Prologue

September 5, 2500

8:30 PM

Planet Saturn

Pudding's POV

"Happy birthday, Pudding! Blow out the candles and make a wish!" my friend, Ulala, exclaimed as we stood over the blue birthday cake. I silently made a wish, and blew out the candles, much to the joy of everyone there. We'd gone over to my parents' mansion on Saturn, and we were holding a birthday party over there. My parents were overjoyed by the fact that I'd come home, and I was pretty happy about it too. All of a sudden, my blue headset began to buzz, letting me know that there was a call coming in.

"Ulala, I've got to go outside for a minute. I'm getting a call from the station, and it might be urgent," I said, and Ulala nodded in understanding. I nodded at her, and walked out of the mansion, pressing the ANSWER button on my headset.

"Talk to me, Jared," I said, but there was nothing coming through the set. I was confused at first, but then I heard breathing on the other end. I listened intently, waiting for a word to be spoken.

"…Ulala? A…are you….there?" a soft voice asked through the headset. I gulped when I heard the way the name was pronounced. Only one person acknowledged Ulala as "You-lah-lah", and that person was Space Michael Jackson.

"No…you didn't call Ulala. You called me…Pudding. What happened? Are you alright?" I asked, and Space Michael grunted on the other end. Was he in pain? What was wrong with him?

"I…I've been captured again. It's not Purge, though; it's somebody else," he mustered out. Somebody else got to him? What happened this time? How was he even captured in the first place? Space Michael had been living behind locked doors ever since "the incident". I waited for him to say more, but then I heard a clunk on metal ground. All of a sudden, there was the sound of a radio being switched on. Wait a minute…radios didn't exist anymore. They existed back in the 21st century, not the 25th century!

"Space Michael? A-are you still there? Michael, please say something!" I pleaded, but the line went dead almost immediately. I removed the headset from my head, and retreated back into the mansion. I barely even noticed Ulala standing there, her face clouded with deep concern.

"Pudding, are you alright? Did your boss fire you or something?" she asked, and I turned back to look at her. Her head was tilted to the side a little bit, and I felt like I had to tell her. With that in mind, I walked over and put my gloved hand on her shoulder. Ulala winced a little at the touch, but I ignored it and took her inside.

"Ulala…this is going to be a little hard to say, but…"