Alarm

[EEEEEEEEENNNNNP]

[EEEEENNNNNPP]

Allen awoke to a loud alarm, his eyes shot open fully alert. ("Whats going on?..") Allen thought while getting up quickly, already suited in his grey uniform. People ran by in the hall way in a rush.

[BAM]

A familiar face popped into view at the door.

Joey his best friend since they were kids shows up. Allen was 20 as well as Joey. Joey shouted,

"Come on Allen! Aliens are invading!".

Joey quickly moves back ahead into the hallway.

In a rush of adrenaline and many thoughts in mind Allen bolted after Joey after putting on his basic boots.

Exiting into the hallway, Allen sees the door open and rushes with the others outside.

The sight above baffles him. Countless crescent shaped space ships cover the sky and lasers paint the early morning horizon in green with tinges of orange explosions and a black smoke that shrouds most of the view from the ground.

Before Allen can react a laser pierces the ground next to him exploding and sending him flying.

["ARGHHH"]

---- *Future*

("Where the heck am I?")

My memory scrambles, the therapist Sarah is someone hired by the government to help me recover my memory quickly and I need to find something called the Artifact? They say the world is dying and its the only hope, they won't explain why to me.

I am sitting in a small room on a brown soft sofa across from a gorgeous black haired woman with sharp looks. She gazes directly into my eyes.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that again but we need to know what happens next.., time is of the essence.." she claims.

("They really have no patience, what about my health?") I felt irritated by the inconsiderate therapist.

I'm lying down in a chair gazing out the window at flying cars and robots walking through the streets. ("Who would have thought i end up here? 400 years in the future. I still can't believe the year is 2424.") I turn my head back towards Sarah as she begins to speak up.

"Allen, I will get ready to put you back under. Remember to look for the artifact, our future depends on your past..Don't forget your future is here too.."

I roll my eyes, hoping i will be free of this therapist soon.

I feel deep sleep pull me under... ("How the heck..")

--*Past*

[DISTANT EXPLOSIONS]

("Oh great where am I now?") I think. The whole matter is quite disorienting.

Joeys big smug face staring at me as my eyes come to focus. "Allen are you alright man? I need your head in the game, we are on an alien ship and we got to find the command center."

"Of course, the artifact right?" I say with a bit of sarcasm.

Joeys eyebrow raises, "Artifact?..." he says while concerned.

I say quickly, "Lets just get moving, now did you happen to find any clues on where to go?" we were sitting in a strange smooth black hallway with buzzing about. I was standing on a metal grate in a 8 ft tall hallway which stretched the distance of a football field.

I looked behind Joey and saw the bodies of aliens we dispatched. Nothing visible, Just green skin and full metal suits with cracks shows their skin.

Joey continues on, "Alright.. I found what looks like a map off one of the bodies, it had this electronic bracelet of sorts. It seems to react to humming, almost as if sound powers it on a specific frequency or at least triggers it."

("Well that's just great, now i get to hum to find my way there and look like an idiot. This will be difficult since it will be hard to maintain a stealthy approach using this device.")

"Lets do this by eye and use this whenever we find ourselves in an unfamiliar spot in relation to the map we saw." I suggest hoping i don't have to really hum my way around the ship.

Joey smirks, "Yea sounds good to me, I don't wanna die next to the opera. It would feel too cinematic."

"Yea okay, shut up Braveheart. Lets get a move on.." I say chuckling to myself.

We start sprinting down the hall and reach the corner after a solid minute of running.

<HUFF HUFF>

"Haven't.. ran... like..... that.... since.. forever.." I say gasping for breath.

Joey whispers "shhh".

We are standing in a black hallway at the corner of another black hallway when we hear a noise.

<Kzzzt kyt Zak zoop>

We go dead silent, my lungs are still catching up when we hear it slowly edging to the corner.

I ready my pistol from my holster, I have a knife in my boot just in case it goes bad. I start formulating a plan when all of a sudden Joey lunges out and tackles it just as it comes out into view. He stabs it quickly and puts it down before it could even shriek.

"Dam Joey where did you get those skills from?" I say stunned. But then i remember we both received combat training and Joey was top marks as well. My memory is lagging behind trying to catch up with where and what is going on. I need to hide that better. This doesn't feel like just a memory for some reason.

Joey nods and moves down the hall towards a door that seems to lead to the front of the ship. I move behind him covering our rear, these hallways are just too long and open, dam.

We finally get to the door after a nerve wracking minute of walking as quietly as possible, not even letting our sweat out. A needle dropping would have felt like an earthquake at this point.

Joey takes the left side and I take the right side.

<kzzt, katzz qi ool>

I hear what is at least 5 voices behind the door, 2 on the left, 1 in the middle, 1 on the right and what appears to be one coming to the door... I gesture towards him and he nods. With that we ready our weapons.

<PSSHHT>

The door opens..