A tale of alien abduction, experimentation, and escape.
Click. Click. Click.
“God damn it.”
Click. Click. Click.
“Come on.”
Click. Click. Fizz
“Finally.”
Whoosh.
“Are you kidding me?”
Jake stood out in the field trying to light the joint in his hand. It was a cool night illuminated by a nearby fire pit. He had two days off from work, and since he had this lying around, he thought it best not to let it go to waste. The wind, however, seemed to have other plans.
Site-72’s recreational drug policy disallowed smoking of any kind on Foundation grounds, so staff had set up a bench, table, and fire pit out in a nearby field. Unfortunately, the lack of real protection from the wind made trying to smoke a wasted effort.
After numerous attempts, Jake finally got his joint lit. He sat back in his chair, his guitar in hand, and started mindlessly strumming as he felt it kick in.
The sound of his electric Les Paul was nice against the wind, even if he didn’t have an amp with him at the moment.
He would switch between chords, looking for something nice. F Major 7. E Minor. C Major.
After a little bit, he was halfway through his joint. Typically, he would have stopped here; however, since he had the next few days off, he thought it would be good to smoke through the whole thing.
He played a few riffs that he always felt were hypnotic or psychedelic.
In times like these, he would reflect on things. Right now, he thought about his time before the Foundation. It was a life that he spent fronting the biggest band in the pararock scene.
Jake was never the most social person; even at the Foundation, he was shy, but despite this, he felt like a different person on stage. His wild antics, like stage diving, lighting small fires, and climbing stage gear, made him famous in the scene. It eventually became so popular that his stage name of “The Blackstar” became synonymous with dangerous on-stage stunts.
He could still remember reading the opinion piece in the Deer College Odyssey where the author said, “The Blackstar is likely to Live Fast, Die Young, like many rockers that have come before.”
Performing made him feel alive in a way that he couldn’t find the words to describe. Being in Ember's Ignition was the best time of his life. But all that was gone. No more late-night stops at diners after shows. No more stargazing from the tour bus roof with his bandmates. No more holding the mic out to the audience for them to sing along. The kinda things that he would still dream about to this day.
But all that was nearly a year behind him at this point. Everything changed when the Foundation got involved. He often regretted his decision. Screwing over an entire underground music scene is not something that a person walks away from guilt-free, and all he had to show for it was a junior researcher position with the organization that took it all from him. But in the end, all he could do was blame himself.
Eventually, he was at the end of the joint. He felt lighter, and time was slowing, but he knew he still had time before it would kick in fully. What mattered in the moment, though, was that he wasn’t fixated on the thoughts that previously plagued him.
As he snuffed out his joint, he saw something in the sky. It looked like a large disc. He couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but he assumed it must be an experimental Foundation aircraft. However, why would it be approaching the field instead of the airstrip?
Suddenly, a white light blinded him.
“What the…”
He quickly rose off the ground, although to him the seconds it took felt like hours.
Thinking fast, he reached for his ID. When he first joined the Foundation, he was told each ID had a panic button. He’d never had to use it before, but clearly, there was no time better than the present. He pushed the panic button, and a red light on the card flashed.
He felt a sense of relief until his eyes focused on the ground getting away from him very quickly. He tried pulling out his phone, but in his haste, he lost grip and wasn’t able to regrab it.
“What the fuck!? Help!!!” Jake yelled as he was finally pulled into the ship.
INCIDENT REPORT June 25th, 2025
On June 25th, 2025, at 10:30 PM, an Abduction Class Extra-Terrestrial Encounter Event occurred in a field outside of Site-72.
The event occurred in less than fifteen seconds, and as a result, On-Site defenses were not able to respond fast enough. During the event, a twenty-year-old Junior Researcher named Jacob Bard was kidnapped. Records indicate that Mr. Bard attempted to use his emergency panic button during the event. The whereabouts of the ship and Mr. Bard are unknown.
A full investigation into the incident and the location of Mr. Bard is underway.
Jake woke up inside a glass container. His head hurt, and his eyes ached like they hadn’t seen light for years. He began to push on the glass until he noticed a handle on the top of the container. Grabbing it and twisting it caused the glass to slide open.
Exiting the container, he looked around. The room had some shelves, strange equipment, and weird symbols on everything. A screen next to the container glowed red with the symbols. Jake looked at his clothing, his lab coat, pants, and jacket were gone. Instead he was wearing some kind of black jumpsuit. Feeling an itch on his arms, he noticed a hole in his wrist at the base of his hand. Black veins led to it contrasting from his white skin.
Eventually, he noticed a door and slowly opened it, revealing a long hallway.
Stepping into the hallway, he was met by a window into the black abyss outside. It was here that things clicked for Jake.
“Oh god. I’m in space.” He thought to himself.
“This has to be a dream.”
It was then that he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. There was something slumped against the wall down the hall.
Against his better judgment, he approached it and found it to be some kind of humanoid lizard creature in a grey jumpsuit. Black liquid pooled around it from several holes on its body.
“Yeah, this has to be some kind of weird dream,” Jake whispered to himself.
“Come on. Come on. Wake up.” he said as he pinched himself.
When pinching failed, he dug his nails deep into his skin, hoping to wake up in his bed on site. He didn't wake up, though, no matter how hard he tried.
He tried calming down. Panicking wouldn’t solve anything.
He began to walk down the hall, hoping to find something.
To his left was the black void of space. If he looked closely, he thought he could see stars, but at the same time, it could just be his imagination.
To his right were seemingly endless doors labeled with strange symbols.
Eventually, he came across a door that was slightly ajar. Pushing it open, he found what looked like an office with a thing that resembled a computer server with the same strange symbols on it.
Approaching it, he felt his wrist begin to tingle. He began to feel compelled to touch the machine, and as he did, a wire shot from the hole in his wrist into a port on the machine.
“What the hell!” Jake yelled as he tried pulling back.
Everything went black for Jake for a moment. His calmness completely dissolved as he began to panic. Tiny words in the periphery of his vision appeared.
“Translation Module: Online”
“Cranial Drive: Online”
“Navigation Systems: Online”
However, after a couple of seconds, his sight returned, but it was different. He could read the symbols now. It wasn’t that he could understand them; instead, they were just English, clear as day.
`The machine was labeled “Universal System Rebooter.”
Jake scratched at his wrist. “What the fuck was that?!” he thought to himself.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Jake’s blood went cold as he realized there was something outside. Its steps sounded like a slow kick drum getting closer and closer. The door began to slide open slowly, and thinking fast, Jake ducked behind the nearby table.
From under the table, Jake watched as the door creaked open and a large robotic foot stepped through.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
The robot walked around the room before approaching the table where Jake was hiding.
A hand reached under the table and lifted it.
Jake was now looking up at the robot. Its lanky silver body looked through him with red eyes.
The robot looked down, and a red beam emanated from its eyes. The beam panned left and right across Jake, who was covering his mouth and trying to sit still in hopes that it would do something.
After a moment, the robot put the table back down and turned around before tapping its wrist.
“There’s nothing here. Probably a geno-mite or some junk like that.” The robot said into its wrist.
“Did you do your scare routine this time?” A voice on the other end of the robot's communicator said.
“Yeah, the heavy stomps and everything. I was hoping to terrify something before I killed it, but there’s nothing here,” the robot said with a casual tone as it strolled off without stomping.
Jake heard the door open and slam shut before he crawled out from under the table.
He slumped against the wall and tried taking stock of everything.
He was alone on a spaceship with killer robots that speak English, and he could now read the symbols on the walls in plain English. How was he gonna get out of this?
Jake looked at the computer system that made him read the symbols. Maybe he could get more out of it.
He walked over to the machine and lifted his wrist. Like instinct, he flicked his wrist, and the cable ejected from it. He connected the cable to the machine. Suddenly, he could visualize the information inside. To him, it was like navigating a computer desktop through thoughts.
Searching through the computer, he found a map of the ship. It wasn’t everything, but it meant he wasn’t walking around blind anymore.
He saved the map to his “Cranial Drive”, making him able to visualize the map perfectly. He wasn’t sure why he could do this so naturally, but that was something to figure out later.
Pushing the door open, he found the hall to be empty. Stepping out, he began walking down the hall quietly. He followed the mental map of the area and made his way to a large open space.
Arriving, he slowly pushed the door open.
“What do you mean?” A pleading voice asked.
Jake shut the door but left it cracked to keep hearing what was happening inside.
“The captain thinks you're redundant.” A metallic voice said.
“Please. Please. Don’t do this.” The other voice pleaded through what sounded like tears.
“Too late, captain's orders.” A different robotic voice said.
Jake could hear two sets of footsteps running towards his door. One normal and the other mechanical. Before he could get up to get out of the way, he heard the footsteps cease.
CRASH
“No, no, please… I…!!!”
CRUNCH
The creature screamed briefly before being silenced.
STAB
Jake heard the sound of metal sliding through something soft, followed by another crash.
“Leave the body. We’ll grab it on the way back,” The robotic voice said.
Jake heard the sounds of heavy feet walking away, and once the coast was clear, he entered the area.
The room was what Jake could only guess was a cafeteria. The body of a reptilian alien in strange clothes lay slumped against a table.
Jake approached the body and crouched to get a better look. Its leg looked crushed, it had several holes in its chest, and was leaking black fluid. Lifting the creature's arm, Jake checked if it had a hole in its wrist as well.
The creature's eyes shot open, and it gasped.
Jake yelled and fell back in surprise.
The creature breathed violently before looking at Jake.
"Who are… wait… Alpha?" the creature said with a pained voice.
“Alpha?” Asked Jack
The alien violently coughed up black fluid.
“Oh… You can understand me… You must have gotten your translation module active,” the alien said with pain lining his voice.
“There isn’t much time… captain betrayed everyone. Sold us out to the pirates. You can’t let him take…”
“Take what?”
The alien coughed up more of the black fluid. He wiped it from his mouth and looked at his hand with a look that said he knew his time was up.
“For what it's worth. I’m sorry we took you…”, the alien said, before losing consciousness.
“No… No… Get back up, I need to know more…”
Jake tried shaking the alien but it was a wasted effort.
Thump… THump… THump… THUmp… THUmp… THUMp… THUMp… THUMP
“Gotcha, bitch!” A robotic voice yelled.
Jake didn’t have time to fully turn around when a large blade stabbed through his chest. He looked at his assailant and saw two of the robotic creatures he had seen earlier.
One's hand had large claws that were stabbing through him. Dark red fluid leaked from his wounds onto his shirt and pants.
“They had non-serpentine crew?”, one of the androids asked while turning to its teammate.
“I guess. Does it matter?” The other android responded with a hint of indifference.
“This was probably the thing in sector 2 that was making the noise. It looks so weird. My sensors must not have registered it. Do we even know what this thing is?” The android asked.
The other android shrugged.
“Hey, what the hell are you?” The android demanded while shaking Jake, causing the blades to slice deeper.
Jake tried to say something, but the blood in his lungs made saying anything a useless effort. All he could do was gurgle.
“We're wasting time. Just throw him in with the rest,” the other android responded.
The other android grabbed the reptilian's body before the two began dragging them down the hall.
Jake could feel the blade moving through his chest. Why he hadn’t bled out was beyond him. He could see strange black smoke leaking from his wounds, but in his delirious state, he wasn’t able to really think about it.
"Was this what dying is like? Slow and numbing with no sign of release?” Jake thought to himself.
“Any last words, meatbag?” The robot asked.
“Why are you so dramatic with this? We have cargo to move. Let's get this over with,” the other android said in a frustrated tone as it threw the reptilian corpse into a large pit.
“Fine. Mekhane, have mercy, I have some fuckin showmanship.” The robot responded before throwing Jake in.
Jake felt the wind blow past him and into his wounds. It felt strange, but he didn’t have time to think about it before he hit the ground.
Site-72 ETE Incident update 7/2/2025:
Last week, an extra-terrestrial abduction event occurred outside Site-72. Since then, an investigation has been ongoing, during which it was found that the abducted researcher was taken off planet. This was determined through the researchers' tracking chip in his Foundation ID being detected as it exited orbit.
Junior Researcher Jacob Bard is now classified as missing in action presumed deceased.
The investigation into the craft itself will continue, but attempts to recover the aforementioned Junior Researcher will not be made.
Jake gasped as he woke up on the hard metal floor. Immediately, he touched his chest where the android had stabbed through. There were holes in his shirt and he felt the dried blood, but his wounds were gone.
After a moment, a foul aroma hit his nose. Jake began to gag, feeling like he would puke just from the wretched stench. It was like the worst mix of expired meat, rotten potatoes, and month-old garbage.
He tried to look around, but it was so dark he couldn’t see anything. The only light came from a small crack in a nearby wall.
Getting up, he approached the crack. As he stepped, he felt something under his foot. He tried touching it and felt something cold and scaly.
Stepping over it, he approached the crack. He looked through and saw a long hallway. Pushing on the sides next to the crack and he felt them shift a bit. Pushing his fingers between the cracks, he began to slowly pull it open.
After a few moments, they gave way, and the room was filled with light.
Jake turned around and, to his horror, saw the corpses of countless lizard creatures. Many were brutally disfigured, missing limbs, had crushed skulls, or were ripped in half.
“Dear god… this was the crew,” Jake whispered to himself. He’d never seen brutality like this, even at the Foundation. Seeing this made Jake realize something: “I’m the only one who can stop this.”
Jake clenched his fist. Despite everything, he wouldn’t let something like this go unpunished.
Turning around, he found a slightly open door leading to a room labeled “engineering sector”.
Pushing the door open, he found what appeared to be a boiler or engine room of some kind with shelves on some of the walls.
Jake began looking around the shelves, trying to find anything that might be useful.
Reaching up to one of the shelves, he felt something and grabbed it.
STAB
Jake felt something shoot through his hand.
He screamed and fell back, pulling a segment of the shelf down with him.
Pushing the shelf off him, he examined his hand. There was a hole through it, clear as day. Blood and black fluid leaked out alongside what looked like black smoke.
“What the…” Jake whispered before his hand ignited into flames.
“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” He yelled while waving his hand, trying to put out the flames.
After a moment, the flames extinguished, and his hand appeared fine.
“What did they do to me?” Jake asked himself before noticing a silver rod with blood on it.
Carefully picking up the rod, he noticed a button on it. Making sure his hand was clear from the top and bottom, he pushed it.
In the blink of an eye, a smaller rod was ejected and retracted from the top. Jake aimed the rod at a broken piece of the shelf and pushed the button. The piece was immediately sent flying across the room before smashing into a wall.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Jake could hear something outside. That same rhythmic stomping as earlier. Quickly, Jake grabbed a small piece of the shelf and took cover behind a large boiler.
The android entered and appeared to scan the area.
“I know you're in here. Don’t know how you survived the gutting and fall, but your time is up,” the android said as it looked around.
Jake threw the piece of the shelf into a nearby corner, but out of sight. The android immediately heard and went over to it.
“Where are you? If you come out, I’ll make your death painless.” It taunted as its hand morphed into a claw.
Jake watched as the android scanned the area. He took note of the android's legs and the joints.
Quietly, he breathed in and ran over, putting the rod to the back of the android's knee before pressing the button.
SNAP
The knee of the android exploded, and it quickly fell over, yelling.
Acting fast, Jake put the rod to the robot's other leg and pressed the button.
CRACK
The rod punched a hole through the knee and into part of the floor below.
“Oh you little bitch!!!” The android shouted as it attempted to slash at Jake.
Jake felt the blades slash across his face. He lost vision in his right eye, but he pushed through the pain. Diving on top of the android, he put the rod to its head and pressed the button.
THUNK
The android's head caved in, and it stopped moving.
Jake sat on top of the dead android, breathing heavily. Blood leaked down his face, but after a few moments, fire ignited in his eye socket and the eye reformed.
He winked both eyes a few times and sighed in relief that his vision had returned.
“8284 Status? Over,” said a mechanical voice from a device on the android's wrist.
Jake examined the device. It was a wrist-mounted touch screen, attached through what seemed to be Velcro. Flicking his wrist, the wire ejected, and he connected it to a port on the device.
Like how he connected with the terminal earlier, he was able to visualize the data on the device. He downloaded what could be useful: ship maps, plans, and live Android locations.
Looking through the plans confused Jake. Only two pirates were sent to take out a whole ship? Were these pirates strong, or were the crew just weak?
However, another file answered that question.
It was an attached video log from the perspective of one of the androids. It showed the captain luring all the crew and having the androids massacre them.
Jake tried shutting off the video, but he couldn’t. He mentally watched as the crew screamed and begged while the androids slaughtered them.
Seeing this only fueled Jake’s desire to punish the captain.
But then he saw something else.
“PROJECT TEMPORALINE”
The document described the impossible. An experimental ship capable of traveling not just in space but through time as well.
“This must have been what the reptile guy was talking about,” Jake whispered to himself as he read about the ship.
It was stored in a section of the main hangar with a shape resembling a space shuttle and fighter jet.
Jake couldn’t make heads or tales of the science behind it. Something about singularities, high speed, and energy, but he knew he couldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands.
“Hey, 8284, this isn’t funny. Report. Over.” The voice called out again.
Before he could get that ship, he would need to get that last pirate first.
Picking up the rod, he followed his maps, going up elevators and stairs until he reached the android.
As he walked to the location, he looked at the halls. They were so vacant, as though nothing had touched them in days.
He passed rooms marked dormitories and lounges. Peeking in, Jake could see beds, couches, and what seemed like TVs. Nothing that would be out of place in the site dormitory back home.
These once active halls now lie empty due to the evil and selfish actions of this craft's captain. This could not go unpunished.
Eventually, he made it to the hangar. The android was loading large crates of cargo into a ship. Now and then, it would speak into its communicator, asking for a response which would never come.
Jake snuck around behind the crate, waiting for a good chance to strike.
“Have you found all you need?” A voice called out.
Jake peeked out and saw a reptilian man dressed in a nice uniform approaching the android. On the man’s back was Jake’s Les Paul. Quickly, he hid to avoid being seen.
“Yeah, these will do well on the black market.” The android replied in its digital-sounding voice.
“Where’s your other guy?” The man asked while looking around.
“He’s tracking down a member of your crew who must have snuck out earlier and survived the pit.”
“What do you mean? Everyone was there. The only ones that weren’t killed were the useful ones, and those are gone now,” the alien said while scratching his neck.
“You know the one without scales.”
“We didn’t have any crew who were not serpentine,” said the Captain in a confused tone.
“Then what's this?”
The android pressed a button on its wrist, causing a hologram of Jake being stabbed earlier to appear.
“That's… That's Alpha — It's supposed to be dead.” The captain said in a confused tone.
“Alpha?”
“It's some weird thing we picked up on a planet a while ago. We tried to make it a weapon and sell it to the highest bidder, but it didn’t work right. We ended up getting another contract, so I had it left to die in storage. Where is it?”
Jake’s fists clenched as he heard the captain describing his abduction with such disinterest. Like kidnapping and modifying a person unwillingly was something mundane.
“Bottom levels, 8284 went to finish it off. He saw light at the bottom of the pit, so it must have survived and gotten out. Will the modifications you did cause any issues?”
The android lifted the large container Jake was hiding behind over his head.
“I’m sure your companion will have no difficulty dispatching it.” Said the captain as Jake stood up and caved the android's head in with the rod.
Jake dived out of the way as the android and crate came crashing down. He looked at the captain, the one who took him from his home and messed with his body with his eyes full of rage.
The captain's eyes went wide, and he began sprinting towards a nearby ship.
Jake chased after him, ready to tear the captain limb from limb.
The captain entered the ship and began to close the door. Jake dived in barely making it through.
As Jake got up, the Captain slammed the guitar across his chest, sending him into a wall.
Jake quickly got up, lunging at the captain, stabbing him in the chest with the rod. The favor was returned by the captain, who smashed the guitar over Jake's head.
Jake collapsed to the floor, his vision blurred, the captain ran into the cockpit and began pressing buttons.
After a few moments, Jake's vision returned. He stormed into the cockpit, wrapping his arm around the captain's neck and putting the rod to his head.
“Take me back!” Jake yelled.
“I can’t.” The captain said in an annoyed tone.
“What do you mean you can’t?!” Jake screamed.
“We modified and threw you in storage years ago. I don’t even know where your planet is.”
“Years?” Jake whispered as the thought that more time passed sank in.
The captain took this opportunity to grab Jake’s arm and flip him to the ground.
Jake felt a jolt of pain and a crack as his back slammed into the ground.
The captain got up and grabbed Jake, throwing him into the controls before dragging him to a different room.
As the captain dragged Jake, he saw out the window the ship exiting the hangar and entering space.
Jake tried to struggle but found the captain was too strong to break the hold.
The captain hit a button, opening a door that led to the void. Somehow, it didn’t seem like the oxygen or air was being sucked out, but Jake didn’t have time to think about that. It was then that he noticed a piece of the neck of the destroyed guitar lying on the floor.
Jake grabbed the piece and stabbed it into the arm of the captain.
The captain yelled as the sharp wood pierced his scaly skin. This made him loosen his grip long enough that Jake was able to slip free.
Jake got up and kicked the captain towards the door. The captain lost his footing and began to fall back. Seeing this, Jake attempted to kick him again to finish him off, but as he kicked the captain out, he grabbed Jake’s right foot, taking him with him.
As he was dragged out, he grabbed hold of a handle by the door, keeping his arms inside.
From the outside, Jake could see a purple shield over the door that kept the air in.
Looking down, Jake saw the captain latched to his leg. He was looking up, his exposed wound rapidly freezing over.
The two hung outside the ship as it passed by small stars, planets, and galaxies.
Jake began to stomp on the captain with his quickly freezing feet.
However, each stomp seemed ineffective as the captain's grip was dead set. The foot the captain hung onto quickly froze, and realizing he had no other options, Jake began to stomp and slam his own foot.
Jake clenched his teeth as his foot cracked with each stomp.
THUD
CRACK
THUD
CRACK
THUD
SNAP
Everything went slow for Jake as his foot snapped off. As it broke, he looked at the captain. Rather than the confidence that had previously characterized him, the expression frozen on his face was one of fear.
His foot and the captain quickly drifted away into the inky void of space.
Pulling himself inside, Jake felt the adrenaline wear off and the pain kick in. It was agonizing. The worst pain Jake had ever felt in his life. It didn’t matter, though, as the black smoke was already leaking from his wound, and after a minute of suffering, it engulfed him in flames, reforming the lost foot.
When the pain stopped, something else occurred to Jake. He could still see the captain's fearful face in his mind. He had essentially just murdered a man. Taken a life.
Yes, it was justified revenge, but it felt wrong. He would have expected to feel a sense of closure or catharsis, but he didn’t. Now he was stranded in space. No way to get home. And he’d just murdered the man who possibly could have brought him back.
Jake stood up and made his way to the cockpit. Sitting down, he connected his wrist’s wire to the ship's console.
The controls requested that a user profile be made. Jake began to mentally type “Jake Bard,” but realized after everything he’d been through. That name felt wrong.
Jake looked at the stars, thinking for a moment before erasing Jake Bard and writing “Blackstar”.
The system asked for a ship's callsign.
The ship passed by the rings of a distant planet, and he knew what he had to name it.
“The Stardust”
Blackstar looked at the planets and stars ahead of him. He had just been given the chance to explore the stars on a level he had only dared to dream. He wouldn’t let this pass him by.
Grabbing the ship's controls, he pressed ahead towards the adventure that awaited him.
INITIAL INCIDENT REPORT July 25th, 2025
On July 25th, 2025, a Collision Class Extra-Terrestrial Encounter Event occurred on the Site-72 airfield. The vehicle of unknown origin contained an anomalously modified human male who self-identified as “Dr. Blackstar” and was later identified as Foundation Junior Researcher Jacob Bard.
Dr. Blackstar appears to be roughly five years older than when he was originally taken and claims to have spent several hundred years going across the galaxy and time. These stories have not been confirmed.
A full debrief regarding this incident and the aftermath will be made available at a later date.