Category: SciFi
Jerry and Jennifer had been married 23 years but they sat on opposite ends of the couch like strangers in a train station.
“Well...” said Jennifer with a sigh.
Jerry smiled and said, “I know what ya mean.”
For the past 18 years, their lives had revolved around their son Marcus. What would they do with themselves now that he had moved away for college? In the hour since his car had pulled out of the driveway, the house had been filled with an awkward silence.
“Well ya know,” said Jerry sliding over on the couch, “we had a lot of fun before Marcus came along and we can do it again!”
The look on his face was something like a cross between seductive and goofball.
Jennifer laughed as he pretended to bite her neck and said in his best Dracula voice, “I want to suck your blood.”
They tussled on the couch for a bit until finally hitting the floor in a big ball of laughter.
As they lay on their backs staring up at the living room ceiling, Jerry said, “Ya know what we haven’t done in forever? Go to the movies.”
Jennifer popped up from the floor and said, “And ya know where we should go?”
“The Star Theater!” they said at the same time.
Half an hour later, they pulled up in front of the theater where they had spent so many happy evenings in the past. Once bright and inviting, the Star Theater now looked like a forgotten relic.
“This place has really gone downhill,” Jerry said.
The only person in sight was a girl in the ticket window nervously filing her nails.
“At least we won’t have a hard time deciding what to see,” said Jennifer.
The only movie on the marquee was something called, Journey into Outer Space. The faded poster looked like it belonged in a museum.
“Hello, 1955,” Jerry said with a laugh.
Entering the lobby, Jennifer frowned and said, “Hey, the concession stand is closed!”
“No popcorn??? I can’t watch a movie without popcorn!” said Jerry, “You wanna just leave?”
“No! We’ve come this far, we might as well see the movie.”
“OK,” he said grabbing her hand and leading the way through a maze of velvet ropes.
At the end of the maze, Jerry said, “Where’s the guy who takes the tickets?”
“Post-Covid employee shortages babe,” said Jennifer heading quickly down the hall toward the lighted sign that read, Journey into Outer Space.
“Yeah, that must be it,” said Jerry jogging down the hall to catch up with her.
Using their phones as flashlights, the couple found seats in the middle of the empty theater.
“Let’s make out…” Jerry started to say when he was suddenly interrupted. The words Please fasten your seatbelt flashed across the screen. At the same time, a loud voice echoed those words over the theater speakers.
“What in the world?” said Jennifer. “What seatbelt?”
“We’re in a movie, not an amusement park!” Jerry yelled toward the screen.
She chuckled and said, “It must be one of those fancy new immersive experiences where the seats move.”
“They don’t have popcorn but the seats move. That’s just great!” said Jerry.
Sure enough, they both found seatbelts attached to the sides of their chairs. The sound of the clicking seatbelts was followed by a rush of sound and light. On the giant movie screen stood a man on a bright white background. His deep mellow voice vibrated the room as he spoke.
“Welcome. I am Victor. I will be your host for an epic journey deep into what you call outer space. Please sit back and relax.”
The seats tilted backward toward the ceiling and the entire roof seemed to disappear revealing billions of beautiful stars. The walls fell away and a dome shape structure came up to cover their seats.
Screams of fear were drowned out by a rocket blast and suddenly they were gliding silently through space.
Finally, over the initial shock, Jerry banged his fist on the console and shouted, “Stop this thing right now! Get us out of here!”
Victor appeared on a screen and his voice filled the tiny craft.
“Do not struggle. You will only harm yourselves. We need you in pristine condition for our experiments.”
“What experiments?” asked Jerry.
“For many years, we Venusians have been conducting experiments on the human race. Our scientists are…”
Suddenly, he was interrupted by an uproar of laughter from his two captives.
“What’s so funny???” demanded Victor as the laughter died down.
Jerry and Jennifer looked at each other, smiled, and began to remove their human disguises.
“Martians???” gasped Victor.
“Yep, you picked up a couple of Martians. We’ve been living secretly among humans for years. We’re working on a covert mission for the Martian High Council.”
“My most sincere apologies!” said Victor. “I’ll return you to Earth right away. I don’t want to be responsible for setting off an interplanetary incident!”
Moments later, the couple was safely back in their seats at the theater.
“That stupid Venusian ruined our date!” Jennifer said.
“Oh, I don’t know babe,” said Jerry putting his arm around her and pulling her close. “We are all alone in a dark theater…”