The Mission

"Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say." The voice echoed out. Or had it come from within?

The room smelled of bleach. A quick look around revealed a large blank screen that glitched every few minutes, and twelve white chairs that lined a rectangular matching table.

“You’re awake. Welcome back, Theon.” The figure entered the room, appearing mostly human except with slightly blue-tinged skin and in place of hair, an iridescent pattern of scales.

“I think you have the wrong guy,” Paul answered. He could feel the cuffs tight against his wrists and ankles, holding him in place on this remedial bed. An overwhelming itch began crawling up from his feet to his torso, ending at his ears. He breathed firmly from his mouth trying to push the thought of wanting to scratch. Suddenly, he felt a hot sensation burning his face. “I’m not…” He paused to fight the feeling. Then continued, “Theon. Or whatever you said. My name’s Paul. Where am I? And who are you?”

“The burning will dissipate soon. The Xabots have entered your ear canals, helping you to orient yourself once again. You’ve been asleep for a long time, so it may take a few more minutes. Try to relax.” The being moved closer to Paul and lifted his eyelids, looked carefully at his skin on his arms and turned towards the glitching screen. Paul’s mind was racing, he couldn’t tell if this was a nightmare or perhaps a hallucination. He remembered nothing other than he had been sitting outside looking up at the stars when he blacked out. He tried again for information.

“I…I don’t understand. Can you help me make sense of this? Who are you? Why do you call me Theon? Where am I?” The burning dulled from his face, though it shifted to an electric current that moved around his body now. A jolt was felt in his left shoulder, then down his arm, and so on. This continued for the duration of their conversation.

“I am Evreux, the Commander of this ship. We are currently in the ready room where we’ll discuss the mission. Paul is only your Earth avatar. But since you’ve been down there you were sidetracked, as happens to many of our lightworkers, unfortunately. You lost sight of the mission; however, we were unable to intervene until you asked for help. Last night while looking up at the stars, we heard the call. You didn’t say it aloud, but your thoughts were enough. Your mission was to be on Earth at this tumultuous time to save the people from the looming disaster.” He stopped to ponder something, staring out the porthole towards the blue planet far beyond in the blackness.

Evreux turned towards the glitching monitor and an image of Earth appeared. Paul’s eyes shifted towards the screen. His body was beginning to relax as he let the words from Evreux sink in. They felt familiar to him. At that moment, the cuffs that constrained his wrists and ankles released and he sat up. Evreux pointed to one of the white seats at the table, “your seat, Theon.”

The door opened and four other beings entered the room, all wearing variations of the same style of clothing: a white cloth material covering from their necks to the floor. They took their seats around Theon, though four seats remained empty. One of the beings had pink hues of skin, while others were silver or green-tinged. Theon looked down at his arms and could see that while they still resembled his human form, his skin was paler and translucent now. The electric feeling continued to pulse through him.

Evreux nodded towards the group and took his seat at the table. “Welcome, Cosmic Coalition.” He turned towards the screen where the Earth was pulsing with an electric light that skimmed across it, like a web of lightning shorting out in places. There were red spots pulsing and growing in areas of the globe as well.

Evreux continued. “The time has come. Earth’s energy is rising, the pressure will release soon. The red marks on the globe signify volcanic eruptions. Once this happens, the skies will blacken, and the seas will rise. Earth is cleansing. Our mission is to save the people. Remember, we must only save those who ask for help. We cannot intervene unless we hear their pleas.”

He looked down the table. “Azur, are the living quarters of the ship ready?” The pinkish-hued being nodded her head. “Excellent. Cygnus, are the med-beds and xabots ready to help assimilate the new arrivals?” The greenish-tinged being nodded. “Hale and Kace, are the plants and tinctures ready to be used as needed?” Two silver beings nodded in unison. Theon tried pushing away his earthly longings: from when he was Paul who loved Amelia and hurt her by leaving that night. He had been anxious, and now understood that deep down he knew this was coming. All he could do now was hope that she calls for help and he could rescue her.

The map glitched and the ship’s power flickered. The red pulsing dot over Europe was now growing. Evreux frowned. Theon looked out the porthole of the ship to the blue planet. The thick grey smoke was already starting to blanket the Earth. Each coalition member closed their eyes. One by one they faded from view. Theon looked out the porthole again but this time to the blackness on either side of the globe. His eyes widened. All around the globe were hundreds of massive ships like this one, all ready to rescue humans. The red dots were growing on the map and the electric sparks were lifting off the map now, like fireflies in the dark. Theon closed his eyes and at first heard only static, but eventually could separate the noise into strings of thoughts – children, men, women; all echoing “help!” “Save us!” Amelia’s voice cut through the others, loudly, though she called him Theon.

He suddenly remembered their mission.

“Caerwyn?!”

Theon faded from the room, and another spark lifted off the map.