December

by Karen Lofgren

“Wake up, human!” A harsh female voice rang in the man’s head, jerking him harshly from the deep oblivion of sleep.

  Moaning with more irritation than he intended, the human man opened his eyes and uncurled his body from its balled-up position. A cold, metallic ceiling greeted him.

  “I know you’ve been spoiled by Dr. Hio, human, but let me remind you that you are still a specimen, despite your... uncommon social position.”

  He sat up, fighting the urge to give Moflair a dirty look. She was Dr. Hio’s head assistant, and if she were human, he probably would have referred to her as “old hag.” Behind closed doors, of course. She appeared humanoid, which alone was strange. The man had expected, in spite of what science fiction novels implied, that extraterrestrial life would look more like starfish than human beings. All Drevi were tall and bald. Moflair was short for her species, but still tall compared to him; she stood about two heads taller than his five foot, ten inch frame. She had dull green scales that ran up her neck and to her temples, where they curved just above her eyes to give the impression of eyebrows. The rest of her skin was pallid gray, and while not exactly reptilian, it certainly wasn’t mammalian.

  “I am aware of my situation,” the man said, not meeting her irritated gaze. It was always better not to make eye contact.

  He figured he shouldn’t waste time; Dr. Hio was waiting for him. He stood up and moved towards the bathroom, grabbing a set of clothes—a suit—on the way. Moflair respected his privacy and left the room.

  He showered quickly, in real water. He had yet to get used to those weird cleansing brushes the aliens used. They were disgustingly gooey. Fortunately, Dr. Hio sympathized with him and had installed a shower in his bathroom.

  The warm water flowing over his skin felt good; so good that he almost forgot he was in a hurry.

  He washed his hair with an odd-smelling shampoo and rinsed down quickly before turning the water off and stepping out of the shower to dry himself.

  Not missing a beat, he continued his morning routine, pulling on his dress pants, shirt, and suit jacket. He used to hate suits because of how downright uncomfortable they could be, but now, they were one of the only things from his old life that remained.

  He tied his tie, straightened it, and finished off his morning routine by brushing his teeth with a toothpaste that tasted oddly like honey. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror: an ordinary-looking man of 42 years, with short black hair, blue eyes, an angular face, and an average frame. He was tired; he could feel it in his bones and see the purple bags under his eyes. He shook his head violently, trying to get his body working again. It was either that or give up, and he wasn't ready to give up just yet.

  He stepped back out into his quarters, where Moflair was waiting for him, her left eye twitching. The Drevi expressed impatience not by tapping their feet, but by twitching their left eye. Twitching the right eye meant something entirely different, but the man had no idea what it was.

  Moflair snorted. “You humans.”

  He ignored the insult, as he had learned to do.

  “I will report to Dr. Hio now, Moflair.” He cocked his head to the side politely, the equivalent of a human dip of the head. It was a gesture of respect and politeness. He knew more about Drevi behavior than most humans, but was also aware he would never completely get used to living among them.

  Moflair twitched her left eye once more and turned to leave the room.

  He stood there, alone for a moment, eyes scanning the tiny room he’d been assigned. It only had space for a bed, a closet, and a small desk and chair, plus the adjacent bathroom. He supposed he should feel grateful and lucky, since the accommodations were better than most, but he just couldn’t bring himself to.

  He was a “specimen.” He was looked down upon for being what he was, a human, something to be studied but not respected. It felt as though his old life had ended and he’d been reborn into a completely worthless new one. It hurt, deep down inside.

  “Come on, human. I haven’t got all day!” Moflair snapped from behind the door.

  The man started a bit at her shrill voice, before lowering his head and hurrying out of the room.

  It was a brisk, five minute walk to the labs through the large compound the aliens had built. The labs themselves were pristine and white, with several aliens, Dr. Hio’s other assistants, hovering over many strange devices, machines, and computers. The man knew what some of them did, but many others were still a mystery to him.

  “Ah. Good morning, Ted.” Dr. Hio walked up and greeted him in a friendly voice.

  Ted. That was his name. But he might as well have forgotten it. Dr. Hio was the only person, besides himself, who called him by his birth name. To everyone else, he was just “human,” or, if they were feeling fancy, Specimen #50014.

  “Good morning, Dr. Hio,” he replied.

  Dr. Hio was considerably younger than Moflair. His scales were the same color, but all Drevi seemed to have the same dull green scales. Although he had mild wrinkles near his eyes, the wrinkles weren’t so much from age; Dr. Hio smiled a lot. Even his black eyes seemed to hold a twinkle of a smile in them.

  “Would you like to run the computers today?” Dr. Hio asked.

  “I’m sorry, but are you sure? I don’t want to get into trouble with your superiors...” Ted questioned hesitantly. Humans were strictly prohibited from even touching most Drevi technology, for obvious reasons. The punishments ranged from “reassignment,” to in extreme cases, death.

  Most Drevi would have snapped at him for talking back, but Dr. Hio just smiled. “It’s all right. I’ll take full responsibility.”

  Ted shrugged and made his way over to the machines. Dr. Hio, as he understood it, was one of the most accomplished and well-respected scientists in Drevi society. The man had been kind enough to Ted, at least. And the way things were, that kindness went a long way.

  Ted had to admit that he enjoyed learning about the Drevi’s technology, and Dr. Hio’s offer was not an isolated incident. Ted had already learned a substantial portion of their language, which was an extremely important skill in and of itself. As for the Drevi themselves, they picked up languages very quickly, so most of them were already fluent in the languages of the regions where they had been stationed. Since they were in the American States, Dr. Hio and his employees had learned English.

  So Ted turned the computer on and began accessing files that would inform him of the procedures and experiments they would be performing that day.

  The first experiment had already begun, and a human man, who looked to be a little older than Ted, was brought in through a side door and properly restrained against a wall. Dr. Hio gave Ted a sympathetic glance, and Ted averted his eyes from the scene.

  Dr. Hio wasn’t cruel, so none of his specimens were ever harmed in his lab unless they fought back with lethal force, but that didn’t make Ted feel much better, especially when he knew that other Drevi scientists weren’t as humane and Dr. Hio’s motivations were more practical than anything else. Ted felt like a collaborator, a traitor to his own people. But it was hard to be a hero when his own life, while not perfect, was better than the poor man chained to the wall. He wanted to keep it that way, as much as disgust clawed at his insides.

  He could sense the restrained man watching him as Ted went about his daily business. He was no doubt wondering, Why is there a human here, working with the Drevi? Then an idea would occur to him, that Ted had sold out his people for better treatment with the Drevi. Then the look of anger and hatred would pass across the man’s face, making Ted feel more uncomfortable and alone than ever.

  Moflair walked up to the human to take a standard blood test, and the man lashed out at her with the only weapon he had available, his teeth, letting out a snarl that sounded more animal than human.

  Ted flinched at the sound as Moflair took a step back and reached for her weapon, but Dr. Hio raised his voice in anger to stop her. “Damn it, Moflair, don’t harm him!” he yelled, and even the ir
on-willed Moflair backed down like a scared puppy. Dr. Hio is scarier than he looks, thought Ted in passing. And when did he learn to curse in English?

  With a potential crisis averted, Dr. Hio walked over to the man, who was still undoubtedly the perfect combination of pissed and terrified, and began talking to him in a soothing voice, assuring the scared man that he wouldn’t be harmed. With slow movements, Dr. Hio took out a body scanner and began scanning the man, no doubt gathering more data about human physiology. In the beginning, the doctor had tried asking his subjects questions, but unsurprisingly, even the most basic questions about how human bodies worked were met with silence and obscene comments. Ted remembered one woman who had said more curse words in a single sentence than Ted thought possible.

  Ted let out a sigh of relief. He hated it when they fought. Why couldn’t they all just be like him, submit and cooperate so they would survive? The instant the thought crossed his mind, however, he felt ashamed. He knew there were plenty of humans out there who were still free and resisting the Drevi invasion, even if it cost them their lives, and here he was, sitting in a lab with his tail tucked between his legs, trying to do everything in his power to stay out of trouble. He sickened himself.

  In spite of Dr. Hio’s gentle treatment that morning, it did nothing to ease the sense of pain and loneliness swelling up in Ted’s chest.