Just another night

It was an afternoon like any other. I clocked out and plodded my way to the elevator with all the other zombies working the fifth floor of the Screw You Insurance Company. The real name was Secure You, but no one on the fifth floor called it that.

At least it was Friday. I was planning to veg out and hook up with my online gaming friends to kick some alien butt.

I got on the brown L-train as usual. None of my New York friends had a car. My apartment was a 22-minute ride and a 15-minute walk away. I shared with a high school buddy who was never around because he was shacking up with his girlfriend. I didn't mind, because he paid his half of the rent just to avoid telling his mom about Ginger.

There were some regulars on the train car. I didn't know their names, so I made some up. There was Tom, always in a suit. I imagined he was a broker who lost his Mercedes in a divorce. Felix was on old guy who only rode on Fridays. He always carried a single flower. I pictured him visiting some sweet lady for bingo every Friday. I saw Sasha almost every day. She wore a waitress uniform, but if she had a nametag, she wisely removed it.

"Excuse me, young man."

I jump-started. People rarely spoke to strangers on the train. It was Felix.

"Yeah? Whatcha want?" I asked.

"Could I trouble you to open this bottle? My hands aren't as strong as they once were."

"Sure, Man." I took the bottle and tried the lid. It really was stuck. "Man, it's like someone Superglued it on." I chuckled and put everything I had into it. It cracked open suddenly, spilling much of its contents onto my lap.

Felix said, "I'm sorry, Dante. Let me pay for your dry cleaning." He held out a $20 bill.

"No, Man. I wash my own clothes. No big..." I thought. "How'd you know my name is Dante, Man? I ain't ever told a soul on the train."

His gaze darted. Then, he looked me straight in the eyes with the intensity of a mom questioning about drugs. He said, simply, "I know." I felt his eyes burrowing into my brain. He relaxed and smiled. He added, "Call me Felix." With a wink, he handed me a card. It just said "Felix" with a phone number. No last name.

My mouth dropped open wide enough to fit a sewer rat. He took the bottle and headed for the train door, clutching a single, white, long-stemmed rose.

I pondered what had just happened for so long that I almost missed getting out at my stop.

I walked briskly to my apartment. I was still contemplating. How did he know my name? How did I know his? What kind of a person only has a first name on their business card? I shut the door behind me and looked at his card again. Some of the liquid from Felix's bottle, now on my pants, made contact. New words appeared as if by magic. The neon blue letters read, "Are you ready for an adventure? Call me, Dante."

At that point, I gotta admit, I was freaking out big time. Was he psychic, or maybe psychotic - a stalker searching for a next victim? Then again, what could he do to me over the phone?

I ate a few potato chips and said aloud, "What the hell, I have to know." I dug my phone out of my pocket and punched in the number on the card.

Felix answered, "Hello, Dante. I'm glad you called. Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm coming in."

"Wait, what?" was all I managed to utter before Felix appeared in front of me. I asked, "Are you a hologram?"

"No, Dante." Felix took a chip out of the bag on the table and stuffed his mouth. "Not bad, but I like these better." He held out the rose and proceded to swallow the entire thing, thorns and all.

"What the... Who are you? How'd you get here? What d'ya want with me?"

"All good questions. I knew I'd like you. My real name cannot be pronounced by any human. We'll stick with Felix. I got here through your phone, with technology beyond human advancement. As for what I want, have you heard the expression,'The enemy of my enemy..."

"Yeah," I interrupted, "...is my friend. Are you my enemy or the enemy of my enemy?"

"Another good question. We mean Earth no harm, so I hope we will be friends. My kind come from a planet unseen in your sky. We were watching Earth when we discovered a Kraxian ship heading this way. They will arrive with hostile intent in approximately two of your hours. We would take care of them, but unfortunately our scientists have determined that our eyes will be unable to see them in your atmosphere. That's where you come in."

"You mean, I point them out, and you kill them?"

"Oh, my, no. YOU will kill them."

"But...why me?"

"We have witnessed you playing your game, 'Annihilation.' We are contacting all the players of the game. We can set it up so that for this one night, the game will interface with our unmanned ships. You play as usual, but you will be operating our weapons. The Kraxians are hunting, and everyone on Earth will die if you fail. Do you agree to participate?"

I put my hand on my forehead and swiped it back to my neck. "How can I refuse?" I mumbled, "I'd better get like a Congressional Medal of Honor or something." Aloud, I said, "Hey I'm guessing you don't really look like that. Can I see the real you?"

"If you survive the night. Now, please show me to your gaming monitor.

"I play on this laptop." It was on my cheap kitchen table; with an old computer chair someone gave me. "You're not going to ruin it, are you?"

"Quite the contrary. I'm not only going to set up the link to our operations, but I'm also going to permanently enhance your system."

"Awesome! My favorite color is red, if that matters."

"It does not."

I sighed. "Can't blame a guy for tryin'. I'm gonna go to the bathroom and get snacks for a night of gaming. Want anything? Uh, besides flowers."

"Anything plant-based will be suitable."

I was gone for maybe 20 minutes. When I returned, I didn't recognize my laptop. Only my controller wasn't different, and that looked clean for a change. My screen was twice as big, with clearer resolution. The keyboard was lit up like a department store Christmas tree.

"Wow! I be stylin'!"

"Everything is set up for you to play intuitively. You can no longer shut the lid. I trust that will not be an issue."

"No, Man, it's cool. It's like Christmas and shit. Oh, here!" I handed him a tray with carrots, celery, and snap peas, leftover from a potluck.

"Thank you. This is quite acceptable. You may practice with your regular game if you desire. I believe your usual teammates are on."

My game name was 3D - for Dante, Death, and Destruction. I usually played with three others. There was Blade, who lived in L.A. Thrash was from Florida. Cinder, our only female teammate, was from some farm state - maybe Ohio. Boy, could she play!

We spent time talking about our new reality. Then, we experimented with the improvements. Man, Felix wasn't kidding when he said it would be intuitive. The ships were like extensions of our bodies.

Felix and the alien counterparts for Blade, Thrash, and Cinder, gave a five-minute warning. We all took one last bathroom break and drank some water. My palms were sweaty, and I had Olympic butterflies in my stomach.

The first wave of Kraxians were a piece of cake. They weren't expecting resistance. They got sneaky and sent a larger cluster of ships. We thought we got them all, but Cinder yelled, "Thrash, that one slipped through."

"I'm not gonna make it over there," Thrash admitted.

Before it hit the ground, the ship exploded. I could see my friends shrugging on the screen, as if to say, "It wasn't me."

We heard a girl's voice, "Courtesy of Eagle, from Alaska. They've got me as a rover, so if you need me, let me know."

Cinder sighed and said, "Thanks, Eagle."

There was a pause. We reasoned the Kraxians were regrouping and strategizing.

The next wave, they tried a spread-out formation. That didn't go well for them. With our maneuverability and speed, we made short work of them.

On and on it went. How many ships did they have? Surely, we were nearing the end.

There was a significant pause. Blade exclaimed, "We did it!"

"No," Felix said, "Our ships still detect heat sources out there."

I told the group, "Hang tight. My man, Felix, says there's more to come."

"You got it, 3D," Thrash chimed in.

I took a sip of water. Then, I saw them. The Kraxians seemed to be throwing everything they had left at us. A dark cloud of ships was descending.

"Okay," Cinder called, "I'm coming from the north. 3D, you take east. Blade, west, and Thrash, south, owing to our real geographical locations."

"Got it," we all agreed.

As soon as they were low enough, we started knocking them off. Thrash yelled, "Eagle, we need help!"

"Coming," we heard.

Some of the Kraxians were touching down, and we had to shoot them where they landed. Slowly, the dark cloud was thinning. Other players we didn't know were helping too.

Finally, they were gone, and everyone was cheering.

I leaned back and stretched my sore muscles. I was exhausted. It was 5:00 in the morning.

Felix smiled and said, "I have been authorized to give you this. We have no use for it, but when we learned humans value it, we mined some on our planet." He dropped a huge chunk of gold on my table - I'm talking grapefruit-sized! "And now," he added, "I always keep my promises."

His form shimmered, and I saw before me a being that looked rather plant-like. His skin was green, and he had many branch-like appendages. His, I guess hair, was purple and stuck up like a mohawk. He tried to speak, but it was loud and screechy. I covered my ears.

He shimmered again and turned back into Felix. "Sorry." He was actually blushing.

"Can you stay for a while?"

"No, we are heading home, and you need sleep."

"True. I'll miss you, my man."

"I shall miss you also, Dante. This has been an eventful, successful night."

We shook hands, and he left through the door. I half expected him to get beamed away.

We later learned that there were casualties where spaceships landed, both from Kraxians, and from the weapons we had fired.

I never did get a Congressional Medal of Honor, but I did get a nice certificate signed by the president. It's framed on my wall.

I met Cinder. She visited NYC. I asked if she wanted to date, but she didn't want to move from Wisconsin (oops, not Ohio.)

You can't blame a guy for tryin'.