Dengaron P.E. (Personal edition)

Awaken

Charlie was a man who was never really happy; he had been an orphan for as long as he could remember and still had no idea where he came from. He was average height, around five foot eleven, and had dark blue eyes and blond hair that went down to his shoulders. He was 22 years of age and was stuck as a satellite tech engineer, which was a pretty good job for someone of his status.

Inside a spaceship ten thousand kilometres above the surface of the Earth, Charlie awoke with his feet entangled in his bedsheets and cold sweat plastering his blond hair to the back of his neck. One week until New Year, he thought once his breathing had steadied and his mind was clear once more. It's Testing Day.

At the old-fashioned stove, a young man turned around, his babyface and boyishly high-pitched voice making him seem even younger. It was Alex, Charlie's best friend and fellow work partner at Jayden, although some knew him better as Ghost, the code name his unique ability had earned him. "Same dream?"

Alex was a bit taller than Charlie and had wood-brown hair and eyes; his baby face made it hard to tell that he was 23, but the deep red badge that proved his position confirmed it. Alex had always been successful as a child and looked to achieve big things. However, that was before he'd discovered his abilities. Alex possessed a power that no one else in the star system had even thought of before.

"Yeah," Charlie said in his deep morning voice. "Gets me every time."

"The one with the ghost orb thing?"

Charlie nodded. "And the people in the bed, too."

"Think they were dead?"

"I'm not sure. I still don't understand it."

"By the sound of it, they are."

"I can't assume anything, Alex. I've had recurring dreams in the past."

"I know, but not like —"

"And it's not like dreams actually mean anything."

"I guess so, but it's having a huge effect on you. You barely sleep or eat, and I can't remember the last time you voluntarily saw anybody. I'm gonna have to stage an intervention if this goes on much longer."

Charlie struggled into his space suit. "What do you mean by that?"

"Have you even heard what they did to the meteorite impact site on the moon?" Alex jammed his helmet onto his head, and his voice became muffled.

"The one that happened in 2965?" Charlie said as they tethered to the ship and drifted out into space.

"That's the one. They've turned the whole thing into a city, the moons capital city."

Charlie gaped at him. "Really? I actually had no idea."

"Exactly why I need to get you out. I mean, have you ever even been to a nightclub?"

"You know I don't mix well with other people."

"Not with that attitude."

They were fast approaching a gigantic metal structure, through the front window of their ship it was clear the structure was easily twenty kilometres long, one with large holes set into it at regular intervals. Alex looked at it and chuckled. "All this for a celebration."

Charlie unclipped a small remote from his suit: it had the same metallic sheen as the structure, and there were two red buttons on the top. He pressed the button labelled 'test'. Nothing happened, so he pressed it again. Still nothing. "Crap — something's not working."

"Want me to check inside?" Alex asked.

"Go for it."

Alex closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as his space suit went limp, almost as though there were nobody inside it. His face darkened to the blackest black before dissolving into millions of tiny particles. It looked like a smoke bomb had gone off inside the suit.

"All good?" Charlie said.

The black particles inside Alex's suit formed a thumbs-up sign, so Charlie took off the helmet. The mist flooded out, seeping into the holes spaced along the gargantuan structure. After a while, a smaller portion of the mist flew past Charlie and into the ship they'd come from. The airlock opened, and the mist came out forming two shapes as if something were inside each mass, one thin and about the size of a beach ball and the other a dome just over a metre in diameter. The mist returned to the metal structure and began working on the problem. Charlie floated and watched the Earth pass beneath him, it was hard to tell but they were quickly passing over Australia and would most likely complete a lap of the world before returning.

Around three continents and half an hour later the Earth-illuminated mist returned and piled itself back into the empty space suit. Charlie reattached the helmet he'd been holding for the last thirty minutes before the now liquid-like black goop compacted until it was once more Alex inside the space suit.

"The sixty-fifth projector's lens was cracked," Alex said as he struggled to catch his breath.

"And you managed to replace it?"

He nodded, as a flathead screwdriver floated up to his mouth which was followed by a quiet, "whoops."

"Then here goes nothing."

As Charlie pressed the 'test' button a second time, the structure emitted a low hum that they could only feel as vibration. Every one of the structures holes lit up in a colossal holographic display large enough for the entirety of Europe to see. The display projected the number 3000 surrounded by fireworks.

Charlie yelped before a black visor slid down over his eyes. "I forgot how bright this thing is from here."

Alex laughed. "Don't worry about it. I forgot to activate my visor last year too, and it forced me into my Ghost form."

"Ghost form?" Charlie asked. "That's what you're calling it now?"

"Yep. It only makes sense."

Charlie pressed a button on his helmet. "Command, how does it look?"

A female voice spoke from his earpiece. "The light show looks great, and we're all excited for the display next week. Good job, boys. You can return to Jayden now."

Charlie gazed at the light show once more. "It's seriously amazing how the machine knows when a lens is cracked," He thought.

Alex and Charlie reeled back in towards the ship. Once inside and out their now sweaty suits, Alex turned to Charlie. "Seriously, all you've done the past four years is work. You need to come out with us."

"Our job is too important for that."

"Oh, come on. You really can't expect —"

"Alex, I'm not like you or the others. I'm not going."

"Fine." Alex's left hand dissolved and engulfed a silver spherical necklace on the desk. The shifting black sphere containing the jewellery floated up out of Charlie's reach. "But I'm taking this until you agree to come out with me."

"Alex, put that down! You know how important it is to me."

"You need to let go of her man! Say you'll come out with us tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Please, man. We're worried about you. We want you to come have fun with us."

Charlie took an uneasy minute to think before finally, he sighed. "Fine, but I've got a few things I need to do first."

"Promise?"

He sighed again. "Yes. Now, would you please give that back?"

The sphere floated over to Charlie's open hand, and a small silver sphere dropped into his palm. "Thank you," Charlie said, unable to keep the exasperation from his voice.

"Don't forget you promised." Alex flashed Charlie a smug smile as he walked away, presumably heading to the ship's cockpit. As Alex reformed his arm, Charlie's fingers closed around the necklace, and he blew out a lungful of air. Great, he thought. Now what have I got myself into?