Detective Leary pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned back in his comfortable office chair.

What the hell is this?

It had been weeks since he was hired to the investigative group for the case that had been gathered. The people that had worked on the case came from several different backgrounds.

They were a collaboration of scientists, detectives and officers from intelligence agencies, among others.

Leary had worked for Interpol, when he suddenly got called by his boss with the offer for his current job. When they were all hired, they were told that they were going to work on a case unlike any other, and warned sternly about the consequences of leaking any information about the case to the outside.

They came from a number of countries, but only from a few. That was because the governments that put the group together had no idea if one of the major powers was behind it all. 

However, his home country had been the most affected out of those that were part of the investigation, and thus the government of his own country had been at the forefront of founding the investigation. They provided a headquarters and had helped with the collection of evidence through the police reports.

Evidence that had left anyone that saw them stumped.

Video recordings from security cameras during the last year from military and research facilities as well as regular stores all showed the same thing. 

Leary leaned forward again and tapped a key on his laptop and replayed the recording from a camera in one of the storages in a military facility. Everything seemed silent, before a flash of light appeared and disappeared. When the light was gone, several of the clothes packages in the room were gone. 

Leary continued watching, as he had already seen it several times before. After a dozen or so seconds, another flash appeared, and a mess of flying clothing and packages came out, dropping to become a pile on the floor.

Leary paused and went back to when the first portal appeared. Going frame by frame, he saw the light appearing. It had the shape of a large, golden disc. He counted the frames from when everything appeared normal, to when the light and items were gone. 

Thirty eight frames.  

Leary looked up the information on the security camera. It recorded at 30 frames per second. 

About the same as the others. 

Not all cameras were able to record at the same rate. It had become apparent from several of the other recordings that had come in as evidence. Some cameras didn’t even manage to get a frame of the light, only the mess of displaced and missing items that was left behind.

Many of the stores that were affected had reported it to the police, but as there was no evidence of any sort left behind the investigations had halted.

One of the first tasks of the investigative group was to collect any information about what was stolen.

The fact that seemingly ordinary items were being stolen as well as items from the military, some began to suspect that it was unlikely that another country was behind it all. Especially with what the scientists were saying, yet the administrators didn’t want to write out any possibilities until more data had been processed.

Leary leaned back in his chair and sunk into thought.

No matter what anyone says, that’s a damn portal. That’s the only way to describe it.

Curiously, the portal appears almost instantly, in the mere fraction of a second. 

Leary recalled the words of one of the scientists in the group who said that wormhole technology should be far beyond humanity’s capabilities at this time; and it would most likely remain so forever. Merely the energy requirements were impossible.

For Leary, the logical culprits had to be aliens. Yet as he had seen the profiling that was done, he also felt it was possible it was done by humans. Or as the profiling suggested, a human.

Leary’s thoughts were interrupted by a call from his wife. He raised his phone to his ear as he answered.

“Hey.” (Leary)

“Hey love. I’m going to get some groceries after work, anything you want for dinner?” (?)

“I’m probably going to be home late, as I’m going to have a meeting. But you know I like chicken.” (Leary)

“Again? Your daughter misses you, you know. Even if she doesn’t say it. Remember to get your ass back home from time to time, or else I’ll have to come in and drag you out.” (?)

A smile spread on Leary’s face. “I’m afraid you’d get yourself a one-way ticket to prison that way.”

“Ah, yes. Super secret stuff. I get it. Doesn’t change the fact that you’re never home, other than to sleep these days.” (?)

“I know. I’ll try to get home earlier, but today is an important meeting.” (Leary)

“Fine. But tomorrow you’re home for dinner. No matter what, if you’re going-” (?)

Leary smiled wryly as he began listening to his wife’s rant. After all, it was likely that he would have more free time after tonight. The entire investigative group had worked hard for tonight’s meeting. 

While Leary listened to the frustrated voice in his ear, someone knocked on the door to his office and peeked in. It was one of his colleagues who tapped his wrist with his finger.  

Leary looked down on his watch and saw that the time for the meeting was soon. He nodded to his colleague who nodded back as he closed the door.

“-our daughter to grow up, never seeing-” (?)

“Honey, I got to go to the meeting now. But I promise I’ll do my best to be home earlier after today.” (Leary)

“...Fine. But if you aren’t home for tomorrow’s dinner, you can cook your own dinner from now on.” (?)

Damn. That’s utterly unacceptable.

“I’ll be home tomorrow for dinner. And later in the week, how about we go to that restaurant you’ve wanted to go to for a while?” (Leary)

“Really? I’ll hold you to that.” (?)

Leary smiled as his wife’s voice turned gentle. “Make sure you do. Love you.”

“Love you too.” (?)

Leary closed the call and stood up and went outside, where his colleague was waiting for him.

“Thanks for the reminder, Zach.” (Leary)

“No problem. Your wife, I take it?” Zachariah made a wry smile.

“Yeah. Seems I’m not home enough, and I agree.” Leary grinned.

“Well, that should be sorted after today. Lets go.” (Zachariah)

“Anything new?” Leary asked as they walked down the corridors.

“Nope. I tell you, it’s got to be aliens.” Zachariah said in an amused tone.

“Tech-wise, I’d agree. But the profiling is pretty compelling.” (Leary)

“Yeah, except that it would be impossible. Or do you think your daughter could be the culprit? She’d fit the profile, wouldn’t she?” Zachariah said with a smile.

“Well that’s a thought. It’d be a suitable plot for a story too, the daughter of one of the detectives is the culprit. Isn’t that how it works in superhero movies?” Leary grinned.

“That it would. Maybe I should put her name forward at the meeting.” Zachariah joked.

“Maybe I should put your name forward then, as it’s always the villain who tries to expose the heroes.” (Leary)

“Yeah, if you could call stealing a heroic act.” Zachariah grinned.

Silence sunk between them for a moment.

“Seriously though, no matter if it’s aliens or humans, there’s nothing we can do to stop them. And we have no idea what their intentions are. It does creep one out a bit.” Zachariah said when he picked up the conversation again.

“...Yeah. I suppose we can consider ourselves fortunate as long as they aren’t hostile.” Leary replied. “We have no idea what they are after. If it’s aliens, it seems they might just be curious about us. If it’s humans...I don’t know. At least nobody’s been hurt.”

“Yet, anyway.” Zachariah said gravely. 

 

________________________

 

“So, what have you concluded thus far from the investigation?” (?)

In the conference room sat a lot of military and intelligence personnel, as well as government officials of high ranks from the different countries who helped found the investigative team.

The director of the investigation nodded to the group of scientists, from whom a representative stood up and addressed those who were present.

“As far as we can tell, whatever technology used behind these incidents should be beyond humanity’s capabilities at this time. This is due to several factors.

The first, being that the flashes of light seen in the security camera recordings seem to be some kind of wormhole - a portal. This feat alone should be impossible, as no public knowledge is even close to being able to explain how such a portal is created or maintained - even less how it could be produced with existing technology.” (??)

The scientist paused and looked over those gathered before continuing.

“Secondly, upon closer inspection, we found evidence that the items that were taken showed signs of being unbound by gravity in the moment before they were sucked into the portal. We have no knowledge of how to make items levitate either.” (??)

The scientist sat down while those gathered contemplated in silence.

“Then how would you explain these events?” One of the government officials asked.

The scientist looked torn before he answered. “This is a personal opinion, but since the technology used must be incredibly advanced, the most reasonable explanation would be an alien race. That, or magic.”

I’d agree with that conclusion.

Muted murmurs went through those who listened while the director turned his gaze to his other side and nodded to Zachariah. 

Zachariah stood up and opened his folder in front of him on the table as he spoke up.

“We have investigated the items that have been stolen in hopes of getting a profile, in the event that another nations or organizations aren't behind this. Thus far we have concluded the following. The culprit appears to be human. A lone human.”

Louder murmurs went through the crowd before Zachariah continued.

“One of the reasons we have come to this conclusion, is due to the clothes that have been stolen. Whenever they were stolen, several were returned. Some were in a state as if tried on, but all the clothes that remained missing appear to be of the same size. From the tried on clothes we found hairs. Thus we are led to believe that the culprit seems to in fact be a slender human female, with black hair, and approximately 165 centimeters tall.”

Zachariah paused as he looked down at the information in the folder.

“Under the assumption that the culprit is a single human, we were further able to find a trend that suggested that said culprit has an interest in warm beverages, snacks and desserts, technology, weaponry, and knowledge related to technology and science. Furthermore, the culprit seems to have an interest in works of fiction. More specifically, what would be best referred to as anime, as well as books and novels of fantasy or erotic nature.”

Well, the last part fits my daughter to a tee at least.

Zachariah drew a breath before he continued.

“As those trends are recurring, it leads us to further believe that the culprit is likely in their late teens. As the incidents have been prevalent in this country, we think it’s possible the culprit is from this country.”

Silence ensued as everyone considered.

“Then have you begun searching for a culprit amongst the population?” One of the intelligence officers asked.

“We have, but so far we haven’t found-” (Zachariah)

Zachariah was interrupted by the flash of light and a gust of wind that appeared in front of him, which caused a choir of exclamations from the people that gathered.

Shit! It’s here?!

Everyone stared in silence where the flash had appeared. Leary turned his eyes to Zachariah, who was staring into the empty space in front of him with a pale appearance, his clothes and hair ruffled. 

Nobody spoke for several seconds. Leary was about to touch Zachariah’s shoulder to see if he was alright when another flash appeared, followed by the sound of a smack as the folder that had once been in front of Zachariah fell down onto the table. 

They took the profiling information?

Zachariah slowly extended his shaking hand to the folder and opened it. Leary peered at it from the side and couldn’t see any information missing.

Zachariah suddenly froze while flipping the pages. Leary looked where Zachariah had stopped and saw that one of the pages had been ripped, with some lines removed.

Zachariah coughed as he looked up at those who were gathered, who had been holding their breaths. Zachariah let out a nervous laugh before he spoke.

“It appears I misspoke. The person behind these incidents has no interest in fictions of an erotic nature.”