Exhibit Hall A

The traffic light turned green and the car accelerated quickly through the slick intersection. Today happened to be the 13th, but the day was shaping up nicely for them. It was one of the best Fridays Pierce could remember enjoying in quite some time.

They hadn't known each other that long, but Kym and Pierce could not stay away from each other. However, they both agreed not to smother each other and respect "the space' rule. So far though, it hadn't even been needed.

"We have time to get there I think Pierce, literally there is thirteen minutes to kill before that exhibit halls opens," Kym said while applying her fruit flavored lip gloss. "I forgot my lipstick, so this will have to do today," she mumbled.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he laughed while he located a parking spot, backed in the sports car, and turned off the vehicle. The rain suddenly stopped. It was only sprinkling now. They shared a quick kiss, walked a block to the Discovery Center and joined a short line of other visitors.

The curator stood by and welcomed everyone to the exhibit. There was signage posted in plain sight that simply read "DO NOT TOUCH OR REMOVE ARTIFACTS-VISIT THE EXHIBIT AT YOUR OWN RISK

Exhibit Hall "A" featured only the most in demand and high profile displays.

Pierce was a phenomenon enthusiast for most of his life and could not have been more lucky to have met Kym who shared a similar interest.

He was also athletic and enjoyed participating in extreme sports when time permitted. "This is pretty amazing ancient and not so ancient stuff, said Kym as they both observed and admired numerous displayed items.

" I wonder why they decided to leave some encased but a few of them exposed," Pierce observed. He quickly was drawn to a sub-exhibit that dealt with space technology, bioenergy, and certain organic material discovered during space missions.

There was actually and odd looking plant partially embedded in a piece of moon material. The exhibit declined to list it as "moon rock" but referenced the discovery as "an important and historical find" since the plant appeared not to require any light, water, or attention to sustain itself.

The plant was green in color, but appeared to have an illumination or neon glow about it. It resembled a fern, but was much smaller almost miniature in size. The inside of the leaves were dark pink and ugly.

According to the curator, the plant sometimes seemed to produce a kind of mist similar to pollen with a very unpleasant odor. However, the curator mentioned it lasted only a few seconds, 13 to be exact. He mentioned the plant had not "misted" in several weeks and was highly likely it might during their visit.

The time had flown so quickly and they both decided the exhibit had been fascinating. They both took one last look at the plant, and began to walk towards the exit. Another curator presented them with a synthetic replica of the odd looking plant and thanked them for visiting.

"We appreciate your interest today, especially when so many people fear venturing anywhere on the 13th, have a most enjoyable evening," said the curator while smiling excitedly.

Pierce and Kym thanked her and walked to the car.

They examined the replicas and were surprised to see their names engraved on them. "Wow, didn't know they recognized their visitors like that," uttered Pierce as he pulled off. "I mean, did we give our names at all Kym?"

"Maybe they obtained it from the signup roster, remember it was only a RSVP event. They could have matched our social media pics, account, and email. Seemed like it was one of those things to let you know you're not considered just another guest or visitor," Kym thoughtfully explained.

"You're pretty smart, think you might be right, Pierce said. After grabbing dinner and talking for hours at a diner, he drove her home. They kissed at her doorstep and made plans to meet up again tomorrow.

He was finally home and placed the replica on the kitchen counter. Then headed straight to his bathroom to pee. Pierce immediately noticed the unusual odor and color of his urine. There was also an overwhelming feeling of nausea and his nose began to bleed. Then the sensation of tingling plus a rush of heat consumed his body now.

Then the unbearable headache came while he lay screaming on the bathroom floor for help. He could feel his airway tightening and was laboring to breathe. The numbness Pierce felt throughout his body was overpowering. He could actually hear his heart pounding and the sound of his own blood rushing to his head.

As Pierce attempted to crawl to the kitchen and call out to ORION, the Artificial Intelligence virtual assistant, the device would not respond to him.

His newly constructed subdivision had experienced a power surge earlier that day, and knocked ORION offline indefinitely.

A priority email sent to all ORION customers had not been checked by Pierce as he habitually read all emails before going to bed.

The synthetic replica of the odd fern had not deterred real spores from latching themselves to it. Once the extraterrestrial spores determined it could not feed from its replica, Pierce became the substitution and solution.

Lying on the floor and reaching aimlessly for the front door, Pierce yelled for help once more before closing his eyes.

"Are you still there, sir?"

" Please tell me how I can I be of service to you today? asked ORION.

The silence was overwhelmingly deafening.

-THE END