by J. Blanes
Keira’s heart skipped a beat when she first saw it; she tried to talk, but no words came out of her mouth. Dylan gulped and then rubbed his eyes, just to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
Without a word, Albert released the straps and walked slowly to the window, captivated by the fascinating scene. Dylan and Keira followed him, still speechless, their mouths opened in awe and their eyes fixed at the window. For a while, they forgot their situation and gazed at the spectacle in absolute astonishment.
Soon several questions started to pile up in their minds, and none of them came with a plausible answer. It had been only two hours since the ship had taken off, and it made no sense at all. How could they be there?
How could it be possible?
How could the moon almost fill their whole field of view, growing bigger by the second?
There was a big smile on Albert’s face. Although he hadn’t expected this view or being so far away, he had guessed most of it right and felt proud of himself.
Then, when he really realized he had been right, his smile vanished. He looked at his friends, and at that moment, for the first time in his life, he would have given anything to be as ignorant as them.
For the first time in his life, the fear outweighed the excitement and the curiosity.
For the first time since he could remember, a tear flowed down his face.
SIX
The moon passed by, leaving an almost perfect black void in its place that not even the thousands of stars flickering in its background could brighten. No matter where they directed their eyes, an abyss of nothingness pervaded every corner. More than they ever imagined, space was an empty place to be, and an indescribable sensation of loneliness and desperation built up inside them.
“Come on,” Albert said softly, “let’s check the rest of the ship.”
They went back to the room with the seats. The opposite wall was also half-open, without any doors. The things they had left on the floor before takeoff were scattered all across the room. They collected them in silence. Keira took her camera and tested it, not because she wanted to take more pictures but as a reflex. They took everything with them and proceeded cautiously to the next room.
It was bigger than the room with the seats, and the walls were different from the shiny metallic look of the previous one. They were matte, almost white, and made from a material that resembled rubber. Albert found that they felt soft and fluffy to the touch. A rectangular table, without anything on it, and two chairs at each side, all of them anchored to the floor, were the only furniture in the room.
“Let’s put our things on the table for the moment,” Albert said, and the others did as he suggested. As there was nothing else in there, they advanced to the next room.
The next room only contained two bunks, without any sheets or pillows on them. Albert touched the walls again; they felt the same as in the previous room. Apart from that, they couldn’t see anything useful in there either.
The last room was much smaller than all the other ones, and emptier. It was only four feet wide and there was absolutely nothing inside.
Finally, a complete wall, without any openings on it, halted their progress. They had reached the back of the ship.
“Let’s go back and sit at the table to talk,” Albert proposed, showing his disappointment at the emptiness of the ship’s rooms.
Once at the table, Albert started speaking. “OK, let’s see where we stand.”
“I know where we stand,” Dylan snapped. “We’ve been abducted by an alien ship and sent into space for them to do whatever they please with us.”
Albert gave him a hard stare; so did Keira.
“You’re a whiner, you know,” Keira reprimanded him.
“What? I’m not a whiner,” Dylan protested. “I’m a realistic person.” He was surprised. He had thought Keira shared his feelings about their situation.
Keira didn’t back down. “Your realism is not what we need right now. We’re all in this together, and what we need is to focus on positive ideas that are going to help us get out of here alive.”
“Well, I don’t know how we’ll manage that,” Dylan insisted.
“I don’t know yet either, but I’m not going to give up just because of it. We’re talking about our lives here.”
“Our lives aren’t worth shit right now,” he muttered. He didn’t intend for them to hear, but it was too late when he realized his mistake.
Keira was incensed, and her cheeks flushed with red. “Then cry like a baby!” she shouted at him. “I’m the first to realize we’re in a dire situation, but I have no intention of giving up so easily. I’ll survive this, I’ll see my family and friends again, and I’ll do whatever is needed to achieve it. Do you understand?” Before Dylan could answer, she went on. “And I know Albert is with me on this. So, either you’re also with us, in which case you must shut your mouth unless it’s for something worth our time, or you leave us alone and weep until the aliens come to get you.”
Dylan didn’t expect that. It was like a wakeup call. He realized that he was the only one who had already given up. He had done the same stupid thing again, letting his negative, pessimistic side take over. He had misinterpreted Keira’s previous silence as if she had given up, like him, but it was just the opposite. Her silence had been one of self-reflection and building determination. He admired her for that, but even so, he was still not able to understand how she and Albert could remain so optimistic given the circumstances.
“OK, OK, it’s not what you think,” he said in a condescending tone. His admiration for her was one thing, but admitting that to her was a completely different matter. “I was just teasing you, you know. You weren’t talking, and I needed to provoke you so you’d tell us what you were thinking. And for the record, I’ve never surrendered before. Do you really think that this time was any different?”
“You jerk,” she said, still angry, slapping him hard on his shoulder. “Don’t think even for a second that you’re deceiving me. I know perfectly well you had already conceded defeat, but don’t worry, I don’t care as long as you remember what I said.”
“OK, Mom,” he said mocking her. “I’ll remember.”
“Let me know when you lovebirds finish your lovers’ quarrel,” Albert joked impatiently, but he was secretly happy to see how Keira had handled Dylan minicrisis.
“Hey, Brain Boy,” Dylan protested, visibly uncomfortable. “It’s a simple friendly exchange of ideas, so don’t meddle in our affairs and don’t spread false rumors.”
“No problem. Are you finished?” Albert leaned forward and gave him a defiant look.
“Yeah, I’m finished,” Dylan didn’t dare to look back at him.
“Fine, let’s get down to business. I’d start from what we know for sure. Do you agree?”
They both nodded.
“First,” Albert continued, also showing the count with his fingers, “we know we’re alone in this ship, unless the aliens are so small we can’t see them, which is not…”
“Or they’re invisible, like the ship,” Dylan interrupted with what he thought was a smart comment.
“In which case we’re not only unable to see them but we cannot hear them or smell them or touch them,” Albert said shortly. Dylan’s interruptions had started to get on his nerves.
“Well, yes, I’ve haven’t heard or—”
This time, Albert interrupted him. “If they’re here but we cannot detect them with our senses, it’s the same as if they’re not here. Therefore, for all practical reasons, we can ignore them and proceed as if they’re not here, don’t you agree?”
Dylan nodded without a clue of what Albert meant.
“As I was saying, we’re alone in here,” Albert continued. “That means that whoever built this ship is remotely controlling it or the ship is programmed to go somewhere, as in autopilot. Agreed?”
“Yes,” they agreed.
“Second”—Albert resumed his enumeration of facts—“about two hours ago we were on Earth, and now we’re flying through space in a spaceship built by a higher intelligence, or at least an intelligence with a higher technology than ours.” He paused, looking for their acknowledgment. “Or to put it bluntly, we’ve been abducted.”
No matter how much Keira had tried to reconcile herself to her current situation, when she heard the word “abducted,” a shiver ran down her back.
“And third,” Albert concluded, “we have a survival problem on our hands, with only a bottle of water, no food, and no hope for a prompt rescue. I know it’s hard to accept, but we need to be clear about it. Do you have any other comments or ideas?” Albert expected some stupid remark from Dylan, but he remained silent. Keira was the one who broke the silence.
“Until now you’ve stated the obvious, and, to be frank what you just said is not very useful,” she said.
Dylan grinned. This time he wasn’t the one being reprimanded.
“But I read in your eyes that you’ve figured out some other things. Am I right?” Keira knew Albert as well as she knew Dylan, and his insights and overall knowledge were two of the main things she leaned on to get out of there alive. But she also had realized that one of the roles she would have to play in the near future was making Albert share those insights with them. She would need to help him overcome his absurd fear of being wrong in front of them.
Albert didn’t know whether to tell them or not, and seeing his hesitation, Keira insisted. “Come on! Even if you’re wrong, we won’t hold it against you. Right, Dylan?”
“Of course not, whatever you say,” he replied, unconvinced. It would be very hard for him to miss a chance to mock Albert for his mistakes.
Albert stared at them and locked his eyes with Keira’s. He pondered it for a while before speaking again.
“OK, you win. Here’s what I think.” He sat back and crossed his arms. “The turbulence we experienced during the first stage of the flight was due to the ship flying through the Earth’s atmosphere. When we escaped from it, the flight turned calm and smooth. The ship had been accelerating for almost two hours, very fast at first but not enough to leave us unconscious, and then more slowly but steadily until just a few minutes ago. Are you following me?”
“Yes, Mr. Blake.” Dylan used Albert’s last name with the same tone and attitude that students use to reply at their teachers.
Albert ignored him, as a bad teacher would do with his students, and resumed his talk. “The moon is about 238,000 miles from Earth, and we reached it in two hours, so we can safely say that we’re traveling away from Earth at more than 100,000 miles per hour, probably much more.”
“Wow! Are you kidding me?” Dylan’s passion for mechanics made him familiar with speeds, and the number Albert mentioned was beyond impossible. “I can’t believe it; the ship is barely moving now.”
Albert smiled. “The fact that we don’t feel the ship moving doesn’t mean it has stopped. It just means that it’s not accelerating anymore and it’s maintaining a constant speed. There’s a physical law about this, and a very smart guy named Isaac Newton explained it to us hundreds of years ago.”
Dylan had heard about Newton, but he only remembered a story about an apple that fell on his head and something related to gravity—nothing about speeds. He would have remembered that for sure. “I don’t know. It’s too hard to believe.”
“Let me tell you a fact,” Albert said. “In 2006 NASA’s Pluto probe, the New Horizons, took eight and a half hours to get to the moon at a speed of about 36,000 miles per hour. We did it in two hours. Do the math. Think about it.”
Albert’s irrefutable fact finally convinced Dylan. He knew Albert had no reason to lie and always had his facts straight. As hard as it was for Dylan to believe, what Albert had told them was the truth; they were traveling away from Earth at an incredible speed.
“Don’t let this fact bother you,” Albert told him. “I know it’s hard to digest, but in space we must use other scales, different from the ones we’re used to in Earth.”
“Anything else?” Keira inquired, wanting to change the subject. Speeds and accelerations didn’t interest her. She just remembered the fact that every second she was farther away from Earth and her loved ones.
“You won’t believe it, but I think I have good news about our survival dilemma.” Albert’s comment made them raise their eyebrows in disbelief.
“How can you say that? We have only a bottle of water.” Keira reminded him about the obvious.
“Think about it,” Albert reasoned. “It’s absurd to abduct us just to let us die in here. It makes no sense at all. And there’s also the issue of the beds. It’s as if they’re expecting us to spend at least a day in here. They surely must know that we’d die without water and food, so there must be some of it, somewhere.”
“But we’ve seen the whole ship; there’s nothing in here, only empty walls,” Dylan said, remarking on the obvious as well. It seemed as if Albert had forgotten all about it.
“We haven’t looked hard enough,” Albert said firmly. He believed his logic was sound and would bet his life on it.
“And what about a bathroom?” Dylan insisted. “Don’t you think they should’ve installed a bathroom somewhere? Hygiene is critical for our survival, at least for my survival, especially if we’re going to stay more than a day in here.”
“That’s the only thing that really bothers me, but I know there must be one, too,” Albert replied with conviction in his voice.
“Talking about other things,” Keira said, changing the subject again, “can you guess where we’re going?”
“Not a clue, but I know that there aren’t any inhabitable planets in our solar system, and even at our current speed, we’d spend years before reaching any other star system. So, my first guess would be that we’re being transported to another bigger, faster spaceship.”
“Like a mother ship? Cool!” Dylan exclaimed, excited.
Albert didn’t share Dylan’s enthusiasm. “Yeah, something like that,” he said calmly.
“I see,” Keira said, mulling over Albert’s words.
“If you’re right,” Dylan said, returning to the food subject, the one that worried him the most, “the first thing we should do is look for food and water. But where?”
Albert had expected this question, but instead of answering it, he got up brusquely and started knocking on the walls with his fist.
Keira and Dylan looked at him in surprise. Albert seemed to lose it more and more by the second. “What are you doing?” Keira asked finally.
“The walls in this room are thicker than the walls in the other rooms,” Albert explained. “Maybe there’s a hidden compartment or something like it inside them.”
Dylan and Keira observed him with a mix of expectation and skepticism. Keira thought that Albert would eventually find something. Dylan, in contrast, thought that it was a waste of time. Who was right and who was wrong was revealed when Albert called them, excited.
“Come, help me here,” he said. “I may have found something.”
Keira got up quickly and looked at the portion of the wall Albert showed them. There, she could see four very small buttons, all of them similar to the ones on the straps, positioned at the corners of an invisible square on the wall. Albert touched them with his finger, one by one, but nothing happened.
Dylan finally approached, too, still skeptical, and looked at the buttons. “Why are there four instead of one?” he asked.
To Albert, this innocent question was like a revelation. “Of course! There are four!” he exclaimed excitedly before touching all four buttons at once with his palm.
A sliding door below the buttons opened a hidden compartment inside the wall. It was about one foot on each side, and inside it, there w
as a small stick, a cylinder size of a thick pen, semitransparent and gray in color. Albert grabbed the stick and examined it. It was light and behaved like a piece of rubber in his hand.
Keira looked at the small stick. It reminded her of a piece of jelly. “What do you think it is?” she asked.
Albert brought the object closer to his nose and smelled it. Then, to their complete astonishment, he bit it.
“Ew!” Keira couldn’t hide her disgust. “What if it’s a piece of an alien?”
“Hmm, chicken with french fries,” Albert remarked approvingly.
“What?” Hearing about food, Dylan’s attention increased.
“Taste it,” Albert suggested while offering the cylinder to Dylan. “I think it’s food.”
Dylan grabbed the object with apprehension, but he was hungry and, if Albert were right, it would be worth trying. He touched the object with the tip of his tongue; it tasted like chicken with french fries. He tried again, this time taking a big bite, and he found it not only good but also tasty.
“You should try it, too,” Dylan said looking at Keira. “It really is delicious.”
While Dylan was trying to convince Keira, Albert touched the buttons again. The compartment door slid back, shutting the opening tightly and leaving no trace of it, as if it had never existed. Albert could not see a single groove, crack, or joint that could betray the existence of the compartment. He touched the buttons again, and a new cylinder appeared inside the hidden compartment. Albert took it and gave it to Dylan. He repeated the operation one more time to get his own dinner. He had no doubts now; they had found their food source.
The initial squeamishness Keira had felt about the weird food was now forgotten, and she was eating heartily. Soon after, by the same procedure Albert had used for locating the food, they also found the water, which appeared in plastic cups. Unlike the food compartment, the water compartment didn’t provide a second cup unless the empty cup was returned inside first. It took them several desperate minutes before figuring it out, but even so, they felt happy and more confident now that they had found a seemingly endless source of water and food.
