--*Future*

*Huff Huff*

I wake up back on the sofa, curious what happened to Joey. Ugh, having trouble remembering still. I stare up at the white cold ceiling with dim lights.

"Allen are you alright, What did you see?" Sarah spoke softly, looking at me with a reassuring look. Still looking sharp in her blue dress with white lab coat on. I remember her wearing something else the first time I came here, am I skipping here too?

"How long was I out?" I asked Sarah wanting to hear a reasonable time. The sound of the air conditioner was loud, the rain and wind were beating against the window, we seemed to be in a sky rise and it was storming outside. I gaze right outside the window, I watch a flying car go by.. still can't get used to that.

Before I could respond a knock comes from the door. The door opens before a response, a slim white robot with a visor for eyes glowing orange comes in. ("Isn't that cool, its wearing clothes") I think while observing it up and down closely. The metal its made from looks like a dense alloy. It must be quite tough.

....

It is just blankly staring at Sarah? Sarah looks over quickly and says "I'm sorry, we have yet to introduce you to the mind network."

I take a moment thinking, ("UHM COOL").

Sarah clarifies, "We all speak on a special frequency using chips planted in our minds to communicate." saying it with a hint of pride that almost made me want it.

[System has granted access to telepathic communication]

[Will a thought while thinking or looking at a person within 100 meters to communicate]

Sweeeeeet. I will definitely use this but not now, I need more information before I can trust others that I communicate with on that scale. Communicating with them right now might put me at risk and I still don't know who exactly she works for and where I am at.

I check my wrist, the bracelet is gone. ("Was it removed?") I think wondering who did it.

[System is already fused to host at the biological level]

("Not sure whether I should laugh or cry") I think momentarily.

[Laughing is good for you]

("Oh shu--")

"We took off that bracelet upon your removal from the cryogenic chamber we found you in." she says noticing my alarm.

"Allen may we get back to the matter at hand? What do you remember?" she asked unabashed without even explaining her communication with the robot.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"I was taking over an alien ship that was attacking earth with my friend Joey. We were heading to the coordinates to dr--"

[BEEEEEP]

"What is that about?" I ask quickly as I suddenly feel a tremor shake the building. The robot runs out the grey door and slams it shut behind it. Now that I notice, that is quite a sturdy looking door. Its covered in big metallic panels that seem almost woven together tightly. Another alloy I assume.

I look over to Sarah who is now looking at me with a serious expression. I sense a hint of desperation deep in those eyes. She begins to speak quickly,

"Time is running out, You must find the artifac-"

Deep Sleep pulls me back under.

--*Past*

"ALLEN!"

("Dammit, still no good answers again")

I wake up in a cold sweat in a bunk bed, looking at a doctor in a white lab coat with black pants and a black shirt. He has grey hair and is for some reason wearing sunglasses.

Joey is standing next to him looking concerned, "I knew you would pull through but what happened man. You passed out in the command center, I'm glad nothing bad happened while you were out. I contacted base, they responded but were taken out mid response. I had to manually override the ship and fly us to another shadow base."

[System flew you to that base, Joey couldn't fly a rocket in a straight line up.]

("DAM, I tried hard not to laugh at that one.") I let out a smirk on accident. I quickly compose myself,

after nodding to Joey and thanking him for the help I look over at the doctor. "What is your name?"

The doctors eyebrows widen as he responds "Just call me Doc, most don't get to remember my name long enough now." He seemed a bit sad as if his mind went somewhere else after saying that. The doctor shortly leaves after giving me a clean bill of health. I sigh feeling much better.

Joey leads me out of the room once I get dressed and there are various corridors, everything is gray and the usual caution signs with black and yellow. There are jeeps being used to escort people around the base, it seems to be all underground. I hear tremors from above every now and then but mostly quiet.

"This is the ship we took" he says as I look up on a massive black ship shaped shaped like a sleek diamond cut in half with thrusts in the rear. It levitated completely quiet. A bunch of tubes were plugged into the bottom and I could see a team of scientist already working on the ship. I watched the bodies of the aliens being wheeled on a gurney to the back with many men moving around in full black uniforms. I'm still wearing grey and I stick out like a sore thumb.

A highly ranked officer with many shiny badges on his black jacket comes over and begins speaking with Joey while occasionally glancing at me. He then walks over quickly and introduces himself, "Hello corporal, follow me to the briefing room down the hallway, we need to update you on the plan. Oh and you can refer to me as Staff Sergeant Burns."

"I'll meet up with you later, gonna grab some food." Joeys says as he heads off to what I assume is the mess hall on the opposite end of the room.

--

So they released me to my new mission after they briefed me on stuff I already basically knew and figured out, basically invasion is here, we need to kill and take back key points and capture more enemy ships to accelerate our reverse engineering, albeit the last part what a bit unexpected. But I really can't help but think ("Where is this dam artifact?"). I wash up in the bathroom after taking a shower and I glance in the mirror. There is my dark brown hair in a buzz cut just like standard military issue. Pale white skin and fit, I almost forget that with what feels like switching bodies between going back and forth whatever that future was. I feel much stronger here.

[System is repairing hosts body while you remember the past.]

Nice thought, but i think ("Do you know about the artifact?").

[No information, need more details, wording is vague.]

("Me too.. me too.")