After spending most of the day basking in the energy of the sun, Divona appeared to be quite satisfied. She had a vague glow emitting from her like that of a jellyfish, and when Michael asked about it the response he received was vague and witty. He wondered about eventually came to the conclusion it was more an act of play to draw his attention than for any real practical purpose. He was easily impressed after all. He figured Divona must have consumed hundreds if not thousands of times more power from the sun than she did with the electrical socket. The surge of energy clearly made her feel excited as though she were a hyperactive child consuming one too many energy drinks, emboldening her to study the interior of his residence thoroughly to pass the time.

Her focus drew upon his computer that sat alone across a table in a far corner.

"This is your CPU?" Divona asked..

"Well, yeah, uh It's my gaming computer. I built it only last year so it's still relatively up to date."

"Do you mind If I take a look?"

"No of course not, go ahead."

Michael could have been fooled he was seeing a magic trick, and that Divona was the magician in a play when his computer suddenly began to levitate across the room as if it were weightless and floating on its own. His jaw almost hit the floor. There were literally no strings attached. It was moving because Divona willed it to, as if she had the ability to completely defy the law of gravity.

"You have telekinesis? Like the x men?"

"Telekinesis, the mental ability to control the motion of a physical object. I suppose that does describe what I am doing. So yes. I have telekinesis." Divona said.

“Cool, but...how are you doing it? I suppose there has to be some scientific explanation, right?”

She smiled proudly. “If course. I can attach nanties to any object, and use their combined propulsion to manipulate them in any way I wish. Observe.”

The computer then began to de-constrict itself in real time as all its components pulled themselves apart, starting with the screws from the outer case twisting themselves out as though invisible hands manipulated them. Within seconds his beloved computer was reduced to thousands of its smallest individual components, floating in mid air like a cloud of slowly expanding vapour. Everything was where it should be and there was an organised sense to it all. Michael had no idea how Divona could possibly keep track of each individual piece, but the way she interacted with the whole thing made it obvious she was processing many things in parallel in a way that his mind could not. Afterwards the computer reformed itself and returned back to its original place as though nothing had ever happened.

Michael's jaw still hadn't left the ground but Divona acted as if that was completely normal to her.

"Electron based circuits are so primitive. Even your biological brain is far superior from a raw processing power basis."

"Really? even mine? Are you sure?" Michael joked.

"Yes of course."

She didn't get the humour, but that was okay. He still felt like he was dreaming. His couch was the next thing to disintegrate into a thousand little pieces, splitting apart like melted chocolate, twisting and bending in free space as Divona inspected it inside and out before reforming it back to normal. Michael was beginning to feel a little nautilus seeing it all.

"You can do that to all matter?"

She then turned her attention on to him, passing him a funny look. Michael began to panic when he realised she was planning to disintegrate him next. His stomach instantly churned and he began to sweat;

"Hey! hey wait! Don't do that on me! Please! Divona! NO!"

She tilted her head the way she usually did when she was confused. "Are you afriad?" she said.

"Yes. People In this time aren't used to anything like that. The idea of being split into a million pieces isn't something i'm prepared to do now, sorry......won't I die?"

"No, you will not die, but I understand. You do not consent, so I will respect your wishes. I merely wanted to inspect you."

"You can pull apart anything you like, just not other people, alight? it will freak them out. Trust me."

"Yes. This is good information for me to know. I am lucky to have found you. Thank you Michael."

"No, I'm the one who's lucky here... actually..."

She smiled at him, and for some reason he already knew what she was going to say. But before she said it, her face turned towards the door as if something had triggered an alarm within her.

"What's wrong?" Michael said.

"People are approaching."

"Huh? Who? What people?"

He walked over to the front window and peered outside. Outside he saw what Divona was talking about. There were half a dozen black vans approaching his house through the long driveway. It was no ordinary sight, and it caused his heart to beat faster with an aroused nervousness. He'd seen enough movies to know that a bunch of black vans with tinted windows heading towards you was never a good sign.

"Is that the government? what are they doing here? Oh man, of course! they're after you. You…you should hide. Hide yourself Divona. You cant be here. I'll deny I ever saw you."

Divona seemed to acknowledge what he was saying and quickly moved off to disappear behind the corner heading for the telescope room which out of the whole building had the most places to hide. He wondered if she had the ability to disintegrate herself, and if she did, clearly she didn't decide to do it, at least not in front of him. But that didn't matter right now. He waited by the door until he heard the dreaded loud bangs from his unwelcome guests that were quick to arrive. Michael drew in deep breaths and then opened it to see a bunch of men dressed in black suits with black shoes, ties and even the cliché black sunglasses.

"Mr Michael Dugarti?" One of the agents said.

"Yeah, that's me…" He said nervously.

"May we come inside?"

Michael swallowed the lump in his throat. He had also seen his fair share of cop movies to know what to do in this situation. He never expected to ever act it out though.

"Um, I don't consent to searches…do you have a warrant?"

The men all looked at each other, until the one that spoke to him suddenly took off his glasses to reveal his very ordinary looking hazel eyes under a thick angry brow.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"We've received some interesting reports about suspicious events happening in this general area. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary lately?."

"Out of the ordinary? No, nothing at all..."

The agent didn't seem convinced. Neither did his buddies. He gestured something to the others and then they suddenly barged their way through the door, not caring if they were welcome or not. Despite Michael's protests, they spread through the house, pulling everything upside down as if they were in search of something. Two of them headed towards the telescope room, which made Michael instantly nervous. He had no idea where Divona was, or how she would react. Would she be discovered? And if so, would she attack these men? Would he help her?

"I'll call the police. What you're doing here is illegal. You can't search my place without a warrant. I know my rights."

The agent with the hazel eyes approached him. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and a lighter from another.

"Mind if I have a smoke?"

"Oh, so now you ask for my permission? Go ahead, you might as well help yourself to the kitchen too." Michael said.

The agent took a puff, then blew the smoke off to the side. "I understand this may seem like an intrusion, but it's a matter of national security. We have reason to believe there could be something hiding at this residence."

"something? Hiding?"

"That's right. Hiding."

“There's nothing hiding here.”

“We'll be the judge of that.”

"Who are you guys?"

"We're here too look out for everyone's security, including yours. So we would appreciate your cooperation Mr Dugarti."

"Oh I get it. You guys are men in black wannabes," Michael said finding himself feeling incredibly brave or foolish all of a sudden. "What's next? after you're done trashing my place are you gonna erase my memory too? Maybe find out if i'm hiding an aliens?"

"-Are you?" the agent said boldly, taking another casual draw of his cigarette.

"…No."

"If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about."

"Read the constitution sometime." Michael said.

The agent gave him an unamused stare. Michael felt more and more threatened by them all. He still had his gun tucked under his pants but the agent noticed his eye moving in that direction.

"I wouldn't do that."

Michael didn't know what to do. Of course he never intended to actually draw his weapon against a dozen well trained agents who were likely all armed themselves. He wasn't stupid. So he decided to pull out his other weapon. The agent grew a little nervous when he reached into his right pocket, but relaxed somewhat when it revealed itself only to be a phone.

"I'm calling 911." Michael said.

"Go ahead, its a free country." The agent said before he walked away dismissively.

Michael dialled the numbers but when he pressed call there was no dial. He checked the phone's reception and it was four solid bars. The battery was charged, and everything seemed like it was fine. He tried to call the number again, and again, but every time he did nothing happened. It dawned on him the agents were likely responsible for it.

After about half an hour of pulling everything apart, the agents appeared to give up in the search for whatever they were trying to find. Divona was not discovered, and that made him feel a massive sense of relief. He thought about surrendering her but the thought was crushed almost as quickly as it came. He was an american. He didn't trust the government.

And it was for good reason because the moment he thought the agents left, one of them suddenly grabbed him from behind and placed a piece of cloth under his nose which smelt like strong chemicals that made him instantly want to fall asleep. He tried to fight off the strong hand around his neck but it was to no avail as his eyes closed in the ensuing struggle and he fell into unconsciousness.

—

Michael opened his eyes to discover himself in a small room, sitting across a cold metal chair leaning across an equally chilly metal table. The walls around him were mirrored, the floor plain concrete and the ceiling only had a single bulb for a light that flickered in and out depressingly. He tried to move his feet but he discovered them to be shackled to the bottom by chains. He felt like a prisoner.

What the hell is going on? where the hell am I?

He had a headache and for some reason his body hurt all over. The bonds were a little too tight around his ankles but that wasn't the worst of it all. His arms and hands had bruises all over as if he had been manhandled while he was unconscious. Whatever had put him to sleep also had the effect of making him feel sick to his stomach. The strong chemical after taste was still enduring right under his nose.

There was a single camera mounted across one of the corners of the room. It was pointed towards him and the way a small red light flashed across it told him it was clearly on and recording. Someone was watching him. After a few minutes that someone came to greet him. The door opened, and in came a woman who he'd never seen before. She was a mature person with hair that had started to grey in some areas. Her skin was darker than his, and across her dried face she had many ugly purple freckles. She wore an expensive blue blouse and a miniskirt not too long or too short. If she was an agent it sure didn't seem like it. She sat down across the opposite end of the table.

"Mr Dugarti. My name is Hannah. I've been tasked to handle your case. How are you feeling?" She said a strong, coursey voice.

"Besides being abducted and likely violated in my sleep, i'm just about swell, thanks. By the way. Where am I?" Michael said sarcastically.

"That's classified. And I can assure you, we don't violate anyone at this facility. We treat all our clients with proper care."

"Cut the crap, who the fuck are you people? where the fuck am I? what the fuck is going on?" Michael said, losing his patience. He wanted to stand but he couldn't because of his bindings.

Hannah simply stared at him like he was a chained animal. There was no concern across her face, in fact she barely even reacted at all. She had her face against her hand as she rested her elbow against the table, staring at him with her old, tired eyes.

"We need to know what you know. So talk." She said.

"What are you talking about? I don't know anything!"

"I'm not so sure about that Mr Dugarti. Lying to us is a federal offence. You do know that right?"

"This is ridiculous. I want to go home." Michael said.

Hannah reached into a special pocket tucked behind her clothes and pulled out a couple photographs that she threw across the table. They seemed to be birds eye view pictures taken by satellite. One of the pictures was of a bright blue light, and the others were multiple photos of dark blobs over the area in which he lived. Michael analysed the photos carefully and knew exactly what they they were. The blue light was the one he saw when Divona first fell from the sky, and the other was the giant shadow formed when Divona created her giant make shift solar panel above his house.

"That's some good photoshop there." Michael said.

Hannah's brow raised in suspicion. The creases in her face and especially around the eyes were more pronounced as she scrutinised him closer. Michael grew unnerved. He hated it when people stared at him. Lying wasn't a skill he was ever good at, and he knew Hannah was likely one of those that were trained in spotting the signs, and that was bad news for him.

She pulled out a photograph from the lot and slid it to him. It was one with the birds eye view of his land with the dark blob in the middle.

"This photo was taken a few hours ago by one of our satellites. The dark is massive. Around half a square mile in diameter. Are you seriously trying to tell me that you didn't see it? It was right over your residence."

"I was in the basement…I didn't look outside..."

"Now we both know that's not true Mr Dugarti. You're hiding something. And i'm going to find out what."

Michael tried not to show it but fear twisted his insides. He had never been questioned in this manner before and didn't know how to deal with it. The room was cold and uncomfortable and for some reason he was wearing very little clothing, which due to his tiredness he only noticed now.

He thought bout Divona. Where she was, whether she was in a better situation than him. He had no idea what was going to happen next and he wasn't particularly enthused to find out.

"Would you like some coffee Mr Dugarti? Hannah said.

"Why?"

"Because it's going to be a very long night for you…"