Dark Matter

by S. W. Ahmed

  That had been the plan anyway. But now that he was awake, he noticed that the pocket watch still hadn’t reappeared on the table.

  “So much for time travel,” he muttered groggily to himself. Not only was his research a failure, now he had lost his prized family heirloom as well. It seemed Graham was right – perhaps it really was time to give up this hopeless cause. Gathering his belongings, he decided to head home and to get some decent sleep in his own bed.

  He wouldn’t get very far, however, not even out of the lab. Any remnants of sleepiness abruptly disappeared when he saw a figure standing there, blocking the door.

  “Holy smokes!” he gasped in shock. He couldn’t believe his eyes. At first, he thought he was still dreaming, so he pinched his forearm to make sure he was awake. The sharp pain he immediately felt indicated that he was.

  But could it possibly be true? In front of him was a creature that didn’t look like any living thing he had ever seen before – no human being or animal. It was tall, almost 7 feet in height, with a round head that wasn’t any larger than the typical human head. But the strange thing about it, apart from the deep navy blue color of its skin, was that it had only one eye, an eye that went all around the head in a full circle. The eye, about half an inch in height, had a fluorescent yellow color, except for a black horizontal line in the middle that went all around. There was no visible nose, and earlike lobes protruded out on the left and right side of the head, just under the eye. A small, dark, oval area indicated the presence of a mouth, but there were no lips. A green hat that looked more like a helmet covered the top of the head.

  The body, a little wider than the average human body, was almost completely encased in some sort of greenish, metal-like armor. Shaped like a big canister, the armor had openings near the top for four robotic looking arms that projected outwards from the body at right angles to each other.

  The strangest thing of all, however, had to be that the figure was floating on thin air, about a foot above the floor. That made the actual physical height of its body only about 6 feet, not 7. No legs or feet were visible at the bottom of the armor.

  Marc’s feeling of shock and incredulity quickly turned to one of fear. His first instinct was to run away, but this mysterious creature was blocking the only exit out of the room. Turning around, he noticed another, identical looking creature on the other side of the lab behind the center table. The only thing different about this creature’s appearance was that it was wearing a red hat.

  The two figures closed in on him, floating through the air. His mouth agape and his eyes wide with terror, he really didn’t know what to do. He frantically stared up at the face of each creature, expecting instant death at any second. His hands were up in a defensive position, although he wasn’t sure what good that would do against these bizarre beings.

  But they just stood there, staring back at him. They made no sound, and they had no unique smell that he could identify. It was almost as if they weren’t there.

  Gathering his wits, he decided to confront them. “Who… who are you?” he stammered.

  Silence.

  “What do you want from me?”

  A few more seconds of silence, and then the creature with the red hat lifted one of its limbs to reveal a small item. To his astonishment, he noticed that the item was his pocket watch.

  “Mr. Marc Zemin?” the figure said slowly in a deep, monotonous voice.

  “Yes,” Marc whispered.

  “This clock is yours, Mr. Zemin?” the figure asked, its mouth lighting up like a little lamp every time it uttered a word.

  “Yes,” he whispered again, his bewilderment increasing by the second. Not only did these creatures know who he was, they also spoke perfect English with no distinguishable accent.

  “Then please come with us, Mr. Zemin.”

  “Come where? Who… what are you?”

  “You will come with us, Mr. Zemin,” the figure insisted, keeping the same low monotone.

  But Marc wasn’t going to make things easy for them. Taking advantage of the gap between the two creatures, he dashed out, made a beeline for the door, opened it and flew down the corridor.

  “Help! Help!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping somebody would come to his aid.

  But the corridor was deserted at this time of night, and all the offices and labs were empty. He darted down the staircase, noticing to his surprise that those creatures weren’t following him.

  “Thank God!” he sighed with relief, reaching for the main door to the building. He pushed it open and ran out into the winter night.

  As freezing as the air was, he felt warm, even without his coat. The adrenalin rushing through his body was seeing to that. He was free now, he thought, and safe. Since he didn’t have a cell phone, a device he had never bothered to get due to the interference its waves would generate for his sensitive lab equipment, he would just have to make a run for the nearest student dormitory to find shelter and help. Or maybe he would be lucky enough to find somebody on the road at this time in the morning.

  But the streets were empty. The snow that had fallen during the day was now neatly piled up along the curbs, thanks to the local plowing service. The sky was dark and clear, with the exception of a number of scattered clouds. The stars weren’t twinkling at all, as if they had frozen in the biting cold themselves. The only light he had to go by was that of the street lamps. He raced down the hill towards the main road, noticing a group of people ahead.

  “Help!” he cried out in desperation. “I need help!”

  As he moved closer, however, he began to realize why he wasn’t being followed. Those were not people, but more of the same creatures, and there were many of them! As soon as they noticed him, they filed out rapidly, floating through the air like magic. Their speed of motion had to be at least 3 times higher than his. Before long, he was completely surrounded in a circle, with at least 20 of the figures spread out over the circumference.

  The figure from the lab with the red hat came out of the building and floated into the circle, still holding his pocket watch.

  “We will not harm you,” it said with the same composed voice. “You need not be afraid, Mr. Zemin.”

  “Who are you?” he shrieked.

  “We are from another world.”

  It couldn’t be! Aliens! How was that possible?

  “What do you want from me?” he demanded.

  “We need your help,” the figure said, handing him the pocket watch. “We will not harm you. Do not be afraid, Mr. Zemin.”

  Marc opened the timepiece to make sure his parents’ photo was attached to the inside cover. Yes, it was his pocket watch alright.

  “Where… how did you find my watch?” he asked in bewilderment. “Are you from the future?”

  “We will explain. Please come with us. Do not be afraid, Mr. Zemin.”

  What happened next, Marc could never have imagined was scientifically possible. A pale, yellow cylinder began forming around him, starting at the bottom and working its way up to encase his whole body. The same kind of cylinders began forming around the alien in front of him and around all the other aliens in the circle. He could still see everything outside, as the cylinder was made of a transparent material, even after it had risen above his head and sealed shut. The air inside abruptly warmed up to room temperature.

  Then, like magic, the cylinder lifted effortlessly off the ground without a sound, carrying him with it.

  “What the..!” he shouted in surprise, his fear mounting again. “What’s happening to me?”

  “Do not worry, Mr. Zemin,” the alien with the red hat said, as its own cylinder lifted off. “We are coming with you.”

  All the cylinders began rising straight upwards, slowly at first, but rapidly speeding up. Considering how quickly he was rising, Marc guessed the acceleration to be close to 6g. That was about 3 times the acceleration of the fastest manned NASA rocket! He would normally have expected to pass out under such an incredible down
ward gravitational force, but to his surprise, he felt nothing. The cylinder obviously had some kind of antigravity adjustment mechanism.

  He tried touching the surface – it felt like a solid, smooth wall. Then he looked down through the transparent floor under his feet. It was amazing to see the lights of Cornell and downtown Ithaca drop away below him, soon looking like the stars in the sky themselves.

  “My God!” he exclaimed, mystified by this marvel that was smoothly carrying him up into space. “Nobody will ever believe this!”

  He passed the first layer of isolated clouds, and then another layer above that. Although he was no atmospheric expert, he figured he was entering the stratosphere by now. As he looked out at the horizon, he could begin making out the first remnants of dawn to the east. The growing light also allowed him to see the first signs of the Earth’s curved surface. It was absolutely beautiful. He had traveled on airplanes before, but this wasn’t the same. Here, he had a full bird’s eye-view all around, and he was already at a height well above the flight path of any commercial airliner.

  Another minute or two later, he could clearly make out the curved surface of the Earth, with the Sun appearing over the edge. The North American continent took shape below him, with much of the Atlantic Ocean to the east covered by huge cloud formations. Further east, he could even see parts of the European continent. He must have already reached the edge of the thermosphere, yet he could breathe normally without any problems and didn’t feel the slightest difference in air pressure or temperature.

  “What amazing technology!” he thought.

  Looking up, he could see the night sky like he had never seen it before. It was so crystal clear, and the stars looked so bright. There were a few stars in one area that looked much bigger and brighter than the others. Maybe those were some of the planets in the solar system? But how could they all be lined up in a procession like that? His cylinder, as well as those of his companions, was moving toward those bright objects, objects that were rapidly growing in size as he drew closer.

  “Wait a minute!” he said to himself. “Those aren’t stars, or planets!”

  No, they weren’t. As he approached them, he realized what they were. They were spaceships, quietly waiting above the Earth’s atmosphere. There were nine of them, standing in line, one behind the other. He wondered if any of Earth’s satellites had noticed them. If so, people at NASA and the various SETI projects would surely be in uproar by now at the sight of these UFO’s.

  And what UFO’s they were! Without a doubt, they were the largest structures he had ever seen in his life. Each ship had to be at least the size of an entire city. They were all identical in appearance, shaped somewhat like mushrooms turned upside down. The bottom section of each ship had the basic outline of a hemisphere. The top section was cylindrical, protruding up and outwards from the wider bottom layer. The ships were gray in color, with many lights in different colors twinkling across their surfaces.

  That wasn’t all, however. Marc noticed a darker shape behind the ships. In size, it made even these gigantic ships looks like ants, blocking much of the view of the night sky. It had the shape of a sunflower head, with petal-like extensions of a deep navy color and a center that glowed in a light blue hue. The head was facing down towards the Earth. The sight of this enormous mass caused him to shudder with fear. He had no idea what it was, but somehow he doubted it was as peaceful or as innocent as a sunflower.

  The cylinders approached the first ship. As they came closer, he was able to study the ship’s surface more closely. It was quite smooth, considering its size, with no uneven sections or protrusions. Many of the twinkling lights actually appeared to be windows, exposing light from the interior. He still couldn’t believe how big the whole thing was.

  They were heading for the lower section of the ship, slowing down considerably as they reached the surface. He didn’t see any entrance, however, and began to get worried that they would crash against the ship’s wall. He braced himself for impact. But just as his container was about to hit the wall, a large section of it silently slipped away, revealing an open entrance to the interior of the ship. The cylinders glided right through the entrance, as if pulled in by some invisible rope.

  Marc had a hard time adjusting his eyes to the sudden increase in brightness that surrounded him. He had entered some kind of passageway, leading straight ahead as far as he could see. The tunnel was round and wide, almost as wide as some of the busiest multilane highways he had seen on Earth.

  As he floated down this path at a speed of what had to be at least 90 mph, he observed periodic intersections with other tunnels. Out of some of those tunnels came more of the same creatures, some of them in similarly shaped cylinders, others operating bizarre looking vehicles. Some were headed in the same direction that he was traveling, some in the opposite direction. Others disappeared into other tunnels. None of them seemed to pay any attention to him.

  The traffic on this busy highway just kept increasing as he traveled further into the heart of the ship. Soon there were hundreds of creatures and vehicles everywhere, gliding in all directions at high speed. There were no road signs or traffic lights, yet there was some kind of invisible, systematic order working behind the scenes, making sure that nobody crashed into each other or slowed each other down.

  After a couple of minutes, the tunnel abruptly ended, opening up to a grandeur that left him speechless in awe. In front of him was an entire city, filled with tall buildings of cylindrical and oval shapes that were neatly organized into circular blocks. There were thousands of vehicles and cylinders occupied by aliens, all busily flying about. He could make out parks and gardens, filled with trees and other types of vegetation he had never seen before, and there were even rivers and lakes. Above the city was a cloudless, deep blue sky, a shade darker than the blue sky back on Earth. A sun, looking considerably larger in the sky than Earth’s Sun, shone brilliantly. These aliens had evidently created the semblance of a part of their own planet within this ship.

  Marc’s container now began moving upwards towards the simulated sky, soon reaching a tunnel entrance that suddenly opened up above him. Once again, he started traveling through another passageway, this time towards the top section of the ship. And again, he was soon in the middle of a busy highway with many intersections and cross traffic. To his surprise, he noticed that no matter which way his cylinder was oriented, he always felt a very comfortable, normal gravitational pull towards the bottom of the container.

  Eventually his cylinder slowed down, leading him to another opening. This time, he was greeted with a full panoramic view of space outside, with the stars above clearly visible. It was like a huge planetarium, and he guessed that it was the control deck at the top of the ship. The deck consisted of multiple levels, and his cylinder was rising up through its hollow center. On each level, he could see many of the same looking creatures floating about. Most of them seemed to be manning stations, working in front of 3 dimensional screens and other strange looking machines.

  His cylinder landed on the third level of the deck and instantly faded away. The other aliens who had accompanied him from Earth landed beside him. He was afraid of not being able to breathe without the cylinder, but found that he was surrounded by air. It was definitely colder here than the room temperature he was used to, but the air also seemed to be richer in oxygen. Every breath made him feel refreshed.

  A group of aliens was waiting for them on the deck. To Marc, they all looked exactly the same as the ones who had picked him up from Earth, and they all wore the same greenish metal-like armor. The only discerning thing among them seemed to be the color of their hats. He saw one figure in front with a blue hat, then a few behind it with red hats, and the rest had green hats. His companion from Earth with the red hat moved up to the figure with the blue hat. They looked at each other for several seconds, their mouths lighting up as a quiet, deep hum could be heard.

  “This has to be how they communicate with each other,”
he thought.

  Then the figure with the blue hat came forward. “Please follow me, Mr. Zemin,” it said in English.

  As he followed the alien, Marc wondered again what he had gotten himself into. He still couldn’t believe what had just happened to him. Any moment now, he expected to wake up and find himself in his lab, safe and sound back on Earth. But he couldn’t recall ever having had a dream with such detail, such vividness and clarity in his life before.

  Just to make sure, he pinched himself again, hard. He immediately winced in pain. No, there was no doubt, this was no dream. Whether he liked it or not, he had just been abducted by aliens.

  Chapter 7

  The alien led Marc to a corner of the ship’s deck, where a wall and a door suddenly appeared out of thin air. The door slid open automatically as they approached, granting them entry into a small room. As Marc followed the alien inside, he noticed that the gravitational pull on this ship was a little less than that on Earth, allowing him to take longer strides with less effort.

  The room was bare, except for a round, empty table in the middle and a chair behind it. The walls were curved, with one side providing a clear view of space outside. Looking out this wide window, Marc could see the lower section of the ship stretching out into the distance. To the left, he could see the other ships, all remaining perfectly motionless. Further below was the surface of the Earth, thousands of miles away. But still covering most of the horizon outside was that huge, sunflower-like monstrosity.

  “Please sit, Mr. Zemin,” the creature said, as the door closed behind it.

  He sat down on the chair, while the creature remained standing on the other side of the table. He felt very nervous, not sure what to expect next.

  “We found your clock, Mr. Zemin,” the alien began, pointing to the timepiece with one of its front limbs.

  Marc realized that he had been holding the pocket watch tightly in his hand all this time, and placed it gently on the table.