“It will be room 108, over there on your left.” The hotel concierge gestured to the hallway behind the two men.
Hal and Bruce gathered their bags and walked across the lobby to their room. They arrived at room 108, unlocked the door with their key card, and dropped their bags on the floor once inside.
“I can’t believe they kicked us out of our own home,” Bruce complained. “It’s ridiculous. We should file a complaint.”
“They’re probably carting alien bodies out of our backyard now,” Hal joked. But he was only half joking. Something had crashed in their backyard the night before, and the military people who came to their door immediately after said it was one of their top secret surveillance drones.
While Bruce plopped down at the edge of a bed and began searching for the TV remote, Hal rummaged through his bag. “You know, I found something on our porch when we were leaving.”
Bruce raised an eyebrow as Hal pulled something out of the bag. Hal opened his hand, revealing a small sphere. It was glowing with an odd purple and green light.
“What is it?” Bruce asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Hal, frowning.
Fear crept over Bruce’s face as he looked at the sphere. “Do you think it’s dangerous?” he asked nervously.
“It looks harmless enough,” said Hal. “But we need to figure out what this thing is.”
There was a tense silence as Hal and Bruce stared at the strange sphere, wondering what it would mean for their lives.
“We gotta hand this over to the military,” said Bruce. “What if it’s radioactive or something?”
“I’ve had enough of their stupid secrets,” said Hal. “We’re not handing this over to anyone. I think we can figure out what it is.”
Bruce was obviously not pleased with this idea, but he decided to let Hal do as he pleased. “I’ll unpack the rest of our things,” he said, going to a dresser and starting to pull out clothes. “Maybe call a pizza place.”
Hal stared at the strange sphere. It had a pulsing light that went from green to purple and back again. The light seemed to be coming from inside the sphere, like a core of energy. Hal gazed at it for a few more minutes before remembering that he needed to start unpacking too.
Hal set his bag on the floor of his new room and began to pull out clothes and books. When he was finished getting his things out, he sat down on a bed and stared at the sphere again. “You’re right. I don’t know what to do with this thing. Let’s tell those military guys about it tomorrow and maybe they’ll give us some kind of a reward for it.”
***
It was pitch black in the room, except for the pulsating glow of the mysterious orb sitting on the nightstand. Hal had trouble sleeping. Bruce snored on the other bed.
Suddenly everything began rumbling and shaking. The orb vibrated and bounced on the nightstand. Hal sat up. “I think it’s an earthquake,” he said, waking Bruce up.
Hal fumbled around to turn on the lamp as their surroundings continued shaking. Then a blinding white light filled the room. When his eyes adjusted, Hal could see dark shapes silhouetted against the light. Fear paralyzed him as he realized that the shapes were aliens. A long arm reached toward him. That was the last thing Hal remembered before he woke.
He woke up on the floor, with Bruce next to him. It was morning, the curtains of the room were drawn wide open, and sunlight streamed in.
“What happened?” Bruce said, disoriented.
“I don’t know.” Hal stood up slowly and looked over at the nightstand. The orb was gone.
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