“They disappeared. Vanished like … they were disintegrated.”

“Exactly!” Dex pointed out. “That’s what happened to me too! Hundreds of us!” He looked around. “But where the hell are all the rest? Why are we alone?”

“I don’t know.” Warren sighed. “The Agency kept the weird smaller space ships secret for as long as possible to avoid panic … and I guess they were right to. People freaked out big time. That was a terror run if ever I’ve been involved in one. But it was unnatural. Like, I’ve never been so frightened in my life. It didn’t even make sense.”

Debra grunted. “I’m glad you guys decided to hide that information. Maybe half the people who got taken wouldn’t have been if you would’ve spoken up.”

“So you wanted them going crazy?” Warren asked. “Rioting in the streets? Looting stores and taking to the roads, causing traffic jams and accidents? You guys know what people are like. In the face of a disaster, they lose their collective minds and we end up with all kinds of tragedy. It sucks that we have to keep things from people but that’s just how it is.”

“They could’ve stayed home!” Debra shouted. “In their houses, away from the streets!”

“Spare me your indignation and think about what’s going on,” Warren interrupted. “We have a predicament that goes way beyond what’s happening on Earth. If I’m right, we’re being taken back to that object right now and God knows what happens when we arrive.”

“Notice something?” Gary said. “Everyone in this room … we’re all military.”

Jake snapped his fingers. “He’s right! What’s that all about? It must mean something.”

Warren narrowed his eyes in thought. “I doubt it means much. Luck, more than anything. Processing? You know, when prisoners are divided up into specific groups. It’s probably something like that. Where were you all going when this happened?”

Debra said, “I live in off base housing. I was on my way in to work my shift at the hospital. I’m a nurse.”

“Me too,” Jake added. “Er … the going to work part, not the nurse thing. I took a back way to avoid traffic.”

“Same,” Dex replied, “only I got caught in traffic. Hundreds of us got caught at once.