Chapter 1: The Awakening

In a dark and cold room, lights blinked and flashed, a console came to life. A holographic screen flashed on and letters formed in the air above the system “Download incomplete ... Destination offline ... Attempting Resume ... Link Lost...”

Another set of lights flashed across the room and another terminal lit. The holographic display brought up the image of the planet Earth and a small red dot started to blink over Northern California. The first console displayed more words: “Destination Located ... Attempting to establish Link ... Destination Still offline ... Dispatching remote interface...”

David sat at his desk and looked over the resume in front of him. His eyes locked on the words “To whom it may concern,” then lost focus as he struggled to maintain consciousness.

He sat there slightly confused, staring at those five words. His heart began to race and sweat began to form on his brow, as he realized he was unable to read any further. The muscles of his arms strained as he attempted to move, with no results. His mind continued to fog as his consciousness centered on those words. His arms shook from the strain of trying to move and from being in the same position for so long. His back had begun to slump and a small ache formed at the base of his spine. That unpleasant feeling broke the haze and his mind began to slowly start to function once again. He registered the words on the page. His eyes scanned the cubical farm that was his work place. The bright florescent lights caused his eyes to water.

His thoughts dulled once again as he looked back at the resume. Something was definitely wrong, strange thoughts filled his mind, thoughts of strange places and monstrous creatures. A drop of sweat slid down the left side of his face. He again attempted to focus on the resume as his heart pounded in his chest. The page in front of him no longer resembled legible words. It had become a jumble of undecipherable script.

Shaking from the muscle strain, his arms grew heavy as they lowered to the desk. His eyes followed the paper.

One of his coworkers approached him. Her voice sounded distant and hallow to as if coming from down a long tunnel “David, are you alright?”

His head flopped forwards on his shoulders and then fell to the desk with a sickening crunch, covering the surface with bright red blood. He heard a blood curdling scream as his head bounced off the desk and he fell to the floor, taking the rest of the papers with him. He heard a distant voice yelling, “Someone call 911!”

Sharp pain brought David back to reality for a second before his head hit the tiled floor. One last thought ran through his addled mind To Whom It May Concern. Then everything went black.

Karen sat at her station at Yutter Memorial Hospital when the ambulance arrived with the newest patient. She came from around her desk with her clip board to get the most current vitals from the EMT as they brought him in. She quickly took down the information with a practiced hand as the EMT’s rattled it off. “This is David Jenkins. A possible seizure at work, hit his face on his desk then fell to the floor. He’s unconscious and non-responsive since our arrival. Respiration is 80, BP is 140 over 85, O2 is 94%.”

David was moved carefully from the EMTs stretcher to another to be moved to trauma bay one where Dr. Jones was already waiting. He thanked the EMTs as Karen handed him the clip board and started a second IV while another nurse cut off his clothes and set him up for a catheter. Dr. Jones began taking notes on the clip board. “Get a head and c-spine CT and chest x-ray, a panel, a tox screen and urine sample.” He then handed the clip board back to Karen and exited the room.

Karen nodded as she went to place the oxygen tube over his nose; she finally got a look at the man’s face and stopped in her tracks. She knew him, she was not sure where, but she somehow knew him. It was like she looking at the face of her best friend. She could have sworn she’d never seen this man at all in her entire life, but she his face was familiar. Her mind flashed with images of him smiling over her, her hands brushing a lock of hair from his eyes. A flash and he was sitting across a table from her at a small cafe sipping a cup of coffee.

Karen came back to reality by someone calling her name. “Karen, are you ok?” A voice said with concern.

She shook her head and looked in the direction of the other nurse. “Yeah, I’m fine Julia,” Karen replied still shaking her head. “Deja vu, I guess.”

Julia was a short Latina woman five foot three inches tall, full of spitfire and vinegar especially where her friends were concerned. “Deja vu? Yah have got to be kidding me! That was more than Deja vu; I called your name three times! You girl, were in la la land.”

Karen hooked the patient up to the EKG machine and ran a strip. “Julia I am fine, it’s ok. I just thought I knew him for a second that’s all.”

“Do you?” When Karen looked at her with confusion she finished the question “Know him, I mean?” Her hands upraised in front of her in a dramatic attempt to express her question.

“No, I have never seen him before today,” Karen replied as she hooked up the equipment. “It was weird. I looked at his face and it was like I was looking at someone I had known forever,” Karen looked up to Julia for a second. “But I swear I have never seen him before today.”

Julia helped with the equipment as she gave Karen a Cheshire grin. “Maybe you did know him, in a past life or somethin’. You know, like a lover. Girl, he’s kinda cute.”

Karen smacked Julia in a playful manner. “Julia, I am serious it was really weird.”

She looked at the unconscious man in the bed and felt a pang of concern. She could detach herself from her patients; not completely, no good nurse ever fully detaches herself, but this one was different. She genuinely was concerned for his well-being. It’s like a part of her was dying and nothing would change it. Tears began to pool at her eyes and her heart began to ache, she finished hooking up the EKG walked out of the room back towards her station dabbing her eyes with her sleeve. “Are you sure you’re ok, Girl?” Julia asked her.

The remote interface floated above the structure. The up-link destination was inside. It scanned the area and determined that the facilities were quite crude and antiquated. It opened an interface with the local wireless devices in order to determine the best method to gain entry into the structure and interface with the destination.

It scanned the files it received, learning about the planet and the culture to better interface with them. None of it was very promising; it discovered that violence was prevalent in all forms of media, from its news to its entertainment.

The planet was even more culturally backward than scientifically. If it were to make its presence known the backlash from local authorities would likely cause damage to itself and many others including the destination, this would not be acceptable. An upgrade to mission on systems would be required.

“ ... Remote Interface to Mainframe ... Destination not available with current systems ... Upgrades required ... Sending data, Mark II schematics required ... Mission Aborted ... Returning to mainframe for upgrade.”

The remote interface floated away from the structure. Continuing to scan the area and establishing links for the mainframe to utilize as it was upgraded.

Dr. Jones studied the paperwork in front of him, then at the man lying in the bed. He was puzzled; according to the tests there was no reason that Mr. Jenkins should be unconscious. Every test came up negative, his vitals normal. For all intents and purposes the man should be conscious. “What’s wrong with you Mr. Jenkins? Why’re you here?” He asked aloud, he continued to look over the charts in confusion.

As he asked this question, a strange warming feeling filled Dr. Jones’s body. He didn’t notice it at first, but as it grew he grew more concerned. He put down the clip board and looked around the room. Small beads of sweat formed on his forehead and his skin grew flush. He gripped at and loosened his collar and looked at the patient again. He gapped in surprise as he saw a faint glow coming from Mr. Jenkins. The glow came from Mr. Jenkins’ head and floated across the room towards Dr. Jones, linking the two. Suddenly it stopped and the heat began to subside. Dr. Jones backed out of the room and called to the Shift Nurse: “Nurse Debbin I need an immediate MRI on Mr. Jenkins and I want the security cameras in his room turned on and recording.”

“Yes Doctor, right away.” The nurse responded. She typed on her computer screen as she replied. Nurse Debbin suddenly let out a yelp as an arc of electricity shot from her screen onto her hands. She jumped back from her station and the screen went dark. “Doctor, what the hell’s going on?” She asked a quiver of fear on her voice.

“I am not sure,” Dr. Jones responded as he looked around the ward. It was late during the night shift and the two were alone. It was a quiet time of the night so it was just him and Nurse Debbin at the moment.

The lights on the floor and in the rooms, suddenly when dark. Nurse Debbin screamed and jumped falling backwards, her head struck the counter behind her. Dr. Jones leapt across the counter to catch her before she hit the ground. He lowered her unconscious body to the floor and began checking her vitals. Slowly the hall grew brighter with an unnatural greenish light. Once Dr. Jones was assured that Nurse Debbin was ok, he peeked over the counter of the nurses’ station. What he saw filled him with horror. With great effort of will, he managed not to scream.

In a dark cold room, far from the hospital, two holographic displays continued to flash. The first one showed a holographic image of the earth with a red dot blinking somewhere in Northern California. The other displayed text readouts and schematics for the Remote Interface Unit Mark II, a covert style of drone, using a human body, that could enter the structure that was holding the destination unobserved by the planets populace. The small blinking light on the holographic display went out. An alarm started blaring and a red light in the center of the room started flashing brightly. More displays lit up all around the room. Some appeared to be running scans of the area that the destination was last seen. Others appeared to be bringing up images of the Structure that contained the destination, both internal and external views. The original display dropped the schematics it was showing and started to display letters. “Contact with Destination Lost ... Interference at target location ... Scanning interference ... Morgalon Presence detected ... Destination’s Existence is in danger ... Engaging Protocol Alpha ... Morgalon Presence Must be Neutralized at all Costs ... Combat Drones Deployed to Location ... Stealth level 0 ... Deadly Force Authorized ... Civilian Casualties Authorized ... Remote Interface Unit Mark II Complete ... Deploying Remote Interface Unit Mark II.”