It was Tuesday morning in downtown Manhattan. Jonathan Garand stepped off the subway and quickly walked toward the office building where he worked. He glanced at his watch and saw that he was already late. He quickened his pace and tried to make his way through the crowded street. A block before his office building he saw a woman in a long black overcoat leaning against the wall of a building. A hood covered most of her face but he thought he saw her looking at him. There was something about her that bothered him. He told himself he was just imagining it. There were so many people that she could be looking at any one of them. He had to pass right by her to get to the entrance of his office building. He looked down to avoid her gaze and walked with the crowd. He was relieved when he reached the entrance to his building. He quickly went inside then glanced back on his way to the elevator. The woman was just outside the window staring at him! He stepped in the elevator with the rest of the people. Just before the door closed he glanced up. She was still staring at him.
When he got to his office he pushed it out of his mind and focused on his work. It was a busy day and he skipped lunch. By the time he left the office he had forgotten all about the strange woman. It was dark outside when he left. He looked at his watch and calculated that he had ten minutes to get to the subway. The security guard let him out and locked the door behind him.
"Have a good night, Mr. Garand,” he said.
"Thank you, Bill. You too,” said Jon.
The streets were almost empty and Jonathan checked his emails on his phone while he walked. He stopped at a street crossing to wait for the signal. He put his phone in his pocket and looked up when the cross signal beeped. Something on the far side of the street caught his attention. He looked around the street but it was deserted.
He crossed the road and continued toward the subway station. He sighed when he had to stop and wait at the next signal.
He checked his watch and saw that he still had plenty of time.
A sound behind him startled him but there was no one there when he turned around.
"It's just the shadows messing with you, Jon,” he whispered.
The light turned and he quickly crossed the road. The entrance to the subway was only a block away. He felt nervous and quickened his pace.
Before he reached the subway someone stepped out of one of the dark alleys right in front of him. He couldn't avoid her and ran right into her. He was about to apologize when he saw that it was the same woman he had seen that morning! She was still wearing her long black coat with the hood pulled over her head. She smiled at him and her eyes drew him in. They were orange and seemed to glow in the dim light.
Before he had time to speak to her she reached up and touched his cheeks with both hands. Intense pain seared through his head. He tried to run but his body was frozen, he couldn't move. Her expression changed from kindness to intense hatred and she leaned forward and kissed him.
The pain he felt before was nothing compared to the waves of pain that flowed through his whole body. He lost consciousness and collapsed.
He woke up with a throbbing head ache. He was laying face down on the ground but it didn't look familiar. He sat up and looked around. He was on a dirt road in a forest. Tall trees blocked his view of everything but the road.
He slowly got to his feet and followed the road up the hill. At the top of the hill he could see some of the area around him. Heavily forested hills extended as far as he could see in all directions. Tall mountain peaks were visible in the distance. The road continued on through the rolling hills and headed toward the mountain. It would be a long walk to the mountain. He examined the road around him but found no tire marks or other evidence of any vehicle. There were a lot of animal footprints.
He checked his pockets and found the last half of the granola bar he had eaten earlier. He had no other food or water.
He sat down on a fallen tree on the side of the road and tried to make sense of what had happened to him. Where was this place? He remembered the fiery hateful gaze of the woman before she had kissed him. He was sure that he had never met the woman before. Had she mistaken him for some one else? Why would she so angry with him? Had she somehow brought him here?
He looked at his watch and noticed that it was ten o'clock in the morning. It had been twelve hours since he left the office. No wonder he was hungry. He ate the granola bar and looked down the road before him. He had to find food and water soon. He stood up and walked down the road, listening for any sounds of civilization.
A few hours later the road passed over a small stream. He left the road and followed the stream up the hill. The spring was about a mile away. He drank as much as he could then looked around for anything that he could eat. He found some mushrooms at the base of a tree. They were the large white puffy variety. He remembered from boy scouts that the parasol shaped mushrooms were poisonous. He picked one of the mushrooms that was about six inches in diameter and broke it open. The inside wasn't full of liquid and it didn't smell strange. He washed it thoroughly in the stream then broke it into small pieces. He took a small bite then put the rest into his pocket. He didn't want to eat much of it until he knew how his body would react.
He had no container to carry water with him so he took one more long drink then returned to the road and continued toward the mountain.
He walked for two more hours then stopped at the crest of a hill to rest. It was two in the afternoon. His body had not reacted badly to the mushrooms so he took a few more bites. The sun felt hot but not unbearable. He glanced up and saw that it was directly over head. He looked behind him at the road he had been walking on and held his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun. That's when he noticed that there were two suns in the sky above him. Two suns! He wasn't on Earth!
He sat in stunned silence and tried to understand what that meant. If he wasn't on earth where was he? How had he gotten here?
The lady had brought him here. That was the only thing that made sense. He anxiously looked around him. Was she here somewhere?
After walking for several hours Jon saw buildings ahead. When he entered the town he was tired and could barely stand. An elderly man rushed out to him and helped him into his small house.
"Sit here. Let me get you something to eat,” he said.
Jon sat down. He was so tired he was struggling to stay awake. When the old man returned he ate the food he brought then fell asleep.
When he woke up the old man wasn't home. He looked at his watch. He had slept for almost ten hours! He wanted to thank the man that had helped him but couldn't find him. It suddenly occurred to him that the man had spoken to him in English! He looked up at the sky and saw the two suns. He must be on another planet! Why would the people here speak English?
He looked around the house and found a pencil and some discarded butcher paper. He sat down and began writing a note to thank the man for what he had done. Before he finished the man returned.
"You're looking much better this morning,” he said.
"Thank you so much for helping me. I was just writing you a note,” said Jon.
"My name is Loeki,” the man said.
"I'm Jon."
"I've never seen you here before. Where are you from?"
"I'm afraid you wouldn't believe me if I told you,” said Jon.
"I think you'd be surprised about just what I'd believe."
Jon related what had happened to him on Earth and how he ended up on Loeki's street.
"I wish I could say that your story is hard to believe. Truth is that most the people in this city were abducted from their home worlds and brought here. Let me explain. The woman you saw on Earth was called a Sarkiit. They are a race that come from a planet called Vandor. They seek out races that don't have any immunity to their mind probing. Sometimes they probe their victims where they find them, sometimes they bring them to planets like this one and probe them later. The kiss you described sounds like a mind probe. There are some humans that have some natural ability to resist the probe. When the Sarkiit probe one of them it hurts them and they transport them back to Vandor where more powerful probes can be used. I've heard that extreme pain can mess up their ability to transport and they can end up going to a random location. Sometimes the victim transports with them, sometimes the victim gets transported somewhere else. Sounds like that is what happened to you. If so you are a very luck man,” said Loeki.
"I don't feel so lucky right now. Where exactly am I?"
"This planet is called Lernor and this city is called Kantric. I don't know we are in relation to Earth,” said Loeki.
"Were you abducted by the Sarkiit as well?" asked Jon.
"Yes, many years ago. I was just a boy. They took a whole classroom full of kids. They just brought us here and left us. They never said a word to us. I learned about the Sarkiit from some of the other people who live here."
"What do they want us for?" asked Jon.
"The Sarkiit feed off emotions and memories. They use some kind of mind probe to extract all the memories stored in the brain. The process permanently damages the brain and leaves the victim in a walking coma. Their body functions normally but they are incapable or learning or remembering anything. It is believed that the Sarkiit experience all that the victim has experienced, and feel all that he felt during his entire life. It is very addictive."
"How can they do something like this? Why doesn't someone stop them?" asked Jon.
"Their technology protects them. They have the ability to transport to other worlds any time they wish to. They kill anyone who doesn't obey the rules or tries to escape. There's really nothing we can do,” said Loeki.
"Does anyone know how long they have before they are chosen for the mind probe?" asked Jon.
"It seems to be almost random. I'm not sure how they choose. I have managed to avoid them for almost sixty of your Earth years. If you blend in and don't do anything to draw attention to yourself you have a good chance of having a long life,” said Loeki.
"I can't believe this is happening to me."
"We all felt that way at first. In time you'll adjust to your life here. There's something else you need to know. Once the Sarkiit touch a human they can sense them if they are close by. I think it's the unique scent that each person has that they lock on to. They always hunt their victims until they are found."
"I'm afraid so."
"Stay underground as much as possible. I don't think they can sense you if you're underground. There are some caves just outside of town where you can hide. You're going to need some supplies. Do you have any money?" asked Loeki.
"I have ten dollars in Earth money,” he said.
They walked down the street toward the center of town.
"There aren't any. The abducted females are taken to a separate planet. Once a year they have the Harvest Feast where women from other worlds are brought here for a few days. That's the only time you'll ever see a woman here, unless it's a Sarkiit chasing someone."
"This is a mining planet, there aren't any farms. That's not what the Harvest Feast is about. The women are brought here to get impregnated. The babies they have are considered a harvest for the Sarkiit. No one's sure what happens to them but I'm sure it's not good,” said Loeki.
"Yes."
"Not in the sixty years I've been here. The only way out is through the mind probe. They bring the brain dead victims back here when they're done. I think it's meant to intimidate us and show us that we are powerless against them.”
"We kill them and bury them. I know it seems cruel but the damage to their brains is permanent. I think we're doing what they would want us to do. Here's the shop where you can exchange your money,” said Loeki.
"Now that you have money let's get you the supplies you'll need. We'll only get part of them today. It's best not to flash money around too openly or you may get mugged."
"I have to find a way to return to Earth. I won't spend the rest of my life in a place like this. No offence, Loeki,” said Jon.
"Are they the only ones that have the transporter technology?"
"I don't relish hiding in a cave for the rest of my life. Is there nothing I can do to keep them from hunting me? Other than dying, of course."
"Then I'll have to kill the one chasing me. Has anyone ever done it?"
The next day Loeki took Jon to more shops to get the rest of the supplies he needed. It used up most of the money he had.
"Thank you for all you've done,” said Jon.