Page 234 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

This afforded a view of one of his captors examining his clothing and communicating its findings with
another; taller individual just on the periphery of his vision. No; not taller, the individual was on
some sort of mobile platform, with an array of devices on mechanical appendages. Another of the
ghastly masked individuals came over to him. It was then he
realised that the mask was some sort of breathing
apparatus surrounded by a transparent domed helmet with
an encircling head band. The face looking down on him was
not that unpleasant, but the black almond shaped eyes
creeped him out. This one had a strange stubby looking
wand in one of its hands. It wasn’t like the other wand he’d
seen before. The creature was holding this wand by a crystal
ball arrangement. There appeared to be bands near this
globe and the tip of the wand looked metallic. He couldn’t
focus properly; and he realised that he was being put into
some kind of semi sleeping state. The individual placed the tip of the wand on his chest and he felt a
stinging sensation. Before he blacked out; Arthur managed to see the individual hold up what looked
like part of his lung.

He came to in a white lit room on a low; flat, padded chaise long. He remembered this from
one of his nightmares too. He quickly checked his chest. There was the faintest of scars where the
creature had removed part of his lung. He felt sick and automatically reached for a bowl on a small

cabinet that was at the side of the chaise long. A click and a hum
from across the room caught his attention as he vomited. This
individual seemed to be different from the others. Arthur got the
impression that she was female; but couldn’t put his finger on why
he did. “She” came over and took his hand and placed it on the
head band. He suddenly had a series of images flash through his
mind. It was a quick resume of what had happened after he’d
blacked out. The “Doctor” had temporarily removed part of his
lung to get a “model” to work from so that his natural “Air” could
be recreated. They’d returned his organ tissue intact and repaired
the incision. That eased Arthurs’ mind a little. It also explained why he had no problem breathing
normally. The little alien left him to recover for a while. This afforded Arthur more time to assess his
surroundings. Apart from the chaise long and the stark white walls. The room seemed to be a
recreation of his Study/Office from his home. There was no computer though; instead, on his
reproduced Georgian desk was a writing slope, complete with appropriate implements. It was as if
the aliens had read his mind, but had mixed up his knowledge of antiques with actual memories.
Other inconsistencies laid more weight to that. A statue of Apollo; a pedestal with a model of a Rolls
Royce Silver Ghost, which upon closer inspection turned out to be a miniature of his Great, Great
Uncles Vintage car, and was fully working. The detail was incredible. Scaled up to real size it would
be a pristine; showroom ready example. A filing cabinet came under his scrutiny next. That shouldn’t
be there, that was from Helen’s Flat in Kensington. The contents had not been reproduced in any
detail; just those items he remembered seeing had. He remembered that she’d studied Art at
Cambridge with the vanity of becoming an itinerant Artist. However reality had changed that
outcome to one of becoming a Commercial artist. That was how they had first met. He had been
looking for a partner to set up an Independent Consultancy. He needed to break from the yoke of
the firm he was working for. They didn’t appreciate his talent and imagination. She had been looking
for a place to start her career. With the help of her Father; in the form of enough of an investment,
they had set up in Oxford originally, their joint practice. After some large client work came their way
they moved to London central. Over time they had just become close and… Well the outcome he’d
wanted didn’t look like it was going to happen now. He wondered what she was going through now;
and suddenly felt an outburst of anger. The little Alien came rushing back in and did a gesture that