Not Alone Ch. 01

Kayleigh rolled out of the bed, kicking the covers away, landing on the floor on her hands and knees. She didn't remember coming home last night, or going to bed. That wasn't too unusual, but as the numbing tendrils of sleep slowly lost their grip she began to realize that something was distinctly wrong. This wasn't her room. This wasn't any room she had ever been in before.

It was a nice bedroom, to be sure -- bigger than any she had been in, with a four-poster bed, a fancy chest of drawers, a bookshelf stocked with the classics, and other aristocratic furnishing. But it wasn't hers. And the view outside the window was definitely not a ground-level image of their sleepy college town.

"Tom," Kayleigh said quietly. "Why are we in New York?"

It was a skyline she had learned from countless TV shows and movies, looking in fact exactly as it had in the cinema. It was a gorgeous view, if a nonsensical one. Tom muttered something monosyllabic and rolled over.

Kayleigh poked him in the chest until he eventually managed to pull himself to a sitting position. Tom shook out his long hair as if some strands of sleep were stuck in it. "What's the big deal, Kay?" And then he took a look around and looked equally baffled.

"Have you ever been here before?" she said.

"Nope. Last I checked we were at your uni, not... here."

"I don't even remember falling asleep," she said.

Both of them sat there for a moment, as if hoping that if they waited long enough they would wake up in their own beds. Or maybe they were just waiting for something to happen. But nothing did.

It was Kayleigh who got up first. "I guess we should see what's through that door." Tom nodded, looking nervous.

Through the door and down a brief hallway they came to what seemed like a common room, lit by scattered lamps. It seemed as though night had abruptly fallen, as no light came through the window. It looked like it wouldn't be out of place at her university, aping a kind of stuffy English academicism. Sitting on a comfortable-looking armchair with a plate of toast was her graduate advisor, in his boxer shorts.

"Richard?" Kayleigh said. "What are you doing here?"

"Same thing as you, I'd imagine," said Richard. He looked the two of them up and down appraisingly, and it was only then that Kayleigh realized her state of undress. She and Tom were just as they had been after their impulsive coupling on the desk, wearing only a bra and a shirt respectively. She blushed furiously and tried to cover her privates, while Tom tugged his shirt down until it at least halfway covered his twig and berries.

"Oh, there's no need to be shy," Richard said. "I get the feeling that we're going to be here for a while, so we at least ought to be comfortable around each other."

"Where is here?" said Kayleigh, her curiosity momentarily overcoming her self-consciousness.

Richard jerked a finger towards the window. "It took me a while to stop it cycling through famous cityscapes, but I think I've got what is actually outside now."

Kayleigh and Tom crab-walked over to the window, trying to stay decent, even if Richard was going to have a perfect view of both their asses in a minute. He just took another bite of his toast and looked greatly amused. But when they saw what was out there they both forgot about modesty.

It was space -- littered with stars like the night sky Kayleigh loved, but instead of fading away to the horizon it kept going, encapsulating them completely. The sun was a glimmering light burning far away. It took them a few minutes to recognize the pale blue disk receding in the background as Earth.

There was a deep, authoritative voice behind them. It didn't sound anything like Richard. "That is your home planet. Take a good look, as you won't be back there."