The Alien Agenda (#Wattys2018)

[Chapter 15: A Sign]

I was walking down a cold, white corridor, that had curved edges. Its interior made me feel like I was in an aircraft. The walls had eerie white illuminations that formed rings all the way to the ceilings. I passed a few oval-shaped hatches every now and then, but I kept on walking. I could not control my feet somehow.

I walked and walked whilst perturbing gurgling noises invaded my ears as I passed some of the hatches. I rubbed my arms nervously. I stopped walking when I reached the end of the corridor ended with a larger hatch.

The hatch opened automatically and I stepped in. I saw a dark room with a few rectangular tables and spotlights over each one of them. There were individuals on each table, a total of five, all connected to tubes that were flowing a greenish liquid into their bloodstreams

I widened my eyes when I finally realized where I was. It was an Operation Theatre. I knew this because I noticed a few beings in white suits and masks surrounding one of the five tables. They were holding surgical tools that were bloodstained while carrying out a surgical procedure on a tiny figure on the table.

I pondered on whether or not to go nearer. However, my feet did not think too much about it. The next thing I knew, I was standing next to one of the surgeons with my hand over my mouth, paralyzed in place.

On the table laid a baby. A small brown-skinned one, under a thin blue sheet. The horrifying part was the square hole in its head from which the surgeons were currently removing something. I could not bear to look at the helpless infant, unconscious, on the surgical table.

The surgeons removed pinkish tissue from its brain and replaced it with some similar looking tissue. They were not even speaking during the surgery. I only heard them produce weird noises,  like insects, from time to time.

The scene suddenly shifted and the surgeons were gone but one remained, standing next to the baby which now had the similar tubes injecting green liquid into it. I examined the readings on the screen.

There was the pulse rate, and various other readings of the baby but below that was a bar. I read the words on the top of the bar, and widened my eyes in realisation.

SOM 5 DOWNLOAD: 98% COMPLETE

I stepped away from the screen, walking backwards till a voice spoke in my head.

"Are you ready, Laila?" I spun around and saw the surgeon.

It was speaking to me in the same insect-like noise, but I could understand it somehow. It was telepathically speaking to me.

The surgeon removed its face mask, and cap revealing a grey alien. Its mouth was shut but it spoke to me, its almond black eyes boring into mine. It did not surprise me at all though. I just stood there waiting for it to tell me something.

"The time is coming. 3336669. Find the rest," the alien kept on repeating these three strange things, like a mantra buzzing in my head.

Suddenly, the infant behind starting crying. Its little eyes flew open. I started to feel dizzy, as the whole scene spun around me again and again. I clutched my head as it throbbed painfully. The last thing I saw, was the screen displaying:

SOM5: DOWNLOAD COMPLETE

I screamed and jolted out of bed. I was breathing heavily and my body was covered in cold sweat. I sat in daze for a moment.

I slowly stepped out of bed and headed to the bathroom. I rinsed my face with the cold water and examined my tired face. I stared at my reflection intently, when an image of the baby flashed before me. Its features strikingly similar to the girl I was currently staring at.

I blinked twice.

Then dropped to my knees.

Covering my head with my hands, I begun to shiver uncontrollably whilst tears flowed down my eyes. Memories flowed into my brain. Memories my brain hid from me for way too long.

I slowly scampered to my bed and rested my head on the bedframe. Taking slow and steady breaths, I calmed myself down. Without thinking I picked my phone from the side table and and dialed Axel's number.

I did not think it would be of any help right now, and he was most probably sleeping, but I wanted to hear a reassuring voice for a moment as a horrifying revelation was building up inside me.

To my surprise, he picked up.

"Hello...Laila? What's up?" He asked in a hoarse voice, clearly just woken from sleep.

I felt guiltt calling him this late at night. Yet, my lower lip trembled again at the sound of his voice. I felt comfortable enough to break down again.

"A-Axel.... I had a bad dream..." I said, my voice wavering slightly.

I knew it was stupid to tell him I had a bad dream, I doubt it should have been any of his concern. However, I could not hold myself back.

"A bad dream? Laila are you crying?" He asked, realising the crack in my voice.

"N-no...," I replied but could not help it in the end.

Tears flowed down my eyes, as I choked up my sobs.
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Axel widened his eyes when he heard Laila crying on the other end of the line.

"Laila, calm down. Tell me what happened," he said soothingly. Her voice trembled but she explained it to him anyway.

"I had a vision, of...what I think happened in the past. I w-was abducted...when I was a kid, more than once," she began, her voice trembling.

"Each time t-they implanted something in my... Brain..." she said, she was speaking slowly as if each memory was returning to her bit by bit, and it was not just a revelation for him, but her as well.

"I-I am one of the SOM5..." she continued sobbing.

Axel frowned. He guessed that much . It was the only reasonable explanation for her situation

"Did anything else happen?" He asked gently careful not provoke any disturbing thoughts.

"T-the surgeon...a grey alien...or are they us from the future?... It asked me, whether I was ready, and that the time is coming and that series of numbers you told me earlier, 3336669," she said, as her sobbing reduced.

"Okay, don't worry. I bet it was a vision, to give us a sign. Just relax. I know you are terrified, but for now just calm down. Go to sleep, I'll meet you at your place tommorow morning. Okay?" Axel told her, gently.

"O-okay...Goodnight, Axel...T-thanks," she said with a sigh.

With that the call ended. Axel let out a long sigh. The scene of a surgery being carried out on her past self, must have terrified her. He rested his head back on his pillow and closed his eyes.

What was more terrifying was that he was not shocked at all. He consciously did not know why. But subconsciously it felt like a natural occurrence.

He brushed the thought away and focused on the matter at hand.

He needed to decode that date,  3336669.