The Andromeda Effect

Chapter 1 = On the Road

The BMW M3 Sedan sped down the motorway road, flanked by numerous other cars in the other lanes. This BMW's engine roared as it took to the fast lane in order to overtake the Jaguar in front of it, but the engine soon calmed itself again as it slowed down a little bit upon entering the 2nd lane. 

The one driving this car, an 18-year-old girl named Sandra, gently tapped her fingers on the steering wheel to the rhythm of this song: 

Which was emanating from the phone belonging to her friend Jenny, sat in the passenger seat next to her and singing along to it. Jenny was a couple of years or so younger than Sandra. 

"I'm free, to do what I want, any old time!" Jenny was singing along to it. Sandra smiled at this. 

These girls were 2 best friends who were into sci-fi, and they had only just set off on their way from the Midlands, where they lived, to Birmingham, the first leg in their road trip across the South of England. It was 2:46 PM on Saturday 26th May 2018 at that moment. The start of half term holiday, when Jenny had a week off school and Sandra could also have a week off from her work, so they'd already decided a month beforehand that they'd spend May half term travelling for a week to attend comic con and have a look at some supposed sites of UFO lore when they got to London. 

When the song ended, Jenny turned to Sandra and asked, 

"So I know we haven't seen it yet, but do you think, when we check out this UFO-related stuff in London, we'll actually see some sign of intelligent life?" 

"Probably, probably." Sandra nodded. "But aliens like to keep a low profile. They could basically walk among us and we'd never know!" She added dramatically, causing Jenny to laugh. 

"I'm starting to believe some of my classmates are some kind of extraterrestrials, the way they behave sometimes." Jenny said with a chuckle. 

"How d'you mean?" 

"Well, you know in the James Bond Skyfall lyrics, when Adele says, 'I know I'd never be me without the security'?"

"Yeah." 

"Well, in the case of these classmates, it'd be, 'I know I'd never be me without the immaturity'." Replied Jenny with a smirk. Sandra also let out her own small laugh. 

And so their conversations continued on like this for a while, like friends usually do at the start of a story. Although usually, you can't have this sort of story without something supernatural happening. Something to throw them into adventure. Something truly exhilarating. Which is what began to take place that night as they were about to enter Birmingham. 

The sun was setting, and it was wasn't completely dark, but it very nearly was. They were driving along a country lane, when suddenly, Jenny spotted a car parked at the side of the road in front of them. And it looked official. 

"Oh my god, it's the old bill or something!" Jenny said ('the old bill' is a British phrase meaning 'the police'). "Have we done something wrong?" 

"No, we haven't, Jen, it's fine." Sandra reassured her. "And anyway, we don't know it's the police. Looks even more official than that." Because instead of wearing police uniforms, the men standing by the car were wearing suits and ties. As they got nearer they beckoned for Sandra to pull over, so she did. One of the men, who had blue eyes and jet-black hair, walked over to Sandra's window, which she rolled down and said, "Good evening sir. May I ask what this is about?" 

"A girl has gone missing from Birmingham, miss. We're doing a search for her in the area. Have you seen her? We don't have a photo of her, but she's 4 feet 5 inches tall, has a slim build, long pale hair and pale blue-green eyes, last seen wearing a short purple dress." 

Sandra took a moment to think before answering with, 

"Sorry, I don't think we have seen her." 

"We haven't really seen anyone tonight." Jenny added in agreement. 

"Oh. Alright then. Have a good evening, and thank you anyway." He said, and then Sandra rolled up her window and they drove away. 

After they'd gone, though, the man who'd talked to them fetched a radio communicator device out of his coat pocket, turned it on and spoke into it. 

"Dr Keagan, this is Oswald. Come in, Keagan." 

"Ah. Good to hear from you, Oswald." Came a reply in a mysterious American accent. "Any luck?" 

"Not yet sir. Just questioned 2 girls who've just passed by and they haven't seen her either." 

"I see. Well, the girl may be... shall we say... different... to the rest of us, but she's young and wounded. She can't have gone too far outside of the surrounding area. A few miles, tops. Still no sign of the traitors, either, I presume?" 

"Again, no sir. We haven't asked people about them like we have done about the girl, because if word gets out that we're investigating the disappearances of 4 missing people at the same time, suspicion will arise." Oswald replied. 

"Good, good. It's good that you're keeping things inconspicuous. Although this is getting out of hand. Regroup back at the lab in an hour so that we can organise a new plan. Don't be late." 

"Yes sir." 

The voice on the other end of the line chuckled a little. "Those 4. They can't evade me forever. It's funny they think they can." And then there was a click as the voice deactivated his own communicator, and Oswald put his back inside his coat pocket.