"Ugh, why is the signal so bad here?" My brother, Arjun, groaned. He kept refreshing both of our phones.
"I mean, we are in a heavily forested area... and besides, we have the car’s GPS and the physical map."
"Aanya didi, I don’t think the GPS is working right." He pointed out the revolving arrows on the screen.
"It's just refreshing, don’t worry." Sector 7 ensured the GPS was working and updated, even if they had signal blockers on. Why is this thing so janky? I thought to myself, still driving.
"What kind of secret government agency that you won’t even name in front of me," he said that part with a hint of bitterness, "gives you a crappy GPS? And also why is the cabin in the middle of the woods with barely any signal. Is this even safe?"
"The entire area is owned by the government, dude. There’s even a governor’s lakeside mansion somewhere."
"Are you sure we’re going in the right direction?"
"I’m pretty sure."
"How sure?"
"Arjun Patel, I swear to God if you would stop asking me and check the physical map, and tell me where to turn, we will get there soon."
He was silent for a beat and mumbled, "And I thought a sibling weekend would be more fun than going to a stupid wedding."
"You know my hearing aid is on, right?"
"Yeah..."
"Check the damn map!" There seemed to be a fork in the road up ahead, and though there were no cars behind nor in front of us, I didn’t want to risk stopping in the middle of the road. Especially with the sun getting lower and the possibility of wolves or bears stalking about.
"Uhhh..." He tilted the map around.
"Well?"
"Give me a minute, I’m too young to read these kind of maps."
"Dude, I’m hardly a decade older than you."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Teenagers. Ugh.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"DIRECTIONS YOU—"
"RIGHT!" I swerved the car into the right lane, tires screeching as I did. I took deep breaths, calming my racing heart. "Couldn’t have said that earlier, dummy?"
"Hey, it’s not my fault the GPS sucks and our phone signal isn’t working."
"I don’t like your attitude, and I will absolutely turn around and drop you home and you can go to that wedding with mom and dad while I enjoy my weekend at the lakehouse if you don’t change your attitude right now."
"Hmmph." He changed the song playing, and then looked out the window, silent. The tension sat in the air for a few more minutes before he broke the silence with an apology and offered me some dark chocolate M&Ms. I took some M&Ms from him, a silent "I forgive you," before I munched on the treat. We started talking about space, an interest we’ve always shared. It’s too bad he isn’t allowed to know that I work for Sector 7 as an intern. He’d probably enjoy my stories of the aliens I work with, the ships I get to check out. Heck, I’d figure out how to allow the facility to allow him as a guest and show him the work I do. Regardless, I never deny the existence of aliens in front of him. We’ve discussed old sightings of aliens (I never revealed which ones were real) and we discuss what it would be like to have a colony on the moon from time to time. Right now we talk about NASA’s plans to take people to Mars.
An hour later, we both realize we were lost. We were supposed to be at our cabin by now. But instead...
"Hey didi, uhh..."
"We’re lost."
I pull over to the side. Arjun desperately tries to get signal by opening his window and tilting both of our phones around. I keep tapping the stupid GPS, which moved on from the refresh screen but now is stuck on the right turn screen from like half an hour ago. I look at the map, but unfortunately, there were no signs around indicating where we are. Just trees and rose bushes. My hearing aid beeped, indicating low battery. I have a backup battery in my bag, sitting in the back seat. "I need to swap my hearing aid battery," I say, reaching for my bag, and removing my hearing aid at the same time. At that moment, I heard a faint whirring, from my left ear, the sound muffled in my right. Arjun hears it too, and he starts scanning around. I try to figure out where the noise is coming from, but unfortunately, because of my hearing loss, it’s hard to decipher where it’s coming from. Arjun, however, suddenly out his window. "Oh my God," he says, shocked.
"What is it?"
He points up. "Is that... is that a UFO? It can’t be? Right?" His finger starts to quiver. I look between him and the blue light coming from above in front of us. Shit. "Didi?"
"Sit down, and close your window. Don’t look outside." I open the moon roof and stand up. Flying about 2000 feet above us was indeed a UFO. It was huge and looked fairly similar to the spaceships you see in movies. Well, at least from here. It’s massive, probably as wide as a Costco, with shiny silver plating on the outside. There’s bright white lights along the bottom.
I think I recognize the ship. Well... at least the system it belongs to anyway. Alpha Centauri. The ships from that system shared this kind of ship. The planets have an alliance with one another. The aliens there are on good terms with Earth, as far as I’m aware. Wary of humans, though.
I duck back down and shut the moon roof.
"Well?? Could it possibly be a secret Russian aircraft? I heard rumors of one."
"I-I uh... I don’t think so..." The whirring is getting closer. "I think we’re gonna have to off-road."
"Off-road?"
"Yeah," I start the car again, and slammed on the gas, driving off the road toward the right, where it seemed to be a large grass field. "Keep trying our phones, once we’re far enough, I think I have a commu- a radio."
"Radio? You didn’t mention that—ahhh!!" He yelped in surprise looking behind us. My eyes darted to the rearview mirror. "WHY IS IT FOLLOWING US?"
"I HAVE NO IDEA!!" What the heck?
"Faster!!"
"I’m hitting 90, my guy!!"
The spaceship isn’t traveling super fast but it’s big enough that it could catch up in decent time.
"Didi, look! Is that a big house?"
"Big house?" I looked to the horizon and saw a mansion, surrounded by trees, in the distance. Large and white, it looks modern. "Maybe we can hide out around that property. Someone like that has a lot of money for security. I’m not sure we’d be too welcome there. Not without an invitation at least."
"You work for the government, right? So—"
"Not directly and even then, I’m just an intern."
"Oh God... The aliens are catching up... we just had to get lost didn’t we?" He started praying to our gods. I focus on getting to cover. Once we get a minute away, I will call Sector 7 for backup. Hopefully, they can somehow send the aliens off. I rack my brain to see if there were supposed to be any incoming ships from Alpha Centauri, but I didn’t remember any.
Suddenly, a bright glow surrounded us.
Shit.
"Didi?" My brother’s shaky voice asked, grabbing my arm. The car stopped, even though my foot was still slammed against the gas pedal. I hit the gas harder but to no avail. A buzzing sounded around us, and then...
We were floating. Well, the car was being pulled up in the beam of light. Magnetic energy combined with a machine that can turn down gravity in small spaces, if I remember the schematics of the ship correctly.
"Arjun, listen to me," I say, grabbing his shoulders, his body shaking from fear. "Whatever you do, stay calm. Don’t attack. Let me handle this."
"We’re literally getting kidnapped by an alien spacecraft!! I can’t just be calm! And how are you going to handle this? Does your hearing aid transform into a mini lightsaber?"
"Wha—look, just trust me, please? I’m begging you, I’m your older sister, I will protect you."
"How?" My heart breaks from the fear in his eyes. I remember what it was like seeing aliens for the first time without any warning. Sector 7 doesn’t prepare you for your first interview with an alien. Getting to be an intern for Sector 7 itself isn’t something you just apply for. They find you. I guess sort of like these aliens for some reason.
"All in time, now be quiet." We’re now through the doors and inside a large elevator-like room that moves once the doors shut underneath us. It’s pretty dark in here, with a few small purple lights on the walls. Large claws grabbed on to the wheels of the car and held it tight. The car trembled as the ship went up, up, up... and... whoosh! I knew we were in space. No gear. No way to home by ourselves. And of course, no phone signal. "Stay down, okay." I whispered.
"Are we... are we... Are we away from Earth?"
"I-I think so..."
"HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?" Arjun shouted, panicked.
"Hey, they were following us. I didn’t know this would happen!!" I snapped back, just as the ship started shaking.
This can’t be good.
Suddenly, there was an explosion, and the car was engulfed in a wave of intense heat. The spacecraft seemed to tremble, and I instinctively grabbed Arjun, shielding him with my body as the car shook violently. "Arjun, hold on to me!" I screamed, my voice barely audible over the deafening noise.
The next few moments were a blur of chaos and confusion. I could hear Arjun's panicked cries, and I held on to him tightly, praying that we would survive whatever was happening. The spacecraft seemed to be in freefall, and I could feel the pull of gravity as we plummeted through space.
Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the chaos ceased. The car came to a sudden stop, and the intense heat dissipated. I slowly released my grip on Arjun and looked around, trying to make sense of our surroundings.
We were no longer in the spacecraft. Instead, we found ourselves in a vast, open field, surrounded by tall, golden grasses that swayed gently in the breeze. The sky above was a brilliant shade of blue, with not a cloud in sight. The air was fresh and crisp, and there was a sense of tranquility that was in stark contrast to the chaos we had just experienced.
"Didi, where are we?" Arjun's voice was trembling, and I could see the fear in his eyes.
"I... I don't know," I admitted, looking around in bewilderment. "But I think we're safe for now."
As we took in our surroundings, I couldn't shake the feeling that we had been transported to another world entirely. The landscape was unlike anything I had ever seen, and there was a strange sense of otherworldliness to it. I knew we needed to find out where we were and how to get back home, but for now, I was just grateful that we were alive and together.
"Come on, Arjun," I said, taking his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Let's find out where we are and see if we can get some help."
Together, we started walking through the field, our hearts filled with a mixture of fear and hope. Whatever lay ahead, we would face it together, as brother and sister, ready to take on whatever challenges this strange new world had in store for us.
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