by Enid Titan
Oh my goodness. He had a tail.
Suddenly, I felt sick to my stomach. I took a step back and my back pressed against Dr. Trout. I was too stunned to move away from my boss.
“Easy, Minerva,” he whispered into my ears.
“I’m fine…”
“I can tell. So far, you’re the only one who hasn’t vomited and cried,” he chuckled.
“I didn’t hear any of the others do that.”
“The walls are soundproof. This one’s loud when he wants to be, don’t mind him.”
“Does he understand us?”
Dr. Trout chuckled.
“Just like a woman to think of that, eh? We aren’t sure. You have the strongest background in linguistics and communication, so your job is to care for the creature, attempt communication and study the biological aftereffects of our experiments.”
“We’re going to experiment on him?”
I couldn’t disguise the horror in my voice.
“We can’t exactly have him running around the District, Minerva. Yes, we’ll be experimenting. You will be experimenting. Nod if you understand the weight of what’s going on, and then you leave, and get some rest.”
I nodded and then raced out of the lab, my face as blank as my coworkers’ faces had been.
Two
The Work
Vidar, Second Proconsul of The Polluxian Imperium
I hadn’t expected savages when I’d accepted the mission. The Alliance made it clear that first contact with this species might be dangerous, but nothing could capture the fury of of being held like a beast and forced to feign ignorance and weakness as they spoke about me as if I was invisible.
When they left me in the glass, they turned off all the lights. When it was nice and relatively quiet, I tapped the side of my head to activate my ocular implant, illuminating my eyes so I could see properly in the dark. Infrared vision is nowhere near as useful as daylight, but it helps to get a sense of where they kept me in the dark.
Their facility was low-tech, but secure. If I needed to, I was sure I could find a quick way out. I could hear guards outside the door of their soundproof room and according to data from the implant, I was about a mile beneath their planet’s surface.
Six months of this I’d promised to endure and although their months were quick, I found the hours beneath the earth painfully slow and boring. Polluxians enjoy engineering and debate, mathematics and logic puzzles, not sitting beneath the earth waiting… and waiting…
On Polluxian planets we enjoy light from two blue suns that glisten down on our purple skin. These solar beings must enjoy sunlight too. At least I thought they did. They kept me beneath the ground to torture me. Because they were afraid. Not all of them.
Only the males I’d met feared me. My ocular implants could sense their biometric data and I took it all in on the projected screen in front of my iris, controlling what data I connected with my thoughts, as if tugging on organ strings in my head.
My low-tech bulletproof glass prison didn’t stop me from collecting data. The aliens hadn’t even realized I was wearing an implant.
They thought I was the test subject but that wasn’t the case. I watched as the boss, Dr. Trout ordered the new scientists into the room to meet me for the first time. These Terran “scientists” knew no more than primary school students on Pollux I, but from what I heard, they were the top secret scientists working for the United States government.
The planet had not yet had an alliance of its land masses. Primitive politics. Primitive science. I ached to free myself from their subterranean prison. On Pollux I, I enjoyed the status of my rank as Second Proconsul. That status allowed me to be chosen for this mission. I’d expected engaging in friendly debate with locals, and perhaps engaging with sophisticated scientists but these unathletic, uninspired apes could do nothing to impress me.
At least, that’s what I thought until I saw Dr. Minnie Hsu. As she entered the room and stared at me for the first time, her biometric readings were noticeably calmer than her counterparts. She was just as surprised as they were but she didn’t balk. She didn’t vomit like Dr. John Billings or shake and cry like Dr. Declan Chubb. She stared at me with pure unfiltered curiosity, the kind I’d assumed no one on her planet could possibly have.
When Dr. Trout hurried her out of my prison, I yearned to call her name and reveal that I could speak English. She’d been assigned to take care of me and I could assume then that we would have plenty of time alone. I lay back on my cot, closing my eyes and interfacing with my ocular implant that the Terrans had yet to detect despite their insistence in probing me and their implicit belief that their simple technology could provide them with all the answers.
I remained interfaced all night. I recorded a message for my brother at home who was currently occupying my seat within the imperium. I used the implant to keep my muscles flexed so I wouldn’t lose the tone I’d built up from my latest alpine adventures on Pollux II.
I checked in with my own biometric data, assuring myself that despite my first week of tests and drawn blood that my lung, livers and hearts were functioning within regular parameters.
There was only one part of me that was irregular. But I’d have to go a long six months without worrying about that particular organ.
Two days or so passed. Unlike people on our world who kept each shift occupied, the Terrans took regular breaks. This “weekend” was a big part of their culture — a time when they indulged in food, and sex, and drink. I heard Dr. Trout talking about it on their primitive metal receivers.
I envied this release of theirs that I would be unable to enjoy until the very end of my captivity.
The scientists returned in the dead of night after leaving me beneath the earth for two days. The needle and bag stuck into my arm were their undeveloped method of supplying me with nutrients, yet my lips still craved the gentle touch of water. And sunlight. Or moonlight. From what I knew about their moon, moonlight would have done just as well.
Dr. Trout came in first. He pressed his little card to the door and men with guns filed in behind him, pressing their primitive metal weapons into me. I remained stone faced.
“Take the alien to the operating room. Today we’re running the blood letting tests. Dr. Hsu will be joining us soon. Make sure the captive is secure.”
“Yes, Dr. Trout,” the leader replied.
My implant made light work of their primitive language which was all verbal with only a mild non-verbal element, nothing the implant couldn’t handle and nothing as complicated as the artificial life forms in the Pollux system.
Dr. Hsu was the most interesting alien amongst them. Like on our planet, their females were small — although they were much smaller than ours — and this female had long black hair which reminded me of one of the exotic dancers I’d met while visiting Tau III.
I followed the soldiers, cowering and bowing my head as if I feared them. It would have been folly to let them know just how little I feared them.
In the room, they strapped me to a cot. I could sense what was coming next would be painful. I closed my eyes, flexing my arm muscles in my restraints. If the pain was too much, I could easily break out of the restraints. But to do that at the risk of ruining the first contact mission would mean risking everything, including my status as proconsul, which I was unwilling to sacrifice. I’d have to remain there, affixed to a cot with a madman and his assistant approaching me with their weapons of torture.
I closed my eyes and I could hear her voice.
“Dr. Trout, if he’s sentient, we shouldn’t be cutting into him with a scalpel.”
“Minerva. If you wish to step aside from this research project, it’s within your rights but you signed a document pledging your allegiance to the U.S. government. If you don’t do what I’m asking, there’s another scientist who would be willing.”
The two stank of rubber and their environment wasn’t nearly as sterile as they thought. I stared at the ceiling, holding my breath
until I felt the scalpel scraping open my flesh. I grit my teeth. Hot blood gushed out of the cut Dr. Trout made on my arm.
“Record this. Subject has dark purple blood. Skin tougher to cut into that most animal flesh. Pain tolerance to be determined.”
“How are we going to determine the pain tolerance?” She asked, discomfort evident in her voice.
“Electricity. Come, hook up the electrodes to his chest.”
Her gloved hands moved as gently as they could and she slapped primitive electrodes on my chest. I’d read about these in my history books and their technology had to have been around 600 years behind ours — if not more. That didn’t mean their methods couldn’t hurt.
At first the electricity felt like only a mild buzz and then the pain escalated as I fought every urge to scream and escape. My ocular implant sent warning vibrations shuddering through my body as my pain levels reached a critical level. Desperate to fight the impact of their experiments, I fought back screams. My muscles tensed and dark purple veins popped out of my arms.
“Dr.Trout, I don’t think he can take it anymore.”
“Quiet, Minerva…” Dr. Trout growled.
That was the last thing I heard before losing consciousness.
Three
The Surprise
Minnie Hsu
Dr. Trout left me to clean up the mess from our experiments. He assured me I’d be safe with the unconscious alien. The purple alien male’s binds were made from metal and intended to keep him to the cot. I nodded in response to Dr. Trout’s request and agreed to my task, eager for Dr. Trout to go to another room.
Once I was alone, my hands shook and the sight of the alien’s purple blood turned my stomach. We’d harmed a living creature. At the orders of the government we’d hurt him and the best explanation that Dr. Trout could give me was that if we didn’t do this, the aliens would get to us first.
This purple man-beast’s crash landing on earth Dr. Trout and the military interpreted akin to a threat. I didn’t know if I believed that. The alien had gone willingly with the soldiers and likely hardly understood what was going on given that he hadn’t put up much of a fight.
We’d led the poor beast into our torture chambers in the name of science until the pain had been too much for him. Dr. Trout again left me to clean up the mess of the injustice we’d carried out against the creature.
I sniffled and covered up my tears and then I heard rustling of cotton against metal and the purple-skinned alien awakened…
I gasped and jolted back away from him. He raised his head and then groaned before slamming it back down. I whimpered and then kept tidying my corner of the lab, hoping I could finish quickly and leave the room.
I tossed our scalpels and tools in the biohazard waste chute and got to work scrubbing the metal surfaces with industrial strength cleaner. After a few moments, I couldn’t bear it. I had to take a look at the alien’s face up close. I had to see the creature we’d tortured and look him in the eye. I’d been complicit, and I was prepared to accept the consequences of that, but I could at least offer a word of apology…
I set down my spray bottle and cloth and approached the table. I removed my mask and then my gloves, and stared at his shining green eyes, like peridots sunk into his head.
The alien looked at me as if he knew me, as if he really did understand. This was the first whiff of recognition I’d caught from the creature since seeing him for the first time. And for a creature, he was shockingly… humanoid.
His skin looked similar to mine, but as if it were painted purple. Of course, his skin wouldn’t rub off when I touched it. He was naturally and innately…purple.
I reached my bare hand out, ignoring my own trembling fear. I had to overcome it. I had to reach out and touch him to see if it was true that he really understood. Touch can convey twenty times more than a look after all.
I’d sutured him up where we’d cut wearing my nitrile gloves and working under the most sterile conditions, but I wanted to make contact with his bare skin to remind myself that this creature we were studying was very very real. I approached him tentatively and he only watched me without recoiling as I drew so close that I could feel warmth emanating from his skin.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, choking back my sadness at the inhumanity I’d participated in.
I made contact with the alien’s skin and felt his warm flesh beneath my finger tips for the first time. I recoiled even as he remained motionless. I’d expected him to feel different to my bare hands. Touching him felt so… natural. His skin was normal, a bit tougher than mine, but not too unusual like a reptile or a fish. He was smooth, relatively hairless and muscled. We knew from our studies that he was mammalian, yet still unlike any mammal that existed on earth.
I touched him again and apologized.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered again.
He raised his head as if he could understand. I gasped and stepped back.
The alien whispered, “For what are you sorry?”
I yelped and stepped back, crashing into a tray of tools and sealed hypodermic needles and then falling flat on my behind in the lab.
“Careful,” he said.
“You…you understand us!”
“Yes…”
I rose to my feet and folded my arms, cocking an eyebrow.
“How can you understand us?”
“I just do.”
“B-but we cut into you.”
“Yes. You did.”
“We hurt you and you didn’t utter out in pain once.”
“I did not.”
My eyes narrowed and I took a step back, wondering if I’d need to defend myself against him. If he could understand then maybe he’d seek vengeance.
“Why are you talking to me now?”
“Because, I’ve finally met what I’m looking for,” he uttered in a deep, raspy, otherworldly voice.
A chill ran down my spine. I grasped at the table behind me, thinking that maybe I could toss a beaker at his head if push came to shove. Then, I could make a break for it and scream for help.
“Which is what precisely?”
I expected that if I were ever in this kind of situation, I would be terrified. But as I approached the creature, I was remarkably calm.
“What’s your name,” I asked.
“Vidar.”
“How are we communicating? I can’t imagine you speak English.”
“That is none of your concern.”
“I think it is!”
“Or what?,” he rasped, “You’ll attack me with another scalpel?”
I lowered my head to sheepishly avoid his gaze, my guilt rising to nearly astronomical levels.
“I was only listening to my boss.”
“Is that how humans are then? They listen to cruel orders without question?”
“No! Well, sometimes. I guess I did. But not everyone would. Maybe… I… It’s going to be hard to explain.”
“Don’t explain. Loosen the binds on my arms.”
“I-I can’t do that,” I answered firmly.
If Dr. Trout were right, if this alien had the capacity to break free from his confines and kill me, I didn’t wish to put him to the test, especially not after we’d gut him open and stuck needles into him for the past hour.
“Minerva Hsu. That is your name.”
“Yes.”
“You are more empathetic and intelligent than your coworkers.”
“Thank you. I’m still not going to let you go.”
“Fine. I don’t need you to let me go,” he rasped.
“I’m going to continue working now,” I answered.
“Do not tell Dr. Trout that I can speak.”
“I must report everything that happens in this lab.”
“No. You mustn’t.”
I decided to ignore the alien Vidar’s final comment and while it made me nervous to turn my back to him, I didn’t see how I had any other choice when I had work to do. I picked up a beaker and spray
ed acetone into it to get it clean and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I screamed and turned around.
Vidar clamped his hand around my mouth. He’d broken out of the restraints and crossed the room so quickly and so quietly that it was… impossible.
“The rooms are sound proof, but it will be easier if you don’t scream.”
“LETGOOFME!” I screamed through his hand.
“Promise not to make a sound. I will not hurt you.”
“MMMGGMHMHHMMM!!”
“Promise me,” he insisted, his eyes glowed hauntingly like a cat’s eyes when it’s caught unawares by headlights.
I nodded. He let go of me and I exhaled.
“I don’t believe you won’t hurt me. Please… there are soldiers right outside and I don’t want anything bad to happen,” I whispered.
“You have already hurt me more than I could ever dream of hurting you, Minerva.”
“Doctor Hsu.”
“Doctor? You wish to establish your dominance over me?”
“No. That’s not it. It’s just… I am a doctor.”
“And I am Second Proconsul of the Polluxian Imperium. Yet I do not force you to address me by my formal title. I will be calling you Minerva.”
“Alright, Vidar. Now tell me why you’re pretending to be a weakling who doesn’t understand what’s happening when it’s clear, you’ve got more than a clue.”
“Do you trust me, Minerva?”
“Um… no? Why should I?”
“My ocular implant indicates you have very low levels of stress hormone coursing through your veins. You’re a little on edge but it’s curious. You don’t fear me, so I’m wondering whether you trust me.”
He’d certainly surprised me sneaking up on me like that but he was right. I wasn’t completely terrified by him.
“I’m a scientist. I believe what I can see before me. You could have hurt me, clearly, yet you haven’t.”
