For "New Worlds" Challenge - 8/16/2022 deadline.

“Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say,” Elise thought to herself as her Electrolux vacuum cleaner literally “screamed” as it approached the limits of the dust bag she probably should have emptied weeks ago. Her husband Vikas always complained that they could easily afford a brand new fancy brand (such as Dyson). But, this was her grandmother’s favorite household appliance…and it was the one of the few possessions remaining to her from the Firth household where Elise’s mother grew-up. Yes, they could easily afford a new model, but this one worked just fine.

Elise and Vikas chose to move to this patch of Sudbury Massachusetts because of Vikas’ passion for star gazing…and it was close enough to MIT for both of them to commute from work, and raise a family in a larger house and yard than their previous resident in Somerville.

“Elise, come on! The kids are waiting, Keya already spotted the first meteor of the night.” Vikas exclaimed as he burst into the living room of their NY Colonial

“No she didn’t, I saw it first Mommy!” Rohan yelled from the yard. Rohan and Keya were always bickering, very typical of siblings their age. It reminded Elise of her own family “battles” with her brother and 2 sisters growing up.

“OK, I’m coming…I’ll bring the S’mores supplies out later after the peak of the shower.” Elise said as she shoved the vacuum cleaner aside. The Perseid meteor shower has become a family tradition since they moved 3 years prior, and at ages 12 & 10, both of the kids were now old enough to truly start appreciating the show.

“Wow…look at that one!” Keya was pointing up towards a streaking light that burned from a yellowish-green into a bright shade of all yellow as the object met its demise on the Earth’s atmosphere.

“Cool!” Rohan yelled. He continued, “Dad, stop messing with your telescope. You’re gonna miss the best ones again, just like last year!”

Vikas always brought his favorite Celestron on almost every trip they took, and he saw no reason not to have it handy in their own backyard…even though watching meteors is best without any enhancement (with the possible exception of binoculars).

“Rohan, I want to get a shot of Saturn after the peak, just getting it ready now hahaha,” Vikas chuckled. “Don’t worry, I won’t miss the show.”

Elise gazed up the sky and just took in the magnificent display of the pristine night sky. The weather forecast was spot-on (for once!). Crystal clear skies, which can be rare during summer humidity. She breathed in the somewhat crisp air, which was a bit unusual in August, even in New England. She took-in and enjoyed the scent of the nearby pine trees…when it started to happen.

“Um, Dad. What’s that, and why is the sky starting to glow!?!?” Keya asked, with a bit of a quiver her in voice. She was pointing to a light in the sky that appeared to be getting brighter.

“I don’t know, must be a plane or a drone or something…” Vikas replied, with less confidence than his typical vernacular. Elise looked at the object, which seemed to be getting larger, not just brighter. The whole sky started to glow with a dull green. A low, persistent hum started to permeate everything.

“Mom!!!!!” Rohan screamed with both hands to his ears. Elise’s motherly instincts started to kick-in and she quickly walked over to her son…and then, she started to get dizzy. She was having difficulty walking, and now both kids were screaming. The screams stopped abruptly…as if they were in a vacuum.

Elise opened her eyes. Everything was foggy. Her head hurt as if she spent the night before at a Phish show. But, she hadn’t been to one of those in at least a year (maybe more). She tried to put her hand on her aching forehead. But, was unable to accomplish the task…she coultdn’t move anything.

“What the hell is going on?” Elise thought to herself. The last thing she could remember was…”oh my God!” she thought, as her memory of Rohan and Keya’s screaming and the strange light in the sky burst into her consciousness. “Keya, Rohan, Vikas!!!!” She screamed; or perhaps tried to scream would be more accurate. The actual audible sounds she was able to make were closer to “K’ya, rhinnnn, kassssss.” As Elise attempted to scream, her vision became much clearer. She could see a blue/white-ish, metallic…what, ceiling? What could best be described as a “head” suddenly appeared above her. A head with large black…eyes? “What is this? What is going on?” Elise thought to herself.

“Uh-oh, you better get Doug. This one is starting to wake up!” Said the head with the large black eyes. It was then that Elise noticed that the “head” that had been hovering over her looked like a “Oh my God!” she thought once again. If she could move, she would have jumped back a hundred feet and kept moving. Hovering before her…no, standing before her, was what could only be described as an “Alien.” What her UFO crazed colleagues describe as “grays.”

Elise started to panic. She could hear a voice behind her, “What? She isn’t even close to the specs for this…she should be out for at least a couple more hours. The others are still in dreamland.”

“Ya, well Doug is always bragging about his super fact metabolism, right? It would only make sense if it ran in the family. Get Doug now, I’ll try and calm her down.” Said the gray alien. “Elise, calm down. It’s OK, you are safe. Vikas, the kids…they’re all safe.”

Wait, how did this…thing, know my name? How does it know any of our names! The gray then touched the side of what Elise assumed was its neck. An audible hiss could be heard, and this…thing grabbed its own head and twisted. Hard! Like it was trying to snap its own spine. It then…removed what in-fact, was a helmet. Red curly locks sprayed out of the helmet, and a…man. An ordinary man with bright blue eyes said, “Hi, I’m Peter. Oh, just in-time!” Elise could her what sounded like metal on metal beats…sort of like a drum. No, not a drum. More like, footsteps?

It was at that point that Elise was able to move her head ever so slightly to the left. She was able to see over one of Peter’s shoulders. Behind him was a large black painting of some sort, framed by the white-ish blue ceiling…and that’s when she saw something else. Something else entirely. “Huh!” she exclaimed. It wasn’t a black painting behind Peter. It was…”Oh my God!” Elise gasped as what she was looking at; what she was really looking at came to her. It was our planet. Earth (or at least a big part of it…African coast and the Atlantic Ocean, perhaps?).

As Elise started trying to understand everything that was happening, into her view came another figure. “Dougie! Dougie!!!! What the hell!? What’s going on!” It was her brother, Doug. Walking with metallic clumps..

“Elise. I am so sorry. But, it had to be like this. It was the only way, really,” her brother said in his typical, confident baritone voice. Elise thoughts were a scramble of recent events, as well as more distant memories (some important, some trivial). She was having a great deal of difficulty comprehending what was going on. Her brother touched her on her upper right arm, and “ssshed.” He was trying to sooth his sister of nearly 50 years.

She might not have known it, but Elise and her family were the most important thing in the world to Doug. No! Not the world. The most important thing to him in the universe.

“Really, it was the only way. And, frankly, probably the only way to save Mom.”

As Doug said these words, Elise noticed there were more metal clanking noises in the…”room,” for lack of a better word. Random, yet somewhat rhythmic clanking noises. Almost like a steel drum, but with more bravado (she would later learn that these strange noises were actually footsteps). Doug turned to his left, and that’s when Elise saw the 3rd person since this ordeal started.

“Mom!” Elise said…with slightly less exclamation than her other statements.

“Yes, it’s me Elise,” her mother. Her mother!!! Linda Firth. The same Lind Firth who was in recovering in an ICU. Whose best hope of leaving the hospital would be to enter into a hospice program (which was 50/50 at best, according to all the Specialist). Elise started to try and gather her thoughts as best as she could. She thought, “Well, Sloan never prepared me for anything like this!” Sloan School of Management at MIT was where she recently completed her MBA. VERY recently. This past May, in-fact.

“Hey Doug! We really can’t hold this position much longer. We’re going to have to move soon or we’ll be caught.” A relative calm, yet stern, female voice said.

“OK. Initiate a burn sequence to get us to the far side of the moon. We’ll park their until we can get to Lagrange 2.” Doug replied. He then turned to his sister, leaned over and said in a low voice…almost a whisper. “Hey, Elise. I’ll explain everything in a little while. But you really need to get a little more sleep. You can’t be moving around too much after beaming up so fast.”

“Beaming! Like Star Trek!” Elise yelled out.

“Hahaha. No, not really. That’s just what we call it…in a nod to Star Trek, sure. But the procedure isn’t really like that. I’ll explain very, very soon. I love you! I love Vikas, and you know how much I love Keya and Rohan. Everything is going to be fine. I promise,” Doug concluded…or at least seemed to be concluding.

“I felt the same way Elise,” said her Mom. “Really, this is normal, and Dougie is right; you need more rest. Don’t forget I was a nurse for over 60 years. They’re going to put you back under, but I’ll be here the whole time watching over you until it’s safe to revive you.”

“It’ll take about 10-15 hours, not too much. And Mom, you probably shouldn’t…”

“I’m not going anywhere, she’s my daughter!” Linda interjected. “I feel like I’m 30 again, I can handle this!”

“Haha, OK…OK Mom. No problem.” Doug then turned to his sister, “Elise, we’re going to put you to sleep. Trust me. I love you.” Doug then turned to his right and said, “Stephanie, go ahead and put her back out…ease into it, of course.”

“Already started the drip,” replied yet another female voice.

“OK, Margo, get us out of here,” her brother said as Elise’s vision began to fog, and she drifted into what can only be described as a nervous, yet relaxing, calm, as the narcotic took effect.

(End of Chapter 1, “Into the Vacum”) For the “New Worlds Challenge with the 8/16/2022 Deadline