Subjects

17- Fallen Angels

You know those video games where you fly a spaceship and battle aliens and such and such? Well, I'm sure you'd be surprised to know that they're nothing like the real version. I mean, first of all, you need to take into consideration the absolute terror that you'd be in.

Roger was never one to freak out. Even if he did feel a bit uneasy, he kept his cool. That's why when Eva said, "umm... Does anyone know how to fly a spaceship?" he realized it is his moment to shine. Or at least dimly glow.

"I'll do it," says Roger. He walks towards what seems to be the ship's control panel and Angie follows close behind, for some reason this large guy makes her feel safe. Roger scans the panel trying to figure out how to start the ship. The large green button seems promising. Roger presses the button and immediately the doors are shut and sealed.

As soon as the door comes between Ben's gun and the room, the scientist runs off, probably to try and stop them. Ben lowers the gun but still stares out at the room through a small window. A small screen on the control panel lights up. Roger can see a picture of a brown looking planet and a title in some alien language. Roger swipes to left and instead a different planet appears, a more familiar one. Under a it there is a title in the same alien language but Roger doesn't need it, he'd know this planet in his sleep - it's Earth.

Roger touches the green planet. The small ship starts humming like a snoring puppy, or maybe a small bear, or an elephant. They barely notice any difference until they start to slowly move away from the mother ship. It takes at least ten minutes until they can see the entire ship. And boy, is that ship huge.

Eva once went on a cruise with her parents when she was young. As she looks at the spaceship she wonders how many cruise ships would fit in the ginormous spaceship. My money would be on five.

Roger still examines the control board, I mean, it really is pretty cool, but he quickly forgets all about it when he looks out the window.

"Wow," he says.

"This is insane," Eva adds.

"How come no one has ever seen it?" asks Ben.

"I guess they have some sort of cloaking mechanism," Emily suggests.

Just as she says it, the air, or more accurately, the void around them starts to become blurred. For a few seconds they see nothing and then it stops. Only now the ship is gone.

"This is... I mean.. I don't know what the hell is going on any more," at this point Eva is pretty sure that she's having some weird dream. She thinks back to the last party she remembers going to. Is it possible that someone put something in her drink?

The small pod starts speeding up now that it's out of the ship's range. Angie grabs the hem of Roger's shirt in order not to fall.

"I think we should take a seat" Roger says.

They all buckle up in the chairs and Roger ties the box to himself do it doesn't start flying around the ship. Ben finally looks away from the window, he holds the gun close to his chest.

"Too bad I don't have my camera here," he says. "This could have made one hell of a vlog for my channel."

"I almost forgot about it," Eva says uncharacteristicly quietly. "Now it seems like everything is light years away."

"In a way, it is." Ben says. "Hey, you know what a light year is!"

"Don't be stupid, of course I know what it is!" But it works, half a smile starts to appear on her face. Arguing with Ben kind of makes Eva feel normal again.

They know that there are some things they need to talk about, but none of them really feel like bringing them up. They feel bad enough as it is, without having to discuss possible alien invasion and enslavement of all man kind.

And Leo.

When they don't look out the window, they can almost forget about their very misfortunate situation. Well, maybe not forget. More like repress. A month ago all they had to worry about was collage and friends and saving the penguins. They still have to worry about all of those things but now it's about making sure they continue to exist. Who knew being part of an experiment can be so stressful.

A couple of minutes later the pod starts shaking. They all stretch to look out the window. Well, all but Angie who is currently snoring at her seat.

If it weren't for the thick cover of the pod, they'd probably be burnt before they even saw how close to earth they'd gotten. Lucky for them, the aliens know how to make spaceships and so they get to watch the flames surround them without becoming human toast.

The flames stop but now they realize that they're different kind of toast.

"We're heading right to the ocean!" Eva states the obvious.

The air doesn't help much to slow their fall. In what feels like the world's shortest five minutes, they fall towards the huge plain of water. They all hold their breath as the ship hits the surface and sinks below the water.