PART SIX: Attempted Censorship

X GAZED DOWN FROM THE TOWER. For the first time ever he could actually see the factory from which the music had played every morning. 5:58 to be exact. The factory loomed in the distance, just outside the city, like some kind of slaughterhouse of the mind. It didn't have lights, it didn't have a sign or text of any kind. It was just there.

One thing X had noticed about "the factory" ,as him and the other trolls were calling it, was that the music it sent off seemed to daze people. Why the factory played it only minutes before sunrise was as strange a question as any but X had to find out.

X knew at once that he would have to come down from the tower and walk amongst the night dwellers to figure this one out. It was something he hadn't done in many years now.

"Where are you going X?" one of the trolls asked through his mind.
"I'm going down to where the night dwellers are."
"You know it is looked down upon to do so."
"Yes," X replied. "But something's happening here. Have you seen the factory that plays the music?"
"Of course. We all have. What is it about this factory that is so special?"
"I believe it is brainwashing the night dwellers."

At this the other being didn't laugh but X could sense that it believed this to be funny.

"Why would it be brainwashing the night dwellers? Who has the kind of power?"
"I don't know but it's not good."

X was going down the tower, paying no attention the the city around him as he did. The way down was very quick and within five seconds it was over, he was at ground floor. And what he saw was hypnotizing, if not horrifying.

The majority of the night dwellers around X were staring off into space, almost none were moving. X went up to one of them.

"Excuse me," X said with his actual voice. The person didn't seem to notice him. "Hello? What are you looking at?"

"The stars," the person replied.
"What about them?"
"They're changing shapes."

X looked up at the stars. They were there, same as usual, but none were changing shapes as the man claimed. He went up to another person and got the same response.

"What's going on here?" X asked himself.
"X!" a voice said in his mind. It was a telepathic message from one of the other beings. "X. What is happening down there?"

"It's as I feared," X said with his mind. "Many of the night dwellers have apparently been brainwashed. They thing the stars are changing shape."

There was a pause but X could feel the other beings thinking about what to do.

The city surrounding X (or more like the plaza he was at) was very eerie like in how silent it was. Usually the city was bursting with life, surreal in every sense, but now even though the lights and music were still going the people were not.

"I shall go to the factory," X said.
"What if it's not safe?" one being asked.
"It's a chance that's worth taking."

X gazed up at the tower above him. How strange, he thought. For a human being to gaze upon these strange towers. Most had never seen anything like it but where X came from cities were full of buildings that extended into the sky.

A bigger question for X was why him? The reason the towers were on Earth was for these beings of higher intelligence to watch over the humans. And because these beings were more in tone with psychic and other abilities it made them more powerful than any human, despite the fact that they couldn't do half the things an earth person could.

But X had a theory. He knew why some humans were able to spot the towers. He knew that many humans who were night dwellers were more in tact with their spiritual body and therefore understood the towers to be a building of psychic energy.

"I'll go to the building," X said again.
"Alright but keep in contact with us."
"It's fine. I sense I won't be alone in this mission."

But it wasn't just this that X sensed. It was another presence near him. This one was, as strange as it was to him, not a night dweller. X sensed many things about this man. Mainly that he had just comitted a great crime but that he also was mentally right in his head. He also sensed the man still held the weapon that had been used for the crime. He had to confront this man.

X followed the man through a strange alley way of zombie-like night dwellers, all staring at the stars. They didn't even move when the man bumped right into them. X realized that he wouldn't catch up with the man like this. He tried something else, telepathy.

"Stop!" he said loudly in his mind. The man stopped, and looked frightened half to death. X was closing in upon him when he withdrew his gun.

"Who's there?" he asked, and wave the pistol around.

X stayed back. Not even X was immune to the power of a bullet so he stayed in a dark corner, out of the man's sight.

"Don't be afraid," X said in his mind.
"Who's saying that stuff?" the man said, losing control.

"I did!" X said physically and stepped out from behind the corner. The man had never seen anything like it.

"I'll s-s-shoot you!" the man said. "I'll kill you right here!"
"You shouldn't be afraid. I'm just here to ask you some questions."
"What would those be?" the man asked.
"Just look at the stars," X said calmly. The man did so quickly.
"Did you see anything strange?" X asked.
"B-b-buddy! You're strange!" the man shouted at him. "And so are those three standing in the corner over there."

The man pointed at a dark corner but X saw no one, not even any non-physical beings.

"There's no one over there," X said.
"WHAT?" he screamed. "How can you not see them?"
"Who are they?" X asked.
"Some shadow people or something," the man said, trying to find the right words. "They've been following me ever since..."
"Ever since you shot that man," X finished.
"How'd you know about that?" the man asked and pointed the gun at X.
"Don't worry about it," X said.

The man looked around again. The shadows seemed to be everywhere.

"Get away from me!" he screamed and began choking. He fell to the floor and aimed the pistol in the air. He fired. This triggered a horrible pain in X's head. All violence did that for these beings were a peaceful race.

The man got up and ran off. X made contact with the others.

"What is it X? Are you at the factory?"
"No but I seem to have figured out what else the music does."
"What's that?"
"In humans who aren't night dwellers it drives them to insanity."
"How do you know?"
"I could sense it in this one man. I could sense the music to be the root of it."
"Why do you think that is?" one being asked.
"I have no idea," X replied.


to be continued...