1 C1 Welcome Aboard

Eric gazed at the orange sky as the flowing air caressed his face. He lowered his head, looked over the river, the birds were gliding towards their nests in the woods. The magnificent view beyond the river away from human disturbance was relaxing and soothing, when he was little he wished to live in the greenery on the other side.

He was walking down the road along the river enjoying the setting sun. But the peaceful sight didn't remain for long. A plump boy walking beside him stopped humming whatever he was humming and started singing loudly some rock song.  This boy was wearing the same uniform as he got admitted to the same college as him.

Josh was 4 years younger than him. Both of them lived in the same locality and had known each other for years. Josh's song got louder and louder. Eric's ears were crying woefully, he couldn't handle it anymore, he covered his ears. If the creator of the song heard Josh's singing he would stop writing anymore songs lest it falls into the hands of people like Josh.

 Josh was more excited today than the other times as if he had found some treasure. To stop him from ruining his ears, Eric asked, "Josh, Did you find anything special lately? You seem pretty charged up today." It was better to let Josh chatter than sing.

 "hey bro, you saw the news yesterday. UFOs are on the rampage, they are kidnapping earthlings. Many people have vanished. Do you know a couple who were making out in the field also vanished, never to be seen again and their next target could be our town, yeah, I was first surprised but they showed the pattern of ..." Josh replied without taking a breath, his cheeks turned a little red. After finishing his piece he stopped and started breathing heavily, and glanced at his audience.

Oh no, this shit again, thought Eric. Josh's internal enzymes were activated whenever he heard about UFOs and Aliens. His aim in life was to have one night stand with an Alien. He believed aliens would be like the elves he had seen on TV: Bright and glowing skin, crystal clear eyes, elegant and poised, tall and the last thing which he added himself, large melons.

Eric shook his head and cursed the local news channels didn't they have anything else to show. They air the shit and he had to bear the aftereffects. He scolded, "Why do you believe their shit-talking, they are just duping fools like you.  Did you get any confirmation or statement from NASA or any other agency? Or do you think these agencies are using public funds to date Aliens? Josh, please use the peanut-sized brain, you have. Or I will sell it in the black market, it would fetch me a good price, completely unused brain, almost like new ."

"But.. but it was real, every channel showed it, the video was clear." Josh replied glaring at Eric. Eric was always mean to him, he never believed him. 

"Please Josh say no more, did the local police take any action over the kidnapping. Do you see any alert…  And even if it's real then it is a golden opportunity for Earth to get rid of you, junk, space dumbo,"

"It takes time for the police to get in action and why me only. Why not both of us. It would be too much fun. Ha ha… just imagine both of us together with a group of aliens alone in a spaceship. No one present to disturb us, what we can't do, we can-"

Eric slapped his head to wake him from his dream scene "Don't include me in your orgies, And if you don't give up watching these shitty videos, I will tell Aunt about it." Eric said with seriousness and then a sly smile formed on his face, "And why they need to be beautiful, can't they be like orcs who had come to acquire rare beauties like you"

" At least you admit that I am more beautiful," said Josh puffed up his chest and gave a confident smile.

" Of course you are, in orcs' standards, you are the Mr. Earthling, orc beauties would fight like crazy to have a chance with you. Then they would rip off your clothes with their calloused, fluffy green hands. They would really love to caress your pregnant belly" 

Josh held his breath and contracted his stomach. Eric gave him a light punch on his chest and Josh's bloated belly revealed itself.

"Oh!, they can also be wandering Alien space pirates. Who are bored of eating canned meat, and want to grab something fresh and lucious, just like you " Eric poked Josh's belly creepily.

Josh shivered, Eric was always like that, he changed the beautiful elves like Aliens, which he had imagined to orcs and meat-eating beasts. Josh clenched his fists, his eyes turned red and he started stammering something inaudible.

Eric saw that Josh was on the verge of crying, he stopped making fun of him.

Josh looked above, at the sky, a shining bulb-like object passed . He glanced back at Eric and stated his wish, loud enough for Eric to hear "Oh please, the heavens let this scoundrel be kidnapped next by UFOs. He dared to insult the great beautiful aliens. O! Mighty beings of space please teach him a lesson." Josh wiped the single tear that had formed in his left eye, his lips curved upward as if he gained victory over Eric. While walking they reached the narrow sidewalk, at the end of which was Eric's home. Josh's house was across the road.

" You really believe this wishy shit. Go back to your momma little wasteral." Eric kicked Josh. Josh despite his heavy bearings evaded it and ran straight to his home.

 He lived alone in his house, his parents went missing three years ago and government officials told him that they died in an accident. From then on, the Government took responsibility for him. His expenses, college fees, and everything else were paid by them.

He picked the empty narrow sidewalk to his home, But when he had covered almost half the distance, something he thought was impossible, Happened.

 A bright light shined above Eric's head. Winds became frenzied, he gulped as he looked up. His heart pounded , sweats formed on his forehead. A circular large saucer was flying 100 meters above his head. 'Oh shit! it really came for me'

He tried to escape but was unable to move his muscles. He was transfixed and covered in the white light, he yelled as loud as he could "Josh, you fuckkin maggot just don't let me see you ever again. I would skin you alive, fry you in hot boiling oil, feed you to dogs..."

Light grew brighter and covered the whole of him. Eric lost all of his strength to resist. He started floating in the air. He had never gone through zero gravity tests from astronauts but he now knew how they felt. He didn't want to embrass humanity by vomiting whatever he had eaten today. He kept tasting the sour liquid but didn't open his mouth. His blood flow became erratic.

It seemed aliens wanted to test his endurance and he was determined to not give up. The conditions were against him and he was on the brink of losing consciousness. 

However, the space ship or whatever it was, sucked him. His eyes were tightly shut, he was a little scared and was shivering badly from the torment he suffered a few seconds earlier. He gulped the acidic liquid back.

However, his curiosity to see aliens pumped up a little courage into him. When nothing happened for a few minutes, he finally opened his eyes. 

He hadn't expected to be in a completely white room alone. He had expected at least an alien would be waiting for him. Beauty or beast, he was batting with himself. If it was beauty he could have taken a selfie and sent it to Josh. But how? Well, he didn't think about it.

If it were a beast, he would have been released from his dull life and if some god got pity on him, he could reincarnate.

But all his dreams were shattered and he was greeted by silence, painful silence, and a circular thing which had thousands of flickering colourful buttons. Like he had been sent on the movie set of some sci-fi movie's main computer room.

The coldness made his loneliness more apparent, there was nothing he could cover himself with. He got an idea, this computer thing might be controlling things. Let's try to hack it. And the only knowledge of hacking he had was from movies.

As he approached the computer , A message flashed in his mind,

 [welcome abroad, you have been selected for a special mission.]

He was stunned , he looked around and found no one. a message popped in his mind? Really? Is this even possible? He  couldn't believe it. But the message repeated, was it expecting some sort of reply from him? What reply could he give?

What the heck? But soon he realized a bigger problem, his mind was invaded by this strange computer-like object . Instead of him hacking it, it hacked his brain. He was shocked and a little fearful.

He tried to ignore but the message kept popping. In the end, he gave up. Again, the message rang his mind.

'Why me, I am not so special for your special mission . Please select someone from Havard or Stanford. They are 1000 times smarter than me.'

[ Our algorithm cannot be wrong you are the perfect candidate for this mission]

'fuck Josh, his wish damaged the algorithm.' he thought why let him go unscathed, lemme include him too. After all that's what best friends are for, stay together in difficult times.

'Sir can I recommend a friend, if you have another mission, he is super brilliant and smart. I wouldn't be here if not for him, he is such a great person.' he exaggerated a little about Josh.

[ Okay, you could recommend but if he fails to complete the mission, you have to share responsibility and punishment]

he was stupefied by the reply of that object. 'Josh could recommend me by damaging your algorithm without facing any repercussions but if I try to do the same I have to take responsibility, what the heck is this. Is this object really sane?'

[  This system is not damaged in any way. 

You were selected by a fair process.

But if you recommend someone you must be responsible for him. ]

' Tell me about the punishments'

[ It ranges from being kept in void for thousands of years without any contact with anything to giving your soul enormous torment in a place called hell. You would have heard of it right.]

Eric was visibly shaken, this thing is truly ruthless. There are so many sinners on Earth but this shit algorithm chose me. However he changed his revenge plan. Why suffer for others' failure.

' I suddenly feel that he is not that smart. He is even dumber than me.' 

[ Okay, Do you have any other questions?]

' can I go back after I finish this mission'

[It depends on your performance ]

' what kind of mission is this'

[ You would be sent randomly to a planet. A system will be assigned to you and you have to complete the mission given by it.

You have to follow rules made by your system ]

' Do I have the option to not go there'

[ Certainly, but doing will be considered as failing the mission which will prompt us to take appropriate measures against you]

'Oh you mean to say that I have no other choice but to do your shitty missions'

[You are smart, then goodbye, 

Times up

Ding Ding ding ding… ]

Hey stop! Lemme know…

A loud sound echoed throughout the room, he instinctively jumped out of fright and he didn't know what happened next. His consciousness faded...