The Galactic Bride
Chapter 2: The Probe

Homeroom Class never happened. It was only when their first teacher come in did school officially start. And that's when it dawned on Akihiko that the Twins weren't lying. Without any prompting from the Twins, the Literature teacher complained about being stopped by the Alien Probe on the way to work. It was scanning some girl on the way to school and held up traffic. He was clearly shaken up, but went immediately to his lesson before anyone had the chance to question him further.

The next lesson, no teacher. The class was left to their own devices until the next scheduled class. But since it had been three days of behavior like this, the students had no homework or extra work for them do to. So most just sat around and talked about the aliens.

Hiro returned to his theory about the aliens looking for mates. Akihiko was unsure why this was his obsession. Maybe he secretly fantasized about being captured by a hot alien babe and forced into strange tentacle sex. The idea made Akihiko's stomach turn. Hana still didn't really have a theory on what the aliens were looking for other than the obvious: they were looking for someone young.

By lunch time, the school announced they would close early. Aside from the Literature teacher, the only class Akihiko's homeroom had was math. And even that lesson was cut short when the Teacher received a phone call from the main office, left in tears, and never was seen again. And after her the other teachers hadn't showed up. The school seemed to have no choice but to close down early.

And it was this fact that sealed the deal for Akihiko. Somehow the Takei Twins were telling the truth. Even though everyone was talking about it, it didn't seem official until the school itself closed down. As outlandish as it seemed, aliens must have really landed on Earth.

"I guess we should go home." Hiro collected his school bag, stood up, and slung it over his shoulder.

"No way. As soon as I get home, I'm back to being grounded." Akihiko complained. "We got some time before school normally ends, let's go somewhere."

Hana, who normally would have went along with this, shook her head. "I can't relax knowing there's a probe out there waiting to scan me, Aki-chan. I just want to go home."

"Oh, C'mon! It's just a stupid probe."

Hiro shrugged. "I don't really want to be hanging around waiting to be scanned either to be honest."

"Fine." Akihiko stood up, collecting his bag as well. He could wander the streets on his own, but what fun would that be? "Can't we at least take our time getting home?" Hana gave a small nod, though it was clear she'd rather not. But that was some small victory.

As they got ready to go, Hiro pondered something that everyone had been thinking about. "I wonder what they look like."

He didn't have to say that he was talking about the aliens. That's all anyone talked about now. "Probably like those gray Roswell things." Akihiko told him half-heartedly.

"I hope not. I want them to look cool. You know, like from Alien or Predator."

"So you want them to be crazy murdering animals?" Hana asked.

"Not the murdering part, but yeah. It would be pretty boring if they just looked like us, but had blue hair or something." Hiro admitted.

"If they look like animals doesn't that blow your mating theory out the water?" Akihiko reminded him.

"Not really. In Alien the Queen-Mother planted her egg inside someone's body, right? Then they hatched out all gross from someone's body."

"Ugh, I don't want to think about that!" Hana grabbed her stomach. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

As they started outside the mood changed between them was immediate. It was as if the twins felt like they had stepped into a forest during hunting season and they weren't wearing anything protective. There heads turned this way and that looking for hunters. Akihiko probably would have felt the same way if he hadn't just found out about them. He hadn't had three days to dwell on alien baby's hatching from his body. No, the thing he was dreading was returning home to his dungeon. So while his plan to take his time on the way home seem great in theory, the twins ruined it.They spent most of the time not talking. It was as if any noise would invoke the probe to come towards them and do whatever scary thought that was going on in each of their minds. Hana was shooting wild looks back and forth, as if expecting the probe just to appear in front of her and capture her. Akihiko tried to relieve the tension by forcing them to talk, but they would only answer and small curt answers. Hana was preoccupied and Hiro was quiet as a stone, which wasn't too odd as he normally was the quiet one among them anyway. The slow trip idea was starting to become really boring.

"You know what, let's just go home." Akihiko gave up. "You two are no fun when you're like this."

"I'm sorry." Hana apologized, looking like she really meant it. "I'm just so scared."

"Yeah." Hiro agreed with a slight grunt.

"Of what? All we know is that those probes are scanning people. So what? What's so bad about that. Let it scan you whenever it shows up and just be done with it." Akihiko said. "You can't stop it, so why worry about it?"

"Easy for you to say." Hana murmured. "How can you be so carefree about all this?"

"I don't know, I just am. I'd be more afraid if it was actual aliens busting in room and scanning people. But probes? If they aren't hurting anyone, just let them do what they want and move on."

Hiro smirked, but didn't believe Akihiko's bravery. Still he pretended it didn't bother him either. "Right."

"Oh, listen to you acting all brave. You're just as scared as I am."

"I am not."

"Are so." Hana narrowed her eyes.

"Look, we'll meet up tomorrow." Akihiko interrupted their fight. It wasn't as amusing as what their sibling bickering usually was. "Maybe by then everything will have calmed down and we can go back to acting normal."

Hana nodded, but suddenly the color drained from her face. Her eyes looked beyond Akihiko and focused on something behind him. Turning around he saw it. The dreaded probe everyone was so afraid of. It looked very much like a silver egg that was about the size of a beach ball. It floated with it's long-side facing behind it. The whole body of the thing was completely silver and polished so bright that perhaps "chrome" was a better description of it. On the face of the probe looked to be a camera or a light. It glowed red, but flicked as it scanned near by items.

As if suddenly sensing human life, it floating with a purpose towards them in an oddly robotic way. It was hard to explain. It had no arms or legs but the floating motion wasn't fluid, it was sort of jagged. As it approached the probe emanated a very light mechanical whirring noise as it came closer, which probably was it's internal engine keeping it afloat.Hana shrieked and jumped behind her brother. Hiro didn't seem to keen on this action, but either he was sucking up his fear and being brave for his sister, or he was too frightened to move himself. Either way, the probe seemed to ignore the outburst and just stopped in front of the boy. In the center of face shined it's red light as it approached, however when it stopped in front of Hiro the light switched to a flicking green and the whirring noise soon was accompanied by a processing sound. The chugging noise sounded very much like what old computers used to make when they were downloading or uploading something. When it had finished the light turned back to red again. It floated in it's position, apparently processing it's new data.

"That wasn't so bad." Hiro spoke in a slightly shaken voice. "Let's just get it over with, sis. Come here."

"I don't want too."

"Seriously, it wasn't that bad. It just scans is you is all.""I already knew that dummy."

"Then what are you afraid of?"

"Shut up… I just don't want it to scan me…"

"Stop being a baby."

For whatever reason being called a baby gave Hana enough courage to step out in front of her brother. She opened her arms wide and closed her eyes and waited to be scanned. The pose was unnecessary, but Akihiko still found it cute. Of course he'd never admit this to her, mainly because he respected her brother. The pose did one other thing, other than ignite Hana's cute-factor, the probe took it as a sign to start it's scanning like before. So it did. Everything happened just as it had done the first time with Hiro. It was slightly longer, but not overly so. When the green light turned back into red it took a moment, then floated next to Akihiko with no fanfare.

"See it's over." Akihiko told her as the probe started the process for the third time. He ignored it and was looking at the twins white faces. "Maybe now you'll want to go get a bite to eat or something?"

"Grab a bite to eat?" Hiro exclaimed in shocked disbelief. "You are being scanned by an object from outer space and you're thinking about eating?""Yeah. It's lunch time and I'm hungry."

But the twins were ignoring him now, they were listening to the processing sound the probe was making. Akihiko turned from the two and looked at the probe himself. It was obvious that he'd get nothing out of them until this whole business was over with. He could see his reflection in the silver surface, and the blue light scanning him. Then his mind did a retake. Blue light? Wasn't it supposed to be green when it scanned people? Or had he just thought it was green before because he wasn't looking at it properly. Was it actually blue when scanning the twins? Blue and green were similar colors after all, so in the right light he could have mixed them up. Before he worked himself to a panic, he'd wait to see what the twins thought.

The scanning on him definitely was taking longer. The processing noises it was making before sounded different now. And with the changes in behavior, Akihiko was sure that the blue light wasn't a mistake. It was undeniable now. The probe was scanning him differently. When it had finished, it made a chugging sound, then the whirring noise returned, only now it was faster. There was a moment where there was complete silence from the humans as all parties were staring blankly at the probe. Then out of nowhere it turned around and shot up skyward as if it was launched into the air like a rocket.

"What in the hell do you make of that?" Hiro gasped, looking into the sky even though the silver streak was gone.

"It looked like-" Hana started, but before she could finish several other probes from around the city were seen shooting into the sky, flying off in the same direction as the first one.

Once again silence came over them as they continued looking in the sky. Then the twin's eyes fell on Akihiko. As for Akihiko he wondered if the probe was reacting to him, or if they had just gotten new orders while it was scanning him. When he asked the siblings this, they took opposing sides on the matter.

"It definitely was reacting to you, Aki-chan." Hana said with confidence.

"No way. Why would all the other probes go flying off at the same time. I bet it acted the same way to other people. Not everyone is the same after all. Some of those other probes were probably doing the same thing. Besides maybe green was the bad color and blue the normal one" Hiro said.

Hana hit her brother. "Why would you say that? WE got green!"

"Blue clearly took on a more interested scan than green did … if it was reacting like that to me… why?" Akihiko ignored them. He wasn't panicked or even scared. He was just curious.

"I don't know? Maybe you have a blood type it's looking for? Or maybe it's like my moronic brother said… you know, that it reacted like that to other people as well." Hana speculated.

"I think Akihiko was right the first time." Hiro changed his mind for the fifth time. "It just got new orders."

"Maybe…" Hana said but still looked worried. "You'll call us if something else happens to you, right?"

"I'm still grounded. Mama won't let me use my phone."

"Oh yeah." Hana looked disappointed. "Well… maybe with all that's going on your Mom will make an acceptation."

"Yeah right." Akihiko laughed, and Hiro joined him.

"Well…" Hana took in a deep breath. "…let's get something to eat." The change in her speech took them both off guard. She noticed their astonishment and laughed. "I'm not scared anymore, and it is lunch time. Might as well enjoy the rest of the day."

"Finally." Akihiko grinned. "That's the Hana I know and love."

It was hard to replace a restaurant open in the area of which they lived. Seemed everyone was scared of the aliens. This sense of fear was starting to seep through to even dampen Akihiko's mood. And even though Hana had lightened up, her spirit also was draining down due to the bleak environment. Everywhere they looked people had vacant expressions on their faces, if there were people around at all. And the ones they did see were dashing here or there trying to get to wherever they were going as quickly as possible. So when they finally found a place to eat, it was no surprise that the topic of conversation didn't change during lunch.

They talked over and over about the aliens, the probe, and the things they already knew. But the fact was they all knew exactly the same thing and there was nothing else to talk about. So they'd just discussed what they knew again and invented more outlandish theories about why the probes acted the way they did. By the end of lunch Akihiko wasn't feeling as confident as he had before. In fact now he was starting to feel paranoid.

By the time he came home, way earlier than he originally intended, he was content to a fate of hiding in his room. He didn't want to talk about being scanned with his parents, or how it acted different. He didn't want to talk about the same things over and over. The twins had exhausted him on the topic. But at the same time, because he had no homework, thanks to frightened teachers, he had nothing to do in his room other than think about what had happened. It truly had become miserable.