《I Was Abducted by Aliens and Sold To the Highest Bidder In the Galaxy》 The Jackpot If there''s one thing I''ve learned over the years watching TV and movies, and even reading books, is to expect that the day everything in my life changes, there will be something there. Some sign or another to notice, if I''m paying enough attention, that warns me ahead of time that ''this is the day''. Maybe it''s a musical cue I might notice. A strange coincidence or inconsistency that jumps out at me like a sense of deja vu. Maybe it''s my friends saying things that are ironic and foreshadow what''s about to happen. That''s how I feel like, anyway. Obviously it''s not as extreme as music playing in the sky or an audio cue of a cat jumping on a piano keyboard, sure. But it''ll be something. That''s just what feels right. I think it''s only right that you get some kind of warning, after all. You want your last day on Earth to count, don''t you? And so I''m pretty confident that today? Today is a pretty boring day. It''s a week before Summer break. No - not seven days, a little more than that, but it''s long enough that counting them individually feels more daunting than just saying ''a week''. Not short enough to be counting the days instead of saying a week, either. It''s close enough to Summer that the walk home is still daylight, but it''ll probably be twilight by the time I actually get home. Definitely, actually. I''m in no hurry to get home. I''ve got nothing planned there. Just history homework. And nobody plans ''homework''. I don''t even have anything planned for Summer, actually, and that''s a problem, because it''s my last Summer. Not on this Earth. Just in school. Highschool has been a time of drifting. Drifting through classes. Drifting though life. Drifting away from friends that middle school me really thought were going to be lifetime besties. I won''t consider myself unpopular: I haven''t gotten stuffed in any lockers or been given ''the look'' by any of the highschool "in" girls, but I also... Don''t really have any friends. None that will want to do anything particularly interesting over Summer with me, anyway. I dither. It''s a small thing but it feels big, too. I should be planning something impactful for my last Summer. I was never a Spring Break kinda girl and I''ve never found school dances to be particularly interesting (or successful) either, so Summer...is it. I gotta have some kind of a plan, and I''m running out of time. Before Summer, I mean. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Maybe I can waste some extra time and think about it, make some plans. If I go home I''ll be drawn into home politics, chores, history homework, and not actually get around to the Summer Stuff until I''m too tired to make plans and it''s too late to try reaching out or booking anything. There''s an arcade in town but that feels tacky. Maybe I should go by the local cafe and sit in the ambiance and think there instead? Before I can decide, the mundane, uninteresting town street around me blanks out into white. It''s... Hard to explain. One moment I''m walking. And then...white. Just. White. I can''t feel anything. No ground beneath me. No warmth from the sun - despite it suddenly becoming blinding white. No way of tracking time. No feeling. Not even of my body. ...Am I... Dead? I snap awake with a harsh gasp. But. It''s not in my familiar, comfortable bed and pajamas. This place around me...it''s not familiar at all. It''s actually. The opposite. So utterly unfamiliar and strange that it wraps back around to being familiar in a weird, eerie sort of way. The ground is back, but instead of asphalt it''s smooth metal. So smooth a part of me can''t help but worry that if I move my feet I''ll loose traction and fall. If I do, though, I won''t fall far. There are others around me. People. No one I recognize, but they''re everywhere. Just. Standing. Like we''re in some concert crowd, except it''s dead silent and no one''s moving. At all. They''re just... Staring. Blankly. And there''s no band. We''re in some kind of a room. A metal one. Everything, not just the floor is smooth metal, like there''s not a scratch or bump anywhere on the surface of it. It''s not mirror-finish, but it''s so smooth it almost could function as one anyway. There are no visible lights from where I''m standing- if there are, they''re obscured by the people standing around me. Despite the lack of any visible light source, we''re not standing in the dark. There''s a faint bluish light. No - it''s... It''s not faint. It''s strong. Like the room was filled with flourescents. But there is a dim bluish cast in the air that I can''t really figure out either. Should... Should I be panicking? It''s odd. That thought occurs to me, but I don''t feel... Anything. I can look around, at least. I can''t...really feel my body but it responds enough for me to look around, and that''s all I''m brave enough to do on these floors. There''s others. Other people looking around like me. They don''t seem to know where we are, either. I - we - don''t have to wait long, though. At least it doesn''t feel like we do. The wall ahead of us suddenly splits seamlessly into sliding doors and opens. And still there is no sound. Enough light spills through the doors that I have to squint, before silhouettes begin to form. What walks through is... Tall. Gaunt. Gray. The word leaps to mind before I can even process the reality of what I''m looking at. Aliens. They walk toward us. So smooth. Like they''re effortlessly gliding on this floor more than taking normal steps. I- It''s probably normal, faced with an alien, to be unable to turn my gaze away, right? What else can I do but stare? Scream, perhaps. But... My throat feels dry, and I can''t summon the gumption. I just... Feel trapped in time, watching them move in slow motion. The one in the front begins waving and pointing its hand in silence. It points at me. Cold hands grab my arms. I don''t...- When did anyone get close enough to me to grab me? I try to turn my head to look up at the one manhandling me, but I...can''t. It''s like. A dream. I just can''t. Others are pulled up from the crowd next to me. I can''t turn my head to look at them, but out of the corner of my eye at least one of the people I see is the first man I''d seen who''d been looking around like me. Am I- I''m moving. Am I walking? I blink and try to look down at my feet, but that just makes me dizzy. I''m not in that room anymore, at least. I''m in a hallway. There''s... Nothing in this hallway. It''s empty. It''s just like the room, smooth and featureless, and it just... Stretches onward in a way that makes me feel dizzy when I look at the horizon, but I can''t seem to stumble or fall or even retch. The wall opens beside me. There is no light past the doors. Before I can contemplate where the door might lead I''m hurled through it. Into coldness and darkness. The Darkness The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The Fall I''ve not listened all that closely to alien abduction stories in the past because of course they were never real, and even if they were they''d never apply to me. But even so, there''s just so many of them I''ve picked up a few things. None of those things mean that whatever is waiting for me at the end of the hall is anything good. And nothing that I''ve experienced personally here is in any way reassuring. Even though we were together a moment ago, as I walk through this hallway I don''t see or hear Mia in this place with me. I don''t see that guy, either. In fact... I don''t even see that thing which grabbed my arm. As far as any of my senses are telling me... I''m alone in here. But... I just keep moving forward. Where else am I to go but forward? It''s hard to tell how long I''ve been walking, but I keep on walking toward the end of the hallway anyway. Eventually, I find myself standing in front of the door at the end. The door this time is different from the others. Not simply a piece of wall slid out of the way but something sturdy looking and what I expect to see on some kind of spaceship. Beyond is darkness, like every other room I''ve been in since that first one. A large, cold hand suddenly contacts with the back of my shoulder and I''m propelled violently inside the darkness. The door slams shut behind me. Before I can even start to adjust to the darkness I''ve been thrust into again, the far wall shifts and opens. Panic wells up inside me as I glimpse stars-... But I''m not ejected into space. Instead, I''ve been given a small, single room with a view. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The smooth ground beneath me lurches violently enough that I slam into the wall with my shoulder, wincing at the jolt of pain from it, and then... My room with a view detaches. ...This is... Some kind of ejection capsule? Then that must mean. I''m going home. Relief floods through me so much that it gets overrun by giddiness, and it takes everything in me not to break out into ridiculous peals of laughter. This might just be...some kind of a psychotic break. And if it isn''t, no one will believe me that it isn''t. But it doesn''t matter. Because it''s over. It was terrifying as an experience, but here I am, I''ve survived, and it wasn''t even that bad in the end. The stars through the glass rotate and turn as my capsule - or whatever it is - spins through space. When the view turns toward the planet I''m approaching, or rather falling toward, my giddiness sinks into a heavy lead feeling in the pit of my gut. The planet in my view has no water on it. At least...not anything on the hemisphere facing my window. I also can''t see any green at all. Only red, orange, and yellow everywhere. I''m no expert on geography, but I know what Earth doesn''t look like, and this is... Not Earth. It''s not even one of the familiar planets I''ve learned, drilled into my memory over years of ''squint at tiny discs through a lens'' field trips and computer generated ''tours'' of our neighboring planets. Not like I''d know the first thing about how to build a space ship and get back but - who knows. Maybe someone could mount a rescue if enough humans got dumped in our solar system somewhere. But. This isn''t even my solar system. I''m hurtling to a strange planet with nothing green on it in a completely different part of the galaxy in a one-person container, free-falling. My little ''room'' continues to spin, and through it I finally learn what it must look like outside: little black spheres are falling toward this planet just like I am, scattered like pieces of bread tossed onto a lake for ducks. ...I wonder if I''ll ever see a duck again? What a strange thing. I''ve never even thought about the idea that one day I might never see another duck again. That some day - I don''t remember when now - was going to be the last day I ever saw a duck in my life. Fire blots out my view of anything else as my personal sphere hits the atmosphere of this place. Maybe I should be happy that there is an atmosphere at all. I sink to the hard floor beneath me, tucking up my knees to my chin. When I close my eyes, it feels like I''m just sitting on some...smooth metal surface. Maybe a machine workshop. It doesn''t feel like I''m moving. Not like I''m spinning, not like I''m falling. But the flickering of the fire at the windows dances and plays in light and shadow against my closed eyes. It doesn''t feel hot in here. I don''t hear the wind or the fire. So maybe this really is just some cruel prank, and I''m sitting in a small little room or box, with some top of the line 16k TV monitor in the place of windows. Maybe I''ll just keep my eyes closed until I''m proven right. A rush of oppressively hot air blasts cross my face without warning, and rough, lumpy hands grip my shirt collar much too harshly. A sharp jerk yanks me forward and ruins the collar of my shirt in the same movement. When I stumble to my feet, it''s only instinctive that I open my eyes to stop myself from falling on my face. Pulled out of that capsule as I am, the dry heat of this place hits me so hard it takes my breath away, and I gasp like a fish stolen from water as I struggle to regain my breath. A few other people stand near me, looking as dazed and out of it as I feel. The one with a death grip on my collar is a yellow-orange, stocky looking bald man. The Processing Actually, I have no idea if what I''m looking at is a man or not. It''s alien. More humanoid than those gray things, but still not human. It does look a sort of...stocky, masculine kind of way that makes me think that he''s male, though. Not that I have much time to think about it. The man barely spares time to make sure I''m not about to collapse before he begins marching somewhere, dragging me along with him, hand still gripping my collar. I stumble but struggle to walk fast enough to keep pace with him just so I won''t be choked by my own shirt. The planet around me...I don''t have much ability to gawk and look around at it, but it''s about as desolate and unwelcoming as I imagined it might look from space. There''s a sickly yellow hue infecting the blue of the sky, and the ground is as barren and inhospitable looking as some kind of post-apocalyptic raider movie set. The one manhandling me drags me toward a large wall that looks to be made of some sort of clay brick. An archway towers overhead, and large wooden doors are propped open, which we pass through. It''s hard to measure distance when I''m being dragged like a disobedient child across some kind of packed sand, but it doesn''t feel like a long walk from where I must have landed. Others like him stand both outside and inside the doors, some as guards and others milling about doing...I don''t know what. He neither stops nor speaks to them, and continues dragging me straight toward some large building that reminds me of an adobe hut. He shoves me into a line of frightened looking people - some of whom I recognize from that first room, but none who appear to be Mia or that other guy. I suppose I belong in this line, because I''m sure that if I could look at myself, I''d fit right in with ''a group of frightened looking people''. That yellow-orange man shouts something I can''t even begin to understand, and stretches a rope out behind me, as if determining the line ends with me. A similar sounding voice crackles over a loud-speaker somewhere, and it''s just as incomprehensible. The speaking I can''t understand from the loud-speaker and from the passing figures of these aliens create such a din that I can''t make out any of the frightened murmurs of the people ahead of me. I lose track of time. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Any time someone ahead of me moves I either step forward myself or one of the passing figures - who appear to be armed with some kind of firearm - smacks me hard in the back and shoves me forward. It''s easier to just walk when everyone else does than endure a bruised up back for nothing. Eventually, the person ahead of me moves out of the way of my vision. Ahead of me stands a pink-orange man who looks taller and slightly more slender than the other one. His eyes remind me of a fish, not in position but in shape. He circles me slowly, as if inspecting me. If he''s looking for anything interesting or spectacular, he''ll be disappointed. The fact is, I''m plain by any standard. I''ve got a sweater and loose jeans on because I''m not the type to dress up for school, and it''s not exactly the most flattering ensemble. Especially when the collar''s been ripped. I risk turning my head to watch him, but if he makes any expression I can''t recognize it. Whatever he decides he does or doesn''t see, eventually he waves me onward to another yellow-orange man. A different one from the first. I can tell from the clothes. They all wear some kind of rugged leathery-brown wilderness wear but this one is wearing a vest that''s more studded. The man grabs me and shoves his too-large hand in my pockets, straining the fabric. With a tug, the pocket is turned inside out and my wallet and loose change goes flying through the air. My other pocket does the same, and off goes my post-it note pack and a candy I don''t even remember putting in there. He shoves me up against a stick in the ground and taps something on a bulky wrist watch he wears. After that, yet another one of them grabs my arms and shoves me into my third - fourth - no, fifth room of the day. The first thing I spot is Mia. She has cherry-red hair and looks about as worse for wear as I probably do. Still, she smiles the moment she catches my eye and she pushes her way through the milling crowd of people in the room toward me. I can''t actually make out many details about this room because of the crowd. It''s plenty bright, unlike that ship, but it smells like a stable and must be at least twice as hot as the air outside this room. I''m actually surprised I don''t feel faint. "This is different, huh?" She smiles kindly at me once she''s in range. "But hey, we''re still together. So we''re gonna get out of this." Mia''s hair is tied up in a knot. I don''t remember noticing that in the previous room, so she must have done that since getting here. I can''t blame her. Mine is short, but with as hot as it is here it''s already beginning to feel stringy and is sticking to my skin. "Getting out of here..." I murmur. "But we''re on another planet..." "But we''re still in one piece." Her smile doesn''t move from her face at all. "And it''s not like we just appeared here. If we got here by ship we can still get back." I... Suppose that''s right. "Come on. I found us somewhere to sit." She takes my arm and leads me through the crowd to an enclave in the clay stuff that makes up the walls of this room. It''s...odd. As soon as I sit down, I just can''t keep my eyes open. Before I hear anything Mia says, I''m already asleep. The Orientation You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The Introductions If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The Prison Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The Feeding The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The Lull If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. The Rock Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The Debate The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The Heat Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.