Chapter One

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A UFO IN THE NIGHT SKY is no different than a shooting star: where there is light, there is hope. And hope is no different than a dream wandering dolefully through a cloudy mess of thoughts. 

In a city no smaller than New York, such dreams were hard to come by. 

They weren't simply the ambitions you would expect from the likes of a child. No; there existed a dream so impossible to achieve that humanity declared it 'unfeasible'. The city of Violetwall possessed the same issue; it had survived under years of neglect since not long before the world turned to the newly discovered light-powered machinery. Pollution. 

Phoenix Newman knew all too well of the cluttered streets, the empty soda cans and glass bottles that sprawled out across a vast spread of road. He knew it now, under the winks of moonlight, under the haloed luminescence of The Spire. A building so incredibly large that the community had nicknamed it the 'Blue Sun'. The glow from its glass walls beamed out into the windy December night like a star brimming with copious amounts of energy. It flitted along the many edifices and roadways, illuminating the windowpanes with hazy reflections of cyan and violet. 

On nights such as this, the skyline would brighten the ever-growing city of Violetwall in a magical ring of purple that would extend into the stars. 

A cold gust of wind drove away bits of litter on the street to reveal the clear and open roads. They crossed at an intersection, underneath a highway that shadowed off the buildings below. 

From behind the brick walls of the Boulevard apartments, Phoenix sat on a dumpster with his two best friends, gazing out into the celestial bodies of the night sky. 

"Wow, you wouldn't expect so many stars to come out at once." Phoenix relaxed with the same passiveness that sometimes came to people on boring days. He wore an Adidas tracksuit underneath a silver jacket and a grey scarf. He had flawless, black skin, reflecting only a portion of glow from the blue halo of The Spire. His Afro danced a little to the melody of the wind. "Not from this point of view, at least."

"It's a sign." Alex's green eyes were glistening with a delicate shade of blue as her black jacket tightened around her shoulders. She had the type of face that a boy would sometimes fall for in seconds – maybe for ever – and on those days where that wasn't the case, she'd probably add a few extra layers of makeup. Her lips sheened with white (she wore dark-blue lipstick) and her cheeks had been accompanied by a set of freckles. Not too many, but enough for Phoenix to notice them up close. "I'm not sure what it is, but there's definitely something out there. Something more than just stars."

The sky narrowed between the gap of the apartment complex. There had been an array of open windows sticking out from the red-brick walls. 

"Theeeee heck you guys talkin' about?" Andy's face sharpened, then relaxed. He had ginger hair with an assortment of freckles to match. 

"You right." Alex pulled out her phone and browsed through social media. She wore black gloves with white tips that the screen could recognise. 

For an instant, the night was still. A place of gentle silence and solitude. Then the wind whistled again, and with it came a continuous thrum passing over the highway. Bits of debris fell off the edge and onto the roadway – just a small amount. 

People don't often drive this late, Phoenix thought. Not usually. Bit odd but eh. 

"You guys think they're planning somethin' big in that ball?" Andy looked down from the stars and over towards the empty streets. A roll of toilet paper flew by like a tumbleweed in the desert. He glanced down at his puffy coat and saw a bug climbing along the creases of his sleeve. Was that a spider? Maybe it was.

"Prolly," said Phoenix. 

Andy stumbled off the dumpster and whacked the critter onto the ground, stamping on it, twisting his shoe to make sure it didn't survive. "Yeah, okay, can we leave this place now? My parents are gonna kill me if I'm not home before twelve."

"Nah, you just tryna jerk off to that Netflix series. What's it called again? Mortal? Show's garbage," said Alex. 

"Man that show is so shit." Phoenix looked away from the stars and laughed. He had been daydreaming for a moment. The memories of his early afternoon came back to him in a haze. He remembered being on a SUP-X call with Andy. A notification from Alex popped up at the left corner of the screen. Her profile picture had been a closeup of an anime chick. 

She had typed: wanna hang out tonight at the apartments? around ninish. we can go to the arcade before that if you want. 

It was at that moment when Phoenix looked out of his bedroom window and saw the towering building amongst the compact city structures. The Spire. It had no glow then; it was just a tall and ominous edifice, surfaced with a one-way-mirror-type material. 

He responded: sure. I'ma bring a scarf tho. It finna be cold tonight. 

Andy laughed. "Okay, Schizophrenic Stephen."

Phoenix resumed his gaze on him. "Okay, ADHD Andy. You should know by now that we have good tastes in shows. Not this random drama BS."

Alex looked distraught, staring at her phone. "Holy shit!" she blurted out. "This can't be real!"

"Woah, what is it?" Phoenix scooched next to her and squinted his eyes at the darkness of her phone. "Turn up the brightness."

Andy hurried back to the dumpster and sat alongside Alex. He couldn't believe his eyes. A grey metallic saucer photographed by NASA. There had been dark circles of some sort at the base. A jagged exterior that flattened like a pancake. A large triangular prism standing erect at the top. And from behind: a blue ring emanating from a black hole. "A fucking UFO?"

"When was this?" Phoenix asked excitedly. 

"Forty seconds ago," Alex read at the bottom. "They posted a caption, too."

Alex carefully swiped through the images. They each had different filters but were the same.

She read out the caption, almost nervously.

It read:

Ladies and gentlemen, the age-old question: Do aliens exist?

Our @NasaHubble Space Telescope spotted a flying saucer with bright patches of blue light, dark rings, and whirling circles of gas just outside our solar system.

Located about 147 billion kilometers from Earth, this celestial entity is the first sign of life other than our own within the universe. This is an amazing sight for us here at NASA and we hope to see more in the near future!

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

"How can they take this so lightly?" Alex said. "A UFO just got spotted!"

"But how could this happen?" Phoenix said. "They're not real."

"It happened because someone at the NASA agency or whatever was high and looked up some random image and posted it," Andy said. "Those things are from science fiction, not space. When somebody makes up a story about little grey men from outer-space then of course they're gonna want to feed the speculation that they actually do exist. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that this ain't real, chief. It's photoshopped without a doubt."

Alex nodded. "If it is real . . . just watch America try and shoot it down. They'd find anything to test their missiles on."

Andy laughed and did his best Barack Obama impression. "Yes, uh, I – Barack Obarner – have returned to office. Time to blow shit up."

And introduce Obarner Care alas, he wanted to add.

"Bruh, what is Obama's last name?" Phoenix laughed and the others did so, too.

"Care. Just Care!" Alex's voice was caught in laughter. Then she regained her clarity. "Dude, this is mad though. Like actually."

Old jokes, funny, thought Phoenix.

Phoenix was still stunned by the news, slowly falling out of laughter and pulling out his phone. The time: 10:51 P.M, Saturday, December. He brushed his hair, eyes bulging from his skull. "This is nuts!" he said.

Sighing, he looked up at the ocean of stars, thinking: I guess we really aren't alone in the universe . . . I hope so, anyway.