Shit. He grew paranoid. What was it he had to do in case of a concussion?

He walked into the hall and knocked on his mom's door.

"Yes?" Tabitha said.

He spoke deeply. "Axel threw a beer bottle, and it hit me."

"Very funny."

He cracked the door. "I need a ride to the doctor. I'm not joking when I say I might have a concussion."

He caught the figure rolling under the blanket in the dark primary bedroom.

"I can't take you anywhere. Axel has the car."

"Call him, please."

"You know how important it is for him to get out."

"It hurts," Connor pleaded. "Should I call an ambulance?"

His mother waited a moment and let out an audible breath. "It's too expensive. Tough it out."

What did I do?

He stepped away and returned to Joules and looked out the window. The meteor had come closer, growing as opposed to moving.

***

He reached for his phone blindly, and his hand fumbled around until it grabbed something, not just a phone, but a small plastic card that sat upon it. Yawning and opening his eyes as he checked out the card. It had a small sticky note that read, ‘for you.' He ripped off the sticky note, a gift card for the coffee shop, his favorite one that he walks to on his way to school.

He held it high in the air for a minute and then for another ten minutes, just staring at the gift card.

The Hell?

***

Maybe it's karma? He drank his coffee at his usual spot on the shop's outdoor patio. Is coffee balancing out nearly drowning in a pool?

Nah.

After last night's agony, drinking coffee made him feel a little better.

It's a miracle, he thought. God is trying to use coffee gift card miracles to increase church memberships. Clever bastard.

Joules licked her mouth. He brought raw beef in a cooler and fed her about a pound's worth.

No way Tabitha or Axel did this. They don't even know he drinks coffee. Do they? Whatever. He pulled out his laptop and started his job search again.

"How's the job hunt?"

Connor shook. He turned to see Stephanie behind him with her beverage. "Miss Saunders!"

"Just Stephanie is fine," she said. "Enjoying your coffee?"

"Yeah, Stephanie?"

"Good, happy to hear it."

She took a seat across from him. "So, you're here early."

"Yeah, I'm looking for a new job. I'm sorry, but I won't be in class today."

"That's fine. How's the job search?"

He glimpsed at her collarbones and her somewhat revealing loose shirt. He couldn't believe someone like her just sat close to him—again.

Teresa is an asshole. Connor's thoughts grew repetitive as of late. Am I the asshole? Recalling that saying, If everyone is an asshole, then you are the asshole. Even with one-third of his dream girls sitting across from him, his mind traversed into dark disassociation. For him, the quick turn in attitude from both Teresa, and Olivya, made him want to cry. I did do something, didn't I? What is it?

She leaned into his stare, alerting him to refocus.

"Still looking."

Stephanie perked up and said, "Yes." She slammed one fist against an open palm. "I have a job for you if you're interested."

"Really?" Connor said. "Where?"

"With me, at my house. I need an assistant for my personal work. Physics experiments, to be more specific."

"Uh," Connor stared at the table. "I'm not sure. Are you even allowed to talk to me here? Aren't there rules to being a teacher?"

"I make the rules," she said.

"Experiments at your house? Do you have any money?"

"Yup."

"On a teacher’s salary?"

She laughed. "My previous employer gave me a hefty exit bonus. That will fund your salary."

"After school?"

"Yup."

He thought about it. The offer, like her, was attractive and close to home. But she was still his teacher. "I don't want you to get into trouble. And I'm a man of integrity and—"

"Four hundred dollars a week."

"When do I start?" Sure, a man of integrity.

She chuckled at the sudden turnaround. "Can you tell me your phone number?"

He told her as she typed it into her phone. A moment later, his phone buzzed.

The text read, "Tonight."

***

He paced around his room with his phone in his hand, like he was about to text his crush. Nine p.m., and still no message from her. He looked forward to it all day.

But did she'd expect me to be responsive? All day his phone didn't leave his hand, not while gaming, walking Joules, and showering, all done with one hand.

Job, he didn't just think; he imagined the sexual jobs a woman like Stephanie or him could do.

No, Connor stopped himself, but it was brief.

He kept pacing about, played on his phone, and made sure he had cell service every few minutes. Nevertheless, there was yet to be a message from Stephanie.

Should I text her?

He opened a text message and started typing but canceled as his heart began racing.

Disappointment settled. He was looking forward to working with her. That light he saw from her offer at the coffee shop because something had gone right in his life. Was it too good to be true? Yes. Three women, three letdowns, Olivya, Teresa, and now Stephanie. He closed his eyes but kept one hand on Joules.

At least you're always here for me.

***

Bbbzzzz, Bbbzzzz.

Connor shot up from his sleep and grabbed his phone. One unread message from Stephanie. He had never opened a message so fast in his life.

"Come over, and feel free to bring Joules."

But the time in the corner of his phone stood out, "It's two AM."

"Yup, get over here."

He rubbed his eyes and stretched as he got out of bed.

Is she crazy? Connor thought.

He put on his pants and glanced at himself in the mirror. He looked hazy, having just woken up, so he swiveled his arms and did some stretches to get the blood flowing. However, he felt like he bulked up some, but nothing compared to Axel. Was it all the hiking and doing pushups and situps in gym class? He flexed and twisted, getting a good look at himself with his shirt off.

Bbbzzzz, Bbbzzzz.

He opened the text message from Stephanie. "You look fine. Now put a shirt on and run your little butt over here."

His face flushed red, And he saw the light from her phone waving back and forth out his window and across the field.

Damn it. He was hoping to make a good impression.

He ducked out of sight, grabbed the first shirt he got his hands on, harnessed Joules, and snuck outside. They crept along the side of their backyard fence, and halfway across the field, they spotted Stephanie waiting next to a telescope.

"Great, glad you were still awake," she said as they approached her.

"Yeah." Connor didn't want to get into it. "What are we doing out here?"

"Nothing. We're experimenting inside. I just wanted to greet you."

He looked exhausted, but Stephanie looked like she had just finished a cup of coffee in the afternoon.

"The first day on the job, and we're working at 2 am?"

"Yup, does that not work for you?"

"No! No, it's fine." Connor kept it calm to impress her and approached the large telescope pointing up at the sky. A small green light was on near the end of it. "Nice telescope."

"Every astrophysicist has one," she nodded towards her back sliding door. "Come."

Connor and Joules followed her in. Past her semi-clean kitchen occupied with cereal and wine and into the living room, Connor could only guess that she required all of her degrees from MIT. The room was missing normal furniture, and in its place was cluttered equipment. A metal plate about four feet wide was in the middle, with rings of light on it, and beyond that, a bunch of monitors lined an entire wall with graphs and charts. On the opposite end were several whiteboards with notes and drawings of circles.

"What is all of this?"

Stephanie skipped to a laptop near all the monitors.

"It's what we'll be working on. That plate right there is a small particle accelerator." She nodded at the four-foot wide plate. "The Aeon Switch, I call it."

Sure it is.

Joules began sniffing the room, and Connor spotted a spacesuit sitting in the corner.

"You have a spacesuit?"

She looked up from her laptop. "Putting that on is your first task for your job. Take your shoes off and put your legs in. It'll help with the rest. It should feel fine with the clothes you have on."

He pointed at the spacesuit.

"Yup, that spacesuit. Oh, leave your phone on my desk or turn it off."

Alright. He took his phone out and decided to leave it on her desk as there was no reason to have it inside a spacesuit. Checking out the suit, It was bulky, but he found it cool. He took his shoes off, awkwardly got the bottom half away from the rest, and stepped inside. He held onto the top half and helmet, trying to be as helpful as possible. Stephanie did a definitive key press and looked at Connor.

"Great," she said and walked over. "Lift your arms as I get this on."

He obeyed, and before long, she began hooking on the helmet.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine, my arms are tired."

"Put them down."

He did so. "Did you buy this at the army depot?"

She chuckled. "No, I called in a favor, and they gave me one of their older models. Can you walk around?"

He took a few steps. "Feels fine."

"Great, now I need to hook up the oxygen."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"What?"

"Every spaceman needs oxygen."

She put the suit visor down and latched it.

"Can you hear me?" Stephanie said.

"Yes."

She reached around him and turned on the oxygen.

"Getting oxygen?"

"Yes."

Connor thought nothing of it. Maybe it was protocol or habit, but he figured it was standard to hook up oxygen for whatever reason. She started tugging on parts of the suit, followed by a clanging, and after a beat, it got hooked up. To him, it looked like she was making sure everything was correct with double-checks.

She directed Connor. "Step onto the plate.".

"The particle accelerator?"

"Yup."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Connor humored her and stood on it.

Stephanie dimmed the lights, and the plate glowed, illuminating the suit.

She hustled over to the laptop and stretched her fingers. As she laid them down on the keyboard, she called Joules over.

"Listen, I'm about to turn on the Aeon Switch," she bellowed. "You'll feel funky during the Lucid Passage for a few minutes as brain synapses will move faster, like an intense dream. Once you land, don't move, and don't touch the mirrors."

"What?"

"You're going to feel funky during the Lucid Passage—"

"I heard you!" Connor exclaimed. "Synapses and mirrors? What do you mean?"

"You'll just have to experience it."

The room flashed white and purple.

[]~*

...The Hell?

He stood in the middle of a street, and the sun began setting. Now back in regular clothes, and it felt to him as if the suit didn't exist.

Where is this? He saw himself sitting outside his middle school on concrete stairs. It wasn't just himself, but a younger version of himself. As the sun continued to unnatural set fast behind the mountains, it was clear he'd been waiting for hours.

"Hey, kid!".

The kid looked up.

"Where are we?"

The kid said, "Isn't it obvious?"

Connor stepped towards the sidewalk, and as soon as his foot made contact, he entered his room. But not his current room, his childhood room from his previous home. He looked around. It was darker, and he saw his younger self crying on his bed with his face smothered in a pillow.

Axel barged in, ran towards the small Connor, and punched his younger, smaller, self. Without a word, without warning, the young Connor stood no chance against the sudden onslaught.

"Hey!" He jumped forward onto Axel.

Axel launched him into the ceiling as if he was hollow, and he crashed into various pieces of furniture. He felt nothing from the crash.

"Get off of him! Axel." Axel continued pounding the young Connor. Screams from the boy signaled for help, for his mom, for his dad. The older Connor dove at Axel again. And again, Axel tossed him into the air.

*~[]

His feet landed on soft ground. Gray dust puffed up, his face reflected off the visor, and the slight echo of his breathing returned along with the spacesuit. The sky was dark yet littered with lights, and straight above was Earth. Like hiking at night, he felt the distance between himself and his everyday life. Except this was beyond everyday life. The edge was dark, and it looked to be North America. And the meteor stood between him and Earth.

The Moon?

Panic erupted. His breathing got heavy, and the visor fogged up.

One, he inhaled and exhaled, two...

He looked at his feet to look away from Earth as it was like looking down while climbing.

She said not to move, he thought. This must be an illusion. I'm still in the room.

No.

What he saw was way too intense for an illusion, and he felt the landing against the moon. Visceral didn't even begin to describe it. Far, alone, no room, no house, darkness, blue water, no borders, green ground, no leaders, white clouds, city lights.

The feeling was immeasurable.

Mirrors, he composed. She mentioned mirrors.

He twisted his body a bit to move in the suit and saw some metal boxes lined up, all with a reflective surface facing Earth.

Mirrors. Got it.

He stood still for a good minute. Maybe I should have just found a regular job?

Maybe it's a test? He worried. She said not to move. Is she afraid I'll bump into something in her living room? Is this some VR thing? But what if I should? Or touch the mirrors? Maybe that's the trick, the mirrors.

"Stephanie?"

No answer.

"Joules?"

No answer. For Joules, not obeying Connor was a sin more grave than murder. There's no way Joules didn't hear him, as Stephanie heard him respond earlier.

He lifted a leg up. It felt like he was underwater but lighter. Just the initial force of lifting the foot gave it momentum to keep it moving upward.

Holy shit.

He replanted his foot.

You can't fake gravity. I'm on the moon.

Panic took his breath away, and he began falling over. Slowly.

[]~*

He landed on a chair across from Stephanie. Not in her living room and not in his suit. He looked around. The place was empty, and the sky was a brilliant blue with stars radiating light too early in the day and purple streaks of shooting stars streaking across the sky. It was like his favorite coffee place in a dream. Potted plants and a few trees obscured all vision aside from the building. He wasn't sure if there was a parking lot.

Like night and day, the post-moon view was different.

"Where are we?" Connor said.

Even she was different. Her braided hair draped down her left shoulder and was more expansive, more complex, and festive as it flowed over her lap. A large, bright blue flower was in her right ear for a balanced look.

Whoa, he gasped at the sight of her pink strapless dress.

"Isn't it obvious?" she said.

Connor raised an eyebrow.

"You asked me here," she pitched her voice higher. "I'm your date, so you should know."

"What?" he exclaimed.

"You don't recall?

"No?"

She bounced on her chair like a kid. "You walked in front of the entire class and asked me out in front of everyone." She covered her flushed cheeks with her palms. "It made me so happy and felt so wonderful."

His cheeks warmed. "I did that?"

"Yup."

"Cool," he said. "I mean, I didn't think I could be so cool."

She grinned, "Let's skip the coffee."

Beyond panic and excitement, he tensed up. "I don't know," he managed.

"I want to make you feel good, as you did for me," she leaned in and got closer to his face.

"Is that what you want?" another voice said.

He tried to turn, but a hand touched his shoulder, stopping him, and a voice whispered in his ear. "Is that what you want?" It was Teresa.

He froze, terrified about what to do.

A new pair of arms wrapped themselves around Teresa and Connor. "I want you to feel good. Is that what you want?" Olivya said.

"I don't know—"

*~[]

He fell off the plate. It was clumsy in the spacesuit, but he caught himself before the visor could crack against the hardwood floor. But his breathing went out of control, and his visor fogged up from hyperventilation.

"Connor," Stephanie said, "how was it?"

He couldn't respond.

"Oh shit," she ran over to him and leaned in to unhook the visor. "Breathe, Connor." She lifted the visor and saw his troubled look. She reached in and rubbed his wavy brown hair. "Breathe."

He leaned on his side and snapped out of it. "What the Hell?"

"Do you understand what happened?"

He gathered his thoughts. Not in the slightest. But he tried to convey the experience, "One part was terrifying, one strange, the other—" he looked to Stephanie, "awesome."

"Did you get a good look at Earth? And the meteor?"

"I inhaled drugs or something. I know it. Did you poison the oxygen tank?"

She looked confused. "What?"

"How? That didn't feel like VR."

She stood up and grabbed an empty wine glass next to her laptop. "Get up. I'll give a simple demonstration," she said.

Connor stood and gave his full attention to how she did it, still betting on drugs. She nodded, and he moved further away from the plate and placed the glass on it.

She demonstrated with her hand. "Hold up your hand, but flat, like you're holding something."

Connor indulged her, held his hand up, and put the other on his hip.

"The secret to VR is a wine glass. You drugged me. I knew it."

She smirked as she walked over to her laptop. "Don't move."

"Sure thing."

The plate lit up, and the wineglass appeared in his hand out of thin air. He looked at the empty plate, then his now occupied hand, and went back and forth in disbelief.

"You teleported me to the Moon," he gasped. "I don't get it. What the hell?"

"Teleportation is a good way of thinking about it," she said, "but it's just fast movement, near light speed. However, I don't think a wine glass can experience something such as the Lucid Passage."

"What? I didn't move at all."

"Sure you did. The Aeon Switch turned you to dark matter, gave you a push with a charge, and once that charge was over, you changed back to ordinary matter. Same thing with the wineglass."

"I don't get it. I was on the Moon."

"Yes, and on your first day of work," she said, "nice job."

"I was in other places, too."

"Yeah, brain synapses fire like crazy when it turns into dark matter. Did it feel like a dream? That's the Lucid Passage. I had a feeling you'd be able to handle it."

"Yeah." He didn't want to mention the nightmare he had of Axel. And not his dream date with her, with Teresa and Olivya joining in.

"I don't believe this," he gripped his astronaut helmet with his astronaut's hands. "Amazing. It feels like bullshit but amazing. And wait a minute, why didn't you show me that glass demo first?"

"Didn't think you'd want to participate if I demonstrated the Aeon Switch first." She came over and started unhooking the rest of the suit.

"An Aeon Switch?"

"Yup. Sounds cool, and we're switching states of matter. Anyways, how was the view?"

He stretched an arm out. "Indescribable."

"That's the overview effect for you. You feel connected, yet your problems feel insignificant. Once our business model kicks in, the entire world will understand."

He fumbled out of the suit, sat next to her desk, and clutched Joules as if they hadn't seen each other in a long time.

"Business model?"

As Stephanie began wheeling things around and gathering some papers, she started. "Piece by piece, we'll teleport supplies to Mars," she said.

Connor stopped petting Joules. "Come again?"

"We're going to set up a small colony on Mars."

"To," he said, "... live there?"

"Not at first. We'll get people to travel there for research and analysis, and those who will spend a lot of money can visit. We can worry about living there after about six months of initial traveling. Maybe after a few decades, terraforming." She held up a diagram she pulled from her stack of papers like a card from a deck. "We'll be building this, a safe building for us to travel to. But we need to build it there."

He looked at two squares with some schematics. In the middle of the bigger square was a plate. It had a few other designs, such as solar panels and pressurization. "Wild," Connor said. "It's not just science experiments?"

"Nope," she said. "And I'm impressed, Connor. The others I tried this with passed out, and it wasn't from exhaustion but panic."

"How many others?"

"Quite a few in my last job. For the government."

"You left to start a business?"

She paced back and forth. "Yeah, something like that."

He started petting Joules again, "Man, I just don't believe it."

"Right, it takes little energy to change matter into dark matter and charge it to get acceleration. Profits will be through the roof. Trips to Mars. We just have to convince the public that this works."

"What about just regular transportation?"

She crossed her arms into an X. "No way. Once we get money, we may lobby the government, but we cannot defeat the big three automakers. Jobs will disappear, and an entire political wing will be out for blood. I'll consider it for health reasons, flight-for-life scenarios, emergencies, etcetera."

Despite how silly the Mars idea is, she put a lot of thought into this.

It was all new to him. "I don't know if I'm good enough."

"Why not?" Stephanie said.

"I'm unsure. It's just how I feel. Aren't there trained astronauts for this type of stuff?"

"Of course, you're good enough!" Stephanie smiled at him. "You just did it!"

"And do you really need me?"

"Yup. Every Jobs needs a Wazniak."

Not sure about being the chubby one of the two Apple co-founders, he nodded, but he had another question. "Why are you teaching? With all of this?"

She looked up in thought. "Good question. I think it's because I want a part of my life to be normal. At least, for a while, that's what the Lucid Passage taught me."

Taught her?

"And Connor, I knew you'd do well. Some people stop functioning with a lot of stress."

"I uh…" He couldn't convey that it was because of his family. It was simple, he was used to it. And then he perked up.

I was on the Moon. And no one in his family can take that experience away from him. "I can't wait to do more work for you."

A small ray of light cracked through her covered window, catching her attention. She picked up her phone and jumped. "Crap!"

"What?"

"We're late for school."

***

She couldn't muster the courage to approach Connor. She froze still at the party as Connor fell like a sack of potatoes into the pool, and she had lost a lot of sleep over it. Connor's head was facing down in his crossed arms, with a large cup of coffee in each hand. Typically, it'd be cute to tap him on the shoulder and smile as he bolted up to see her, but she didn't want to know how he'd respond to her now. She missed him not being in class the day before.

No one else helped him, Teresa thought. Why do I feel bad?

She gasped as Connor lifted his head, then felt relief when he drank his coffee and put his head back down.

I feel bad for a reason. She knew she had to apologize. But how?

Neville, Christian, and a few others walked in. They nodded to Teresa, and she sat in her new spot next to them. Someone else will have to move to one of the workstations, like Connor. She felt better, sitting in a crowd facing away from Connor. Safer, but closer to her. Neville and Christian weren't disturbed by the party, which was comforting.

After Connor left Olivya's soaking wet, the subject changed instantly, and everyone continued drinking. They didn't give him a second thought, and she wished she was the same. Carefree. If she were carefree, would she feel better?

Stephanie came into the room and presented her lesson. Lights off, projection up, PowerPoint on. A symbol called Mu was used to represent the coefficients of friction. She showed the symbol μ on the projector, then changed slides to a cat and added a word bubble around the symbol.

"Mu," Stephanie said, "cats say Mu."

The entire class chuckled, except Teresa, who rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Stephanie said, "let's get into groups and do the experiment at the back."

Christian, Neville, and Teresa got their table, though it was next to Connor's.

Neville picked up one of the parts of the experiment. "Should I throw this spring at him to wake him up?"

Christian turned on his stool and observed his former friend just a few feet away. "I don't think he's alive."

Connor took a drink of coffee.

"Oops, I was wrong," said Christian.

"Guys," Teresa said, "let's get started."

It didn't take long to complete. Just moving a brick, measuring the force with the spring attached to it before it moves, and measuring the energy it takes to keep it moving.

She glanced at Connor, who was still sleeping. Stephanie even skipped his table when she went to review everyone's work. Spending the rest of her class time thinking about how to apologize to him and how to approach him, she couldn't do it. The bell rang, and Connor bolted from the room as if all the caffeine intake had finally taken effect.

Crap, Teresa thought, I have to catch up to him.

"Teresa, Neville, and Christian, wait after class," Stephanie told the three confused students. "It's about your quiz results from Friday."

Teresa knew something was up. As if she'd ever get a test question wrong, she's always scored one hundred percent.

"Damn it, Christian, did you cheat?" Neville said.

"Hell no. Not for a quiz."

The room cleared, and Stephanie became stern. "To the front, all three of you."

They all looked at each other, puzzled, and obeyed her command. They stood side by side near the projector, and Stephanie closed the classroom door before approaching Teresa.

Stephanie slapped her, and Teresa about stumbled over.

Christian was shocked. "What the Hell?"

Stephanie Slapped him even harder.

"We're like, minors, you bitch," Neville yelled.

Stephanie squared up, and Neville looked down at her. "Then hit me."

"Alright, bitch," Neville didn't think twice. He readied a swing. She ducked, grabbed his earlobe, and slammed his head into the metal portion of the projector. He screamed but muffled it as best he could with his face against steel, and blood dripped down from his ear. Christian and Teresa could see he was in pain. They didn't move, couldn't move.

"Don't move, Neville," Stephanie said, "or the ear is gone."

She held on tight and looked at Christian and Teresa. "If any of you harm Connor again, I'll end all three of you. Gone."

"What?" Neville said.

She twisted into Neville's ear, and he screamed.

"I didn't permit you to speak—no more warnings. Harm him again, and you're gone. Now get out of my class." She, with little force, pulled on Neville's ear, and he had to toss himself with her pull or risk more pain. She released the ear, and the students ran out of the class.

The three didn't acknowledge anything and didn't look each other in the eye. Neville hustled away, and Christian pulled his phone out, pretending nothing had happened.

That bitch, Teresa thought.