Leaping from his bed, Alexander was in a panic. At first he thought it was just a dream, but the bloodcurdling noise continued to resonate through the apartment. Stunned, his head moved frantically trying to take in information and make sense of what he was seeing and hearing. Flames shot up in front of his window, the cool night breeze seeped in through the hole in his wall, only a few feet from where his head was previously resting.

“What the heck is going on?” he shouted, unable to hear his words over the ringing in his ears.

Standing up, Alexander found himself overcome with dizziness and fell back on his bed. The second attempt went better, and the constant ringing died down to a steady hum, the source of which seemed to be outside. The first thought that struck him was that an airplane had crashed into his apartment building. Alexander had recently read about that happening, but couldn’t come to grips with the idea that anything even remotely interesting could happen in his own life.

Opening his door, he shuffled outside, still in a slight daze. The streets were empty, and the only light was the one coming from the alley beside his building. Looking around, he expected to see emergency vehicles, more damage, or at least someone else coming to investigate what was happening.

Two lines were carved into the ground. The asphalt split and strewn about, small areas of fire littered the alley. Alexander started to think about putting them out, but was quickly distracted by a blue blinking light near the end of the lane. The lines scratched into the ground leading right to it, Alexander approached slowly.

Getting closer, he could make out the shape. It looked like a small fighter plane or a large, arrowhead shaped car. It was slanted at an angle, resting on one of the dumpsters. Closer still, Alexander could make out more details, it reminded him more of a jet fighter, with blinking lights, and triangular engine areas along two sloping wings. It was around thirty feet long, but the wings didn’t look large enough to make it fly.

“Is anyone in there?” he said pausing for a response. “Do you need help?”

Straining to hear anything, only the mild hum of the vehicle resonated through the alley. Putting his hand near it, Alexander didn’t feel any heat resonating from it and so he moved around to the front to try to find a way to enter it. Worried that the pilot might be dead or injured, he searched for a lever. Placing his hand firmly on the cold metal surface, Alexander felt a strange tingling sensation through his whole body.

“This isn’t…” Removing his hand, and taking a few steps back, his vision quickly faded to black. A second later, things faded back in, and Alexander quickly realized he was no longer in the alley. “Right!”

The noise had changed, the lights were much brighter, and the tingling feeling was gone. His head was swooning, as he slowly looked around the room. Measuring around twenty feet long, with walls that looked made of the same metal as the object in the alley, Alexander quickly came to the conclusion that he must be inside whatever it was.

“Hello?” He said hoping for a response. “Thank you for bringing me in here. Are you okay?”

The room was empty except for three chairs placed in front of solid, sculpted metal tables. The walls didn’t seem to have any openings or doors but seemed to taper down as they got closer to one of the three desks. The light seemed to permeate the room, but without a visible source.

“Um… Hello? Is anyone here?” Alexander shouted exasperated.