Sequence

Sequence

Adam Moon

Sequence c
opyright Adam Moon 2013

All rights reserved

Earth Orbit

The first mate argued with his captain, “We don’t know if these creatures are advanced enough yet to include in the experiment. I say we skip this planet.”

The captain shook his head. “We’ve come too far to get lazy. You know what’ll happen if we come back short.”

The first mate turned away in disgust. “Okay then. Let’s check them out.”

“
Get the ship below their cloud cover and we’ll take a quick look. If they’re still unevolved, then we’ll pass it over. But if I’m right, we’ll follow protocol.”

“Yes sir.”

Earth

Chris Mathers was just getting done mowing the lawn. His live-in girlfriend of the past two years, Megan, was pulling weeds along the cyclone fencing as he parked the push-mower inside the garage.

He hated mowing the lawn
, which was why it was always such a chore. The grass was always up to his ankles by the time he got around to it, clogging up the damn mower every few minutes. He was content in the knowledge that it would be another two or three weeks before he’d be touching anything green in the yard again.

Chris
was twenty-eight and as irresponsible as a teenager. But he was fine with that. He enjoyed taking each day as it came, avoiding chores, and generally just skating through life.

His girlfriend hated his attitude enough to
have cheated on him on at least three occasions, searching in vain for a better suitor.

He didn’t care about that either
, much. He’d loved her when they’d moved in together, but now they just tolerated each other. Chris was too lazy to start the fight that would end it all and his girlfriend was too cowardly to end it without having an escape plan. It was a bad way to coexist, but they made it work somehow.

The fact that they both had awful, low-
paying jobs meant there was no escape from each other just yet. Together, they barely got by, but that was better than the alternative.

In short, they were losers apart and mildly successful but miserable together.
They weren't exactly a winning combination but Chris was fine with that.

Their friends Dave and
Jackie walked up the driveway and shouted for them from the other side of the gate. They were early for a night of beers and cards. Chris enjoyed Jackie’s company, but mostly because she was gorgeous. Dave was cool too. They were a perfect match, and for some unknown reason, they enjoyed Chris and Megan’s company as well.

Chris
opened the gate and let them in the backyard. Megan stood up and dusted herself off quickly to try and present herself in the best possible way to Dave. She flirted with him whenever Jackie was out of earshot, although Dave had never reciprocated. But that didn’t stop Megan from doing what she did best.

Dave held up
two twelve packs of beer and said, “There’s another twelve-pack in the car if we run out.”

Chris shrugged.
“I still have half a keg in the basement. I think we’re all set for a long night.”

Jackie
flicked a stray hair from her face. “I think we should up the stakes this time. I’m sick of these penny ante rules.”

She was referring to their poker rules.
Chris would have done anything to have a strip-poker game with Jackie, but that would be inappropriate. Because of the way Megan had treated him over the past year, and because Jackie was so damn hot, he’d had fantasies about her, despite the fact that he knew there was no way to make them a reality. He also knew it made him a bad friend to Dave. He doubted Megan had the same reservations regarding her attraction to Dave. Megan only cared about herself.

Before anyone had a chance to vote yes or no to upping the ante, something strange happened.

Uninvited Guest

The sky darkened like an unannounced total eclipse had showed up to the party.

Good
, thought Chris. No sun meant no grass growth.

Megan said,
“What the fuck’s up with the sun? Is a storm coming?”

Chris
looked up and shook his head. “That’s no storm. If I’m not mistaken, it looks like the end of the world.”

Megan scowled. “You’re always so dramatic.” Then she looked up and said, “Oh fuck. Oh shit. What do we do?”

Jackie was wide-eyed in awe. She said, “We can only hope that they’re friendly.”

Megan was starting to hyperventilate.
“That thing does not look friendly.”

She was right. It looked like a flying warehouse, but seamless and pitch black.
It looked like a harbinger of death.

It floated in the stratosphere like it belonged there. Then a lot of nothing happened as
everyone witnessing its arrival went haywire.

This was
the world’s first contact with an alien ship, and it had taken them by surprise.

Chris
grabbed Megan and they rushed into the house, followed by Dave and Jackie. Chris knew it was a dumb move, but it was instinctive. If that blocky spaceship wanted them dead, their two story wooden house wasn’t going to protect them.

Then, all at once, he and Megan
, Dave and Jackie grabbed their ears as a voice came to them from within their own heads. It had inflection but it rose and fell in all the wrong spots. It had a sing-song quality to it.

It said
in perfect English,
“We need one apex animal from this planet. The apex animals are you humans. We will give you one minute to decide who we are taking with us. When that minute expires, we will choose for you.”

The voice was now suddenly absent and
Chris let out a long breath.

Megan let go of her head and said, “This can’t be real.”

Jackie looked at Dave and exclaimed, “”This is amazing. This is historic. Can you believe it?”

Dave smiled a big dopey grin but he remained silent
, lost in his own imagination.

Chris
said quietly, “Just lay low until it goes away. Some dork will volunteer to go with them before—”

Jackie
interrupted, “I’m the dork you’re talking about. Dave is too. We’ve spent countless hours discussing first contact.”

Dave said to her, “We should volunteer to go.”

“Only if we can go together. Imagine the things we would see.”

It caught
Chris by surprise. He had no idea they felt that way. Then again, he used to have similar flights of fancy before Megan came along and sapped all the enthusiasm from his bones.

Megan glowered at Dave and
Jackie but it didn’t dampen their spirits. “You can’t be serious. Why would you want to volunteer for something like that?”

Chris
didn’t let them answer. He interrupted with, “Shit, if I’d been asked a few years ago, before I met you, I would’ve said yes to them. Can you imagine the bizarre stuff you’d get to see?”

“You’re kidding?”

“Nope. I would’ve looked right up at that big block and said, ‘Take me with you.’”

Chris
felt a shudder in his bones and his vision went wonky.

T
he first thing he noticed was that he was no longer inside his house, but in a dark room. Everything about it was alien. Only then did he put two and two together, and realized he was onboard the spaceship.

He muttered to himself, “You
god damn dumbass.”

Abduction

He started to gag
, but then he heard a hissing noise, and within a few seconds the air became cleaner, more palatable. The four walls of the room were bare and dark, like a jail cell.

He yelled, “I didn’t mean it. Send me back.”

That same melodic voice came from within his head: “If you made a mistake, it’s too late to take it back. We’re at the other end of the galaxy now.”

“That’s impossible. That would require faster than light travel.”
He knew that light speed was the cosmological speed limit because he watched the Science Channel whenever Megan wasn’t hogging the TV. He also knew how silly it was of him to argue with an advanced alien being about science and its limits.

The voice ignored him. “Take the pills you’re about to get. You
will then expel your waste.”

A drawer opened in one of the walls and when
Chris approached it, he saw three pills and a worm-like metallic rod. “What are the pills for?”

“They’
ll destroy any parasites and bacteria within you. We cannot allow you to contaminate this ship with uninvited guests.”

Chris
handled the pills like they were miniature bombs. He hated to put anything in his body without knowing what it was, but when the voice added, “If you don’t take the pills we can’t let you out of that room,” he swallowed them all down at once. He had to get off of this ship and get home, and that would be impossible if he was trapped inside the room.

Then the voice continued, “The translator must be inserted into your mouth now.”

“It’s too long. I’ll choke.”

The silence said it all. If he didn’t do as told, he wasn’t getting out.

He gingerly picked it up and rolled it between thumb and forefinger. It was slick to the touch and had almost no weight. He put it towards his mouth and the thing came alive. It slipped out of his grasp and shot in between his lips before he could close them. Then it melted like chocolate and sealed his throat.

He panicked. He looked around the room with wide beseeching eyes, hoping for some type of alien intervention. Then the melted rod ran upwards into his nose, burning his mucous membranes
, and downwards into his lungs, tickling his bronchial tubes as it seeped inside of him.

His brain screamed out in terror and confusion for a second and then everything went back to normal.

He put a palm on the dark wall to steady himself. He was trembling uncontrollably.

The voice returned. “You can now speak to and understand every life form on this vessel.
The apparatus also acts as a breather so you can survive in our environment with few ill-effects.”

“Can I come out yet?”
His voice was tinged with hope, but also fear. He had a feeling that what awaited him beyond that door would blow his mind. His heart filled with dread at the realization that his fate was in alien hands.

“You must first expel your waste
so that we’re sure the pills have destroyed the contaminants you brought with you.”

“Where should I do it?”
He was relieved they wanted him to defecate. He’d had an overwhelming urge to crap his pants ever since they’d abducted him.

“On the floor is fine.”

“Don’t watch,” he said as his stomach began to rumble.