This dress has seen better days.

As much as I need a shower and this dress needs a wash, I hesitate to take it off. There’s something strange and vulnerable about stripping naked in the washroom of an alien. Even if he has proven himself to be trustworthy.

Eventually, I peel my black dress off my body and toss it on the floor. I’m not normally excited to take a shower. Usually, the hot water in my apartment only lasts a few minutes. After that I wash and rinse as fast as I can before jumping out and wrapping up in a warm towel. There’s nothing relaxing about it.

Now, I’m full of anticipation as I step into the large cylinder and close the door behind me. The only thing I can imagine that would be more relaxing than a bubble bath right now is a warm, steamy shower. As soon as the water starts streaming from the jets above, I step into it, moaning with delight as the water begins to relax my body. The button for the soap is right behind the shower head. When I press it, a dispenser sprays a clean-smelling liquid into my palm and I lather it up into my hair. The soap suds travel down my body and I work them over my skin, cleaning all of the dirt and grime away. If only there were a soap this effective for removing unwanted memories.

I’m standing under the stream of water, enjoying the sensation of being clean and relaxed when my eyes glance up at the pipes intertwined above the shower. Suddenly, I’m transported back to the Atronox ship in that small, cold prison cell. I’ve tried not to think about that nightmare but the pipes trigger the memory of the woman’s voice. There was someone else on that ship and she was able to communicate with me.

I’m overcome with guilt. I tried to block out the entire experience but in the process, I haven’t done anything to try to help the other women. Who knows how many more there might be. Koba and his men might help me, If I can convince them that it’s worth the trouble.

As soon as I press the button to turn the shower head off, the dryers automatically turn on, wrapping my body in a gentle, warm air. The water droplets slowly evaporate, leaving my skin clean and soft. For a moment I’m able to forget where I am and everything that has happened to me, but only when I close my eyes.

An abrupt knock on the door pulls me from my brief moment of peace. It sounds muffled, as if I’m inside of a long tube and the sound is coming from the opposite end.

“Marilyn, there is food when you are ready,” Koba says.

My first instinct is to cover myself, panicked for a moment that he’s going to walk right into the bathroom and see me naked.

“Okay, I’ll be right out,” I say, unsure how well he can really hear me when I’m still in the shower. There’s a sudden sense of urgency to find something to dress myself with now that I know Koba is back and just outside of the door. As soon as I step out of the shower I’m looking around for clean clothes or anything that I can cover myself with. Finally, I spot something hanging next to the door. It’s one piece of material that I can slide down over my body, similar to a robe but without the opening at the front. It feels strange being without anything underneath the gown, but beggars can’t be choosers and I’m happy for the clean clothes.

The door slides open and my eyes immediately find Koba. His size is still a surprise to me when I see him. It’s the combination of his height and muscular composition that makes him seem so much more massive than any other man I have known. It’s the way he looks in his uniform that causes me to blush when I’m around him.

“Just in time,” he says from across the room. “Come, eat with me. You must be famished.” He motions to a small table next to him where there is a tray of food already arranged for two people. We sit down together, my knees brushing against his. There’s a blush creeping across my cheeks from the contact and I feel like a shy teenager on a first date.

“How did the meeting with the Admiral go?” I ask while he takes two plates and sets them in front of us.

“It went as I expected it to go.” He seems somewhat disappointed but after a moment he smiles at me and focuses on the food in front of us. “This is called unubaco.” He points to the plate of food that looks very similar to bread on Earth. “You can dip it in these.” He points to the two bowls that look to be holding different sauces or something. “Then, this is a very tender meat. You can eat it with the unubaco or on its own. It’s a very good protein source.” He smiles, looking a little anxious again. “Hopefully it will be to your liking. If not, we can raid the kitchen together.”

“It looks delicious. And it smells even better. I’m starving.” I return his smile and help myself to a serving of food, making sure to try all of it. This seems to please him and he relaxes into his chair, taking a helping of food himself.

After we have taken a few bites he asks, “Did you enjoy your shower?”

“I don’t remember the last time I enjoyed a shower as much as I did today.” I look down at my food and take another bite. “It was wonderful. I feel like a new person now that I’m clean again.” Somehow talking about showering with Koba is making me blush. In an attempt to change the subject, I ask, “Has there been any progress locating Earth?”

“Not yet,” he answers honestly. “But I have Raydn and Kayne working on it as we speak. Hopefully I’ll have answers for you soon.”

“Thank you,” I say. He’s looking so intently at me, studying my face and features that I start to blush…again. I don’t know what is coming over me all of a sudden. He is handsome, there’s no doubt about that, but I have so many things on my mind, feeling an attraction to my alien rescuer should not be one of them.

“You have more color,” he says, while dipping his bread into the sauce and taking a bite. “Are you feeling better after getting some sleep?”

I mimic him and try dipping my bread in the sauce as well. “Yes, I’m feeling much better, thank you.”

He smiles. We sit across from each other, studying one another. He definitely isn’t as shy as I am. He’s very open about looking at me. It’s his room and he has a different comfort level here than I do. There is a pull between us that I am noticing for the first time. An electric energy moving between us that makes me feel as if I’m on a bit of a high. “What are you thinking right now?” he asks.

I’m not ready to confess any of my feelings. Instead, we need to have a conversation about the other woman on the ship.

“When you rescued me from the Atronox ship, did you check the ship for other women?”

The look on his face tells me that this isn’t what he expected me to say. Instead of answering right away, he takes more food from the tray.

“I didn’t have time to do a thorough check. I had to be in and out. I wanted visual confirmation that the Atronox had something on board and you were my proof. I grabbed you and we got the hell out of there.” He takes a pitcher off of the table and fills his glass with the liquid. Then he holds it towards my cup, asking a silent question.

“Yes, please.” I hold out my cup and he fills it with an amber colored liquid.

“Do you have reason to believe that there were more women?” he asks, setting the pitcher back down.

“Yes. I know for sure there was at least one more woman. There could have been more. I heard her talking to me through the pipes that ran through the ceiling.”

“So you never saw anyone else, just heard someone?”

“Yes. But I know what I heard. She was warning me to keep quiet so they wouldn’t hurt me. She was trying to help me.”

“Okay,” he says. I’m desperate for him to believe me because that’s the only way he will ever agree to help me.

“So, is there way that you can find out if they did take more women?”

He takes a drink, thinking. “Whenever we are able to board an Atronox vessel, we always plant trackers. The problem is that they regularly scan the ship for our trackers and destroy them. I planted multiple trackers when I boarded the ship and found you, but the odds of one of them still being active is extremely small. I’ll have Cyrox check the signals for me and we can go from there.”

“That would be amazing. Thank you,” I say, relieved that he is taking my word for it and not making me prove myself.

“Of course. If they do have more women, we want to know. The Atronox smuggle various things on the black market but they’ve never sold women, until now. They’ll do anything in order to make money.”

“I have a hard time thinking about what would have happened to me if you hadn’t found me. If there are more women, I need to be a part of bringing them home.”

Koba’s plate is clean when he stands up and walks over to the work station in his room. He slides his fingers over a screen and within seconds there’s another voice filling the room.

“What can I do for you, General?” the voice says.

“Cyrox, I’d like you to activate the last set of trackers I planted on the A.S. I’m sending you the digital codes.”

“Of course, General. I can have that information for you immediately.”

“Thank you, Cyrox.”

Koba’s fingers work over the screen for a few minutes and then he stands up and walks back over to the table.

“If there’s anything to find, Cyrox is the one for the job.”

“And what happens if you are able to locate their ship? Will you go after it? Send a team to recover the other women?”

“I will go personally,” he says.