11:54. Michael Belpois was lying in bed, trying to go to sleep.
11:55
Suddenly, he sat bolt upright. His computer monitor has just powered on. Assuming it was just a trick of the light; he turned over and lay down again. He didn't, however, see the red symbol that flashed onto the screen. His dreams that night were haunted by strange red symbols, lines of computer code, and various mathematical formulae.
5:35
He sat up in a daze, eyes misted over and a strange tattoo glowing on the back of his neck. He sat at his workstation and began furiously typing an email.
"Aelita, did you send me a message this morning?" a bleary eyed Jeremie asked, anxiously, "No, why?" "I got a message around five-forty five this morning, from my father. He was frantic about something, but the weirdest part was, it was written in binary! Also, he didn't sign with his own name. He signed as a Mr. Xavier Alexander Nicholas Andrews." "That is weird, Jeremie! I'll look into it."
Ulrich Stern looked in the mirror. He was a rugged, good looking boy. He didn't think he was vain, either. He had not been the MVP in soccer for nine years straight for nothing. His roommate Odd came into the room, walking strangely stiffly. "Odd, are you OK?" Odd didn't say anything. Nothing. Not one thing. If you didn't know Odd, this was normal, or just a bit, well, odd. But, if you knew him at all, you would realize something was very wrong. Very wrong. Suddenly, Ulrich began to feel faint. Then, Odd collapsed onto his bed, a mist floating out of him. The ominous looking mist made its way over to Ulrich, and seeped into his brain.
Jeremie sat in Science, bored to death. Normally science was his favorite class of the day, but finding the base chemical in a solid biome model was easy for him. He went over his Dad's email in his head.
Son,
I met your friend Odd today. Very nice boy. Yes, very cooperative. We got into a minor debate, and it was easy to get him to see our point of view. We enjoyed seeding Odd's brain with some new ideas. WE NEED TO TALK, ASAP.
Thanks,
Your Dad,
Mr.
Xavier
Alexander
Nicholas
Andrews
P.S.
I'm meeting up with your friend Ulrich today.
The letter was strange, to say the least. But as he looked at the initial of the signature, it hit him in the head. X.A.N.A. He immediately sat bolt upright. "Mrs. Hertz, here is the assignment. I'm leaving now." He yelled as he ran out of the room. As he arrived at Odd and Ulrich's room, he was hesitant to open the door, afraid of what he might find. He turned the knob, opened the door slowly, and looked inside the dark room. Unable to see, he reached over to flip the wall switch. As the lights came on, his eyes widened in horror.
Down the hall, William Dunbar walked into the Boy Dormitory, and saw Jeremie on his knees, clutching the doorknob, sobbing, "NOO!!!! You can't be gone!! Not both of you!!!!!"