THE INVISIBLE HAND
CHAPTER ONE The rain started in the afternoon as a light mist, but as the gloom of night fell, the rain gathered its forces and attacked without mercy. In the ambiguous shelter of a doorway, Nab drew his shabby coat more tightly around him. Rain was falling so hard, it bounced off the floor of the alleyway, like bullets. Yet, there was another sound, that was not the rain. It wasn't thunder, either. In fact, it wasn't like any sort of sound Nab had ever heard before. Shivering, the middle aged man glanced up, as a bright blue-white light suddenly glimmered at the end of the alley. Rain pelted Nab's eyes, as he strained to see what was going on. It looked exactly like light streaming through an open doorway. But, that was impossible. The alley ended in the brick wall of an abandoned factory. Turning away to wipe the rain from his eyes, Nab looked up again seconds later. The alley was empty. Only the blackness of the rain-shrouded night greeted him. He shook his head. He needed food, warmth, rest. Nab reckoned he was seeing things, and that disturbed him. A few hours past midnight, found Nab wrapped in a damp, smelly old wool blanket, standing around a fire that had been lit inside an old metal bin. He and some other blokes had wandered into an abandoned factory, to escape the pitiless winter weather. Looking around at the empty factory floor, he only half-listened, as one of the blokes beside him joked about the building being a home away from home. Nab took off his old grey watch cap, and ran his fingers through his damp hair. “I used to work here.” Nab muttered, to no one in particular. “Fifteen years, I worked here, slaving away for a better life than my old man had...and now look where we are, this old factory and me. We're both mothballed, outlived our usefulness to society.” “What're you on about, mate?” Said the young, bearded man next to him. “Nothin'.” Nab shrugged. “Nothing important, I reckon.”
The bearded man shrugged. He pulled his hands out of the old army jacket he was wearing, and stretched them out towards the fire. He gave Nab a nudge, and leaned over, talking in a low voice, as if sharing a secret. “I heard another one of us has gone missing.” he said to to Nab. “Ey?” Nab said to him, “Who's gone missing? I haven't heard anything.” The young man turned to Nab with genuine surprise in his eyes. “There's been five so far, in the past fortnight. All blokes from our part of the streets. Everyone of them just vanished into thin air, not a trace of him. One minute they're there, the next they're gone, like they never were. The police aren't doing a thing about it. They say the missing bloke's have probably just moved on to other parts of the country.” Nab only grunted, and drew his blanket around him tighter. He shrugged. That was the way life was, for the homeless. You were invisible to most of the world when you were alive, so who notices when you're gone? The young man nudged Nab again. Nab suddenly had to fight the urge to elbow the boy in the ribs. But, that's not the sort of fellow he was, so he let the bearded fellow, who didn't give his name, speak. “What do'ya reckon then? Do you think it's some kind of conspiracy? Someone takin' us away to do experiments on us, or some'at like that?” Nab snorted, and shook his head. “You've been watching too many of them science-fiction films, boy. I don't reckon you've been on the streets as long as I have. People disappear here, all the time. One minute they're here, the next...” There was a bright flash in the room, like a bolt of lightning had stuck outside the windows. Nab closed his eyes against the glare, as he spoke. “...they're gone.” Nab said---then, opening his eyes, he realized he was all alone, talking to empty space. The homeless man gasped. It was still a stormy night, and clouds raced across the sky. Wait a minute. A night sky? But...Nab whirled around. He was outdoors. On top of a rocky outcropping of some sort. Just then, the moon came out. Nab could see by it's brightness that he was in a rocky, barren landscape. In the far distance, shone the lights of what looked to be a great city. The moon was so bright, it seemed almost as if Nab were standing in broad daylight. Looking up at the sky, the homeless man gasped. It wasn't a moon—it was two moons. He wasn't on Earth anymore.
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