Drake used to live a normal life.  He went to school, hung out with his friends, and was a normal teenager.  But now with the abductions, life has been completely altered. No one knew who would be next. 

It had been hard two months since his best friend, Kes, had disappeared. Most of the country had been under house arrest for over two weeks. No school, no playing outside, no doing anything fun. Adults only left the house when needed to go to work or to get food or other necessities. Over 200 kids had gone missing in two months, starting with Kes. Everyone had their own theories: mass murderers patrolling the country, kids slaving away in factories, and aliens and extraterrestrials abducting kids.

 Life had become boring, but scary.   He spent most of his days reading or doing research about anything science.  Drake was particularly interested in anatomy of animals.  Experiments and projects weren't as fun without Kes, but Drake didn't have much else to do.

Drake knew that any day it could be him. He knew he had no control over his fate. So he decided to just wait for whatever was coming. 

Everest seeked adventure. With all of the abducting, she had been stuck in her house for too long. From her window, she could see another kid cooped up in a house. That kid was her friend, Drake. Maybe he would join her on an excursion out of the house. Everest knew her mom wouldn't be home for a while. She was probably getting her nails done or shopping. Everest guessed most parents would be more worried about their kid being abducted because of the current events, but not her mom.  Ever sense her parents had divorced, her mom had grown distant and not a big part of Everest's life.

No one would miss her. She could plan something with Drake with plenty of time to spare. Everest pulled her favorite red sweater over her head and tied her long chestnut hair into a high ponytail.  She grabbed her adventure kit from the front door and left the house.

It felt good to be outside again. The cool fall breeze blew around her. Everest had probably been outside a lot more than most kids, but even Everest had fear limitations. She only went outside in daylight and only once or twice a week.  

She ran through the trees that separated yards, making sure she went unnoticed. Once she got to Drake's house, she scaled up the tall oak tree, to his window. After climbing across the branch the lead to the window she peered in. She could see that Drake was sitting at his desk, probably doing research like he always was. Everest and Drake were the odd bunch at school. People thought that Everest was weird because she was always prepared for the worst. She took her emergency bag with her everywhere. But hey, it was their fault when they weren't prepared. Drake was always reading or talking about new facts he learned about. Drake was also quiet and shy sometimes, so he never made many friends at school. 

 When Everest had first moved to the neighborhood, she tried to make friends. Drake was friends with Kes at the time and they formed an odd bunch trio. Everest knocked on Drake's window. He looked around panicked, the same facial expression he had every time she knocked. When Drake saw Everest, he calmed down, shoulders slumping down with relief. He walked over to open up the window. Before he opened up the window all the way, Drake asked

"Password?"

Everest rolled her eyes. He did this every time and she was getting a little annoyed. "Turtles"

Drake opened up the window the rest of the way, and Everest climbed in. She glanced around Drake's cluttered and disastrous room. All round on every flat surface there were papers lying about, books scattered everywhere, a number of globes, and Drake's pet chameleon siting peacefully in its cage.

"What new experiment are you working on now?" Everest asked while starting at a bulletin board with pins and strings.

"I'm trying to find a pattern in the kidnappings so I can avoid getting kidnaped myself"

As Everest glanced around the board, she noticed a larger picture in the middle. She recognized the face. It was Kes, Drake's best friend. When Everest had moved to town, she had watched Kes and Drake and longed for a friendship like that. After about a month of hiding in the shadows she became friends with Kes and Drake. A month later, Kes disappeared. Drake hadn't taken it well at all. The two of them had been best friends for a while and Drake really needed that. He probably would do anything to get his best friend back.

"Well, I think to find out the real truth, we have to go out and discover it. Not everything can be learnt from reading," Everest stated.

"You mean go against what everyone has said, and risk our lives? I don't think so. I'm going to figure out everything I can from the comfort and safety of my home, thank you very much," Drake said definitely.

"Come on it will be fun. Aren't you bored of being stuck inside? Take a risk for once," Everest said while trying to pull Drake out of his desk chair.

"I'm sorry that I don't find dyeing fun. I can't help anyone if I'm dead," Drake said, staying firm in his chair.

"Well you aren't going to be any help now because I'm not leaving until you come with me," And with one last big tug, she pulled Drake off his chair and dragged him to the window, "Now come on. Let's have some fun."

A blinding blue flash spread over the forest. They had been walking around for hours now and the sun had gone down. Drake started to run away. He knew nothing good could come of this. Everest was faster though. She grabbed his arm before he could run.

"Everest!" Drake hissed. " This is dangerous. We should run."

"Are you crazy!" Everest shot back. " This is the opportunity of a lifetime!" Without waiting for Drake's rebuttal, Everest quickly moved forward towards the light. While Drake stayed back and watched as she moved closer and closer, and then bolted. Without thinking, Drake screamed.

In front of her, Everest saw shapes moving around in front of a monstrous blob of something, as she drew nearer, she saw that it looked like a vehicle, maybe even a ship. She had found them! She ducked into the shadows so she wouldn't be seen. Then, she heard a scream. Everest knew instantly that it was Drake. The creatures also heard the scream. Sensing that someone was nearby, they started spreading out and searching for the source. There had to be about 30 of them, making it impossible to escape. 

 The only thing Everest could think of doing was to find Drake. She darted into the trees trying to avoid the bright searchlights the unknown creatures were using. Every time she heard a twig snap, everything inside of her froze with terror. Everest couldn't tell whether the sounds she heard were coming from the creatures, Drake, or the animals that lived in the forest. 

 After taking a sharp right after seeing a light heading toward her, she saw an outline through the trees. It had to be Drake. She ran toward the shape and started to reach out when she felt something hit her square in the back, and she blacked out.

Drake knew that this was his fault. He was probably going to die, and so was Everest, and it was all his fault. The first thing he could think of doing was screaming, but by doing that, he had alerted the creatures of their presence. Everest could be dead by now. Drake knew that Everest was an expert survivalist, but they might be up against super-naturals now. When Drake saw a figure emerge from the trees, he tried to bolt, but before he took two steps, something hit him in the back, and he fell over, and blacked out.

Everest opened up her eyes and was met with a painfully bright light shining down on her. She tried to move her arm to block out the light, but it was held down. She tried to sit up, but couldn't move even a finger.

Everest started to panic because she had no idea where she was. All she remembered was the forest and the unknown creatures.  Where was Drake?  Was he alive?  Everest didn't even know how alive she was.  She was completely paralyzed with no idea of her surroundings.

She could feel metal cuffs around both her arms and legs but she wasn't sure why they were necessary because she couldn't move a muscle.  The room she was in was eerily quiet with only the fair sound of machines running. As her eyes adjusted to the light she could see the blank white ceiling above her.  Out of the corner of her eyes she could faintly make out other parts of the room.  It was mostly empty and white with a couple of tables.

After waiting for what felt like hours, Everest was losing hope.

"Hello?" she called, desperate for anyone.  Her fear for who might come was overpowered by her stomach. Everest was starving. "HELLO?" she tried again.  Everest laid there waiting, but no one came.

Everest felt tiered like she had run a marathon and everything felt sore.  After fighting sleep for a couple of minutes, she drifted off.

Everest woke to the sound of whispers around her.  She quickly opened her eyes but still could not sit up or move.  People stood around her staring at her intently.  Everest was absolutely terrified as she looked into their dark grey eyes.  

"Are we operating on this one now?" one of them asked turning  toward someone who Everest assumed was the boss based on the different uniform.  All of the but the boss wore perfect white scrub looking outfits while the boss wore a dark blue suit. 

"Dr. Belmal wants this one for something special I believe. All we need to do is explain and install a disciplinary standard in it. Humans can be a little rebellious," the boss responded.

Everest felt butterflies in her stomach when she heard this.  She did not like being referred to as an "it" and being called a human by what she thought was another human felt very unsettling.

"Start the video," the boss ordered.

Suddenly, Everest's vision went blank until a screen shone in front of her.  It was like seeing a movie, but it wasn't a physical screen.  Somehow her brain was being controlled by the "doctors".  

A video start playing showing the solar system.  A voice slowly faded in.

"In the solar system A-689 only one planet shows signs of life.  The predominant species calls themselves humans.  "Earth" was found 30 years ago and has been studied by many scientist.  A large discovery we have found is their views of other life forms off of Earth.  Humans barely gotten themselves into space yet they have developed their own ideas of what other forms look like.

Humans believe that other life forms (aliens as the call them) are below them in intellect.  The images and ideas that they have formed about us is very offensive to our kind.  After strenuous testing and studying we have come to show humans who we really are.

You are here because you have been chosen as a test subject for our latest experiment.  Our mission is to control the whole planet by creating one alien at a time."

"We are stopping the presentation early for you because the rest of the information is not necessary for you to know yet," the boss said. "Your restraints will now be removed.  Please do not resist.  We do not want to use excessive force."

The cuffs around Everest's wrists and ankles unlatched.  She tried to sit up once again and this time she found she could move again.  Everest wondered if the cuffs were doing more than just holding her arms and legs. A doctor helped her off the bed.  Everest was wearing a blank white hazmat looking suit and white tennis shoes.  Her arms and legs were still sore after not moving for what Everest guessed was multiple hours.  

Everest still had no idea where she was and the video only gave her more questions.  She couldn't quite tell.  Everest took a deep breath and mustered up some courage.

"I'm sorry, but can you tell me where I am?" Everest asked trying to sound confident.

The doctors gave each other knowing looks and one laughed a little.

"Well, your kind might call this "The Mothership" but the actual name is Nero," one doctor said smugly.  "You'll get to know it quite well I think."

"Please follow us through the doors and down the hallway.  You have an appointment with Dr. Belmal.  They do not like tardiness," the boss said.

The hallways were empty and bleached white like medical room.  Everything was so quite except for the doctors shoes as they walked down the hall.

They turned down so many hallways Everest wondered if they were going in circles.  How big could a space ship really be?  Ever hallway and door looked the same.  She wondered if the rooms were ever used because it was so quite.

"What are all of these rooms for?" Everest asked bravely.

"Most are here for preparation for future plans," the boss said.  "They will all be full in good time."

Everest still couldn't understand what these future plans were.  Questions raced through her head as they continued walking.  Suddenly, the reached a large set of black double doors and all of the doctors stopped.

"Here we are.  Go on in."