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Journey to the Center of the Galaxy

Part Two

By Po IveyPublished 2 years ago Updated 4 months ago 24 min read
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Journey to the Center of the Galaxy
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Kevin woke up in his room, starring up at ceiling, and the harsh sunlight of 4 PM. He was still wearing his clothes from the night before, laying on top of his unmade bed.

"What...the...hell just happened?" He thought.

The fact that what had happened to him, had turned out exactly like he imagined it might, was more real than Kevin could process. He kept mentally replaying the night before over and over. He remembered following the two suspicious figures around Jack's party. He remembered the beautiful and mysterious woman in the hallway. He remembered the two alien beings blasting him in the face with their alien device.

"What the hell did they do to me? I still remember everything. Didn't they say they were resetting my consciousness? What is resetting consciousness? "

Kevin stared at the ceiling even longer, the high angle of the sun mocked him. Not just because he had been in bed all day; but, because now he knew he didn't know anything about the universe. At all. He was wedged somewhere between disbelief, having his mind completely blown, and being afraid. It wasn't even fathomable to come up with a plan that would at least get him out of bed. The universe was just too big now. No mater what he did, he was not in control. The obvious route would be to ask around the house for information about the two aliens in disguise. He already knew it was pointless. The whole endeavor would be an exercise in self delusion. It would be a temporary solution, at best.

Another possibility was that Kevin would never, ever, find out the truth about what had happened. He would take this memory with him to the grave. Haunted by something no one would believe. Maybe in time he would stop believing it himself. He had an hour and twenty seven minutes before he had to be at McGuile's. Going to work could now only exist in a category Kevin had just desperately made up (in his head), which he called "normal operations." The idea of "normal operations" could only be a distraction now. It would be a series of formalities. Perhaps he was the only man on Earth that knew he wasn't alone in the universe. He was as terrified as he wasy excited.

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After work that night:

"That just sounds like Emily and Dave man...," Jack said. "I don't think those were aliens with some sort of device. You are going crazy man. Maybe ease up on the drugs."

Kevin had been bold enough to tell Jack the entirety of what had happened. He didn't know what he hoped Jack would say. Would he believe him? And then what? What would that accomplish? Would they band together? At best he would have a partner to share in this brave new world.

Kevin reiterated the story to Jack twice before giving up on convincing him.

"Maybe it really was Emily and Dave?" Kevin pondered.

"What am I talking about. Why would I just lie to myself? How ridiculous! How would I live with myself? I wouldn't."

It went on like this for two more days. He managed to just automatically go through work. In those two days, his sense of disbelief turned into both a fear and a hope, that the two alien individuals who had accosted him, would return. He had began to keep his eye out everywhere he went. It became apparent to Kevin, at this point, that he looked exactly like someone who had gone insane. He eventually figured out how to dial it down a notch and fit in as best as possible.

For some reason, he couldn't stop thinking about his great-grandfather. It was incredibly unusual. Kevin rarely thought about him. He had never met his great-grandfather. Kevin's mother, Helen, had told him stories about him on a various occasions. Kevin had never felt very invested in his family, beyond his relationship with his mother. His father had died of lung cancer when Kevin was fifteen.

Kevin's mother had explained her grandfather was very eccentric, a member of MENSA, had a 178 IQ, and was obsessed with telescopes and ancient Chinese culture. Otherwise, he was a completely unavailable parent and husband. Kevin's mother told him she had only spent time with her grandfather a handful of times.

"It's like he just wasn't available to regular people," Kevin's mother told him, on the occasions she talked about him. "He only cared about pursuits of the mind, and nothing else. It was perplexing and extremely frustrating."

"He gave me an atlas of constellations one time," she explained. "I think I traded it for a case of beer in 1984."

"What a bastard," was Kevin's usual response.

Kevin was now reconsidering everything he had heard about anything. He wasn't sure why he couldn't stop thinking about the short tales of a man he had never met.

"F@#$ it!" He proclaimed, as he sat in his room again, trying to piece it all together.

He threw on his favorite leather jacket (over his street clothes) and left to go to work at McGuile's. This was the third day after the party.

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"Are you feeling alright Kevin?" Jarrard asked as he wiped down the main bar with a white rag. "You've been acting different this week."

It was incredibly rare that Jarrard took an interest in his employee's mental health.

"I have been...having an interesting time," Kevin replied.

Jarrard laughed.

"Okay then...I hope you're not using drugs at work? We all know you live in a bad neighborhood."

"I am not using drugs at work."

"Are you having a good week?"

"Whaaaaat? Why did you say that?" Kevin replied.

That "radiation" feeling was back.

Kevin and Jarrard stared at each other for an awkwardly long time.

"I hope you manage to have a good week," Jarrard said again.

"Well, it's off to clean the bathrooms!" Kevin announced, off tempo, as he clapped his hands together in a effort to look normal.

"Alright then," Jarrard said.

Kevin started to walk towards the McGuile's bathroom in the back; hoping no one had defiled it.

"OH! Kevin!" Jarrard yelled, as Kevin was halfway across the new dance floor.

"Yes?" Kevin yelled back.

"This pretty unusual guy was asking for you by name," Jarrard began to explain. "He's asked for you at least twice; but you were gone last night and this morning. It was pretty interesting. I've never seen this guy in my life. He kind of looked like he was wearing a disguise. I really don't know how else to explain it. I think his name was Simon...or Sid...."

"That's...weird," Kevin thought, as he watched Jarrard talk.

Jarrard snapped his fingers (in the manner he usually did) when he was trying to conjure up a memory.

"No...it was Sillan! He said his name was Sillan!"

"I've never met a Sillan in my entire life," Kevin replied.

"Well that's pretty weird...Can I just give him your phone number next time? He seemed like a pretty cool guy."

"That's...fine," Kevin said.

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Work at McGuiles that night obeyed "normal operations," much to Kevin's relief. Jarrard's plan re-brand McGuiles as a popular dance floor was working. There were at least twice as many college students occupying the place than the previous Saturday. Jarrard and Daren had been inspired to come up with some new cocktails to appeal to the new crowd. After throwing around a lot of names and mixes of alcohol, they gave up on being original. The two of them ended up copying the cocktail menu of a fancy local bar, called "The Higher View." They directly stole five drinks from the menu on the bars website.

The divide between McGuiles "dive bar" patrons and the college students was getting increasingly more noticeable. Many of the original patrons had been complaining about their lives being upended by the change. Jarrard and Daren had been appeasing them by giving them free pints of Miller High Life. They were beginning to run very low on the brand; so they sent Kevin down the street in Jarrard's car to pick up another two kegs.

The warehouse/liquor store they usually bought from was strangely closed that night. So, Kevin continued to drive forwards through the night, in search of anywhere he could buy two kegs of Miller High Life. He drove a very long time; before he finally located an outlet on the edge of town. It was simply called "Roxanne's."

Kevin's radio started to crackle and lose the station it had been tuned to throughout the long drive. Eventually, he tried to re-tune it; so he could continue to listen to the long series of Cage The Elephant songs, that had been playing on the local college radio station. He ended up flipping the knob randomly in frustration. The dial landed on a random, unknown channel. He began to hear a very strange, one sided conversation come in crystal clear on his end.

"This! This is why I don't like to go to back-water planets!"

There was a long pause, as if someone was talking on the other end.

"You are going to pay me with Leafson Ableson Credits?! Where am I going to spend those? They only take those in the worst parts of the galaxy! You can't spend those anywhere decent these days. What am I going to do? Move to Mars?"

There was another long break in the conversation.

"What the hell is this?!" Kevin thought.

"I don't care! Class AAA security or not. I'd rather get exported by the stupid Federation. At least I can use Unified Galactic Credits in the outer solar systems!"

"Okay....," Kevin thought.

"Right...right. Just joking. Who would really want to get exported...not me. How ridiculous."

There was another break.

"Look...whatever. I almost have him. There has just been...some interference."

Suddenly Kevin could hear the other end of the conversation. It was incredibly garbled and distorted, as if it came from an incredible distance away. What he did manage to hear was:

"There is more at stake here then you realize-

After that, the conversation ended abruptly, and the middle of "House of Glass" by Cage The Elephant came on.

"Climb into my corner, my self inflicted coma..."

"Stand up, lay down, repeat into the same order..."

Kevin parked in a rocky, dirt parking lot. He turned off Jarrard's 1978 Ford Mustang, tightened his favorite leather jacket and walked into the tiny liquor outlet.

"I've come to purchase some alcohol...," Kevin said to the middle aged woman behind the counter, with wide eyes

"Okay...," she said, giving Kevin a strange look. "Are you feeling alright tonight hon?"

"I am well," Kevin said plainly.

"Fair enough," she replied, setting down the page of coupons she was clipping.

"I require two kegs of Miller High Life."

"Don't we all," she replied sarcastically as she led Kevin through one of the small aisles of alcohol and to the back room.

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Back at McGuile's:

In accordance with "normal operations," Kevin unloaded the two kegs with the help of Darren. They worked from the back lot, behind the bar, and loaded the kegs from Jarrard's car into the basement.

"You've been acting kind of weird this week," Darren said to Kevin.

Darren was a kind person, but was often oblivious to the finer points of peoples behavior. He was exceptionally good at following orders, but did poorly and was easily distracted when left to his own devices.

"Yeah...Darren. I've been having a pretty interesting week," Kevin explained, as he looked up at the 11 PM moon.

The sky was especially clear that night and the moon was full.

"That guy came looking for you while you were gone," Darren explained. "Steven...or something. He was wearing a trench coat. Isn't that random?"

The "radiation" hit again.

Kevin didn't respond, and continued to carry the second keg down to the basement, where the lines for the beer taps were. It wasn't an easy job. There was a long series of rickety, old steps.

"How do you know that guy anyway?" Darren continued to inquire. "He looked like he was...not from here."

"I don't remember," Kevin said.

"Maybe you met him at a party or something. I've met so many people I've forgotten about at parties. What do you think he wants from you?"

Kevin had to think long and hard about that question. He remembered the two alien beings who had "reset" his consciousness. Was this person another assailant coming to do something terrible to him? Perhaps this was a being of a different order altogether? At this point; Kevin felt the inevitable march of time would reveal the truth to him, no matter what he wanted to do.

"Yeah, he's probably just an old acquaintance I forgot about," Kevin said.

They went down the stairs and into the basement. They set down the second keg and connected it to the plastic tubes that allowed it to flow through the beer taps.

Darren dusted himself off, although he wasn't dusty at all. It always annoyed Kevin when people did this.

"I feel like you are going to have an adventure Kevin," Darren said. "You've had this different look lately. It's hard to explain. You look liberated. I'm jealous."

That was about the most eloquent thing Kevin had ever heard Darren say. Darren mostly just gave simple exchanges and then spent his time thinking about topics of unknown origin.

"Liberated?" Kevin said out loud.

"Yeah, it means free," Darren explained.

Kevin was about to say something; but the electronic dance music from the dance floor suddenly doubled in volume. It was a clear indication that the college students were now pouring in. The tensions with the students and the dive bar patrons had only grown worse in the last few nights. Kevin and Darren had been in agreement that a fight might break out soon.

"Here we go!" Darren said.

"Do you really want there to be a fight?" Kevin asked.

"When's the last time we saw some real action?" Darren replied. "Think about it!"

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Kevin rushed through the last few duties he was meant to do. He wanted to complete them before the bar became too crowded, and the tasks became impossible to do. He lost sight of Darren in the increasingly dense crowd. This was the most full he had ever seen McGuiles. He looked everywhere for Jarrard (to give him back his car keys), but couldn't find him anywhere. He was about to call him, on the land-line phone behind the bar, when he was suddenly distracted by two college girls who came out of nowhere.

"He's cute!" One of them said to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I like his hair."

The two girls started drunkenly pawing at him and laughing back and forth as they talked to Kevin.

"Mmm...I like your leather coat," the other girl said.

"I don't have time for this...," Kevin thought, surprising himself.

"You're so hot," said the other girl. "Can you get us drinks?"

Kevin was trying to think of McGuile's official policy on the matter. Suddenly, an unseen, trench coat wearing arm, threw itself around Kevin's shoulder like an old friend.

"Kevin bro!" Said the mysterious individual. "I didn't know you were so popular with the ladies!"

"Who the f#$%!?" Kevin thought, as he turned around slowly.

"This was it," Kevin thought.

The universe was about to punch him directly in the face. There was no turning back now.

Both of the girls laughed as the new stranger talked. He appeared to be very charming.

Kevin turned around slowly to see who it was. He saw the handsome face of a man he had never met before. He had black hair like Kevin's, stood about a foot taller than him and had some very interesting facial tattoos. There was an eye tattooed in very fine and intricate ink, between his two normal eyes. It didn't look like any ink job Kevin had ever seen or heard of. He had two large circles tattooed on each cheek. He was Caucasian, but didn't look like he was from any country Kevin had ever heard of. He was wearing the trench coat that Jarrard and Darren had explained. It was a dark navy blue and looked like it was made by (what Kevin could only conceptualize as) 3D printing technology.

"What's...up...man?" Kevin replied.

At this point, Kevin didn't care what happened. The universe had come knocking, directly at his door; and he knew he didn't really have a choice as to what came next.

"Excuse me," the man in the trench coat said. "I need to borrow my friend for a minute."

The college girls both looked disappointed, simultaneously threw their hair over their shoulders and walked away. The man in the trench coat grabbed Kevin tighter, turned him around one hundred and eighty degrees and started making him walk the other way. The "radiation" sensation was back. This time it was full throttle.

"Were they twins?" The man in the trench coat asked Kevin. "That was interesting."

"I have a series of questions," Kevin stated plainly.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions right now, Earth person. But there is no time to talk right now. We are both in serious danger."

"Who are you?" Kevin asked.

"Look...I'm a pilot. I'll tell you the whole thing later. I need you to listen to me, or we will both die and possibly everyone else in this weird establishment as well."

"Are you an alien?" Kevin asked.

"Relative to who?"

"What?"

"Just try and focus!"

"Okay..."

The trench coat wearing man shifted Kevin around again, another ninety degrees.

"Do you see those two fanen el crend over there?"

"Those what?" Kevin asked.

"Wrong language, sorry. Do you see those two weird looking guys over there?"

The man in the trench coat gestured to two (new) bar patrons talking to Jarrard. They were far away, by the entrance of the bar. They were clearly asking about Kevin. They were both strangely tall, standing at least six foot eight. They were both wringing their very long fingered hands together in a manner that was deeply troubling.

"What the hell are they?"

"They are the scum of the universe, and they are here to collect you and do terrible things to you. They want to strip the DNA out of your body. Which feels exactly as terrible as it sounds."

"I think I saw them at a party at my house. But they looked way different. Are they shape shifting aliens?"

"What did you see at the Earth celebration?"

The trench coat wearing man turned around to look Kevin dead in the eyes. The question appeared to be completely urgent.

"These two aliens with, like...lava lamp skin used some sort of device on me. They said they were "resetting" my consciousness, but I didn't forget a thing."

The trench coat wearing man slapped his hand on his head in frustration. He looked like he was doing some extensive calculations mentally. His facial tattoos lit up as he thought.

"What a mess!" He said out loud. "Ven EN en!!"

"What language is that?"

"It's Lunerian. Don't ask me about that."

"Are there two groups of aliens after me?" Kevin asked.

"That's exactly it. Wow, you are smart."

"Why does everyone want my DNA?!"

"It's special!"

"Like I'm special? Do I have powers?

"No...not at all. Please stay focused!"

Jarrard had foolishly pointed his finger to where Kevin and the trench coat wearing man were standing. The two disguised aliens both wrung their hands in a diabolical manner again. They shifted their eyes on Kevin as they waded menacingly through the college dance crowd. They seemed to have some sort of terrible restraining effect that Kevin could feel creeping into his mind. It was like slowly dying.

"Oh...f#$%! Dude!" Kevin panicked. "What do we do dude?"

The trench coat wearing man shifted Kevin another ninety degrees. He pointed him towards the back door exit of McGuiles.

"We are going out that door," he said. "My space ship is cloaked on the roof."

"Your what?!" Kevin asked. "Whatever...let's just go."

Kevin and the trench coat wearing man wadded swiftly through the now fully packed dance floor. Kevin could feel the menacing presence of the two pursuers quickly closing in. It was like being sucked into a bad dream.

"What the hell are these things?!" Kevin asked as he struggled to keep moving.

"They are space demons," the trench coat wearing man explained.

"What the hell?"

It seemed liked the closer they got to the exit door, the harder it became to move.

"Watch where you are going weirdos!" Exclaimed a college senior wearing a jersey for the state football team. He was annoyed at being interrupted from trying to dance with a very drunk college girl.

"People know you do bad things!" The trench coat wearing man blasted back.

"Are you psychic?" Kevin asked.

The exit door was getting very close; but Kevin started feeling like it was impossible to get there. He looked behind him to see that the two aliens were only a couple people behind them. He could see their ominous hands reaching out. They seemed to be able to reach through the crowd.

"Agghhh!" The trench coat wearing man said, beginning to swear in an unknown language. "Ven-EL-DIA-DIA!!! I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!!!"

"What are you gonna' do?!" Kevin asked.

The trench coat wearing man deftly reached into the inside of his trench coat (at the waist), crouched down to the floor, swiftly, pulled what looked like a pistol out of his belt, turned around at a sharp forty-five degrees and immediately blasted one of the pursuers.

The pistol emitted a super dense green beam that lit up the whole dance floor. It hit the closest of the pursuers, who was immediately covered in a purple light and then converted into atomic particles. The college football player (who was standing immediately next to it), looked completely shocked and amazed. He stared at them (with his jaw dropped) for a long time before he said anything.

"What the hell man!?" He said to Kevin and the trench coat wearing man, as the last remaining elements of the pursuer drifted away.

"Watch where you are pointing that thing!!" Said the football player.

Everyone else in the crowd was equally stunned and amazed.

"What the hell just happened?" Said a man in Birkenstock sandals and a ripped tank top. "Did you seriously just use a laser gun? I am freaking out!"

A sorority sister who was dancing with her friends fainted and collapsed from shock.

The man in the trench coat looked down at his laser pistol. He was overcome with grief and frustration at what he had just done.

"What in the name of god did you just do?!" Kevin asked. "Dude is dust."

"This is it," Sillan exclaimed. "It's finally happened. I'm going to be exported...this is the end."

"Dude look out!" Said someone else in the crowd.

The second pursuer was still advancing towards them at an alarming rate. He was undeterred at the destruction of his accomplice.

The man in the trench coat turned back around at amazing speed and blasted the other alien pursuer. It dissolved like the other one; with the exact same array of colors and sound.

"AGGHHHH!!!" The man in the trench coat said. "This is a historic level violation!!"

The entire bar crowd had joined in to watch the scene in shock and disbelief.

"Is that thing legal!?" Someone asked.

"Dude, I told you Q-ANON was real!" Yelled someone else.

The sound system (that had been fueling the dance floor) was left unattended and continued to play on it's own. The playlist of electronic dance music had ended, and the computer, left to it's own devices, began to play Darren's music history. The next song was "House Of Glass," by Cage The Elephant.

"Slide on down the staircase..."

"That picture perfect moment..."

"Receiver projected, act like if you own it..."

The man in the trench coat must have been referring to having violated a serious "outer space law" (Kevin assumed). Mostly likely, about using technology in front of the citizens of "un-advanced planets." Kevin estimated that was the reason the trench coat wearing man was now acting completely beside himself. He looked like he wanted to throw his laser pistol through the open window behind the bar.

"Let's get the Fai-Man-SEN-LO out of here!" He yelled.

He grabbed Kevin by the wrist and pulled him out the back exit of McGuiles. They ran for their lives, up the eight flights of stairs that led to the roof. The entire bar crowd seemed to be following them close behind; completely amazed and wanting to know what would happen next.

"Gaghh!" The man in the trench coat said as he looked behind them.

They reached McGuile's roof. Kevin kept running forwards in a fit of confusion. He ended up colliding with something invisible that was taking up most of the expansive roof. He hit the object so hard he went flying backwards, landing on his back. The entire ship uncloaked the second Kevin hit the ground.

The man in the trench coat turned around to inspect what was happening; and to his horror, he saw a good twenty people all standing behind him.

"AGGHHH!!!" He exclaimed in frustration.

"Is that your spaceship fam?" Someone yelled earnestly from crowd.

"I told you bro!" Someone else in the crowd said, gesturing towards a friend. "It's the Anunnaki!"

People began taking photos and posing for selfies in front of the uncloaked spaceship.

The trench coat wearing man resentfully reached for something else in his trench coat. What he pulled out was another device that looked very advanced. He turned around and aimed it at the entire crowd. Kevin stood back up and started rubbing his head. That's when he caught sight of what the man in the trench coat was doing.

"WOAH MAN!!" Kevin shouted. "What are you doing to them?!"

The man in the trench coat immediately hit a button on the device. A massive, dense blue energy field engulfed the amazed McGuiles bar crowd. It appeared to be restraining all of them. The light from the device reached all the way up to the cloudy night time sky. Everyone stared blankly back at Kevin and the trench coat wearing man.

"What the hell did you just do to them?!" Kevin yelled.

"I've immobilized them and re-set their consciousness," the man in the trench coat explained.

"You what!?"

Kevin turned around to see what he had been knocked to the ground by. That's when he saw a sixty foot long, twenty foot tall, silver and blue spaceship with a faded paint job. It was composed with parts that looked like they had been pieced together from all corners of outer space.

"Dude woah!" Kevin exclaimed, tightening his leather jacket fast to his chest in amazement.

"Get in the spaceship!" The man in the trench coat commanded.

Kevin looked back at the immobilized bar crowd. They were all staring forward blankly, as if frozen in time. It could have been him in that crowd.

Everything that happened after that was a complete blur to Kevin. He was in a coma of disbelief. He followed the man in the trench coat into the cockpit of the ship, sat next to him and watched as he deftly utilized the ships controls. In no time, the large, polygonal, indestructible control room window closed. The ship lifted swiftly off of McGuiles roof and then raised into the night time sky at an amazing speed. Once they were in the air; the man in the trench coat did another series of calculations on the ships elaborate (but also streamlined) controls. Suddenly the air around them shifted at a dramatic rate, as time and space itself merged into an elaborate kaleidoscope of colors. It was exactly like the speed of light travels Kevin had seen in countless science fiction movies. Suddenly, they were blasting beyond both the edges of Earth and Kevin's imagination. It was shaping up to be an interesting week.

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About the Creator

Po Ivey

Po Ivey lives in Madison, WI, where he writes fiction in his free time. His inspiration includes Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick and William Gibson. He write's about the nuances that make the whole world a cast of actors. He also plays music.

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