ABDUCTED!

Chapter One: They had no corporeal presence

I was twenty when they first abducted me. In college, enrolled in aeronautical engineering, but studying women. Not a serious person at all, but they thought that in me they’d latched onto a representative member of the species. They hoped to learn something about the strange biped that seemed dominant on the planet, if you didn’t count bacteria.

I was to learn later that I was one of many humans they’d abducted over the years; they never took too many at once because they didn’t want to raise an alarm. And they could afford to take their time, because it turned out they lived forever, more or less.

I never met another “experimental subject,” on the ship, but I met several people back on planet earth who swore with great vehemence that they’d been abducted, as well. This usually happened when I’d been drinking and forgot to keep my mouth shut about my abduction, especially if I was in a bar somewhere in the midwest, where apparently people are more prone to being abducted.

I was one of only two people to remember having been abducted on several occasions. The other person, a middle-aged, divorcee, was bat-shit crazy, however. You could tell just by looking at her hair, which was incredibly frizzy and which she had styled in the shape of a flying saucer.

I wish I could describe for you the alien beings who abducted me, but they had no corporeal presence. I can’t even describe the sound of their voice, because their communications didn’t involve written or spoken language of any kind. I just became aware of what was being asked of me and responded. It was really very weird. I found myself formulating a variety of thoughts, or carrying out activities -- once I found myself doing the standing broad jump -- without knowing why I was doing any of it.


Next week: Giuseppina's Meatballs