The old radio has, once again, lost signal and emitted just a static noise. The light coming from a single lightbulb flickered continuosly and some of the dishes clearly have not been done for a while now, judging by their awful state. Moreover, the windows were broken in few places, letting the cold rain pouring outside into the house. The old man, who was sleeping on some blankets near such window, opened his eyes as he felt the water touching his skin. He shivered and tried to wrap the blankets tighter, to get just a tad more warmth, but as soon as he closed his eyes, a loud thunder, seemingly coming directly from the sky above the house, woke him up permamently. He sighed and got up, checking if there was any beer left in the bottles which were laying on the table - but, all of them were empty. The Thunder stroke once again, and suddenly all of the electricity, which somehow still was available in the house, despite it clearly being abandoned, was out in the blink of an eye. The old man cursed under his breath and decided to leave the house - at least outside, the moon would provide a little bit of light.
The house was located on top of a small hill, surrounded from all sides by forest. There weren't any trees near the house itself, as they were probably cut to make way for the building and what used to be a small garden. Still, it was located far from any bigger city and not really visible without climbing the hill, so the civilization kind of forgot about it - that was probably way the man was not kicked out again.
The homeless man searched his pockets for a bit until he found what he was looking for - a box of matches and a cigarette. The rain clearly had no intention to stop, so he sat in a wet chair and decided to wait. He was just about to light his match, and looked at the sky just lucky enough to witness another lighting piercing it.
But there was also something else. The man dropped his match and looked at the sky with his mouth open - in the light, for a brief moment something hovering above the forest, not far away from him. Something big, black, and rotating.
"What the hell...?" He backed away slowly, and then turned around and ran inside as another lightning confirmed a huge sphere was in the air.
He slammed the door shut and kneeled near a window, looking outside. The rain was still pouring down, but outside of that the hill appeared empty and calm. The man breathed with relief, as the sphere was nowhere to be seen. Then, he almost jumped when he heard a noise behind him.
With a weird shriek, the radio activated itself, broadcasting the same static noise as before. The homeless smiled, thankful that it was the source of the noise and decided to turn it off. When he came near the radio, however, he noticed something unnerving - the light bulb was still out, there was no energy. Yet the radio was activated. Moreover, the noise suddenly changed.
"Now what...?"
Now the radio was broadcasting some strange, vibrating hums and roars, that somehow made him dizzy. Then they were once again interrupted with something that sounded like a group of people trying to communicate with each other with extremely short words in a weird language.
Then, there was silence.
The homeless looked at the device with confussion and fear for a few seconds. After calming down a bit, he turned to the window. He saw fire. It was not the forest what was burning, however - the sphere was now falling down, all in flames. The man watched the sphere falling down to earth, with two blinking lights now visible. It finally touched the ground, and with an bang exploded into pieces. The flames created by the impact quickly spread to trees and grass. He understood he must leave the house as quickly as possible. Sooner or later, the flames would get here.
He quickly picked up what he found valuable and left the house, running in the opposite direction. As he was about to enter the forest, he took one last look at the forest behind him and stopped abruptly. There was no fire anymore, only a green light emited from the place it has crashed.
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The Department's Junior Wing was a place, that, after succesful completion of the basic trainings, served as home to the youngest and most promising PISF officers. Outside of over 40 small private rooms for every person, it also offered a common room - a bigger space, where young officers between the ages of 16 and 20 could meet up, play video or board games together, read books, or just engage in friendly conversations, when not participating in investigations or other important events.
"What the hell is THIS!?" David angrily placed an laptop directly in front of Jamon, who was just reading a newspaper.
"A newspaper." The other boy did not care to look up.
"Not the newspaper, you idiot! THIS!" he pointed at the laptop.
"Oh, this?" Jamon acted as if he just noticed the device "That's a computer. You really don't know?"
"ARGH!" David clenched his fists "You know what I mean!"
"GUYS! Can't you be quiet and get along at least when I'm trying to concentrate?" Said Dagmar, who just enteted from her room. "What's going on this time?"
"What's going on is that he broke into my computer... No, don't look!"
It was too late - the red haired Swedish girl already was looking on to the screen, and with each second her expression changed. Finally she looked at her friend, trying not to burst out with laughter.
"Well, David, I admit you have talent."
She once again looked at the screen - the desktop was a slideshow of what seemed like a model or fashion show, only with each contestant's face being replaced with David. When a picture of "David" in a bikini showed up, she could not help anymore.
"Oh, give me that!" The boy was irritated.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Jamon grabbed the laptop "Do you even know how long I worked on that!?"
"Do you think this is funny!? I need this computer to do my work, you..."
The automatic doors opened themselves and a blonde boy came in, looking around the room. He finally noticed the group of people who looked his age and faintly came towards them.
"So uh... hi. I-i guess I will be... working with you. I think."
"We know." Dagmar said friendly "The Head Officer told us already."
"She... did!?" Aleks was surprised "But... I just finished talking with her."
"You never know with her." Jamon shook his head "Hey, do you wanna see what Davey does in his free time?"
"Gah!" The mentioned boy picked up his computer "I am going to murder you one day, Jamon!"
"Afraid of himself... so sad."
The door once again opened up, and another girl came inside.
"I just spoke to Aruta, she wants us in her office right now. All of us, you too, Aleksander. I think we will have another case."
"Cool." Jamon smiled
"As long as you don't break anything again." Muttered David
Jamon looked like he wanted to respond, but only shook his head.
"Well, come on. Let's go."
Ayumi Aruta's office was located one contignation higher - on the fourth floor, however the group technically did not have to take stairs, as instead escalators were placed between the floors. They choose the nearest one, near the Scientific Wing, which also happened to lead next to big, wodden doors, with "Ayumi Aruta - 5th Department Head Officer, 2nd Grade Cryptozoology Specialist & 1st Grade Telepathologyst " written on a small plate above them.
David knocked a few times.
"Yes, come in!"
He gently pushed the door, and immediately they recognized an angry sounding voice.
"No way! I will not agree, do you understand!?"
"I understand your concerns, Hussein, However... oh, it's you already. Come in, please."
The group went inside and saluted. General Abedi looked at them, still looking upset for some reason. Then his eyes rested on Aleksander.
"And one more thing... head officer. I could understand your concerns over the Mind Mining procedure. I did not agred, but I understood. But now... you allow this boy to be here, where he clearly is not fit to be? Why? What was your logic!?"
"I decided that Aleksander can stay here, since he doesn't have close family and the alternative would be having to clean his brain."
"Then you should have done that!"
"No."
"Why?"
"With all the respect, general Abedi."the woman spoke sternly "So far I am the Head Officer here, and it's not up to you to undermine my decisions.
The old general just rolled his eyes.
"Now, you. I think I found the perfect case for your beggining."
"What would it be, madame Aruta?" The raven-haired girl which brought the group asked
The woman got up from her armchair and walked to a large stash of what looked like files and ripped newspaper articles. Finally she picked up one of the scraps.
"One week ago something crashed near the village of Arlington, Nebraska, United States. Reports say people witnessed a large sphere being struck down by lightning and erupting in flames, and then green light coming from the forest."
"As I was saying, head officer Aruta" general Abedi interrupted "me and my team have been on the scene. We've collected the parts of the UFO and found two dead creatures on board, which we brought here to analyze. Then obviously we wiped the inhabitants' brains."
"You missed something, then." She picked up another scrap "The people of the village claim something has been attacking their animals. It started exactly a week ago. It was something not human - something alien."
"That can not be true. Either it is a wolf, or another wild animal, or those people are just making it up and trying to benefit from what happened a week ago."
"They can not do that, you wiped their brains, remember?"
The general made a weird humming noise.
"Anyway, you kids" The old woman turned to the group "I want you to go to this village and check out what exactly is happening there."
"Head OFFICER! As I told you, I have been there with my team..."
"Whatever this creature is, it is running free around the village,so it would be best if you could return with some evidences like photos or..."
"LISTEN WOMAN!" Hussein clenched his fists "I AM IN CHARGE OF THIS DEPARTMENT'S UFOLOGY BUREAU!"
"And I am in charge of this department itself." The woman calmly replied "But if you are so unconvinced that something is going on there, maybe you should go too. I am sure our junior officers would gladly use your help."
"What? No way, I won't be a babysitter!"
"I am not asking you to go, Hussein, I am telling you to." The old general opened his mouth out wide "Please,remember, that all you have to do is to get us evidence of the creature's existence. You don't have to catch it, or do anything else, we will send a qualified team to do that after you provide information about what exactly are we dealing with here. Just remember - this is a small village, so please, try to keep what you're doing quiet. Bianca, you will, of course, be responsible for any organizational matters. Any questions?"
"Yes, actually I have one." Aleksander raised his hand "How are we supposed to get there?" The boy noticed everyone staring at him, "...what?"
"We're going to teleport ourselves there." Dagmar replied matter-of-factly
"Yeah, what are you, stupid?" Added Jamon
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The teleportation experience... wasn't enjoyable. Aruta told Aleksander that after she estabilishes a rift using the geological coordinates, all he would have to do is jump. She did not mention, however, that after jumping in he would feel like his skin was being torn from his body and every atom inside of him annihilated.
Fortunetly, it was all over now, and the boy suddenly found himself lying on wet grass. He lifted his head and saw a small sea of trees around him.
"Are you ok?" Someone asked and Aleksander saw an extended hand. "You'll get used to it."
"Thanks." He muttered to the girl who helped him up. "I thought teleportation was supposed to be instant?"
"It was." Added David "At least on earth, we arrived here exactly at the moment we left the department. But yeah, in the universe, time works differently."
"You'll get used to it." the girl smiled again, correcting her curls.
"Wait. There is four of us - me, Bianca, David and Aleks. Where the hell is Jamon?" Asked Dagmar
Everyone looked around themselves.
"Oh, nooo..." David spoke slowly
"Look out!" Dagmar suddenly grabbed Aleks and pulled him towards herself.
"-aaaaah!" The middle eastern boy landed face first in the place Aleks was just standing in. Slowly he picked himself up. "Hi."
"God, will you ever learn how to do it properly?" David asked harshly.
The blue portal opened once again, and the older Abedi jumped out, followed by sergeant Le Blanc and two other people, all dressed in blue and brown uniforms and carrying some sorts of devices.
"Prepare the Geiger counters." Hussein ordered "LeBlanc, come with me."
"Hey, hey, dad?" Jamon asked "Why have you brought all those people?"
The said male stopped, took a few deep breaths and turned around to face them.
"Listen. I will now make you kids an offer you can not refuse. You will stay here, free to do whatever the hell you want to, but you will not nuzzle around and you will not search and investigate the area. That's my team's job."
"But the Head Officer..."
"Aruta may be a good investigator, but she definitely is an awful leader. This is an offer you CAN'T refuse. Let us do our job, and I will personally tell her with great details what an amazing job you performed. But try to mess with my... our investigation, and I will personally make sure you will remember that mistake for a long time. Understood?
"Well, but what are we supposed to do here? We are in a village of, like 1000 people?"
"I don't care. There is a small house on the top of the hill, maybe you can go there and play games. You do have games on your computer, don't you?" General Abedi pointed at the brown haired boy.
"Well, Actually..." David looked kind of insulted, but the old man did not let him finish.
"Then go. And remember, don't follow us. Especially not you." He pointed at Aleksander and turned towards his team "All right, you finally done it? Let's go, quickly!"
The group of men quickly walked away, and finally vanished as they entered the forest.
"Who does he think he is!?" Erupted David, as soon as the general was nowhere to be seen "This is supposed to be our case! He thinks he can just threaten us like that?"
"I don't think he likes me." Noticed Aleksander
"Don't worry about it, he hates everyone." The boy comforted him and after a few seconds added silently "And everyone hates him back."
"DAVID!"
"What!? Sorry, Jamon but that is the truth!"
"Guys, calm down!" Bianca walked in between them "We just were kicked out from the investigation. What do we do now?"
"I for one am setting up the cameras and my equipment." David took his backpack off "He isn't my boss, he does not have right to tell me what to do.
"He is hierarchically above us." Dagmar noticed.
"David is right." Bianka decided "We can not let him treat ourselves like that. I'll help you. What should I do?"
"Well, for starters, you could mount those cameras, starting with some low hanging branches over there. Can you do it?"
"Can I?"
The girl quickly walked to the direction David was pointing at and without any trouble climbed the first tree high enough to mount the camera in a place where it wasn't noticeable. She continued with three more cameras, placing them at different trees in different places, to capture a bigger area of the forest.
David, meanwhile, was still searching around his backpack until he found three small devices with an antenna and one bigger, which also had what looked like a small screen with numbers from 1 to 9 written alongside it.
"A motion sensor." He explained as Aleksander was looking confused "Three transmitters are few, but they use new technology and have bigger reach than most other, so hopefully they will last. Anyways, looks like we will stay here for a little bit, so it would be good if someone could go to a store and buy some supplies."
"I can go." Aleks agreed "But what am I supposed to pay with?"
"Use this." David handed him a credit card "The PISF will pay for everything. Oh, and take the navigation device too, so you won't get lost."
The boy nodded his head and looked at the device - it was much smaller than the ones people were mounting in their cars. All it had was a small screen and two or three buttons that Aleksander preffered not to touch. Anyways, the device worked correctly, despite it's small size, and informed that after heading out of the small mountain he would only have about 150 meters to go before reaching the village. He headed south, as an small arrow indicated he should do, but stopped after he heard someone shouting his name. He turned around and saw the middle eastern boy running towards him.
"Hey, I'm coming with you! The girls are busy, as Bianca is now mounting the motion sensors now and Dagmar is busy interviewing a bear, and I don't want to stay alone with Davey."
"Okay, come on... wait, Dagmar is doing what?"
"Interviewing a bear." Jamon replied, and seeing the other one's expression added "Yeah, she can speak with animals."
"Okay." Aleks answered, as the boys got off the hill and now were heading out of the forest and towards the village.
"Okay? You took it quite well."
"It's too weird to be surprising."
Suddenly they heard a piercing, feminine scream nearby. They looked at each other and ran towards where the voice was coming from. The voice belonged to an middle aged woman, who was standing with an leash and shaking massively.
"Otis! No! What kind of a monster would do that!?"
"What happened, madame?" Jamon asked.
"It took him!" The woman turned to face him. She was crying "This creature took my dog!"
"Do you remember how it looked like?"
"No..." she shook her head "It happened so quickly! One moment Otis was standing right here with me, and the next second it was taking him there!" She pointed towards a small space between nearby trees, and begun to cry harder. Aleksander hugged her
The Middle Eastern boy at the other hand has already been running towards the space between the trees.
"Hey, where are you going!?" Aleksander shouted after him.
Jamon did not answer, and already entered the small hole. The sun was already setting down, and the forest was a bit darker than during the day, so he reached into his pocket and picked up a small flashlight. He activated it and continued wading through the branches - the forest here was pretty dense. After a few moments he tripped over a branch he did not notice and fell face first into a small puddle of mud.
"Ow." He moaned as he picked himself to his knees. "Great."
The boy found and collected his flashlight which he let go of during the fall, directed the light in front of himself and felt his heart skip a few bits - he was looking straight into yellow, flashing eyes and gigantic teeth of something with an extremely disfigured, squared face.
"Um..." the boy gulped, startled "he-hello there!"
The creature did not answer, but emited a short, meow-like sound and slowly begun to walk towards the boy, opening his mouth to unnatural size.
"Hey, what the hell are you thinking?" Jamon heard an irritated voice behind himself and instinctively turned around
"Aleks, I think I found it."
ns 15.158.61.6da2
