by Dane Bagley
Steve stopped short as he walked into the lab. Tammy was at work, as expected. But Aspiria was standing next to her, and not in her cell. Plus, Aspiria was wearing a dress—but not her dress. Her hair was styled, he could see from the back. The woman turned around as he walked into the room. Aspiria looked stunning!—even compared to her usual beauty.
“I let Aspiria borrow my cosmetics and hair dryer, and I let her borrow my dress. How does she look?” said Tammy with pleasure.
Aspiria smiled—she was actually glowing. “She looks… uh, great—really great.” Steve looked at Tammy in amazement. What is going on here? he thought. Tammy has never treated Aspiria as more than a subject in her experiment. She treats Aspiria as a caged animal. I’ve never even heard Tammy refer to Aspiria by anything other than: it, or that creature, or that specimen. Now she is hanging out with her, letting her use her make-up and her dress? And this, after we just got the results. This is an alien creature. Now she’s treating her like a lady?
“Aspiria and I were talking last night. She said that she was hoping to go on a walk, out of the lab. She told me that she asked you yesterday, but that you told her, ‘not today.’ I told Aspiria that you were probably too busy yesterday, but that you might let her today. She was excited, and I thought that we should get her dressed up for her tour.” As Tammy explained, Aspiria looked on, still beaming.
Steve was dumbfounded, to put it mildly. Tammy was conscious of the change in her demeanor towards Aspiria, but not fully. She had dreamed of the moment of discovering an alien life form, and was beside herself when the moment of examination began. However, when this creature, from an alien world, seemingly turned out to be no more than a highly attractive woman, she felt threatened. Not directly by the ‘woman,’ but more by the situation. Discovering an alien world and examining an inhabitant would certainly seal her place in scientific history. But the degree to which it that would be lessened—by the fact that the alien was a human—was beyond devastating to her.
Deep inside, she could not allow herself to project anything other than inhuman respect towards this creature. Subconsciously she was holding on to her alien, no matter what the physical findings had shown. If she treated it, and discussed it as an alien, perhaps it would be so.
In addition to this, Tammy had enjoyed all of the attentions of being a very attractive woman on a crew of men. Sure, she was only in a relationship with Steve, but she still enjoyed her favored status. From the moment that Aspiria had gained consciousness, it was clear that she had been relegated to second place. Now, of course, any alien would have been the most interesting creature on board, and she accepted that. But this alien was getting the attention for more than the fact she was an alien. The men were mesmerized by her. She did not doubt Steve’s devotion and affection towards her, nor did she disagree with the value of him learning to communicate with Aspiria; but she didn’t appreciate just how much he was enjoying himself. Tammy was not overtly jealous, but she had some jealous feelings, and it added to her need to treat Aspiria with coldness. Add to this the stress of her supposed equipment malfunction, the countless hours of work, and just feeling emotionally off—she had no reason to become girlfriends with Aspiria.
Everything changed yesterday with the results of the test. Aspiria was a bona fide alien! She was the real deal! Tammy had everything that she could have ever wanted. Her place in scientific history was secure. She was likely to be world-renowned—beyond the scientific community. At first blush it might’ve seemed that a strange—non-humanoid—alien creature would garner more worldwide attention. But, as she considered it, Aspiria could not be improved upon. One hundred percent human-like, and yet completely alien—beautiful beyond measure—as beautiful as the most beautiful human being. And, this alien’s personality—it was magnetic. Aspiria would be the most intriguing thing that could possibly be brought back from outer space. The world would love Aspiria, and Aspiria was hers. Every bit of love and adoration that the world would show to Aspiria, Tammy could call her own.
As far as the men on the ship went, let them be mesmerized by her. Tammy could now own that as well. Aspiria was not a woman, she was an alien. So whatever attention or adoration that was bestowed upon Aspiria didn’t count. Tammy was still the woman on this ship that was getting the most attention. Of course, the ship would be fascinated by the alien; that was bound to be the case. Let them be fascinated—even Steve—what was wrong with that? There was no one here to be threatened by. The more the men were intrigued by Aspiria, the more this case study showed how the world would also be fascinated by her.
Tammy was overjoyed. She felt a profound sense of relief as she had walked back to the lab the night before. Aspiria was the most prized possession in the entire universe, and Tammy was swelling with this newfound affection towards her. As she walked into the lab, she walked over towards Aspiria. She had not focused on Aspiria’s countenance in the past, but she had gleamed enough to know that Aspiria was down. She had begun to talk with her, something that she had not attempted in the past—other than short commands. She was amazed at how well Aspiria was already communicating in English. Aspiria warmed up to her rather quickly as she tried to acquaint herself with her. She discovered that Aspiria loved to go on walks, and that Steve had told her no.
Tammy looked at this beautiful creature, and saw that she, though clean, was not being allowed to keep herself. She was showing some signs of her captivity. She was wearing this on her face, though her beauty disguised it to a large extent. It was time to help Aspiria get her glow back. A make-over couldn’t change the fact that she was in captivity, but it couldn’t hurt, either. Aspiria enjoyed the make-over as much as any woman could. They laughed, and talked, and had fun together. The first dress that Tammy had brought for Aspiria was short, cut low on top, and with skinny straps. She learned quickly that this alien had, what Tammy considered, fairly antiquated ideas of modesty. But, she found a nice gray dress that Aspiria, not only found acceptable, but that she was in love with. Aspiria had been ready for only a few minutes, when Steve walked in.
“Is it okay if we all go on a walk together?” Tammy asked, breaking the silence.
“Yes,” was the only word he could muster. He had been over powered by this one—two punch. Aspiria smiled angelically, but with an increased air of submission. Tammy caught Aspiria’s arm, in a friendly and not in a controlling manor, and they began to walk towards the door. Steve turned to go also, and he led the way to the door. “Are you excited to see the ship?” he asked, trying to pull his chin from off of the floor.
Aspiria’s command of the English language was amazing, for how short of a time that she had been working on it. But, she did not seem to comprehend the word, ‘ship.’ “Ship?” she said and looked towards Tammy.
“You’ll see,” said Tammy smiling.
The threesome walked out into the corridor and turned to the left. Steve fell in line with the two women, such that Aspiria was in the middle and on his right. He was still not feeling conversational, so the group walked for several steps in silence. Footsteps could be heard coming towards them. In a few moments Mike could be seen walking into the corridor.
Mike stopped short when he saw them, and stared at Aspiria. Steve couldn’t tell if he was shocked by the obvious security breach, or if he was taken away by Aspiria’s beauty.
“What do you think?” asked Tammy indicating Aspiria.
“Wow!” he exclaimed.
Aspiria smiled and gave a little curtsey. It is shocking how easy it is to forget that she isn’t human, thought Steve. The way that she carries herself, even that little curtsey—it’s not modern, but it is somehow timeless. If I hadn’t picked her up on an alien world, and seen her genetic report, I’d never believe that she is anything other than a classic woman. Aspiria is pure class!
Mike didn’t say anything else, but he gave the group room to pass by. As they passed, he turned his
head and continued to watch. He lifted his eyebrows and slowly shook his head as they left his view. “Wow is all I’ve got to say!” he muttered under his breath. No, Mike, at least for the moment, didn’t have security on his mind at all.
The group turned to the right and entered a darker hall. Aspiria was all eyes. She was engaged by everything she saw. Her spirits had truly been lifted by the opportunity to get made up today. Her heart continued to be heavy, but her spirit was definitely lifted. She felt a hope that she had not felt before. She felt that, although Steve was the Captain, her fate was in Tammy’s hands. Until last night she had not had anything other than cool or cold interaction with Tammy. For the first time, Tammy was warm and kind. The idea that Tammy would give her so many things—things she could not have even wished for—was unbelievable. Maybe Tammy had gotten what she needed, and she was now going to be open to what Aspiria needed: to get back to her family. At least, this kindness showed that there was an opening— some hope. The strangeness of her surroundings began to give Aspiria the impression that they were underground. Aspiria was trying to figure out how to ask this, when a scene so shocking befell her eyes that all she could do was gasp.
Both Steve and Tammy looked at Aspiria in wonderment. Aspiria had gasped and then stopped. Her hands went over her mouth, and all of the color left her face. Steve could see her start to shake. As he looked to where she was looking, he noticed the large observation window. It was lit up with the most glorious view of the planet that they were orbiting—Aspiria’s home world. Aspiria began to walk forward towards it, in a trancelike motion. She stopped a few feet from the large window, where the view of her world filled her entire field of vision. Tammy and Steve advanced some, but stopped several feet behind her.
Slowly, Aspiria walked up to the window, put her hands on the pane, and leaned in, carrying some of her weight by her hands. She did not appear to blink. The expression on her face was complete awe. Steve thought, She has probably never seen a view like this before. Even though I had seen pictures, I remember how amazing it was when I first looked at the earth from space. After what seemed like a long time she turned towards Steve and Tammy. The look on her face was something entirely different. It was the look of fear mingled with disillusion—and anger.
“This is my world?” she asked.
Steve nodded his head. A sickening feeling began to develop within him. Aspiria turned back to the window, and slowly sunk to her knees, with her hands still on the window. It had never occurred to Steve that she did not know where she was. She knew that she had been captured, but she was unconscious as she was brought onto the ship. For the first few days she had seen the crew in space suits every day. But she didn’t know what space suits were. There were no windows in the lab. The ship was exceedingly quiet; there was no hum from the engines. There had been no feeling of motion. Aspiria thought that she was on her world. Someone strange had taken her, but not someone from another world. To her they were foreign, not alien.
He sensed a convergence with her feelings now, a convergence with the feelings that he had felt the night before. The look in her eye told him so much. He and Aspiria had built a rapport over the past several days, yet when he knew that she was an alien, his good feelings had turned completely sour. Love had turned to hatred; friendship to enmity. He wanted to rid himself from anything that resembled kinship with her. She was not what she seemed; he was not going to be sucked into this perception that she was like him.
Now he sensed what she was feeling. She could know nothing about other worlds, or the ability of beings from other worlds to travel between them. She could not even comprehend being in a ship—orbiting a planet. Yet she was staring out of the window of a spacecraft at her own world. Did she think that we are from her world too? No, she asked if, ‘This is my world,’ not ‘our world.’ Everything she could imagine was changing at this very instant. There were beings from another world that could travel in space, and they had found her, her world, and her people. The sickness inside of him increased exponentially as she realized that these space travelers had come to take her, to test her, to experiment on her, and to learn all that they could from her, about her world and her people. They did not have any of her interests at heart. They were using her to get what they wanted. And he was they. He had drugged her and taken her away. He allowed any and every experiment to be done to her. He had allowed her to be exposed to his antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He had never asked if she had a family, or friends, or a husband, or children. Now she knew what he was and what he had done to her.
Whatever she had thought before, it was infinitely worse now. Somehow he thought that she understood before, but she did not know the half of it. She had overcome her fears, and had tried to communicate—to understand her circumstances. She had cooperated and been kind. She had brought life, charm, and excitement to the ship and crew. She was giving humankind the greatest of gifts of knowledge. She had dealt with her circumstances with dignity and strength. The look that she had given to him and Tammy told so much. “You are not who you seemed to be,” it seemed to say. “I am in a much worse situation than I could have possibly imagined. I have given you so much—in hopes that I may be returned to my home; in so doing I have compromised my home and my people. If this is how you treat me—take me and tell me nothing—what will you do to my world? What more are you going to do to me?—to take from me? Why is all of this happening?” she must be thinking.
Steve began to feel a deep sense of remorse. He had never really allowed himself to consider that his actions were anything other than noble, up to this point. He was a discoverer and was doing as discoverers do. He was protecting his home, his people, and his way of life. Aspiria and her people were a possible threat. Shouldn’t he do what he could to protect all that was his? If there was a world of intelligent beings out there, and we discover them first, then shouldn’t we be on the offense? Shouldn’t we find out all that we can about them, before they discover us? Shouldn’t we win? But now he was staring at the object of his quest. He was also staring at beauty, innocence, purity, elegance, and everything good. Aspiria did not represent a threat to his people or to his world. She represented hope. Yet, he felt inside that he did not represent that to her. He did not represent goodness, or any of it. He represented cowardice, evil, and thievery. He felt ashamed, and he began to feel the pain that she was feeling.
He looked over at Tammy, and tried to read her expression. Tammy looked concerned, but not overly so. Aspiria was starting to sob now, and she was not making any attempt to hold it back. Her head had dropped and was leaning against the window. She slowly turned, and sat up with her back against the window. She seemed to have lost all of her strength and all of her control. What could he do to console her? What she was feeling was not exaggerated. Tammy walked up and sat by Aspiria. She slowly put her arm around her shoulder and held her. “You didn’t know where you were, did you?”
Aspiria shook her head and continued to sob. “You didn’t know who we were.” Aspiria continued to sob, but she allowed Tammy to hold her and accepted the comfort that she tried to give. Over a period of several minutes her sobbing began to soften. She had looked so beautiful only minutes before, and now she was tear stained—her make-up was running, her nose running, and her eyes were swollen. Her face had the wearied look of someone who had been through the worst of a war. Yet, through it all, she accepted Tammy’s attempt at consolation. She did not lash out, and she did not try to distance herself from them, as Steve had wanted to do the day before. She was still an angel in every way, but now an angel who had been abused, and was showing the effects of her battering.
The only consolation for Steve was that Tammy had witnessed this too, and that she too seemed to understand. Together, they could solve the dilemma that was in front of him. What he had just witnessed, he did not know how to put into a report. How could h
e describe a people that were good, and presented no harm to him or to his world? Perhaps, not everyone was like her. But the only sample he had, indicated the best that a creature could be.
“When do I return?” Aspiria muttered when she had composed herself enough to speak. She looked at Tammy, and then at Steve.
“In time,” Steve replied with hesitation.
She took him at his word; what else could she do? She nodded, as she tried to take deep breaths and regain her composure. Tammy did not look at Steve, nor acknowledge his reply. She continued to hold her, and rub her shoulders. Steve wanted to leave, and let the women sort this out together. But he thought that it would be unsafe for Tammy. He couldn’t believe Aspiria capable of any violence, yet he couldn’t justify not accepting the possibility of it, especially in her current state. As Aspiria began to regain her presence, he felt some peace returning to his soul. He also felt his love for Tammy deepen. He had never witnessed her loving nature, except when expressed to him. He admired her more, and appreciated this aspect of her feminine charm. His world really was better with Tammy. Even these difficulties that lied in front of him, could be worked through with Tammy by his side. It would all be okay.
Chapter 26
