The power goes out.

Just as Jack stood up, the power went out. The clock was powerless. His computer shut down. And the room was dark.

Jack turned around. It shouldn't be dark, he realized. Even though the blinds and drapes were closed, he knew there should be some kind of morning light coming through the window.

Jack wondered if his clock had messed up, and the alarm had gone off in the middle of the night, so he fumbled over to the window and opened the blinds. Where he should have seen the lights of the neighborhood and some houses, he saw nothing. It was pitch black, and there wasn't even a hint of light. It was as if all light had been removed from the world.

Suddenly, he saw a light beam cross the sky. It came from something in the air, moving from right to left. As if came in line with his house, it began to turn. As it came closer to Jack's house, the light scanned from the ground forward to the street, across the lawn, and eventually settled right below his window. Just as he saw the mechanism that was coming toward him, the light quickly panned up to his window, blinding him.

Jack stumbled backwards, tripping on the edge of his bed and falling on his butt. As he looked back up at the window, the entire wall of his room seemed to dissolve.

Jack screamed. Except there was no sound. There was only light.

Whatever was shining the light seemed to pull right up to the house and hover. As it sat there, a space emerged in the center of the light. A lesser light flickered on, and something came within view.

It was someone. Or rather, something.