“We’re leaving?!” Foster’s disembodied voice bellowed less than two feet from where Joseph lay sprawled on the ground. “What in the hell did you think you were doing? Forget that. What the hell were you thinking?”

  Foster? Lost in his memories, the deputy tried to push through his brain’s haziness. Why was Foster Evers screaming? Then, he remembered that Agent Rushing had done something to him. No, he corrected himself, she had been saying something to him just before everything in existence was swallowed up into a wave of pain and blackness.

  It was something like, “we’re leaving.”

  “I--- was---thinking.” Justine drew out each word for maximum effect. “That innocent people were being held against their will. I was thinking they were all alone waiting for someone or something to implant an alien inside their heads.” She paused to both catch her breath and calm down. “Foster, I thought that we could save them and save you!”

  “Save them? Save me? Why the hell did I need saving?!!!”

  “There’s no way Fitz Hume would have allowed you to run.” Justine’s voice shifted from calm to sarcastic. “In less than 48 hours, he would have boots on the ground pursuing you wherever you went, legality be damned. You know that.”

  “Don’t you think I planned for that contingency?”

  “Who the hell knows what you plan for? It’s not like you’re a deep well of explanations.” Justine felt her anger swell, so she tried to calm herself before anything too rash was said. “I just thought if we could come here and rescue those prisoners, then the director would have to let you go free.”

  “Here?” Foster struggled to get into a sitting position, but some unknown force pinned him to the floor. “We don’t even know where here is. We don’t even know if the air here is safe to breathe.”

  “Of course, it’s safe to breathe.” She sucked in a huge gulp of air like that proved anything other than her desperation. “See… if it weren’t, you wouldn’t be able to whine so loudly. Would you?”

  “Whining? Look around, Agent Rushing!” Of course, this request was rhetorical because darkness hid everything around them. In fact, the only things that seemed to exist were the cold, hard ground, and an unknown vibration rattling his teeth. “Why would you take a chance with our lives like that?”

  “Stop being such a baby,” Justine snapped back out of anger and guilt.

  “Baby? You have got to be kidding me!”

  “Listen, I knew the government wouldn’t send a rescue, and you were about to foolishly go on the run.” The next words tasted strange as they passed over her lips. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask. But I knew if you guys came with me, we could save them and clear your name. Plus, whatever is going on here, humans are involved. That means the air here must be compatible.”

  “Did you get that from one of your sci-fi films?” Foster blew out an exasperated breath and allowed whatever unseen force compelling his body downward to win. He hadn’t been this pissed off since his first day at Wilson.

  Suddenly, the urge to hurl something against a wall overtook him. But what could he throw? Worse still, here in the dark, where was the wall? Was there even a wall? Then, as quickly as this urge grew within him, it withered away. “You still could have just asked me, Agent Rushing.”

  “I tried that, remember? You know, just before you and Barney Fife went running around slap fighting each other. Besides, weren’t you the one who asked to be reminded about pissing me off?”

  “Yes,” Foster recalled his earlier plea and winced. He couldn’t see the look on her face, but his imagination more than sufficed to feel her angry gaze. “I remember.”

  “Well,” Justine’s tone turned resolute. “Then, consider this your reminder.”

  “Fine. I guess I’ll have to be more careful about what I ask for in the future.” Still pissed off beyond belief, Foster resigned himself to the present and began searching around for his satchel. “Hoover… what’s your status?”

  “My status,” Hoover’s voice crackled and popped like a phone with a bad connection. “My status is…I’m never listening to any of Agent Rushing’s bright ideas again.”

  “I’m not cut off from your feed, Hoover,” Justine scowled and unsuccessfully tried to roll over onto her stomach. “I heard that.”

  “Good,” the program scolded her over their earbuds. “That was my intention. I can’t believe I thought this was the best way to handle the situation.”

  “Enough,” not wanting another screaming match, Foster yelled over them as his hand finally brushed up against his satchel. “Joseph, where are we?”

  “You’re kidding, right? I can’t see anything past the tip of my nose.” The rotund deputy tried his best to let his vision focus on the darkness, but all he got was cross-eyed. “And who the hell is Hoover?”

  “A long, complicated, pain in the ass story,” sighed Justine, rummaging around in her coat pocket for a moment before eventually locating her Slinger. With a quick thumb swipe, the weapon’s small display flicked on, and soon a tiny bubble of light surrounded her palm.

  “Maybe this will help.” The screen’s tiny glow cascaded over the group, and for the first time since coming to, everyone could see each other. “Is everyone alright?” She attempted to crawl toward Foster but was immediately halted by the unseen force. “Why can’t I move?”

  Shadowed in darkness, Foster plucked something spherical from his satchel.

  “The 8-ball?” Justine asked before shining the light in his direction only to see him looking sullenly in hers. She cocked a suspicious eyebrow at his pitiful expression. “Do you think that thing will work here?”

  “Your gun’s working, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is, Foster.” She gave him a murderous look. “But there’s only one way to be sure.”

  “I guess that’s true.” Unexpectedly, Justine’s threat seemed to bolster Foster’s spirits, and his grin returned as he shook the 8-ball vigorously.

  Joseph, on the opposite side of her light, couldn’t tell what was going on except for the dark shadows moving vigorously in what seemed like inappropriate gestures. Immediately, the deputy’s mind went to the gutter. “Is now really the best time to be doing that?”

  “Why?” Foster laughed at Joseph’s thinly veiled sexual innuendo, “Do you think I’ll go any blinder than I am now?”

  He stammered out a few low groans, which caused Foster to smile again.

  “Don’t worry about it, Joseph. I’ve spent the last eight years in a place with very little privacy. So, trust me when I say, the nighttime is the right time.” Caught off guard by his joke, Joseph laughed while Justine turned her blushing face away, hoping neither man saw her juvenile reaction.

  “I’m hoping this will shed a little more light on the situation.” With a flick of his wrist, the 8-ball flew effortlessly into the air until the Slinger’s light lost track of it in the darkness.

  After a couple of seconds, Justine stopped pointing the weapon’s faint light upward. Instead, she waited patiently for a loud clang. A clang that would signal the device had hit the vertical limits of wherever they were. But after what seemed like a minute passed, there was nothing. “What altitude did you set if for?”

  “Twenty feet,” Foster said, also surprised that it hadn’t hit anything. “That’s odd.”

  “Can you reach the tablet?” Justine automatically assumed he was trying to utilize the device’s scanning abilities to map the room. Though Foster had something far more old school in mind.

  “Not just yet.” His fingers reached for the bag lying a couple feet away, but the tablet was still just out of reach. “Hoover, activate the device’s fiber optics.”

  Suddenly, an explosion of light erupted above their prone bodies so intensely that everyone had to shield their eyes from what appeared to be a miniature sun floating twenty feet above their heads.

  “Is there a lower setting on that thing?” Joseph said squinting through tightly laced fingers.

  “That is the lowest setting.” Hoover responded.

  “It’s good enough, buddy.” Foster managed to finally turn over onto his side, and the first thing he saw was a rise on the floor about ten feet away from his position. Two feet wide and one-foot-tall, the small protrusion resembled a shrunken version of a concrete barricade.

  Curious, Foster tracked the anomaly as it continued around their position at a curved angle. “Agent Rushing,” he didn’t think he could turn back over. “Do you see a hump on the floor?”

  With some effort, Justine twisted her head to the left and saw a similar sight. “Yes… what is it?”

  “Why don’t you ask our alien friend?”

  Trying to be helpful, Joseph managed to twist his body around enough to lay eyes on the low-lying structure. Surprisingly, he found a small memory of the image in his crammed noggin, though not enough remained to speculate about its origins or purpose.

  “Maybe,” the memories of over twenty years ago were unfocused without his journals. “But I remember there being more lights and stars.”

  “Stars?” Justine’s eyes darted from the structure to every direction her immobilized body would allow her to look. “I don’t see any stars.”

  “Book 19… maybe 20…” Joseph smacked his head against the metal floor, trying to get his brain back on track. “But memories that old are difficult to navigate. Remember, my previous form only survived for two of your earth years. After twenty, my filing cabinets are a bit too full to process it all.”

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  “Well,” Foster reached into his pocket to check on his old Blackberry. When his hand grazed its dented shell, he couldn’t help but sigh with relief. “Laying here on the ground is going to get us nowhere. Hoover,” he finally managed to grab onto his satchel and pull. “Whatever this place is, it has to have some form of a computer system, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes,” the trip had forced the A.I. to perform a hard reboot on some systems, so his voice was still cracking from improperly configured sound drivers. “There seems to be a quite large one. Also, I’m reading ten smaller networks. Although those seem to be in standby mode.”

  “Well,” he wished that Hoover had a head so he could slap him on the back of it. “You accessed the tablet easily enough to get us into this mess. Can’t you access the larger one?”

  “I already have.”

  “Then,” Foster wrestled his tablet out and pressed the power up button. The device booted up almost instantly. “What exactly is keeping us pinned to the floor?”

  “Apparently,” Hoover ran a series of search algorithms and eventually found the right subsystem. A protocol identified by the keywords: Gravity Stabilization Program. He accessed the program’s core functions and at once noticed something interesting. “This place is a space station. And right now, its artificial gravity is powered down.”

  “A space station?” Foster wrenched his neck upward to get a better look at all the incoming data. “How big is it?”

  Displayed on the poorly angled tablet was a wireframe diagram of what appeared to be a cylinder-shaped structure surrounded by a series of sixteen devices linked together by tethered cables. Foster tapped on various parts of the layout, but no further information appeared. Then, Hoover spoke in terms Foster didn’t quite understand.

  “From their limited database, I can extrapolate this thing is approximately 25 Hectans long.”

  “Hectans?” Foster went over the diagram one more time and found nothing relating to size. “How long is a Hectan?”

  “How should I know? My programming allows me to decipher what a word means, not its context.”

  “Hectans,” Joseph reacted favorably to hearing a familiar word. “Did you say Hectans?”

  “Yes,” Foster tried to enlarge one of the sections, but the diagram would not respond to his manipulation. “From the available data, this place appears to be a space station. But I can’t tell how big this place is because the structure’s length is measured in something called a Hectan. 25 Hectans to be exact.” He smacked the tablet in frustration, but nothing on the display changed. “Do you know what a Hectan is?”

  “Book 15,” Joseph forced himself to twist sideways to try and catch sight of the tablet. “Like you said, a Hectan is a simple form of measurement.” He did some quick calculations in his head. “And the closest equivalent on earth would be the length of a football field.”

  “Great,” Foster quickly did the math, and the figure he finally settled on was staggering. “That means that we’re on a space station that’s a mile and half long… perfect.”

  “It is perfect.” Justine’s day kept getting better as the darkness surrounding her now held endless possibilities. But then, an unsettling thought popped into her head. “Wait a minute. You said the artificial gravity is powered down. If that’s the case, why can’t we get off the floor?”

  “On it,” Hoover delved deeper into the station’s unknown subsystems. Soon, he came across another set of protocols which dealt with arrival and departures.

  “It seems this station is under constant bombardment from a heavy gravity field. Normally, this place is set up for standard earth type gravity. However, since our arrival was unexpected, the anti-gravity system was powered down. I’ve activated that particular subsystem, so I estimate another two minutes before normal gravity is restored.”

  Justine rolled onto her back and imagined she was resting in a grassy field. “We must be orbiting one hell of a large planet to be under such strong gravitational forces. Maybe even a star.”

  “Hoover,” Foster shut his eyes and tried to work out how all this affected their immediate safety. “Why was the gravity off and more importantly, has our presence been reported to whoever runs this place?”

  “Under normal circumstances, it would. But from what I can tell, this area has been put in stand-down mode. And stand-down mode only occurs when the station is empty.”

  “Oh,” Foster said remembering Hoover’s initial assessment. “That’s why you said our arrival was unexpected.”

  “Wait a minute. What do you mean empty,” Justine tightened her grip on the Slinger. “You mean we’re all alone?”

  “No, I’m saying that there are no organics currently active on the station. However, the system does list various robotic devices throughout the station. But those areas aren’t accessible to me.”

  “Are you trying to tell me you can’t crack the station’s programming?” Foster’s pride was a little bruised by the thought of Hoover not being able to decipher something, even an alien something. “Is it in a different operating language?”

  “No, nothing like that,” the A.I. explained. “I can’t access those areas because they aren’t physically connected to the systems in this area.”

  “Why wouldn’t they be connected?”

  “Why are you asking me?” Hoover said the next part only to Foster. “Ask the alien. Or better yet, Agent Rushing.”

  “Don’t act so high and mighty. You were part of this little coup too.”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  For the next couple of minutes, the trio rested quietly as the force which held them down and its accompanying vibrations slowly subsided. When it waned enough, Joseph struggled to his feet and scanned his surroundings for Justine. Soon enough, he found her.

  “Thank you,” he said, stepping over Foster’s still prone body to extend her a helping hand. “I can’t thank you enough for not listening to that asshole.”

  “That asshole?” She grabbed the deputies’ pinky with her thumb and forefinger. With a slight amount of pressure, Joseph was forced to his knees like a sobbing child. “Made it possible for you to be standing here right now. Got it?” Without waiting to see if he had, Justine released her grip then knelt beside the small, curved hump. “Do you know what this is?”

  Still stinging from Justine’s warning, Joseph looked down at his feet. “It looks like a ring.” He rotated his wrist, trying to make the pain go away. “Maybe it’s a landing pad.”

  “Too early to guess,” Foster warned them as he stared at the tablet like a nervous spy. On the high-definition screen, the 8 ball’s infrared package relayed an image of three tiny, red-tinged bodies standing motionless in the middle of a large circle. “But whatever it is, we are standing right in the middle of it.”

  “Book 84,” Joseph bent down and rapped his knuckles against the cold, metallic floor. “My species encountered a group of strange missionaries once. With no home planet, their views on the meaning of space travel were considered extreme. But they did introduce us to a building technique far more advanced than anything we had imagined up to that point.”

  “What do you mean?” Justine asked, enthralled.

  “Well,” the deputy stood back up and stretched his back out with a groan. “The hulls of their ships were fashioned from a material that could turn translucent on command. You see, these missionaries worshiped the stars like deities. So, they always wanted to be able to look upon their Gods whenever the mood struck them.”

  “Awesome story,” Foster looked up from the tablet with a noticeable scowl. “What does it have to do with the floor?”

  “Plenty,” Joseph knelt once again. “Because I got a chance to visit one of their ships once. They stopped by our shipyards for routine repair during one of their longer pilgrimages.” He tapped on the floor again. Only this time, harder. “This looks like the same material.”

  “Seriously,” Justine joined Joseph in rapping her knuckles on the floor in the hopes that something weird would happen. But nothing did. “Are you sure? How did they activate it?”

  Joseph had only visited the ship. Thus, he had no real idea how their technology worked. So, the best he could do was shrug his shoulders.

  As the deputy came up empty, Foster watched as Justine’s demeanor turned sullen. Despite his anger, he asked Hoover to do some investigating. The A.I. ran another search of the station’s systems and once again came up with something interesting.

  “There’s a setting for observation. But the system doesn’t explain what that means. I don’t think there’s anything inherently dangerous in activating it. But this is alien tech, and we are on an unknown space station.” Hoover’s tone was more cautious than usual. “There’s a risk.”

  “Now you want to be an actuary?” Always curious to see what a button did, he looked towards Justine to see if she wanted to be a little more adventurous. “Should we try?”

  Like a kid on Christmas morning, she nodded fervently. Secretly, he lamented that this woman would someday probably be the death of him, just like Hoover predicted. Not so secretively, he decided to let the mystery of the signal continue just a little longer.

  “Hoover,” he reached down and pulled her to her feet. “Since you and Justine don’t mind leaping before you look, let’s see what we can see.”

  Uncharacteristically quiet, Hoover initialized the protocol. At first, the floor remained black. Then, slowly, tiny crackles of red-tinged electricity began to pop and spark directly within the material under their feet. This phenomenon spread quickly outward from where they stood towards the farthest reaches of wherever they were.

  “Does it ever end?” Justine remarked with awe. Because even with the crimson light show, the three of them couldn’t quite see where the room ended.

  “Let’s hope,” Foster answered sarcastically even though he knew Hoover would have been the first to mention a never-ending room if it appeared on the schematics.

  Then, as quickly as the small explosions of light began, they ended. The black floor started to shimmer brightly before completely vanishing beneath their feet. What remained was an overwhelming view of a slowly swirling mass of bright blue and white gasses.

  “What the fuck?” Joseph jumped up from the now invisible floor.

  Justine, who was also taken aback by the sudden change of perspective, grabbed a hold of Foster’s arm and squeezed it harder than usual. “What is that?” She yelped in an embarrassingly girlish tone. “I thought you said we were on a space station.”

  “We are.”

  “Then what is that?” Joseph stamped his feet against the ground to reassure himself that the floor was still there, “A planet?”

  “You don’t know? Aren’t you an alien?” Foster extricated himself from Justine’s grip. Once free, he quickly paced from one side of the ring to the other, trying to take in the bigger picture. But this low angle blocked him from seeing the entire thing. “Hoover, how high is the ceiling in here?”

  “After plugging in Joseph’s crude conversion table, the schematics list it at one hundred feet.”

  “That might help. Please take the 8-ball straight to the top and let’s see if we can gain some perspective,” he also stamped his foot on the invisible floor, “on whatever this is.”

  The A.I. made the necessary adjustments to the device, and the orb went rocketing skyward until a loud clang echoed throughout the cavernous room.

  “Careful,” Foster warned his overzealous friend. “That’s the only one of those I brought.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” Hoover corrected the machine’s altitude, so it hovered a mere inch below the ceiling’s apex. “Images are coming through now.”

  On the tablet, a swirling mass of reddish clouds turned counterclockwise like an angry tornado. At the middle of this tornado was... nothing. No, that wasn’t entirely true. There was something there. It just didn’t make any sense. Confused, Foster tapped at the screen then looked back toward the floor. “Did you damage the probe with the impact? Because the colors are wrong.”

  “Sorry,” Hoover replied, realizing his creator’s previous mistake. “Someone left it in infra-red mode. Hold on.”

  “And someone, should put it back to normal.” Foster shot back.

  The image flickered slightly until the colors perfectly matched what they saw beneath their feet. But even with this correction, exactly what they were looking at still eluded them.

  “OK,” Joseph’s eyes quickly darted from the tablet to the floor. “What is it?”

  “Again, you’re the alien.” Foster’s mind raced through dozens of astronomical phenomena. But most of those depictions consisted of either a blurry photo or some kind of fantastical sci-fi drawing. And there was just something different about an artist’s interpretation of the theoretical and the actual thing. “Shouldn’t you know?”

  “I never spent any time away from my planet, Mr. Evers.” Joseph said defensively.

  To this, Foster had to laugh. “You mean, besides the past twenty years.”

  “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

  “This whole situation is a joke, Joseph.” Foster said without the slightest hint of mirth in his voice. “I just hope it’s not a dangerous one.”

  Justine listened to them bicker for a minute about blame and fault without bothering to intercede. After all, she was still in a trance from being in her own science fiction movie. Then, something about that thought clicked into place. Specifically, an old Disney movie from the late seventies that held a similar visual panorama. In fact, the film derived its name from this very occurrence.

  Having figured something out before Foster made her initially smile. But after the gravity of the answer sunk in, that smile quickly morphed into a frown. “Guys,” Justine spoke loudly enough to get their attention. “I know what that is.”

  “You do?” Foster asked, a little afraid to know the answer. And from the look on her face, it appeared that fear might be justified. “What is it?”

  “That’s a black hole.”