Julia stood in the parking lot of a grand and dazzling spaceship. Darkness enveloped the area, with only a faint electronic hum echoing from afar. She looked around curiously, her heart pounding rapidly. She wished, at least, for an alien or even a robot to break her solitude.

  “Is there really no one here?” she muttered. The only reply she received was the echo of her own voice. Julia shivered; the loneliness of such a place unnerved her, and she instinctively took a step forward.

  Meanwhile, her hand reached out towards a nearby console. But as her trembling fingers touched one of the glowing buttons, everything changed.

  “Oh no!” A loud voice from the console announced, "Suspension mode activated!" Julia couldn't quite grasp what had happened, but a strange sensation of weightlessness enveloped her. She was floating! Suspended mid-air with no stability, all she felt was sheer terror. Her face reflected her panic as she hurtled toward the spaceship's wall, feeling as though everything was spinning. "Whoa! I don’t want to fly!" she screamed. Before long, Julia was guided towards the spaceship's exit. Still floating and visibly frightened, she was suddenly thrown out with a slight jolt.

  Where had she been sent? Right back to the place where she had been trapped moments ago. Julia found herself lying bewildered in a cul-de-sac, recovering from her floating ordeal. She thought to herself, "Well, this is one of the worst days of my life. But at least I’m no longer floating."

  She scanned her surroundings. There were no agents or vehicles in sight, just her bicycle lying in a corner. At that moment, she noticed the device still clinging to her hand. She banged it against the ground a few times, hoping it would detach, but only managed to hurt her hand. It felt as though the device had become part of her body!

  With some effort, she sat down to calm herself, then approached her bicycle. Picking it up, she cautiously made her way out of the cul-de-sac. Lost in her thoughts, the pager attached to her bicycle beeped: "Hey, girl! Always slacking off, huh?

  Julia pedaled quickly, her heart still racing from the events earlier. As she reached the restaurant, the faint aroma of food hit her, reminding her of her responsibilities. She locked her bike and hurried inside, where the lively chatter of her colleagues greeted her.

  “Ah, look who finally decided to show up!” Mark, one of the delivery riders, smirked as he leaned casually against the counter. “Thought you went on a break... or quit!”

  Julia rolled her eyes, panting slightly. “Relax, Mark. Just ran into... some unexpected delays.” She avoided explaining further, glancing at the glowing device still stuck to her hand.

  Another rider, Emily, chimed in while checking her delivery list. “You’re lucky Nick didn’t notice. You know how he gets when we’re late.”

  As if on cue, Nick, the restaurant manager, emerged from the kitchen with a stern expression. “Julia! You’re late again. Customers don’t like waiting, you know!”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Julia straightened up, holding her hands up apologetically. “I’m sorry, Nick! It won’t happen again. Promise.”

  Nick sighed, shaking his head, then handed her the next order. “Just make sure it doesn’t. Now get these delivered before I lose my patience.”

  Mark whispered to Emily with a grin, “Bet she got stuck daydreaming again.” Julia shot him a glare but chose to ignore the comment. She grabbed the food packages and headed out, loading them onto her bike.

  As she secured the bags, Emily joined her outside. “Hey, you okay? You seem... distracted.”

  Julia hesitated, glancing at the device on her hand. “Yeah, just... tired, I guess.”

  Emily raised an eyebrow but didn’t press further. “Alright. Be careful out there.”

  Julia nodded, pushing off on her bike. The device on her hand hummed softly, its lights flickering faintly. She tried to ignore it, focusing on weaving through the streets to her first delivery

  ***

  Julia nodded and pedaled off again. The device on her hand began to hum softly, its lights flickering faintly. She tried to ignore it and focused on delivering her first order.

  Julia rode swiftly, trying to push the strange device stuck to her hand from her mind. But hidden cameras in the shadows of the city corners kept a constant watch on her movements. In a dark room equipped with multiple monitors, an anonymous group wearing black masks tracked her.

  “She’s moving. Destination: the next restaurant,” one of them reported in a calm yet serious tone.

  Another, seemingly the leader, replied, “We need to ensure the device hasn’t activated. If she becomes aware of its capabilities, we’ll have a serious problem.”

  Julia reached her next destination and rang the doorbell. Meanwhile, one of the group members, dressed in casual clothing, watched her from afar, standing in a corner of the alley. Oblivious to the secretive gazes, Julia delivered the order and mounted her bike once again.

  On her way back to the restaurant, an unusual crackling sound suddenly came from the device on Julia’s hand. She looked at it anxiously and muttered, “What was that?” A faint, unstable light emanated from the device, and she felt an odd vibration in her hand. She tried to stay focused and continued her route, but something strange was unfolding a few blocks away.

  One of the anonymous agents trailing Julia suddenly froze. His face contorted in pain as though struck by an electrical shock. Before he could react further, he collapsed—out of Julia’s sight. Other agents monitoring her from nearby quickly rushed toward him.

  “What happened?! What’s going on?” one of them whispered angrily.

  Before anyone could respond, the sound of heavy, synchronized footsteps echoed through the street. The headlights of a jeep piercing the darkness forced the anonymous group to retreat quickly into the shadows.

  “Military forces!” one of the agents said, his voice low but filled with stress. They carefully observed the patrolling soldiers.

  The leader of the group, looking concerned, shook his head. “Damn… They’ll think we did this. We can’t let this turn into another conflict.”

  Another member, speaking in a hushed tone, said, “But they were our enemies already. Now they’ll be sure this attack was ours.”

  Meanwhile, one of the soldiers, noticing something unusual in the alley, cautiously approached the fallen agent with his rifle ready. He examined the semi-conscious body and then spoke into his radio, “Reporting in. We’ve got a man down here. Likely connected to the opposing group.”

  The leader of the anonymous group, observing the situation from a distance, raised a hand as a signal for silence. “Wait… Don’t let them see us. We can’t help him. We need to use this to our advantage.”

  The group remained still, watching as the soldiers lifted the fallen agent and carried him toward their jeep.

  Elsewhere, Julia, still unaware of these events, returned to the restaurant and delivered the food packages. She took a quick glance at the device on her hand. “Why is this thing acting so weird?