Snapshots

43. Hold My Hand

Phineas grinned. Last time they'd gotten an intergalactic ad, it hadn't gone so well, but this place was great.

At least as far as the scenery went. The blue grass had patches of fluffy, white flowers that when viewed with the clear, green sky above, gave him a weird feeling of being upside down.

The promised hospitality was missing.

Literally.

They couldn't find anyone.

Phineas sighed, coming to a stop in front of a building. The towering crystal structure refracted the light of the two suns, making it shine, but also a little hard to look at without squinting.

Maybe Ferb's search was going better than his. But, even if they didn't find anyone, coming to see this wasn't a complete waste of their day.

He started back to their ship.

About half-way to it, Ferb shot out from one of the buildings in the same direction.

"Hey, Ferb!"

Ferb turned to run towards him.

"Did you find someone?" That could explain the hurry.

Rather than answer, Ferb grabbed his arm. Phineas barely had time to react before Ferb began running again, pulling Phineas along.

Phineas stumbled over his feet, but the grip on his arm kept him from face planting. "Bro, what's going on?" He glanced over his shoulder.

Nothing there.

Ferb stopped. His grip tightened.

"Ferb?" It took him a second to notice what Ferb had seen.

It was either a large robot or an alien wearing a weird suit.

He glanced between it and his brother. Putting a friendly smile on, Phineas stepped in front of Ferb, despite the light pull at his arm to stay back, and waved. "Hi, I'm Phineas, and this is Ferb. Can you tell us what's going on here?"

The being moved towards them.

Then it felt like something exploded in a shower of color and sound inside his head.

***

Phineas gasped.

He tried to move. Something bit into his wrists, halting it.

He opened his eyes, quickly looking around the room.

Several of those beings were in the white room.

One stood next to him. A long needle held in its hand.

Those old, cliche takes on alien abductions came to mind.

He liked aliens, he did, but he really didn't want to be probed.

Phineas tried to make that known, but all he could manage was a groan.

The alien paused in being it towards Phineas' arm.

Once again, something felt like it was prodding at his mind. It didn't come as an explosion this time. Instead, it was like little pieces of images and feelings brushing against his thoughts.

His body relaxed even as his mind tried to put together its meaning.

The needle slid into his arm.

***

When Phineas woke up again, the first thing he noticed was he was no longer tied down.