It was the year 3023. The human race had evolved in ways that could hardly be conceived. Fossil fuels were no longer in production, everyone was able to be fed, clothed and housed, illness was nonexistant. People were the happiest they had ever been, living meaningful fulfilling lifestyles that allowed plenty of room for laughter and intellectual growth. They never imagined a world more wonderful could possibly exist. Dan was 12 years old when everything changed.
For over a thousand years humans had been attempting to make contact with beings from other planets, other galaxies even, by sending messages out into space explaining their whereabouts and universal location. Generation after generation of people died disappointed, never knowing if their small humble planet would ever make contact with whatever form of alien life that must have existed outside of our proximity. Then, one day, as Dan was in his room listening to music by popular year 3000 punk bands, all of the power suddenly went out. The room was silent. The Earth was silent. Every barking dog, every crying baby, every snoring grandma was silenced by the sudden presence of a sense of unease that shrouded the earth. Dan looked over at the clock. 21:15 pm. He looked out the window expecting to see nothing but blackness, but was surprised at the growing brightness of the outside world. It wasn't a normal brightness. Not like the sun, or the illuminated sidewalks that glowed at night to make finding home much less of a chore in the dark. It was a brightness that seemed to permeate from the air particles themselves. Suddenly, wind, unimaginable wind began to howl and shake the earth to its' very core. As the entire house began to shake, Dan threw his covers over his head so afraid of the collapsing world around him. The scream of the wind was now unbearable, to which Dan's screams of fear could not even compare. Tears streaking down his face, Dan knew this must be the end of everything. His home, his life, all of existence, all of creation.
Suddenly, everything stopped. The shaking, the screaming, the world falling apart, everything seemed to cease other than Dan's pounding heart. The blanket was ripped from his body and he found himself staring into the eyes of... of what? These... beings. Colossal beings with pale white skin and light blue glowing eye sockets, no eyes within them. They were dressed in what seemed to be robes made of fine silk, the finest silk Dan had ever laid eyes on. The Being standing in the front, the leader who also happened to be the tallest of all the beings, surveyed Dan's room with his lack of eyes. He was not able to tell what the Alien must have been thinking due to the lack of facial expression or facial movement of any kind. The alien walked over to Dan's bookshelf and pulled out his copy of The Fault in our Stars, an earth classic, and flipped to a random page. He produced from his pocket a small black device which he pointed at the page of the book. It produced a red light that scanned the page then blinked blue three times and beeped once. The alien then turned around and pointed the device to the other 4 aliens in the room and projected the same red light into their eye holes. The act of this seemed to cause the aliens to glow orange then return to their normal shade of pale white. The leader then did the same to himself, pocketed the device, then turned his attention back to Dan on the bed, who was trying desperately to hold what little rationality his brain was still maintaining.
"Hello small human. I am Transel of the Shifter race, of the 3rd universe."
Dan just stared in silence. What was happening here? Who were these random aliens and how did they end up in his bedroom? Why were they in his bedroom?
"Do you understand me small human? Lift your left palm if you do."
Dan obediently lifted his palm, pooling with a nervous sweat, to show Transel he could comprehend.
"Excellent. I am here to tell you that you have been selected with 200 other small humans to live and serve among my people. If you are obedient and willing you shall be honored with the position of being one of my commanders, whose job it is to make sure that I as well as other leaders of my nation are happy and pleased in every way possible. We will teach you our ways, we will clothe and feed you, we will give you a better life than you will ever have on this planet- or rather, would have had before we came to conquer. We wish to teach your planet the ways of true peace, but first you must learn obedience, and you, Daniel, shall be one of the few lucky ones to take care of the leaders. Should you decline my offer we will be forced to place you and your family into our internment camps which will certainly not hold nearly as many benefits as my offer holds."
Dan could do nothing but stare.
"Daniel, do you love your family?" nod. "Would you want them to be happy?" nod. "Then come with me and I will show you the ways of peace and true happiness."
Dan looked around the room. He felt that the option he was given was not really an option at all. Of course he wanted his family to be happy, but who would ask that other than someone who could provide their happiness or destroy any chance of it. He surveyed the cold eye sockets that still managed to stare into his very soul, pierce the skin he felt protected his fragile heart, but that he felt would do nothing to protect against these aliens who had technologies beyond anything Dan could understand.
Dan nodded his head and stood out of bed. The Alien placed his pinkie finger out, a clear signal for Dan to make contact with him. Dan wrapped his small human hand around the pinkie and was blinded by a piercing luminescence that could only be described by the words of a true poet. This day, this moment was the moment that would change Dan's life forever. This was the moment when Dan was saved.