Sarah Jane Smith walked into the attic from washing the dinner dishes, and noticed her genetically engineered alien son, Luke, was still sitting on the computer.
"Are you still on there?" she asked him.
"Yeah," Luke replied, "Minecraft just got an update!"
"That may be so, but it's 10.30pm," Sarah Jane said, "Even K9 has called it a night!"
She pointed to the robot dog in the corner of the room, whose red eyes were switched off.
"Yeah, but Mum, it just updated!" Luke retaliated, "Come on! You gotta let me stay up! Please? Clyde's still awake and online!"
Sarah Jane gave a defeated sigh, and said "Fine. But don't be up too late. Remember to get some sleep!"
"I will!" Luke called as Sarah Jane left the attic, leaving Luke to play Minecraft.
Rani Chandra was having a sleepover at her friend, Clyde Langer's, house. They had an assignment due in two days that they were working on together as a pair. Clyde's mum had suggested she spend the night and work on the assignment together. But the only work being done was in her own notebook. Clyde was on his computer, playing a silly game she didn't understand called Minecraft.
"Clyde, what about the assignment?" she asked, looking up to him.
His head was literally glued to the screen.
"Yeah, yeah" he said.
"We're meant to be working on it together" Rani told him, emphasising the word 'together'.
"Yeah, that's the spirit, you've got it, girl" Clyde said to her, not taking his eyes off the screen.
Rani gave a defeated sigh, rolling her eyes. She placed her notebook and pen down and rolled over in her sleeping bag. May as well sleep, since there's obviously not going to be any work done tonight.
An hour and a half later, Clyde and Luke were still playing, in the darkness of each room. And then all of a sudden, there was a huge flash of bright light and then nothing was left in the attic and Clyde's room, except for K9 and Rani, respectively.
Rani woke up, giving a yawn, and rubbing her eyes. She noticed a bit of brightness coming out the side of her eyes from where Clyde's computer was.
"Are you still playing that ridiculous game?" she asked.
But there was no answer.
"Clyde?" she asked, rubbing her eyes even harder.
But still no answer. She turned towards Clyde's bed, but he wasn't in there. She looked in the opposite direction toward the computer, still no Clyde. She got out of her sleeping bag and walked over towards the computer. Minecraft was still open. Maybe he got a call from Luke and rushed over to Sarah Jane's, leaving the game on and himself logged in. She got into her clothes and walked downstairs, passing Clyde's mother.
"Have you seen Clyde this morning?" she asked her.
"No, dear, why?" Mrs. Langer asked her, "Is he not up there still sleeping?"
"Right. Yeah, no," Rani told her, "He must have went to Sarah Jane's"
"He must have gone pretty early," Mrs. Langer replied, "I was up at the crack of dawn this morning"
"Yeah, probably" Rani said as she left the house, heading for 13 Bannerman Road.
Sarah Jane had just finished making her and Luke's morning eggs and bacon. She looked up. No Luke. She turned her head to the clock. 8.59am. That was strange. Luke was usually awake by now. She left the kitchen and went to the bottom of the stairs.
"Luke!" she called out, "Breakfast!"
But no response. There was certainly something going on. Luke had perfect hearing, even when he was asleep. After all, he was created to be the perfect human being. Sarah Jane rushed upstairs to Luke's bedroom, opening his door...But Luke wasn't in there, not even in his bed. Which could only have meant one thing. He stayed up all night, playing that ridiculous Mintcart game. She rushed up and into the attic...but there was still no sign of Luke. Which was certainly strange. Luke never left the house earlier than this, even to go visit Clyde or Rani.
"Luke!" she called out for her son.
She looked everywhere around the attic, but there was neither hide nor hair of Luke. Then she noticed K9. She ran over her metal dog, and tapped him on the head.
"K9! K9!" she called.
With that, K9's red eyes lit up, and his ears started moving.
"Good morning, Mistress!" K9 greeted her.
"Have you seen Luke?!" Sarah Jane asked him.
"I have not seen Master Luke, Mistress," K9 stated.
"He was in here late last night, and now I can't find him anywhere!" Sarah Jane told the dog, distressed.
"This unit was in sleep mode at that hour, Mistress" K9 replied.
"Oh, Luke, where are you?" Sarah Jane said, pacing the floor, thinking.
Just then, she got the worst shock of her life. What if he was kidnapped? What if the Bane had come for him and taken him back? What if another alien species came and took him away? Oh, her baby. She walked up to the large empty brick wall at the end of the attic.
"Mister Smith, I need you," Sarah Jane said, "Stat"
At that, the brick wall opened to reveal a giant computer built into the wall.
"How can I be of help today, Sarah Jane?" The computer, Mr. Smith, asked.
"Luke's gone missing" Sarah Jane told the computer.
"Would you like me to complete an areawide search for Luke?" Mr. Smith asked her.
"No, that would take too long," Sarah Jane said, "Scan for any recent alien activity in the last night"
"Scanning" Mr. Smith said as a wavelength type of line appeared on his screen.
"No alien activity detected in the last night," he said once the scan was complete, "However, there was a huge electrical anomaly in here"
"Electrical anomaly?" Sarah Jane asked, "In here?"
"Yes, over by the computer" Mr. Smith stated.
"Yes! That's it!" Sarah Jane said, clapping her hands together, "That's where he was last I saw him!"
She ran over to the computer to notice the game Luke was playing was still on and still logged in.
"The game's still on.." she stated.
She grabbed the mouse and tried moving the character. But nothing would move.
"It's not moving.." she said.
"Perhaps the mouse needs batteries" Mr. Smith suggested.
"No, the mouse is fine" Sarah Jane said, picking up the mouse and looking at the bottom of it.
She tried pressing the Esc button, but still nothing happened.
"Nothing's happening," Sarah Jane stated, "The Escape key should exit it, or at least bring up a menu of some kind. But nothing. Just stuck on this one screen"
Sarah Jane eyed her sonic lipstick sitting on one of the tables. If anything could know what was wrong, it was her sonic. She snatched it off the table, and pointed it at the computer screen, flicking it on as it made it's usual buzzing sound. But at that, a bright light surrounded Sarah Jane and she disappeared.
"Sarah Jane!" Mr. Smith yelled.
"Mistress!" K9 yelled in unison.
At that moment, Rani ran into the attic.
"Sarah Jane!" she called.
But then she looked around, and only saw K9 and Mr. Smith.
"Sorry, has she gone out? Am I intruding?" Rani asked.
Both metal dog and supercomputer were silent.
"What?!" Rani asked, "Silence is never good, what happened?!"
"Mistress Sarah Jane has just vanished out of thin air" K9 told the girl.
"So has Clyde! What about Luke, is Luke here?!" Rani asked.
"Master Luke is also nowhere to be seen" K9 said.
"Great," Rani said, "Wait, you said just vanished? You mean just now, you saw it happen?"
"Affirmative, Mistress Rani" K9 replied.
"Then where'd she go?!" Rani asked.
"Unknown" K9 said in a deflated tone.
"Mr. Smith, can you do a scan for her?" Rani asked the computer, "She can't have gone far, can she?"
"I can try," Mr. Smith answered, "But this is Sarah Jane we are talking about"
Mr. Smith conducted a scan, which took a few moments, then he blipped.
"Not far is right" he stated.
"Well, where is she?!" Rani asked.
"It appears that Sarah Jane has been transported inside the computer" Mr. Smith stated.
"Inside the computer?!" Rani said, walking over to the computer.
She squinted at the screen, noticing the game that was open.
"This is that ridiculous Minecraft game the boys play," she said, "But I can't see Sarah Jane anywhere"
"My scans say she is inside that Minecraft game you just mentioned" Mr. Smith stated.
"But that's not possible!" Rani said, turning to Mr. Smith, "Maybe your scanner's off or something"
"My scanner is never off, Rani, it is always accurate" Mr. Smith said.
Rani turned her focus back on the computer screen. She sighed.
"But she's a mum.." she said.
"Why is that a concern?" Mr. Smith asked.
"This is a new generation kid's game," Rani explained, "If she is in there, she won't have a clue what to do. I've gotta go and find her. K9, are you able to transport me into the game?"
K9 was silent for a moment as his probe came out of his forehead and he scanned the computer.
"Affirmative, Mistress Rani" he replied.
"Do you know what to do, Rani?" Mr. Smith asked her.
"No," Rani replied hesitantly, "But I've gotta try"
"Do it" she said, looking down at K9.
With that, K9 pointed his antenna probe at Rani and, just like Sarah Jane, she was surrounded by a bright light and disappeared in front of the two machines' eyes.