Entering the Twilight Zone

I expected to hear the gun go off, maybe even feel the bullet smash into my skull before it scrambled my brains. I wasn't expecting the sensation of falling but no rush or wind. I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or if I even had eyes. No sight, no sound, no touch, no smells. Where ever I had gone, there was nothing, nothing but my existence.

The moment I had realized this, the nothingness ended and my head spun as my senses were assaulted by everything. There was a rush of wind before I fell onto something cold and hard, and I heard my shoulder crack on contact. The air was much colder and had a stale filtered smell. There were screams and the sounds of movement, more than the 4 other people who had been in the store. My eyes couldn't seem to adjust, but metallic grays swam and spun in my vision. It didn't make sense; the convenience store had white ceilings. What's going on?

I closed my eyes and tried to get up, but crumbled with the sharp pain coming from my shoulder. I imagined it was broken, or that was where burglar had shot me and I was just waking up in the emergency room. It explained the change in what I saw and why it sounded like there were more people. I felt a hand press on my shoulder, causing me to gasp and wince from the pain. Then I heard someone yelling for a doctor in a familiar voice, but I couldn't place where I had heard it.

I tried opening my eyes again, and this time I was even more confused. The blurred vision was fading, but what I was seeing didn't make sense. I seemed to be in a warehouse, surrounded by large crates. The grey metallic ceiling looked to be made in large plates of metal. There was a small crowd surrounding me, dressed in the grey and white outfits. I was trying to understand what I was seeing when I turned my head to look at something else.

That only made things worse.

I thought it must have been a picture at first, a very large painting of metal object in a blanket of stars. It looked like part of a space station arm or a wing of a ship maybe. The shimmering I saw might have just been from the light hitting the texture. Then the blurred edges of my vision focused more on the massive reptile, who stared back at me and scaly fingers twitched on his massive gun.

My breathing quickened and I began to panic. I was hallucinating, I was sure of it. Krogans weren't real, and I hadn't seen through a massive rip in the wall to see part of a space ship. I must be in shock from the robbery and being shot. Nothing else made sense; there was no logical explanation for any of this. How could this be real?

But still the illusion didn't fade, and I kept seeing more than I wanted to. I looked at the face of the person in front of me, and realized why it sounded familiar. I knew I was insane now, that I had snapped as I stared into the face of this man. He couldn't be standing over me, looking as though he was the one who was crazy and seeing things. I stared into his blue eyes, trying to will him away. Trying to make the armor with "N7" emblazed on the chest go away.

Command John Shepard didn't exist, but I was staring into his face.

If I wasn't insane, then I was dead. This was some twisted version of heaven or, if the pain creeping into my shoulder was any indication, my own personal hell. It was too much to take in, my brain locked up and I couldn't seem to breathe. The hallucination seemed to know something was wrong and began shouting, but the sound was muffled and blackness swam into my vision. I blacked out as I saw someone push through the crowd and kneel down next to me.

I felt heaviness in my arms and legs as I started coming around. I didn't open my eyes, not ready to see the padded walls of my cell or, and my heart raced, some celestial being welcoming to my new existence. I focused on the sounds and sensations around me. The filtered air was still present but it was mixed with the medicinal smell of a hospital. I was laying on something much warmer and softer, and I guessed it was a bed. There was a faint beeping noise I recognized as heart monitor. I started to relax and slowly opened my eyes.

My eyes focused on the metallic grey ceiling in front of me and I could feel the panic setting back in. I was right in thinking this was a hospital room, but not any hospital that I've ever been in, Near my feet I saw what looking like a scanning device and to my left was a wall with "Server Room" written on it. I attempted to get up only to feel a something pinning me down. As I looked at myself I saw I was in a hospital gown and had restraints on my chest, arms and legs.

I jumped a little when I felt a hand lay gently on my forehead, but a soothing voice spoke that reminded me of a grandmother. It took some of my panic away, but did little to alleviate my fears, until I really listened. It was another voice I recognized. I turned my head to the sound of the voice, hoping I was wrong for once. I stared into the face of the doctor, her green eyes appraising my demeanor, maybe seeing if I was going to start freaking out and trying to break free. Her grey hair made her seem older than 50, but her face seemed smoother than it should be. She spoke again, confirming my insanity this time.

"Just relax, young man. My name is Doctor Chakwas. You had a nasty fall and broke a few bones, but you're safe aboard the Normandy." I looked down at my hands, her eyes following mine with a sigh. "I apologize for the restraints. Others felt it was...a necessary precaution. You'll be out of them and back in your own clothing soon enough." She gave me a warm smile and, even if I was crazy, I did start feeling better.

"That all depends on how he answers my questions, Carol"

We both turn to the door, staring toward the woman who had spoken. Normally a stunningly gorgeous woman with sexy Aussie accent wouldn't give me an anxiety attack. But this one kept reminding me that none of this was real but I wasn't coming out of the nightmare. I gulped as she slowly walked toward me. Chakwas gave me a sympathetic look and then stepped away, walking over to her desk but not letting myself or the woman out of her sight. It looked like she was afraid to leave me alone with her. Then again, I knew that Miranda was a cold hearted bitch, and I didn't blame her.

"Who are you and what are you doing on the Normandy?"

I stared at her, not sure how to answer, mostly because I didn't know. Even if I could, I didn't know if I should. Wasn't talking to people who didn't exist the first step in accepting I was crazy? She glared at me as I debated on what I should do

"Well, let me rephrase my questions, Alexander Jameson." She tossed something on my lap, my wallet and drivers license. "Why are you doing spying on this ship and crew?" She held up a book and my eyes widened in terror. I had forgotten about my backpack, which I had taken my Mass Effect guide with me. She tossed the book on top of me and folded her arms. "Who sent you? Start talking or I'll consider just turning you over to Cerberus Security rather than tossing you out the air lock."

I managed to find my voice at the thought of being tossed into space. "I'm not a spy." She rolled her eyes and looked away, clearly not believing me. "I don't know how I ended up here. I was in a gas station and about to eat a bullet when I showed up here. And I'm clearly insane talking to fictional characters." I struggled against the bonds, wondering when I'd start seeing the doctors who'd bring start bringing me a bunch of pills to make the voices go away.

I felt her hand grab my throat and pin me to the bed. I reconsidered the whole "hallucination" idea under the incredibly strong grip as she pulled out a pistol and put it to my head "You're going to still eat a bullet if you don't start telling the truth. You're not alliance and you're defiantly not a merc. Who do you work for?" I struggled for air and against my bonds, hearing Chakwas make some objection to my treatment. But it wasn't the doctor's voice that made Miranda let go and step away.

"That's Enough Miranda, stand down!"

I gasped for air and looked over at the voice of salvation, the first face I saw since this nightmare started. Commander Shepard walked across the room and stared down his XO. "He doesn't need a gun to his head, Miranda. EDI confirms that he hasn't stowed away on his ship, even if the security vids were altered to make him appear out of nowhere 15 feet in the air. None of this makes sense." He turned to me "He doesn't even seem to know what's happening."

Miranda stepped away and leaned on the wall. "If you say so, Shepard, but he's clearly unstable. He seems to think I don't exist"

I shut my eyes. "None of you exist; I'm either dead or insane. None of this is real!" I wanted to scream for the doctor, beg him to put me through shock therapy and fry me until I was sane again. It was either that or admits I was dead. I was hyperventilating and I felt like I was going to black out again when a pair of strong hands grabbed my shoulders and gave me a shake.

"Take it easy, you're not dead or insane. If you were dead, you wouldn't have broken your arm when you fell. And if this was all in your head, you would have accepted it already. Just relax and calm down"

I started taking in deep breaths as I thought over what Shepard had said. If I was in heaven I wouldn't felt the dull ache and soreness in my shoulder, or I could do allot better for paradise than the ripped up frigate in a video game. Hell would be more painful and I'm sure Miranda would have shot me a few times. As for my sanity, what he had said made sense; crazy people didn't think they were crazy. I was calming down and I looked around the room, starting to accept this was real.

I felt the straps on my body release and I sat up slowly, looking right out the window of the infirmary. A few of the crew members were in the mess hall, watching me with fascination and something else...fear? I wiped the sweat from my brow and realized there were tears in my eyes. Wiping them away, I looked at Shepard and spoke in a weak whisper. "Thanks."

"Anytime, now tell me about who you are and what happened to you. What was the last thing you remember? And maybe you can explain this book." He sat down and folded his arms, giving me a moment to collect my thoughts and compose myself

I explained me that I was a bartender, about the robbery and my near brush with death. I told them that I was on earth and the year. I told them everything they wanted to know, except explaining the hundreds of pages of paper Shepard had picked up and flipped through, stopping and frowning on certain pages. When I stopped talking he looked at me, waiting for the answer. I took a deep breath.

"The book is a guide....to a video game."

Miranda stormed over "This is crap, you expect us to believe that you appeared from nowhere and that we're...what? Characters for your entertainment? You can't believe this Commander."

Shepard was quiet, his eyes not leaving the book. "Dr Chakwas, what did your tests tell you" I frowned; I thought they had just patched up my shoulders.

Chakwas stood up and spoke in a shaky voice "After I set his bones and applied the medigel, I took a blood sample. He's in perfect health, but he lacks the genetic markers typical to any gene therapy. He has genetic defects that are generally repaired while still in the fetal stage. Everything I have found doesn't make sense unless he was born around the 21st century, as he is claiming to be."

Miranda glared at Chakwas "You can't be serious. You're saying that somehow he's from the past, but somehow access to everything we've done in the last 6 months, including a fight with a human reaper?"

A small flash of light appears in the corner of my left eye and a blue ball appeared from a small display and spoke in a digital but feminine voice. "There is no record of an Alexander Jameson in the time or location he has claimed to be from. However, Mr. Moreau has made a comment that he might be from a "bizzaro" world. While childish, I believe his idea is not far from the truth. Moments before Mr. Jameson landed in the cargo bay; there was a massive surge of energy that didn't match anything in my records."

Miranda seemed shocked only for a moment and then turned back to Shepard. "Even the damn AI has lost its mind." She looked at me in disbelief. "You expect us to believe you're from some other dimension? You've been watching too many old vids."

Shepard looked up. "I think EDI is right. This book has my face on the front, but there are problems with the pictures inside. They aren't real and poorly made. Think about it, an Omni-tool for children could make better pictures than this. And there is also one other thing." He handed the guide to Miranda on a certain page "This Shepard is a woman" He walked away, letting Miranda flip through the book to confirm what he said. EDI, is there any explanation as to how this happened?"

There was a pause before EDI spoke. "Nothing in the Normandy could have created the energy signature I detected. I don't have enough information, but it is possible that the energy originated in Jameson's dimension."

I stared blankly at the wall speaking softly. "Is there a way to get me back?"

Another pause that seemed to last forever. "I'm sorry Mr. Jameson, but there are currently no means of replicating the events that brought you on this ship"

I take it back, I was in hell. Most gamers fantasized about being in their favorite games, but I preferred to keep my life simple. No aliens trying to kill me, no worrying about being the only hope for the galaxy. I was happy to just serve drinks and only worry about the occasional drunk.

Shepard stood up. "This is a lot to take in, Alex. Take your time and collect yourself. I'll make sure your personal belongings are brought back to you. Miranda, round up the crew and have them meet me in the conference room. We need to tell them what we know"

Miranda nodded once and headed out the door. Shepard gave me one more look and then turned to follow her. I don't know what compelled me, but I looked up "Shepard?"

He turned and looked at me, concern and doubt on his face. I suppose he was turned upside down as I was over everything that had happened. I took a breath "Take my book with you, there's a picture you need to see, and maybe it will help the council believe you"

He gave me a nod before leaving. The look on his face said it all. He had already seen it. The picture of hundreds, maybe thousands of Reaper Ships on the borders of the Milky Way Galaxy, moving silently to destroy everything and everyone.