Strange New World

~Lima, Ohio, United States, Earth, Ceti Universe~

 Raven Alexander sat with his oldest two children on the couch. A reporter on the television was describing the feeling among the scientists nearby. Apparently, they had tested a new engine several times over the past two years that would open up an endless expansion of possibilities for humanity. The government was already preparing craft capable of equipping said engines. This was going to be the first live broadcast of the tests though. 

 Lynette called from the kitchen, "are they almost ready to start?"

 Kylette ran into the kitchen to tell her what they had shown so far. The engine was massive. All of the articles describing it claimed that it was perfectly safe. This was particularly true given the labs location on the moon. A sister lab was situated on the dark side of the moon waiting to receive the first televised warp travelers. 

 Kylette came back into the living room, Lynette in tow. Lynette held her growing stomach. This pregnancy had been a bit rougher than the last three, but the baby was healthy. She sat next to Raven Sr. The four watched intently as the reporter went on. The engine was being prepared for launch.

 "The team here at Nova Lab is awaiting confirmation from Nocturne Lab and launch will begin. The US Air Forces five-man team is suited up and ready to go. I can't begin to describe the atmosphere here on the moon. It goes without saying- there is electric in the air!"

 Raven and Lynette rolled their eyes at the pun. Of course, the reporter was corny. The government couldn't have someone too intelligent in a highly secure facility nearly 240,000 miles away. A timer appeared at the bottom of the television as the report put a hand to his ear. Five airmen moved to the bottom of a ramp loaded with gear. Four men and a woman smiled for the camera as they saluted. All five were the picture of American beauty and diversity. Kylette bounced on Raven's knee while Raven Junior wiggled side-to-side on the floor.

 "Here we go folks! The countdown has begun. The teams at both ends are ready to go. We are about to witness history. The very first-time man will travel through time and space."

 The massive engine began humming. Quietly at first, the sound steadily grew louder until the reporter was drowned out. A faint blue glow appeared in front of the engine. The airmen crouched down. A blue portal appeared fully realized at the top of the ramp. In the bottom right portion of the screen, a camera displayed the second lab. Another portal appeared there as well. Suddenly a pulse burst from both ends and the screen went black. On the lunar surface, a blue explosion radiated through space. It passed through Earth and continued traveling in all directions. 

 On the ground, billions of people waited with bated breath for the picture to return. Slowly, the camera feed was restored. Everything on the moon appeared to be calm. The airmen were on their feet and slowly moving towards the portal. Time seemed to move excruciatingly slow. Then, the first airman entered the portal. The second, third, then finally two all moved forward.

 "The team here says we should be seeing the select team of specialists appear at Nocturne momentarily. The mice and chimpanzees who have already made the trip are in attendance at the other end waiting for the first humans to join them in the annals of history."

The portal shimmered at Nova Lab. Two airmen rushed back through into Nova Lab. A third appeared at Nocturne Lab. A fourth flew sideways from the portal onto the back of the third. From the panicked face of the reporter, something was wrong. He was speaking into his earpiece frantically. The two soldiers at Nova Lab had turned and were firing their rifles up into the portal. 

A purple beaked tentacle slithered out of the portal. More airmen appeared from off camera and began to form a firing line. The first tentacle was joined by a second, then a third. A purple blob appeared from which a dozen of the tentacles were waving. An upper pair of tentacles had small orbs which focused on one of the airmen. A red beam appeared from each, joined into one single beam, and then lanced through the airman on the receiving end. The creature's single large eye glanced over the military before it. A smile formed full of sharp teeth. The feed cut to two reporters at a news desk.

"We apologize for the interruption folks. It would appear we are having some technical difficulties with the signal from the lunar surface. It seems the feed was intercepted by some sort of cgi special effects team. Amazing work from whoever interfered. We will get the feed fixed as soon as possible. For now, here's Janice with the weather."

Raven switched the television to cartoons for the children. Once he was sure they were distracted, he grabbed Lynette and pulled her to the kitchen. 

She pulled away and leaned on the counter, "what... in... the hell... was that?"

Raven looked into her terrified eyes, "I don't know. It looks like a video game came to life. That did NOT look like it was taken over by some other broadcast. Those were the same airmen that went into the portal thing."

Lynette just looked at him silently. She waited for more elaboration. He was always reading conspiracy theory stuff. He had to have some idea of what that was. Suddenly their phones both made a loud siren sound. They pulled them out in unison and read the message.

THIS IS NOT AN ALERT

ALL CITIZENS ARE INSTRUCTED TO SHELTER IN PLACE

FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE PROVIDED AS IT BECOMES AVAILABLE

MORE INSTRUCTIONS TO FOLLOW.

They looked at one another. That didn't seem good. Was this related to the public safety tests the last few months? The message came out pretty quick given the feed from the moon was live. Raven moved to check the cabinet. He was a little paranoid, but who wasn't these days. Conflicts were a dime a dozen overseas. Issues here at home and an election coming up. So much was going on, it would be hard for anyone to follow everything. 

The cabinets were full of boxed and canned goods. The deep freezer was loaded as well as the regular freezer. The lights flickered overhead. The weather wasn't that bad outside. Winter was still a couple months away. He went outside to see if the neighbors were having any problems. The sky had an eerie reddish-purple glow to it. It was still early afternoon; sunset was hours away. The air felt... wrong. He went back inside and logged onto his computer. All anyone in his chat channels was talking about was the broadcast. Conspiracy theories flooded the rooms.

Some said that the whole thing was really publicity for a new game. Of course, that was the number one theory. It always was. An incident in Florida months before had been reduced to the same thing. Another theory was that aliens had attacked the laboratories. That was the second most popular. A lack of any kind of official comment about what happened wasn't helping the situation.

Lynette rushed into the dining room. Her voice was panicked as she informed him of what she had just seen. Apparently, in many large cities around the world, people were losing their minds. Hospitals were getting flooded with assault victims. More morons feeling hysterical because of another "world-ending" event. Tomorrow there would be something new for everyone to freak out about. Hours of scrolling led to hopping on to an online card game. Lynette laid in their room watching the latest teen vampire show. After supper, Raven put the kids to bed. He crawled into bed with Lynette and listened to the television as he dozed off.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Raven awoke to the sound of sirens. That wasn't out of the norm for this neighborhood. What was odd was the number and variety all together. This time of day on a Sunday was normally dead quiet. He went and checked on the kids; they were still sleeping. That wasn't a big surprise. They slept like their mother. He flipped on the television and switched to the news.

"Civil authorities in nearly every country in the world have declared national emergencies. The United Nations is at a loss as to how to respond to such a massive endemic. We are being requested to advise individuals to stay indoors as law enforcement works to restore order. Do not answer your doors under any circumstances. Individuals suspected of contracting the mystery illness are most noted as having nearly glowing blue veins. It is unknown at this time what the cause is for the disease or how it is contracted. Stay tuned for further updates as we get them."

He went into the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on for him and his wife. It was going to be a long day. The kids hated to be cooped up inside. Once the pot got to brewing, he went back into the living room to hook up his old xbox console. He popped the Dance Dance cd into the drive and left it for the kids to discover when they woke up. Defying the orders on the news, Raven went out to the porch to take a look at things. 

Margaret, the elderly neighbor, was picking weeds from her garden. It looked like the Oregano and Cilantro were both about ready to harvest. He couldn't wait to have some fresh ingredients to throw into his cooking. She noticed him after a few minutes and waved. He waved back and she continued tending her plants. His plants were a little behind hers, but they would be ready within the next couple weeks.

He watched as multiple cars pulled in and out of the carryout across the street. Like anyone in this neighborhood was going to actually follow quarantine protocols. Margaret wandered over to his porch.

"Hey Margaret, how're you doing?"

"I'd be better if it weren't for all these damned sirens. The plants don't like all this chaos."

"I know. They'll die down. Seems like every cop in the city is out early today. Any idea what's been happenin?"

She sighed and shook her head, "who knows. This town has gone to hell. Have I ever told you my family used to own all this land around here? My grandpa sold it during the Depression. I wish he would've kept it. Less riffraff that way."

"I know. North side's been gettin worse. Been a lot of crime happening over that way."

Raven half-listened as she went on about the old days. He grew up here, he knew the history. He had also listened to her every other day talking about how bad things have got since the 80s. Luckily, Lynette came out shortly into her tirade on the current batch of politicians in DC. Margaret started over on her rant while he watched Kylette and Junior run over to the side yard. He made his parting comments and followed after them.

After a few minutes, Lynette made her way over coffee in hand. She rolled her eyes as she handed him his mug. He chuckled at her faces. Margaret had a tendency to repeat herself. A lot. They had lived here for two years and probably heard the same stories dozens of times. It was a habit they knew they'd have to get used to from the moment they met her. Their other neighbor behind them was nearly just as bad, even if she was twenty years younger than Margaret. That neighbor was a big-time conspiracy nut and could always be counted on for some interesting conversation. She had a tendency to be gone for weeks at a time though.

"I can't stand listening to her over and over," Lynette snarled.

Raven just shook his head. His wife was happier since moving back but her attitude was a far cry from years ago. He just turned back to watching the kids run around the yard, a brown bundle of fur running between them. Cinnamon was in the prime of her four-legged life. Her life here in the north was far more sedentary than she was raised with in the South. No longer did she hunt moccasins and dodge gators. Now her life simply consisted of playing with the kids and chasing the occasional squirrel.

The kids squealed as a small gold pickup truck pulled through the alley to the back neighbor's house. Speak of the devil, Candy got out of her truck with a small grocery bag.

"Hey kiddos! Aunt Candy brought you something... Candy!"

Two little bundles of sugar-fiending joy darted for her. Both ran off giggling after snagging the bag of sweets. She walked over to Raven and Lynette while wiping her hands on her jeans. The couple met her halfway, Raven leaning against the homemade furnace he finished the week before.

"How've ya'll been?"

Lynette sighed, "the kids won't stop bouncing off the walls. I can't wait for them to go to bed and have myself a drink."

"So, the candy will help right? Give em a nice little sugar crash at bedtime?"

Another sigh, "hopefully."

"How was the trade show," Raven asked, changing the topic before more complaints came forward.

"It was busy. At least as busy as can be expected. Someone got really sick this morning. My assistant had to clean up a huge mess from our crystal bin. She's probably still working on it unless the others jumped in to help."

Raven still didn't know exactly what Candy did. He knew she was part of a commune west of the city and that they sold crystals along with a host of other homemade products. It was a mystery what she used to do. She never really discussed her past. 

"What was weird was the color. It looked like it was glowing. Maybe they got into something radioactive," Candy rolled her eyes laughing. She covered her mouth with the back of her hand as a coughing fit took over. It wouldn't be the first time she got sick. She was never seen smoking but her lungs sure acted the part. As she put her hand back to her side, Raven noticed a couple of glowing blue spots.