Chapter 1
Most of you reading this account won’t believe my story. Hell, I wouldn’t believe if I hadn’t lived through the horror. To the best of my knowledge, only two people have ever survived this hell and made it back to Earth in one piece, and sadly the other is no longer living.
As for myself, I was warned by the government suits of the serious consequences which would follow if I ever went public with my incredible and chilling story. But I’ve decided to do so anyway, because I believe people need to know what’s really out there, and I fear the truth will become apparent soon enough – as an intergalactic war is coming to our doorstep.
As with most of their abduction victims, I’m nobody special or important. In fact, I was at the lowest rung of society – a down-and-out who’d fallen on hard times as I lost my job, my home, and fell victim to an alcohol addiction – sleeping rough and filling my belly with cheap vodka to keep myself warm at night.
My confession to having an alcohol problem will surely bring my account into question, but I can assure you that I was quite sober when the events I’ll describe took place. On the night in question, I’d taken refuge in an abandoned bus shelter set along a lonely backroad, falling asleep under the stars after I’d emptied my bottle.
I don’t know at what time I was awoken, but I do vividly remember my senses were simultaneously overloaded, my ears ringing with a deafening buzzing sound and my eyes temporarily blinded by an intense white light. Suddenly and inexplicably, I felt my body rising off the bench, my form being pulled upwards into the night sky.
My last memory was of the dark, cigar-shaped aircraft in the sky above me, and to my horror I realised I was being pulled towards it. But then I felt myself falling out of consciousness, my eyes closing as my whole world went black.
I awoke an undeterminable length of time later in a very alien place – quite literally. The first thing I noticed was the pain I felt throughout my body, a dull throbbing as my bones and joints all ached simultaneously. I soon discovered that I was completely naked, my clothes gone as I lay against cold metal, my skin freezing and body shaking.
It caused me physical pain to open my eyes, but when I did there was little I could see, because the steel-plated room was dark, only dimly lit by a faint red light. It was at this point that I panicked, quickly standing up on my trembling legs as I darted towards the wall.
But I didn’t get far, as suddenly I experienced a shooting pain pulsating through my body – feeling like I’d just been hit by a bolt of lightning. I screamed in agony; falling down to the cold, hard floor as I reached for my throat and was horrified to find a metal collar secured around my neck.
In an act of panicked desperation I tore at the collar, trying to remove it but instead being hit with another surge of electricity that tore through me.
I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” called out a male voice from the darkness, his tone surprisingly calm given the circumstances. “The shock collar is programmed to go off if you make any sudden movements, or if you try to remove it. The voltage will steadily increase until you either lose consciousness or your heart stops.”
I experienced a flood of emotions upon hearing his words – confusion, anger and fear – but I listened to the stranger’s advice, not wishing to go through that pain again.
Slowly, I opened my dry lips and stuttered out my words.
“Who are you? And what the hell is this place?”
“My name is Gideon, and I am like you – a prisoner here.”
“Is there anyone else there?” I asked cautiously.
Yes.” came the first response, this time from a scared female voice, “I’m Tanya, and I don’t know why I’m here.”
There was a pause before the next voice called out from the darkness, his voice trembling as he spoke.
“Max…I’m Max. I don’t know why this is happening. I want to go home.”
“I’m sure we all do,” answered Gideon, “But alas, that’s not going to happen.”
I shook my head, imagining this must be some kind of vivid nightmare – but in my heart, I knew it was real.
“You haven’t answered my question.” I added, as my fear began to turn to anger. “Where the fuck are we? And who’s done this to us?”
I heard Gideon sneering before he replied.
“Well, technically that’s two questions, but I’m happy to help – although I suspect you may not like the answers. Its difficult to explain in words, so perhaps its easier if I show you all.”
I heard footsteps and saw the shape of a man slowly walking across the metal floor and towards the adjacent wall. He tapped on a hidden control panel with his bony fingers and entered a code, and suddenly a mechanism began and a shutter slowly opened, unveiling a scene which brought terror to my heart.
Because, when the shutter was finally open, we all saw a transparent porthole-like window looking outwards – showing a dark sky adorned with distant stars, and a blue and green globe that we all recognised very well. I slowly pulled myself up, ignoring the throbbing pains in my naked body as I walked barefoot across to the window and observed the scene in disbelief, scanning the outlines of the familiar green continents, the mighty blue oceans, and the shifting stormfronts which swept across the globe.
To my horror I realised I was looking down at the Earth, which could only mean one thing – I was no longer on my home planet. The reflected light of the Earth’s surface now illuminated the room we were held inside – a bare metal cell with few visible amenities other than a stinking hole in the ground which I guessed was meant to be a toilet and hard concrete slabs in the place of beds.
I also saw my fellow prisoners clearly for the first time. Tanya and Max appeared as I did – naked, humiliated and beaten – their eyes full of terror as they saw what I did. Clearly, they were both in a state of shock. I tried to maintain their dignity by focussing on their faces rather than their nude forms.
Tanya was a young woman – slim, dark-haired and attractive, although I recognised the tell-tale signs of addiction on her – such as pasty skin, bloodshot eyes, and track marks on her arms. Max was an older man – his physique flabby and skin wrinkled. I saw a raw terror in his wide eyes which made me think he was on the verge of a psychological breakdown.
Gideon was different however. I noticed he wore a shock collar like we all did, but he was also fully clothed – wearing a white robe which covered his dignity. True, he didn’t look in the best of health – his body emaciated and eyes sullen, as if they’d seen too many horrors.
It was also clear that he knew more about our situation than the rest of us. I wasn’t the only one to come to this conclusion, as soon all turned on the mysterious Gideon.
“How the hell did you know about that shutter?” I demanded.
Gideon held his hands up defensively as he answered. “I can explain everything. Just give me a chance.”
“Bullshit!” Max screamed angrily, “You’re playing with us man!”
“Yeah”” Tanya agreed, “How do we know you’re not the one who did this to us? Why the hell should we trust you?”
In an instant, all three of us were advancing upon Gideon, our fists clenched as we prepared to beat the living shit out of him. Gideon’s eyes widened and he lifted his hands up higher, slowly backing off as he said – “You shouldn’t do that.”
“Fuck you!” I screamed, as I lurched forward.
But a second later I was on the floor, my body convulsing as the shock collar delivered another agonising jolt. I looked over to see my two nude companions similarly incapacitated, the two of them rolling on the metal surface in agony.
When our punishment was over we all glared upwards, seeing Gideon looking down upon us with a barely concealed look of smug satisfaction on his lips.
“I did warn you.” he said.
Slowly and painfully, I got up on my feet, and my fellow prisoners did likewise as we looked to Gideon for answers.
“My friends,” he began, “As I’ve already explained, I am a prisoner here just like the three of you. It just so happens that our captors have allowed me certain privileges and access to limited information. Why, I cannot say, although I suspect it’s part of their plan for me to explain the situation to new arrivals.”
My mind was racing, the sweat pouring from of my skin. None of this made any sense.
“I don’t understand,” asked Tanya, breaking the tense and confused silence. “Who’s done this to us? Who the fuck is holding us? And where the hell are we?”
Gideon nodded before replying. “Where we are should be obvious, although I understand it’s a lot to take in. Nevertheless, we are clearly in space above our home planet. As to who’s holding us – well, that’s more difficult to explain. Our captors are…not of this world. I assume they come from another star system in our galaxy, although from where exactly I cannot say. They’ve shared little with me about their culture or civilisation. I only know that their technology is vastly superior to our own…”
