We both stared, thunderstruck, at the skies. Rufus was hopping around our feet, confused.


    It was like a split in the sky, a voltaic bright blue that screamed electricity. Every second, the blue became brighter, and stronger, until it almost hurt to look at. All of the sudden, I could almost smell electricity. A copper taste filled my mouth, as the streak ripped. It tore in the middle, splitting into a jagged oval shape.


    At the same time, a silver thing started to come through this hole in space. Behind the silver prow, a bright blue nebulous cloud seemed to float, and as the silver ship pushed its way through, it rode a seemingly endless wave of bright blue clouds. My jaw dropped open. Rufus''s wet tongue on my palm shook me out of my trance.


    "What. The. Actual. Fuck," I said out-loud, as Lisa held my arm, just above the elbow. Her gripped tightened.


    "Look," She said, pointing at the rainbow bridge thing.


    The lightning gate had left an afterimage in my eyes. Everywhere i looked, that jagged edge was encircling it. I had to blink the image away.


    By the time I could see, there were so many tiny gnats around the rainbow that the swarm was starting to cover the rainbow itself. That''s when I realized something.


    They weren''t gnats... they were some sort of spacecraft or creature. Their swarm was past the clouds, and the swarm spiraled upwards into a funnel. As I watched, the silver leviathan slowly eased out of the rift, right as the swarm''s funnel twisted and turned to point at it. The swarm formed a drill shape, wrapping itself around and around.


    Towards the end of the swarm, which had shown no signs of petering out, larger shapes were starting to appear. Almost as if on que, as the first of these smaller box shapes, still nowhere near the size of the lightning ship, drifted away from the rainbow, the swarm reached the silver leviathan.


    It still hadn''t fully emerged from the rift, but as the swarm spiraled in, a looming sense of dread or fear overtook me.


    A bright flash blinded me, and both Lisa and I cried out. Rufus yelped and cowered behind our legs. When I could see again, a chunk of the swarm was gone, like a dog taking a big bite out of a biscuit.


    "Jesus, what was that?" Lisa asked. Around us, others had stopped, and were looking up. The frisbee group had all stopped and started pointing at the sky.


    "The bugs got eaten by the big silver log," I said.


    Lisa gave me a side-eye. "Bugs?" I shrugged.


    The bugs had done something, although I couldn''t see it. The silver ship had small spots start appearing on its side, pock-marking the clear sheen.


    It had just passed through the hole, revealing its full size. It was impossible to be sure, as there was no size reference, but based on how ponderous and unstoppable it seemed, I felt like it was impossibly huge. That was when a second prow started poking its way through the rift, also riding a bright blue wave.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "We need to go. We have to find out what the hell is going on!" Lisa said, grabbing Rufus''s collar. Light bursts started flashing above us, tiny, impossibly bright light flashes. It was like firefiles on steroids, but brighter than a laser pointer in your eye. A tiny voice in my head whispered ''nuclear...''.


    "I don''t think anyone knows, but you are absolutely right." I grabbed our picnic bag, and started heading to the car.


    As if it was a signal, everyone around us started crying out and running away as well, or frantically calling people on their cell phones.


    "Does anyone have service? Or the internet? I can''t get any bars!" One of the frisbee players called out to us as we passed by.


    I pulled out my phone, but dropped it in my haste. I picked it up off the path, and shook my head.


    "I don''t either!" I called back. "Those things must have messed with the satellites."


    We hurried back to the car, and hopped in. Rufus refused to get in the back seat, he hated it, when I felt the world ripple somehow.


    It felt like the universe stretched and then snapped back like a rubber band. It wasn''t really uncomfortable, just... weird.


    Lisa and I both looked back up. Behind both the two silver logs, and the rainbow swarm, was now a hexagonal pattern. It warped my mind a bit, like those pictures you have to look at cross-eyed to see the ship. It felt like time has stopped, as the swarm unraveled and frayed, and the silver leviathans engines had gone dark.


    When both my eyes finally agreed on what they were each independently seeing, and got done disagreeing with each other, what I saw was a phalanx of ships. They looked like pinpricks, but as I watched, they turned, as a formation, to head towards the swarm. A thin red line started to reach out from each of the 8 ships, ending in a boiling red miniature sun at the center of their formation.


    The leviathans started to pull away from the hexagon, rotating achingly slowly in either direction. The swarm frantically pulled itself back in, towards the main tendril, swirling seemingly tighter than before.


    The sun boiled, slowly growing larger and larger, until it erupted, catching all 8 ships in its firy tendrils.


    "Did they just explode themselves," Lisa asked, looking at me.


    "No, look, its a bubble now," I pointed out. The ships were still there, just encircled by a red soap bubble.


    "Oh god," I whispered. "Aliens are real, and they are pisssssssed off."


    As if I had cursed us by saying they were real, the swarm blob exploded into three tendrils. One of them probed towards the silver ships, while another pushed towards the soap bubble. The third, however... it sheared off of the main body, and whipped its point towards us.


    "Shit, shit, shit" Lisa said. "We gotta go!"


    "Hop in!" I said, jumping in the drivers seat. Lisa just grabbed Rufus, and hopped in with him on her lap.


    The road was a shitshow, so typical Houston driving. The only difference being that I was the asshole cutting across four lanes with no blinker.


    Of course, normally its not a damn bumper rink. Cars were piling up everywhere, and people had gotten out of their cars and were staring up at the sky.


    It was a madhouse. Lisa grabbed on to the ''oh shit'' handle, and the dog, and closed her eyes tight, as I weaved through the debris at slightly higher than walking speed, and passed by stopped cars on either side. Our house was in sight, and we were almost home.


    I would have made it, too...


    <table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 78px" border="1">


    <tbody>


    <tr style="height: 58px">


    <td style="width: 98.3381%; text-align: center; height: 58px">


    Welcome to the Universe!


    </td>


    </tr>


    <tr style="height: 20px">


    <td style="width: 98.3381%; height: 20px; text-align: center">


    We hope you have a pleasant transition.


    </td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>