Desert Road Trip
By Regalo3000
Perfect Tommy awoke with a start. Half asleep he looked about. He was sitting behind the wheel of The Tommy Mobile, a perfect white roofless cadillac convertible with perfectly colorful interiors. There was an coffee cup on the floor and there was a large coffee stain all over his now imperfect rug. It must have fallen from the cup holder, he thought. He made a mental note to only buy beverages that were as crystal clear as water, they would leave less stains in his otherwise perfect vehicle. So he had goofed. Wasn't the first time he'd done something ... imperfect.
The sun was burning bright in a noon sky and it seemed to be getting hotter and hotter. Where am I? He asked out loud. Man, was it ever hot, like, being baked in an oven ... an oven? ... No sign of civilization in any direction. He didn't remember stopping here in this place to take a rest. He got out of the car and began to walk. He suddenly stopped in font of a speed limit sign and stared at it. There's something familiar about this sign, he said to himself. Speed Limit 55 ... 55 ... 55 ... Then his eyes rolled up into his head and he remembered ...
Tommy remembered the brightest light he'd ever seen in his life! Buckaroo! he yelled as he fell into a flashback!
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It was night. The car had stalled on the desert road. There was a UFO hovering above the cadillac and it was the size of a football field! It's a UFO, Tommy shouted dropping his coffee cup! But there was no one to hear him, he was alone in the car. The car was then surrounded by strange-looking creatures in silver suits who lifted Tommy out of the car and carried him, seemingly lifeless, past the speed limit sign ... 55 ... and into the UFO's loading area! He couldn't move a muscle, nor speak, nor act. An alien injected him in the arm with some green liquid. Remember, said the strange-looking alien in the mad rush to get the cargo loaded in time for the class to begin. A large glass tube was then lowered over his entire body and a strange smelling gas filled it. The last things he remembered before falling into a deep sleep were seeing a pair of alien eyes staring at him and what looked like a clipboard in some aliens' hands.
The two students were studying Tommy's body temperature, his vital signs. The first student reached out and touched some controls. A bizarre flashing of bluish light forced Tommy to convulse wildly while in his glass tube as if having an epileptic seizure.
Stop playing with him, said the second student, you know the teachers don't like it when we inflict unnecessary pain on our projects.
Just having a bit of fun, said the first student. No one's gonna know ...
Tommy stood in the longest hallway he'd ever seen in his life. This is unreal, he thought. No matter what direction he walked he never reached its end. The corridor had no end. It went on and on and on and on and on and on. Then he heard the dripping noise. It was coming from the ceiling above his head. Who's there? He asked. Explain yourself!
The first student was tapping on Tommy's glass tube. He turned and smiled to the one sitting next to him.
I love playing with them, he said. They're so vulnerable. Too bad we have to wipe their memories before we return them.
It's much more fair if they remember, said the second student. Just once I'd like to --
-- What are you two discussing? asked a first-level supervisor.
Nothing First Supervisor, said the first student. We were just wondering how sudden changes in temperature affect their sleeping cycles. It could give us insight into how changes in their planet's weather affects their ability to socialize.
Amateurs must experiment, said the supervisor. Go on with your test.
Yes, sir, said the second student. Let's make the tube a bit colder ...
Two years, thought the first student. Two years of Abduction Examinations and I'll be a full-fledged abductor, fourth-level. I hate my father for forcing me to take these classes. Let's see, what kind of fun can I have now?
Tommy was feeling a bit sick. He ran into his bathroom and threw up in the toilet. He rose, wiped vomit from his mouth, then looked in the mirror. Nothing about this place was real, it couldn't be real, it was a nightmare, it had to be. He thought he saw an alien eye gazing at him through the moisture on the mirror. He screamed and backed away. What the hell is that? he thought.
Alarms went off in the examination room, supervisors came running over to Tommy's glass tube.
He's almost awake, said the second student. I think he saw me. But I fogged up the glass just in time and increased the sleeping gas!
The tube was refilled with the invisible gas and Tommy's one open eye closed again.
That was close, said a first-level supervisor. Deduct ten credits from this student's examination report.
The student began to cry tears. It wasn't my fault, he cried out. He could go ahead and blame his co-student but he knew the first was a sadist and would do unspeakable things to him if he fibbed!
Get on with your work! screeched one of the third-level supervisors.
Suddenly, more alarms sounded.
What's going on?
The sleep chambers are becoming unstable! yelled a third-level supervisor.
Not again! said a first-level supervisor.
In no time at the human will be fully conscious, said a second-level supervisor, there's nothing we can do to stop it!
You all know what to do! said a first-level supervisor. Prepare for Quick Return!
Tommy was looking out of a window. There was lightning playing on the dark hills. The rain pelted the glass, and he used his hands to wipe moisture off it. What he saw were strange alien creatures were running about. The glass tube was raised upward and he was laid down on a stretcher.
Critters, Rawhide, he said deliriously. Varmints of the worst sort. Due for extermination ...
An apparatus was placed over his nose, as the two students hurriedly carried their school project back to the loading dock. He heard an alien's voice before he blacked out completely.
This concludes your studies for the day, said a voice over the mothership's loud speaker system. Since this examination was a failure, you will both have to retake the course.
Murmurs of dissent went up among the two students. The second student said: When are they going to make sure this equipment works right? He was covering up for the first.
By heavens, said the first even though he had been the cause of all the trouble, I'll sue the school, my father's an important senator!
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Perfect Tommy came back to his senses, he was still standing in front of the speed limit sign ... 55 ...
Maybe it was all just a dream? he thought. But, deep down he knew there was more to it than that.
There had to be a logical explanation. But for now he had to get as far away from this place as possible.
Later on he would learn he'd been missing for two whole days. He explained it away by telling everyone he'd been to see some old friends, but, the truth, if that's what it really was, would remain his own little secret.
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