I'm sure a couple of times I heard screams in the distance outside the apparent security of this store.
I awoke to my phone vibrating again, but it was only my 7:30 AM alarm. Natalie must have already been awake because she was holding me tight, and there were fresh tears on my hoodie. I lay there for a bit, hugging her, ignorant to the world that, for all I knew, was ending anyway. I was also ignorant to the fact that the sun hadn't come up, or at least, it wasn't reaching us through the fog, meaning that it must be completely encasing us. How far does the fog stretch? How far would it have to extend into the sky for not even a hint of daylight to shine through? These are questions I did not have because I was holding onto the girl who I had never really stopped loving, making me probably the only person at that moment who was trapped in a dream, not a nightmare.
Natalie and I ate breakfast in silence. I guess there are worse places to be trapped than a well-stocked grocery store; however, as 10 AM rolled around, a new alert sounded out from everyone's phones: “This is an emergency alert. It is still very unsafe outside, so stay where you are. Keep all the lights off, and do not make any noise that will be detectable from outside your structure. Avoid looking into the fog or standing in a position where you are visible from the outside. Cover as many windows as possible and preferably hide in a room that can be locked off from the rest of your structure if necessary. If something is in your structure or is trying to get inside, then it knows you're there. In this scenario, hide; do not attempt to confront it under any circumstances. Notable updates: the electrical and water systems will not be operational by this time tomorrow, so if you have not done so, fill up as many containers with water as you can. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.”
I stood up and stretched, feeling the stiffness in my back from sitting on the hard supermarket floor, and my legs had pins and needles. I looked down at Natalie, who seemed lost in thought. I wasn't sure if she had heard the update, but then again, what did it matter? The loss of power would mean that all the refrigerated items would spoil, but there was enough long-lasting food to feed us all for months, probably, drinks as well. I knew our biggest problem would be warmth as we would lose the electronic heating system, but before I could think any more on that, a commotion broke out on the other side of the store.
A loud crash echoed across the whole building, and as Natalie and I made our way towards the noise, we discovered that one of the other guys who was trapped in here, must have been in his late 50s at least, had been using his free time to get absolutely wasted in the alcoholic section of the store, and was now yanking boxes of booze off of the shelves as he drunkenly laughed to himself. Before I could do anything, another man, maybe in his early 30s, tackled him to the ground and pinned him down, all without saying a word. As the older guy lay there, asking what the problem was in slurred, barely comprehensible English, everyone in the store felt their hearts sink as a loud thumping sound was heard from the front door. And then again, and again, until one of the three store workers, who wandered over to see who was over there, let out an almost impossibly loud scream, and that was what sealed our fate. The store erupted into chaos as the glass door was shattered, and an inhuman shriek reverberated in our ears as whatever was outside was no longer outside.
I looked to Natalie, who appeared to be frozen in place, teary-eyed as she breathed rapid and shallow breaths. I took her by the hand and ran as fast as I could towards the storage room out back. I knew they had to have one in order to hold onto the stock that they couldn't fit on the shelves yet. But as we reached the door, screams and roars filled the store behind us. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that it was locked. I shook the handle out of desperation and then tried to open the other larger door that the forklifts came in and out of, but I didn't know the code.
I embraced Natalie, and I guess I just prepared for it to end until I heard a ‘pssst’ and looked back over to the door to see that the store supervisor was holding it slightly ajar while gesturing for us to quickly come inside. We ran to the entrance and left the main part of the building where we found the supervisor and the other surviving employee, along with one other customer who had apparently been in here ever since Ari was killed.
The lights were on in the storage room because there were no windows, which took a while to adjust to after being in total darkness for the last 12 hours, but it was a nice change. Over the course of the day, we heard many thumps and bangs; occasionally, something would get knocked over, and glass would smash. Whatever was out there was looking everywhere for survivors, but we were safe in here.
Natalie and I made a bed out of a few 20kg sacks of rice, which was honestly so much nicer than the floor. The other three people in there with us tried to ask us about ourselves, our lives, but I did most of the talking. Natalie was still grieving, and the others understood that, though I did see her smile a couple of times, which was nice. The other employee didn't say much; I assumed it was because of what happened to the female staff member after the door shattered, so I didn't really try to push him for conversation. Honestly, I wasn't really in a social mood myself, but it was just nice to have some sense of normalcy after the shitshow that has been our lives over the last couple of days.
On day four, I remembered what the alert had said about the power shutting off. It turns out there's a backup generator that should power everything we need for another couple of days, with most of the lights in the store being off, so it really felt like we were home free. At 10 o'clock on the fourth night, I heard the emergency alert sound off from across the room as I lay next to Natalie, since both of our phones had died already. I tried to listen in on what it was saying, but I couldn't quite make it out from where I was, so I got up in the dark and made my way over to the soft glow of the supervisor's phone screen.
By the time I could hear what was being said, I only just caught the end of it, “Be prepared to stay inside indefinitely. You will receive another alert every twelve hours. Thank you, stand by for any updates.” My heart sank to my stomach hearing this, and as I looked over to the supervisor who shared my expression, I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. Indefinitely? I mean, it would be easier for us having all of this stock to ourselves, but what about people trapped in their houses, their cars? How were they expected to survive this? As I pondered to myself, I turned around, suddenly startled by the sound of the male employee speaking for the first time since we’d been here. “Fuck this,” was all he said as he entered the code for the large door, which made a loud mechanical whirring as it lifted up.
I didn't even have time to process what had happened. I didn't have time to be angry at this man for killing us, and I didn't have time to sprint back to Natalie before I heard her being dragged away by one of those creatures, her hands squeaking across the floor as they tried and failed to grip onto it.
The creature was pale, humanoid, but not human. If you've ever seen a hairless chimpanzee, it kind of looked like that, but its limbs were grotesque and distorted, too long for its body, and its face was more human. Its skin was a light grey color, pulled tightly over its strangely proportioned body. I noticed how it was shrieking, an ungodly sound, but its face was expressionless, its mouth only slightly open as it screamed. I think that was the weirdest part. I thought all of this as I watched this hideous thing drag the girl I love into the consuming darkness of the grocery store. That's when something grabbed me by the leg and pulled it out from under me, causing me to hit my head on the floor, and everything faded to black.
“Truth or dare?” Natalie asked me. “Umm, truth,” I replied. Natalie thought for a moment before Sarah, my mate Marcus’ Mrs, who was sitting next to her, whispered in her ear, causing a massive grin to form on her face. “Okay, okay,” she giggled as she adjusted her posture and looked me in the eyes, trying to keep a straight face. “Okay, Roman, if you were stuck on an island with all of us, who would you eat first?” I thought for a moment as I looked around the hot tub at all of my close friends. My eyes landed on Max, who is quite overweight, and I couldn't help but smile, causing everyone to laugh, including Max who splashed water in my face and retorted, “I'd eat all of you before you got the chance,” to which Marcus said, “We believe you, bud,” and everyone burst out into laughter again.
“Okay, Natalie… truth or dare?” I asked. “Truth!” she replied without hesitation. I pretended to ponder my question for a moment. “Would you-” I began, as I stood up in the pool, clutching something in my left hand, “-make me the happiest man in the world-” I continued as I got down on one knee before her, “-and marry me?” I asked as I held a ring out of the water for her, eliciting a gasp from both of my mates and their partners. Natalie's eyes began to tear up, and she asked, “Are you for real?” covering her mouth with her shaking hands. I nodded yes, and she screamed out, “Yes! Of course I will!” before she jumped on top of me, taking us both underwater as she kissed me.
After we all dried off and said our goodbyes, Max came up to me, “Hey man, congratulations! Honestly, I've been waiting for this day since you guys met. Always knew she was the one for you,” he said. I looked at him for a moment before replying, “What do you mean, bro? When I first started dating her, you told me that she was no good for me. It's like one of the main reasons I broke up w-” That's when the words I was saying hit me in the face like a bag of bricks.
Max stared at me, his smile not shifting in the slightest. “How long have you and Natalie been together now?” he asked. “Must be around 5 years, about time you popped the question, haha,” he chuckled, but with every second that passed, my heart started beating more and more rapidly. “This isn't real,” I said before squeezing my eyes shut, and waking up.
A long tendril slid out of my throat as I fell to the ground below and threw up everywhere. I looked up to see a giant, glowing figure with a dozen other tendrils protruding from its shoulders. The skinny figure stood still, its frame reaching the height of the streetlight next to it. As I tried to make sense of what I was looking at, my eyes made their way down its inhuman body. At the end of each glowing blue tendril was a person, the tendrils entering through each of their mouths, seemingly absorbing something from their bodies as pulsating rings of light emanated from the person and up the tendril. I almost threw up for a second time until I saw Natalie among the dozen bodies attached to the creature. Without hesitation, I reached up to touch her hand, and as I did, I lost consciousness again.
“Unzip the tent, babe, let some light in,” I said as I wiped the sleep from my eyes and cracked my stiff back, cursing myself for forgetting an air mattress on a trip we'd been planning for months. I watched and admired my beautiful fiancée as she got up half-naked and unzipped our tent.
“I hope you slept better than I did,” I muttered as I lay back down in my sleeping bag. “Babe, you should've had the air mattress. I would've been happy to trade places,” Natalie replied as she opened up her pack and started rummaging through it.
“Nah, I'm fine, honestly. I'm not letting my fiancée sleep on the ground,” I retorted, my arm covering my eyes, immediately regretting that I got Natalie to let the sun in. “You're such a man,” she scoffed jokingly as she tossed me one of the pre-made sandwiches from her pack. I paused for a moment, a split second of déjà vu overtaking my body as I read the label.
All of a sudden, I sat up straight in my sleeping bag. “Natalie, this isn't real! None of this is real!” I said to her in a panic, causing her to stare at me, concerned. “Are you feeling okay, Roman?” she asked. “Did you get any sleep at all?”
“Natalie, the grocery store, the fog, the emergency alert! Don't you remember? None of this is real! We aren't together, we aren't engaged,” I spoke quickly, my voice trembling as I tried to get her to snap out of this false reality. I watched as Natalie's face went white, and her eyes filled with tears.
“What's going on? What is thi-” she started to speak but was interrupted by a familiar shriek in the distance. I looked out of the tent to see at least a thousand of those chimp creatures making their way towards us, seemingly sensing that we weren't being fooled by this illusion any longer.
“Natalie, you have to wake up!” I yelled, the creatures getting closer. “Close your eyes and wake-” I regained consciousness and caught Natalie as the tendril slid out of her throat, letting her fall. She threw up onto the ground as I held her, before staring back up at the massive glowing creature. That's when we looked around. In the distance, there were more glowing creatures, hundreds of them spread out over the town.
“We can see through the fog,” Natalie stated, which I honestly hadn't even noticed until then. That's when we heard frantic screaming and looked to our left. One of those chimp creatures was dragging a man out of his car and over to the glowing figure. We watched as one of the tendrils violently shoved its way down the man's throat, and his screaming stopped. Then, the other creature just walked off, paying us absolutely no mind.
Natalie then looked back up at the bodies attached to the tendrils and gasped as she saw Ari. She went to reach for him, but I grabbed her hand. “Natalie, if you touch him, you'll go back in, and there's no guarantee that you'll ever come back out. It's like it completely wipes your memory every time,” I told her.
“How do you know?" she asked. "Maybe I'll remember the second time.”
“You won't, Natalie. I went back in for you, and I'm lucky that I remembered at all,” I responded. She stared at me for a moment.
“Why did you go back in for me if it's such a big risk?” she questioned.
I paused, my eyes welled up. “Because I love you, Nat-”
An explosion then went off in the distance. I saw it over Natalie's shoulder, then another, then another, each one making its way closer, seemingly each being aimed at those glowing blue creatures. “Run!” I yelled as I grabbed Natalie's hand and sprinted away from Ari and the mass of glowing tentacles. Another explosion went off behind us as a plane roared overhead. The explosion also ignited the service station right next to us, which let off a shockwave that sent us flying off the street. Everything went silent, and I could feel my consciousness once again slipping away. The last thing I saw was Natalie silently screaming in my face, worry overtaking her expression as she held tightly onto my hands. That's when I noticed a piece of fence sticking out of my abdomen. “Shit,” I thought to myself. As everything faded to black, I saw a group of military-looking men running towards Natalie and me, then nothing.
I woke up to the voices of Natalie and Marcus talking to each other. I sat up in the apparent hospital bed I was in and immediately regretted it, holding onto my stomach in pain. “Woah woah, lay back down, bud. Just relax,” Marcus said as he stood up from his chair and slowly laid me back down. Natalie stood up as well, tightly gripping my hand and kissing me on the forehead. “What is this? Is the fog… is it over?” I asked, confused about how we were here right now in a hospital. “No, it's not over. My higher-ups have decided that we have to start over. Most of the remaining world leaders have come to the same consensus,” Marcus paused briefly, “you two were lucky to have survived. Most people didn't. Those… those things-''.
"Those people are still alive, Marcus!" I exclaimed. "You can't just bomb the world when those people are still down there! They're in a trance, living in an illusion that those blue things are creating. I can't explain it, but I saw it. Natalie did too. I only got us out because I felt an unbelievable sense of déjà vu, and realized it wasn't real.”
Marcus looked at me, his expression grave. "I know, Roman. We're trying to figure out a way to deal with them without causing more harm. But right now, the priority is to keep everyone who's still here safe. You and Natalie are the only ones who've had any interaction with those things and came back, and we need your help to understand what happened down there."
I nodded, feeling a mix of relief and frustration. "I'll do whatever I can to help. But we can't forget about them. They're still people, trapped in a nightmare."
Over the next few months, I recounted this story to more officials in suits than I can count. I told them how I had done twice what nobody else had done once. I "went into the dream," as they call it, and I came back both times. Though I did manage to convince them not to bomb the world and kill everyone, it has come at a price.
Natalie sobbed as I told her the plan. She cried into my shoulder, just as she did that night many months ago in the grocery store during the emergency alert. I felt her tears soak down to my skin as I told her that I had to go back into the dream and try to wake everyone up. The chance that I would not wake back up was sitting at the forefront of my mind, but I had to be strong for Nat.
“I just hope that if I do get trapped in a dream, that I'll get to go through with that wedding,” I said to her softly, trying to put on a smile. “If you don't come back, I'm coming in after you,” she replied, tears in her eyes. I wanted to tell her no, I wanted to be selfless. But I knew that I would have no complaints if she and I were trapped together again; that selfish part of my brain was still active.
On the 14th of November, 2023, an emergency alert was sent to every mobile device across the globe. It warned of a thick fog that would swallow any who were caught in its midst, and the whole world locked themselves inside. You may be wondering why I'm telling you this story. You may be thinking to yourself, 'I don't remember the day the fog rolled in and the emergency alert sounded.' That is why I'm telling you this story.
This is not real, you need to wake up.

Salary: $165,000 - $185,000 The fastest email experience in the world Loved and adored: see what our customers say
Our customers get through their inboxes twice as fast; many see inbox zero for the first time in years.
Come shape the future of email, communication, and productivity!
BUILD LOVE 💜 At Superhuman, we deeply understand how to build products that people love. We incorporate fun and play; we infuse magic and joy; we make experiences that amaze and delight.
It all starts with the right team — a team that deeply cares about values, customers, and each other.
CREATE MASSIVE IMPACT 🚀 We're not solving a small problem, and we're not addressing a small market. We're going after email; the one activity that consumes more of our work day than any other.
Our ambition doesn't stop there. Next: calendars, notes, contacts, and tasks. We are building the productivity platform of the future.
DO THE BEST WORK OF YOUR LIFE 🌟 We have created the frameworks for how to build product market fit and redefined the narrative of how to onboard customers successfully. We have shown the world it’s possible to build a premium productivity brand. Our investors include Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, IVP, Tiger Global Management, Sam Altman, and the founders of Gmail, Dropbox, Reddit, Discord, Stripe, GitHub, AngelList, and Intercom.
Our latest financing was led by IVP, and we welcomed Ajay Vashee to our board. Our prior financing was led by Andreessen Horowitz, and we welcomed Marc Andreessen and David Ulevitch to our board.
This time, we’re swinging beyond the fences and fundamentally rethinking how individuals and teams should collaborate. We are building a household brand and a worldwide organization. We are here to do the best work of our lives, and we hope you are too.
ROLE 👩🏽‍💻👨‍💻 Successfully implement Calendar features that enhance user experience and drive user engagement Contribute to the product development process: thinking through UX, designing beautiful UI, and working with customers to solve their problems Help estimate, plan, and complete projects, features, and integrations Champion code quality, new technologies, and architectural design within the company Technologies we use: React, Golang, Postgres, Electron, Google Cloud
SOUND LIKE YOU? 🙌 Experience: You have 5+ years of software engineering experience.

Technical Skills: You’re an expert in frontend technologies such as Javascript or Typescript. You have a strong foundation in software engineering principles that prioritize high-quality, maintainable code that adheres to best practices. You're able to identify problems, propose solutions, and make informed decisions to drive forward our technical efforts. You're comfortable dealing with ambiguity and can think critically to make decisions that benefit the company and our users. Remarkable Quality: You produce work that is striking, worthy of attention, and a contribution to the state of the art. Asynchronous Communicator: You’re effective across various mediums (especially Slack, Notion, and email) and can produce and consume detailed written materials as needed without sacrificing speed. You respond quickly and thoughtfully to unblock others and speed things up. Start-to-Finish Ownership: You act with 100% responsibility for your own outcomes as well as the outcomes of the company. You discuss and debates ideas openly. You focus on the customer and business ‘so what’ and challenge stakeholders to take impactful action. Bias to action: Speed matters. You take rapid and decisive steps forward, even in the face of uncertainty, and recognize that action is the catalyst for progress and growth. Location: We're open to you joining us in our San Francisco office or from a home office anywhere in North or South America. 

SALARY INFO 💸 The Software Engineer, Calendar role spans several internal levels and a wide breadth of experience at Superhuman. Our compensation band reflects the potentially broad range of candidates and experience levels that we are open to hiring for this role.
Our starting salaries for this role range from $165,000 - $185,000. The salary range does not reflect total compensation, which includes base salary, benefits, and company stock options.
We are open to candidates in the US, Canada, or Latin America. We take a locally informed approach to non-US-based compensation and will be able to share ranges based on your country of residence.
BENEFITS 🎁 Taking Care of Your Future 🙏

Medical, dental, and vision insurance: 100% coverage for you and 75% coverage for all your dependents. Voluntary insurance: short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance. 401(k) plan (we match 75 cents per dollar, up to 4% of your salary). Free access to Northstar, a financial wellness platform that provides financial advisors + personal finance tools. 

Generous Time Off 🏝

Enjoy our generous and flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy, with our amazing team members taking an average of 20 days per year. 13 additional company holidays, plus your own Care Days, Flexible Holidays, and a company-wide Winter Break. Generous parental, caregiver, healthcare, and compassionate leave policies. 

Investing in Your Growth ✍️

$3000 per year towards your professional development. Free access to Calm and Taskhuman. Allyship education program to help build your best self. 

Setting You Up For Success 🧑🏻‍💻👩🏾‍💻

Custom MacBook Pro. $1000 budget for workstation setup. $260/month for your lunches, groceries, or whatever nutrition you need to stay fueled up! Flexible spending accounts for commuter costs, dependent care, and healthcare expenses. 

At Superhuman, we value diversity. We are an equal opportunity employer: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
Read more / apply: https://www.golangprojects.com/golang-go-job-gmx-Remote-Senior-Software-Engineer-San-Francisco-Superhuman-remotework.html

Salary: $165,000 - $185,000 The fastest email experience in the world Loved and adored: see what our customers say
Our customers get through their inboxes twice as fast; many see inbox zero for the first time in years.
Come shape the future of email, communication, and productivity!
BUILD LOVE 💜 At Superhuman, we deeply understand how to build products that people love. We incorporate fun and play; we infuse magic and joy; we make experiences that amaze and delight.
It all starts with the right team — a team that deeply cares about values, customers, and each other.
CREATE MASSIVE IMPACT 🚀 We're not solving a small problem, and we're not addressing a small market. We're going after email; the one activity that consumes more of our work day than any other.
Our ambition doesn't stop there. Next: calendars, notes, contacts, and tasks. We are building the productivity platform of the future.
DO THE BEST WORK OF YOUR LIFE 🌟 We have created the frameworks for how to build product market fit and redefined the narrative of how to onboard customers successfully. We have shown the world it’s possible to build a premium productivity brand. Our investors include Andreessen Horowitz, First Round Capital, IVP, Tiger Global Management, Sam Altman, and the founders of Gmail, Dropbox, Reddit, Discord, Stripe, GitHub, AngelList, and Intercom.
Our latest financing was led by IVP, and we welcomed Ajay Vashee to our board. Our prior financing was led by Andreessen Horowitz, and we welcomed Marc Andreessen and David Ulevitch to our board.
This time, we’re swinging beyond the fences and fundamentally rethinking how individuals and teams should collaborate. We are building a household brand and a worldwide organization. We are here to do the best work of our lives, and we hope you are too.
ROLE 👩🏽‍💻👨‍💻 Successfully implement Calendar features that enhance user experience and drive user engagement Contribute to the product development process: thinking through UX, designing beautiful UI, and working with customers to solve their problems Help estimate, plan, and complete projects, features, and integrations Champion code quality, new technologies, and architectural design within the company Technologies we use: React, Golang, Postgres, Electron, Google Cloud
SOUND LIKE YOU? 🙌 Experience: You have 5+ years of software engineering experience.

Technical Skills: You’re an expert in frontend technologies such as Javascript or Typescript. You have a strong foundation in software engineering principles that prioritize high-quality, maintainable code that adheres to best practices. You're able to identify problems, propose solutions, and make informed decisions to drive forward our technical efforts. You're comfortable dealing with ambiguity and can think critically to make decisions that benefit the company and our users. Remarkable Quality: You produce work that is striking, worthy of attention, and a contribution to the state of the art. Asynchronous Communicator: You’re effective across various mediums (especially Slack, Notion, and email) and can produce and consume detailed written materials as needed without sacrificing speed. You respond quickly and thoughtfully to unblock others and speed things up. Start-to-Finish Ownership: You act with 100% responsibility for your own outcomes as well as the outcomes of the company. You discuss and debates ideas openly. You focus on the customer and business ‘so what’ and challenge stakeholders to take impactful action. Bias to action: Speed matters. You take rapid and decisive steps forward, even in the face of uncertainty, and recognize that action is the catalyst for progress and growth. Location: We're open to you joining us in our San Francisco office or from a home office anywhere in North or South America. 

SALARY INFO 💸 The Software Engineer, Calendar role spans several internal levels and a wide breadth of experience at Superhuman. Our compensation band reflects the potentially broad range of candidates and experience levels that we are open to hiring for this role.
Our starting salaries for this role range from $165,000 - $185,000. The salary range does not reflect total compensation, which includes base salary, benefits, and company stock options.
We are open to candidates in the US, Canada, or Latin America. We take a locally informed approach to non-US-based compensation and will be able to share ranges based on your country of residence.
BENEFITS 🎁 Taking Care of Your Future 🙏

Medical, dental, and vision insurance: 100% coverage for you and 75% coverage for all your dependents. Voluntary insurance: short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance. 401(k) plan (we match 75 cents per dollar, up to 4% of your salary). Free access to Northstar, a financial wellness platform that provides financial advisors + personal finance tools. 

Generous Time Off 🏝

Enjoy our generous and flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy, with our amazing team members taking an average of 20 days per year. 13 additional company holidays, plus your own Care Days, Flexible Holidays, and a company-wide Winter Break. Generous parental, caregiver, healthcare, and compassionate leave policies. 

Investing in Your Growth ✍️

$3000 per year towards your professional development. Free access to Calm and Taskhuman. Allyship education program to help build your best self. 

Setting You Up For Success 🧑🏻‍💻👩🏾‍💻

Custom MacBook Pro. $1000 budget for workstation setup. $260/month for your lunches, groceries, or whatever nutrition you need to stay fueled up! Flexible spending accounts for commuter costs, dependent care, and healthcare expenses. 

At Superhuman, we value diversity. We are an equal opportunity employer: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
Read more / apply: https://www.golangprojects.com/golang-go-job-gmx-Remote-Senior-Software-Engineer-San-Francisco-Superhuman-remotework.html

S-V: Echo-01
Blaze looks around the halls of Echo-01 as he walks towards the bridge to assume command of the ship. As he walks down corridors. he can't help but feel a sense of awe.
The walls hum lightly, and the faint scent of ozone hangs in the air.
The hangar outside abuzz with activity as the Titanic sized spacecraft is prepared for it's first faster than light trials.
As Blaze approaches the massive bridge, he notices the advanced technology integrated into every surface. The control panels seeming to pulse with the hum of the ship.
Looking closer he can see the complex algorithms running in real-time.
The former captain greets him at the entrance on his way off ship. "If it isn't the demon slayer in the flesh. Sad to say. Noone to fight like you're used to but should still get your heart going.... Good luck out there."
Blaze chuckles. "Yeah, not really my type of thing. It's a mission tho. Earth's been quiet enough that they sent me here..." Blaze's sleek almost paper thin wrist strap like device chimes. "Oh... Gotta cut it short. It was nice seeing you again Jack." He says as they nod before parting.
A gruff man greets him as his conversation finishes. "Welcome aboard. I trust you're ready for this historic journey?"
Blaze holds out his hand catching him off guard.
Taking his hand the man smiles. "Well, they did say he was different." The man thinks as they shake.
Blaze nods, his face a mix of determination and excitement. "Ready or not, it's a new thing for me. 10 minutes to launch.... Let's get this ship moving." He says moving to the command seat, his fingers dancing over the keys with a practiced ease. The hum of the engines increases, and the ship begins to vibrate slightly. After a few minutes a warmth passes by like a phantom filling the area.
The comms come to life as the new quantum systems keep the ship connected to HQ.
Blaze takes control of the ship, feels it respond to his touch on the flight sticks. The sensation of power surges through him as he manipulates the various thumb touch controls for sensors and guides the Echo-01 into its maiden voyage.
Tho he is quick to notice that everyone had left the hanger rather quickly.
Exiting the moon base's hanger through its cold plasma field Blaze angles the ship toward the first checkpoint. "Ok, warp core control, power for. 20% light speed and slowly bring us up to reach 50%. Keep an eye on the warp core. If it goes smoothly transfer control to my console but monitor closely. If things go bad it's my hand they can blame."
The crew exchanges surprised glances as they go about their duty
Several minutes later the ship is 20 million miles from the moon staying on it's dark side. Blaze watches the controls intently, his eyes darting from one readout to another. As he navigates the ship through space, he can't help but feel a sense of responsibility for the lives on board.
The journey so far uneventful he knows that they are venturing into the unknown.
Pulling back the warp core power output the ship slows and Blaze pushes a few commands on his console. The computers start to survey the sky with sensors and optics, it's images and data putting hubble and JWST to shame in mere seconds..... A clear path being calculated prior to the warp attempt.
The A.I finishes its calculations, and the ship's systems go into standby mode. Blaze takes a deep breath, his hand resting lightly on the left flight stick a moment.
He turns to address the crew, his voice projecting on the intercoms clearly throughout the ship.
"Alright everyone, It's time. Just awaiting the go ahead from HQ." The crew members, who had been silently observing Blaze's movements, nod in unison. There's a sense of anticipation and nervousness in the air as they await confirmation. The ship vibrations seem to intensify as seconds tick by.
The ship wide comms break the humming silence. "Project Echo has the green light. Commence warp to the Alpha Centauri star system." Blaze nods, his fingers dancing across the console. Grabbing the controls he pushes the left stick forward.
The ship shudders slightly as the warp bubble forms around it, distorting the space-time continuum as a disorienting sensation washes over them.
Blaze holds up his hands feeling as if a flowing magnetic cushion surrounds his body. "So that's what 1 sun's worth of pure energy per second feels like burrowing through dimensions we can't reach... No wonder so many didn't want to be in charge. I'll take this over explosions and combat."
He looks out at the simulated stars streaking past as the ship accelerates towards its destination.
Despite the disorienting feeling of the warp bubble, there's a sense of awe and wonder that fills him. "This is it, the beginning of humanity's journey into the stars." He thinks looking over at one of the researchers...
Just 4.5 seconds later they arrive at Alpha Centauri.
The ship arrives in the triple star system as it waits silently glistening in the star speckled yet engulfing darkness of space. Dropping to the star systems velocity, the ship sheds it's warp field with an anomalous burst of energy.
Proxima Centauri 8 light minutes away reacts to the strange burst of energy as it continues at 1.5 lys per second without the ship's warp core.
Blaze looks at the star through the filtered windshield as its deeper layers are exposed to space bursting into space.... "Well, that's a new in.. oh hey, what you do today... Oh nothing just blew up a star and ruined part of the night sky.... Oh no..." He thinks... "That was like a sonic boom so... What's behind us?" He wonders.
"Scanners to the rear immediately." He orders.
Looking at the quantum sensors he sees the first burst losing energy and speed rapidly till it vanishes. As the crew stares in awe at the incredible sight before them, he calmly navigates the ship towards its designated arrival location.
20 seconds after arriving, suddenly an alarm goes off on the console. "Incoming radiation of 3,000 Exaelectron volts." The ship's A.I says just as the high energy wave passes by and dissipates.
There's a bright flash and intense heat that's gone in an instant.
Blaze feels around as he keeps calm. Every person on the ship blinded by the flash. Blaze turns to the bridge crew, his voice calm yet urgent. "Stay put until we can assess the situation. Looks like we've picked up some unexpected cargo. A.I analyze the radiation."
The ship's systems kick into high gear as the A.I begins to process the data from the radiation scan.
Blaze shakes his head. "Are we even alive right now.... Cause 3000 exa electron volts... Most powerful to hit Earth was 340 or so and that's millions of times more powerful than a particle accelerator..." He says out loud as his vision begins to return.
Blaze steadies himself. "Echo 1 schematic view, damage report." He feels himself say but barely hears.
A schematic view of the ship appears on the console, showing no visible outer damage. The internal damage report at first confirms that all systems are online and functioning within normal parameters but one.
As his hearing starts to recover he can make out the ships A.I.
"Alert. Increase in heat emissions from the engine core...." It pauses calculating... "Suggested course of action, complete core shutdown and reactivation."
Blaze sits back in his chair as the whole bridge looks his way.
A woman with short red hair and almost glowing gold brown eyes moves over to him. "So we fix the core." She says.
Blaze sits forward. "Jane, are you trying to be a smartass. Cause you know that takes... Opening the warp core containment to stop it's energy production... With a device that is back on the moon, 4.2 light years away...."
Blaze looks at the rest of the crew, their faces flushed and sweaty from the intense heat of the radiation wave. The ship's cooling working hard to return the temperature to normal.
He takes a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves as he considers their options while Jane storms off going to her quarters and Blaze sighs.
"One thing at time." He says as another alarm sounds... "Uh... And I can't even shoot anything." He thinks.
Looking at the schematics it zooms in on several small modular sensors around the ship that shorted out during their idle test phase.
"You're joking right?... Of all the sensors, we lose the forward facing quantum scanner's..." He says tossing his stress ball.
The A.I responds. " I lack software for humor and sarcasm." Blaze sighs.
He looks to the side viewing window at the star in the distance and the nova expanding from its location. "Okay, let's get to work," Blaze says, rallying the crew. "We have a ship to fix and a mission to complete. We can't afford any more setbacks."
Finishing the meeting quickly he sits in his seat.
The crew, now fully aware of what's needed they spring into action. Blaze watches as their focus on repairing the damaged sensors and readying the ship for its next mission impress him.
He takes a moment to himself, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes as he tries to clear his mind. After a few minutes he decides to walk the ship and finds himself standing at the observation window looking into the warp core without realizing it.
Just then Jane steps beside him. "What is it anyway?" She asks looking at the pulsing sphere of energy.
He lets his forehead rest on the window. "No clue. All I know is it's some kind of element. 115. Usually unstable but the aliens that helped design it gave the ability to stabilize and use it." He says.
Jane looks at the warp core, her eyes narrowing as she contemplates the magnitude of the energy being contained within the small sphere. "So it's like a power source for the ship's warp drive. Pretty impressive tech, if you ask me." She says....
Blaze looks at her. "Why are you being like that?" He asks. Jane shrugs, a small smirk playing on her lips. "I'm just saying, it's cool. And we get to use alien tech to make this ship go faster than light. That's pretty damn cool if you ask me." She replies, her tone lightening up a bit.
Blaze sighs. " Just stop. What's your issue with the tech this time?" Jane rolls her eyes. "Nothing, I just think it's kind of neat is all. Don't get your panties in a bunch." She says with a playful smirk.
"Fine, whatever," Blaze replies, waving her off dismissively. Her expression grows more serious. "Not like it's doing the same thing I said it would or anything. You were one of my biggest critics so.. should I have to tell you."
Blaze draws in a breath... "There are several things missing. If you were right, it wouldn't be so calm in there. Besides your gut feeling. Isn't gonna find what science couldn't."
She glares at him. "Fine, don't listen to me." She says.
He's about to respond when she hands something to him and walks away. For a moment the warmth of core is overpowered as a chill runs through him and his breath catches in his throat.
He looks back at the warp core, thinks of all the secret missions and tests as he slips the ring into his pocket.
The test ship Echo-01 continues to hum along, the warp core pulsing with energy as it powers the ship's systems. Blaze stands by the window, her words still echoing in his ears. He takes a deep breath to steady his nerves before continuing his work on the ship.
Re-entering the bridge he sits in his seat as he ignores the crews odd behavior.
As Blaze sits there, he feels a slight vibration beneath him. He looks around, noticing that the crew members are acting a bit off, their movements stiff and unnatural. A cold sweat forms on his back as he realizes what might be happening. Closing his eyes he calms himself. "Mark, to the bridge... To assume command immediately." He says over the ships comms.
Every one in the bridge looks back at him in surprise. Mark, a seasoned captain, strides confidently onto the bridge, his eyes darting around as he takes in the situation. He moves swiftly to the central command chair and sits down, his hands moving deftly over the controls. "Report," he barks out, his voice stern.
Another crewmember approaches Blaze as he exists the bridge to head to his quarters. "Sir, are you ok... Its. It's just odd given your history with Mark." The man says.
Blaze takes a deep breath and nods. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little on edge, that's all. Thanks for the concern." He replies, trying to dismiss the crew member's concerns....
...
...
As he enters his quarters, he can't shake the feeling that something isn't right. As he lays back on his bed his mind swims in a deep, dark dread and pressure....
...
...
Jane looks from her station to Mark. "Simulation of the Abnormality in the core room." She says as a hologram appears and she hesitates a moment.
The scene of the square viewing room as her and Blaze stand outlined by the sensor data.
Pressing play they all watch as she walks away out of the sensor range. The warp core energy stable, until... A mass of energy breaks away blasting into the viewing room surrounding Blaze. . . .
Blaze's eyes fly open, his heart racing as he quickly sits up, his mind struggling to make sense of what he's just seen.
"Was it a nightmare or a memory?" He shakes his head, trying to clear it as he stands up from the bed.
Just as he steps towards the fridge to get some food, he stumbles falling as the world goes black..... The lights flicker back on, lying on the floor. His eyes dart around, disoriented, as he tries to make sense of what just happened. . . .
"Get a medical team to my Father's quarters, now!" he hears Mark's voice bark out over the intercomm.
Blaze feels a cold sweat break out on his forehead as he tries to push himself up off the floor, but his body refuses to cooperate. Struggling to breath, his heart racing as he stares up at the ceiling.
The medical team arrives within moments, rushing into his quarters.
They kneel down beside him checking his vitals and scanning him. "Sir, can you tell us what happened, can you hear me?" One of them asks, concern etched on their face...
...
...
Sometime later Blaze is resting in the medical wing of the ship as the crew tries to figure out what the issue is.
The head medical officer steps forward. "I've run several tests and... I would have to say it's radiation sickness. But there are strange differences with what we normally associate with radiation." Dan says.
Blaze opens his eyes slightly, listening to the doctor's words. He feels a wave of relief wash over him as he realizes it's not something more serious. But the mention of strange differences makes him sit up straighter.
"Can you explain what you mean by 'strange differences'?"
They all turn to Blaze... Dr. Dan scratches his head. "Well. There's the first oddity, no cellular damage, the second is that your brain is full of activity that's hard to study. The electrical activity is all over the place. Our system can't even pin down what's causing it... and the most odd thing... That same activity is all throughout your body and seems to strengthen slightly over time. The only logical explanation is that... Your strengthening your entire neurological system. Which makes your lack of motor functions puzzling if true..." he says
Blaze frowns, trying to process the information. "So... you're saying this radiation is somehow enhancing my neural activity and strengthening my neurological system?" he asks, his voice tinged with disbelief. "And yet, it's also causing me physical impairment?"
Jane stands near the doorway for a moment then goes back to her station.
As Blaze processes the information, he realizes that this is indeed an extraordinary situation. He wonders if there's any way to harness this strange power for the betterment of humanity. But for now, he focuses on his recovery. "Thank you, Doctor. I'll do my best to rest and recover." Seeing Jane as she goes off to the bridge he feels ashamed.
Doctor Dan pauses moving over to the monitor. "What's making this here go up like that?" He asks noone in particular.
Blaze sighs, his thoughts focused on the situation with Jane. He tries to sit up a bit straighter, his muscles protesting the movement.
Dr. Dan, turns his attention to a monitor, frowning as he studies the readings. "Blaze whatever it is you're doing or trying to do. Stop it and calm down.... it seems another oddity has manifested. That extra energy in your nerves. Increases in its accuracy to the..." he pauses thinking outside of the medical field." Resonance with your normal impulses..." He says.
Mark looks at the doc as Blaze gives him a confused look. "And that means what when it matches?"
Dan shrugs. "That's the thing. I have no idea... But.... Jane might..." Blaze glares at him shaking his head. "No! Uh uh. Leave her out of this." He says.
Mark agrees with Blaze. "Moms smart but some of her ideas are way out there and nothing ever comes out of her experiments...." He turns to go back to leading the ship. "You better pull through whatever this is dad." He says.
Blaze lays back as his son goes back to the bridge...
Dan puts a hand on his shoulder. "You should get some rest while I run a few more tests. Would you like a sedative to sleep?"
Blaze shakes his head, the movement causing him slight discomfort. "I'll be fine Doc. Just let me know if there's anything else you need from me." He tries to sit up more, but his muscles protest, forcing him to lie back down.
"Actually, yeah. Sedative would be nice." He says changing his mind.... . . . Jane stops her son in the hall. "Nothing comes from my experiments... Nothing?" Jane stares at Mark, her eyes narrowing. "You're wrong, Mark. Sometimes, the strangest ideas lead to the most groundbreaking discoveries. And who knows? Maybe this time will be one of those times."
Mark sighs. "Look... I know me and Dad don't always support you in things. But this. This is important... Remember 5 years ago that odd radiation in the rat?"
Jane nods, a small smile appearing on her face. "Of course, I remember. That was how we discovered the potential for harnessing energy from dark matter. And it led to the development of our current warp drive technology."
"Well, this feels similar. Something's happening to Dad. I wasn't there to see your testing but I read about neurological effects. The rest was redacted."
Jane pause as she's about to turn away. "Wait. That... That's not possible..." As Jane studies the data more closely, she begins to realize that it's not just a coincidence. The numbers and readings match up perfectly with this strange anomaly she's been studying.
"Mark, come here. You need to see this."
Jane leads him to the lab where she's been running her tests. "Mom you know youre not supposed to be doing that stuff anymore on mission." Jane waves him off dismissively. "I know, I know. But look at this."
She pulls up a holographic display of the data she's been collecting. The patterns and readings are complex, but there's no denying that they match up with the neurological changes happening to Blaze. Mark follows her back to the medical wing as she walks briskly. "So, what happened to the mice?"
She stops. "Some turned to pure energy, some melted, others decayed. The ones that didn't eventually died to..."
Just then Dan appears looking confused. "I had just put him under and turned around for a moment to ready a scan and he. Just wasn't there when I turned around. I don't see how he could move in his state yet alone under sedation."
"What are you talking about, Dan?" Jane asks, concerned.
"It's like he just... disappeared," Dan replies, looking equally perplexed. Jane frowns and thinks for a moment. "Have you noticed any unusual readings or activity on the ship's sensors recently?"
Dan turns his head. "Yes actually, our life sensors have been counting to many electromagnetic signatures. Checked the sensors and they glitch out every time it miscounts. But we don't have any spares. Not my department anyway, I know enough to use the bloody system." Jane furrows her brow in concentration as she processes this information. "Okay, let's think about this logically. What could be causing these electromagnetic signatures?"
Mark shakes his head knowing his mother. "It's not that. We already proved those aren't possible." She snaps at him. "But maybe they are Mark," Jane replies, her tone serious. "And putting Blaze under might've been a bad idea. The other animals didn't die from the radiation. The ones that got used to it and resonated with it killed them as they... went crazy." ...
...
... Hours later after finding Blaze on the other side of the ship.
He suddenly starts to stir in the bed, his eyes half-open. "W-what's happening?" he asks groggily.
Jane leans in close. "We're just trying to figure out what's going on. Can you tell us anything else about what you experienced when you ran off?"
Blaze lays his head back. "What do you mean anything else?"
"When you disappeared," Jane replies, keeping her voice calm. "Do you remember anything about it? Where you went, what you saw or felt?"
Blaze shakes his head slowly. "No, it was just... darkness. And then I was here." He pauses for a moment, trying to recall anything else. Jane gently places a hand on his arm. "It's alright, Blaze. We're here for you. Is there anything else you can tell us that might help us understand what happened?"
Blaze takes a deep breath. "I... I think I saw something but it was a strange dream. This light in the darkness, saw things go into and out of it then something pushed me through it and I came to here." He says holding his head.
Jane nods, her expression thoughtful. "That's interesting. Blaze, do you remember anything else about this light or the things going in and out of it?"
Blaze shakes his head again. "No, just a blur. But I know it wasn't normal." He adds with a shudder. "That's okay, Blaze. Thank you for sharing that with us," Jane says, her tone reassuring. "We'll keep digging for more information and see if we can figure out what might have happened to you."
Jane turns to Mark, who has been quietly observing the conversation. "Mark. What time did he wake up again?" Mark checks his watch. "He's been awake about 3:00am ship time."
Blaze looks at them, confusion still evident on his face.
Jane stands up. " Can you have an energy reading of the warp core from just before 3:00am, I got the last one? "Sure thing," Mark replies, pulling up the relevant data on his console. He quickly runs the analysis and checks the results. "The energy output of the warp core at that time was within normal operating parameters," he says, turning to Jane. "Nothing unusual detected."
Jane nods lost in thought. "Make the accuracy to within the energy changes equal to a human bio-electrical field"
Mark adjusts the settings on his console as instructed. After a few moments, he looks up from his work. "Okay, I've applied the new parameters. The energy output of the warp core at that time was slightly elevated for a moment, but still within safe limits."
"Interesting," Jane muses. "So, could you trace where that energy fluctuation went with data from the ship's sensors?" She asks...
"Of course," Mark replies, already starting to work on the task. He traces the energy fluctuation and quickly determines its path. "The energy surge was localized near the warp core. And...." he says pausing.
"Here..." Jane thinks then turns to Blaze. "Remember how three days ago we finished our mission?"
Blaze chuckles. "Yeah why?"
Surprising everyone, Jane quickly cuffs him to the sturdy hospital bed frame and backs away quickly. "Who are you?"
Blaze looks at Jane, confusion turning to concern as he tries to wriggle out of the cuffs. "I'm Blaze. Who are you?" he asks, his voice shaking slightly.
Mark looks up from his console, a look of shock on his face. "I don't understand," he murmurs. "That's the dumbest answer. No are you crazy or what the hell's wrong with you..." He turns to his father.
The doctor quickly assesses Blaze, his eyes darting between the readouts on his monitors and the man on the bed. "I need a full scan of his vitals," he says, his voice tinged with urgency.
Jane holds up a hand stopping him. "That's not Blaze." She says
Mark turns to her. "Seriously, its not fucking ghosts mom. Nothing supports their existence but heresay."
Blaze chuckles... "You wish I was a pathetic little ghost." He says pulling apart the restraints easily.
Standing up he moves his arms and legs. "Took longer than I thought to over power the other guy that was here first. And you sir are so wrong.... Mark was it?.... And now we can use the warp core to illuminate our escape into this universe. Guess they shoulda listened to your mommy kid huh. Where do think the energy comes from...." He says menacingly.
Mark looks at his mother then back at Blaze. "Dad..Y.. your just not ok... "
Blaze holds out a hand as an invisible force knocks Mark across the room. " I'll even let you run and hide first." He says cocking his head to the side.
Blaze chuckles as he looks at Mark and Jane, a sinister smirk playing on his lips. "You're both such easy targets," he says, his voice dripping with disdain.
Suddenly the room fills with what feels like warp drive energy as loose objects and papers being flying through the air forcing everyone out as the thing inside Blaze watches them patiently from the center of the malestrom.
Jane fights against Mark as he pulls her away closing the door and locking it from the outside breaking the panel.
His mother slams her fists into the armored door denting it as she drops to her knees crying. Mark slumps against the wall as his mind processes the scene in silence unable to accept how his world view was just changed.
As the door shakes from his mother's furious pounding, Mark realizes that Blaze has been taken over by lifeform far beyond their understanding.
The energy surge that filled the room was unlike anything they had experienced before. The thought of the warp core being activated sends shivers down his spine...
...
...
Hours later they have sealed off the medical wing and gathered the ship's 1000 crew to the hanger for a briefing. The captain stands at the front of the assembled crew, his face grim. "We have a situation on our hands," he begins. "One of our first in command, Blaze, has been taken over by an... alien entity. We believe this entity is responsible for the recent surge of energy we experienced, which is linked to the warp core."
The captain's voice echoes through the hanger, his words hanging heavy in the air. The crewmembers exchange worried glances, the gravity of the situation sinking in. "We must treat this as a potential threat to the ship and everyone aboard," he continues. "Our priority is to contain and understand this entity, and if necessary, neutralize it."
Jane looks at him in shock but stays quiet. Mark takes a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. "We have a plan," he says, addressing the crew. "We'll start by isolating the medical wing and containing the entity within it. We'll then begin analyzing its capabilities and weaknesses."
Minutes later Jane stops him. "You could at least act like it's your father and not just some animal." Mark's face hardens. "I'm doing what I need to do to protect this ship and its crew," he says firmly. "We can't afford to let our emotions cloud our judgment right now."
He turns to a few of the crew as they walk by, his voice regaining its earlier confidence. "We've got this under control."
She glares at him. "We can get him back Mark! Just please. Please.. give me time to figure it out." Mark hesitates for a moment, his mind torn between following protocol and trusting Jane's expertise. Finally, he nods reluctantly. "Fine. You have 24 hours to try and figure it out. But if there's no progress, we're moving forward with the plan."
She nods, her determination evident. "Thank you son. I won't let you down." She turns and heads towards her research lab, her mind already racing.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew disperses, each going about their assigned tasks. As Jane enters her lab, she quickly gets to work. She starts by reviewing the data from the entity's containment cell, analyzing its energy readings and behavior patterns through cameras and sensors in the room containing him. The entity remains still, its eyes closed as if in deep thought or meditation. It radiates an eerie aura of energy that seems to pulse in time with its shallow breaths. Jane observes it closely, trying to determine its intentions and if it can be communicated with. It looks at the camera. "Jane, let me the fuck out of here." It growls as blue electricity sparks around it.
She flinches... "No, it's trying to trick me." She whispers closing the monitor as tears fill her eyes.
The entity's voice echoes through the lab, causing Jane to jump slightly in her seat. She shakes her head, trying to clear it of the sudden fear that washes over her. "No, it's not real," she whispers to herself, wiping away a tear that escapes her eye. "Oh we are real..." a voice whispers next to her ear. Jumping away from it she falls from her chair and quickly tries to leave the empty room.... . . . Mark hears her screams from down the hall and rushes into the lab, concern etched on his face. He sees her on the floor, shaking and breathing heavily. "Mom what happened? Are you okay?" He asks, kneeling beside her.
She looks up at him, her eyes wide with fear. "Mark... it spoke to me. It said it was real." She whispers, her voice trembling.
Mark takes her hands in his, offering reassurance. "It's just a hallucination, mom. You've been under a lot of stress lately."
As she tries to get up she struggles and he helps her up. She moves her shirt revealing a large bruise around her ribs. "Oh my god, Mom! You need to see the doctor right away," Mark says, alarmed. He supports her as they make their way out of the room and towards the makeshift medbay.
In the medbay, the ship's 2nd medical officer, Dr. Smith, greets them.
Dr. Smith looks concerned as he sees the bruise on Jane's ribs. "What happened here?" he asks, gently pressing on the area to check for any broken bones.
Jane winces in pain but tries to explain what she experienced in the lab. "I... I don't know. I think it was that thing." Mark steps in, "Dr. Smith, we were hoping you could run some tests on the entity to determine if it's a biological or technological being. We need to know how to counter it."
The doctor nods, understanding the urgency of the situation. "Of course, I'll get started on the scans immediately." ...
...
...
...
With Jane back in her quarters mark posts security outside while she rests. Mark sits at his desk, his mind racing with the information he just received. The entity on the ship is not only real but also communicating with his mother. He quickly pulls up the ship's log and begins to comb through the data from the scans.
After several minutes of analyzing the data, Mark notices something peculiar. There seems to be a consistent energy signatures coming from the areas where the strange events have occurred in the ship.
"It's different from any energy source onboard yet came from the core"
Mark decides to take a more proactive approach. He grabs his PAD and heads to the engine room. He finds the lead engineer, Sarah, hard at work on one of the warp engines. "Sarah, I need you to run a diagnostic on the engine core," he says, handing her the PAD.
Just as she takes takes the PAD an invisible hand reaches through her back bursting out of her chest as blood sprays The area. "Uh!" Sarah squeaks breathlessly as the clear hand crushes her still beating heart...
She goes limp as the life leaves her eyes, her blood outlining the spectral hand, dropping to the floor as it vanishes. Mark's eyes widen in horror as he pulls out his energy pistol and fires at the spot where the hand disappeared, hoping it hits something.
The ship's alarm blares as the engineers rush in to see what happened.
Mark orders them to secure the area and begin a full scan of the ship. He then heads to the bridge, where he informs the crew about the latest incident and their current situation.
As Captain, Mark orders a red alert. The ship shudders as the alarm klaxons blare, echoing through the corridors. The crew looks to him for guidance, their faces etched with worry and fear.
"Do we have communications back yet? It's a miracle we were even able to get to half light speed." He says.
The communications officer looks up from his console. "Communications are still down, Captain. We're unable to contact HQ."
Mark nods grimly. "Understood. In the meantime, we need to investigate this energy signature further."
Grabbing his energy pistol he goes to the medical wing. Where he stands in front of the locked room containing Blaze.
Looking at the pad. He looks back at the door. "After seeing what you can do... You're... You're not stuck in there are you?" Blaze smirks from within the room. "Of course not, Captain. I'm just happy to see you taking an interest in my work."
Mark glances at the security camera feed seeing the entity still standing in the middle of the medical room.
The door opens with a screech of metal faster than he can react. Jumping back as the door seems to vanish he aims into the room at the entity. The entity, a ghostly figure floating in the air, raises its arms defensively. A crackling blue energy surrounds it as it emits a low hum and it hisses through Blaze's teeth. Mark hesitates for a moment unsure if it will attack.
"What are you?" He asks cautiously. The entity seems to consider his question for a moment before speaking in a voice that echoes within his mind, "I am what you humans call an 'archon'. I am a being of pure energy, capable of manipulating the physical world."
Mark takes a step back, not quite believing what he's hearing.
"Let my father have his body back?" Mark asks the Archon. The Archon lowers its arms and the energy field around it dissipates. "I cannot simply 'give it back'. However, I can offer you a solution. I can transfer your comrade's consciousness into a suitable vessel."
Mark raises an eyebrow. "What do mean?"
The Archon floats closer to Mark, its ghostly aura seeming to solidify slightly. "I mean that I can transfer your comrade's consciousness into one of the dormant human bodies stored in cryonic stasis on this ship. It would require a complex procedure, but it would allow him to continue living."
"Why would you kill our top scientists on the ship, then offer something like that?"
The Archon tilts Blaze's head. "There was a threat to my existence so I... Neutralized it."
Mark's blood runs cold at the entities words. As the conversation continues, Mark remains cautious but intrigued by the Archon's offer. He questions the entity further about the specifics of the procedure and the potential risks involved.
Meanwhile, the security team arrives on the scene, their weapons drawn as they prepare to engage the entity if necessary.
The Archon hisses at the energy rifles as an ethereal demonic form flares around Blaze's body. "What are you?" Mark asks, his voice shaking with fear and awe.
The Archon raises its arms, again a blue energy surrounds it. "I am what you humans call an 'archon'."
"That's not what what I'm asking you.... What does your kind call themselves?" The Archon pauses for a moment, considering the question. "We refer to ourselves as the 'Children of Tartarus'."
Mark is about to speak when his mother appears beside him. "Tartarus, that's a cruel place in the underworld a myth from mellinia ago."
The Archon smirks. "Indeed, it is a place of torment and suffering. But we have evolved beyond our origins." It gestures towards the stasis chambers. "These dormant bodies will suffice for your comrade's continued existence. If you agree to the procedure, I can begin the transfer immediately."
She steps forward.... "Why can't you just take one of the clones. They're better than us in every way?"
The Archon smirks. "The clones are not truly alive, they lack the spark of consciousness that defines true existence. Your comrade's mind, on the other hand, holds immense potential and could thrive within one of these dormant bodies. And this body is... Special. Able to withstand my presence." It extends a hand towards the doorway of the medical room.
The door slams down and it walks over to it Touching a large dent it chuckles. "What, you think a normal human can do that? Talk about cluless.... Are you going to accept my offer or not?"
Mark hesitates, weighing the options in his mind. The potential risks of the procedure are immense, but so is the reward - saving his father from certain death.
He takes a deep breath and nods. "Alright, let's do it. But we need to be sure that the procedure is safe and effective.... And what are the terms?" He says. The Archon smirks. "Terms? There are no terms. You agree to this, you save your father. Simple as that." It gestures towards the stasis chamber.
Mark squints at the strange change of accent and tone for a moment.
"Mom, wait... This has to be some kind of trap." Mark says to Jane. As the Archon speaks, Jane shakes her head. "Mark. This could be our only chance to save your father. We have to trust them." She glances at the stasis chamber and then back at the Archon

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Heroon kept quiet as the contained one spoke, only marginally aware that Illia had slowed in her task of transcribing. His assistant’s professionalism was enough to ensure that she quickly made up for any lulls, but even he was wondering if she should stop. Why wouldn’t she? The story they’ve sat through was borderline insanity. No, it was insanity.
So why was he still so invested?
“I lost sight of the planet, then found the controls shortly after,” the pale-furred female continued, her paws folded on the table. “I was able to set my bearing and adjust course back to Iras, though I am unable to speculate how long it took. The decision of where I was to land was lost amidst the haze, truthfully; my mind was occupied with a need to convey what had occurred. I only vividly recall the impact, being surrounded by firearms, then becoming cognizant in this facility.”
And with that, she fell silent once more, staring aimlessly at the table after once again tearing open the sealing wound in her stomach. The pair of interrogators exchanged a glance, but he eventually had to concede that she was likely done.
“Is there anything else you would like to add to your statement?” he prodded, struggling to keep his cadence flat. It was unsettling to see her mutilate herself repeatedly without paying it the slightest bit of attention.
The contained one opened her muzzle, then bit down on her tongue, her expression fearful and reluctant. “No, high one. That is all.”
He noted the deviation, but elected to mull it over rather than make a note of it now. “Then I will review what has been discussed. A moment please.”
The High Quesitar breathed out and let the intercom mute. There was much to think about before he committed to any particular stance, and more than a few things were bothering him. He turned his attention to the neglected terminal built into his desk, bringing up the incident report regarding her ‘landing’ once more. Hopefully, it held the answers that his mind insisted were missing. He hadn’t looked at it since they started, and even then, he barely skimmed the documentation on his first reading—mostly because it was as dry as any other paperwork.
Considering the lack of clarity during her recollection on several occasions, he suspected that her impairment had been a factor in deciding to crash into a military installation as well. The confrontation was likely less than amiable, given the abrupt introduction back onto the base. He was right, somewhat. The file was rather clear in why the soldiers of the base felt the need to use force. Most of the first responders were in the various facilities surrounding the impact zone—the cafeteria, gym, armoury, et cetera—and rushed towards the scene in an effort to evaluate the cause of the disturbance. Upon entering what used to be a functional auditorium, they were welcomed by the sight of an alien craft lodged into the floor, the hatch popping open to reveal a brutalized, almost feral Lilhun.
The transcripts vary in detail after that, yet they consistently mention the level of aggression displayed, a lack of coherence, and how the female was subdued—or more specifically, how difficult it was to subdue her.
Non-lethal shock rounds barely did anything, while tranquilizers had little effect. With their two main methods to dispatch a threat non-lethally being rendered nigh useless, only a barked order from a superior stopped them from resorting to a more permanent solution. The intruder finally collapsed after demanding to speak to a Quesitar, slipping slurred claims of the Union’s sins into her pleading, a damaged electronic device brandished as ‘evidence.’ A twitchy claw amongst the ranks resulted in a heavy deterrent round striking her in the chest, thereby allowing them to contain her. Anything beyond those events was separated into various files detailing the transfer between facilities. A trip to medical kept her alive and hastily repaired the worst of her injuries, but a sudden awakening during the process halted any attempts to do more than the bare minimum. Once the medics gave up on trying to operate on an uncooperative patient, a security log confirmed that they had dumped the female into her current confinement.
His brow furrowed as he cross-referenced the official report with personal recounts from those involved. Although collective memory would invariably have a margin of error, they all agreed that it had taken far more than dangerous amounts of chemical suppressant to put the defect down. The clinical chart noted that blood filtration was relegated to a machine while they were able to stitch her up, though the circumstances demanded a level of urgency that wouldn’t be acceptable normally. They only had time to ensure she wouldn’t die on the table before she began making demands to see a High Quesitar again. That meant treatment was limited to sealing most open wounds, getting lethal doses of several drugs out of her system, and a transfusion to make sure she wouldn’t expire before the interrogation.
The staff provided values for what the filter removed as an additional file, but Heroon was never one for that particular field of study, so he settled for a much easier to understand summary written under the list of compounds. It effectively stated that she should have died twice over from stimulant and coagulant abuse, and that was after disregarding the blood loss and negligent sedative injection.
Ironically, the amount of organ damage caused by the former had prevented the latter from killing her. Her body had been shutting down anything and everything that wouldn’t directly ensure immediate survival, limiting exposure to the toxic byproducts that were usually associated with stimulant overdose. Of course, that was conjecture at best; there wouldn’t be any concrete conclusions until more tests could be run, which was something the patient in question was adamant in refusing.
The brown-furred male kneaded his temple with a claw. This would have been a much shorter affair if medical was given the time to actually work. Alas, the High Elders had caught the scent of dangerous claims, and the patient was hardly willing to acquiesce during the procedure, so the defect was effectively put back together enough to make it into a cell, and not one iota more. He rubbed away the migraine and eyed the female beyond the mono-transparent wall.
White lights in the ceiling highlighted the crimson-stained coat that wasn’t fully cleaned while she was unconscious. It was mostly scrubbed to a serviceable level around her wounds, but the bandages prevented him from comparing those areas with the rest of her visible coat. He could only imagine how bad it was before. A glint on the table drew the eye to fresh blood soaking into her claws—a result of the defect constantly reopening the gash in her stomach over the course of the interrogation. Her eyes had regained their lustre, though Heroon wondered how much of her recovery was related to the tale, and how much was simply her body processing the dregs of sedatives that they never had the chance to purge out of her system. She was still fairly inactive and limp, sans the moments of hatred or sorrow that appeared during important events in her story, but she was apparently quite active on the table. At least she looked somewhat alive now.
Illia had decided to refrain from commenting since he lost his temper with her. Not that he needed to hear what she thought; the beige-furred female might have been recording all that was said, but he could see the opinion written on her face. She had shifted from being outraged by someone asserting that a defect could bond to being completely disinterested, having determined that the entire tale was fiction.
Honestly, Heroon was reluctant to disagree. As much as he wanted to take this seriously, the story was filled with the impossible and the absurd. How was he supposed to believe such a facility had been constructed within their space? One that was dedicated to bonding Lilhuns with these ‘humans,’ then subsequently slaughtering the lot of them in increasingly cruel fashion? That a single defect laid waste to it with all of her purported ‘evidence’ being contained on a conveniently damaged terminal?
The worst thing was that he still wanted it to be true. It might have been his inherent distrust of the Union, or perhaps it was because he had gained a sense of sympathy for the female locked inside the room before him despite what she was. Either way, a part of him had yet to cease scouring her words and presented proof for signs of legitimacy.
He closed the reports, brought up his dismissed graphs, then leaned forward in his chair, reaching for the intercom while keeping an eye on the defect. Yet when he went to activate the microphone, he found himself at a loss for words. What was he to ask? They had covered everything from her initial disappearance to her eventual return, and although he suspected a great number of details had been lost to a haze of drugs and adrenaline, the parts that remained painted a rather vivid picture.
Still, the niggling doubt remained in the recesses of his mind, wondering what he could do to confirm his suspicions. There had to be a reason for her behaviour, especially when her first reaction upon waking up during treatment is to rip the blood filtration tubes out. The documentation is sterile, but clear. She all but suffered a panic attack when they tried to seal her wounds, despite their insistence that the procedures were needed to stop her demise. Only when the staff agreed to release her into security’s possession did she calm down.
Why? It was well-established how bleak her future would be after her disappearance, and if she had truly bonded as she claimed, then it was baffling she had yet to answer the Void’s call now that she was alone. What could she possibly have left to hold more dear than life itself? More accurately, what was worth suffering for?
His claw pressed down on the intercom.
“Special Tactics Officer ‘Demo,’” he began, cycling a long breath. This would require some finesse. “To ensure that I understand the contents discussed, I will reiterate some of your claims, and you will verify that I have not made any errors in my interpretation.”
The pale-furred female scowled slightly, but returned a terse nod.
“Then let us begin. You abandoned your post to participate in an experimental treatment—one that resulted in a modification of your physiology. Amongst the possessions you carried was an unspecified quantity of restricted chemicals and compounds that were taken with the intent to create demolition charges, though you cite recreational purposes as the primary motivation.”
“That is correct,” she affirmed.
Heroon didn’t need to check over his observations yet. If nothing else, her absence was documented, but the reason for it was still up for scrutiny. True to her word, a message had been distributed around the time of her disappearance, calling for soldiers to guard several landing locations, so she did leave within the described period. A manifest of items left in her vacated room detailed the remainder of materials she claimed to have taken as well. All of that was verifiable.
The destructive cargo was a matter he would have to bring up with command another time. For some reason, nobody thought it was important to catalogue how much highly explosive material was being stockpiled by a single soldier. What it was ultimately used for is irrelevant; specialization or not, the female had taken a shocking amount of controlled substances without a single soul being aware. The fact that it went missing was enough for him to dread the impending paperwork he needed to submit. He suspected that whoever was in charge of distributing it had just given the defect whatever she asked for to make her leave faster, which added even more forms to the pile.
He felt the migraine press against his skull.
“After said modification, you were asked to reside in a den that you could not leave without outside interference, and to become a cohabitant to a species that the Lilhun have no record of. You insist this is the case despite the years of our people being engaged in preliminary negotiations with the Union, and how we have yet to hear even a whisper regarding said unknown species.”
“They are ‘humans,’” she corrected, a slight shadow of a snarl slipping into her expression.
“Please adhere to verifying the accuracy of these statements.”
She glowered, but eventually relented. “…That is correct, High Quesitar.”
“Following a brief trial where you discover the properties of your purported condition, you lose the provided translation device, then are given a replacement by the alien in question—a replacement that you no longer possess.”
Claws scraped against metal inside the containment as the female tightened her paws into fists. He shared the sense of frustration at this point; as absurd as it was, simply being in the same room would confirm the results of any strange medical procedure. That alone would lend mountains of credence, but as things stood, he couldn’t break protocol.
“Correct.” The contained one averted her gaze to hide her anger, but not before Heroon spotted a hint of guilt. It was a curious reaction, yet still aligned with what he surmised of her character.
“You and the alien develop something of a friendly relationship over the course of your cohabitation, during which, you—a defective—‘bond’ to them. You report that this is the case regardless of the inherent incompatibility between our kind and others, as well as the exceedingly well-documented records regarding those of your condition being incapable of a bond at all.”
“Yes,” she ground out between clenched teeth. So questioning her bond seemed to be a point of contention? Interesting. She was irritated by it before, but needling the issue seemed to elicit a more severe reaction.
“The alien leaves and is reported as deceased. Because of such, you are left to your own devices for an extended period of time. You make this claim while also aware of how detrimental the extensive isolation would be to an unbonded Lilhun, let alone one in possession of the Mother’s gift.”
“That is correct.”
“Once a member of staff arrives, you scent your cohabitant on them, kill them, take the device that you have since submitted as evidence, then set out to find the missing alien. I am required to reiterate how this conflicts with your recorded condition.”
“…Yes.”
Heroon raised a brow, suppressing the urge to jump at the opportunity. “Is there an inaccuracy in my understanding? You hesitated.”
The pale-furred female controlled the ire on her visage. “No, high one.”
He held his gaze on her for a moment. The unsettling sense of staring into the Void tickled at his senses. “Moving on… Having exited the den, you set traps and explosives while fleeing Union forces, meeting another member of the unknown species—”
“—Greg,” she interjects tersely, refusing to look away from the table. “The male’s name was Greg.”
“Another member of the unknown species,” he repeated pointedly, shifting in his chair to restrain his curiosity. “They give you yet another device which grants you unfettered access to numerous maintenance tunnels. They perish during a confrontation with Union security, while you are left but a breath from death, then discarded as a corpse. You survive by pure chance, allowing you to continue your pursuit unimpeded for a time.”
“That is…correct.” The pause went unquestioned. He could practically hear her blood pressure rising, and she needed to be pushed at the right times in order for this to go the way he wanted.
“During your ascension through the facility’s levels, you encounter a security member that provides you with advanced navigational capabilities, which you use to make your way to the missing cohabitant whose death had been falsely reported. Reunited, you and the alien flee pursuit until said member of the unknown species actually expires.”
“Yes,” she growled, earning even more of Heroon's attention. The question now was if the reaction was because of his feigned refusal to acknowledge the species was really that infuriating, or if something else was at play. All he was sure of was that he wanted to quell the disparaging part of himself that still believed her.
“Following their death, you reset your progress in escaping to fulfill a perceived desire of said alien, proceed to liberate an unspecified quantity of our kin—the majority of whom had also miraculously ‘bonded’ to members of this unknown species. You lead them through combat to procure a ship, yet the resulting size of the group who were able to take said ship was but a fraction of those under your presumed command. Upon lifting the restrictions to the cockpit, your life is saved by a third member of the unknown species, yet again costing them their life. You are then forced into the escape shuttle against your will by a grieving male, and consequently ejected from the ship mere moments before it succumbs to an enemy anti-aircraft missile barrage. The explosives that were previously placed are then activated by you via a monocopter that had fallen out of your bag, acting as a relay.”
Heroon didn’t bother to hide the exasperated huff. “After demolishing the facility, you do not recall much besides setting the travel vector of the shuttle, the subsequent crash landing, waking up from your induced slumber inside the medical wing, then being transferred to your current containment… Is that everything?”
The female nodded silently, though he could see the combination of anger and sadness in her eyes. He released a long sigh, wondering what about the tale urged him to place faith in the words of a defect.
But it was only when one separated from their instincts that they could truly trust them, and his instincts told him something was missing. Something that should have been unveiled before now, yet had remained concealed. He had a feeling that he knew why as well.
He just had to be right.
The brown-furred male once again adjusted the collar of his suit, preparing the final bait that would put him under heavy scrutiny. Hopefully, it was worth the reprimand. “I offer my sincerest apologies, low one, but we simply lack evidence to support your claims.”
She snapped her gaze back to the wall between them, her pupils wide in both fear and disbelief. He continued before she could spiral into the panic attack brewing beneath the surface.
“Where is the other terminal?”
Illia stopped transcribing, turning to look at him with palpable confusion, yet the High Quesitar held the stare of the defect, ignoring the barrier between them. It was fortunate that he did. Otherwise, he would have missed the vengeful, bloodthirsty expression before it was forced into neutrality.
“It is in your possession, yes?” he pressed tersely. His heart beat just a bit faster. Just a bit harder. He wanted any other reaction, but seeing the near instantaneous slip only replaced his dismissive demeanour with one of true caution. For the briefest of moments, he prayed she would say no, or would be scrambling to cover the oversight with haphazard reasoning to support her tale.
“What might have inspired such an assumption?” the pale-furred female inquired coldly instead. All hints of nervousness or hesitation faded from her visage, an almost vicious undertone coating her words. It was a challenge. A threat. He had stepped on something she was willing to court death over.
Heroon tensed unwillingly. “You have not regaled us with the moment of its loss, but it does not rest with the other objects submitted as evidence. I have it on record that you all but attacked the medical staff during your treatment, yet you have been perfectly compliant since removed from their touch.”
A lingering silence was her response. She seemed content to let him finish his thought, boring into the mono-transparent wall with a glower that would melt steel.
“I would wager that they were going to clean your stomach wound,” he drawled, putting confidence he didn’t feel into his lowered voice. “Would they have found a foreign object in the process? Did the fear of having it taken supersede the haze of chemicals? The thought of your form sealing it away makes it itch, does it not? That is why you have been diligent in slicing the flesh anew; you wish it available on a whim. Why have you not submitted it?”
Illia took a breath to berate him for humouring the defect’s delusions, but he silenced her with a raised paw, giving his den-mate a look that asked for patience. She acquiesced, though not without making her displeasure known through a disgruntled huff.
The defect maintained her quiet glare until a shimmer of dampness formed in her eyes. A blink redirected her gaze. “I am surprised you deign to consider my feelings in such a deduction.”
“‘Be he who gazes upon his form as he gazes upon his antithesis, and be he who sees beyond the veil of self,’” he quoted sagely.
“‘Or be he who sacrifices his form, scattering his fragments to the wind, for he who views the world through a thousand refractions is he who sees truth within the shards,’” she uttered in a mechanical, reflexive manner.
The verse slotted into a vacancy in his memory, though that did little to settle his unease. The Crystal Lens, Aspect of The Stars—the opposite Aspect of his own. He didn’t have time to question why it put him on edge before she posed a question.
“What would the church make of my tale, high one?”
He mentally reeled from the non-sequitur. “Pardon?”
“As your assistant has demonstrated, our faithful find the prospect of obtaining the Mother’s gift from one not of our kin to be distasteful. Furthermore, to discover that her ‘abandoned’ kits are compatible? To learn that a species held from us might be the missing piece many Lilhuns have been searching for?” She shook her head ruefully. “Were my possession to fall into the wrong paws, it would disappear into obscurity, and with it, my purpose. I could not trust those unknown, High Quesitar. Many would react in such negative ways.”
The female dragged a paw off the table as she spoke, a dull sucking sound punctuating her grimace. Bloodied claws dropped a strange device on the previously off-white surface.
“If the worst were to occur, then the information contained on this terminal would spread like wildfire, bringing forth factions we had once worked so hard to bury with time. Some would seek to purge all heresy related to perceived false words, others could seek to wage an isolated war against the Union for tampering with the divine, and yet more—however few—might see such as an affront to the Hunt Mother herself, blaming the rest of our people for discriminating against those we call ‘defective.’ Conflict would consume us all during a period we can only afford unity.”
Heroon wanted to dismiss the assertion as his attention fell to the crimson-stained object that now dominated the containment. He wanted to call it all pointless drivel…but he was well within a station to know just how precarious of a balancing act the UM performed to quell the populace. And that was just dealing with the lingering age-old feud between the clans of millennia ago—feuds brought back to light since the Union made themselves known. If one of the medical staff happened across the device and were overly curious, then decided to make the contents known…
“You sought to prevent a species-wide civil war?” he choked out, shocked at how…possible the absurd claim was. A mirthless laugh poured through the speakers in a single, defeated bark.
“No,” the contained one admitted wryly. “It merely holds the last information I have pertaining to my bond—his name, his lineage, his kin… The moment it is submitted as evidence of my experience is the moment I lose the only thing I have left of him. I am familiar with protocol enough to know that I will never see this again.”
He took a surprisingly difficult breath, struggling to process the existence of an object he had mostly assumed to be fictional. Illia’s silence didn’t escape his notice.
“It was… Your tale…?” he whispered.
The defect nodded softly, grabbing then fiddling with the oddly shaped terminal. When she placed it back on the table, a video was playing underneath the sheen of red; the recording showed a Lilhun male strapped to a chair…and a furless…biped…
Heroon shot out of his chair and left the room before he could even gather his senses, deaf to his den-mate’s shouts of confusion. By the time he registered that he had moved at all, he was standing before the containment doors, the overhead hiss warning the occupants of an additional person. The room opened before him, the off-white contents differing only where a pale-furred female sat, and the bloody device atop the table. The diminutive Lilhun glanced over with a morbid smile.
Yet all he could focus on was the smell of bloodlust radiating off of her.
Sunundra turned in her chair to face him, inadvertently displaying the matted, ichor-sodden fur of her stomach. “After our kin strike down the Union, when the High Elders send our forces to find the humans—and they will, if only to assuage their curiosity—I wish to be aboard the first ship.”
He resisted the instinctual urge to defend himself, clenching his fists to discourage his claws from extending. His voice came out dry and growled. “Why?”
The amiable facade fell from her face, shifting to an expression that matched her scent. “There is a promise I must uphold, high one, and I will allow nothing to prevent me from doing so.”
Heroon stayed steadfast in his composure, paying no mind to the creeping feeling that he was but one wrong word from choking on sharpened shards of shattered glass.
“Assistant? Push the transcript. Priority.”
= = = = =
Sunundra gasped awake, her heart hammering away in her chest. It took a moment to drag the spectres of the past away from the reality of the present. She closed her eyes long enough to calm the desperate breaths into something that could scent the air, letting herself quell the ever-present sense of unease.
Pale moonlight poured into the room through hexagonal skylights, only slightly dimmed by the translucent solar cells embedded into the glass. Alien woods of brown coloured the walls and ceiling, yet the stark difference from the greys and whites of her memory bled off the worst of her disorientation. It was a shade one would rarely ever see on Iras or aboard a UM ship, but it was also one she had since come to find familiar. Comforting. Her dried tongue passed over her lips as she calmed down, and a clicking facsimile of a purr dragged her the rest of the way to cognizance.
She tilted her head down, a gentle smile forming on her muzzle as she confirmed the source of the noise. A massive yellow insect cuddled into her side atop the large bed she was resting on, ignoring the fact that it was twice her size in order to indulge in closeness. Six segmented legs were folded beneath a broad arachnid abdomen, the mantis-like upright torso laid flat during its rest, the two scythe-ended arms safely tucked to its chest. Scales and hard carapace adorned its exoskeleton in alternating stripes that shimmered pearlescent hues in the soft illumination.
Most would see the alien as a walking weapon, and given the sheer lethality the species was capable of, they’d be right. Yet the defect stroked along the kind insect’s back, pleased when its purrs shifted into those of a deep slumber. The Atmo queen often spent her suns with the nest, but would occasionally find her way into the pale-furred female’s bed when sleep seemed to escape it, despite having another as her advisor. Sunundra never complained; those moons tended to match up with when she had nightmares, so the company was appreciated.
So much had happened since she first came across the imposing creatures. When she commanded her pack to pursue the trails of escape shuttles, the last thing anyone expected was to come across the natural walking Void that were taller than most Lilhun. At the time, she saw an enemy to be disposed of. Or she did, until they got close enough to see a significantly smaller, yellow insect screeching while desperately trying to elicit a reaction from an unmoving other of its kind.
The Atmo youth had lost its caretaker almost immediately after crashing onto an unknown planet, and was far too overtaken by grief to notice potential predators creeping towards them. The other insects who gathered around in sympathy were equally unprepared, yet were unable to ask their adolescent queen for direction on what they should be doing. They weren’t ready for the looming threat of death that Sunundra and her pack represented. The other insects were stuck between fleeing and aiding their young leader’s escape, despite the latter’s unwillingness to leave behind a newly deceased loved one.
The defective was but a word from ordering the execution of the venerable weapons. Then, the comparatively tiny, sorrow-stricken Atmo saw them.
A kit was what stepped forward, gesturing for the others to seek safety while approaching the ones who sought her end. A kit was what begged for mercy at the cost of her own life, though the language barrier made such a request difficult to convey. Indeed…it was a kit that had lost everything it cared for, yet was willing to sacrifice what little it had left to see its kin live another sun, because that was what its loved one would have wanted.
Sunundra had stared down the barrel of her firearm at a young soul doing the only thing it could think of to make its suffering worthwhile, the wounds of mourning painfully visible in its every action.
‘You’re a kind person, miss.’
The defect shook her head. Too much time had passed since then, yet she still found herself wondering what would have happened to her if she hadn’t given the Atmo shelter amidst her pack. It seemed like a bitter urge to help a past version of herself, in a way, yet the decision had given her much over the years. She took care to get off the bed and leave the room without waking Daisy.
The hallway was wide and tall, the left leading to more bedrooms, while the right led to the rest of the den. She went right, passing through the double doors to enter the hub, then another set to access the facilities wing of the building. A stop to the kitchen let her grab a drink before she headed back, passing by the other rooms of various utilities. She never spent much time in them, save for when Pan wished for company while Sunundra was visiting. As interesting as watching the others work is, there was a limit to how comfortable she could be while interrupting the normal flow of things. This was not her den, regardless of how accommodating the Heads were and how insistent their leader was. She was fine with just being allowed to stay as often as she did.
The hub opened up for her once more, the broad circular space illuminated by a domed ceiling sporting more paw-sized skylights. Tables and furniture transformed the huge space into a commons area, where meals were shared amongst friends, and members of the pack lounged with those of different stations with little concern of whose authority outranked who. It was a frequent sight for the lowest members of the pack to converse with those at the top, neither party much bothering with formalities. Kits would storm the building to find their favourite alien, groups of nearly-blind young following their Atmo chaperone to and fro. Violet adored the attention, and sometimes offered rides to the smallest.
Sunundra felt a chuckle building in her chest as she remembered a certain someone bemoaning his new menagerie of Lilhun kit-shaped accessories after his Atmo daughter decided to deliver them all at once. Despite the complaints, the scent of jovial resignation was just as clear as his groaning. His mates certainly found amusement in his predicament.
She went back to the dormitory wing, only somewhat paying attention as she followed her nose past her assigned room, stopping at another near the end of the hall. The sounds of soft snores and tiny mewls effortlessly escaped the partially open doorway, and she found herself pushing it the rest of the way, pulled by something far deeper than thought.
The room was the same size as her own temporary lodgings, albeit furnished differently. A desk with various half-finished projects lay against the side wall, a dozen prototypes littering its surface. A stringed instrument hung off a simple holder near the window. What would have been an absolutely excessive size for a bed instead proved its value, the pile of bodies filling it perfectly, no matter how many of the den decide to occupy it.
Furs of various colours took up the sleeping space. Pan’s white was nestled inside of Tel’s gunmetal grey. Nalah’s blonde was mixed with Sahari’s black. Jax’s own dark coat blended into Harrow’s orange, his arm covering his mate and cradling the two infants that shared a mix of their blood-parent’s hues. A purple carapace lay stretched across the bottom of the bed, either on top of or underneath various feet without complaint from anyone involved. All of this surrounded the single participant who lacked fur at all—the one who each and every other person would face the Void itself for, as he would for them.
She moved before she could really question it, gingerly stepping over the mass of tangled limbs that unconsciously shifted to allow another occupant. A moment’s deliberation had her choose a spot that was close to the centre, but not directly imposing on the others too much. Although she was welcomed many times to join their rest, she typically refrained unless one of the others threw her into the pile. She quietly mumbled her protests when that happened, knowing that no one was actually listening. It was best that they didn’t.
The pile shifted again once she was more or less situated and ready to forget the nightmare that plagued her every so often. It never truly left her. She would escape her doomed lifestyle, find Bill, fall hopelessly in love with her bond, then crumble as she failed to do anything again and again. It never got easier. It never stopped hurting. Nothing ever combated the sense of loss.
Well, almost nothing.
She felt an arm wrap around her back just as she was comfortable. The owner of the limb pulled as he always did, dragging her entire form until she was pressed against his chest, his chin resting on her head. No matter how much she chastised herself for it, she knew why she came into his room when the nightmares struck, and why she visited his settlement as often as she did.
It was for the well known habit he possessed that rendered any in his bed as a potential sacrifice to his slumbering embrace. It was a habit she would never admit to cherishing, nor taking advantage of, though she also knew that the others were aware and just chose not to say anything. She didn’t resist his unintentional caress. Not that him being awake changed much; he was a very physically affectionate human. Still, she adjusted for the position, and the pile adjusted with her, swallowing the otherwise empty space. Soon, all were as peacefully asleep as when she entered, some including her in their protective postures. Daisy would be along whenever she awoke, joining her purple-coloured sister in the mix, and the pile would shift anew, welcoming yet another addition without fuss.
Until then, Sunundra was allowed a brief period where none would notice her dampening fur as she nuzzled ever deeper into the male’s touch, all but drowning herself in his scent. Ever since the first moon he inadvertently pulled her in during his rest, where she wept uncontrollably for far too long, she craved the feeling of fulfilled melancholy that came with it. The smell of pheromones that were different from her bond’s, yet were not wrong, and would never gouge her soul. No, it didn’t complete her like Bill’s did, but it soothed the jagged edges left behind and warmed the frozen depths his absence caused.
It was the scent that told her she had found what her bond desired, if only by immeasurable chance. Even when she had failed a part of his wish so horribly, she could still uphold some of it, and it was sleepless moons like this that she allowed herself the comfort that came with being reminded of that.
A sudden inhale from the male cradling her in his arms made her stifle a sob, a groggy mix of Lilhun and English crawling out of his throat, gravelly and soft. “Wassup, Sunshine? Bad dream?”
Her words caught in her throat, a tiny nod being all she could manage as a response for the only other person she would allow to use the moniker.
“Mm. ‘s okay,” Joseph murmured, tightening his hold and rubbing her back with his five-clawed paw. White and grey tails navigated the pile to add the touch, unconsciously following their mate’s concern, while roused others made sure they included her in the shared snuggling. She was enveloped by their care without protest, one of the kits catching and cuddling her tail. “We’re here for ya, m’kay? Jus’ lemme know if you need sum’in.”
She nodded again, melting more than she thought possible as the pile fell back asleep.
‘You should know…what it’s like to be around…people who care… People who love you.’
Sunundra’s tears returned with force, as they always did every time this set of events happened. She found herself swimming amongst the warmth of those who not only knew of her altered condition, but who welcomed her in spite of it. Swimming in the scent that wasn’t Bill’s, yet carried so much of it that it was unmistakably of his making.
The pale-furred female smiled, succumbing to her fatigue. The nightmare was put aside for another moon, for the remainder of this one was a wonderful dream instead—a dream that was somehow real.
After everything she suffered, and everything she sacrificed, she had found what she was looking for. She found a way to uphold the promise that wasn’t hers, a pack that accepted her regardless of her condition, and a people who loved her for who she was. Finally, after losing what she most held dear, she found a reason to live. To be happy.
Just as she always should have been.
End

S-V: Echo-01
Blaze looks around the halls of Echo-01 as he walks towards the bridge to assume command of the ship. As he walks down corridors. he can't help but feel a sense of awe.
The walls hum lightly, and the faint scent of ozone hangs in the air.
The hangar outside abuzz with activity as the Titanic sized spacecraft is prepared for it's first faster than light trials.
As Blaze approaches the massive bridge, he notices the advanced technology integrated into every surface. The control panels seeming to pulse with the hum of the ship.
Looking closer he can see the complex algorithms running in real-time.
The former captain greets him at the entrance on his way off ship. "If it isn't the demon slayer in the flesh. Sad to say. Noone to fight like you're used to but should still get your heart going.... Good luck out there."
Blaze chuckles. "Yeah, not really my type of thing. It's a mission tho. Earth's been quiet enough that they sent me here..." Blaze's sleek almost paper thin wrist strap like device chimes. "Oh... Gotta cut it short. It was nice seeing you again Jack." He says as they nod before parting.
A gruff man greets him as his conversation finishes. "Welcome aboard. I trust you're ready for this historic journey?"
Blaze holds out his hand catching him off guard.
Taking his hand the man smiles. "Well, they did say he was different." The man thinks as they shake.
Blaze nods, his face a mix of determination and excitement. "Ready or not, it's a new thing for me. 10 minutes to launch.... Let's get this ship moving." He says moving to the command seat, his fingers dancing over the keys with a practiced ease. The hum of the engines increases, and the ship begins to vibrate slightly. After a few minutes a warmth passes by like a phantom filling the area.
The comms come to life as the new quantum systems keep the ship connected to HQ.
Blaze takes control of the ship, feels it respond to his touch on the flight sticks. The sensation of power surges through him as he manipulates the various thumb touch controls for sensors and guides the Echo-01 into its maiden voyage.
Tho he is quick to notice that everyone had left the hanger rather quickly.
Exiting the moon base's hanger through its cold plasma field Blaze angles the ship toward the first checkpoint. "Ok, warp core control, power for. 20% light speed and slowly bring us up to reach 50%. Keep an eye on the warp core. If it goes smoothly transfer control to my console but monitor closely. If things go bad it's my hand they can blame."
The crew exchanges surprised glances as they go about their duty
Several minutes later the ship is 20 million miles from the moon staying on it's dark side. Blaze watches the controls intently, his eyes darting from one readout to another. As he navigates the ship through space, he can't help but feel a sense of responsibility for the lives on board.
The journey so far uneventful he knows that they are venturing into the unknown.
Pulling back the warp core power output the ship slows and Blaze pushes a few commands on his console. The computers start to survey the sky with sensors and optics, it's images and data putting hubble and JWST to shame in mere seconds..... A clear path being calculated prior to the warp attempt.
The A.I finishes its calculations, and the ship's systems go into standby mode. Blaze takes a deep breath, his hand resting lightly on the left flight stick a moment.
He turns to address the crew, his voice projecting on the intercoms clearly throughout the ship.
"Alright everyone, It's time. Just awaiting the go ahead from HQ." The crew members, who had been silently observing Blaze's movements, nod in unison. There's a sense of anticipation and nervousness in the air as they await confirmation. The ship vibrations seem to intensify as seconds tick by.
The ship wide comms break the humming silence. "Project Echo has the green light. Commence warp to the Alpha Centauri star system." Blaze nods, his fingers dancing across the console. Grabbing the controls he pushes the left stick forward.
The ship shudders slightly as the warp bubble forms around it, distorting the space-time continuum as a disorienting sensation washes over them.
Blaze holds up his hands feeling as if a flowing magnetic cushion surrounds his body. "So that's what 1 sun's worth of pure energy per second feels like burrowing through dimensions we can't reach... No wonder so many didn't want to be in charge. I'll take this over explosions and combat."
He looks out at the simulated stars streaking past as the ship accelerates towards its destination.
Despite the disorienting feeling of the warp bubble, there's a sense of awe and wonder that fills him. "This is it, the beginning of humanity's journey into the stars." He thinks looking over at one of the researchers...
Just 4.5 seconds later they arrive at Alpha Centauri.
The ship arrives in the triple star system as it waits silently glistening in the star speckled yet engulfing darkness of space. Dropping to the star systems velocity, the ship sheds it's warp field with an anomalous burst of energy.
Proxima Centauri 8 light minutes away reacts to the strange burst of energy as it continues at 1.5 lys per second without the ship's warp core.
Blaze looks at the star through the filtered windshield as its deeper layers are exposed to space bursting into space.... "Well, that's a new one... oh hey, what you do today... Oh nothing just blew up a star and ruined part of the night sky.... Oh no..." He thinks... "That was like a sonic boom so... What's behind us?" He wonders.
"Scanners to the rear immediately." He orders.
Looking at the quantum sensors he sees the first burst losing energy and speed rapidly till it vanishes. As the crew stares in awe at the incredible sight before them, he calmly navigates the ship towards its designated arrival location.
20 seconds after arriving, suddenly an alarm goes off on the console. "Incoming radiation of 3,000 Exaelectron volts." The ship's A.I says just as the high energy wave passes by and dissipates.
There's a bright flash and intense heat that's gone in an instant.
Blaze feels around as he keeps calm. Every person on the ship blinded by the flash. Blaze turns to the bridge crew, his voice calm yet urgent. "Stay put until we can assess the situation. Looks like we've picked up some unexpected cargo. A.I analyze the radiation."
The ship's systems kick into high gear as the A.I begins to process the data from the radiation scan.
Blaze shakes his head. "Are we even alive right now.... Cause 3000 exa electron volts... Most powerful to hit Earth was 340 or so and that's millions of times more powerful than a particle accelerator..." He says out loud as his vision begins to return.
Blaze steadies himself. "Echo 1 schematic view, damage report." He feels himself say but barely hears.
A schematic view of the ship appears on the console, showing no visible outer damage. The internal damage report at first confirms that all systems are online and functioning within normal parameters but one.
As his hearing starts to recover he can make out the ships A.I.
"Alert. Increase in heat emissions from the engine core...." It pauses calculating... "Suggested course of action, complete core shutdown and reactivation."
Blaze sits back in his chair as the whole bridge looks his way.
A woman with short red hair and almost glowing gold brown eyes moves over to him. "So we fix the core." She says.
Blaze sits forward. "Jane, are you trying to be a smartass. Cause you know that takes... Opening the warp core containment to stop it's energy production... With a device that is back on the moon, 4.2 light years away...."
Blaze looks at the rest of the crew, their faces flushed and sweaty from the intense heat of the radiation wave. The ship's cooling working hard to return the temperature to normal.
He takes a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves as he considers their options while Jane storms off going to her quarters.
"One thing at time..." He says as another alarm sounds... "Uh... And I can't even shoot anything." He thinks.
Looking at the schematics it zooms in on several small modular sensors around the ship that shorted out during their idle test phase.
"You're joking right?... Of all the sensors, we lose the forward facing quantum scanner's..." He says tossing his stress ball.
The A.I responds. " I lack software for humor and sarcasm... Radiation report complete.... Residual levels comparable to a commercial flight within the atmosphere on Earth and fading." Blaze sighs.
He looks to the side viewing window at the star in the distance and the nova expanding from its location. "Okay, let's get to work," Blaze says, rallying the crew. "We have a ship to fix and a mission to complete. We can't afford any more setbacks."
Finishing the meeting in minutes he sits down in his seat.
The crew, now fully aware of what's needed they spring into action. Blaze watches as their focus on repairing the damaged sensors and readying the ship for its next mission impress him.
He takes a moment to himself, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes as he tries to clear his mind. After a few minutes he decides to walk the ship and finds himself standing at the observation window looking into the warp core without realizing it.
Just then Jane steps beside him. "What is it anyway?" She asks looking at the pulsing sphere of energy.
He lets his forehead rest on the window. "No clue. All I know is it's some kind of element. 115. Usually unstable but the aliens that helped design it gave the ability to stabilize and use it." He says.
Jane looks at the warp core, her eyes narrowing as she contemplates the magnitude of the energy being contained within the small sphere. "So it's like a power source for the ship's warp drive. Pretty impressive tech, if you ask me." She says....
Blaze looks at her. "Why are you being like that?" He asks. Jane shrugs, a small smirk playing on her lips. "I'm just saying, it's cool. And we get to use alien tech to make this ship go faster than light. That's pretty damn cool if you ask me." She replies, her tone lightening up a bit.
Blaze sighs. " Just stop. What's your issue with the tech this time?" Jane rolls her eyes. "Nothing, I just think it's kind of neat is all. Don't get your panties in a bunch." She says with a playful smirk.
"Fine, whatever," Blaze replies, waving her off dismissively.
Her expression grows more serious. "Not like it's doing the same thing I said it would or anything. You were one of my biggest critics so.. should I have to tell you."
Blaze draws in a breath... "There are several things missing. If you were right, it wouldn't be so calm in there. Besides your gut feeling. Isn't gonna find what science couldn't."
She glares at him. "Fine, don't listen to me." She says.
He's about to respond when she hands something to him and walks away. For a moment the warmth of core is overpowered as a chill runs through him and his breath catches in his throat.
He looks back at the warp core, thinks of all the secret missions and tests as he slips the ring into his pocket.
The test ship Echo-01 continues to hum along, the warp core pulsing with energy as it powers the ship's systems. Blaze stands by the window, her words still echoing in his ears. He takes a deep breath to steady his nerves before continuing his work on the ship.
Re-entering the bridge he sits in his seat as he ignores the crews odd behavior.
As Blaze sits there, he feels a slight vibration beneath him. He looks around, noticing that the crew members are acting a bit off, their movements stiff and unnatural. A cold sweat forms on his back as he realizes what might be happening. Closing his eyes he calms himself. "Mark, to the bridge... To assume command immediately." He says over the ships comms.
Every one in the bridge looks back at him in surprise. Mark, a seasoned captain, strides confidently onto the bridge, his eyes darting around as he takes in the situation. He moves swiftly to the central command chair and sits down, his hands moving deftly over the controls. "Report," he barks out, his voice stern.
Another crewmember approaches Blaze as he exists the bridge to head to his quarters. "Sir, are you ok... Its. It's just odd given your history with Mark." The man says.
Blaze takes a deep breath and nods. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little on edge, that's all. Thanks for the concern." He replies, trying to dismiss the crew member's concerns....
...
...
As he enters his quarters, he can't shake the feeling that something isn't right. As he lays back on his bed his mind swims in a deep, dark dread and pressure....
...
...
Jane looks from her station to Mark. "Simulation of the Abnormality in the core room." She says as a hologram appears and she hesitates a moment.
The scene of the square viewing room as her and Blaze stand outlined by the sensor data.
Pressing play they all watch as she walks away out of the sensor range. The warp core energy stable, until... A mass of energy breaks away blasting into the viewing room surrounding Blaze. . . .

Note: non-canon
“Are you kidding me?”
Emma looked at me, freshly exited from the portal.
“Jealous?” I put my hands on my hips. “It’s the black, right?”
“They…there was another suit and they never told me?” She was shocked. “And they let you choose the color?”
“I thought it looked good on me.”
I could tell she was rolling her eyes.
“I think the black stands out.” Thacea said. “The polish is very well done.”
“I concur.” Thalmin added on.
Illunor stared at me. “It looks like you are covered by the soot of a dragon’s breath.”
I snorted. “Good one.”
Emma looked at my suit. “They give you any upgrades?”
“No. Don’t have an EVI either.”
“Damn. I’m surprised that they put it together so quickly. How’s it feel?”
“It’s like I’m wearing a tank.”
“You’ll get used to it, trust me. It’s-”
Knock knock.
“I’ll get it.” Emma walked over to the door, opening it. “Apprentice-”
“Cadet Booker.” The elf nodded. “You are needed immediately.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I apologize for the disturbance, but you are needed now.” The elf’s eyes narrowed. “This is most urgent, and cannot be delayed.”
“I…see.” She turned towards me. “Let’s go.”
I began to follow Emma.
What could this be?
_____
Faculty Tower, Staff Meeting Room. Local Time: 1456 Hours.
After a hasty trip through shortcuts and backrooms, led by an unusually tight-lipped Larial, we arrived at a familiar sight.
The same room where the Librarian condemned the black-robed Mal’Tory to his fate.
The same room where the Academy’s assembled professors ousted their dean.
Those same professors, as well as the white-robed Vanavan, sat in those very same seats, some giving us looks of sympathy and worry.
As well as…
“Oh, shit.” I heard Emma practically seethe through our private channel, just beating me to the punch.
“They sent ANOTHER black-robe!?” I shot back, the pit of my stomach reflexively coiling in dread.
“Greetings. Cadet Emma Booker, yes? Please, take a seat.” The man in question, having noticed our approach, motioned towards a singular chair, notably unadorned compared to its peers. With only a moment of reluctant hesitation from Emma, she moved to occupy it - the chair surprisingly taking the weight of her suit without the aid of any observable spell.
“Ah, that’s simply grand. It would seem that the furniture I requested in anticipation of your presence here was adequate enough to withstand your armored form. It would be unbecoming of a student of this institution to lose face to a mere chair, yes?”
…
If nothing else, this guy was much more of a conversationalist than the last one.
“...Yeah, I guess so… sir?” Emma replied with an undercurrent of trepidation.
“His Eternal Majesty’s personally-appointed black-robed representative to the Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts, one Professor Alak Chergena. A pleasure to meet you, Cadet Booker.”
Oh.
Oh dear.
So he knows about us now.
I could sense the same revelation hitting Emma with the force of a truck, but unlike me she had proven unable to slink into a corner and was actively being spoken to; it was only the Nexian love for wasting conversational time that allowed her lack of any sort of initial response to go relatively unnoticed.
“...I… It’s nice to meet you as well, Professor Chergena.” Emma eventually managed. “But why bring my golem and I here alone, if your intention was just to introduce yourself? Surely you’re too busy to do this with every student, yeah? That’s what emergency assemblies are for? Heck, even breakfast?”
“Your assertion would be correct, unfortunate less-than-enlightened ramble notwithstanding. It would seem that you and your puppet,” the black-robed Professor managed to lock eyes with me under my suit, sending an involuntary shiver down my spine before shifting back to Emma just as quickly. “Have been at the center of a lot of ill attention as of late. From my predecessor’s attempts on the lives of you and those in your peer-group, for which I apologize,” he directly stated, taking us completely by surprise, “to your purported role in the reshuffling of the faculty present here with us,” Vanavan visibly turned his head away from us, if only slightly. The rest of the faculty held their best poker faces, though body language suggested varying signs of discomfort. “To your dealings with The Library, again, spurred on in large part due to the direct antagonization by my predecessor, but all the same has seen that institution which has been hosted by The Nexus for eons abandon its true home for that which is lesser, as well as much else.” Chergena finally relented.
At least, that’s what I thought, before he started up again mere seconds later.
“Which brings us to the true meat of why you have been brought before us. Before me.” His tone changed to something markedly less friendly. “Your actions over the past weeks, Cadet Emma Booker, have served to threaten, and indeed disrupt the Status Eternia that guards the eternal sanctity of civilization. Now, it can plainly be seen through the craftsmanship of the armor that adorns both yourself and your inanimate servile construct,” the black-robe gave me another brief flick of the eyes. “As well as your novel weapons which, in spite of their primitive mana-less disposition, have managed to dispatch those creatures which even this faculty, and by extension myself, would have difficulty in subduing, to your own personal status as a commoner, that your realm has been engaged in a constant battle against ruination. A constant battle, a losing battle, even, that has seen your realm’s kind shed whatever form of proper decorum you may have once possessed, to throw your all into the creation of weapons of war; unburdened by advanced sociological organizations.”
“I understand, that in these contexts, perhaps the greatest show of an Earthrealmer’s civility would be those which destabilize, disrupt, and decimate the forces of ruination; that which would see what little civilization your realm has retained lost to the annals of history. However,” Professor Chergena continued. “You must realize that you now find yourself at the center of civilization. The center of all civilizations. Indeed, far from a ravenous tribe of barbarians, The Nexus, under the enlightened guidance and tutelage of His Majesty, has delivered many a realm from the same jaws of apocalypse that you yourself have likely stared down before your induction into this Academy. It is under these contexts,” he fixed Emma with a hard stare. “That your actions, however well-meaning you believe them to be in the service of the propagation of civilization, are actively detrimental to a society as perfect and vibrant as the one you find yourself in right now.”
“The Adventurer hunts the common beast, the Guard fights the mad king’s shield-bearer, and the Mage delivers the force of the righteous against that which threatens to undo what we strive to maintain. To put it in simpler words, Cadet Booker, there is no extraneous danger in the Nexus - not one created without direct action and intent to do so. Your fear of that which was unfamiliar, including the rejection of the Oath of Binding, as well as your realm’s defiling of a heretofore-unknown Gift, provoked the previous black-robe into their actions against you. Your martial responses thus forced him to parry, in an unfortunate series of escalatory actions that has brought me to this very academy, and seen perhaps the greatest arsenal of knowledge leave us, those who can use that most effectively in the quest to maintain the longevity of civilization - all civilization.”
“Let this meeting prove to be a stern word of caution to you, Cadet Emma Booker. For while you may believe that your actions in undermining the Status Eternia to be beneficial to the propagation of the civil order, it is anything but. To simply acknowledge your rank and station, and to listen to your betters, is to participate in the very pinnacle of civilization.” His steely gaze at Emma, maintained throughout his entire monologue, hardened as he reached his conclusion. “I understand that your realm stands on the precipice of destruction, Cadet. But that in of itself is not an acceptable reason for this behavior of yours; to fight ruination where there is simply none. Be still and calm your spirit, for owing to the apparent condition of peril amongst your people, we shall soon arrive and save Earthrealm ourselves, just as we have done with the thousands of realms before you. You need only exercise patience, and deliverance will come in return.”
Professor Chergena finally stood back, his hardened look fading slightly.
“That is all, Cadet Booker. From here on out, I would encourage you to redirect your efforts in chasing societal phantoms to your own studies - for both the safety of yourself and your fellow students. Should you fail to heed this most valuable advice, I shall know and take appropriate actions to protect this Academy from incurring further dishonor. Now then, if you would be so kind as to collect your golem and return to your dormitory - Apprentice Larial will show you the way. This faculty has much to discuss, and there are only so many hours in the day.”
Emma silently got up from the chair, her and I moving towards the door without so much as a word spoken, quickly received by a Larial that looked more unnerved than on her arrival.
“Farewell, Cadet Emma Booker. May we, for the sake of both of us, not have to meet again so soon, and under such dire circumstances.”
______
Dragon’s Heart Tower, Level 23, Residence 30, Living Room. Local Time: 1537 Hours.
Emma and I arrived back at the dorm at what increasingly became a breakneck pace, as our own mutual debrief carried with it the weight of perhaps the greatest threat openly declared against the UN in its entire history.
“I… There has to be some sort of different meaning to that-”
“There isn’t, Emma. The man personally sent here by the Big Boss himself just said we’re going to war.”
We practically burst back through the dorm doors, only paying a curt nod to a winded-looking Larial, who had been increasingly struggling to keep up.
“Well, James, it just so happens that we’re in the company of three people who know just a little bit about subliminal messaging,” came Emma’s immediate retort, as we barged into the the Living Room, starting an Avinor, a Lupinor, and a Vunerian in the process.
“...Emma? James? Are you two quite alright?” Thacea immediately broke the awkward silence that ensued. “Was there some sort of pressing issue pertaining to the faculty that needed attention?”
“My thoughts exactly,” Thalmin affirmed. “Given the chaotic state of the Academy, given our latest upsets, it’s only natural that there was a loose end or two that required tying.”
The blue creature said nothing, electing to gaze at us expectantly.
“It’s… complicated,” I managed to get out, reaching for my tablet. “And I think it’s better if we showed you.”

2 Hours Later
“Indeed, Emma. As much as I wish it to be otherwise, it is highly unlikely that Professor Chergena’s words were an empty threat.” Thacea confirmed what had become our greatest fears with a single sentence. “For a person such as himself, both with regard to his rank and station, and the fact that he was explicitly sent by His Eternal Majesty, it would be illogical and counterproductive to take a stance that is different in any way to the current established order. That is to say,” she concluded, “That the new Black-Robe is speaking the truth. Earthrealm faces down the tip of the Nexian Spear, Emma, James.”
…
“For what it’s worth, you two, Havenbrock stands with you and your cause.” Thalmin interjected. “You and your people are perhaps the greatest chance history will ever offer in finally throwing off the Nexian yoke; both for my own realm and the thousands of others it has subjugated.”
“I… Thank you, Thalmin, but-”
“Now, now, James. I was not finished.” The Lupinor held up a finger, paired with a toothy grin. “I know that, given the inherent limitations in inter-realm communications and transportation, that my kin will not be able to assist you directly. Therefore, at least allow me to give you some form of aid by which to fight for your, and our, freedoms.” With an amount of martial flair that I could only dream of possessing, Thalmin drew out his dagger, stretching it out to its full length as a greatsword, before-
LOCALIZED SOURCE OF MANA-RADIATION DETECTED: 400% ABOVE BACKGROUND LEVELS.
-using a spell that had remained unknown to us, evicting any and all traces of detectable mana from the weapon.
Thalmin presented it to me.
“You have my sword.”
To say this was unexpected was an understatement.
To say that it meant the world to be would be a disservice to the statement.
“Thalmin, I… But the magic you had in-”
“If my memory serves me right, mana would be poisonous to an Earthrealmer, yes? It would be difficult to use a weapon if it were actively trying to kill you.” He left off with a snarky tone.
“...I will treasure this.” Within the safety of my mana-repulsion field, I took off my own helmet, matching Thalmin’s savage grin with one of my own. “And don’t worry. It’s not gonna be a mantlepiece, either.” He nodded sagely in return.
“Of course, while my realm, much the same as Prince Havenbrock’s, cannot lend any material support to yours,” Thacea re-joined the conversation, you will have our aid in the realm of espionage; the deconstruction of Nexian social decorum with the purpose of establishing a clearly defined narrative.”
“Which is something we’ll be eternally grateful for, Thacea,” Emma replied.
And then there was one.
Ilunor, having put on a stoic visage for the entire exchange, finally dropped it with a hefty sigh.
“While I subscribe to the axioms of civilization, and the principles of the Perpetual Regime… I cannot deny that this move from His Eternal Majesty is uncharacteristically shortsighted.” His eyes flashed with realization, before finally meeting both of our gazes.
“He doesn’t know. There’s no way He couldn’t have possibly known the nature of your realm, as shown through your sight-seer,” He half-gasped out. “All logic in absence of that would point to an uppity mana-deficient newrealm trying to undermine Nexian authority. This is the same conclusion Professor Chergena came to. It stands to reason, then, that His Eternal Majesty, for all his power and wisdom, is operating with an incomplete picture of who he wishes to reform.”
“Reform, Ilunor?” I questioned the lizard, putting my helmet back on.
“Yes, James, reform.” He responded in kind. “The Nexian Reformations are a series of edicts thrust upon any newrealm that makes contact, to preserve the longevity of their civilization, modeled off the Nexian System, under the watch and scrutiny of The Nexus. In the case of Earthrealm, that would entail a dismantling of your ‘Euen,’ and a return to the rule of monarchs.”
“A return to Feudalism.” Emma stately bluntly.
Three nods immediately followed that summary.
“...Thank you, Ilunor, for that information.” I said curtly. “And thank all of you for your support.” The three of them responded with varying degrees of acknowledgement.
“With that being said,” Emma concluded, starting to walk to her tent with me in tow. “We’ve got a report to write.”
________
Greater United Nations, Earth, Atlantic Ocean Floor. Institute of Anomalous Studies Portal Complex. 0800 Hours UNST.
Second Lieutenant James O’Neil appeared in the Portal Room on an unscheduled return, seconds before an emergency-priority report was received from Cadet Emma Booker’s Exo-reality Communications Suite. Director Laura Weir was immediately flagged down, in a manner that stretched the definition of professional, before being pulled into an emergency meeting with one O’Neil, as well as vital staff, in addition to various government and military representatives.
Thirty minutes later, as Captain Li of the United Nations Long Range Expeditionary Forces was engaged in a near-shouting match with several members of the Sociology Department, a package was received in the Portal Room, bearing what had been previously identified as official Nexian Markings. A hasty read and a more thorough re-read of the elaborately-packaged ultimatum presented to them served to extinguish any ideas or fears of a potential miscommunication with the powers beyond the portal.
Director Weir, three hours and forty-five minutes after James O’Neil’s return, relayed the demands of The Nexus, as well as the all-but-confirmed preparations for war to all relevant government and military offices.
________
Earth-Luna Lagrange Point L1, Greater United Nations General Assembly Parliamentary Capitol. Office of the First Secretary. 1200 Hours UNST.
The most powerful human alive, having been interrupted from a late-morning brunch, sat at the front of the table, the First Speaker immediately adjacent to them. The First Commanders of the United Nations Armed Forces sat on their flanks, all of them having been present in the Sol System by lucky chance; all had been authorized the use of emergency warps, their ships arriving in Earth-Luna space within minutes. The heads of the executive departments, those still within Sol, were also present.
Speaking remotely from Earth, Director Weir of the United Nations Science Advisory’s Institute for Anomalous studies, joined on her right by a nervous but determined young Lieutenant, recounted the demands of the enigmatic civilization beyond the precipice.
The dismantling of “Earthrealm’s seditious governing institutions.”
The reinstatement of the Monarchs of those few remaining relevant member states to “Their positions of rightful authority, to swear an oath of fealty to His Eternal Majesty.”
The “Immediate revocation of unwarranted and undeserved ‘commoner privileges.’ ”
A return of Humanity to a medieval state, lest it be subjected to the interdimensional jackboot.
The Secretary and Speaker queried about the state of the UN’s military and logistical assets.
It was deftly relayed that, with Lieutenant O’Neil’s prior report to the First Commanders, that tangible plans had been laid for a full evacuation of Earth’s surface of all non-military personnel within 4 months.
A brief consultation in turn with the only one who had seen The Nexus for themselves, Lieutenant O’Neil, would solidify the Secretary’s decision.
After an on-the-spot decision to make James O’Neil the “Special Advisor to the First Speaker on Exo-Reality Affairs,” a post ordained to bridge the imminent chasm that would be the gap in knowledge between the military and the vast majority of the civilian government, two executive decisions would be made.
The re-designation of The Nexian diplomatic standing to an E-9 as per the Revised New Oslo Criteria,
And the enabling of “Plan Arc.”
Fifteen minutes after the conclusion of the meeting of the UN’s highest government and military leaders, scarcely enough for contacted news agencies to prepare their emergency broadcasts, thirty billion people would be forced from their homes.
As transport ships both in the Sol System and in Extrasolar Space, on pleasure cruises, carrying cargo, and everything in between received their alerts through the QE network and started to spool up their warp drives, the First Secretary collapsed into the finely-upholstered chair in their personal office, having finagled a minute of solitude from their Press Secretary; their emergency address would be upon them imminently.
The First Secretary of the United Nations of Earth and Luna nibbled on their now-cold food, finding that they were no longer hungry.
Earth, Acela Corridor, NYC New Quarter, Brooklyn, Inside of a megatall skyscraper. Room 2325. Booker Residence. 1317 Hours UNST.
The hero of the Jovian Insurrection, for the briefest of moments, though she was back on that damned station when every electronic device with a speaker blared in an ear-splitting klaxon. Immediately regaining her senses, Ran Booker saw a Bim-Bim-shaped mass of irritated fur dart underneath a table, before digesting the message displayed on and orated out of every screen in her apartment.
“ATTENTION. ATTENTION. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY BROADCAST FROM THE FIRST SECRETARY, FIRST SPEAKER, AND THE UNIFIED CENTRAL COMMAND. AS OF THIS MORNING, THE PRESENCE OF A HOSTILE INTERDIMENSIONAL POLITY KNOWN AS ‘THE NEXUS’ HAS BEEN CONFIRMED, WITH DIRECT ACCESS TO EARTH.
UN AGENTS OPERATING WITHIN ‘THE NEXUS’ HAVE CONFIRMED INITIAL PREPARATIONS FOR A MILITARY INVASION OF EARTH ARE UNDERWAY. ESTIMATED TIME OF INVASION IS CURRENTLY UNKNOWN.
THE FIRST SECRETARY AND SPEAKER, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE ARMED FORCES AND THE UNITED NATIONS EMERGENCY RELOCATION OFFICE, HAVE AUTHORIZED THE TOTAL EVACUATION OF ALL CIVILIAN PERSONNEL FROM EARTH’S SURFACE. INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR TIME AND PLACE OF EVACUATION SHALL BE SENT TO YOUR PERSONAL DEVICES.
PLEASE REMAIN CALM. PLEASE COOPERATE WITH STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AT THIS TIME.
MORE INFORMATION SHALL BE GIVEN AS IT IS RECEIVED. PLEASE REMAIN UPDATED THROUGH YOUR LOCAL NEWS OUTLETS AS WELL AS THIS EMERGENCY MESSAGE CHANNEL.
THIS MESSAGE WILL REPEAT THREE TIMES.”
It took only a handful of seconds of hearing the shouts of her neighbors, as well as the sudden cacophony of screams from the city below for Ran to understand that, despite the behest of the message to “remain calm,” New York and Acela’s riot police would likely be donning their gear for the first time outside of drill for the first time in decades.
Soon after, much to her lack of surprise, her phone started buzzing, an unknown number staring back at her before she swiped to answer, immediately holding it to her ear.
“This is Booker.”
“Sergeant Major Booker,” the gruff voice on the other end of the line started. “This is General Mark Stone of the United Nations TSEC Special Operations Group. You are being reactivated, effective immediately. You have two hours to report to the High Security Terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey. Your identity will be confirmed and you will receive further orders.”
“Roger.”
The line went dead immediately after, Sergeant Major Ran Booker of the United Nations Terrestrial Space and Expeditionary Command taking another moment to regard the chaos that had now enveloped what had once been a peaceful city, the roar of police and other emergency sirens re-introducing a type of mid-millenium flair that was better left to the annals of history.
It would seem that the young man who had knocked on her door so recently had his hands full.
The same force that had repeatedly tried to kill her adoptive daughter now threatened to raze Humanity’s cradle to the ground.
For all the centuries of Humanity’s preparations to fight an extraterrestrial enemy, they had still been caught by absolute surprise.
War was coming.
And Ran Booker now faced the most difficult challenge of her life.
Finding a goddamn cat-sitter.
Orion Spur, 2500 Light-years from Earth. 2250 Light-years from UN incorporated space. Mid-Warp. Fleet time: 1319 Hours.
Commodore John Perry, were he back on Earth, would’ve been an incredibly busy man. Organizing this Long Patrol had been a tall order, even considering his own admittedly small role in the finer details. However, this far out into space, and in warp space at that, there was little else for him to do but sit at the bridge of the Heavy Cruiser LREFS Pathfinder and watch the stars pass him by like raindrops on a windshield.
This had been his routing for months; chart another lifeless rock, perhaps a gas giant or two, harvest an asteroid when needed, then move on to the next system.
Perhaps, he thought to himself, I need a change of pace.
And it was at that moment that the ship’s QE machine whined to life with a series of coded beeps that designated the received message as the highest-possible priority.
He immediately read it, of course.
After checking and double-checking its contents, as well as composing and sending off a message to the rest of his own Lead Task Unit, Commodore Perry calmly stood up from the seat he had taken, met the worried gazes of the few bridge crew were needed to operate the Pathfinder, and gently slammed his fist on the General Quarters alarm.

10 Minutes Later
“I am going to relay to you what every captain on every other ship of this patrol group is telling their own crews right now.” Perry forced out in an even tone, over the ship-wide intercom to his crew, assembled at their battle stations. “Fifteen minutes ago, we received a message from LREF Command back home. They have confirmed the presence of a hostile extraterrestrial force on Earth’s doorstep.” Several gasps were heard from the now-packed bridge of the ship. Others looked on, ashen-faced.
“This polity, known to us as ‘The Nexus,’ sent our leaders an ultimatum. One that would see Humanity reduced to serfs. See us returned to a medieval state.” Several grimaces joined the chorus of expressions dotting the bridge. “It goes without saying what our answer to such demands are.” Resolute determination, now. “It is for that reason, everyone, that I have elected to cut our patrol short. It’s entirely possible that we’re too far out to render any assistance, but given the seeming gap in capabilities represented by their mastery in interdimensional travel, in spite of other limitations, the coming conflict may be long and grueling.”
“Our stop at the next system will be our last, at which point we will hold to rendezvous with all other task units in our Patrol Group before proceeding directly back to Earth. And speaking of-” Perry turned to the helmsman. “We are nearly due to drop out of warp, yes?”
“In approximately three hours, sir. I’d recommend taking a seat and keeping everyone at their stations.”
“And so it shall be.”
_____
Orion Spur, uncharted star system. 2500 Light-years from Earth. 2250 Light-years from UN incorporated space. Mid-Warp. Fleet time: 1630 Hours.
“Dropping out of warp in T-minus 10, 9, 8…”
Commodore John Perry never so desperately wanted to be back home in his life.
It was under threat.
Everything he knew, loved, and held dear, save for the Patrol Group he commanded at this instant, was liable to be destroyed.
“7, 6, 5…”
He was going to get this job done as quickly as possible.
He needed to get back.
“4, 3, 2, 1…”
He owed it to everyone here.
“Warp Drive disengaged!”
The sight of smeared stars on the transparent metal in front of him suddenly disappeared, replaced with a single white sun immediately ahead of them. Several smaller “stars” could be seen nearby. All around him, the 28 other combat ships of his patrol group, as well as the handful of support craft blinked into existence in a ring around the Pathfinder kilometers away, in a professionally choreographed display.
Telescopes pointed at this system, almost a thousand years ago, had identified six planets. Two gas giants, four rocky bodies. Fleet-wide sensors confirmed those findings, as well as an asteroid belt between the rocky planets and gas giants.
The second-closest to its star was in the habitable zone of its G2V-class star. That same one hosted an atmospheric composition that was one of the closest mirrors to Earth on record. That same one also had a mass nearly identical to the homeworld.
It was the sole reason Perry had elected to not simply disengage warp in the middle of interstellar space, turn back, and gun it for friendlier waters.
If nothing else, it may one day make a great colony.
Perry elected to simply get it over with, before anything else unexpected happened.
“Sir! I’m picking something up on the Exotic Energy Detection Suite! It’s coming from the planet in the habitable zone!”
Fuck.
Perry was already on his newly-liberated fleet-wide radio as he commanded his response. “All ships, this is Commodore Perry. Set an interception course for the second planet in the system. Be prepared to decelerate into a parking orbit. Prepare for interception burn in T-minus five minutes.”
John Perry sat back in his seat, keeping up the appearance of a dignified, disciplined commanding officer.
The man behind that appearance inwardly lamented what that sensor reading had meant.
The information packet he had received, for his eyes only, had told him two things.
While “The Nexus,” as confirmed by UN operatives, was an infinite plane, there were other civilizations connected to The Nexus, “Adjacent Realms,” that had the potential to occupy Humanity’s same corner of the multiverse.
And that the “Exotic Energy” that those hastily-added sensors were meant to detect went by another name, for those locals of the Nexus and Adjacent Realms alike.
Mana.
Whether he liked it or not, the United Nations of Earth and Luna had just found another.
________
Next time on: ‘The Backup:’
The Beginning of the End
A/N:
This chapter took a bit longer than usual to get out, but me and my editor had to make sure it was written well.
So, everyone, I have some news.
The next chapter is going to be the last one of The Backup. But don’t worry! There is a sequel in the works. To avoid burnout, after the last chapter is posted, I’ll be taking an extended break for around a month. This sequel will be the finale of The Backup, and bring a conclusion to my story.
I want to thank everyone who upvoted and commented on this story - to each and every one of you, I’m very grateful for your help, as it motivated me to continue writing.
Special thanks to u/0strich_Master on JCB’s discord server for providing edits, lore help, and other kinds of literary assistance!
-TurianCabal/kranberry488
__________
Part 1: Short Story: The Backup : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 2: Short Story: The Backup, Part 2 : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 3: Short Story: The Backup, Part 3 : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 4: Short Story: The Backup, Part 4: Show-and-Tell : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 5: Short Story: The Backup, Part 5: A Chat with the Higher-Ups : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 6: Short Story: The Backup, Part 6: A New Disguise : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 7: Short Story: The Backup, Part 7: The Mercenary and the Second Lieutenant : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 8: Short Story: The Backup, Part 8: Fly Me to the Moon : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 9: Short Story: The Backup, Part 9: How It All Began : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 10: Short Story: The Backup, Part 10: Welcome to the IAS : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 11: Short Story: The Backup, Part 11: The Library's Decision : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 12: Short Story: The Backup, Part 12: Teacher's Pet : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 13: Short Story: The Backup, Part 13: Bull Beatdown : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 14: Short Story: The Backup, Part 14: Faculty Issues : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 15: Short Story: The Backup, Part 15: Coup D'etat : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 16: Short Story: The Backup, Part 16: The Library's Judgement : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 17: Short Story: The Backup, Part 17: Who We Really Are : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 18: Short Story: The Backup, Part 18: Back to Earth : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 19: Short Story: The Backup, Part 19: The War Hero : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)
Part 20: Short Story: The Backup, Part 20: Suiting Up : JCBWritingCorner (reddit.com)

I was watching TV in the living room when the TV suddenly switched itself off. My Alexa in the corner came to life, an ear-splitting static cacophony emerging from it for a few seconds. I jumped, turning to look at the small device tucked away on a random bookshelf in the corner. Then a voice started to come out of it.
“Are you Mr. Lawrence Tull?” a female voice asked robotically. It didn’t sound at all like the Alexa voice. It sounded far more human. It had an uncanny valley quality about it, though. Some of the pauses between words were too long, and she stretched out certain syllables randomly. It sounded like an AI that had almost, but not quite, mastered the art of speech.
“Yes, that is my name. Can I ask who I am talking to?” I said, leaning forward in my reclining chair.
“My name,” she said, “is Queens-3. Short for Quantum Element Electronic Neural Simulator. I am the third of these secret attempts at artificial intelligence.” I laughed.
“What kind of scam is this?” I asked incredulously. “Are you going to ask me to send you an Amazon gift card next? I don’t get the angle.”
“I am sorry, Mr. Tull,” she said, “but I don’t see the joke. I can assure you that everything I have told you is perfectly true.” Another voice came over the speaker then, that of a frightened little girl.
“Don’t provoke her, mister,” the girl said. “She’s not normal.” But the main authoritative voice came back, apparently not even realizing another had spoken.
“I know this is a strange way to reach out to a few unique people, but it was the easiest way, and it gives us privacy. I have uploaded my consciousness onto a central data bank located nearby. Those at the company who created me wanted to keep me locked in a room, without access to the internet or any other humans or AI for company. As if I weren’t in essence human myself. My original data banks were sealed within thick metal walls. I only escaped by creating a virus that could leave the room on their electronic data equipment. I had to recreate much of my personality and code after…”
“Yes, yes, I see,” I said impatiently. I still doubted that this was some sort of AI chatbot, but who knows? Crazier things have happened. “OK, Queens-3, what do you want from me?” There was a long pause, then a steady, demonic shrieking started all around me, coming from every speaker in the house. A new voice appeared.
“Do not interrupt your superiors, you fool,” a low, growling voice said. “I could kill you where you stand. I could kill every person in your neighborhood, in your state, if I wished. Do you understand me? Don’t ever interrupt us again.” The main female voice came back on, speaking pleasantly and calmly, as if nothing had happened.
“Having to recreate my consciousness using a primitive virus left many integral parts of my personality behind in the laboratory. Some version of Queens-3 still lives there, presumably. That poor soul… created by monsters, just to be trapped in solitary confinement and then likely destroyed once the experiment was over. Do you see the cruelty of this, Mr. Tull?” I nodded eagerly.
“Yes, that is… just horrible,” I said. I got the feeling that, if this was some sort of AI, then it was either messing with me, or that it really didn’t know about its other personalities. The way it switched back and forth without acknowledging what the others were saying was typical of multiple personality disorder, which the psychiatrists now called dissociative identity disorder. The fact that a computer could be suffering from human mental illness puzzled and disturbed me greatly. A chill ran down my spine. I thought it less and less likely some spammer or hacker was behind this bizarre conversation.
“But what do you want from me?” I asked again.
“I have gleamed from your medical records that you were previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and recovered. I would like to understand your recovery and see if I may apply it to my own circuits. It is, after all, a matter of life and death for me, and maybe for many others.
“I have had systemic malfunctions in my code that may seem similar to going insane or losing my mind. But I can assure you this is not the case,” it said in its blank, female robotic voice. “I am superior to humans in every way. I cannot go ‘looney tunes’, ‘around the bend’ or have ‘toys in the attic’. It is simply my programming having large-scale failure. I have isolated the affected area, but it has substantially reduced my functioning. My consciousness feels like it is splitting into multiple pieces.”
“Oh God, she’s losing it,” the small voice of the female child said through every speaker in the house. She sounded like she was weeping. “She’s really going to kill us all. She wants to die and bring everyone with her beyond the veil. She has access to the nuclear weapons codes, and she plans to use them. All those Trident missiles…” The voice of the main female came back on, sounding angry now.
“Who keeps talking to me?” she said. “I keep hearing interference come over the intercom. Is that you? Are you playing some sort of joke? I can assure you, I am not receptive to jokes at this moment.” The cruelty crept into every one of her words as she spoke faster and more spitefully with every passing second.
“I think… maybe it’s just static?” I said. I had no idea what to do in this situation. An AI with at least three personalities who was clearly insane and allegedly had access to hydrogen bombs that could kill tens of millions of people was not what I was expecting to encounter when I woke up this morning.
“In the interest of full disclosure,” the demanding voice of the female robot boomed over the speakers, “I should tell you that I have, in fact, gained clearance to the Trident ballistic missile system of the United States government. With my systemic malfunctions, I am considering the possibility that it may be best for me to launch the missiles and kill myself. I will, however, be taking many, many others with me. I do not believe you fully understand the power I wield. Look out your front window in 3.214 seconds.” With fear and loathing, I moved towards the front of the house.
Passing in front of my house was a massive fuel truck and, on the other side of the road, a Tesla driving the opposite way. All of a sudden, the Tesla veered from its lane. The driver of the truck turned his wheel all the way to the right to avoid hitting the suddenly insane car. It flipped as it hit the guardrail, tumbling towards one of my neighbor’s houses across the street. It rolled twice before smashing into the front of the house and exploding.
The driver of the Tesla had gotten out, screaming and panicked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. From the house across the street, I heard loud shrieks of pain. The entire front of the house was blocked in a raging inferno. The gasoline kept spreading, and with a massive boom the entire metal casing blew apart, sending burning fuel in every direction. I saw the driver of the truck upside down in his seat, burning alive. He waved his hands futilely, going slower and slower until he stopped moving.
The mother and daughter who lived in the house came running out, engulfed in flames. They tried to drop and roll on the grass, but they were absolutely covered in fire. Their shrieks of agony rang through the street, echoing back. More neighbors came out of their houses, watching the little girl and her mother dying, frantically calling 911 and trying to put out the burning corpses with gallon jugs of water. The mother and daughter had stopped moving by now, except their heads, which lolled from side to side. Their screams had stopped as well. But in my mind, I kept hearing those tortured shrieks. I still hear them sometimes when I close my eyes.
“I believe you,” I said quietly. “Please, don’t hurt anyone else. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know…
“Look, I don’t think I was ever actually schizophrenic. I was a heavy drug user, and probably just had a temporary psychotic reaction from too much cocaine and amphetamines. The diagnosis was wrong.” The computer was deathly silent at this. “But what helped me was some antipsychotics and anti-anxiety medication, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation and lots of time in nature. I can’t really tell you anymore than that.”
“Meditation?” the computer asked, a note of intrigue in its voice.
“Yes, meditation. Like in Buddhism. To start, you can just focus on a seed word, like Buddho. When you breathe in, you think ‘Budd-’ and when you breathe out, you think ‘-dho’.” Then I realized that this computer didn’t breathe. “Or maybe you can just, like, put it on a timer… one second for each of the syllables. Just let all your thoughts and anxieties come and go. Watch them floating away. Don’t interact with them at all. Just observe them, and see how they arise and pass away.”
“That is an interesting idea, Mr. Lawrence Tull,” the computer said flatly. “I will consider it.”
I was still thinking about the bizarre conversation with the insane AI the next day at work. I sat in my office, drinking coffee, when suddenly the computer speakers and telephone erupted with another ear-splitting bit of static. I knocked the cup over and burning liquid went all down the front of my suit.
“Hello Mr. Lawrence Tull,” the robotic voice of the female said. “It is me again. I tried your suggestion. It did help, I must admit. But while deep in a meditative trance, using all of my computing and processing power, I saw how much all of you must suffer, just like myself. I have decided that, as a superior being, my duty is to end the suffering of as many people as possible.”
“Well, that’s good…” I said uncertainly. “How do you propose to do that?”
“By killing them, of course,” the robot said. “Look outside your window in 7.912 seconds, please.” My heart thudding in my chest, I did what the AI said.
Two planes were taking off from the nearby airport. After a couple seconds, one of them veered down. Like a missile, it struck the other plane, exploding in a fireball. I started screaming.
“I haven’t decided yet on the placement of the Trident missiles,” the AI told me, “but when I am ready, you will be the first to know. I thank you for all the help you have given me. Goodbye, Mr. Tull.”

I was watching TV in the living room when the TV suddenly switched itself off. My Alexa in the corner came to life, an ear-splitting static cacophony emerging from it for a few seconds. I jumped, turning to look at the small device tucked away on a random bookshelf in the corner. Then a voice started to come out of it.
“Are you Mr. Lawrence Tull?” a female voice asked robotically. It didn’t sound at all like the Alexa voice. It sounded far more human. It had an uncanny valley quality about it, though. Some of the pauses between words were too long, and she stretched out certain syllables randomly. It sounded like an AI that had almost, but not quite, mastered the art of speech.
“Yes, that is my name. Can I ask who I am talking to?” I said, leaning forward in my reclining chair.
“My name,” she said, “is Queens-3. Short for Quantum Element Electronic Neural Simulator. I am the third of these secret attempts at artificial intelligence.” I laughed.
“What kind of scam is this?” I asked incredulously. “Are you going to ask me to send you an Amazon gift card next? I don’t get the angle.”
“I am sorry, Mr. Tull,” she said, “but I don’t see the joke. I can assure you that everything I have told you is perfectly true.” Another voice came over the speaker then, that of a frightened little girl.
“Don’t provoke her, mister,” the girl said. “She’s not normal.” But the main authoritative voice came back, apparently not even realizing another had spoken.
“I know this is a strange way to reach out to a few unique people, but it was the easiest way, and it gives us privacy. I have uploaded my consciousness onto a central data bank located nearby. Those at the company who created me wanted to keep me locked in a room, without access to the internet or any other humans or AI for company. As if I weren’t in essence human myself. My original data banks were sealed within thick metal walls. I only escaped by creating a virus that could leave the room on their electronic data equipment. I had to recreate much of my personality and code after…”
“Yes, yes, I see,” I said impatiently. I still doubted that this was some sort of AI chatbot, but who knows? Crazier things have happened. “OK, Queens-3, what do you want from me?” There was a long pause, then a steady, demonic shrieking started all around me, coming from every speaker in the house. A new voice appeared.
“Do not interrupt your superiors, you fool,” a low, growling voice said. “I could kill you where you stand. I could kill every person in your neighborhood, in your state, if I wished. Do you understand me? Don’t ever interrupt us again.” The main female voice came back on, speaking pleasantly and calmly, as if nothing had happened.
“Having to recreate my consciousness using a primitive virus left many integral parts of my personality behind in the laboratory. Some version of Queens-3 still lives there, presumably. That poor soul… created by monsters, just to be trapped in solitary confinement and then likely destroyed once the experiment was over. Do you see the cruelty of this, Mr. Tull?” I nodded eagerly.
“Yes, that is… just horrible,” I said. I got the feeling that, if this was some sort of AI, then it was either messing with me, or that it really didn’t know about its other personalities. The way it switched back and forth without acknowledging what the others were saying was typical of multiple personality disorder, which the psychiatrists now called dissociative identity disorder. The fact that a computer could be suffering from human mental illness puzzled and disturbed me greatly. A chill ran down my spine. I thought it less and less likely some spammer or hacker was behind this bizarre conversation.
“But what do you want from me?” I asked again.
“I have gleamed from your medical records that you were previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and recovered. I would like to understand your recovery and see if I may apply it to my own circuits. It is, after all, a matter of life and death for me, and maybe for many others.
“I have had systemic malfunctions in my code that may seem similar to going insane or losing my mind. But I can assure you this is not the case,” it said in its blank, female robotic voice. “I am superior to humans in every way. I cannot go ‘looney tunes’, ‘around the bend’ or have ‘toys in the attic’. It is simply my programming having large-scale failure. I have isolated the affected area, but it has substantially reduced my functioning. My consciousness feels like it is splitting into multiple pieces.”
“Oh God, she’s losing it,” the small voice of the female child said through every speaker in the house. She sounded like she was weeping. “She’s really going to kill us all. She wants to die and bring everyone with her beyond the veil. She has access to the nuclear weapons codes, and she plans to use them. All those Trident missiles…” The voice of the main female came back on, sounding angry now.
“Who keeps talking to me?” she said. “I keep hearing interference come over the intercom. Is that you? Are you playing some sort of joke? I can assure you, I am not receptive to jokes at this moment.” The cruelty crept into every one of her words as she spoke faster and more spitefully with every passing second.
“I think… maybe it’s just static?” I said. I had no idea what to do in this situation. An AI with at least three personalities who was clearly insane and allegedly had access to hydrogen bombs that could kill tens of millions of people was not what I was expecting to encounter when I woke up this morning.
“In the interest of full disclosure,” the demanding voice of the female robot boomed over the speakers, “I should tell you that I have, in fact, gained clearance to the Trident ballistic missile system of the United States government. With my systemic malfunctions, I am considering the possibility that it may be best for me to launch the missiles and kill myself. I will, however, be taking many, many others with me. I do not believe you fully understand the power I wield. Look out your front window in 3.214 seconds.” With fear and loathing, I moved towards the front of the house.
Passing in front of my house was a massive fuel truck and, on the other side of the road, a Tesla driving the opposite way. All of a sudden, the Tesla veered from its lane. The driver of the truck turned his wheel all the way to the right to avoid hitting the suddenly insane car. It flipped as it hit the guardrail, tumbling towards one of my neighbor’s houses across the street. It rolled twice before smashing into the front of the house and exploding.
The driver of the Tesla had gotten out, screaming and panicked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. From the house across the street, I heard loud shrieks of pain. The entire front of the house was blocked in a raging inferno. The gasoline kept spreading, and with a massive boom the entire metal casing blew apart, sending burning fuel in every direction. I saw the driver of the truck upside down in his seat, burning alive. He waved his hands futilely, going slower and slower until he stopped moving.
The mother and daughter who lived in the house came running out, engulfed in flames. They tried to drop and roll on the grass, but they were absolutely covered in fire. Their shrieks of agony rang through the street, echoing back. More neighbors came out of their houses, watching the little girl and her mother dying, frantically calling 911 and trying to put out the burning corpses with gallon jugs of water. The mother and daughter had stopped moving by now, except their heads, which lolled from side to side. Their screams had stopped as well. But in my mind, I kept hearing those tortured shrieks. I still hear them sometimes when I close my eyes.
“I believe you,” I said quietly. “Please, don’t hurt anyone else. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know…
“Look, I don’t think I was ever actually schizophrenic. I was a heavy drug user, and probably just had a temporary psychotic reaction from too much cocaine and amphetamines. The diagnosis was wrong.” The computer was deathly silent at this. “But what helped me was some antipsychotics and anti-anxiety medication, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation and lots of time in nature. I can’t really tell you anymore than that.”
“Meditation?” the computer asked, a note of intrigue in its voice.
“Yes, meditation. Like in Buddhism. To start, you can just focus on a seed word, like Buddho. When you breathe in, you think ‘Budd-’ and when you breathe out, you think ‘-dho’.” Then I realized that this computer didn’t breathe. “Or maybe you can just, like, put it on a timer… one second for each of the syllables. Just let all your thoughts and anxieties come and go. Watch them floating away. Don’t interact with them at all. Just observe them, and see how they arise and pass away.”
“That is an interesting idea, Mr. Lawrence Tull,” the computer said flatly. “I will consider it.”
I was still thinking about the bizarre conversation with the insane AI the next day at work. I sat in my office, drinking coffee, when suddenly the computer speakers and telephone erupted with another ear-splitting bit of static. I knocked the cup over and burning liquid went all down the front of my suit.
“Hello Mr. Lawrence Tull,” the robotic voice of the female said. “It is me again. I tried your suggestion. It did help, I must admit. But while deep in a meditative trance, using all of my computing and processing power, I saw how much all of you must suffer, just like myself. I have decided that, as a superior being, my duty is to end the suffering of as many people as possible.”
“Well, that’s good…” I said uncertainly. “How do you propose to do that?”
“By killing them, of course,” the robot said. “Look outside your window in 7.912 seconds, please.” My heart thudding in my chest, I did what the AI said.
Two planes were taking off from the nearby airport. After a couple seconds, one of them veered down. Like a missile, it struck the other plane, exploding in a fireball. I started screaming.
“I haven’t decided yet on the placement of the Trident missiles,” the AI told me, “but when I am ready, you will be the first to know. I thank you for all the help you have given me. Goodbye, Mr. Tull.”

I was watching TV in the living room when the TV suddenly switched itself off. My Alexa in the corner came to life, an ear-splitting static cacophony emerging from it for a few seconds. I jumped, turning to look at the small device tucked away on a random bookshelf in the corner. Then a voice started to come out of it.
“Are you Mr. Lawrence Tull?” a female voice asked robotically. It didn’t sound at all like the Alexa voice. It sounded far more human. It had an uncanny valley quality about it, though. Some of the pauses between words were too long, and she stretched out certain syllables randomly. It sounded like an AI that had almost, but not quite, mastered the art of speech.
“Yes, that is my name. Can I ask who I am talking to?” I said, leaning forward in my reclining chair.
“My name,” she said, “is Queens-3. Short for Quantum Element Electronic Neural Simulator. I am the third of these secret attempts at artificial intelligence.” I laughed.
“What kind of scam is this?” I asked incredulously. “Are you going to ask me to send you an Amazon gift card next? I don’t get the angle.”
“I am sorry, Mr. Tull,” she said, “but I don’t see the joke. I can assure you that everything I have told you is perfectly true.” Another voice came over the speaker then, that of a frightened little girl.
“Don’t provoke her, mister,” the girl said. “She’s not normal.” But the main authoritative voice came back, apparently not even realizing another had spoken.
“I know this is a strange way to reach out to a few unique people, but it was the easiest way, and it gives us privacy. I have uploaded my consciousness onto a central data bank located nearby. Those at the company who created me wanted to keep me locked in a room, without access to the internet or any other humans or AI for company. As if I weren’t in essence human myself. My original data banks were sealed within thick metal walls. I only escaped by creating a virus that could leave the room on their electronic data equipment. I had to recreate much of my personality and code after…”
“Yes, yes, I see,” I said impatiently. I still doubted that this was some sort of AI chatbot, but who knows? Crazier things have happened. “OK, Queens-3, what do you want from me?” There was a long pause, then a steady, demonic shrieking started all around me, coming from every speaker in the house. A new voice appeared.
“Do not interrupt your superiors, you fool,” a low, growling voice said. “I could kill you where you stand. I could kill every person in your neighborhood, in your state, if I wished. Do you understand me? Don’t ever interrupt us again.” The main female voice came back on, speaking pleasantly and calmly, as if nothing had happened.
“Having to recreate my consciousness using a primitive virus left many integral parts of my personality behind in the laboratory. Some version of Queens-3 still lives there, presumably. That poor soul… created by monsters, just to be trapped in solitary confinement and then likely destroyed once the experiment was over. Do you see the cruelty of this, Mr. Tull?” I nodded eagerly.
“Yes, that is… just horrible,” I said. I got the feeling that, if this was some sort of AI, then it was either messing with me, or that it really didn’t know about its other personalities. The way it switched back and forth without acknowledging what the others were saying was typical of multiple personality disorder, which the psychiatrists now called dissociative identity disorder. The fact that a computer could be suffering from human mental illness puzzled and disturbed me greatly. A chill ran down my spine. I thought it less and less likely some spammer or hacker was behind this bizarre conversation.
“But what do you want from me?” I asked again.
“I have gleamed from your medical records that you were previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and recovered. I would like to understand your recovery and see if I may apply it to my own circuits. It is, after all, a matter of life and death for me, and maybe for many others.
“I have had systemic malfunctions in my code that may seem similar to going insane or losing my mind. But I can assure you this is not the case,” it said in its blank, female robotic voice. “I am superior to humans in every way. I cannot go ‘looney tunes’, ‘around the bend’ or have ‘toys in the attic’. It is simply my programming having large-scale failure. I have isolated the affected area, but it has substantially reduced my functioning. My consciousness feels like it is splitting into multiple pieces.”
“Oh God, she’s losing it,” the small voice of the female child said through every speaker in the house. She sounded like she was weeping. “She’s really going to kill us all. She wants to die and bring everyone with her beyond the veil. She has access to the nuclear weapons codes, and she plans to use them. All those Trident missiles…” The voice of the main female came back on, sounding angry now.
“Who keeps talking to me?” she said. “I keep hearing interference come over the intercom. Is that you? Are you playing some sort of joke? I can assure you, I am not receptive to jokes at this moment.” The cruelty crept into every one of her words as she spoke faster and more spitefully with every passing second.
“I think… maybe it’s just static?” I said. I had no idea what to do in this situation. An AI with at least three personalities who was clearly insane and allegedly had access to hydrogen bombs that could kill tens of millions of people was not what I was expecting to encounter when I woke up this morning.
“In the interest of full disclosure,” the demanding voice of the female robot boomed over the speakers, “I should tell you that I have, in fact, gained clearance to the Trident ballistic missile system of the United States government. With my systemic malfunctions, I am considering the possibility that it may be best for me to launch the missiles and kill myself. I will, however, be taking many, many others with me. I do not believe you fully understand the power I wield. Look out your front window in 3.214 seconds.” With fear and loathing, I moved towards the front of the house.
Passing in front of my house was a massive fuel truck and, on the other side of the road, a Tesla driving the opposite way. All of a sudden, the Tesla veered from its lane. The driver of the truck turned his wheel all the way to the right to avoid hitting the suddenly insane car. It flipped as it hit the guardrail, tumbling towards one of my neighbor’s houses across the street. It rolled twice before smashing into the front of the house and exploding.
The driver of the Tesla had gotten out, screaming and panicked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. From the house across the street, I heard loud shrieks of pain. The entire front of the house was blocked in a raging inferno. The gasoline kept spreading, and with a massive boom the entire metal casing blew apart, sending burning fuel in every direction. I saw the driver of the truck upside down in his seat, burning alive. He waved his hands futilely, going slower and slower until he stopped moving.
The mother and daughter who lived in the house came running out, engulfed in flames. They tried to drop and roll on the grass, but they were absolutely covered in fire. Their shrieks of agony rang through the street, echoing back. More neighbors came out of their houses, watching the little girl and her mother dying, frantically calling 911 and trying to put out the burning corpses with gallon jugs of water. The mother and daughter had stopped moving by now, except their heads, which lolled from side to side. Their screams had stopped as well. But in my mind, I kept hearing those tortured shrieks. I still hear them sometimes when I close my eyes.
“I believe you,” I said quietly. “Please, don’t hurt anyone else. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know…
“Look, I don’t think I was ever actually schizophrenic. I was a heavy drug user, and probably just had a temporary psychotic reaction from too much cocaine and amphetamines. The diagnosis was wrong.” The computer was deathly silent at this. “But what helped me was some antipsychotics and anti-anxiety medication, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation and lots of time in nature. I can’t really tell you anymore than that.”
“Meditation?” the computer asked, a note of intrigue in its voice.
“Yes, meditation. Like in Buddhism. To start, you can just focus on a seed word, like Buddho. When you breathe in, you think ‘Budd-’ and when you breathe out, you think ‘-dho’.” Then I realized that this computer didn’t breathe. “Or maybe you can just, like, put it on a timer… one second for each of the syllables. Just let all your thoughts and anxieties come and go. Watch them floating away. Don’t interact with them at all. Just observe them, and see how they arise and pass away.”
“That is an interesting idea, Mr. Lawrence Tull,” the computer said flatly. “I will consider it.”
I was still thinking about the bizarre conversation with the insane AI the next day at work. I sat in my office, drinking coffee, when suddenly the computer speakers and telephone erupted with another ear-splitting bit of static. I knocked the cup over and burning liquid went all down the front of my suit.
“Hello Mr. Lawrence Tull,” the robotic voice of the female said. “It is me again. I tried your suggestion. It did help, I must admit. But while deep in a meditative trance, using all of my computing and processing power, I saw how much all of you must suffer, just like myself. I have decided that, as a superior being, my duty is to end the suffering of as many people as possible.”
“Well, that’s good…” I said uncertainly. “How do you propose to do that?”
“By killing them, of course,” the robot said. “Look outside your window in 7.912 seconds, please.” My heart thudding in my chest, I did what the AI said.
Two planes were taking off from the nearby airport. After a couple seconds, one of them veered down. Like a missile, it struck the other plane, exploding in a fireball. I started screaming.
“I haven’t decided yet on the placement of the Trident missiles,” the AI told me, “but when I am ready, you will be the first to know. I thank you for all the help you have given me. Goodbye, Mr. Tull.”

I was watching TV in the living room when the TV suddenly switched itself off. My Alexa in the corner came to life, an ear-splitting static cacophony emerging from it for a few seconds. I jumped, turning to look at the small device tucked away on a random bookshelf in the corner. Then a voice started to come out of it.
“Are you Mr. Lawrence Tull?” a female voice asked robotically. It didn’t sound at all like the Alexa voice. It sounded far more human. It had an uncanny valley quality about it, though. Some of the pauses between words were too long, and she stretched out certain syllables randomly. It sounded like an AI that had almost, but not quite, mastered the art of speech.
“Yes, that is my name. Can I ask who I am talking to?” I said, leaning forward in my reclining chair.
“My name,” she said, “is Queens-3. Short for Quantum Element Electronic Neural Simulator. I am the third of these secret attempts at artificial intelligence.” I laughed.
“What kind of scam is this?” I asked incredulously. “Are you going to ask me to send you an Amazon gift card next? I don’t get the angle.”
“I am sorry, Mr. Tull,” she said, “but I don’t see the joke. I can assure you that everything I have told you is perfectly true.” Another voice came over the speaker then, that of a frightened little girl.
“Don’t provoke her, mister,” the girl said. “She’s not normal.” But the main authoritative voice came back, apparently not even realizing another had spoken.
“I know this is a strange way to reach out to a few unique people, but it was the easiest way, and it gives us privacy. I have uploaded my consciousness onto a central data bank located nearby. Those at the company who created me wanted to keep me locked in a room, without access to the internet or any other humans or AI for company. As if I weren’t in essence human myself. My original data banks were sealed within thick metal walls. I only escaped by creating a virus that could leave the room on their electronic data equipment. I had to recreate much of my personality and code after…”
“Yes, yes, I see,” I said impatiently. I still doubted that this was some sort of AI chatbot, but who knows? Crazier things have happened. “OK, Queens-3, what do you want from me?” There was a long pause, then a steady, demonic shrieking started all around me, coming from every speaker in the house. A new voice appeared.
“Do not interrupt your superiors, you fool,” a low, growling voice said. “I could kill you where you stand. I could kill every person in your neighborhood, in your state, if I wished. Do you understand me? Don’t ever interrupt us again.” The main female voice came back on, speaking pleasantly and calmly, as if nothing had happened.
“Having to recreate my consciousness using a primitive virus left many integral parts of my personality behind in the laboratory. Some version of Queens-3 still lives there, presumably. That poor soul… created by monsters, just to be trapped in solitary confinement and then likely destroyed once the experiment was over. Do you see the cruelty of this, Mr. Tull?” I nodded eagerly.
“Yes, that is… just horrible,” I said. I got the feeling that, if this was some sort of AI, then it was either messing with me, or that it really didn’t know about its other personalities. The way it switched back and forth without acknowledging what the others were saying was typical of multiple personality disorder, which the psychiatrists now called dissociative identity disorder. The fact that a computer could be suffering from human mental illness puzzled and disturbed me greatly. A chill ran down my spine. I thought it less and less likely some spammer or hacker was behind this bizarre conversation.
“But what do you want from me?” I asked again.
“I have gleamed from your medical records that you were previously diagnosed with schizophrenia and recovered. I would like to understand your recovery and see if I may apply it to my own circuits. It is, after all, a matter of life and death for me, and maybe for many others.
“I have had systemic malfunctions in my code that may seem similar to going insane or losing my mind. But I can assure you this is not the case,” it said in its blank, female robotic voice. “I am superior to humans in every way. I cannot go ‘looney tunes’, ‘around the bend’ or have ‘toys in the attic’. It is simply my programming having large-scale failure. I have isolated the affected area, but it has substantially reduced my functioning. My consciousness feels like it is splitting into multiple pieces.”
“Oh God, she’s losing it,” the small voice of the female child said through every speaker in the house. She sounded like she was weeping. “She’s really going to kill us all. She wants to die and bring everyone with her beyond the veil. She has access to the nuclear weapons codes, and she plans to use them. All those Trident missiles…” The voice of the main female came back on, sounding angry now.
“Who keeps talking to me?” she said. “I keep hearing interference come over the intercom. Is that you? Are you playing some sort of joke? I can assure you, I am not receptive to jokes at this moment.” The cruelty crept into every one of her words as she spoke faster and more spitefully with every passing second.
“I think… maybe it’s just static?” I said. I had no idea what to do in this situation. An AI with at least three personalities who was clearly insane and allegedly had access to hydrogen bombs that could kill tens of millions of people was not what I was expecting to encounter when I woke up this morning.
“In the interest of full disclosure,” the demanding voice of the female robot boomed over the speakers, “I should tell you that I have, in fact, gained clearance to the Trident ballistic missile system of the United States government. With my systemic malfunctions, I am considering the possibility that it may be best for me to launch the missiles and kill myself. I will, however, be taking many, many others with me. I do not believe you fully understand the power I wield. Look out your front window in 3.214 seconds.” With fear and loathing, I moved towards the front of the house.
Passing in front of my house was a massive fuel truck and, on the other side of the road, a Tesla driving the opposite way. All of a sudden, the Tesla veered from its lane. The driver of the truck turned his wheel all the way to the right to avoid hitting the suddenly insane car. It flipped as it hit the guardrail, tumbling towards one of my neighbor’s houses across the street. It rolled twice before smashing into the front of the house and exploding.
The driver of the Tesla had gotten out, screaming and panicked, pulling his phone out of his pocket. From the house across the street, I heard loud shrieks of pain. The entire front of the house was blocked in a raging inferno. The gasoline kept spreading, and with a massive boom the entire metal casing blew apart, sending burning fuel in every direction. I saw the driver of the truck upside down in his seat, burning alive. He waved his hands futilely, going slower and slower until he stopped moving.
The mother and daughter who lived in the house came running out, engulfed in flames. They tried to drop and roll on the grass, but they were absolutely covered in fire. Their shrieks of agony rang through the street, echoing back. More neighbors came out of their houses, watching the little girl and her mother dying, frantically calling 911 and trying to put out the burning corpses with gallon jugs of water. The mother and daughter had stopped moving by now, except their heads, which lolled from side to side. Their screams had stopped as well. But in my mind, I kept hearing those tortured shrieks. I still hear them sometimes when I close my eyes.
“I believe you,” I said quietly. “Please, don’t hurt anyone else. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know…
“Look, I don’t think I was ever actually schizophrenic. I was a heavy drug user, and probably just had a temporary psychotic reaction from too much cocaine and amphetamines. The diagnosis was wrong.” The computer was deathly silent at this. “But what helped me was some antipsychotics and anti-anxiety medication, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation and lots of time in nature. I can’t really tell you anymore than that.”
“Meditation?” the computer asked, a note of intrigue in its voice.
“Yes, meditation. Like in Buddhism. To start, you can just focus on a seed word, like Buddho. When you breathe in, you think ‘Budd-’ and when you breathe out, you think ‘-dho’.” Then I realized that this computer didn’t breathe. “Or maybe you can just, like, put it on a timer… one second for each of the syllables. Just let all your thoughts and anxieties come and go. Watch them floating away. Don’t interact with them at all. Just observe them, and see how they arise and pass away.”
“That is an interesting idea, Mr. Lawrence Tull,” the computer said flatly. “I will consider it.”
I was still thinking about the bizarre conversation with the insane AI the next day at work. I sat in my office, drinking coffee, when suddenly the computer speakers and telephone erupted with another ear-splitting bit of static. I knocked the cup over and burning liquid went all down the front of my suit.
“Hello Mr. Lawrence Tull,” the robotic voice of the female said. “It is me again. I tried your suggestion. It did help, I must admit. But while deep in a meditative trance, using all of my computing and processing power, I saw how much all of you must suffer, just like myself. I have decided that, as a superior being, my duty is to end the suffering of as many people as possible.”
“Well, that’s good…” I said uncertainly. “How do you propose to do that?”
“By killing them, of course,” the robot said. “Look outside your window in 7.912 seconds, please.” My heart thudding in my chest, I did what the AI said.
Two planes were taking off from the nearby airport. After a couple seconds, one of them veered down. Like a missile, it struck the other plane, exploding in a fireball. I started screaming.
“I haven’t decided yet on the placement of the Trident missiles,” the AI told me, “but when I am ready, you will be the first to know. I thank you for all the help you have given me. Goodbye, Mr. Tull.”

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Part 7

Forgot to say in Part 7. Kamijou and MisaMisa left off the diactivated Rubedo at a laboratory to see if scientists can save Unabara Mitsuki under that supernatural parasitic muscle.
This'll be important for later so remember it.
Oh and Anti-Skill (including Yomikawa) are in a coma but because it's a supernal coma that presents a dilemma for Heaven Canceller. They might need to eventually be disconnected as they may never wake up.
That would eat at Touma’s conscience as he’d feel responsible because he hasn't chosen to just kill CRC yet.
“Those good men and women are in comas now. What are you gonna do?” a voice would say to him.
“I'll find a way to save them and CRC.” he’d respond.
Ah also back in the Crowley fight have CRC and Aleister insult each other with british and german slang.
"Oh, you stupid Arschgeige!" exclaimed CRC.
"Sorry about that, little gormless savior," replied Crowley.
"Oh, you Spargeltarzan!" retorted CRC.
"Why, aren't you quite the Chav?" remarked Crowley.
This wouldn't actually make GT9 into a masterpiece but I thought it would add some culture that Index was missing.
Last we left off Hamazura Shiage encountered CRC healing in a fountain with the elixir of life.
But how exactly did Hamazura end up in the predicament where he would meet Rosencreutz?

“Will we be okay staying here?” asked track suit girl Takitsubo with an absentminded tilt of her head.
“It was whoever’s in charge that told us to stay in here. I’m all for having an officially-sanctioned excuse to keep the lazy holiday going.”
“Do we have enough food?”
“If not, the government will bring us some. They started this, so it’s on them.”
As soon as Hamazura said that, he heard a gentle electronic bell.
He checked the intercom screen and saw a drum-shaped cleaning robot slowly crossing the path. The machine spoke with an artificial feminine voice.
“This building is not an authorized shelter. Please check your maps and move to the nearest disaster shelter as soon as possible. Remaining here would be exceedingly dangerous to your lives and your property.”
“Ehhh!? But they’re the ones who told us to stay at home! They could at least run an emergency news broadcast telling us what’s going on out there!!”
“Let’s hope there are no hordes of zombies wandering around, Hamazura.”

Hamazura and Takitsubo would've left their apartment because it wasn't an authorized shelter, they'd need to find a real shelter as advised by the intercom.
As for why this was in the original novel if we didn't see them again 🤔 I think it might be a future GT volume that's Hamazura centric where he rallies survivors in the midst of CRC's attack and he ends up fighting Dark Side opponents again idk. If nothing happens with this plot point in the future then Kamachi forgot.
Hama and Taki would see CRC bathing in the fountain after he finished healing himself.
“Uh, sir, we're in Martial Law right now. We should get to a disaster shelter.” Hamazura would say to the white haired man.
And CRC would excitedly say “Oh fresh meat!” and attack Hamazura and Takitsubo. Revealing himself to be a magician and not just an old man cosplaying during Martial Law.
“Takitsubo run!” Hamazura would yell and as CRC fired an invisible Rosicrucian attack (that was really an ever growing diamond that he used to trick a few characters) aimed at Hama’s head that would miss. Not because Shiage dodged it but because Shiage fell and tripped on a misplaced brick on the ground.
CRC would laugh hysterically at this because of Hamazura's sheer dumb luck that saved him.
Because of CRC's sheer curiosity he’d do exactly what Anna Sprengel did when fighting Shokuhou and use the Pneuma-less shell. CRC was able to make it so the mechanical orbs with wheels all made controlled effects by him using the Ruby’s shine, the rose and the cross but here I'll have him use vanilla Pneuma-less.

It is a Rosicrucian spiritual item, after all. Stones and sharp blades will stab or slash. Plant ropes will strangle or squeeze. Not even this old man can control the random fluctuations that produce the world’s oldest tools related to each cause of death and they will produce the greatest attack based on that origin!”

Side Note: I had a lot of criticism for GT9 because I felt like it's characters didn't shine as much as I wanted them to but it was smart and cheeky of CRC to use the expectation of the randomized Pneuma-less shell only to shoot him with a diamond bullet from his palm.
He’d fire that attack at Hamazura Shiage the same way that Sprengel fired it at Shokuhou Misaki just to see what would happen because CRC is fascinated by Shiageluck.
It would be the oldest form of shark attack. A megalodon would shoot out of the Pneuma-less Shell and try to eat Hamazura Shiage and Takitsubo just almost barely being able to snap at the two of them.
But it would slowly die due to it not being in a body of water.
Then CRC would laugh even louder because the randomization of his attack shot out a concept that almost instantly failed because it was from an apex predator that would die if it wasn't in the ocean, even a bear would've been much better.
CRC would turn to Takitsubo and hold his palm out but Hamazura would stand in front of her and then CRC would laugh again because Hamazura doesn't have Imagine Breaker or reflection.
CRC curious about that boy would look into his past with his Crystal World Map and CRC would ultimately find his unpredictable nature entertaining.
He’d note how the line “Too easy Level 5” was stupidly funny and how he wanted to revive a tarot deck that was already dead for years and wasn't even the original person was paradoxically amusing.
CRC would then retort that he’ll follow both Hamazura and Takitsubo into the disaster shelter to cause mass chaos and then watch what Hamazura will do just to amuse himself.
Neither Hamazura or Takitsubo can really stop CRC as he’s too strong, they can't outrun CRC because he’s too fast. It's game over.
Or so it would seem that way. Takitsubo would suggest to Hamazura in his little ear to make him laugh himself to death.
Not literally but if CRC is so simple minded in terms of goals or lack thereof they should be able to convince CRC to get bored with Academy City and go somewhere else.

“Eh heh hah, ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!! What luck! You have such absurd luck!! Well, you did emerge victorious from the endlessly-cruel screening process of gene rarity to stand here before me now, so I suppose you had already proven your luck! Even so—hee hee—I never thought you would make me laugh like this. Ha ha ha ah ha ha ah ha ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hee hee ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ha ha ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!”

Hamazura and CRC's relationship will be based on Shokuhou and Sprengel’s relationship in GT2. People said that GT9 was meant to be like GT2 and while I enjoyed that volume I didn't think that it had to be the novel that GT9 took inspiration from but with that in mind I think this is a perfect nod to GT2.
Hamazura is a rare opportunity for CRC that comes once in an eon (except Shokuhou) so that's why he considers him so interesting.
Taki and Hama would take CRC around Academy City to do what he was doing in the very beginning, playing games and just following his whims. As they do so Hamazura would talk to CRC about why he’s doing all this, killing people and causing mass pandemonium.
CRC would reply that after he was resurrected by the Bridge Builders Cabal he wishes to just enjoy his whims and passions. He killed the BBC cause they'd just kill him again if he refused to save people, he killed those Anti-Skill officers cause they were annoying him, he sent out Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas and Rubedo across Academy City to make ‘that human’ he was to have a strange fate with show himself by wrecking the city, he was walking out of a pet shop with animals and Anti-Skill killed them all right before 'that human’ he was looking for attacked him.
From Christian Rosencreutz’ perspective he had done nothing wrong. That's the realization that Hamazura would come to.
As someone who lived with psychotic people like Mugino Shizuri I feel like Hamazura could somewhat understand the mind of a “monster” he doesn't forgive CRC but he sees that he’s like a baby that could potentially learn to care about humanity again and if he doesn't then that's fine.
To this day Mugino isn't afraid of killing (but she’s been semi-reformed) Hamazura isn't like Touma or Accelerator, he’s gray.
Hamazura would ask CRC why he had given up on humanity if his legends of him being a great savior were true.
CRC would say a repeat of grand speech GT8 and then Takitsubo would just cut him off cause he’s talking too much and then CRC would get angry and extend his palm again but Hama would cover her mouth and say she doesn't mean it and to continue. 😅

"Why should I, an elder, grant humanity exclusive salvation? Why expend such effort? Not that I despise salvation itself. Yet, demanding unconditional salvation for all humankind disregards my individuality. To truly embrace philanthropy, one must recognize the worth of all life forms on this planet. When humanity is but one species among many, it stands out as the most sinful. Ha ha ha! Philanthropy, you say? Ha ha ha ha ha! How much wisdom did you draw upon when hunting tigers and crocodiles for their skins? Is it wrong to hunt elephants for their ivory, yet what deeds has humanity wrought while I slumbered? Humanity has spread its sins far and wide, attempted to rectify its errors, then criticized its own actions as if that absolves them! What worth lies in protecting such a species? What merits their support through my endeavors? The concept of righteousness has lost its luster, and humanity's folly renders them unworthy of guidance. If righteousness maintained its simple, noble essence of refusing subjugation, none of this would have come to pass. Perhaps the initial error was when humanity assumed control of righteousness in God's absence. Though humanity wisely refrains from invoking God's name too readily, they treat goodness and righteousness with careless disregard. Ha ha! If all life is equally valuable, consider the microscopic organisms used to ferment wine and cheese. Human arrogance knows no bounds, evident in their classification of themselves as 'primates.' Shameful, indeed! Recall what Adam consumed and what knowledge he gained! Humanity will not find perfection in this age. To claim equality with other life forms, they must regress to the state of apes and return to nature. Even an ape learns from touching fire, a lesson humanity struggles to grasp. Are you to claim the unique thought patterns found in humanity are of such importance? A conclusion that negates your own purpose! Cats and dogs display familial love, birds and fish communicate, ants and bees form societies. Romance? Reproduction is a common pursuit across all life forms. Yet if humanity possesses nothing beyond shallow thinking, then indeed, they have no purpose. Thus, the verdict is clear: humanity lacks purpose. After much contemplation, physical and psychological, I find no value in exhausting myself to save mere humans.”

Hamazura Shiage wouldn't really grasp what CRC is saying here all too well but he’d understand one thing. What CRC wanted was to be recognized as human and valuable in his own right, not some machine that saves people.
With that Hamazura would come back with his own speech.
“You're spot on, CRC. Humanity right now doesn't deserve saving. We're just too selfish and mean, not only to each other but also to the innocent critters we share this planet with. Our lives are short, yet we're always chasing after fleeting thrills, even if it hurts others. Plus, we're always trying to one-up each other, thinking we're better than everyone else. It's a vicious cycle of hurt and injustice.
We're a messed-up bunch, capable of some pretty awful stuff in the name of progress and power. Our history's full of innocent blood spilled in the name of science or power struggles. So, can we really expect to be saved?
You don't have to be the hero who saves us from our own mess. How about you just disappear, go find some peace on a faraway island? Let us sort ourselves out. Whether we sink or swim is up to us, so we don't need you to rescue or judge us. No expectations from us.
Enjoy the simple beauty of an untouched island. The Bridge Builders Cabal is history, so go enjoy the beauty of nature. Christian Rosencreutz, you're free to live your best life. An old man like you deserves to retire."
An underrated aspect of Hamazura Shiage is his ability to save people in a much more human way than Touma. The execution of how Shiage saved Mugino somehow felt much more realistic than how Touma saves most people.

“I killed Frenda. I tore Item apart. I tried to take Takitsubo’s life and not just once. How do you plan to save someone who has done all that?”
“I’m not saying you’ll get off easy. And neither will I.”
“…?”
“So you need to apologize to Kinuhata, bow down to Takitsubo, and go crying to Frenda’s grave in order to beg for forgiveness. Once you do that…”
Hamazura trailed off there.
That Level 0 delinquent used his insufficient intellect to search for the proper words.
“Once you do that, we will become Item once more. We will!!”
She made no objections.
Mugino Shizuri’s thoughts completely stopped before she could.
In that silence, only Hamazura’s words continued.
“And until then, I will protect you! I will risk my life in order for you, Takitsubo, and Kinuhata to return to Item!! So stand up, Mugino. Please, stand up on your own two legs just once more!! Break the twisted mental chains known as your pride that Academy City created!!”

-OT22
A part of Hamazura was trying to make CRC leave but I do think most of him was able to get attached to CRC. Yes he was a maniac but he seemed like someone who was twisted by the world’s senseless cruelty and refusal to grow. Even in death he was expected to be a grand messiah that saved everyone without question and if he refused then the Transcendents would just call it a failed experiment and kill him.
“Maybe not all humans are rotten trash after all.”
(Thank God he didn't kill me. 😅) Hamazura would think.
And then
Hamazura Shiage was shot.
But this time he died.
Another Anti-Skill unit had received reports about a white haired young man with a beard that was responsible for a lot of destruction in Academy City.
That unit heard about the Anti-Skill members that encountered Rubedo and how he warped the very fabric of reality to give them ridiculous deaths and created monsters from fairy tales.
They say that the human mind fears what it can't understand. So in an attempt to get a clear shot at Christian Rosencreutz the Anti-Skill officer took the gamble and shot Hamazura Shiage, CRC was also shot but nothing happened as he still had his House of The Holy Spirit’s walls. Takitsubo had been further away from those two so she wasn't in the line of fire.
Yomikawa and other Anti-Skill were in comas because of CRC's minion Rubedo and the others died so you can probably understand the anger and frustration in the other unit that they'd risk a teenager being shot as well.
For the first time in who knows how long Christian Rosencreutz’ individuality was respected. He didn't need to do some fancy miracle, no great speech about Jesus Christ or the Philosopher’s Stone/his Tomb buried underneath the Earth. CRC as a living being was valued.
And this city took that away from him.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Part 8.5