Nathan Klein felt awful. He ached all over, was nauseus, and had a terrible headache. On the plus side, he wasn't as weak as he had been for the last month or so.

Besides feeling lousy, he was restless. It was like he had all this energy inside, but nothing to do with it.

His dad had warned him that the shot would make him feel worse before he got better, and he was right. Nathan hadn't expected to feel better and worse at the same time, though.

Getting out of bed was easier than it had been in weeks. As he started toward the bathroom, he noticed it was 11 PM.

He stopped in the hallway. He heard his parents talking in low voices. That was odd. In all his eight and a half years, he'd never known them to do that.

He put his hand on the wall to steady himself and listened. For once his hyper-acute hearing was an advantage.

"How could you experiment on your own son?" his mother asked.

"The experimental stage is done. This is a treatment," his dad answered.

"An experimental treatment! We hadn't exhausted the conventional treatments yet."

"We're battling on two fronts here," his dad said. "Besides his life expectancy being a couple of months, maybe, there's also the disappearances. I know you don't take that seriously, but I know of too many who're gone. I have to take it seriously. And I fit the profile."

"Your paranoia was kinda cute yesterday, but now it's risking your son's life! How can you do that?"

"I do nothing, he dies. At least now he has chance."

"He would have had a chance with radiation and kemo."

"If we're around long enough."

Nathan heard his mom sigh. "Why haven't I heard about these disappearances? Not one news article, nothing on TV - don't you think it would at least get mentioned?"

"The Emperor controls the media. I suspect he's the one behind the disapperarances. In any case, I knew if I didn't act fast, I knew Nathan might not reach nine."

"And he still may not!"

"Look. I'm taking no chances at this point. When the virus has finished its job, he'll need this counteragent to neutralize it. I'm keeping it on this necklace in case we're taken away without notice."

"I wish you could hear how silly you sound."

Nathan suddenly felt lightheaded. He was developing tunnel vision. His ears started roaring.

His parents heard a thud in the hallway. "What the," his father started, getting up to check. As he stood, he passed out.

"Dan?" Nathan's mother said. She got up to see what was wrong, and passed out immediately.

Nathan was jostled awake by someone undressing him. He figured it must be his mother. He must have fallen asleep on the couch again.

"This one's waking up," a feminine voice said. It was definitely not his mother.

He pretended he was still asleep. It didn't work.

"Okay kid," a man's voice said. "We know you're awake. Any resistance on your part and we knock you out again."

He opened his eyes and looked around. He had a hospital-style band on his wrist, but was otherwise naked. Lying all around the room were at least a dozen other naked people with wristbands.

"His family first," the male voice said. "I don't want him causing trouble."

Nathan really didn't feel up to causing trouble. He didn't feel up to argueing, either.

He watched two men approach his father's inert form. They carried what looked like barber's clippers.

They were clippers. One man began cutting all the hair off his father's head. The other began at the other end. He actually started cutting off the leg hair.

The men worked quickly, and met in the middle. They then rolled him over and cut the hair off his back, back of the legs, neck etc.

When they had rendered him hairless, they carried him to what looked like some kind of tanning bed, and layed him on it. Then, one of them scanned the wristband with a handheld device, and cut the band off.

They stepped back, and one said "Ready."

The lid to the 'tanning bed' closed automatically. Then Nathan heard the unmistakeable sound of high airflow fans start up.

Next was a loud, but brief buzz, accompanied by a flicker of the room lights. The fans continued for several more seconds, then stopped.

The chamber opened up again. It was empty.

Nathan was horrified. They had just vaporized his father! The men were already cutting his mother's hair.

Nathan wanted to scream, or run, or try to save his mother. He tried to get up, but the effort made him dizzy.

A man stepped into his view. "Easy, kid. I don't think you understand what's going on here. Your father is not dead. He's been put in storage."

Seeing Nathan's skeptical look, he said "If the Emperor wanted you dead, your house would have been filled with poison gas, not knock out gas. The Emperor is a cheapskate, and this is an expensive process. Everyone here is being put into storage prior to transport."

With great effort, Nathan managed to speak. "You too?" he asked, trying to sound sarcastic.

The man leaned closer and lowered his voice. "When everyone else is done, they'll probably store me. I'm pretty sure I'm on the list too."

"You're talking to him?" One of the other men asked incredulously.

"Our orders are to store these people, not terrorize them. He just saw his father disappear. Cut him some slack." The man turned back to Nathan. "We can knock you out again if you want, but I think you will find the storage and retrieval experience to be interesting. I've done it before." The man winked at the last statement.

Just then, the noise of the fans got Nathan's attention. His mother was already in the chamber.

The man spoke again. "Your turn. If you struggle, we will sedate you again. Try to relax."

The men ignored the fine hair on Nathan's body, and only one of them started cutting the hair on his head.

"Why are you doing that?" Nathan asked.

"Believe me kid, you'll be glad we did. You know what a plasma is?"

"No."

"Imagine being just inside the edge of a star for the tiniest fraction of a second. Your top few cells of skin will be instantly turned to ash, but underneath you'll be fine. The ash washes off."

The other man added, "But your hair or clothes would burst into flame and give you serious burns."

"Be sure you keep your eyes closed when you're in the chamber if you don't want sore eyes for a few days," the first man added, laying Nathan's now-bald head down. "Got to get the eyelashes now. Try not to blink."

When they were done, they picked up Nathan. Only now did he realize they were wearing rubber gloves. He wondered why they were wearing them as the men carried him to the chamber.

His next surprise was that the glassy surface of the chamber itself was warm rather than cold as he expected.

One man scanned his wristband and absently read off "Nathan Karl Klein."

"Nathan Kurt Klein," Nathan corrected.

"Hmm?" the man asked, surprised.

"You have my name wrong."

Don't worry about it, said the man who had seemed to be in charge. "Those were his parents. Store him."

The man removed Nathan's wristband and stepped back. "Ready," he said.

As the lid came down, Nathan heard "Nate, when the lid is shut, take a deep breath, hold it, and lie still."

No one ever called him Nate. He almost yelled back, but the lid shut. He took a deep breath. The sound of the fans were much louder inside the chamber, and the air was uncomfortably chilly. He wondered how the surface had felt warm.

There was a jolt, as and Nathan thought did someone bump the chamber? Then What the...?.

Floating and darkness. No sense of time. No conscious thought. Only awareness of the floating and darkness.