| Chapter 01

July 25th, 2085 - 9:08 A.M.

Excited conversations carried in the wind. Music, orchestrated by the Pylons themselves, echoed after every word. Every laugh. While I was eager to see the aliens and their whimsical pride, the sights of Chicago were not my favorite.

It was too loud. Too busy. With the sun so high in the sky, I felt sick. And if it weren't for the crowd, I would've puked. Everywhere.

"No lie..." I muttered the end of my thought out loud. A habit I could never break.

"Country boy out here daydreaming." David, my cousin, wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gave me a good shake. While I groaned, he laughed. "You still do that mumblin' shit?"

I rolled my eyes before I looked up at the sky. After hours under the morning sun, I had lost track of time. And my patience. The World Fair may have been the hot ticket on the internet, but if it weren't for the Pylons hosting it, I wouldn't have been outside with David. Or in the city, for that matter.

But I needed to see the Pylons. Everyone did. After hundreds of years on Earth, the last of the alien species decided to give humans one more show. For many of us, it may have been entertainment. For Pylons, it could've been a final shot at redemption.

Pylons did not leave Earth because they wanted to. They had to.

"What?" Rubbing my cheek, I looked at David before glancing at the line that went on forever.

There was a girl behind me, young and smiling. In her arms was a Pylon plushie, fully designed to look like the aliens we all had come to see. The "I love Chicago" shirt she wore told me she was not from here. I smiled.

Neither am I.

"You're not paying attention." David pulled me close to him. His sports tank-top did nothing to protect his arms from the sun and sweat. Again, it was hot. I bit the insides of my cheeks to keep from complaining.

"What am I looking at?" I cleared my throat as I pushed my hands into the pockets of my jeans. "We're in line."

"Uh, yeah." David smirked.

Looking at my cousin, covered in tattoos, I reminded myself he was accustomed to city life. He lived for the loud, the bright, and the crazy. None of this bothered him as it did me. If I were to be honest, the real reason I'd agreed to come to the fair was my mother.

She had this deep intrigue over the aliens. Never explained it to me, but it was there. It was why we traveled up to the city with my dad when I was a kid; curiosity ran through her veins. But when my dad went missing, so did her love for the species that spent years helping humans survive.

I wasn't sure how sending me to the fair would feed her long-lost obsession, but I happily obliged. In a way, I wanted to experience the fair, learn about the aliens. If I could see a Pylon and hear their history, I could appreciate the love and affection my parents had for the species. Connect with them, just as my parents did.

And while I'm here, I can buy my mom a key chain, too.

"You ain't even notice how close we are!" David gave my back a quick smack, smack. A ball of air left me as he grabbed my chin, forcing me to look ahead. "We're like twenty people away from gettin' in."

Twenty people.

I followed the tip of David's finger. He was right. While the crowds to the right were filled with people trying to get last-minute tickets, in front of us was the prized entrance. If it weren't for my uncle Hector and his city job, we wouldn't have had the chance.

"Yes, yes, fun." I tried to pull my head out from the sounds of people. I looked at the buildings instead, high in the sky. Some carried world records with just height alone. Behind one of them, I could see it—the ship everyone was dying to see.

Despite covering up half of the sky, the metal on its side reflected sunlight, so Chicago was never darkened by their shadow. It simply hovered above the clouds, invisible until one looked up to try and find it.

As I looked at it, I remembered how most would leave it alone. No need to bother the last ship that continued to supply us with Sapphire.

"Gus!" David squeezed my arm as we moved three more spots up in line. "Look, look, look!" He pointed again and with his voice so loud in my ear, I had no choice but to look ahead at the fair's entrance.

There was a stage set up just beside the gates separating the public from the event. On it was a Pylon, taller than the average man. Muscular, too. While his stage was projected on one of the fair's digital screens, I could see him just fine without it. I watched as he lifted his arms above his head, addressing the crowd that had already been granted entrance, and flocked to see him.

"Good morning, Chicago!" he said, and the crowd cheered. "How's everyone doing?"

There was a chorus of responses. Most I couldn't understand, even with their voices amplified by the display's speakers. While I was sure they told the Pylon they were good, happy, great, I was more focused on his hand.

Between his fingers was a small blue vial. It glowed just like his yellow eyes.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" he cheered as the crowd responded with such praise. "And who here wants to get a shot of Sapphire today?" He held the vial higher. "I've got just one dose, a demonstration, and I need a volunteer!"

"Shit, volunteers?" Next to me, still holding me, David was excited. So much so, he shook me. "Volunteers!"

I squeezed my eyes shut. "That's usually how these things go," I muttered, trying to pull myself out from his arms.

"How would you know?" David laughed, tapping the side of my head. "You don't get out anyway."

When I opened my eyes again, I wanted to yell at him, but I bit my tongue. What would I say, anyway? He was older, probably stronger. All I could remember was him being that big cousin, the bullying kind. Honestly, I wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

As we moved up another six spots in line, I looked back at the entrance. And at the stage.

The Pylon applauded as a brave Chicagoan moved out from the crowd and stuck out an arm to be lifted on stage. When the Pylon grabbed hold of her, the crowd cheered even louder. Those who had just passed through the front gates hurried over towards the group, anxiously waiting for the demonstration.

Like me. I wanted to see it, too. My foot tapped against the asphalt as I counted seven people in front of us.

"Shit, line's movin'!" David finally let go and pushed himself up on the tips of his toes. "Man, we're almost there."

For a quick second, I glanced at him, but I looked back at the Pylon before I could blink. I heard the tall alien shout, "We've got our volunteer!" Holding the woman's hand, he lifted one of her arms over her head. "Let's give praise to—" He leaned down a few inches to whisper in her ear. "—what's your name, sweetie?"

"Janie," she said, a big smile on her face.

"To Janie!" The Pylon looked back at the crowd below his stage. When they cheered for the woman, he laughed and let her go, facing her. She faced him, too, an eager smile on her face. To her, he asked, "Have you ever been administered our ether before?"

Janie shook her head. But right after, with her finger on her chin, she quickly nodded. "Once," she said, "when I was a kid. I was sick for about a month and my mom took me in to get looked at. Y'all gave me just a shot."

"Lovely." The Pylon turned the vial in his fingers before opening the top. A second Pylon, a smaller woman, hurried on stage with a satchel in hand. From inside, she pulled out a syringe and handed it to the alien leading the demonstration.

Janie, still excited, looked back at the crowd with an even bigger smile. With us having moved, now just one spot away from being granted entrance, I was just as excited as she was. All my anxieties faded away when I looked at the light in that Pylon's eyes.

Who needed a digital panel attached to a building when the scene is right there, up close, and personal?

"A shot's all it takes to cure any ailment within humans," the Pylon said, pressing his syringe into the vial. He filled it with the blue ether and the crowd gasped with amazement.

I could understand their curiosity. Controversy over Sapphire went on for years. Some believed the Pylons left and refused to give us the ether because it harmed us in the long run. And for the species who spent centuries ensuring our evolution, forbidding access to their blue elixir made sense.

This event was to show us Sapphire was good for us. To remind us that the last Pylon ship on Earth meant no harm.

"Whether your illness is severe or mild, we can cure you." The Pylon lifted the syringe, observing the needle. It flickered with the light from his eyes as he looked at it. "Sapphire can be given for injuries, too. Or moods. Do you, Janie, suffer from any anxieties?"

Janie looked at him with wide eyes.

Mine widened, too.

"I um...." Janie scrunched her nose. "Sometimes, I guess."

The Pylon smiled as we moved up again. Next to me, David practically shoved his wrist in the security's direction. Even though I wasn't focused on him, I heard him. "Scan this bitch, man! Let me in!"

The guard responded with a grunt, no words.

Just like I had no words as the Pylon reached for the woman's arm, turning it up towards the sky. One of his fingers expertly moved over her skin in search of a vein. When he found one, he smiled and looked back at the woman's face. "After this shot, Janie, all of your worries will be gone."

Just one shot? That's all it takes?

"Any anxieties you feel, onset depressions—poof." The Pylon woman behind him made a motion with her hands as he spoke. And when he said, "You'll be as happy as can be," the assistant clapped and turned towards the crowd to rile them up.

I could feel it, too. I lifted one arm over my head, hand in a fist. I couldn't help but cheer along with them. "Yeah!"

The guard who had scanned David's wristband extended a hand to scan mine. "Next," he said.

I didn't look at him. My gaze was stuck on the stage as the Pylon pressed the needle into the volunteer's arm. She didn't flinch at the initial prick. She didn't move, either. Seemingly mesmerized, she watched the liquid disappear into her arm.

I had to admit, I was mesmerized, too.

"All right, go ahead." The guard dropped my arm after he scanned my wrist and pointed behind him, talking to both David and me. "Concession stands to the right. Events are on the left—" He glanced at the stage with a shrug. "—as you can see. Payments are assigned to your bands, so just press your hands against monitors to pay."

"Yeah, yeah, we know!" David tried to brush him away as he reached to grab me.

But I didn't move. I listened.

The crowd's cheers fell into silence, murmurs, as the volunteer on stage stepped back away from the Pylon. She clutched her arm to her chest. "Um..." she whimpered.

Holding my breath, I watched as her face scrunched up in pain. A cry slipped past her lips. The Pylon and his assistant, noting the trouble, rushed to her side and grabbed her as she stumbled, nearly falling off the stage.

"Shit." I stepped back, nearly falling into my cousin because the woman in the Pylon's arm screamed. Her face, pale just seconds before, turned red. Blood found its way out from her eyes, her nose, her mouth.

The Pylon, screaming back at his assistant, tried to stop it from happening. "Call Brylon! Roderick!" he shouted. "Grab a medic!"

Panic ensued. The crowd dispersed, screaming, yelling, pulling at each other. The guards in front of us quickly reacted and slammed the fair's gates shut in our faces.

David grabbed and pulled at the bars as they locked it. "Hey! What the hell, man?" he shouted.

The guards didn't look at either of us. They were focused on the people. Their hands were pressed over their earpieces.

"Yo!" Not one for being ignored, David tugged at the gate again. "What's happening?"

A long black curtain fell over the stage, hiding the terrible event from those that lingered from the crowd. The surrounding lights powered off, too. Like David, I grabbed onto the bars.

As alarms went off overhead, one of the guards finally looked at us. "Fair's closed today, kids. Go home."