Flashing Lights
Jacob Harris was sleeping in his bed, in his room, in a colonial house on Bakers Street. The hands of the clock had just turned over to read 1:30 A.M. when three lights appeared above Jacob’s head.
The lights hovered above Jacob’s body for five minutes before a tiny voice asked, “Is he the one?”
Another voice, just as faint, replied,”Yes.”
As soon as this was confirmed the lights vanished and seconds after, so did Jacob.
The lights were just inches in front of Jacob when he woke up. The walls of what seemed to be a tunnel were going by him so fast they were a blur. He tried to reach his hand out and touch the wall, but he was paralyzed. He felt a terror build up in him and he screamed. No one heard it, well, the lights did, but they didn’t care. Their job was not to comfort the boy, but to merely transport him. After he let out this scream Jacob blacked out from the overwhelming situation he was in.
When Jacob came to, he and the three lights were still traveling through the tunnel. He still couldn’t move, but now he could hear the three lights arguing about something.
He asked,”What’s wrong?”
The light to the far left rudely snapped,”Shut Up!”
The light to the far right said,”Draco, try to be nice,” then it moved on to answer Jacob’s question by explaining,”Well, Jacob, we are kind of lost.”
The light in the middle said,”Loca, don’t tell him what’s wrong and Draco don’t be so angry.”
Draco sneered.
Jacob followed up with,”Where are we exactly?”
The lights were back to arguing and Jacob didn’t get a response. He sat there, still paralyzed, confused, scared, and now he was annoyed. He felt an itch coming in his lower back. He tried to twist his hand around to his back to reach it, but couldn’t. The itch began to burn. Jacob focused all his energy on moving his arm. He began to move and was able to reach and scratch the itch. After he scratched the itch his arm returned to its original position. Realizing he could move, Jacob began to twist and turn trying to break his whole body out of paralysis. He moved so much that he fell through the bottom of the tunnel and onto a hot sandy ground.
Feet, or some sort of hooves, fell all around Jacob’s body. Jacob stood up and brushed off his body and boxers. He was in the middle of a bustling marketplace. All over the place odd shaped foods were exchanging hands. Then Jacob felt the heat. It was unbearable. He looked up to the sky to see where the sun was, but his eyes burned as soon as he lifted them. He began to sweat and could feel his mouth becoming dry. He put his hand on the shoulder of a man well over six feet tall. The man turned and angrily stared at Jacob with four eyes set deep in a wide, blue face. The eyes were solid black. Jacob stared into the face of the man and saw that he had three mouths, or short trunks and a wide nose turned up so much you could see into its nostrils.
Staring into the thing’s face with horror Jacob gasped,”Help.” Then he passed out from heat exhaustion and terror.
When Jacob woke up he was on a soft mattress in a pitch black room. It was cool in the room and there were no blankets on the bed. He surveyed the room and found the only furnishings other than the bed was a night table with a light and a silver, metal door on the wall at the foot of the bed. He propped himself up on his elbow and tried the light on the night table next to the bed. It didn’t work. He swung his legs over the side of the bed. Drowsily, he stood up and walked to the door. When he was within a meter of it the door opened on its own. He stepped over the threshold of the door into a hallway lined by four other doors, exactly like the one he had just come out of. Jacob walked down the hallway to the first door on his left. He opened it by clicking a button on the wall.
As he peered into a room identical to his he heard a voice behind him say,”Good, you’re up.”
Jacob spun around to see a man in his thirties wearing nothing, but plaid green boxers. He was slightly shorter than Jacob and was skinny, but muscular. He had short, dark brown, curly hair and a very short goatee. Jacob stared at the man.
The man said,”Follow me.”
Jacob replied,”Why should I?”
The man explained,”Because I’m the only human other than you on this planet.”
Shocked, Jacob followed the man to the end of the hallway. They took a left and walked down a flight of stairs. The stairs emptied out into a brightly lit room with all white furnishings. The rug was white, the couch was white, the walls were white, everything was white. It was slightly warmer downstairs than it was upstairs. The man walked over to a handle on the wall and pulled open the door to a fridge. He pulled out two cans of Coca-Cola and set them down on a glass table in front of the couch. He sat down on the couch, opened up a can of Coke, leaned back and gestured to Jacob to come and sit. Jacob refused.
The man said,”Why not?”
“Who are you?”
The man said,”My name is Frank Jaka, what is yours?”
“It’s Jacob Harris. Where am I?”
“Well, Jacob, you’re on a planet called Detrin, 67 lightyears away from Earth.”
When Jacob didn’t respond due to shock Frank asked,”Are you thirsty?”
Jacob ignored him so Frank grabbed the unopened can of Coke off the table and brought it over to Jacob. Jacob took the can, cracked the seal, and drank. Frank walked back to the couch and Jacob followed.
Frank asked,”So, what do you want to know?”
Jacob said,”How did you find me?”
“I was walking in the market and saw a human passed out on the ground. What was I supposed to do, let the first person I’ve seen in ten years die in the dust.”
“Where are all the humans on this planet?”
“My parents were planet hoppers in this galaxy and decided to settle and have a baby on this dust ball of a planet. My mom died ten years ago so, I was alone.”
“How did I get here?”
“The most evil things in the universe brought you here.”
“Evil things?”
“The lights, they are the only living things able to travel that fast. They take humans from Earth to feed their leader. They’re able to kill a human with one zap of super concentrated light.”
“Who is their leader?”
“Some fat --- who sits on a throne and calls himself ‘The Master of the Universe’.”
“Does he control the universe?”
“Sort of, he’s able to destroy an entire planet with the swipe of his hand so he is pretty dangerous.”
“Why did-”
“I know, I told you to ask questions, but I’m getting kind of bored. Let’s go get dinner from the market.”
“We can’t go outside, it’s way too hot.”
Frank got up from the couch and walked to the right side of the room where a door was on the wall. He clicked a few buttons on the wall and a closet opened up and presented him with a navy blue, skin-tight suit. Frank began to put it on and when he was done, it covered his whole body except for his hands, feet, and face. Then he clicked another button on the wall and a suit identical to his was given to him. He held it out for Jacob to take. Jacob walked over and took the suit out of Frank’s hand. It looked and felt like a wetsuit. He had some difficulty getting the thing to stretch to his size, but he eventually got it on. Frank had rapped a brown cloak around his body and gave Jacob one to do the same. Then, Frank gave Jacob a bowl shaped mask with vents.
Frank said,”Put it over you mouth and nose, it cools the air.”
Jacob did as he was told and Frank put one on as well. When they were both fully dressed in their cloaks and boots, they walked to the front door which was just next to the buttons Frank had pushed.
Frank was the first to step out the door onto the sand. Jacob followed and was hit by the tremendous light and thick heat provided by the orange sun that covered the entire sky. He brought his hand up to shield his eyes from the light.
Frank laughed and said,”Here” and held up a pair of black, Ray Ban sunglasses.
Jacob said,”Thanks, but where did you get these?”
“From an Earth goods dealer at the market, that’s where I get my Coke.”
“Where does he get this stuff?”
“From Earth of course. A new shipment of goods gets beamed to him every six months by a human he has stationed on Earth.”
“Beamed?”
“Teleported, the objects are broken down into their atomic components which are sent at speeds higher than the speed of light here, where they are reassembled and sold.”
Jacob had a look of hope on his face when he asked,”Could he beam me home?”
“No way, it’s far too dangerous, you could lose an arm or a leg. Anyways here we are.”
Frank had been walking parallel to the house with Jacob in tow. Frank turned the corner of the house to reveal a chrome garage door. Frank clicked a button on the wall next to the doors. The doors slid away, just like all the other doors in the house, to reveal a brown vehicle.
The vehicle was about fifteen feet long and as wide as a motorcycle. It had a saddle in the middle, big enough for two riders, but the way the leather was worn it was obvious only Frank rode it. Jacob and Frank walked into the garage and Jacob noticed the only brown components of the car were two large metal plates covering the engine in the middle of the vehicle. At the front of the vehicle were three eight foot rides that all came to a sharp tip.
Frank said,”Had it for nearly a year now.”
Jacob followed with,”What is it?”
“It’s a T4 Tristar. It was a top of the line air bike when I got it, topped out at 155 mph, but after I added a few parts I picked up at the market, it goes about 205.”
“Are we gonna ride that?”
“F*** yeah, there’s no other way to get to the market unless you want a two day walk.”
Jacob hopped onto the bike, grabbed the throttle and exclaimed,”Let’s go!”
“Woah slow down there hoss, I got the keys and you have no idea how to drive one, slide back and let me sit down.”
Jacob slid back and Frank sat in front of him. He put the keys into the ignition and turned them. The bike slowly rose off the ground until it was three feet up. Frank pushed a button next to the keys and a bubble rose up around Jacob and Frank. Frank twisted the throttle and the bike backed out of the garage. Then he turned the bike one-hundred eighty degrees and ripped the throttle.
The bike took off. A wake of sand kicked up on either side of the bike. Jacob tried to strike up a conversation, but Frank was too distracted driving the bike to talk. They continued in a straight line, at apparently 205 MpH, for nearly ten minutes before they started to climb in altitude. The hill started out at a slow incline, but it soon became a wall straight up. Jacob was thrown against the back wall of the bubble once they began this steep incline. Jacob wasn’t there for long though because they came to the top of the hill and it flattened out. On the other side of the hill, laid out across miles of hard packed sand was the market. Jacob was only able to see this for a few seconds before the bike dipped down and began a descent at the same angle they came up. When they got to the bottom of the hill, Frank parked the bike and the bubble retracted.
Tents and storefronts were set up for miles and people, no, creatures were bustling from one to the other. Foods and goods, that Jacob had never seen before, were exchanging hands all around him. On his left a giant green thing grabbed a tiny, purple, furry animal and asked the store owner for the price, while on Jacob’s right a small, blue, lizard-looking creature picked up an orange, striped food and examined it.
Frank said,”Let’s go get something to eat, it’s getting late.”
Jacob followed Frank from tent to storefront as Frank bartered for food. Jacob made sure to stay a little behind Frank trying to hide himself from the creatures running the shops. Eventually Frank had bought from seven different stores and had had his food beamed back to his house. He was walking back toward the place where he had parked the bike, but before they made it there Frank took a hard right turn onto the steps of a massive tan, stone building. Frank and Jacob climbed the steps.
When they got to the top Frank told Jacob,”I want you to meet someone.”
Frank knocked on the door four times in a certain pattern and it opened. Both of them stepped inside and the door closed behind them. They were greeted by a withered, old creature. He had six small eyes on his head and had a ring of hair going from the back of his head to his forehead. He carried a cane of wood nearly as old as him. This cane was held by one of his four spindly arms. The creature’s skin was light blue with exception of his stomach which was a light yellow. Jacob nearly jumped back out the door when he saw him.
Seeing his fear Frank introduced the two,”Jacob this is Xhawn, Xhawn this is Jacob. I found him passed out a few days ago over near Paulixes’ tent.”
Xhawn said,”It is a pleasure to meet you Jacob.”
Xhawn stuck out one of his hands to shake, but Jacob would not return the courtesy so Frank shouted,”------ shake the man’s hand!”
Startled Jacob took the man’s three fingered hand in his and said in a shaky voice,”Nice to meet you.”
Frank interrupted the awkward greeting and said,”Hey Xhawn you get that shipment from Earth.”
Xhawn responded,”Yeah, came in last night. I’ve been waiting for you to come and get first pick.”
“That’s why I love you man, Jacob come over here and help me pick out what we should buy.”
Frank and Xhawn started into the building so Jacob followed. Jacob and Frank’s boots soles clicked on the tile floor as they walked across the room. There was no ceiling, the room was just opened up to the sky. Jacob stared up in awe at the sky nearly 150 feet above them. He stood in the middle of the room looking up at the walls leading up to the opening. They were intricately decorated with a large mosaic depicting the marketplace with a large building overlooking all of it. While staring up at the walls, Jacob saw a twinkle in the sky. And then he saw them, the three lights.
Jacob yelled,”Frank, the lights are here?”
Frank said,”What?”
Jacob replied,”The lights, they’re-”
Frank cut him off,”I know, I know.”
    Frank thought hard and quick as the lights plunged down through the opening in the ceiling.
Frank’s yelled,”Xhawn I need to borrow the Hyper X.”
Xhawn explained,”It’s barely in working order I don’t even know if it will fly.”
“We have to try.”
Frank set Jacob on his feet. The three raced out the front door and around to the side of the building. There waiting under a protective cover laid a dusty, rusted ship. It was about 150 feet long and had wings folded up onto the sides. Frank ran to it and opened the class hatch to the pilot’s chair, he crawled in and Jacob crawled into the passenger seat next to him. Frank tried to start the engine three times before it revved. He pushed forward a throttle and the ship began to rise in the air. The doors were blown off of Xhawn’s building. The three lights came out.
Jacob screamed,”Let’s go, they’re coming.”
He pointed to the three lights, they were coming right for Xhawn’s building. The ship was about 100 feet in the air now. Frank pushed one of the many buttons on the console in front of him and the wings of the ship snapped out. Frank pushed a throttle forward and the ship jolted forward. The ship moved faster than anything Jacob had ever been in. It soared through the brightly lit atmosphere of the plant and reached the stars in just seconds.
The lights approached Xhawn.
The light on the far left said with a snarl,”Why did you help them?”
Xhawn said,”I did not help them, I merely let things happen.”
The light shot a beam of light Xhawn’s building. It was razed to rubble. Then the light turned his powers on Xhawn.
The middle light yelled,”Let’s go!”
The three lights shot towards the sky and within seconds they were trailing Jacob and Frank.
Jacob looked back and yelled,”They’re back, they’re after us!”
Frank said,”Calm down, I have a plan.”
“Let me hear this amazing plan.”
“Well there’s a black hole up ahead. I plan to let the lights get close enough and then fly into it.”
Jacob whimpered,”Will we die?”
Frank replied simply and gravely with,”Yes.”
“Will the lights die?”
“Yes.”
Jacob said in a strong voice,“Then fly into that -------------.”
Frank slowed down enough for the lights to hear them talking in the cockpit. He kept this up until they reached a part of space that was blacker than the normal black of space. It was kind of beautiful, it was pure, nothing had disturbed or altered it. It was truly nothing. Frank kept his speed up and the lights continued to blindly follow. The gaping maw of the black hole moved closer and closer to the ship and the lights until it was upon them. The lights, the ship, Frank and Jacob all flew into the black hole.