Chapter Six ~ Blast off

 
Far too early the next morning Carolyn and Lucas left the hotel and headed towards downtown. They wanted Lucas to be right in the middle of everything when the gas was released and the siren went off. Carolyn dropped him at the same place they were yesterday so he could hide in the store. Natalie had found walkie-talkies that were small enough to conceal in a pocket and Rob set them up so everyone was on the same frequency and attached small earbuds for privacy.
 
As soon as Lucas was out of the truck, Carolyn headed for the airport. Lucas contacted her when he got inside and secured himself.
“I'm all set,” he said “Towel stuffed under the door so I can minimize the gas from getting inside and I'm going to hide in the back room right before the sirens blare so I won't go deaf like yesterday.”
 
“Sounds good. Please be careful”
 
“I will. Over and out.” He kind of laughed when he said that. It made him feel like he was in a spy movie. He checked his watch. Probably 20 minutes to kill before their plan would be set in motion. He wandered around the store which sold novelty candles, mugs, and off-the-wall gadgets. He stopped in the greeting card aisle and found a card that said “Happy Birthday to the World's Greatest Sister ''. He suddenly felt sad at the thought that he might not make it back and that Jilly might be alone, really alone on her next birthday. She had come to him last night after her outburst to apologize and say she was really proud of him for volunteering to go be an “astronaut spy” and she knew he was going to make everything OK again. He was glad she had confidence in him because he certainly didn't have any in himself. She used to joke and say “Fake it 'til you make it” so he kept that thought in his head to override “you're going to die a horrible death on an alien spacecraft somewhere on the other side of the universe” which was somewhat less comforting.
 
He wandered towards the storage room, looking at some of the items here and there. There was some air freshener that smelled like bacon, miniature rubber chickens, freeze-dried astronaut ice cream. He grabbed 2 of those and stuffed them in his large side pocket. There was a blow-up unicorn horn hat for your cat that said “Cats love it” across the front. He doubted that. Along the back wall were some hand buzzers and a variety of gum in unappealing flavors. “Surprise your Friends” they all said. "More like make your friends hate you" He thought.
 
He slipped through the backroom door just as he heard the planes heading his way. As he stood against the door waiting he looked down and saw several boxes of "colored smoke bombs" and vials of "stinky fart bombs". Figuring they might come in handy, he slipped a few of them into his other pocket. He had been a boy scout for a couple of weeks when he was eight and he remembered the scoutmaster saying that their motto was “always be prepared.” And he wondered if Mr. Moody was thinking one of his scouts was going to attempt to be prepared for being launched into space to try to save mankind.
 
Suddenly the siren went off. It still hurt his ears but not nearly as bad as yesterday. He waited until it was quiet and then hurried out to the front door. People were either waking up and beginning to wander about or remaining slack faced and walking towards the highway.
 
He took a deep breath, briefly practiced looking emotionless even though his heart was pounding so hard he couldn't hear anything else, and pulled open the door, and headed out towards the group. He easily fell in step with them, placing himself as close to the middle as possible, and began the trek towards the airport.
 
                                   ***
 
Meanwhile, Carolyn drove the truck down to the highway, turned onto one of the on-ramps and settled into the lane closest to the center wall for the rest of the drive. She went over and over the story she was going to tell anyone who asked where she came from and why they hadn't seen her before. She had learned from being a lookout for her brothers all those years ago that if you act like you belong someplace most people won't question you. And since she had years of military experience she knew how to look military. She could tell by what she had seen that a lot of the people who were working for whatever this operation was either weren't military at all or they were very new to it before this all happened so they didn't know what to look for if someone didn't belong there. At least that's what she was counting on.
 
The signs for the airport finally appeared on the side of the highway. She pulled off using the same exit as before and parked the truck in approximately the same spot. Instead of parking it at the airport itself, she wanted it hidden in case they needed a getaway vehicle in the likely, wait, she corrected herself, UNlikely event something went wrong. Gotta stay positive she reminded herself.
 
She locked up the truck and hid the keys in a small magnetic box on the underside of a back wheel well. Manny had given it to her suggesting it would be a good idea not to take the keys with her. She straightened up, bit her lip, and started walking. She reached the fence and waded through the tall weeds all the way around this time looking for a break in the fence. She found one not too far from some outer buildings. There were just a few cuts through the chain-link but enough that she could squeeze through to the other side. She hustled towards the back of one of the small hangers, flattened herself to the wall and crept along to the corner where she peeked around to assess the situation. She could see some movement next to the shuttle. A few soldiers loading crates into its bloated looking belly. The ramp was in place again and she watched a dark-haired man dressed in a different uniform than the others exit the craft, make his way down the ramp and head for the terminal.
 
There were at least 4 outbuildings between her and where she needed to go so her hope was she could sneak behind them one by one until she was close enough not to look out of place when she finally let herself go out into the open.
 
She slid from the back of one building to another. Making her way closer and closer to the center of the action. She was just about to make a move to the last building when she heard someone come up behind her.
 
“What are you doing, soldier?” a man's voice barked.
 
Her heart sank. She turned around about to launch into her rehearsed speech when the man suddenly snapped to attention, saluted, and hurriedly apologized. “Oh, I'm so sorry Major. Please forgive me. I thought you were one of the grunts we've got working out here on the line trying to get out of loading duties. It happens all the time which is why I'm out here patrolling this morning. Are you the pilot we were waiting for? Are you lost?”
 
Carolyn had completely forgotten that she was wearing her old uniform that clearly identified her as not only a Major but as a pilot as well.
 
“Yes, actually yes. To both of those questions Sargent uh” She leaned in to look at his uniform “Sergeant Owen, I am completely lost. Can you please show me where I'm supposed to go? The man who dropped me off sent me over here and I can see he was mistaken.”
 
“Oh, you must mean Private Riley. He's also new and dumb as my hind-end. Follow me Major and I'll get you where you need to be.”
 
Carolyn took a deep breath and tried to step back into being an officer. She didn't have to pretend. She really was. But it felt like it was a lifetime ago.
 
She followed Sargent Owen across the blacktop towards the terminal. If she didn't know better and there wasn't some otherworldly aircraft parked right in front of her everything looked pretty much business as usual. They skirted around the outside of the giant transport and entered through a sliding door that took them into a long corridor. With every step, Carolyn slid further back into her former life. Her stride lengthened and shoulders squared and her chin lifted ever so slightly higher. By the time they got to where the Sargent was taking her she had fully become Major Carolyn Beckett all over again.
 
She stepped into a small stuffy office filled with older men all talking and looking at paperwork.
 
Sargent Owen cleared his throat. They all looked up.
 
“This is Major Beckett” He announced. “She is the new pilot. Just got here a little while ago. She was lost and I found her and brought her in.”
 
“Thank you, Sargent,” One of the Generals said.

Clearly proud of himself, Owen continued to stand there smiling. “You can go now,” the same general said, frowning.

 Sargent Owens saluted and left the room looking slightly crestfallen not to be congratulated further.
 
“General McIntyre, Major. Glad you're here. We're short a pilot after that incident off-planet yesterday. I'm surprised they got someone here so quickly but I'm pleased. Have you finished basic training on how to fly one of the transports?”
 
“Due to how quickly they said you needed me, sir, I have not finished but I am a very fast learner.” And good Bullshitter when I have to be, she added in her head.
 
“We'll put you in the co-pilot seat for the flight up. Captain Reed will show you whatever you haven't learned yet. You made sure to take your pill this morning?”
 
“My pill?” she blurted out before she could stop herself. Great, think fast but talk faster. Try not to blow your cover, dumbass, she told herself.
 
“Yes, the pills we have to take every day? The effects of the gas are much worse where you are going so even though you can skip a day without too much trouble down here, up there you'll turn into one of those freaks in no time. Did you take it this morning?”
 
“OH yes, of course. I thought you meant, I mean, I was thinking, Oh yes, of course, I took them.” Good, now she was stammering. That reeked of professionalism. But the General didn't seem to notice as he leaned out the door to call the Sargent to take her back outside to the tarmac.
 
As she followed Owens back down the hall with the understanding of how these people were not affected by the gas she realized it created even more questions. Why would they work with whoever was doing this? Maybe what was happening to those taken away wasn't bad. But if it was bad maybe these people didn't know it was bad. But if they knew it was bad and they were complicit with it then these people were bad too. As Rob said, Why did things have to keep getting weirder?
 
Owens took her down a different hall on the way out and they passed by the waiting area which was rapidly filling up with blank-faced soon-to-be passengers. Carolyn stopped briefly and looked out at the crowd, hoping Lucas was out there and doing OK.
 
Owens stopped too and leaned over. “Creepy aren't they?”
 
“Yes. Very much so. Do you know what happens to them?” She hoped she wasn't supposed to know this and the question wouldn't raise any red flags.
 
“No,” he said “But as long as it isn't me I couldn't care less. The whole lot of us are not supposed to ask questions. Just do what we're told and we'll be spared their fate.” He nodded towards the ever-growing number of people in the room. OK so according to her checklist that meant these people were complicit and therefore... bad.
 
“How about the people who aren't affected by the gas naturally. I heard there are a bunch of them.”
 
“They aren't a problem I guess. We're supposed to eliminate them if we come across any. But otherwise, we're not worried because they are too busy trying to survive to be of any consequence.”
 
Great “shoot to kill” but “don't go hunting”. Both unsettling and reassuring at the same time.
 
“Let's get moving,” he said. “You've got to get settled in the cockpit.”
He continued down the maintenance hallway until they got to one of the outer doors. He pushed them open and they stepped out into the morning sun and then walked through the shadow of the transport. He led her to the ramp which was much longer and taller than it had looked from a distance. He headed up without hesitation. Carolyn realized she hadn't had this many butterflies in her stomach since she was a kid going on her first roller coaster. She had been panicked out of her mind because her brothers had told her that sometimes the seat belts came loose so she had better hold on tight just in case so she wouldn't fly out. Once she figured out they were lying to her she was able to relax and enjoy the thrill and it was one of the first times she thought she might like to fly jets for a living so she could go fast whenever she wanted to. But at this moment she was nine years old all over again full of fear and uncertainty. And it didn't help that the words of the General about the “incident” yesterday that left them short a pilot were still ringing in her ears.
 
“Are you coming?” Owen called from the top of the ramp. She shook the thoughts out of her head and marched up the ramp with a false sense of bravado and directly into the craft. She looked around and realized it didn't look much different than an ordinary airplane. There were at least thirty rows of seats separated by a middle aisle and a tiny window for each row. She couldn't figure out what the people they were transporting needed a window for but maybe this was used for something else when they weren't abducting zombies. There was a stairway directly in front of her that went to the second level. Owen was ushering her to the left into the cockpit. She walked up a short flight of five stairs and stepped inside and her heart dropped. Nothing looked even the slightest bit familiar. Not that she expected it to but she had hoped that it might have had at least a few things that would seem intuitive. There was no wheel, stick, or anything for that matter that might be used for steering. Nothing but lighted screens on every surface, probably touch-sensitive. A small rectangular window in the front and the seating was placed in such a way that you could easily see outside but also reach all the surfaces. Did you need to see outside when you were in space? Were there other spaceships flying around that you had to avoid? Carolyn guessed she was going to find out.
 
“Captain Reed should be here any moment,” Owens said “He'll get you all settled in. I have to go and supervise the rest of the loading now.” And he was gone. Leaving her standing in the cockpit of an alien transport that was going to take drugged up people to some unknown fate. And she was supposed to help fly it. She leaned in closer to the screens that were already lit up. Mostly there were just little icons that she assumed represented whatever function they were for. But the longer she looked the less confident she felt. Nothing looked like anything she had seen before. And then there were the squiggles and marks that were probably writing. It looked closer to Egyptian hieroglyphs than anything else.
 
“Hello” Captain Reed appeared behind her and she fell forward into the control panel. “Oh sorry,” he said much quieter this time as he reached out to try to catch her. He was tall with a high and tight military cut, dark brown eyes and an extremely large nose.
 
“Oh no... no it's OK” Carolyn gasped trying to catch her breath. “I guess I'm just a little on edge.”
 
“Oh, I understand. I think everyone is. Especially after that incident yesterday. I'm very pleased they got us another pilot so quickly. Last we heard we weren't getting a replacement until next week. I mean I can fly this thing by myself but it's always easier to have a co-pilot, you know what I mean?”
 
“Oh absolutely. I'm Major Beckett by the way.”
 
“Wonderful to meet you. I'm Captain Reed. You won't have a problem being a co-pilot when you outrank me?
 
“Are you kidding? I welcome not being in charge! The only way I was able to be here so quickly was because they hadn't given me much training on this bird. I will follow your lead.” Major Bullshitter reporting for duty. Now, as long as she could fake flying some alien spacecraft she was good to go.
 
Captain Reed slid into one of the seats. “I'll walk you through the pre-flight checklist.”
 
Carolyn settled into the seat next to him hoping she continued her reputation as a fast learner.
 
                                 ****
 
Meanwhile, back in the terminal, the herd of affected had begun to arrive. Wandering slowly yet purposely, turning off the highway, onto the feeder road into the airport, following the road that twisted and turned up to the terminal, through the sliding glass double doors, passed the ticket counters and into the waiting area where they all came to an easy and gentle halt. In the middle of it all, Lucas hid among them, blending in as best he could. Trying not to make eye contact with anyone he passed who wasn't affected but trying to keep an eye on any obstacles so he didn't trip. None of the people he was walking with seemed to have a moment's hesitation when it came to stepping up on curbs or dodging signs or any other obstacle that might be in their way. He managed to do a relatively good job and got all the way to the terminal before walking headlong into the center divider in one of the doorways they went through. He was more concerned that someone saw him than of the throbbing pain in his forehead.
 
When they finally stopped there was almost no room to move with how tightly packed everyone was. He was near the front so he hoped he would be in the first group to get flown away to wherever they were going. He wasn't sure he could stand shoulder to shoulder with stinky, sweaty zombies for very long. Two men in uniforms worked their way through the crowd towards the outside door and pushed them open and stood aside. The entire group began slowly walking forward again following the red-carpeted walkway cordoned off by hanging velvet ropes. He felt like he was going to the Academy Awards. And he wondered if he could get nominated for the acting role he was currently playing. He pretended to give an acceptance speech in his head to keep his mind off the fact that he was fast approaching an alien spacecraft that was about to take off into space to someplace totally unknown to a fate that could very well be worse than death.
 
“I want to thank everyone who encouraged me to try this new endeavor, who believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.” He made it all the way to the end carpet “Especially my sister Jilly, who always knew I could achieve greatness” He was approaching the ramp. “Also I want to thank Carolyn who was my very talented co-star without whom I could never have made it this far” he made it up the ramp and to the door “and lastly I want to thank Rob who was the best behind the scenes support anyone could ask for.”
 
The audience in his head cheered and clapped and he waved and smiled.
 
Reality caught up with him and he was inside and being shuffled down the aisle. The guy in front of him sat in an end seat on the right and he turned left and scooted into a window seat in the opposite row. A slack-faced lady sat down next to him, robotically buckled her seat belt, and then leaned against him and closed her eyes as if going to sleep. He gave her a shove so that she ended up on a lady in the aisle seat next to her. He gave himself permission to look around since he didn't see any military people inside. He leaned left and right but couldn't see anything except comatose people who were now filing onto the stairs and heading to the upper deck. He rose out of his seat ever so slightly and he could just see over the heads of the people into the raised cockpit and he felt his heart skip a couple of beats when he saw that Carolyn had indeed fulfilled her side of this mission by being onboard. He wanted to signal to her so she would know he was here but it didn't feel safe to talk out loud. He reached into his jacket pocket where he had the small walkie and he pulled out the earbud and slid it into his ear. Then he turned it on and clicked the talk button a couple of times to alert her. If she talked back it would not be heard as long as he kept the earpiece plugged in.
 
In the cockpit, Carolyn was watching as Reed went through the pre-flight preparations. He was explaining everything as he went and Carolyn was trying to remember what he was telling her in the correct order but generally when you are learning something new (and complicated) like this you have days or weeks to make sure you are properly trained and ready. She was nodding and furrowing her brows and biting her lip with effort. Suddenly her walkie crackled. Twice. Then a third time.
 
Reed looked up from what he was doing. “Is that yours?”
 
“Um. Must be.” OK, so he didn't think it was weird that she had a walkie so that was good.
 
“Probably command, wanting to make sure you're where you're supposed to be. It's almost time to lift out of here.”
 
“Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is.”
 
“Aren't you going to answer it?”
 
“Oh, yes of course.” She reached into her back pocket and pulled the device out and at the same time slid the earpiece into her ear. “Major Beckett here. I am currently in the cockpit. Preparing for take-off.”
 
The walkie clicked a few more times. “I'm having trouble hearing you,” she said. Click click, more static.
 
“Sometimes it's hard to get reception in the cockpit,” Reed said.
 
“I'll step outside for a moment” Carolyn started to exit the cockpit but was met with a wall of people shuffling by to the upper deck. She wrinkled her nose at the smell. It was like a men's locker room after a long hard day on the field. She held her breath, stepped down the stairs, and pushed her way through them and out into the aisle on the other side where all the others were already seated. Suddenly Lucas whispered into her ear “I'm in the fifth row back.” She turned slowly as if just surveying her surroundings and spotted him at the window making eye contact with her.
 
“Roger that,” she said. “I can hear you loud and clear.” She paused as if listening to someone talk on the other end. “We are a go for take-off shortly. I'm co-piloting and Captain Reed is taking good care of me. I will report back when possible. Is everything OK where you are?”
 
Lucas double-clicked the walkie which was a predetermined code for yes. The wall of people finally stopped trickling in and with one last long look at each other, Carolyn turned and headed back up into the cockpit.
 
Reed was working on the last preflight details and when he was done he swung his seat around to face the other direction. He worked on one of the screens poking away at one icon after another. “It's really quite simple” he explained “You have to prep the fuel by opening the valves over here. And once the fuel has begun the mixing process you open this valve here” he was pointing and talking and not really paying attention to see if she was getting it all and understanding. Carolyn was taking mental notes but knew she was never going to remember it all. Just then she heard the cabin door sliding closed and glanced outside to see the ramp being rolled away.
 
She was sure she had never been this scared the first time she took up a jet by herself. But then she knew where she was going and where she was landing. And had more than just a vague idea of how to work the machine she was flying in. Reed continued punching buttons and the shuttle began to vibrate ever so slightly.
 
“Buckle up,” he said smiling. Carolyn smiled back at him but she was feeling anything but happy.
 
                                 ***
 
Lucas stared out the window watching the ramp disappear around the corner and felt the entire shuttle start humming quietly. He gripped the armrests tightly with both hands and hoped he wouldn't have to use the bathroom any time soon. And then immediately wondered why that was what his brain was focused on when he might never see this planet again. He looked around and wished that he was as oblivious as everyone who was seated with him. The lady on the end was snoring loudly and the guy behind him had pitched forward and his head was stuck between the two seatbacks. And he was drooling. A lot. Lucas put his palm on the guy's forehead and gave it a push, gently but hard enough to unwedge him and send him back to his own seat. He went back to gripping the armrests and staring out the window.
 
Suddenly they were lifting straight up off the tarmac. He watched the ground disappearing slowly and quietly beneath them as the buildings got smaller and smaller until he could barely make out what each object was on the ground. And then they stopped. He remembered riding one of those “sky jump” rides at the fair a few years ago where you sit in a seat and it shoots you up a pole about 20 stories into the air and when you get to the top it just keeps you hanging there holding your breath waiting to drop like a rock all the way back to the bottom. Only this time he knew they were going to be shooting up instead of down.
 
The whole craft began moving starboard as if it was on an invisible turntable hanging in midair. Once it made a complete half turn, the nose starting lifting skyward and he felt himself sinking onto the back of his seat. He checked his seatbelt to make sure it was as tight as he could make it and closed his eyes and held his breath and waited.
 
He hit the back of his seat so hard he saw stars. Why didn't he put his head back? He'd remember next time he assured himself. If there was a next time. The aircraft continued to pick up speed as it shot upward. Higher and higher until the clouds were far below him and disappearing quickly. He tried to look out the window but the g forces kept him solidly smashed against the fabric. He wasn't sure how much time had passed before the sky outside turned black.
 
I've left the atmosphere, he told himself. I'm in space. This is cool. You should appreciate how cool this is. But the part of his brain responsible for self-preservation was screaming about how there was no air outside and he didn't have a spacesuit in case of sudden decompression of the cabin and even if they made it safely to wherever they were going he was probably going to end up as a side dish in an alien buffet so NO YOU IDIOT it's not cool in the least. He sighed deeply thinking the last moments of his life were going to be spent arguing with himself.
 
He kept wondering when he was going to feel weightless. He knew he should start to float any moment now. But it never happened. They must have artificial gravity. How was that possible? What else could they do? Aside from drug earthlings, control them with loud sirens. At this point, he realized he needed to stop asking questions he would probably never know the answers to and concentrate on what was going on around him. "Stay alert, stay alive" was going to be his motto.
 
He noticed that he was no longer plastered to his seat and it felt just like flying in an airplane. Some background humming noise and vibration but nothing else. He leaned forward and looked out the window. The view was unreal. He could see the earth below him. Brown and blue and covered in wispy white clouds. It looked so calm and alone surrounded by darkness. Jilly was down there. Probably scared to death for him. He was thinking that everyone he had ever known was down there only to have the thought that probably some of them had already been taken and he would probably never see them again come crashing through to remind him of the gravity of the situation.
 
He could see the moon like he had never seen it before. It was still a round gray ball in the distance but now it seemed huge and he could easily see the impact craters with ejected material strewn in long uneven lines across the surface. The longer he looked the closer it got. He wondered if they were going to land on the moon? Wow, imagine that he thought. Me. On the moon. "Still not cool" the life-preserving part of his brain chided.
 
He realized they had to be traveling at an unbelievable speed because they were going to get there in just a few minutes. He glanced around. Everyone else was still catatonic. Lolling slightly with the vibration. The cockpit door was closed so he couldn't get a look at what was happening with Carolyn. The two guards who had boarded at the last moment had gone to the upper deck and there was no one but him awake and aware in the cabin. His leg jiggled up and down with nerves. A habit he thought he had broken years ago though he understood why it had come back now.
 
He pressed his face against the windowpane which was smooth and cold. Looking to see if he could still see the earth. It was an ever-shrinking marble that was slowly disappearing behind them. The moon on the other hand was looming like a multi-hued gray orb directly out his window. He could easily make out the downward sloping crater walls and the smooth flat area that made up the crater floor. Some of the craters had a central peak caused by the kinetic energy of the impacting object being turned to heat and melting some lunar material. He remembered that from an astronomy class he took in college a few years back. Though he never guessed he would be able to see it with his naked eyes. This will be quite a story to tell the grand-kids about he assured himself.
 
The shuttle looked like it was going to continue past the moon but at the last moment, it took a hard right and headed around the backside. Lucas was so busy staring at the craters below him that he almost missed the looming spaceship that appeared in front of them hovering a few miles above the surface.
 
His heart stopped. His breathing stopped. His mouth hung open and he was pretty sure he might have just wet himself. He tried to swallow but there was no moisture in his mouth and he just gagged at the effort. He wanted to run as far away as possible but there was no place to go so he sat in abject terror as the shuttle headed right towards it.
 
It was enormous. It stretched into the distance further than he could see. And it had to have been at least ten stories tall. They were approaching quickly and as they got closer he could see a large opening in the side. Two moderate-sized spacecraft, unlike the one he was in, were just leaving as they were flying in. They entered a cavernous bay with dozens of different ships parked along the sides. There were dozens of what looked like humans in military uniforms bustling around, shoving crates around on dollies, and carrying stacks of boxes from one place to another.
 
But more worrisome were the others who were bustling around that did not quite look like humans. He assured himself it was a trick of the light but down deep he knew he was looking at aliens. Real aliens. He barely noticed that the shuttle had touched down and was taxiing into its own spot along the wall. Several of the people around him had begun to stir. Just a little movement here and there. One lady across the way lifted her head and the guy across the aisle stretched out his legs.
 
The uniformed men appeared from the second level and knocked on the cockpit door. Carolyn opened it looking a little pale and out of sorts. He could just make out them saying something about the passengers waking up and if they should administer a small dose of gas. Carolyn turned around presumably to check with the other pilot then turned back and nodded. She looked towards Lucas and briefly their eyes locked before she turned back into the cockpit and closed the door.
 
One of the guards reached up and opened a panel near the ceiling and turned a valve. Both guards pulled a small mask up from their necks to cover their noses then stepped back up into the stairwell. He heard the hissing first then saw the milky white gas start to fill the cabin from vents that were above each seat. The woman next to him who had already opened her eyes and was looking around took a breath and slouched back into her seat. He on the other hand started coughing and wheezing and his eyes immediately began watering. He was trying to remain calm and not bring attention to himself but it was almost impossible not to cover his face or sit still. He kept trying to hold his breath but after only a couple of seconds the gas burned his lungs and he had to release it in a giant explosive burst. He yanked his shirt up and tried to duck his head below the seatback in front of him. Just when he thought he couldn't take it any longer the gas stopped. He wiped his eyes with his shirt and pulled it back down and tried to look passed out just as the guards returned from the stairwell.
 
He heard a noise and watched as the door was opened from outside of the cabin and a man started hooking up the exit ramp. The guards exited and Lucas couldn't see where they went. Without warning an incredibly loud siren went off in several short bursts. One long, two short followed by two more long ones. He instinctively grabbed at his ears and ducked his head again. He had no idea how he was going to continue this charade if things like this kept happening. Suddenly every person in the cabin unbuckled their seat belts and stood up. He did the same. Trying to be alert and act zombie-like at the same time.
 
The cockpit door opened and Carolyn and the other pilot came out into the cabin then through the outside door and were gone. The first row of people started filing out neatly. One row at a time. When his turn came to leave he followed the people in front of him along the aisle and out the door and down the ramp. He kept his head down far enough so he wouldn't be tempted to look anyone in the eyes but high enough so he could still look around.
 
The room they were in was cavernous. Easily two football fields long and one football field wide. There were dozens of ships parked along the perimeter and a tremendous amount of activity. He wanted to get a closer look at whoever it was that was bustling about but he wasn't sure he could hold it together if one of them turned out to be a little green man from Mars. Of course, he didn't see anyone with obviously green skin so that was a positive.
 
He followed the group that seemed to know exactly where they were going. They headed towards the back wall, through a large doorway and into a long wide corridor. It was brightly lit and not a single door as far as he could see. With the way footsteps were echoing he would swear they were walking through the corridors of a high school gymnasium. After it felt like they had walked at least a mile (he was sure he was overestimating) he finally saw a large doorway. And like good little drugged up humans, they went right through it.
 
It was another huge area with tall ceilings and highly polished floors. But this time instead of being filled with ships, it was filled with cages. Rows and rows of cages like the biggest dog pound he had ever seen. As they filed in and turned right Lucas was horrified to see hundreds and hundreds of metal cells as far as his eye could see. There were at least twenty connected together before there was a break for a perpendicular aisle followed by another twenty. Over and over again. And inside each cage were people. Real people just standing there staring out at him smiling. Ever so often one of them would wave and occasionally one would say “Hello friend”. Obviously, once you were put into cages they let the secondary zombie gas wear off and you were back to being the clueless airheads that were filling the cities.
 
Finally, the line ahead of him slowed down. He wanted to see what was going on but he knew better than to start bobbing and weaving and possibly giving himself away. He heard a cage door shut, then the line moved another few feet and stopped. A cage door shut. The line moved some more than stopped. A cage door shut. Over and over. Closer and closer. And in those moments he knew he was in big trouble. He was going to be locked in a cage. And then what? Would Carolyn be able to find him and save him before whatever was going to happen to him happened? And then he had that same thought about needing to use the bathroom. Would he have to pee in the corner? In front of all these other people? He noted that the self-preservation part of his brain was working overtime to come up with problems beyond just being stuck in a cage on an alien ship. He was looking as discreetly as he could to see if he could get away but there were no doors anywhere. He tried to stop moving and let the others move around him so he had longer to think but it only worked for a moment until the group became so tightly packed around him that he was simply being carried along without even moving his feet. And who was right next to him? The drooler from the shuttle. He tried to maneuver away but it was no use. He had to resign himself to the inevitable.
 
A man in a uniform stood at an open cage door and ushered the people in front of him inside. Lucas followed them in and he heard the door slam behind him. More people started filling in the cage next to him until it was full, and that door closed and it kept going on and on and on.
 
He had a slightly hysterical thought that maybe they were all being collected as pets. And at the end of the day alien parents would bring their children in and everyone would get to select a human pet and take it home and feed it bagged People Chow and let it sleep on the end of their bed and take it for walks and give it a silly name like Pinky or Baldy or Frances.
 
I'm losing it, he said almost out loud. I'm going completely crazy and there is no hope left. He felt a tear well up in his eye and trickle down his cheek. He never felt so scared and alone in his entire life.