Merlin

     Merlin cleared his throat and rubbed his head. There was a feeling of uneasiness in the air between the unlikely acquaintances, and he had a strong urge not to divulge anything. But he hadn't talked to anyone about his his past in a long time, and having enough time to sit in the cell festering about it had driven him to near insanity. A part of him wanted to push the truth deeper, but another part of Merlin wanted his burden to be lifted.

     "What's your name?" Merlin asked, through the vent.

     There was a pause, and then the soft voice of a young woman responded, "Ellie...Ellie Jobs."

     "Pleasure to meet you Ellie," Merlin sighed. "What do you do?"

     "What?" Ellie asked, a little confused.

     "What's your power?" asked Merlin, picking at the ground. "It's why everyone's in here. We've all got powers that we've been deemed not worthy enough to use."

     "I can..." Ellie paused, as if she were struggling with the right words. "I can manipulate...technology..."

     "What does that mean?" asked Merlin.

     "It's kinda hard to explain..." stuttered Ellie. "It's like I can communicate...interface...with whatever technology I come into contact with."

     "How the hell did that happen to you?" Merlin responded, leaning back on the concrete wall.

     "It's a long story..." Ellie whispered. "But I wasn't the only one, my friend had something happen to him too."

     "Your friend?" asked Merlin.

     "I...," Ellie stuttered, shyly trying to explain. "My 'friend'...Gabriel..."

     "Something tells me 'Gabriel' was more than just a friend," Merlin observed, simply by the tone in Ellie's voice.

     Ellie was quiet before responding, embarrassment evident in her voice, "Okay I'll admit, I did have feelings for him...but he's gone now and I don't know what's happened to him."

     "He's out there, somewhere," sighed Merlin, knowing the feeling of loss. "But tell me, what happened to you both? Where did your abilities come from?" 

     Ellie remained silent. 

     Merlin looked around his own cell. For a long time he'd always wondered about the others, and if their stories were any similar to his. It was a deep longing, a longing not to be alone in such a vast world of uncertainty.

     "Ellie," Merlin started, before stopping to make sure he was choosing the right words. "If I tell you my story, will you tell me yours?"

     There was no response, and Merlin understood her hesitation. He could hear the strain in her voice, as if it was taking everything in her power to not burst into tears. It was a feeling that Merlin, himself, had felt for such a long time.

     "It all began..." Merlin started, knowing that Ellie wouldn't respond, "when I was a young teenager."

     He thought that maybe if he started talking, it would inspire his fellow captive to speak out as well. Merlin pushed himself up so his back was flatter against the wall before continuing. Every word was hard for him to utter, but it was all a part of his story...

**

A Long Time Ago...

     The sparse grassy plains whipped in the breeze, and the relentless sun bore down on the cracked Earth from high above. For miles, a desert stretched onward that had been baked by the everlasting sun for eons, and it would be baked for eons more. Still, there was a peculiar, ugly, beauty that resonated from the deformed rocks and shimmering tumbleweed. Nearby, a sand-colored lizard licked its chapped lips and scurried under a rock for some shade.

     A 17-year-old boy stepped through the grass with his younger sister. They were a part of the town that was located a few miles south, and having a walk in the desert was a favorite pastime of the two. Life was always stressful, taking more than it ever gave, and having a moment with nature soothed the two siblings. The older boy, Merlin, checked his watch to make sure it wasn't getting too late.

     "What time is it?" asked the younger sister, wiping her sweaty brow with her arm.

     The old watch had used to belong to his father, and the slightly-cracked face boasted its great age. Merlin looked up and pointed to a high ridge before them while saying:

     "It's not that late, but we should be getting home soon," Merlin pointed up the ridge. "How about we hike to the top of that ridge before heading home?"

     His younger sister nodded her head, and the two started to walk forward. The dry earth crunched under the feet as they made their way to the top of the ridge and looked out upon the vast desert. Merlin pulled out some water, offered it to his sister, and then took a long drink from it. The liquid, precious in those parts of the world, seemed to pour new life into him.

     Waves of heat radiated off of the overlying terrain as Merlin and his sister stood in silence for a moment. The desert was especially beautiful at night when the the millions of stars could be seen in the night sky. It made one feel daringly small when compared to the rest of existence.

     "Merlin," the younger sister started, shielding her eyes from the harsh sun, "what's that?"

     She pointed, and Merlin followed her gesture. It was to a location of the sky where a glinting object of some sort resonated. The object reflected the glare of the sun, and as it got closer some of the fine details could be made out.

     "Nina..." Merlin began, backing up and shielding his sister.

     Nina tilted her head, "What is it?"

     The object got closer with every second, and the glint on its shining surface faded somewhat. Merlin's jaw dropped as he gazed at the thick, smoldering, smoke billowing out of various sections of whatever the object was. It tumbled through the sky like a star that had fallen from its place among the heavens. The surrounding heat seemed to increase as the mysterious 'craft' got closer...

     "Merlin?" asked Nina.

     Merlin nodded, "Let's go, now!"

     The two turned, but not before the craft collided with the cracked desert just on the other side of the ridge. A deafening blast interrupted the stillness of the environment, and a cloud of dust tossed itself into the air. Merlin threw his body over his sister's, a shock wave pulsating throughout the region and flicking their bodies off of the ground.

     "Merlin!!!" Nina screamed, as she was effortlessly tossed away.

     Merlin fell to the ground and rolled in the dirt, coughing as some of it made its way into his mouth. He immediately got up, but the surrounding dust disoriented his perception.

     "Nina?" he asked, into the fog-like smoke.

**

Merlin

     Merlin faltered in his story, awaiting a response from Ellie. It was a story so outrageous, so unworldly, that he doubted that she'd believe. Several agonizing seconds rolled by as Merlin waited, but just as he started to think he'd lost her Ellie spoke up.

     "What happened next?"she asked, a little hesitantly.

     Merlin looked up, choosing his words carefully once more, "Do you really want to know?"

     "It can't be as bad as getting killed and brought back to life," responded Ellie.

     "What?" asked Merlin, trying to comprehend.

     "Just continue with your story," said Ellie. "We'll get to mine later."

     Merlin racked his head back to the event that had happened so long ago...

**

A Long Time Ago...

     It was as if a sandstorm had spread throughout the region. Dust billowed high into the air, and a thick cloud of soot floated around the crash site. Merlin staggered around until he found his sister lying on the ground unconscious. She was covered in sand, some bruises were apparent on her face, but otherwise she seemed okay.

     "Nina?" Merlin asked, trying to wake her up. "Nina?"

     He jostled her, and Nina stirred from her state.

     "Nina, we've got go," Merlin whispered, hoisting his limp sister onto his back.

     Fear and uncertainty clouded his mind as Merlin looked back at the crash site. The smoldering mess of dust and smoke seemed to be dying down, while a garbled, metallic, exterior could be out barely.

     "What..." Merlin whispered, to himself, his mind trying to understand.

     It was a saucer-shaped craft with cuts, dents, and holes littering the clearly-damaged exterior. A hole had been torn right through the side upon impact, and it revealed a dark, complex interior full of wonder. Merlin stood for a moment, his sister dangling in his grasp.

     From the wreckage, there was a sudden movement. Merlin's muscles tensed, and he took a step back in order to reassure himself. For a moment it ceased, but then the movement occurred once more just at the base of the hole. Suddenly, a piercing cry shook the air out of the smoking rubble.

     Merlin was frozen as the cry continued before it abruptly, mysteriously, halted. It had not been a cry of war, or fear, but a cry of pain. Merlin, fearing that there might be someone with an injury, tenderly laid Nina in the warm blankets of the sand. Then, as cautiously as he had ever been in his life, Merlin began to walk towards a craft of unknown origin.

     It was clearly not a rock of some kind, because the exterior was far too symmetrical. Merlin neared the craft until he was about twenty-five feet from its structural corpse, and then the dust cleared just enough for something to be observed. A faded, scarred, American flag insignia was embedded into the outside of the craft; indicative of a secretive experiment of some kind. He walked ever so closer, rocky sand crunching underneath his tattered shoes, and looked in a mixture of horror and awe at...

     Whatever it was defied explanation. Merlin's first thought was a man, but the proportions were deformed from the impact. The head was bloated, the eyes melted out of the skull, and the fingers...there weren't five fingers anymore. Merlin choked back a cry of fear, getting closer to the figure and bending down to look closer at the wounds. A gash was clearly apparent on the corpse, and it was obvious that it had been the cause of death. Merlin looked closer at the mixture of organs that spilled out of the man's side.

     Merlin turned to look inside the destroyed interior of the craft, ship, or whatever it was. Huge swaths of technology spilled out of the ship in a mess of wires, circuitry, and other things, that Merlin had never seen, were mixed in. He walked closer, stepping up so that he was actually standing on the edge of the giant gash. Merlin's sandy shoes stood on the unblemished floor of the interior, and his eyes adjusted from the harshness of the outside.

     "Whoa..." he whispered, in wonder.

     He took one step, then two, and then more into the unknown. Human curiosity drove every movement, every breath, and it turned down every instinct of fear. Merlin looked up at the ceiling, and then turned as a flickering light caught his attention. There was a dullness to it that had made it nearly undetectable, but years of scouring for desert trash to sell had given the young teenager a good eye. The light flickered again, and Merlin was drawn even further into the terrestrial ship...