I don’t know why I’m feeling so much anger. Maybe it’s because the last two days have been completely insane. First, I got kidnapped, and then I fucked my kidnapper… and I’m still attracted to him.

But how can Vex be so fucking stupid? Doesn’t he realize that everyone is apparently out to get us? Not just my dad, but the general, the antenna bastards, and these people too. These aliens who look like humans but I know they couldn’t be. It’s just not possible. After all, we’re not on Earth, that’s for sure.

I’m just resigned to the fact that we’re about to be dealt some horrible fate.

“It’s understandable that you feel so much anger,” says Aisha, looking me right in the eyes. There’s a curious expression on her face. I know what it is. I can read it clear as day, but I don’t want to admit what it is.

And now Aisha proceeds to tell me exactly what happened to me the last couple days, down to the last tiny detail.

By the end of it, I’m starting to get impressed, but I’m still skeptical. “That’s a good parlor trick,” I say.

“You haven't touched your tea.”

“For all I know that’s where you put the poison.”

Aisha and her companions all chuckle.

One of them is tending the fire with a stick, poking it casually. These people seem to have no worries whatsoever. Nothing seems to preoccupy them. Maybe that’s because they’ve finally caught us, for whatever sinister purpose they’ll undoubtedly use us for.

“When you were a young girl,” says Aisha. “You wanted to be different. You wished that your father wasn’t an important senator, and you wished… that you could transform into a goldfish. It was just a daydream, but it was important to you. When you used to go to your private tutors for classes, you used to pretend you were nothing more than a little goldfish.”

My mouth hangs open. I’ve never told anyone that. I always feared they would laugh at me.

But then I catch myself falling into her trap. “Oh,” I say. “So you’re telepathic. Big whoop. That’s not too impressive, you know. It doesn’t mean it’s not a trap.”

“I guess there’s no way for me to convince you,” says Aisha.

Vex seems to have fallen under Aisha and her friends’ spell.

“What can you tell us about why you brought us here?” says Vex.

“Well,” says Aisha. “You’re about to enter into a great fight… your lives depend on it. But it not just your lives that you fight for, whether you believe it or not. You two are responsible for the fate of all humanity.”

I let out a scoff.

Aisha doesn’t respond to the scoff, except to say, “I know there’s no way for you to believe me right now, but soon you will understand.”

“What more can you tell us?” says Vex, apparently believing every word that she says.

Aisha pauses, as if thinking carefully. “There is more at stake here than the existence of the cyborgs,” she says. “What the unaugmented humans don’t realize is that they threaten their own existence by waging war against the cyborgs. The consequences could be dire.”

“We cyborgs on Mina Dos realize that,” says Vex. “That’s why…”

“That’s why you kidnapped Felia here?”

There’s no way she should know that, but I have to accept that she does. I guess she’s telepathic, but big whoop.

But even as I think that to myself, I can feel my heart starting to soften. I can feel something changing inside me, and it’s not caused by anything Aisha and her friends are saying or doing. It’s more just that there is something about their presence that is… calming.

I try to resist it, but I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.

“There is even more at stake than even you realize, Vex,” says Aisha. “I realize you are a capable warrior, but the general is very clever, and he was aware that you had escaped. You would have been destroyed, and Felia along with you, had we let you continue with your plan.”

“So you took us here? How? No offense, but it doesn’t seem like you are very… technologically evolved.”

Aisha laughs, and her friends laugh along with her.

“We don’t have need for what you call technology,” she says. “We are an ancient people, an ancient culture. Once, long ago, we used technology, space craft, and all those things… But now, we do things with our… minds and our spirits.”

“So you just thought us here?” says Vex.

“That’s one way to put it,” says Aisha. “You two need a break, a respite from the chaos of battle. And there are things you need to know before you continue.”

“But what makes you guys care?” I say. “What does any of this matter to you? What are you, anyways?”

“This may surprise you,” says Aisha. “But we are humans, like you, although not quite like you.”

“Humans?” I say. Even though they do look human, there isn't anything she could have said that would have surprised me more than this answer. “How could you possibly be humans?”

I look over at Vex, and he looks just as surprised as I am.

“We come from Earth, your planet,” says Aisha. “But we left many thousands of years ago, before your current cultures had even started.”

“How is that even possible?” I say with some anger in my voice, which comes across as biting and I don’t even care. But even as I say these words, questioning what she tells me, I know that it’s true, and it starts to warm my heart, which has felt like it’s been frozen in anger and fear.

“Well, I know that you’ve studied the ancient texts of the world.”

“Yeah,” I say, forgetting for a moment that there’s no way she should know what I’ve studied and what I’ve read.

“And I know that you know that these old texts talk about flying machines, ancient technologies that…”

“Yeah, that couldn’t have existed,” I say. “It was all just some myth cooked up by someone, or some fantasy. Maybe they weren't meant to be read as a real history, but more of a story. Who knows.”

“Well, they existed,” says Aisha. “We used them to leave Earth to explore… We ended up in many places, eventually here. Our story is too long and complicated to tell… But we are humans, just with a bit of a head start. We have developed certain traits…”

“Like telepathy?”

“Yes, it’s something like that. But it’s more of a… knowing. Everything that ever happened is written in the fibers of the Universe around us. You just have to know where to look.”

“So how did you bring us here?” says Vex. “I don’t see any space ships, or anything… I know you said you use other means, but what are those?”

“We can… change things with…”

“Your minds?”

“Not quite,” says Aisha. “Unfortunately, it’s very hard to explain. But I believe people on Earth still practice different types of mediation. That’s perhaps the best explanation.”

“You mean you meditated and brought us here?” says Vex.

“Something like that, yes.”

Aisha’s friends are giggling around the fire.

One comes over, a man who appears to be about 60 years old, with a long beard. He sits next to me and puts his hand gently on my shoulder.

I feel all the tension, the stress, the fear—all of that suddenly fades away from me, just like an icicle melting in the hot sun.

The feeling is replaced with a warmth that I’ve never felt, an energy that fills me like light.

“You are ready to accept,” says the man, giving me a look full of warmth, before returning to his spot around the fire, where he sips some tea from his mug.

I look up and Aisha is smiling at me.

“You are ready to know what you must know,” she says. “But it is getting late in the day, and the sun will go down soon. You two must rest. We will explain everything to you tomorrow. Feel free to make love. You need to have no embarrassment about it. That does not exist in our culture, but I understand that in your culture love and sex are things to hide shamefully away. I want you to know that we do not feel that way here.”

I look over at Vex, who’s giving me a roguish grin.

We spend some more time around the campfire, just enjoying its warm glow as the sun sets, sipping tea and chatting a little about inconsequential things, but generally remaining silent.

A meal is prepared, the food coming seemingly out of nowhere. It’s not like any food that I’ve ever seen, let alone eaten before, but it’s completely delicious.

Aisha serves us, and then joins her friends on the other side of the fire. “You two just eat and rest and recuperate. Tomorrow will be the time for planning and worrying. Tonight, rest, relax, and make love.”

I almost giggle as she says it, but I don’t.

“It’s OK to laugh,” she says, giving me a smile.

“This is delicious,” says Vex to me.

“So cyborgs do need food after all,” I say, taking my first bite.

“Of course,” says Vex, wolfing everything down quickly. “And I haven’t eaten in… I don’t know.”

I didn’t realize how hungry I was myself. I guess all that adventure, terror, and excitement had kept me on edge for so long that my body wasn’t even telling me I was hungry. It must have been all those stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, pumping through me, defeating my normal appetite.

The food never seems to end. There’s a huge pot of it over the stove, where it stays perfectly warm and delicious. Vex and I help ourselves to countless portions, and we begin to feel more and more relaxed, enjoying the coolness that comes as the close sun goes down.

The air around us is fragrant and pleasant, and the sounds of small animals can be heard out and about.

“This place is really beautiful,” I say.

“You’re feeling better,” remarks Vex.

“I don’t know what happened,” I say.

“So now you trust these people?” says Vex.

I shrug. “Yeah,” I say, smiling. “I guess I do. Maybe it’s just another trick, but I do trust them now.”

We’re talking quietly, so that Aisha and the others can’t hear us, but if they're really telepathic, or whatever it is they call it, it doesn’t actually matter. But I doubt there’s much of a chance of offending someone who’s apparently all knowing, or at least close to it.

“I trust them, too,” says Vex. “What Aisha says has the ring of truth to it.”

“You’re starting to sound more and more human each day, each hour,” I say.

“I know,” says Vex, looking serious for a moment.

“Does that worry you?” I say.

“Yeah,” says Vex, very quietly. “I don’t know why, but it does.”

“That’s understandable.”

“It is?”

“Yeah, it’s like you’re… changing completely. What you once were, you no longer are. You’re becoming something different, or something that you always were, but never knew.”

“You’re starting to sound like Aisha,” says Vex.

I laugh. “Maybe they're rubbing off on me. They’re very interesting, aren’t they?”

Vex nods. “What do you think they’re going to tell us?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Some secret that will help us escape the general?”

“I have the feeling it’s something… maybe more important than that,” says Vex. “Although I’m sure escaping the general will be involved. It sounds like we were about to walk into a trap or something like that.”

“What could be more important?” I say.

“I don’t know,” says Vex.

The sun has completely set now, and the air around us is warm and pleasant and dark. It feels like one of those nice summer nights back home on Earth, when everything was calm and peaceful and I was young and innocent, unaware of the dangers and problems of the world.

“What’s that?” I say, turning my head towards some sounds that are coming from behind the tents.

Aisha and her companions have disappeared. It’s just Vex and me by the fire. We’ve finished our meal and laid the simple plates and cups down on the ground, because that’s what everyone else did.

Vex gives me a grin.

“Remember what they said?” he says. “Their culture is different. They’re not embarrassed about sex. I guess they’ve left their human hangups behind with their spiritual evolution.”

“Oh!” I say much too loudly. I suddenly realize that the sounds I've been hearing are sexual sounds, coming from Aisha and her group. And it’s not just a single couple. Instead, it sounds like many couples.

“Are they having some kind of orgy?” I whisper to Vex.

He just grins at me and shrugs. “Who knows.”

There are intense moans coming from behind the tents.

“Sounds like they're doing it out in the open,” I say.

“You sound curious,” says Vex.

I blush a little. “No,” I say. “But…”

“But what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want to go see?”

“I’m not joining in any alien orgy,” I say emphatically.

Vex laughs. “They’re humans, remember? And who said anything about joining in? Trust me, that’s not exactly my cup of tea either.”

“They’re a little old for you anyway,” I say.

Vex laughs. “They do look a little older. But don’t you get the sense that they’re actually even older than they look?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Actually, I do.”

“I wonder how old they really are.”

“Who knows, maybe they’re the same people who left Earth.”

“But how could they live that long?”

“I don’t know. But let’s go see what they’re up to.”

Vex takes my hand and we walk as quietly as we can. Maybe they know that we’re coming to watch them, since they seem to know everything, but it seems like Vex and I silently agree that it’s some form of strange politeness pretending that they don’t know.

Vex guides me by the hand past some bushes, and we crouch down, mostly hidden from view.

The sounds are louder now, and between some branches I can see them.

“Wow,” whispers Vex.

I poke him hard in the ribs, and he laughs. I giggle a little, somewhat nervously, and somewhat for real.

The dozen or so of these strange humans have paired off in couples, and they’re all in a circle out on the open ground. They’re not hidden away in their tents, and they’re not hidden away from each other.

They’re all having sex, out in the open, quite vigorously, like they’re not embarrassed at all.

They’re all completely naked, and while they are older than we are, they’re in great shape, their bodies sleek and muscular.

“There’s Aisha,” I whisper to Vex.

“I see her,” he whispers back.

She’s with someone she introduced to us, but I can’t remember his name, and she’s riding him. He’s on his back, and his long cock is entering her as she thrusts her hips, rocking herself along his cock. She leans her head back, her hair down, long and beautiful, and moans loudly.

“Wow,” I whisper.

“Wow is right,” whispers Vex.

“What, you’re getting turned on?”

“Hey, you’re the one who said it. I was just agreeing with you.”

“Let me feel that cock of yours.”

I reach out and feel around his crotch for his cock. I don’t have to feel long, because there it is, rock hard and ready.

“You like them?” I say, teasing him.

“It's not them that’s turning me on,” he says. “It’s just… you know, sexual activity. It gets me in the mood.”

“Me too,” I whisper throatily, squeezing his cock.