“What a disaster,” Elise muttered under her breath. She drank coffee from her mug as she watched the news, seeing that the campaign to exterminate all poets was now about to be full-scale and possibly global. News channels were showing clips of a masked military soldier decapitating poets and poet sympathizers alike in the streets in broad daylight. Although she was aware that many governments showed distain for poets, she never imagined that things would ever come to such a boiling point. Some poet must have done something recently to really upset somebody powerful, she thought, clamoring for some justification for the madness. 

Since she had grown up being taught to have a high respect for magic, poets had always fascinated her. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that it was outlawed, she might have tried her hand at the form of magic herself. Why don’t scientists rule the world? she asked herself with a sigh. We’re the ones who make the most sense and contribute the most to society yet I’m living in a one bedroom apartment, she thought as she put her mug down, seeing a blinking light in her peripheral vision.

Elise looked over at her open bedroom and could see a blinking light coming from the top of her unmade bed. She walked over to it and picked up the blinking device, Abal, a proto-type she built designed to assist her in finding aliens. It was far from perfect. In fact, it was rather primitive, but it was the only device of its kind that she knew of. Most of the scientific community regards her as a crack-pot, so she didn’t think anybody would be building such a device anytime soon. 

She looked at the device’s screen, which was no larger than a cell phone’s, and saw a combination of 20 numbers. The numbers represent an energy signature, which is unique to every species in the world. Usually the combination of numbers is follow by the name of the species, but this time it was followed by ‘unknown.’ Her jaw dropped slightly and then she narrowed her eyes in confusion. Since she built the device two years ago, this was the first time it had happened and wondered if it was working properly. Abal was now indicating how far away the energy signature was from it. 200 feet. She almost gasped.

“That’s within the apartment complex,” Elise said softly to no one. She took Abal with her and walked out of her suite and into the elevator, taking it down to the first floor. She watched the distance between her and the unknown creature vary from closer to father, until she got close to the first floor where it consistently got farther. She walked to the main entry and looked at the list of buzzers that were accompanied by a name and apartment number. None of the names caught her eye. Except Dr. Plant. She remembered him. She used to attend his magic shows, fascinated by what he could do. However, she always brought Abal with her to those shows and it never indicated that something was strange about him. Why would it now? 

She didn’t know, but it was the only familiar name so she pressed the button and waited for his voice to come through the receiver. Maybe he would know something about it, being a fellow magic-user. Maybe he would just think she’s crazy like the rest of them. Maybe Abal is finally busted, she thought as she waited for a response.