The Apocalypse Contract

CHAPTER 39 - PETER

Peter's first thought upon waking up was the realization that his alarm was not going off. This worried him, because it meant he had either slept through the alarm or failed to set it before going to bed. He was going to be late for work.

He opened his eyes. Worry was immediately replaced by confusion followed quickly by panic. He was not at home. He was not anywhere he recognized. Rather, he seemed to be lying on his back in a cavernous white space, a featureless round chamber topped by a domed ceiling. Samantha was collapsed near him.

"What the hell," Samantha groaned as she forced herself up into a sitting position.

Peter pulled himself upright. "Oh god... it's really happened. We've been abducted by aliens."

"Hold on there, let's not jump to conclusions. The last thing I remember we were in that office with those two costumed freaks, then they must have gassed us or something..." Samantha did not seem sure of herself.

"You know better than that. We both watched the same video. They zapped us up into their mothership just like Sydney." Peter stood and shouted at the ceiling, "You can't get away with this. People will miss us, just like we missed our friend. We're going to blow the lid off your whole alien world domination conspiracy or whatever it is."

"Peter. Calm down. There is no such thing as aliens.

"Sure, you just remember that when they have you on a metal table with a probe up your..."

"Peter! There. Are. No. Aliens." She began surmising a more earthbound explanation but was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a punk rocker covered in snake tattoos and carrying a strange rifle.

The punk woman lowered the massive gun and ran a hand through her blue mohawk hair. "OK, we don't have a lot of time, so let me give you the short version. You've been abducted by aliens, I'm here to rescue you, but I need you to sit tight while I blow up some stuff. I promise I'll be back soon. Wait... do I know you?"

"Sydney?" Samantha and Peter exclaimed in unison.

Punk rock Sydney squinted at the two of them. "Yeah, I definitely know you... Peter, right?" She turned to Samantha. "And I know you from somewhere too, I just don't remember where. Did we go to college together?"

"I'm Samantha. From Bexley Cable. We met a couple of weeks ago."

"Hmm. A couple of weeks you say. I've no memory of that, but that might be because it was years ago for me, or maybe those memories ended up on the cutting room floor."

"I installed your Internet. You made me tea. I met your cats. Sydney, what happened to you?"

"Sorry, I'm not Sydney... not really. I mean, I sort of am, but too much is gone. Too much is changed." She ran a hand through her blue tinted hair. "And we really don't have time to go into all that. In a few minutes the local hexframe is going to get nuked by a self replicating logic bomb. I need to transfer us before that happens." She blinked out of existence.

Peter stumbled backwards, barely stopping himself from collapsing back to the floor. "This is too much," he gasped.

"Aliens," Samantha replied. "It really is aliens."

"Yeah, like I was saying. So what the hell do we do about it?"

She rubbed her temples. "You think I know? It's not like they called me in to upgrade their cable Internet service. I got nothing."

Punk-rock warrior Sydney snapped back into existence between them. She hefted her futuristic gun onto her shoulder. "OK, things are going to get weird, so I need you to keep your heads, because I don't have time to transfer you back to inactive memory."