Drop Point - Episode Seven: Preliminaries

Click to read the previous installment of Drop Point.

Previously on Drop Point:

Selected for his bloodline, Kyle Carter was recruited to be sent back in time in order to give Luna, Earth’s moon, important information that would stop a deadly 120-year galactic war. Needless to say, the journey was disorienting, and he lost the file in the flux of space-time. Turning up at the Luna base empty handed and without proof, Kyle only managed to prove he really was from the future by telling Luna’s Commander Piott that the file contained information concerning something called the Siren. While in the past, Kyle met Kent, a kid whose memories and real name has been erased from his mind for unknown reasons.

“Kyle, we’re ready for you,” said a voice down the hall. Kyle and Kenny turned and saw a well-aged man in a white lab coat. His glasses were small and round, but made his eyes look big. His face was baggy and wrinkled, and his hair was white, thin, and wiry. The man was short and stout.

“Who’s that?” Kenny asked.

“No clue, but he knows who I am, so it’s probably a friend of Piott’s,” Kyle reassured him.

“Seeya at dinner,” Kenny said, and walked down the opposite direction of the hall en route to the other men’s locker room.

“Seeya,” Kyle walked to Lab Coat.

“So, you’re the boy from the future, eh?” he asked. “I’m Doctor Morris Bradley, pleased to meet you.” They shook hands, then Bradley put his hand on Kyle’s shoulder as they walked to wherever they were waiting on him. Kyle distinctly remembered the words “cuckoo reader,” and wondered what that could possibly mean. He said as much out loud, and the doctor chuckled.

“That’s Piott’s term for what basically is my mental analyzer ray gun. I won’t bother you with the full term.”

“Ray gun?” Kyle asked tensely.

“Yes. We point it at your head and run some images through the computer. The ray gun shoots your brain and looks for similar images. Then, it takes you in to re-live those memories so that you can tell us as soon as you come back out and the details are nice and fresh. You might have some… slight discomfort, but it would be over very quickly, it’s no big deal,” he waved off the whole ‘slight discomfort’ business and pointed at a door coming up on our right.

The omniscient Narrator shall make a long-overdue return at this point and, while Kyle dwells anxiously on what the good doctor meant by ‘slight discomfort’, describe to you, O magnificent Reader, the moon base.

You see, the moon base is on the moon. More specifically, it’s on the dark side of the moon. Why, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you why! It’s because if it were on the side the sun always glares on 24/7, then the base and everyone in it would be fried. Because it’s on the dark side of the moon, not much can be seen of the Moon’s terrain from the base, but let me assure you: it is just like the side of the moon you see in movies and television, only darker. The base is basically a mesh of hallways and circles big and small. And the walls of all the rooms and halls of the base are, with some exceptions such as locker rooms, bedrooms and offices, glass. Also, all of the rooms and halls are either half-pipe-shaped or dome-shaped with glass walls. It has been noted by many people that you can see over thirty different hallways from one seat in the cafeteria of the moon base. During rush hour, aka when everyone is mulling about in the halls, imagine domes and half-pipes full of rushing people spider-webbing through the complete darkness, diagonally, curved, horizontal, elbowed, vertical. Rooms without glass walls are boxes - they completely ruin the magic of the base, but are practical.

Kyle had entered the door of one of these practically-designed offices, and was a bit nervous about it. The whole room was dark and science-y. There was a control center in the corner of the room, facing the center behind a glass shield.

“So, I just sit here?” He pointed to a large, cold, metal table with large, cold, metal clamps that sat in the middle of the room, under the only light strip. It was halogen, and glowed greenish blue. The doctor nodded and added, “just lay down with your head on that cushion and we’ll do the rest.”

Kyle looked down at the cushion for a moment, then looked straight forward and controlled his breathing.

“Don’t think about that red stain. It’s Jell-O,” Morris laughed. “The last time I ever let anyone bring food into my lab.” He waited for Kyle to lay down properly, then clanged the metal clamps down over Kyle’s form, so that he couldn’t struggle.

“What are these for?” Kyle asked, his voice cracking with terror.

“Don’t worry. They’re only for your safety. We don’t want you rolling off the table and splitting your head open,” Bradley tapped his temple and walked over to the controls. He pressed a button or two, and part of the ceiling parted directly above Kyle’s head and pointed a monstrous needle-ended device at his forehead. The big, evil thing slunk lower and lower, the needle getting menacingly close to Kyle’s forehead. It continued going down, down, down, until it barely touched his skin. Kyle held his breath, trying to avoid the needle pricking.

The doctor flipped few switches, typed on a keyboard, and smacked another button, and a bright, blinding hot light appeared at the tip of the needle. It blasted through his skull like the clashes of heavy thunder and lightning.

Kyle closed his eyes and screamed. He felt his whole body fall through his neck and into his brain. The feeling of being stabbed by thousands of rusty needles erupted through him, and his brain started crackling with energy. Suddenly, the pain stopped. He felt his old shoes on his feet, feeling just like they did when they weren’t too small for him. He felt his old uniform hanging to his body, the way it always did. He visualized himself back home: his dark grey long-sleeved shirt unbuttoned, revealing the white under shirt; his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his black pants over his white Pumas. His hair was back to normal: cut low over his forehead, but not over his eyes. He felt tall and lanky like he did before the heavy-duty temporal travel survival training.

When he opened his eyes again, he was at military camp. He was back in 2455.