CHAPTER TEN – The Liberty
The door closed behind us, and then silence filled the air. No longer being able to hear wind, waves, birds, insects or anything else was a strange experience. There was a clean smell in the air, like a fragrance of washing detergent. The corridor was empty and quiet. It was a weird feeling transitioning from that beach to a place so modern, so artificial. It felt different from the last time I was in that corridor. This time it felt safer, more homely. Periclum was taking me down the corridors and led me through a few flights of stairs. He led me to a large observation room with large windows on one side and amphitheater benches on the other. They decorated it the same way the corridors were, with a minimalist white look. We entered from a door that was right next to the window. Periclum went to sit down and…
CHAPTER NINE – Unmasked
I leaned my deckchair back and laid there, sunbathing under the tropical sun for quite a while. I was contemplating where I was, what was real, whether I was okay? A lot was going on in my mind, and it took a lot to accept what was happening. After about twenty minutes of trying to empty my mind and relax, my chest felt tight. I struggled to breathe and felt afraid. Opening my eyes, I stared at the clear blue sky. I watched the birds flying above my head and then I sat up abruptly in the chair to look at the water since a sickly feeling took hold. At that moment, I decided to swim to get away from this anxiety filling me. I was in that water for what must have been hours, swimming naked after leaving my boxers on the beach. Watching the fish swim under me as I was lazily kicking against…
CHAPTER EIGHT – Electric Dreams
I was running, running hard, but wasn’t tired. All I felt was fear. Darkness surrounded me, along with loud, weird sounds. There were figures in the dark following me. An extremely large ant jumped out at me with its mandibles snapping in my face as I ran past. Big machine turrets lit up the foggy dark, shooting out jets of light and sounding like wind. The floor became slippery, and I attempted to run. But instead of moving faster, I just slowed down. The turrets shooting out light and sounding like wind started moving the light in my direction. I looked behind me and the ant was chasing me, getting closer and closer. The sound of wind… no, the sound of crickets filled my ears and ouch. I slapped myself. Something had bitten me. My eyes opened, and I stared at the ceiling of the hut. Moving my arms in front…
CHAPTER SEVEN – The Nile
We first entered a smaller hangar area with what looked to be the same turret devices that materialised me standing on the sides of the room. They were being used to materialise similar camping gear they had given to me before. After which, we entered a corridor that looked fresh out of a science fiction show; I was expecting to find people dressed in bright uniforms around every corner. In some ways, I was hoping for it, wanting to find another human. Yet every corner we went around revealed just more empty corridors decorated with different doors. They made some doors out of wood, others metal. They had decorated others with gold, and others were plain. The corridor itself had strip lights on either side of the ceiling and they decorated the walls with a horizontal wood strip. It had a minimalist look to it, as if I was in an…
CHAPTER SIX – Processing
I watched when the woman had asked all her questions. The creature would then go to another three Tuhingan that appeared to scan that individual. They used a strange device that stood at least eight metres tall, with large boxes suspended down in four corners. The machine made various mechanical sounds as an individual would stand in the centre. Afterwards, the humanoid creature went to collect a box of camping gear and ended up going over to a seating area and sat at a picnic bench. They placed their box under their seat and received food and liquids on the table. The Tuhingans asked each one about their dietary requirements and what they drank. I watched the creatures that sat at the tables. There was a lot of confusion. Some did something different from the others, but most looked around then realised where to place their box and what to do. For…
CHAPTER FIVE – Welcome to The Liberty
“Welcome to The Liberty, I apologise about you not being able to move. We will release you as soon as we can do a quick assessment of you. Some of you aren’t fitted with a BCI, don’t worry. We will also take care of that, however I now realise you probably didn’t understand that sentence.” That was the first thing I heard after I felt my senses, from what I can only describe as, faded in. It was like I wasn’t conscious and there was darkness, but then the world faded in around me. Faded with the voice becoming loud. As my sight came back to me, I could see I was in this large hangar area. When I say large, I mean huge. It was so big that clouds blanketed the ceiling. My eyes were fixed on the ceiling, watching the mist swirl. I wanted to move. I wanted…
CHAPTER FOUR – Escape
A short time after I saw the strange goblin-like creature there was a great squeal that awoke me. “This is disgusting! What are we even doing here!?”. “Relax my love, we will find a way out of this situation.” another creature that seemed to be of the same race replied. “That is what you keep saying, but how are we going to get out of this mess?” That is when Caroline woke up. “wow, he is loud,” she said in a groggy way. I peered at her in silence, admiring her beauty for a moment even though she looked her worst. She looked at me, “sleep well?”. Still looking at her for a moment with a blank expression, I came around and answered her, “sure” I lied. At that moment I remember feeling so exhausted, I felt I could sleep for an eternity and felt no emotion. Everything around me felt…
CHAPTER THREE – The Myrmekes
As we passed through the large door, the creature next to me showed signs of stress and anxiety. It seemed irritable. I hastened my step to get ahead of this creature. But then, as soon as we went through the door, I felt myself being dragged backwards. This large grisly creature with six arms and fur all over its body yanked at my tank on my back. “This tank is mine!” the creature yelled. Without me even thinking, Caroline and another grisly creature sprang into action, jumping and forcing it to the ground. They both pinned it there as the other grisly creature was speaking with it. “Calm, it’s okay, you’re safe with us and you can breathe without equipment.” The creature that spoke had something that looked like a syringe and injected the other creature with some clear fluid. “Is that better?” the creature with the syringe asked. The…
CHAPTER TWO – The Cargo Ship
I woke with a start, heart pounding, sweat pouring off me and feeling a great panic. It felt like something had hit me in the back as my body jerked awake. An alarm clock was ringing and my head was pounding. Opening my eyes, I could feel I was back in that luxurious bed. Weird sounds were coming from the main room and started up the spiral staircase. My eyes were out of focus, but I strained to look at the door, waiting for something to happen. My mouth was dry and my head was spinning. The door burst open, and I had to rub my eyes for a moment. I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing. I thought I was still dreaming. There was an enormous ant like creature standing in the doorway. It must have stood well over two metres and was rubbing its limbs together like it was preparing…
CHAPTER ONE – The Penthouse
All I remember is working on the biggest project at CERN we had tested so far. It Reached speeds we had never achieved before. I recall the thrill we all went through as we saw the speed build up. The alarms rang, things shook, and the ceiling appeared to crack. We had to shut the project down and quickly. We needed to create a collision of the particles there and then. In that moment, intense pain took me over like fire had engulfed me and the sound of wind was roaring through my ears. There was a flash of a bare white room which didn’t contain any furniture. But the discomfort distracted me to take any notice. It felt as if I had immersed myself in molten magma. All I remember is pain, then… nothing. I woke up screaming from the pain as my skin still burned. It was all like a terrible nightmare, a nightmare that seemed all too real. Thankfully, I…