I don’t remember exactly where or when I had this idea. I do know that while I’ve turned it into a flash fiction, it really needs to be expanded into a short story. I’ll work on that later. In the meantime, here’s a SciFi story for your Friday enjoyment.

The Next Step

The aliens came after dark, suddenly appearing in the sky without warning. Governments panicked, Generals were called in to explain why they didn’t know the aliens were near. Chanda Magar watched it unfold on television, stunned, like the rest of the population, by the realization they weren’t alone in the universe.

She was the first in the lab, like every morning. She was the one who fed the chimps, and despite the aliens, they needed their breakfasts. They knew she was coming; the noise from inside the animal area was intense. When she opened the door she rolled the cart inside without looking up.

“Good morning boys and girls,” she called as she turned on the lights. She stopped dead when she turned to the cages. Each and every chimp’s fur was now a metallic color, bright blue, red, green, yellow, orange, purple. She closed her eyes; then opened them, hoping to see her normal chimps again.

She gave her favorite chimp, Harvey, his bowl of food. While she stared at his now brilliant, metallic blue fur, he pulled a bit of apple out of the bowl and put it in his mouth, staring at her. She felt a tickle at the back of her mind as she watched him eat.

“What happened, Harvey? What happened?” she whispered.

She shook her head, ignoring the tickle, and wheeled the cart back out of the room. At the Lab Director’s office, Dr. Kumar Bedi, she knocked. He was watching a YouTube video of riots in the city center. “Dr. Bedi, you need to come to the chimp lab. There’s something you need to see.”

He waved at the computer monitor. “Do you see this? Madness,” he exclaimed, still watching the screen. “Is there something wrong with the chimps?”

“I’d rather you saw for yourself Doctor.”

He looked back at the screen, nodding to himself, then reached out and turned it off. “Very well.”

He followed her to the lab and when he came into the room, stopped short. All of the chimps were quiet, silently munching their morning meal, staring at the doctors in the doorway. Chanda could feel the tickle again, in the back of her mind.

Dr. Bedi walked around all of the cages, right index finger over his mouth, fist cupping his chin. He stopped at Harvey’s cage and looked at Chanda. “Did you touch the chimps?”

“No Doctor. I fed them and went straight to you.”

He nodded, looking at Harvey. “Let’s pull Harvey out, Dr. Magar. I’d like a sample of his fur.”

Chanda nodded and walked over to the cage. She opened the latch. “Come Harvey; let’s cut a little fur from you, shall we?”

Used to being taken from his cage by Dr. Magar  he cooperated, wrapping his big arms and legs around her neck and waist. Dr. Bedi was at the lab table. He’d gloved up and pulled a pair of scissors from the drawer, as well as a sample bag.

Chanda could feel the tickle in the back of her mind more strongly now. She looked into Harvey’s eyes as she carried him to the table. The feeling was stronger, but once at the table, she sat him down and with her bare hand in the chimp’s, allowed Dr. Bedi to cut some fur from Harvey’s back.

She couldn’t take her eyes away from Harvey’s. Suddenly, a picture of the chimp play room popped into her mind, along with an overwhelming urge to take him there right now. It was only after Dr. Bedi called her name several times did she break her eye contact with Harvey.

“Dr. Magar, what’s wrong?”

She blinked hard, “I don’t know Doctor; I just had an overwhelming urge to take Harvey to the playroom.”

All day they made and received calls from other research labs. No one knew what had happened. At 8pm, Eastern Daylight time, they found out. Blasting out of every television, radio, computer monitor and cell phone, the aliens spoke.

“Be not afraid children. We’ve updated your younger siblings, the chimpanzees. Now, it’s time for you to move to the next level.

The End

688 Words

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