Space Station

The outer airlock door opens and I step onto the platform at the top of the space station. I look up at Earth, and my breath catches in my throat. A tear forms in the corner of my eye and I instinctively reach up to brush it away and my gloved hand smacks into my face plate. I look around feeling foolish for crying at the sight of swirling clouds above the azure seas. I am relieved to see the others with heads tilted back. No one seems to have noticed my vain attempt to wipe away a tear while wearing a space helmet.

I feel the presence of someone standing beside me. Turing I see my friend Charlie grinning at me. I grin back. He looks ghostly in the pale glow of his helm lamps. I guess I do too. We touch face plates so we can talk privately. If we use our mics everyone will hear us.

"Beautiful, it's it?" Charlie says.

"No, magnificent!" I reply.

He rolls his eyes. "You and your big words," he teases. "So, why'd they bring us out here?"

"I don't know," I say with a shrug. At least I tried to shrug. It feels a little awkward in a space suit.

I look around and spot our launch group and jerk my thumb in that direction. Charlie nods and we walk over to them. We first timers stick together and watch each other's backs. They all nod to us as we walk up. I touch face plates with the person closest to me.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"I dunno," he says.

I shoot a questioning look around the group and receive blank stares from those who have their helm lamps on.

Around the platform other little groups have form here and there, waiting, watching, expecting.

Then several heads turn toward the airlock. I notice the movement too and turn also to see what it is. A hand full of Klids emerge from the airlock.

Ah, the Klids, visitors from the stars. We've been up here three days and I still don't know much about them. They like to keep to themselves. Most people on Earth don't even know they exist. They say it's better this way. If people knew we had extra terrestrials orbiting Earth, it could cause some people to panic. But what do you expect? "Alien," "Predator," even shows like Star Trek with friendly aliens like the Vulcans have hostile aliens like the Klingons. Plus there's the natural and often irrational human tendency to fear those who are different from us that manifests as racism or homophobia. So maybe they're right to keep the presence of the Klids a secret. At least until we can make people understand that they mean us no harm.

Anyway, they probably have something like the Prime Directive and they don't want to interfere with our natural progression in science and technology. That obviously didn't stop them from building this research station though. We could have built it without their help, I think. Earth supplied the materials, but they supplied key tech, like the GravGen, the artificial gravity generator.

And it looks like they are about to demonstrate more of their advanced tech for us today. We press in for a closer look and one of them motions our group to move to the perimeter. They have moved us all to either side of the platform and cleared a path from the airlock to a shuttle parked at the far end.

Just to the right of the airlock they have set up some computers and some of their mysterious looking gadgets. Then a couple of Klids emerge carrying a large pod of some kind. I recall seeing a room full of them on one of the lower levels the space station. This one is about two feet long and a foot wide and tear drop shaped. The outside looks like a tough husk, like you might find on a nut. A very large nut.

I turn and meet Charlie's eyes. By his questioning expression I gather that he is as clueless as me. At first I supposed it was one of their egg sack, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't expose their eggs to the vacuum of space. And now that I think of it, why would I assume that Klids hatch from eggs? Certainly not from any evidence. Must be from watching too many SciFi movies.

The two with the pod are holding it between them with the narrow end pointing toward the far end of the platform. I can see now that it has an opening at the narrow end. One them nods to the group near the airlock. A Klids who seems to be in charge taps the screen of his tablet a few times. Then without any warning, a bright blue beam shoots out of the pod and hits the shuttle. My helmet speaker erupts with the sound of the other astronauts gasping and shouting in surprise.

"What was that?" someone shouts over the com. Then everyone talks at once. I can't make out what anyone is saying at first, but then I hear the word "shuttle." I snap my head in the direction of the shuttle, but I have a streak in my vision and can't see it. As my vision clears I can barely see the end of the platform. I suddenly let out a cry of alarm as I realize that end of the platform is empty, the shuttle is gone. There is nothing there, not even a rapidly expanding cloud of dust and debris, it's just gone, vanished. I look out into space expecting to see it flying away, but there's nothing. It could not rocket out of sight so soon, so where is it? I don't ponder it for long because the Klids quickly begin herding us back through the airlock.

As soon as I get my helmet off I ask Charlie, "what just happened?"

"I'm not sure. I think it might be a "transmat," but I'll bet we're going to find out real soon." Charlie seems way to cheerful to me. That pod thing with its bright blue beam could dangerous. I frown

"I don't know," I reply, trying and failing to sound calm, wondering what that pod could be.

Panic rises in my chest and I fight it back. Have we humans just witnessed the a new kind of weapon being tested, I wonder? Couldn't be, could it? These Klids come in peace, don't they? Suspicion clouds my mind.

The faces round me have lost their color.

Then I see a couple Klids approach a small group of humans and point a strange looking gun at them. I hold my breath, fearing the worst. A faint blue glow is all that the gun emits. At first I am confused. Their gun doesn't seem to have done anything. Then I see the men's faces. They are no longer terrified. Some look confused and others begin smiling. They turn to their neighbors engage in small talk. At first I'm not sure what's going on then It hits me: their memories were wiped.

A new wave of terror washes over me as the aliens come to I stand. I won't let them take my memory. I have to warn the people of Earth. They have to know about the weapon. I bring up an image of the pod in my mind. I have to remember what it looks like and what it did. I play the seen over and over in my head. When they come point their gun at me, I close my eyes and concentrate on the image of the pod. I hear low hum they are using the memory wiping device. I hold on to the image of the pod. I see it in my mind. I don't let it fade. "Must remember," I think. When the humming stops I open my eyes. The aliens are moving away. I check my memory. I can still recall the scene on the platform. It worked! I remember. I breathe out. I didn't know I was holding my breath.

Now I have to play it cool. I can't let on that I remember any of this.

Soon the aliens begin ushering us back to the shuttles that will take us back to Earth. Just a little longer and I'll be in the clear. Do they suspect me? No, sure not they have confidence in their memory guns, or should I call them forget gun? I try to assure myself that if I just stay calm they'll never know. But I can't stay calm, not after what I've seen. As I step toward the shuttle I check my memory again. The pod, the blue light, the vanishing shuttle it's all still there.

What could the aliens be planning with such a weapon? Invasion? Annihilation? I must warn Earth. I can't forget, even if everyone else does. I can't forget.

I jerk awake. My heart is racing. I'm sweating. I lie in the dark bedroom listening to the night noises. I should be relieve that it was all a dream. A very vivid one, but in the end just a dream. And yet I feel like I've seen it all before, but in the waking world. Something about it feels real, but as I lie here I can't remember the real event, only the dream. I tried to remember but I didn't. The alien's memory wiping device worked. I wasn't going to forget but I did. Until now. The memory must be buried somewhere in my mind that I can't access when I'm fully conscious.

I'm convinced now. Just because I can't remember the real event doen't mean it didn't happen. The dream was real. And if them dream was real, then so were the aliens and their weapon. I have to tell someone about the weapon! But who? Who would listen to me recount a dream? And supposing I did get someone in the military or NASA to listen, they would want to verify my story, but I know what they'll find in NASA's records: a routine visit to the space station. It will show that I installed some equipment and returned to Earth without incident. I have important information but who would listen to me? I could tell people, but they'll just try convince it was only a dream and if I persist they'll just call