Sci-fi Shorts

Orbs

I always knew something about my friend seemed a little... off. 

Sure, Conner was a nice guy. He was always around when I needed him and he never spoke ill of others. He moved here from Roswell, New Mexico. But from the first day I met him, I noticed a deep understanding of his surroundings. He could read a room like an open book. He knew things that normal people wouldn't. He would always carry a notebook with him, jotting down who knows what at random times. I would catch him looking into a room like he was searching for something. I don't know what it was, or why he was looking for it. Not that I cared. It just seemed a little curious. I suppose what gave it away was the soccer ball.

He always had a weird fascination with soccer. I don't know why. He would always collect soccer balls. I found it strange, and would ask him about it occasionally. He wouldn't give me a straight answer. He loved soccer so much, he decided to join a league. I was already in the league, and he managed to get into the same team as me. We always traveled together, so it came as a shock to me when I found out.

One day after practice, I found him stuffing a blue soccer ball into his bag.

"Conner, what're you doing?" I hissed. "You could get kicked off the team for stealing that!"

He winked, and shushed me. 

I decided to go along with it. He could get away with almost anything. Anyway, my parents were out of town, so I had to stay the night at his house. It was midnight, and I couldn't get to sleep. I would stay in the guest room across from Conner's room, so a blue light was always shining in my room, emitted by something inside Conner's room. I always would ask him to turn whatever it was off, but he never did. I tried to cover my face with my pillow, but it didn't work. Then, I heard a weird hum coming from his room. It would change pitch from time to time, but remained constant for the most part.

I grew curious, and silently slipped out of bed and crept outside into the hallway. I drew a long breath in, and quietly opened the door. I peeked my head in, and saw something beyond what I could ever imagine. Conner was at his desk, staring out the window. He had the blue ball from earlier on his desk. No wait. It was floating above his desk! The soccer ball was the source of the hum, vibrating according to the pitch. Conner was staring at it intensely, like he was waiting for it to do something. He smiled, and the ball changed color. It turned from a dark blue to a light turquoise. A crackling noise played, and that's where it got weird.

"Have you found it?" a voice asked, coming from the soccer ball.

It sounded like nothing I've ever heard before. Whoever the voice belonged to, they clearly aren't human.

"It's in my possession right now. I'm sending the coordinates as we speak," Conner replied in a raspy voice.

That wasn't human either.

"Good. The Ascendancy will make sure your name goes down in history, Zorbak."

"I'm so glad to hear that. There's still one problem."

"The boy," the voice guessed.

I sucked in my breath. Were they talking about me?

"He saw me take the orb. He's been studying me. I think he's on to us."

"Do not let that concern you. The boy is weak and ignorant. He can't be a possible threat to our goals. Focus on the mission. Once we have enough of the orbs, we'll be the supreme force in our galaxy."

I decided that this conversation was weird enough. I was already completely freaked out. My best friend isn't even from the same galaxy as me! I gently closed the door behind me, and went back up to my room. I tried to get back to sleep, but I just wasn't able to. My paranoia was too great. My heart was beating rapidly, and I could feel my fight-or-flight instinct kicking in. I spend maybe ten minutes trying to figure out what to do, and finally decided to find out more about what Conner was talking about. 

I headed back outside, and opened the door to Conner's room. I noticed three things almost instantly. First, Conner was missing. Second, the soccer ball was, too. Third, his windowsill had been opened. The wind was blowing into the curtains, giving me an ominous feeling. I looked down, and saw Conner running into the woods, a bowling bag on his back. I stared in shock, then recovered my wits. I ran downstairs, out the back door, and ran into the woods after Conner.

He ran to the middle of a pond, and took the bowling bag off his back. I hid behind a tree, and waited to see what would happen. He seemed to be fiddling with some sort of device. He placed it down, and a blue beam of light flared into the sky. A beacon! I stood stock-still, still waiting. Conner was looking into the sky, every once in a while messing with a control panel. Then, a blinding light appeared in the center of the lake. I closed my eyes, hoping it wouldn't blind me.

Luckily, my sight wasn't damaged. I blinked the spots out of my eyes, and turned to see what the light was. It was a spacecraft of some sort, shaped like a giant sphere. He grabbed the bowling bag, and a ramp came down from the ship. He stepped onto the ramp, and it retreated, heading back into the ship. The ship then zoomed off back into space, leaving me wondering what the heck just happened. 

That was the last I ever saw of Conner and his orbs.