Life In Light Years

Life In Light Years- Chapter 1

Chapter One

2064- Four years after Alice met the aliens

"SHIT! Shit, shit, shit!" I yelled as my laptop destroyed my only copy of my latest article. I was going to have to start all over again. I screamed and slammed my hands onto the keypad of the unreliable machine. Really, you would have thought that by now, after laptops being around for so long, that they would have made them faultless. No. It hasn't happened yet. It was then that the machine started to smoke and then to spark.

"No. No! NO! YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER BASTARD," I yelled as the machine let out a pathetic fizzle and died on my desk. I slammed it shut and threw it across the room. I'm guessing you want to know why I was so angry. Well, the fact that my laptop was dead meant I had to leave my flat and go to the nearest internet café. I HATE internet cafés, with passion. I groaned as I pulled on my cream coat and leather ankle boots. I had grown my hair over the years and I had always resented the way my mother made me keep it so short and now my white blond locks cascaded down my back in shiny, loose curls and waves. I was still short, about five foot four and a half and my eyes hadn't changed to a more interesting colour. All in all, I was still completely and utterly boring-looking. I opened my door and chose to slam it behind me rather than just instructing it to close and lock.

"Flat: lock," I barked angrily and hurried down the steps onto the busy street below. I heard footsteps racing behind me and then someone was at my side. I turned my head and saw the guy who lived in the flat across from me, Gerald.

"Hi Alice!" He chirped, smiling at me nervously.

"Hey Gerald," I muttered in irritation. I really couldn't be bothered to deal with him, not while I was so angry.

"So I was wondering, are you free-" he started but I smiled a relieved smile as I saw my turning coming. I quickened my pace as I made it to the corner.

"Bye Gerald," I said, waggling my fingers at him as I turned leaving him standing dumbstruck on the corner of the street.

"I'll see you around Alice," he called after me loudly and I rolled my eyes. Gerald had been hitting on me since I had moved in over a year ago. I had used money from my parents to buy my flat. They had wanted me to move into the expensive flats by the Thames but I had refused and used the money to by a small place in Islington. I had well over a million left in the bank that paid my bills and for my clothes. I was a struggling writer and since I had completed school early when I was sixteen I took an English major, managing to do that in just two years. It was then that I moved out of my parent's house and got something smaller. A lot smaller and in a much rougher area than my old neighbourhood in Essex.

I entered the internet café and paid for three hours. I vaguely remembered what I had written and deadline was in four hours so I had to get this piece done. I sat down in front of the hi-tech Apple Mac and began to type immediately. The café was empty as usual so I had a nice quite environment to work in. I heard the door jingle as the waitress brought me my coffee and heard a male voice request a computer for three hours. Once I heard a chair one or two places down from me I started to completely concentrate on my piece. I was just over halfway through when an I.M popped up.

-Computer 12- Hello Alice.

I looked over at the booth that contained computer twelve and frowned when I saw little spikes of black hair just visible over the top of the opaque, blue glass. I quickly typed back.

-Computer 10- Gerald, did you follow me here?

-Computer 12- Who's Gerald? I noticed you grew your hair long. It looks nice ;)

-Computer 10- Who is this?

-Computer 12- Why don't you just come over and see? I trust your legs are still working.