JULY 20TH, 1979

If Jack Owens knew just what would walk through the front doors of his arcade, he would have closed early.

Jack, a man in his mid thirties, manned the counter at the newly opened business, Central Command; a space themed arcade and game center. His job was simple: make sure the patrons didn't get too rowdy and take change for dollars. Other than that, managing an arcade was easy money. 

Kids and teens of all ages raced across the steel plated floors, designed to look like the interior of an alien spaceship. They went for the hottest games, crowding around them and setting their quarters on the control panels to claim their place in line. The neon lights and steel beam interior of Central Command offered perfect immersion, drawing in curious children by the hundreds.

 Outside the doors of the arcade, neon lights blazed through the tiled mall. The hottest tunes blasted on the radio as people from all walks of life rushed around, entering and exiting stores marked with multicolored signs. The windows of each store were adorned with the most popular fashions, electronics, and appliances. Small children oohed and aahed at the toy shop window. They were filled with board games, musical instruments, and some of the biggest fad toys of the year, including Care Bears plushies, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Star Wars collectibles, and superhero action figures.

Neon New Taria was the hippest new place to hang out in the bustling city of New Taria. It had just opened at the beginning of the month and was already bringing in business from all across the city. It was perhaps the biggest mall in the state of Pennsylvania. It wore that title proudly on the huge neon sign welcoming in paying customers. Jack’s business opened last week and was already turning a fantastic profit. But just like any business, he had to keep up with the trends of the time. The kids lined up at Space Invaders, ready to shoot down alien menaces. Jack took a gamble on some of these games, but it was paying off. He was more than pleased to see just how many customers came in, pockets jangling with hundreds of dollars worth of quarters.

Though, just like every business, the mall would have to close. As the sun went down, the arcade patrons slowly filtered out. When the last group left, Jack locked the doors and drew the curtains closed over the store windows.

He checked his watch. It was shortly past 9 o’ clock. If he rushed the nightly cleaning, he could get home early if traffic wasn't terrible. He grabbed a rag and started wiping down everything, only getting the surface level stains and fingerprints off. It would just get dirty again tomorrow morning, so why deep clean?

BANG BANG BANG!

Jack jumped. His head snapped around to the back door of the arcade. Immediately, his guard went up. Who was hammering on the back door at this hour of the night? Against his better judgment, he approached the door. Gingerly, he took the knob and turned it. Upon throwing it open, he was greeted with…

Nothing. Just the back parking lot. It was drizzling with some quiet thunder sounding off in the distance. Summer storms were always so unpredictable. Jack poked his head out, looking up and down the parking lot in case a teenage delinquent decided to play a prank on him.

Nothing.

Except when he turned back, his vision was filled with the sight of a man in a dark rain coat, carting a huge… Thing on a metal dolly.

The man looked up, rain-soaked glasses hiding his eyes. A smile split his face. For a moment, Jack thought his mouth wrapped around his face like some otherworldly beast. Jack jumped back, swearing in fear as the man stepped in, carting his luggage with him.

“Hi!” he greeted in a perfectly normal voice. He flipped his hood down and shook out his hair. He was skinny; hardly even a full grown man. He couldn't have been older than 19, if even that. His hair was dark, messy, and matted as if he never bothered to comb it. He wore thick rimmed glasses. As he stopped to clean them, Jack could see his eyes were deep with bags. 

Jack cleared his throat. “Who are you?”

The man didn't answer and instead held up a finger in a “one moment” gesture. He finished cleaning his glasses and slid them back on his face, only to immediately take them off again as he found another smudge he missed. Jack cleared his throat louder.

“Nolan Coyopp, sir,” the dark haired man finally said. “We spoke over the phone. You were interested in my ad?”

Jack shook his head in bafflement. He sputtered, “You were supposed to be in tomorrow! Why are you here now? The store's closed!”

“You said 9pm, right?”

“9am. On the 21st.”

“Ohhh. Well, my mistake. I'm here now though!”

Nolan seemed completely oblivious of Jack’s exasperation as he set down his giant box and ripped the tarp off it. Underneath was an arcade machine, bigger than anything currently in Central Command. It was at least seven feet tall, featuring fully decorated decals. On one side of the machine depicted a small green alien with spiky hair piloting a ship and shooting down evil looking aliens. He was grinning, showing mischievously sharp teeth as his eyes shone an alien purple. On the other side was a blue alien, with a perfectly manicured pompadour and shades. He toted a ray gun while surrounded by monstrous black and red aliens. Over him loomed what looked like the king of said aliens, hidden in shadows. The blue alien was expressionless and calm, as if he did this everyday. Both aliens wore matching purple and blue flight suits, decorated with a letter.

Nolan wheeled the machine to a free space in the aisle, cleaning it off with a rag of his own. He was very meticulous as he carefully checked the twin sticks and buttons to make sure they weren't damaged in transit. He opened up the side and did a bit of tinkering, before he shut it and plugged the machine in.

The marquee flickered on. It read: 

SPACE CADETS: PLUTONIAN FORCE.

Jack watched as the screen of the machine displayed two different startup diagnostic checks running at impossibly fast speeds. Nolan stood watching, waiting expectantly with a too-wide smile on his face. His mannerisms were that of a nervous child showing off a drawing they made to their parents. 

Jack started to have doubts. Sure, he was willing to take a chance, but something about this boy was freaking him out. Maybe it was the fact he was able to effortlessly deliver this seven foot tall arcade machine all by himself. Maybe it was his odd, jittery movements or the deep eye bags. Maybe it was the fact he seemingly appeared out of nowhere…

Suddenly, the machine booted to a company splash screen. COYOPP INDUSTRIES INC. was written in a red logo with gold letters. Most shockingly of all, this logo appeared to be spinning in three dimensional space. Jack’s mouth fell open in shock as he watched it spin for a few seconds, before it disappeared and booted to the title screen.

Jack was greeted with so many colors and sounds all at once, none of which he had ever seen or heard come out of an arcade machine. The title screen featured the two alien characters on the side of the machine, back to back while wielding ray guns. Behind them scrolled a multi colored alien landscape, beautifully rendered in what seemed like thousands of pixelated colors. Two spaceships shot across the screen, leaving in their wake the game’s logo. The alien characters were even animated, with both of them blinking and their hair blowing in the wind.

Jack turned back to Nolan, glancing between him and the machine with his mouth agape. “You… You made this?”

Nolan nodded. “Yup. Took me about… Mm… Six months of non stop labor? Could have been less. I wasn't counting!” 

While Jack was busy trying to process what he was seeing, Nolan offered him a quarter.

“Give it a shot, boss man.”

Jack took the quarter and put it in the slot. The game then booted him to a screen with both aliens sitting in a waiting room. Since he was playing on the green one’s side, he stood up first, giving a salute.

“Rex Starkiller, reporting for duty!” the alien said cheerfully. Though the voice was compressed through the arcade speakers, it was the clearest sound Jack had ever heard from a video game. How did this boy get voices in his game?

“Typically, this game is meant for two players,” Nolan explained as he stood next to Jack. “But, for testing sake, you can try the one player mode.”

Two players too? Jack thought. What can't this game do? Holy moly.

Jack quickly pressed the fire button, skipping past something that appeared to be… A scene? A storybook? At this, Nolan cried out.

“You skipped the story! Now you won't know what's going on! Ugh, that's fine, I'll bring you up to speed. So it starts with-”

Jack ignored Nolan as he launched into a long winded ramble. The first level loaded up: 

PLUTO 1-1, DEFEND THE SKIES.

The game cut to a level of two ships flying in space, piloted by the two alien characters. The depiction of space was deeply colorful, with stars, nebulas, and beautiful planets all sparkling with dreamlike colors Jack didn't realize were possible. His admiration of the background was jerked away when the characters began having a conversation.

“Hey Novus, how do you feel about kicking some Invader butt?” Rex said, a text box accompanying his voice.

Another text box popped up, this time coming from the blue alien, Novus. “We're less so kicking butt and more so defending our home, Rex. Stay focused.”

“Fine, fine. But I'm gonna have fun taking them down! Nyhehehe!”

The level officially began. It started slow, with intimidating black and red alien ships coming from the corners of the screen, falling into complicated formations. Jack wasted no time firing, piloting around their slow laser fire. He was surprised to see Novus working in tandem with him, as if he was piloted by a second person. By the end of the level, a larger ship approached, offering a harder laser pattern to avoid. But just as Jack was beginning to struggle, a power up was thrown his way: a planet shaped object. He piloted his ship into it, causing it to glow. 

“Taste Plutonian Laser Cannon, Invader scum!” laughed Rex. With a push of a button, the ship fired a huge purple laser, cartoonishly vaporizing the enemy ship. A celebratory tone was played as the two advanced to the next level.

Jack didn't need to see anymore. He turned to Nolan, a big smile on his face. “I'll take it! How much you want?”

“And that's why Rex and Novus have to-” Nolan was still rambling. He paused in his rambles as he adjusted his glasses. “Oh! You're sold on it?”

“Are you kidding? This is one of the most incredible pieces of technology I’ve ever seen! The kids are sure to love it!”

Nolan stared at him, his mouth agape. He rolled his shoulders as he regained his composure. “A flat payment of two thousand bucks. And an agreement that I am the only one who may work on the game.”

Jack stared at him. Only two thousand for something so lovingly crafted by hand? Alarm bells were going off. This seemed almost a little too good to be true. So if Space Cadets broke down, he would be forced to call up this odd boy to fix it? Or else what? Perhaps it was just too complicated for the common repairman to work on. It sure looked far more complex than anything available in Central Command.

But the first impression was incredible. When Jack looked at Space Cadets, he didn’t see cute cartoon aliens shooting down evil Invaders. He saw dollar signs, and a lot of them.

“You got yourself a deal,” Jack said, shaking hands with Nolan. “Give me a second to write you a check.”

As Jack retreated behind the counter, he watched Nolan check over the machine one more time. He turned it around and opened up the back, carefully checking every wire and circuit board. Jack saw just why the machine was so large. Almost every square inch of the inside was crammed with computer parts so complex, it appeared extraterrestrial. Though one part that drew his eye was a large board with two smaller chips attached to them. Every part of the machine was wired back into this section. The two chips both contained a blinking light; one purple, one red. Their blinking rhythm reminded Jack of the beating of a human heart, like it was alive. He could even feel his pulse almost syncing up with the purple light…

Jack shook his head. He returned to writing his check, making it out to Nolan. Once everything was signed, he handed it off to the young man with one more hearty handshake.

“Thank you so much, sir,” Nolan said, overjoyed. “You won’t be disappointed. It’s the Coyopp Industries satisfaction guarantee! Oh!”

The nerdy man suddenly pulled out an index card, quickly scribbling a set of numbers before offering it to Jack. It was his phone number, barely legible through his sloppy handwriting.

“Give me a call if it needs repairs,” he continued. “Though my work is built to last. I doubt you’ll have any problems!”

Jack chuckled as he pocketed the index card. He walked over to Space Cadets, looking it over with a smile. “I gotta say, young man, this is a technological marvel. Just how did you do this all on your own?”

When he didn’t get a reply, Jack turned back to Nolan. 

He was gone. 

Jack’s eyes trailed to the back door. It was wide open. The street lamps glowed ethereally in the summer rain pouring outside. A flash of lightning temporarily blinded him.

It was as if the man disappeared like a ghost.