Commander: This is where I will have to leave you.

  Annelise looks solemn but nods in understanding.

  Commander: Annelise, you are a powerful, kind, compassionate, and unique woman. You will be a beacon of hope for humans everywhere, even in dark times. (He hugs her and kisses her cheek) Cory, take extra care of Annelise during this time. She will need you. Protect this special woman for me, like you promised her parents. (He hugs Cory and kisses his cheek). I love you both with all of my heart.

  Before Cory and Annelise can return the phrase, the Commander heads in a different direction and they part ways. Annelise and Cory take a taxi to the nearest hotel and book a room. Meanwhile, the Commander begins his trek toward the White House. He touches his forehead and his fingers come back red. He feels sharp pain all over his body, but he keeps walking. Eventually, he feels weak and dizzy and sits down on a bench. The Commander sits on the bench for a while, pondering this new, human sensation called pain, when a woman approaches him.

  Susanna: Hi! You were on the plane, right? Montana to D.C.?

  The Commander nods: I was.

  Susanna: What you did was really brave. I don’t think I’ve seen any of the military officials on television fight an E.A.E. ally head-on.

  Commander: Well, I do not think that the U.S. soldiers are able to compete with them. Susanna, how do you treat wounds like this? (He points to his forehead)

  Susanna: How did you…Oh, right! You must’ve watched The Bachelor! I’ll never get over it! Sorry, um…I’d say you probably need stitches. But I think that disinfecting the wounds would be a good first step.

  Commander: Thank you.

  Susanna: Sure. Have a nice vacation.

  Susanna walks away. The Commander walks over to a Walgreens and buys some hydrogen peroxide. When he applies it to his wounds, he grimaces in pain. Even the products that are supposed to heal hurt him.

  The Commander then realizes that he is hungry. He heads over to a fast-food joint and buys a sandwich to eat. The Commander travels to a park, but it’s getting late and he feels very tired, another human sensation that he has never felt before. He finds a spot in the grass and struggles to fall asleep. The next day, the Commander is woken up by two preteen boys who are pitching a baseball to each other in the park.

  Joe: You okay, bruh?

  The Commander rubs his eyes: I am not at my best, but I believe I will be alright.

  Will: Are you homeless?

  Joe: Will! You can’t just go up to a dude and be like ‘Hey, are you homeless?’

  Will: Well, he was sleeping in the grass in the park.

  Commander: I am not homeless. I have a home, but it is far away from here.

  Joe: Like West Virginia?

  The Commander smiles: No, farther abroad than West Virginia. One of my homes is in Montana.

  Joe: Oh, I gotcha. Why’re you sleeping in the middle of the park then?

  Commander: I am on a very important mission.

  Joe: So you’re a C.I.A. agent?

  Will: Give the guy a break, wouldja?! Look at his head! He probably got in a fight with someone!

  Commander: So, what are you two boys doing in the park?

  Joe(annoyedly): Well, my mom told us we had to play real baseball instead of V.R. baseball. It’s the same thing!

  Commander: You should listen to your mother. The real experience is often better than a simulation.

  Then, Joe’s phone rings. He answers.

  Joe(on the phone): Hello? Oh…you said fifteen minutes. Okay, I’ll be home in a few. Yes, I mean it. Bye. (Joe hangs up and turns to the Commander) Mom says we have to go home. She’s been really strict ever since…the incident yesterday. I guess I’ll see you around. Bye…

  The Commander smiles: Beyond. My name is Beyond.

  Joe and Will: Bye, Beyond. Cool name, by the way.

  The two boys hurry onto the sidewalk and head home. The Commander’s head aches even more as he thinks about his plan to defeat Wyverna. Wyverna sucking all of the blood from his body will be very painful and he will die. He doesn’t know what death is like, but it does not sound particularly appealing. But if he doesn’t go through with it, all intelligent life on earth, including the two boys, will be destroyed. There will be no more humans. No more laughing, hugs, art, inventions. No more love shared between friends, romantic partners, parents, and their children. No, he couldn’t let that happen. The Commander looks at the clock on the screen on the side of a building. It’s almost time.

  Meanwhile, at a hotel, Annelise and Cory are trying to cope with their emotions.

  Cory: Annelise, is there anything that I can do to make this less painful for you?

  Annelise shakes her head. Cory sighs, sits down beside Annelise, and hugs her.

  Cory: I love you. It hurts me to see you like this.

  Annelise: I loved him like my own child.

  Cory nods: Me too. I don’t know why I didn’t trust him.

  Annelise: You wanted to take care of me, and you have taken care of me.

  Cory: You know, when we first started dating, I noticed how magical your smile was. Your smile had something about it. Something beautiful. Something pure and true. Now, I worry that I will never see you smile again.

  A tear rolls down Annelise’s face: I have that same worry, but I worry about something much greater. I worry about the Commander’s death. I know people who have died from less grief than me. If the Commander succeeds in his plans, which I pray that he will, what will become of me? What if I get sick from heartache and die?

  Cory: Annie, don’t talk like that! You’re not thinking correctly! What about the people in your life that love you?!

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  Annelise: I’m not saying that I’ll harm myself. I’m saying that the pain of grief might kill me. I’ve had it happen to many patients of mine recently. Some chemical misfires in their brains.

  Cory: Well, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.

  Annelise: How?

  Cory: I…don’t know.

  Cory pulls Annelise closer to him.

  Annelise: You haven’t called me “Annie” in years.

  Cory: I know. I should start calling you that more often.

  Suddenly, the television flickers on. Wyverna’s face appears on the screen. Every screen on every non-mobile device in the city is this way.

  Wyverna: Hello, citizens of Earth. Oh, what’s the point of formalities?! In exactly seventy-two hours, I am going to personally wipe each one of you off of the face of the earth! Then, a new era will begin! Earth will be mine! Then, the solar system! Then, the Milky Way Galaxy! Then, the universe! EVERYTHING WILL BE DONE IN THE WAY I DESIRE!!! THE PERFECT WAY! Don’t you see?! Filthy humans! I am not your rival! I am not your enemy! I am your successor! I AM THE NEXT STEP IN THE EVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY!!! YOU WERE TOO PRIMITIVE!!! SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR PLANET, YOU DIMWITTED RACE!!! (She then bursts out in a triumphant laugh)

  The screens then change from Wyverna’s face to a red timer counting down seventy-two hours.

  Cory: Annelise, is your phone still working?

  Annelise checks the screen on her smartphone: Yes, it’s normal. Why?

  Cory: I wanted to check the news. See if other stuff is going on. Maybe that would distract me.

  Annelise: Go ahead.

  Cory: Hmmm… “Unethical Scientist’s Life Sentence Changed To Death Sentence”(Cory reads the article) After the recent deaths of President Harold Swinton and Vice President Amanda Olivera, the American people have overthrown the judges and demanded that Janis Daun, one of the scientists at Project Persephone who released the E.A.E. into the world, be executed by chemical injection within two days. This historic violation of the Sixth Amendment demonstrates just how chaotic the United States and the world have become in this last week.

  Annelise perks up: Where is Janis Daun?

  Cory: Wow! Daun’s being held at a high-security prison nearby!

  Annelise: I want to go see her.

  Cory:...You’re kidding, right?

  Annelise shakes her head: I…I don’t know how to explain it. I know that I should go see her. I…feel this connection to her.

  Cory: Why? You’ve never met her, you two are nothing alike, and now we’re all going to die because of her.

  Annelise: I don’t know.

  Cory sighs: Well, I’m not going to let you go by yourself right now, so I’m coming with you.

  Annelise: Thank you, Cory.

  The two head to the high-security prison. The usually busy streets of Washington D.C. are silent. Everyone is hiding inside. Once they arrive, however, there are two men in front of the prison with machine guns. Not guards or wardens, just angry citizens.

  Cory clears his throat: My wife would like to speak to Ms. Daun.

  Citizen: You can’t come inside. She’ll be executed in two hours.

  Cory: So, she’s still alive? Then why can’t we talk to her? Also, where are all the people who actually run this place?

  Citizen: We killed them. They were too weak to give Janis Daun what she deserved.

  Cory(sarcastically): Well that’s just lovely! Now can we please go in before you murder a person who was given a life sentence by the Supreme Court?!

  Citizen: No.

  Cory: Well, they’re not going to let us in. We might as well go.

  Annelise: Wait! Maybe they’ll let me go in there if I go alone.

  Cory: Go into a maximum security prison?! Alone?!

  Annelise: I promise I’ll be careful, but this must be done.

  Cory sighs: Alright. Just…please be careful.

  Annelise nods and turns to the armed citizen: Would it be alright if I went to see Ms. Daun alone?

  Citizen: I…guess that would be alright. Come on, I’ll lead you in.

  Annelise looks back at Cory who is watching her walk into the prison. The inside of the building has white walls and a concrete floor. There are surprisingly few prisoners in the cells.

  Citizen: She should be inside this cell.

  Annelise: Thank you so much.

  The Citizen walks away.

  Daun: Are you here to kill me?

  Annelise: No, I’m not here to kill you. I want to talk to you. I want to know about the events that are happening.

  Daun: Of course you do.

  Annelise: I want to help you as best I can.

  Daun: Why would you want to help me?

  Annelise: I’ve felt a sort of pull towards you recently. I don’t know what it is.

  Daun: Wait…What’s your name?

  Annelise: Annelise Presley.

  Daun: Did your parents call you…

  Both: Annie.

  Daun: So they weren’t just dreams.

  Annelise: What are you talking about?

  Daun: Ever since I was thrown in prison, I’ve had dreams about a girl named Annie Tira. She was around fifteen years old when I first began dreaming about her. Then, as time drew on, she began to get older and older. She had blonde hair and freckles, just like you.

  Annelise: My maiden name is Tira.

  Daun sucks in a breath: How? Who are you? Why are you in my dreams?

  Annelise: I don’t know any more than you do.

  The two pause to let this new information set in.

  Annelise: So, can you tell me about what happened with the Project Persephone incident?

  Daun: Well, I was actually kind of roped into it. No, that’s a lie. I wanted to be a part of Project Persephone, but I didn’t see the goal of communicating with extraterrestrials as realistic. I was still quite interested, though. I thought I’d check it out. I’m a biologist, not a physicist, so I was surprised when the government let me look into the project.

  Annelise: I’m guessing that the real trouble started when you visited the area of the project.

  Daun smiles mournfully: Yes, that’s right. I was led through a tour of the classified area of Project Persephone by Dr. Abram Hues, the leading nuclear physicist. I even got to see their supposed extraterrestrial communication device, the Paradox. I remember it clear as day: A mounted silver ring, about six feet in diameter. When activated, it performed a sequence of small-scale nuclear reactions that allowed the computer’s communication interface to connect with another universe. At first, I scoffed when Dr. Hues said that his team had discovered about sixteen parallel and perpendicular universes…

  Annelise: What’s a perpendicular universe?

  Daun: It’s a universe that is in many ways the exact opposite of our own, unlike a parallel universe which is the same as our universe in many ways. At least, that’s the way Dr. Hues explained it to me. Anyway, I got to see the first test of the Paradox. I wasn’t expecting to see anything exciting. The machine fired up for around five minutes before Dr. Hues began typing into the eighties-level computer that was supposed to speak with people from parallel universes. He asked what I wanted to ask the parallel universe people and I burst out laughing. But I told him that I wanted to ask them if they were real. So he did. He typed ‘Are you real?’ into the computer. I was…I don’t know how I felt. Shocked, excited, and fearful, because we got a response. We got a real-life response from a person from a parallel universe. It said ‘Yes, we are real. Who are you?’ We could have stopped there and celebrated, had a pizza party or something. We should have stopped. But we didn’t.

  Annelise: Why not?

  Janis Daun shrugs: Science, I guess. We wanted to know everything that we could. We wanted to know the secrets of the universe. Dr. Hues typed in another question, some metaphysical something or another. But only seconds after he hit send, the machine began to malfunction. Electrical currents began being sucked into its core. Alarms! Alarms sounded everywhere! The electricity went out and we couldn’t see anything. Then, the backup generator kicked on and the lights came back on. The whole experiment area was covered in this green slime, like a fungus or algae. Dr. Hues and I stepped into the area against our better judgement. *Daun shivers as she remembers what happened next* The slime, algae, whatever, began to form into these shapes. They were much like human forms, but so…eerily different at the same time. I reached out my hand to touch one of these beings. They were so unlike anything that I had ever seen in my career. Beings that survived outside of Earth. Then, I blacked out. I can’t remember anything after that except waking up in a hospital two years later. Yet, no one seemed to know that it was two years later. Somehow, everyone thought that today was been April 5, 2014, even though I remembered that it was April 5, 2012, before I blacked out. I asked the hospital staff what day I had fallen into a coma, but they all said that I had just fainted and that I had only been out for a couple of hours. I asked them what the year was that I had fainted, and they looked confused. Everyone said that I had fainted that day in 2014.