Date: January 03, 2130
Time: 20:24
Location: Venice, ITA
“Isabelle!” a gruff voice echoed from across the hallway, “I’ve been calling your name for the last thirty minutes now, what’s going on?”
A tall woman dashed from room to room, frantically searching for her papers, “I’ll be right there, Maverick!” The man huffed loudly, “That’s Boss to you, squirt.”
Isabelle Avista, a tall, lanky, young woman who works at the National Geographic HQ in Italy. She does her work well, unfortunately not on time. “I’m here!” she exclaimed as she tripped on the misaligned floorboard, “I’ve got those reports filled out.”
Maverick, her boss, looked at the files on his desk, his face scrunching up, as usual, “Isabelle,” he sighed, “Most of these articles have shattered artifacts on the cover.”
Isabelle looked back and forth, looking a bit nervous. In terms of photography, she takes things up close, as if you could touch them like on other planets and in other time periods. Often, that resulted in property damage, but that didn’t stop her from exploring this world she lived in.
“Look,” she replied, “To say the least, they should up their security, it’s like the Rome County Jail. I would know, since I’ve been there.” Maverick sighed under his breath and led them to the giant glass window.”
“You see that,” Maverick pointed at the nearby museum, “we’ve got one chance to show them that we can document something without breaking, skewering, smashing, crushing, clobbering, twisting, destroying, annihilating or demolishing any form of famous artwork. Remember that trip to France?”
Isabelle looked back trying to act innocent, she recalled an incident back at the Louvre, where she punctured a hole through the Mona Lisa, directly on her beautiful face. Luckily, the technology nowadays made another copy. “The Paris County Jail was actually pretty luxurious, Mav. Also, the technological company that created that duplication machine. What was their name? Acier, Acier Industries, right?”
Maverick slapped her on the face, “Focus, Avista!” he yelled, “Listen, we were supposed to be done with this interview thirty minutes ago, so get down there and give us some visuals on the new artifact.”
Isabelle dashed out the door grabbing the camera from the shelf, knocking it over in the process, “You won’t regret it!” Isabelle yelled out. Maverick looked at the toppled shelf and the broken glass on the floor, “And the Boss gave me this job?” he muttered.
“I can’t believe that the museum gave me a second chance,” Isabelle exclaimed aloud, “Sometimes, I think I’m a worldwide disaster!” she ran through the red carpeted halls, and past the expensive paintings that aligned the walls, which she knocked down.
“Be careful, Belle!” a voice yelled out from behind her. She turned around with a smirk on her face, “Evyn,” she smirked, “It’s so nice to see you again!” He smiled back and gave her a hug, “Sorry I couldn’t respond to your text,” he shyly whispered, “I had a case that I couldn’t solve for three days!”
She chuckled lightly, but shook the smile off, “Sorry Ev,” she muttered, “I’ve got something to do today, and I can’t disappoint Maverick.” He shrugged and reached over to grab her arm, “Promise me you won’t destroy anything today,” he uttered, “I can’t look after you all the time. Think about when I’m not around anymore.”
She scoffed and ran past him, “I promise you!” she yelled as she ran into another employee. Evyn looked at the documents Isabelle dropped, “Being a cop and being a good boyfriend sometimes can’t add up to a good life.”
………
Aria ran across the living room in a frenzy, “I can’t find the Monopoly Board, David. You probably forgot it in Toronto, or Montréal, or Paris." She walked over to the couch where David and Lee were seated. Céline was down in the lower deck fixing another sprung leak.
“I can’t believe I left it back at the dorm.” David muttered, as he cuddled his pillow. Lee scooted over closer, trying to comfort him, “Don’t worry, buddy.” he comforted, “We can always play three player chess.” Aria looked back at him with a puzzled look on her face as David his face deeper in his pillow.
“You know,” Aria continued, “we could play charades.” David shook his head vigorously. Lee and Aria exchanged nervous looks until they came up with an idea. “How about Twister?” Lee suggested, and David looked up from his pillow.
………
“Right foot, yellow.” Lee muttered as he turned to see Aria and David tangled up like a bowl of spaghetti. “Okay,” David groaned as he stretched his foot out to reach for the yellow dot, when suddenly the ship started to rock violently.
Everyone was startled and slightly knocked over. Lee ran down to the lower deck while Aria and David tried desperately to untangle themselves. “What’s going on?” Lee shouted. He turned to Céline who was knee deep in running water.
“Sorry!” Céline yelled back, “The leak grew worse! I’m trying to fix it as we speak.” Lee nodded and rushed over to try and help, “How may I help?” Céline turned back with a smile of gratitude as she instructed him on how to fix it.
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“Please excuse this announcement.” the speakers blasted, “Due to our pipe troubles, we must switch to hydro-transportation mode. Sorry, and thank you for flying with us on Zenith Airlines.”
Céline and Lee exchanged confused looks, “Was that David?” Céline asked. Lee sighed as he turned back to the leaky pipe, “Where were we?”
………
“And here is the Artifact of Unknown Origin.” a tall man announced, “This is one of the universe’s biggest mysteries and one of the supporting forms of evidence that this world is part of a multiverse cluster.”
“So, why is it just out in the open?” a young boy asked, “Shouldn’t it be in a lab of sorts?” The man looked at the child, “This is a sci-fi novel,” he replied, “don’t bother asking silly questions like that.”
The crowd exchanged looks of concerns and confusion as the man regained his composure. “Let’s move on.” he directed as he led the crowd to the other artifacts on display. Isabelle looked at the shining, shapeshifting object on the tall, clay display.
“I should probably get a better look at it,” she muttered to herself, “I mean, it’s for a good cause.” She started to climb up the mountainous pillar. She went past the misshapen crevices and bends, accidentally making them crumble as she climbed higher.
“Almost there,” she whispered as crowds of people flocked and fluttered to the weird lady climbing on top of an ancient pillar. She grabbed her camera and took several good angles, screeching excitedly as she got a perfect snapshot. But then, the celestial pot started to tip over slightly, and plummet to the ground.
Isabelle climbed down in a state of panic as she saw the shattered pot on the ground. “I’m sorry,” she cried, “I didn’t mean for this to happen!” The people looked around with looks of worry and disappointment on their faces.
“Hello, police.” a woman from the crowd whispered, “Yeah, it’s another one.” Isabelle rushed frantically as she picked up shards of the mysterious black piece of pottery from the cold, hard ground. Soon enough, the police arrived including her boyfriend, Evyn.
She was so pleased to see him after a couple hours, but his face proved otherwise. “I’m so glad to see you again!” she exclaimed as she reached out for a hug, only to be handcuffed, “Hey, Ev, what’s the big deal?” Ev turned away dramatically, heading for the door, “I’m sorry, Belle.”
………
“And I hereby sentence you to two years in prison.” a hoarse voice says from above. Isabelle’s life just got a lot more complicated. By destroying that artifact, she unknowingly sent herself to the High Tech Rome Prison. If only she didn’t break that vase, but there’s no turning back now.
“Here,” a guard muttered, shoving a pair of prison wear to her chest, “you’ll need these. Be careful, there are several crazy people in that penitentiary, and you won’t survive a minute.”
………
“Have you guys got it working yet?” David announced over the speakers, “Aria, you should probably go check on them.” Aria shrugged and dashed over to the lower deck. “Are you guys done?” Aria asked as she stepped into a puddle of water. She turned to see Lee and Céline desperately trying to seal the leaky pipe. “We’ve almost got it!” Céline cried as she and Lee turned a comically large, metal wrench.
“Okay,” Aria said, “But we’ve got news about the Photographer.” Lee looked up and raised an eyebrow, “Isabelle,” he asked, “why so?” Aria grabbed a tablet from behind her back and pulled up a hologram of the map of Italy, “She’s on the move,” Aria claimed, “she’s heading to Rome.”
Lee wondered why she was moving so soon, but Céline asked Aria to pull up a visual of Isabelle. “Here,” Aria mumbled as a green light pierced the dark, metal halls of the lower deck. “Oh,” Céline nodded, “I know this woman.”
Lee and Aria exchanged looks of confusion, “You know her?” the two exclaimed in unison. Céline nodded confidently, “Yeah, she was quite a klutz whenever I saw her. Her boss, Maverick always mentioned something about a piece of art or a vase breaking. Once they claimed that they broke the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. But, she was hilarious every time I saw her.”
Aria pulled up a bit of her intel, scrolling past a lot of her personal information, “So,” she composed, “she has a criminal record of breaking priceless works of art and legendary artifacts. She’s wanted in three different countries, jailed in twelve, and banned in one.”
Lee looked down at the floor trying to process what he just heard, then it hit him, “I think she was sent to Rome for breaking another work of art.” Lee exclaimed as he rushed to the cockpit. “Hey!” Céline yelled out, “You still haven’t helped me finish this task of mine!” Aria ran over to help Céline while Lee frantically ran towards David.
“David!” Lee exclaimed, “Head to Rome! We’ve got important business to deal with there.” David shrugged and slammed on the pedals. “Rome is just on the horizon!” David shouted, “Another adventure awaits!”
………
“I can’t believe I’m in prison again,” Isabelle muttered aloud, “and I can’t believe Evyn betrayed me because of his stupid job!” a couple of the prisoners near her cell started to laugh at the sight of a new prisoner angrily kicking her bed.
“Look at the newbie,” a strong, muscular man walked past her cell. Some of the prisoners couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, but then the prison began to shake unexpectedly, “What’s happening?” a couple prisoners looked around in panic.
“If any of you think you’re getting out of this,” the warden coughed, pulling out his high tech gun, “you’ve got another thing coming.” The prisoners ran in all directions, running for a safe place to take cover.
Soon, the ceiling fell down on the warden, fracturing a couple bones, “I’m okay,” he said as another thing fell from the sky. “Everybody,” a hoarse voice announced, “get down! This is a rescue!”
Isabelle looked up at the bright light in front of her cell. “Who are you?” The dust clouds slowly diffused revealing three figures in its place. “We’re here to rescue you.” the mysterious figure replied. “Grab your stuff,” the other continued, “Now!”
Isabelle dusted herself off and dashed toward the warden’s office with the three masked figures trailing behind her. She kicked down the doors of the warden’s office, and was greeted by the army of police officers having their lunch break.
“Hey!” a guard yelled out, “What do you think you’re doing?” The guard pulled out her gun only to be greeted by Isabelle’s rescuers, “This is a rescue operation.” the masked figure announced, “We’re only here to rescue this woman who did absolutely nothing wrong.”
One of the masked strangers grabbed a high-tech grenade filled with a mysterious, pinkish liquid. “Take this!” the stranger yelled out as the grenade plummeted towards the ground. “Cover your nose, and don’t breathe the gas in.” the stranger whispered.
Soon enough, the room was filled with thick, pink gas, and the officers started to drift off to sleep. “Good job, team.” the stranger took off his helmet, “Aria, check the security footage and erase all forms of evidence that we were ever here. Céline, you take Isabelle back to the ship. We’re getting out of here.”
One of the strangers, who was called Céline, walked over to help Isabelle up, “You good?” she asked. Isabelle shook her head trying to figure out what was going on. “Who are you? Why are you here? Why me?”
“Never mind that.” Céline replied, “Just follow me.” She dashed out the entrance only to be greeted by a giant spacecraft. “Watch it David!” she yelled out as another figure jumped down from the wing, “Sorry,” he said, “I couldn’t find a good parking spot.”
Céline rolled her eyes as she led Isabelle into a door underneath the wing, “Stay here,” she directed, “we just need to do some important work.” Isabelle, still stunned, sat down next to the metal pipe behind her.
………
“Okay,” the mysterious stranger returned with a bunch of industrial material, paper and weapons, “We’ve got a good amount of supplies for our trip to India. Bhavin is probably already waiting.”
Isabelle strutted over to stop them in their tracks, “Okay, who are you and why did you destroy this place and save me?” The stranger stayed firm as he introduced himself as Lee Yue, and his crew, David Aurinko, Aria Guérisson and Céline Acier.
“Okay,” Isabelle sighed, “But why me?” Lee continued, “You and seven other people signed up for the roles for the Space Exploration Headquarters. You signed up for the role of Photographer, right?”
Isabelle recalled when she signed up for that role once she was done with National Geographic, “Yeah,” she replied, “I guess I did.” Lee led her up to the wing of the spaceship. He led her into the living quarters area, where a Twister mat was set up, “I haven’t played Twister in so long! Can we?”
David and Aria ran over to get it set up as Céline and Lee walked over to the cockpit. “Where to, Lieutenant?” Céline nudged jokingly. Lee started the engines as they whirred to life, “We’re off to New Delhi.”
