宇宙船の夢 a dream about a Spaceship English below 英語は下 あんまり日本語能力磨いてない時英語から日本語に翻訳したので、間違えだらけだと思う

Ⅰ

可成り好きな食べ物を食いたくて、ダイナー行こうと思った。ダイエット最中で久々に定食とか食ってないから、物凄く食いたかった。こないだ、自分なりの自分になろうと決めた。勉強や文学的なことならずっと前から自慢だったけど、運動系やスポーツはちょっと苦手だったかも知れない。この新たな信条を叶うため毎週四回ジム通って、週一回普通な定食を食べた。だからこそ前より自信が強く感じて、何故急にこの信条になったというなら、好きな作者のお陰だろうか。その作者の名前は中島佑紀だ。この作者の政治的な信念はナショナリズム的で厳しかった。その信念のため、近くの市役所でクーデター終わったところで切腹を成功した。とても保守的だったのに、個人生活は進歩だったので、凄く興味深かった。作品の内容には読むたびにそのキャラクターや表現では自分なりの自分なるべきって伝えたかっただろうか。その作品のお陰でこの信条は俺の人生には第一になった。まだ脂肪があるけど、この一年間十五キロ大きくなった。お前太ってるなやよく言われたけど、その言葉気にせず俺の夢を叶うことしか構わなかって、ずっと夢に向かってたら絶対欲望通りな体

与えると思い込んでた。その作者のお陰で我慢、努力など出来て、今はもっと自慢な体なんだけど、言うまでもなくまだ満足じゃないんだ。

ダイナー向かってる最中にこの信条についてずっと考えてた。二週間ぶりぐらいな定食は果てしなく楽しみしてた、勿論自分の概念やその作者の概念を裏切ってるっていう気持ちを含めてた。併し精神のため時々自分を一週間一回は許さないといけないだろうか。此の五年間の中、四年間は日本で住んでてやっと二週間ぐらい帰れた。ビスケットとグレービーが物凄く好きで、日本には向いてないゆえに日本で全然食べれなくて、本当に食いたかった。

食べれなくなっちゃたまでにどんどん食べた。その後、同じダイナーで一杯飲もうかって決めた。何故残っちゃたか聞かれたら、多分定員さんに日本について色んな質問聞かれて自分の人生とか自分の事を話すのが凄く好き。俺が注目してるって云う気持ちみたいで自分の関係を話す事はいつまでも続けれるし、自分が凄く偉くて、面白そうでたまらない。そう云う気持ちは留学する前には多分一回でも感じた事無かった。若い頃から留学する前には凄く寡黙で二の足を踏む人だから大体ゲームか勉強しかしなかった。留学間にお酒とご縁を繋いだし、その上に日本ではアメリカの文化は映画の影響でとても流行ってるけど、映画のこと以外はあんまり詳しくないから赤の他人でもいっぱい質問聞かれるし、日本語は母国語じゃないし、勇気を出せた気がして、それとお酒の影響を含めてやっとに喋れるようになった。その頃喋れるようになった理由はお酒って思いこんでしまって、飲んでない時には前の様子に戻っちゃうから出掛けるたびに絶対飲んで、自制とかあんまりなくて飲みすぎた時は多かった。留学終わってから友達が中島由紀を紹介してくれて、その人の本と人生について色んな事調べた。それから、酔いながらの会話はそんなに深くないって気づいた。もっと深く話したいって思って、知らない人と話す事少なくなって、深い関係な友達と遊んだり飲んだりするようになった。もっと深い話できるようになって、お酒とマリワナはなくても自身は持てる。時々飲んだり、吸ったりすること続いたけど、しなくても会話できるようになった。

ダイナーから帰ってる時にはほろ酔いだった。先の事は凄く考えてた、誰かが俺の考えてた事は聞こえるならば、絶対気障って思われるだろうが、今は満足できるなら、それ以外は何も関係ないと思った。日没に見て、こんなに幸せになったことないだろうって思った。深く愛をできて、その恋人とずっと一緒に居たいし、友達と一緒に居る時に自信持ちながら会話できるし、完全に幸せだった。歩き続こうと思ったや否や、空の真中に俺の人生で見たことがないものがあった。俺は微動すらできなかった。空にあったものから眼は離れなくて言葉にできず程違和感が心の底まで影響されてた。俺の足の裏から頭まで凍えてしまった。周りの皆も、地球ガニトログリセリンに沈んだみたい。45度で柱みたいがあって、その柱は内側がグレーで外側が白かった。空の真ん中に浮いて、完全に動いたり、光ったり、何もしてなかった。「一体なんだ」って誰か云ったけど皆が同じように何も知らなかった。

目覚めたからすぐに自家に帰った。皆はもう集まってた、俺の彼女と含めて家族の皆さんは俺のおばあちゃんの家に集まった。俺は家に着いた時、皆がテレビの前に居て、周りの事考えずにじっとテレビを見てた。俺の両親は離婚してるのに、お父さんとお父さんの新しい奥さんも居た。その上にお父さんは40分ぐらい離れてるし、お父さんとお母さんはあんまり仲良くない。いつも二人きりになるときは喧嘩ばかりするし、一緒に居るはよっぽど珍しい。俺のおばあちゃんとお母さんは一緒に住んでるから、おばあちゃんの家は俺の自家になっちゃった。皆がテレビの前で床に座ってた。俺のおばあちゃんの家はそんなに大きくない。矩形で一回と地下しかなかった。地下で蓄積があって、誰も行かないし、俺の彼女と含めて四人は一緒に住んでるから凄く狭い。

皆が何も言わずに、何も知れないようにテレビの前にずっと座ってた。おじいさんは時々怒鳴りしたりしてたけど、それ以外は鼠の音すらしなかった。俺のおじいさん怒鳴る時にはいつも「何でテレビが今の状態分からん？ありえないやろう？」とか叫んでた。誰も同じこと考えてたと思う、絶対皆は少し怒ってたけど、おじいさん以外は誰も人言葉さえ言えなかった。やっとに俺はおじいさんに返事した「政府がわからんかったら、ジェットとかは検査するんやろう」と云った。「まぁ、待つしかない。必ず情報来るし。」俺は彼女の側に行った。俺は連続休憩とったから、日本から彼女と俺の自家に帰った。彼女はまだ英語あんまり喋れないから、凄く大変そうな顔してた。俺は今まで知ったことを日本語で説明した。彼女は「先お母さんから電話あって、日本にも同じものがあるらしい。」と云った。ストレス溜まりすぎた様子で、俺と地下に入り込んだ。慰めようとしたけど、ストレスが大変すぎて、両親の事も心配してたまんなくて一人で居たいと云った。俺は抱き締めてから上に戻った。

戻ったや否や、おばあちゃんが「彼女さんは大丈夫？」って聞かれた。「大丈夫だけど、ちょっと信じれない様子で頭の中が白いみたいって言われた」「まぁ、此の状態ではしょうがないよね」

一週間でずっと空に動かずあった。一週間も経ったし、まだ何も起こってないから皆普通の日常生活に戻った。皆が日常生活に戻ったが、不安感がある。絶対なんか来ると云う予感がずっと頭の奥のところから響いてる。自分を話す機会は大体今のところでは空にあるものになっちゃう。それぞれの人は色んな思弁がある。その夜に彼女さんと一つの思弁を馬鹿にしてた。「今日ジムで他人と話して、皆を見守る為に政府が作りだした。1983の将来的な圧政的の話だ。」それから俺は1983のは小説で、その小説には政府がファシストで全員見守る為に圧政して、自由さは完全無くなるって云う話を説明した。彼女が返事しようとした「それは信じれへんな、一番あり得そうのは…」で返事の最中に外からの風がとても強くなって、なんか家にぶつかった。凄い音が立て、言おうとしたことは言えなくなった。二人とも上に行って、ハリケーンみたいな風の強さがあったけどハリケーンはケンタッキーで絶対あり得ない。お母さんとおばあちゃん、二人ともは窓から外を覗いてた。俺は竜巻か聞いて、二人で同時に「いや、竜巻じゃない」と云った。信じれないというばかりな顔してた。俺と弓己（ゆき）は窓から覗いた。四人とも言葉出来ず、ずっと上に見てた。空にあるものは回ってた、凄く遅く回ってたけど、回ってた。テレビで流れてたのニュースで、回るのは始まった同時に風が強くなったらしい。

弓己のほうに見て、「政府の思弁会ってないと思う」。

Ⅱ

空にあるものを回ることはもう日常的なことになっちゃった気がした。大体回る時にはゆっくり回るように見えるけど、毎回回ると風が強くなった。今日は空にあるもの初めて回った時の一週記念日だ。時々空を見て、太陽が丁度反映したら凄く綺麗な光が出る、特に真夜中には満月の光の反映があるとダイヤモンドように見える。

弓己の側に横なろうとした、これは日本に帰る前の最後の一週間だ。アメリカの感想とか聞いて、それで二人でアメリカ人に対して、日本人が持ってるのイメージとかステレオタイプについて深く話した。アメリカ人はイメージと違うことより、アメリカ人は日本人の事どんな風に思ってるかのほうがびっくりしたと云った。二人とも同じ決着ついた、あんまり関わらない国だったら、メディアに示す以外はその民族は文化について全然知らないから、イメージとかステレオタイプは全部メディアから生まれる。それで日本人は全員のアメリカ人がハリーウッドの映画に出るキャラクターと同じを思い込んでる。それでアメリカ人が寿司レストランとか空手映画の影響しか与えてないかもしれない。現在はアニメの影響は物凄く強いけど。その話最中に、空にあるものは急に回り始まった、二人ともお互いに見て、いつもと違って凄く違和感があった。二人ともお互いを見るだけではお互いは同じ事を感じてた。弓己の目には絶望が完全に書いてあった「凄く嫌な予感してる、何か、いつもと。。違うよね」二人で自暴自棄に囲まれながら、寄り添った。もうこの世界終わっちゃうっていう気持ちの中でも、最後に隣居れてもちろん自暴自棄だけど愛でも囲まれてるって分かって少し慰安ができた。どんだけ儚いでも、慰安がない世界に少し慰安できた。寝る前に最後お互いの目に見た、二人とも同じ事考えた。「君には翼がある、自分で見えないかもしれないけど、私、きっと見えてる。」同感慰安でやっと眠れた。

「おい、起きなさい！」ってお母さんが叫んだ。俺は凄く起こしやすいから、弓己をもっと寝させて、一人で上に行った。「どうした？」ニュースに流れてたのは、昨晩の風が今まで一番強かった、雷雨と同じぐらいの強さらしい。それで一昨日も、その前の日にもどんどん強くなってる。台風のちょっと前の強さ。「何か変わってる、俺と弓己は昨晩同じような事云ってた。」

その日から毎日見えるほどどんどん強くなってた。空にあるものは見るだけで回りの速さは完全に早くなってるって完全に眼で見える。俺は毎日毎日もっと不安になった、多分皆が同じ気持ちがあった。完全に絶望的。多くの人は道に集まる事が始まった、半分ぐらいは今まで信じてた神様にお祈りしてた、他の皆さんが空にあるものは神様と思い込んで、空にあるものに祈ってた。世界が暗黒時代に戻っちゃった様子だった。空にあるもの今まで研究したもの、今まで発見できた事、今まで学んだ事を殺したように、希望も殺した。人間性、進歩、歴史、文化全部殺した。俺のなくなってるアイデンティティと戦いながら、弓己のほうに話し合いに行った。話し合いながら、気づいた事があった、外ではどんな事起こっても俺の内容、内臓、中身何も変わらない、俺の人間性無くなっても俺はまだArytonだ。弓己は同じ事気づいた気がする、お互いの松栄杖になった。

日本に帰る日も過ぎちゃった、風や天気は予報出せなくなったから世界中の飛行機が止まってた。世界中は止まってる様子だった。空にあるものの計画が果たしたまで、絶対に日本に帰れないって認めるしかなかった。周りには日本語喋れる人居なかったし、弓己はもっともっと俺に打ち明けてた、お互いも絶望的で、どんな理由としても、空にあるものがあるの理由は絶対良くない、どうしても良くない結果が出るって二人とも認めてた。日本に帰れる確率は低いって認めてたし、毎日何回も両親と電話してた。俺の家族はできる限りに、おもてなし見せようとしてたが、日本語話せないし、弓己は一番大変だっただろうか。

その夜には、人間性を感じる為っていうか、空にあるもの来た前のを一瞬でも感じる為にサンクスギビング晩御飯作ろうとした。一日中ずっと七面鳥やサイドディッシュを用意してた。俺と弓己も手伝った、それでやっと少し空にあるものが来た前の事をなんとなく思い出せた。絶望感を忘れて、人間性は戻った。精神も救助だ。皆と一緒に祈った、丁度食べる前に変な音立ってた。外を見ると空にあるものはまた回る事始まった。俺と弓己はお互いの事を見て、今回は今までと違って、今回は終わりって感じてた。俺はどうしようもないと思い込んでたけど、弓己の為考えが頭に浮かんだ。「地下に行こう、今回は絶対強すぎて、生き延びりたいなら地下に行くしかない！」お母さんとおばあちゃんは強くこたわった、どうしても食べたくて。二人で上残って、俺と弓己は地下に行った。

できる限り、二人寄り添いながら身を屈めた。外の風は聞いたこと無い程激しくて、風は暴力的な音しか立ってなかった。何時間の後、やっとに風が落ち着いて、上の様子を見に行った。家はもうなかった、凡てが風の中、ソファ、テレビ、天井、凡てが風の中だ。床と地下の入る場所しか残ってなかった。お母さんとおばあちゃんは見当たらなくて、二人とも風の中だ。最後の晩御飯果たしたまで食べれたかなって思った。弓己のほうを見て、もう二人とも様子を分かってた。

近所を巡りながら、どんだけ酷かったか見た。何も残ってなかった、一件の家でもなかった。一つの魂でもなかった。市の中心まで歩いて、建物、凡てもう風の中だ。無の荒れ地だった。前にも此れは終わりって認めてたのに、その時はきちんと少しだけ希望残った、今の様子を見るとその希望は完全に亡くなった。今はもう何もない、今はもう人間の終わりだ。二人ともわかってて、二人ともお互いがわかってるっていうもわかってた。

遺構の中で二人を横になって、寄り添った。上に空にあるものを見て、計画は後少し果たすだろう。

Ⅲ

「地球を崩壊する前に、残ってるの人間を片付けないといけないんだ。確実に何千の人間は地下に入り込んでしまった。」「メーンコンピューターのプログラム使うよ。」コンピュータ－のモニターに地球の詳細を六角中に示した。コンピューターに「2,420人数が残っています」って書いてあった。早めに残ってる人間を地球の表から、隠れないように扱った。「それで、今回の仕事はもうお終いだ。これから残ってるの材料を集めて、地球を崩壊するものだ。」

Ⅳ

宇宙の船に起きた、隣に弓己も居た。宇宙人が扉から部屋に入ってきた。俺らの辺りには俺らしかテスト合格できなかったって言われた、ちゃんと地下に入り込んだから安全で自由に船の中で住む事できるって言われた。何の欲望あっても叶う、欲しいもの何でもあったら、もらえるんだって言われた。地球は危険さがあって崩壊するしかなかったって説明してくれた。俺は別に地球無くても弓己と一緒に居れば幸せで生けれって思ったし、完全に満足だった。最後の扱いまで他の人を助かったから、船に居る皆さんにとって俺は英雄だった。

Ⅴ

船の自動システムが人間の頭皮と頭骸骨を一人ずつ切り取った。頭骸骨は取った上に脳がシステムに入れた。体の全体は材料を全部取ってから、宇宙に捨てた。その材料は船と宇宙の生物を次々の星行かせて、生かせるために使ってた。

I was making my way over to the diner to get some of my favorite food. It had been a while since I could eat anything since I had been dieting. Recently, I had decided that I want to perfect myself, and while I find it easy to study, I have had trouble with exercise and diet. This newly found conviction had me in the gym four times a week and eating one cheat meal a week. I was feeling more confident than I have ever felt before, and this sudden change came about thanks to my favorite author that I have been reading recently. That author's name is Nakajima Yuki. This author was famous for committing suicide in efforts to spread nationalism in his country. Even though he was conservative politically, it was pretty well known that he was gay. His mindset and characters presented in his books made it apparent that he believed being the best self you could be was of the upmost importance. Over the last year I have gained around 40 pounds some in muscle and some in fat. I often got a lot of flak being called fat, but I ignored it because I knew that as long as I kept trying to better myself eventually I would have the body I wanted to have. His influence helped me persevere an get to the point I am now, however, I still have a while to go before I will feel satisfied.

I was reminding myself of all of this as I was on the way to the diner. When I got to the diner, I was very excited to eat my first full meal in about two weeks, of course I also felt some slight guilt as if I was betraying my own convictions and my favorite author. However, for the sake of my sanity I decided I needed to eat a full meal, and what better meal to have than my favorite meal in the world, the one that made me feel closest to home. I had spent the past 4 out of 5 years in Japan and had finally went home for a few weeks. I haven't been able to have biscuits and gravy in Japan as it wouldn't be very popular there.

I ate until I couldn't eat anymore, and afterwards I decided to hang around and have a beer because the waitress started asking me about Japan. I love talking to people especially when its about myself and things that I have experienced. It makes me feel intelligent and interesting, which I hadn't experienced very much during my schooling. I was a rather shy kid who spent most of his time studying or playing video games. Around the same time alcohol was introduced into my life I felt my confident and open about talking about myself, as well as talking to other people in general. I was a virgin until I had gained enough confidence in Japan thanks to the difference in mental state when speaking a relatively new language, and thanks to the confidence from alcohol. For a while I seemed to rely on alcohol for my confidence when speaking to people, however, I realized after reading Nakajima`s books and delving into my own character that the conversations I have when drinking are typically repetitive and have no depth. I decided to start speaking with people whom with I could have more intellectual conversations. These conversations didn't hinder on the consumption of alcohol, however, between alcohol and my consumption of weed, I had realized while I no longer need these things to have confidence, it is still very fun to lose all inhibitions with close friends and people you love.

On my way home from the diner, I was a little tipsy. I started thinking about these things in my head, and I had realized that if someone heard some of the things that I was saying I would definitely come off as pretentious, but I realized that doesn't matter as long as I feel happy. I looked up towards the setting sun and thought to myself that I am the happiest I have been at any point in my life. I have met the love of my life, although we have only met a few times, and I have more confidence and close friends than I have ever had. I turned around away from the sun, and in the middle of the sky directly above me was something I had never seen before. I immediately stopped moving. Everything and everyone around me had stopped. It looked like a giant gray and white jack from the old game “Jack's Game”. It was just floating in the middle of the sky. After a minute or so I heard people “what in the fuck is that?” nobody knew.

I immediately rushed back to my grandma's place where everyone had gathered, inducing my girlfriend who was visiting with me from Japan. Even my dad and his parents were there even though my parents were divorced and they lived on the other side of town. The news was on and everyone was gathered around the T.V. even though my grandma's house was a little longer than a trailer, had only one floor other than the basement which was used for storage. There was probably around 10 people in that one room including me. Every single person had there eyes glued to the T.V. My uncle, Dennis, would occasionally yell things exaggeratedly. He would say things that a lot of us were thinking, he said “If the people in the T.V. don't know what the hell that thing is doesn't anyone?”. I replied that “If the government doesn't know currently, they probably send some fighters to investigate, I'm sure we will get some answers soon.” My girlfriend could speak very little English, and probably more so than anyone else was very scared. I made sure to translate every detail I could to her; however, she seemed to not be handling it very well. She broke off and went to the basement, I immediately followed her. I talked with her and tried to comfort her the best I could. I recommended that she called her parents. She asked to be left alone while she was calling them, so I went back up stairs.

When I went back upstairs, my grandma asked “Is Chisato okay?” I said “ I think she will be fine, she is just a little shaken up.” my mom chimed in with “that's very understandable, I think we are all a little shaken up.

The mysterious object remained in the sky for about a week before everyone just returned to their normal lives, all states of emergencies were lifted. However, everyone was still very cautious because no one had any idea about what it was. Most opportunities I had to talk about myself now turned into conversations about different conspiracy theories guessing as to what the object in the sky was. That night I joked around with my girlfriend about an absurd theory I had heard earlier that day. “I was talking to someone at the gym today. They said they thought that the object was sent into the sky to spy on us all, he said that it probably had hundreds of cameras with x-ray vision and shit like that, like some futurist 1983 bullshit.” I explained to her that 1983 was a book about government dystopia in the future. She started to reply with “that seems rather absurd, the best explanation I can come up with is a...” mid-sentence she was cut off by very strong winds outside that sent a rock or something flying into the side of the house. We went upstairs to where my grandma and mom was. They were both looking out the window, and the winds were very strong as if it was a light hurricane, which would be impossible since we were in Kentucky. I immediately asked if it was a tornado, but they replied in synchronicity “no”. Then both of them pointed into the sky without saying another word or changing the expression of amazement or disbelief on their faces. Chisato and I instinctively looked up to where they were pointing. All four of us were at a complete loss for words. The thing in the sky, now locally known as the “giant jack” was slowly spinning back and forth. We heard the news anchorwoman say “this sudden rise in wind speeds was not on the forecast, and we have heard reports that the start of the spinning coincided with the start of the winds.”

I looked over at Chisato and I said in Japanese “ I guess the theory about the government was wrong.”.



II

It seemed to be an everyday occurrence at this point, the object in the sky would spin at a speed that seemed rather slow; however, every time the spinning occurred, it became exceedingly windy. Today marks a week exactly after the first time that the object spun. There has not been any other noticeable changes in the environment or with the object in the sky. Every now and then I would look up into the sky and notice that the object seemed to have a shine to it when the light from the sun bounced off of it in the right way. Especially at night with a full moon it almost seemed like a diamond in the sky.

I went to lie down in the bed next to Chisato, this was our last week here before we went to Japan. I talked to her about how she thought about her first trip to America so far. She said she was quite surprised because America did not really fit into any of the stereotypes perpetuated by the general populous in Japan. However, she said that she was more surprised by how Americans envisioned Japanese culture. We both came to the conclusion that people with little exposure to other countries tend to base there beliefs from what they see on the media. As we were talking about these stereotypes and biases, that both of us had at one point in our lives, the object in the sky started spinning. Both of us looked over to each other as if we both had the same notion of unease. She said to me, looking straight into my eyes with a face of what seemed like hopelessness, “Something feels wrong, it seems... to be stronger..” I nodded and we both got as close as possible to each other, holding each other in a state of tremendous despair. We feel asleep like that taking comfort in the fact that no matter what happens, at least in what seems like an end of the world situation, that we could glance into happiness, no matter how fleeting it was. It was as if we could see a wing on each other's back, and while neither one of us knew that we had a wing on our back, we could see each others. We feel a sleep in this synonymous comfort.

“Hey wake up” yelled my mom from upstairs. I left Chisato to sleep in more, I was an incredibly light sleeper. “ whats up?” “The news this morning said that the winds last night were the strongest that they have ever been. The previous ones only resembled winds to that of a thunderstorm, however, last night, and apparently the night before, the winds have been getting increasingly stronger. They said the winds last night were almost strong enough to be considered a hurricane.” “Something definitely felt weird about last night, both Chisato and I said the same thing.”

From that day on, the winds were continuing to gain strength everyday, so much so that the object in the sky had decidedly started spinning faster. I became more and more anxious day to day, as did everyone. Many people began gathering in the streets, half of them praying to the gods the new before, the other half praying to the object in the sky. It was as if society had reverted to the medieval times, as if this object in the sky defied all of our scientific beliefs, therefore, people, especially atheists, had lost all semblance of the identity that years of human civilization progress, and personal development had worked so hard to develop. I took shelter from my absence identity through confiding with Chisato, and realizing that no matter what is happening outside of myself, the inside will never change. She had come to realize the same thing, and we had both became each other's crutches.

It had passed the date when we were supposed to go back to Japan. There was no way we could get back due to the object in the sky controlling the winds and being so unpredictable. We accepted the fact that until whatever until whatever the thing in the sky is trying to do is finished, there is no way back to Japan. That made Chisato confide in me even more considering that we both seemed to be under the assumption that there is no good result that will come from the end of the object in the sky. She knew that the odds of her seeing her family again was low, so she would call her family everyday. My family did everything they could to make her feel at home and as if she was family, but they language barrier definitely made it difficult. That night in order to keep some semblance of normality in our lives, my mom and my grandma decided that they would cook a Thanksgiving meal. They spent the whole day cooking the turkey and preparing all the side dishes, of course Chisato and I helped as much as we were capable helping. Cooking like that definitely helped return some sanity to all of us. We sat down at our dinner table ready to eat, but right before we started eating the object in the sky started making noises like it always does right before it started up. I felt this time that it was going to be worst that we have experienced yet, so I told everyone that we need to go into the basement immediately. My mom and Grandma refused, and said that they wanted to eat the meal that they had cooked, so they stayed above while Chisato and I went into the basement with the baby.

We hunkered down as low and close to each other as possible in the basement, both of us protecting the baby. There was so much noise outside and the winds sounds so incredibly violent. The winds eventually stopped, and we ventured upstairs to see the result of the night's winds. The entire house was completely blown away, the only thing left was the floor and the entrance to the basement. The food, my mom, my grandma, all gone. I looked at Chisato and she looked back with an expression of understanding and acceptance. I wondered if they ever got to eat any of the food.

Chisato and I walked around the neighborhood to see the extent of the damage. There was not a single soul in sight. We walked all the way downtown, and all the buildings were all gone, it was just a complete wasteland of nothingness. We may have already been at the point of complete acceptance before but now there wasn't even a glimmer of hope that we would make it through this, we thought that this is the end of the human race. We didn't even need to say it out loud because we both knew that the other was aware of the situation.

We decided to just lie down in the remnants of the city, looking straight up at the mysterious object in the sky, which whatever its objective was we knew that it was nearly finished, all that's left is the few people who made it underground like us.

III

“We have to clean up the remaining humans before destroying the earth, there are more than likely several thousand that managed to hide underground from the last suction.” “I'll use the search mechanic in the main computer.” The computer zoomed in on the earth and searched each hexagonal area of the earth. The computer picked up 2,420 humans left over in this section of the earth. It quickly went through and sucked them up at a close range guaranteeing that they couldn't hide. “Now our job is finished, we just have to get the rest of the resources from earth, then we can move on to the next planet.

IV

I woke up on an alien ship, and Chisato and the baby was there as well. An alien walked in through the door at the other side of the room. He told me that we were the only ones to pass the test in our area, and therefore; we get to live safely on the ship with anything that we could possibly desire. It felt like a giant relief, because even though he explained to us that earth was going to explode, I could at least be with Chisato and experience some more of life. The alien explained to me because of my warnings, some people also hid underground, so I was viewed as a hero in the ship.

V

The ship's automated system started cutting the scalps off each human one by one. Once the scalp and the top of the cranium was removed, the brain was then taken out and plugged into the system. The rest of the bodies and the resources rummaged from earth was used to support the ship, and the alien lifeforms on the ship as they went from planet to planet, surviving.