The screen lit up.

It was of a large, yellowish ball spinning slowly. “This is planet Phachopsty,” Exflibberaguil commented solemnly.

“If you say so,” Nick replied, faking a yawn.

The camera zoomed in through clouds of gas and dust. “Phachopsty is a “little bear” planet. Very similar to “Goldilocks” in terms of gravity and sun exposure, but their species evolve completely differently. However, they can survive easily in Goldilocks planets.”

The camera flew closer, and the clouds parted, revealing a brown planet dotted with reservoirs of blue. The camera zoomed in, capturing a volcano, black chunks of lava floating on molten rock, Suddenly, a chunk of orange lava became pixelated, glitching for half a second. “This isn’t real?” Nick asked.

“Of course not. Pylo’rox hasn’t even been populated by Mustela at this time. Dinobeetles were roaming our world. This is simulation of what was really likely to have happened.”

After another moment capturing the flowing lava, the camera flew to a large desert with a small lake at the side. The camera zoomed toward the edge of the lake, then, with a pause, dived into it.

Bubbles filled the screen. The camera swam through the water, finally settling on the sandy bottom. Clouds of silt rose.

For a few moments, nothing changed except the bubbles which floated to the top, off screen. The camera panned up toward the bubbles, and settled down again.

The top of the water quivered from then popping bubbles, then lay still.

Nothing happened.

“I enjoyed that a lot,” Nick said, once she was certain this was the end, “and this doesn’t prove anything of importance—”

She stopped, her eyes flickering back to the screen. The camera had zoomed in to the surface of the water when something green began to sprout. Then, within seconds, this green multiplied. The camera shot out of the water, shooting the scene downwards. The green, which Nick now realized was algae, grew exponentially. Nick noted a number that had appeared at the bottom of the screen, and, though she couldn’t read it, realized this must be time lapsed.

The camera dropped back into the water, disturbing the thick blanket of algae that covered it. The water was magnified, and Nick saw little dot that looked as if they had been swimming, fall to the bottom.

The screen went black.

Nick released a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. “As I was saying, that was a great video,” she continued, “and I can’t imagine why you said I wouldn’t enjoy it.”

Exflibberaguil said nothing, only pointed to the screen. Slowly, white words formed on the black. Nick could see them instantly translated to English:

END OF PART ONE.

“I see. So there is a part two?”

Exflibberaguil nodded. “But before we advance, you have to understand part one. Did you understand it?”

“I think so,” Nick said, eager to show that humans weren’t stupid, “it showed the growth of algae.”

“Why did the little organisms die?”

“Organisms?”

“The little dot.”

“How should I know? There was no commentary.”

Exflibberaguil sighed. “How do you not even know about the basics? Algae converted carbon dioxide to oxygen. I trust you know that?”

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“Photosynthesis, yes.”

“Oxygen was poisonous to early organisms. That is why they died.”

“Oh. I get it now. Can we continue to part two?”

Exflibberaguil stood up with a sigh. “If you must.” He clapped twice. Two pairs of googles fell from the glowing ceiling. “Part two is continued in virtual reality.”

“Cool.” Nick jumped down from her chair and strapped the goggles on her head.

They were interrupted by a thudding noise against the wall.

Timothy sighed, though Nick couldn’t determine if it was from relief or exasperation. “That would be our friend,” he said, and left the room. Nick stood in the room stupidly, goggles still on her head, before realizing she should probably take them off and follow Exflibberaguil. It wasn’t difficult to find the right door. All others were locked.

----------------------------------------

TIMOTHY WAS BEING DRAGGED.

He tried to find his captors, but they were nowhere in sight.

“Look down,” an Australian advised him. He did.

His captors turned out to be a cleaning robot and a ferret.

“Oh, hello,” Timothy said, “Where am I? And why am I being dragged?”

“Ah, yes, the most important questions of life,” Box sighed, “Unfortunately, I can not answer either of them, because explaining is against my rules.”

“Why?”

“My owner wants the glory of doing that himself. When we reach him, do you mind asking the same questions again? It shouldn’t be too hard. You Sodriew have a habit of repeating things stupidly.”

“What? No I don’t!”

“Yes, you do.”

“I do not!”

“Exactly,” Box pointed out, “Here is where we stop. Don’t go anywhere.”

“You can’t stop me! You’re only a cleaning robot.”

“This ferret will stop you. It has been having a bad case of diarrhea. If you move, it will poop on you.” The robot left, dropping Timothy’s head unceremoniously on the floor. The ferret climbed on top of Timothy’s chest. Timothy didn’t even dare to breath. The ferret looked like it’d let go whatever was in its intestines any second.

He heard a shuffling from the door right of him. A strange minty smell floated out from the crack at the bottom. Slowly, cautious, Timothy poked his nose through the little crack. The ferret had been farting.

The door slammed into Timothy’s face.

A boy with long hair walked out. It was the boy in the dream which, evidently, wasn’t a dream at all. Timothy moaned.

“Oops, sorry,” The boy apologized, “Do you know where Box went? The little robot.”

Timothy pointed down the hallway with his left hand. His right hand was pressed firmly against his nose.

“Good. Box should be set up by now.” The boy sniffed, “Phew! Ferret, go back to your bathroom. Don’t even think about doing your business here.” Timothy was glad to weight on his chest lift.

“Anyway, I hope you aren’t too tired. Did I hit your very hard? I don’t want you going unconscious again. I won’t be able to complete this if you fell asleep. You Sodriew are very frail, you know that?”

Timothy moaned a response.

“Hm. I think you’re fine. I hope you don’t mind a bit more dragging. You see, I can’t have you remembering all this. You have too much credibility, or so my friend says. Don’t know what she’s still doing in the room, but Sodriew are weird.” The boy laughed, though Timothy had no idea why.

“Come on. Just turn your head a bit to the right, so you won’t get hit again when I drag you.” Timothy did so.

“Where am I?” He asked at last, remembering to sound stupid.

“You are in a ship. A spaceship.”

“Who are you?”

“I am an alien.”

“Why am I being dragged?”

The boy took a while to answer. “Well,” he said at last, “I guess I could put you on a leash. I can’t let you walk around freely, of course. I don’t know how much strength Sodriew have. But even if I put you on a lease, and you refuse to move, I’d still end up dragging you. So this seems like the most efficient way of transportation.”

“I see.”

“No, you don’t.”

Timothy frowned. “No, I don’t,” he agreed. He let himself be dragged in silence.

This time the journey didn’t take as long.

“We are here,” the boy announced. “Go ahead, get up and take a look.”

Timothy did as told.

This room smelled of whiteboard cleaner. It wasn’t as much of a room, really, but a large, open, circular space. On one end were ginormous screens and ginormous, opaque panes of glass. Beneath the screens was a bench full of buttons and switches. A toucan chair was placed in front of this bench.

The other side was mostly occupied by a large, spherical object that resembled a frame of a large hamster ball. Timothy moved toward it to get a better look.

“Go on. You can go inside. It’s a virtual reality machine,” the boy said, “Here, I’ll set up a game for you.” The boy moved to a screen.

Timothy stepped into the hamster ball with wonder. There was a pair of black, ski-goggles. Timothy put them on. He could see nothing, but pure, baffling blackness. Timothy knew this was also vanta black. Instantly, his other senses perked up to make up for the lost of sight.

He heard a pair of footsteps. This was lighter than a boy’s. Most likely a female.

“Exflipper! What are you doing?” the female exclaimed.

“Nick! Just in time for the best part.” (Nick? Timothy wondered for a second. Was this not a girl?)

“What best part—”

And Timothy could hear no more.