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. The walkie-talkies Natalie found 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 she dropped Lucas off, Carolyn pulled away toward the airport.
A moment later, her radio crackled. “I'm all set,” he said. “Towel stuffed under the door so I can minimize the gas from getting inside. I'm going to hide in the back room right before the sirens blare so I won't go deaf like yesterday.”
“Sounds good,” Carolyn said. “Be careful.”
“I will. Over and out.” He gave a small laugh after saying it. It made him feel like he was in some kind of spy movie.
He checked his watch. About twenty minutes to kill. 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 if he didn't make it back, 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 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.
“Never know when you're going to need some crispy frozen dessert,” he joked to himself.
There was a blow-up unicorn horn for cats labeled Cats Love It. “Doubt it,” he said.
Along the back wall were bins of gag items—hand buzzers, weird gum flavors, little prank kits. “Surprise your friends,” the packaging said. “Or make them hate you,” he said out loud.
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.” He wondered if Mr. Moody ever imagined one of his scouts would need to be prepared for getting launched into space trying 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 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. He pulled the door open and headed out towards the group. He easily fell in step with them, placing himself as close to the middle as possible, keeping his head down and his pace steady as they started moving toward 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 brother 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, adjusted her uniform, bit her lip and started walking. She reached the fence and waded through the tall weeds looking for a way in. She found one not too far from some outer buildings. There were a few cuts through the chain-link big enough that she could squeeze through to the other side. She hustled towards the back of one of the small hangars, 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 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 four 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.
“Hey! What are you doing, soldier?”
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?”
She’d completely forgotten 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, Sergeant, uh…” She leaned in to look at his uniform. “Sergeant Owens, 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 Sergeant Owens across the blacktop toward the terminal. If it weren’t for the massive, otherworldly aircraft parked right in front of her, everything would have looked like business as usual.
They skirted around the transport and stepped through a sliding door into a long corridor. With every step, something shifted. Her stride lengthened, her shoulders squared and her chin lifted ever so slightly higher. By the time they got to where the Sergeant was taking her she had fully become Major Carolyn Beckett all over again.
She stepped into a small, stuffy office where a group of older men were hunched over maps and paperwork.
Sergeant Owens cleared his throat. The room looked up.
“This is Major Beckett,” he announced. “She's the new pilot. Just got here a little while ago. She was lost and I found her and brought her in.”
“Thank you, Sergeant,” one of the generals said.
Clearly proud of himself, Owens continued to stand there smiling
“You can go now,” the same general said, frowning.
Sergeant Owens saluted and left the room looking slightly crestfallen not to be congratulated further.
The man stepped forward. “General McIntyre, Major—glad you’re here. We’re short a pilot after that incident off-planet yesterday. Didn’t expect a replacement this fast, but I’m not complaining.”
Off-planet. Carolyn kept her expression neutral.
“Have you completed training on these transports?” he asked.
“Not fully, sir,” she said evenly. “Deployment orders came through quickly. But I learn fast.”
And I’m a pretty good bullshitter when I need to be, she added silently.
“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 Sergeant 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.
He shrugged. “Nope. And I don’t care. As long as it’s not me.” He nodded toward the crowd. “We’re not supposed to ask questions. Just do what we’re told, and we don’t end up like them.”
OK so according to her checklist that meant these people were complicit and therefore... bad.
“Then what about the ones who aren’t affected?” she asked. “I heard there are some.”
“They’re not really a problem,” he said. “If we run into them, we’re supposed to eliminate them. Otherwise, command’s not worried. They’re too busy trying to stay alive to be any trouble.”
Great. “Shoot to kill” but “don't go hunting.” Both unsettling and reassuring at the same time.
“Let’s keep moving,” Owens said. “You’ve got to get settled in the cockpit.”
He led her down a maintenance hallway to an outer door and pushed it open. They stepped into the morning sun and crossed the transport’s shadow. The ramp was much longer and taller up close.
Owens started up without hesitation. Carolyn paused for half a second as she felt her stomach flip. She 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?” Owens called from the top.
“Yeah,” she said and shook the thoughts out of her head and marched up the ramp with a false sense of bravado and directly into the craft.
Inside, the transport was surprisingly normal. 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. Owens 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 minute,” Owens said. “He’ll get you set up. I’ve got to go supervise loading.”
And just like that 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 worse 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 startled and fell forward into the control panel. “Oh, sorry,” he said, much quieter this time, as he reached out to catch her. He was tall with a high and tight military cut, dark brown eyes and an extremely large nose.
Carolyn caught herself on the edge of the console, heart pounding. “No, it’s fine,” she said, forcing a breath. “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 nicer 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.
They wandered slowly but purposefully, turning off the highway onto the feeder road into the airport and following the twisting road up to the terminal. They passed through the sliding glass doors, went by the ticket counters, and entered the waiting area, where they came to an easy, gentle halt. In the middle of it all, Lucas hid among them, blending in as best he could.
He avoided eye contact with anyone who looked unaffected while still watching where he was going. The people around him didn’t hesitate at all. They were stepping up on curbs, moving around signs, adjusting without thinking. He tried to match that rhythm and did a decent job until he walked straight into the center divider of one of the doorways. He was more concerned someone saw him than 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 uniformed men pushed open the outer doors and stepped aside. The line started moving again. In front of them stretched a red-carpeted walkway cordoned off by hanging velvet ropes. He couldn’t figure out why they were making this abduction a first-class affair.
Instead of trying to make sense out of it, his brain did what it did best under pressure. It went somewhere else entirely. He imagined he was on the red carpet at the Academy Awards, winning Best Actor for the role he was currently playing. He kept his face slack as he shuffled forward, but in his head he arrived on stage to give his acceptance speech.
“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 reached the end of the carpet and approached the boarding ramp.
“Especially my sister Jilly, who always knew I could achieve greatness.” He stepped onto 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 reached 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, smiled and took a bow.
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 woman sat beside him, robotically buckled her seat belt, then leaned against his shoulder and closed her eyes. He gave her a shove, and she ended up leaning on the woman who had just sat down in the aisle seat.
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 doing her best to keep up
Reed was moving quickly, tapping screens, flipping through steps, explaining everything like she had weeks of training behind her instead of none.
She nodded when it seemed appropriate. Furrowing her brow as she tried to memorize anything at all. It wasn’t working.
Her walkie crackled once. Twice, then again.
Reed glanced up. “Is that yours?”
“Um. Must be.” OK, 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 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 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’ll report back when possible. Is everything okay where you are?”
Lucas double-clicked the walkie, their 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. 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. 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 leaned forward to check his seatbelt to make sure it was as tight as he could make it and suddenly 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 his seat. 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 and 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 remained catatonic, lolling slightly with the vibration. The cockpit door was closed, so he couldn't see what was happening with Carolyn. The two guards who had boarded at the last moment had gone to the upper deck, leaving him alone in the cabin. His leg jiggled up and down with nerves, a habit he'd thought he'd broken years ago. He understood why it had returned now.
He pressed his face against the smooth, cold windowpane, looking to see if he could still see 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 was impressed with himself that he remembered that from the 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 were just leaving as their shuttle flew in. They entered a cavernous bay with dozens of different ships parked along the sides. There were people in military uniforms bustling around, shoving crates 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 people. He assured himself it was a trick of the light. Maybe the strange lighting. Maybe exhaustion.
But something about them made him uneasy. He couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.
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 milky white gas start to fill the cabin from vents 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 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 as if he'd 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 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. The footsteps echoed as if 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 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. Every 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 city.
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 a few more feet, then stopped. A cage door shut. Over and over. Closer and closer. 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 that he was
simply carried along without even moving his feet. And who was right next to him? The drooler from the shuttle. He kept trying to slow down, hoping to put off the inevitable, but it was no use. He was about to be locked in a cage.
A man in uniform stood beside an open cage door, ushering the people in front of him inside. Lucas followed them in, and the door slammed shut 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 had never felt so scared and alone in his entire life.