Kate
At first my sleep is so heavy, I have no dreams. But as my slumber wears on I start to dream of bright lights and trying to struggle but being unable to move. I don’t know if this is a memory surfacing or just a reaction to the whole alien abduction situation I have found myself in. By the time I wake up it feels like I have slept for days. I feel refreshed, but now I’m starving. I use the toilet and straighten my hair a bit with my fingers then wrap my blanket dress around me and start to make my way to the dining hall. I hastily decide instead to check and see if any of the other girls want to join me. I push the prompter on the outside of the door closest to mine, I remember this room is Reagan’s.
“Hey! Are you up?”
“Yeah, come on in.,” the door whizzes open.
“Did you get some sleep?” I ask her.
She flops down on her bed. Her hair's a mess and she has dark circles under her eyes. “Yes and no. I slept a lot, but I keep having nightmares.”
“Yeah, I had some weird dreams too,” I say. “Want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know. I think I was just dreaming of home. Of people I won’t ever see again.” She doesn’t meet my gaze.
“I’m so sorry Reagan.” I reflect for a second. “I feel like I haven’t even really had a chance to process that yet. With everything going on I haven’t even made space in my mind to worry about it. Were you close to your family?”
“Honestly, there probably won’t be anyone who even notices I’m gone.”
“Yeah, actually it’s the same for me,” I scoff at the pathetic realization. “My landlord will most likely be the only one to notice. It’ll be months before my mom even tries to call me. I’m usually the one to call her and my job was heading south, so they’ll probably just think I quit.”
“I haven’t spoken to my mom in three years and I just found out my drug dealing piece of shit boyfriend was cheating on me, he’ll think I just left him. No one will ever even know I’m gone.”
We’re fall into silence, reflecting on our revelations. “Well, look at what a couple of sad sacks we are! Looks like being abducted might be the best thing to ever happen to us!” I laugh, but Reagan sits on that for a second.
“You know, you might be right.”
Just then my stomach decides to protest the lack of food in it and growls loudly. “You hungry? Want to go see if any of the other girls want to get a bite to eat?”
“Sure, wait a second while I freshen up?”
“Of course.”
I hear water running in the little sink/toilet room. “Hey Kate?” Reagan calls.
“Yeah?”
“You think that’s why they took us?”
“What do you mean?”
She steps into the doorway, “Because no one will be looking for us.”
“Yeah, that’s a good theory. Let’s ask the others and see if there are any other similarities.”
We check the other rooms, but Clark is the only other girl around and she joins our little posse. The others must already be in the dining hall. I mean, I can’t imagine where else they’d be. I start to wonder about Rennek and if he ever got any rest. He was so troubled the last time I saw him. I then I start to wonder about alien abduction rescue etiquette and if I should let him know we are up and about the ship. After I eat, I’ll definitely go find him. Just to be polite.
“What are you smiling about?” Reagan asks.
“Huh? Smiling? I’m just excited to eat, I guess.” Deflecting, I change the subject, “Oh hey, Clark? Reagan and I were talking and we noticed a similarity that might be coincidence or it might be the reason aliens abducted us…”
“What’s that?” She asks.
“Well, neither of us are close to our families and… well, it doesn’t seem like anyone will be looking for us, for quite some time at least,” I tell her.
“Yeah,” she reflects, “I suppose that’s actually true for me too. Well, I was close with my parents, but they died a few years ago in a car accident. Then my grandma passed about a year after that. I really only have my cousins now and they won’t even think of me until Christmastime.”
“Oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry about your parents and your grandmother, how tragic!” I tell her.
“Thanks, yeah. It’s been a lot to go through in a short amount of time. Add an alien abduction in the mix and I’ve got years worth of therapy ahead of me,” she jokes.
“I wonder if there’s anything else we all have in common?” Reagan asks as we get to the dining hall.
“Now’s the perfect time to find out,” I say. The other three girls are here, though it doesn’t seem like they’ve been here long because they don’t have any food yet.
“Good morning ladies!” I say cheerfully.
“Hey! Maybe you guys can help with this food thing. We haven’t been having any luck,” Vivian says.
“Vivian and I don’t have a translator yet, so we’re pretty much useless,” April tells us.
“Let me see what I can do…” In a few minutes everyone has ceata with emon and I kind of feel like a champ. Unfortunately, I can’t do much in the way of real food. The only thing I know the name of is what we ate yesterday and no one is in the mood for more stew. I still don’t know enough about alien food to order anything else from the synthesizer.
“Maybe we should call one of the guys for help?” I suggest. Rennek would be a big help…
“No! Let’s try and figure it out ourselves. I could do without aliens for a little bit longer.” Vivian says apologetically. “It’s just when they’re here I can’t ignore the fact that we were abducted by aliens. Like this,” she gestures towards all of us, “I can pretend this is like… I don’t know… a girl’s weekend.”
“What kind of girl’s weekends do you go on?” Allison says in a blank voice which makes everything sound like a burn.
“Anyway, Reagan and Clark and I were talking and we realized, given our family life and stuff back home on Earth, that maybe one reason we were abducted is because no one will be missing us right away. Does that ring true for anyone else?” All the girls give a little info on their immediate family and confirm it will be unlikely anyone will be searching for them.
“Well, that’s not true for me.” Allison says. “My job will probably be freaking out first thing Monday morning, if that hasn’t passed already. I am a crucial member of the design and marketing team at my company. They’ll notify my family and my boyfriend right away. I am probably all over the news right now. One of that sad, all-American girl gone missing, great unsolved mystery things.”
“Oh, I wonder why they took you then?” Clark says.
“I don’t know. Maybe I have the universe’s universal blood type or something. But people will be missing me, I’m sorry if that’s not true for the rest of you,” she shrugs.
“I wonder if we have any other things in common though?” Reagan asks.
Allison looks at Reagan slowly from head to toe. “I strongly doubt it,” She says before she gets up and marches over to a comm unit. “We need help with food in the dining hall, thanks.” She is either oblivious to or completely ignoring the fact that Vivian just said she wasn’t ready for another alien encounter. Thankfully, April casually takes a seat next to Vivian, in an obvious effort to offer support. I appreciate the supportive attitude. It seems not all of us share it. When I look at Reagan I see she’s fuming.
“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Reagan bristles.
“I’m sorry, what is it you don’t understand?” Allison says flatly.
“Look bitch, I don’t need or appreciate your dirty ass looks. Throw another one my way and I’ll throw a punch to that stuck up face of yours.”
“Whoa, guys! Seriously? Calm the hell down! We’re like, the only six humans in all of this fucked up outer space nightmare and we’re seriously going to be at each other’s throats?” I say looking from Reagan to Allison.
“I’m not at anyone’s throat. It’s not my fault she’s upset. I’m just not in the same situation as the rest of you. People will miss me.” Allison’s tone is calm and she truly looks as unaffected as ever, but Reagan on the other hand looks like she’s about to follow through on her promise. I leap in between them to stop Reagan from beating Allison’s ass.
At that moment Da’vi stalks into the dining hall. He pauses and surveys us momentarily, reading the tension.
“Great,” Allison says retreating to lean against a far wall. Da’vi glares at her and lets a low growl escape his throat. Vivian jumps. I take this as my cue to rally his attention and get some help with the food synthesizer. Let’s just change the subject and get food for everyone--stay positive, move forward, I tell myself.
“Hi! Da’vi, right? We’re trying to get some breakfast going. Can you help us out?”
“What would you like?” He asks gruffly.
“Any requests ladies?” I ask in English for the benefit of those who don’t have translators yet.
“A big, fat breakfast burrito,” April says. “Or an Egg McMuffin.”
“Oh my god, I’ll never have another Egg McMuffin,” Vivian sobs.
“Dang, Big Egg McMuffin fan?” April asks her.
“No, I hate McDonalds. I haven’t eaten there in years, but now I don’t even have the option, you know?”
Da’vi is giving his best impression of patience.
“How about it lizard boy, can you make us breakfast burritos?” Allison asks, barely looking at him.
“I do not know what this is.” Da’vi tells us, glaring at Allison. Seems like her attitude is winning her all sorts of friends.
“A breakfast burrito has like, eggs meat, potatoes, veggies sometimes… and it’s all wrapped in a tortilla. Which is like a thin, flat bread,” I explain as best I can.
He nods and starts to work at the synthesizer. A bowl comes out and he shakes it before popping the lid off. It’s steaming. Then, he pulls a pouch from a drawer and pours it over the top of the bowl, it foams up and solidifies. Lastly, the synthesizer produces something looking like a ball of dough. He takes it all to one of the tables and rips off a piece of the dough and kneads it flat. He spoons a helping of the stuff in the bowl onto the dough and folds it over. He holds it out to Allison. She steps forward to grab it, but he pulls back taking a big bite just as she reaches for it.
“Enjoy,” he says and he stalks out chewing, without a glance back.
“Hah!” Reagan says.
“Thank you!” I yell after him and we crowd around the strange alien food. We each rip off pieces of the dough and tentatively smell everything.
“Smells okay,” Vivian says.
“Might as well start indoctrinating ourselves now.” Clark says, “There won’t be any McDonald’s in our future.”
We silently take a few bites, nodding to one another as we eat. It’s better than I thought it would be. The foamy stuff is kind of like fake eggs and whatever was in the bowl is kind of like root vegetables. The textures are all off though and it makes it doubly strange that we are eating it on dough instead of bread or a tortilla.
“No more chocolate,” Vivian says, breaking the silence.
“No more guacamole. Or avocados in general,” Reagan says a little teary.
“Bacon wrapped hot dogs,” April says.
“Sushi.”
“Pizza.”
“Coffee.”
“Root beer floats,” I add.
“Beer,” Allison says and we all laugh.
“Oh no, I hope these aren’t some Puritan aliens who don’t drink,” April laments.
“This is outer space, not hell. Of course they’ll have booze,” Clark offers.
“I don’t know. Feels like hell to me,” Allison says and we eat in silence for a bit after that.
Once we finish eating the conversation goes back to things we all might have in common and Allison leaves without saying a word.
“Bitch,” Reagan says once she’s gone.
“I didn’t want to be the one to say it…” April agrees.
“Come on, this is hard on all of us in different ways guys. Allison is struggling like the rest of us. Let’s not make her an outsider,” I think of how unwelcoming the people were when I started working at the bank and how it felt like that had shaped my success... or lack thereof.
“Kate’s right. Maybe she’s just one of those people who pushes others away when they’re stressed. We don’t know what she’s going through. Let’s give her time. It’s important we all support each other,” Vivian adds. Everyone grudgingly agrees.
I realize this is the first time we have all really been able to talk. It’s nice, even if the subject matter is a little dark. Turns out, other than Allison, no one is going to be looking for the rest of us. We are all in our twenties, although we range from 20 to 26. We think we were all taken at night. Most of us had already gone to bed, but Clark and April had been showering last they could remember--which explains their nudity when we woke from the cryo bags. None of us have any memories of who took us or how. We are from all from the west coast, seems like we were on a travel path for whoever took us. But, that’s where the similarities end. Our jobs, educations and anything else we can think of are all unique to each of us. It seems we were just convenient to take and the right age for slaves, I guess.
“So, we have been abducted by aliens and hopefully rescued by some good guys. Now what?” Reagan asks.
“Now we meet this Tennir guy and Rennek’s government and they decide what to do with us,” I say, but it doesn’t feel right to be so passive about this. “We should all think about what we want for our lives, in case we get some level of choice or if we get to make requests. We should be prepared for that, maybe be on the same page. If we want to stay together, that is.”
“I don’t know you guys all that well, but we’re all of humanity that’s out here. We should stick together,” Clark says.
“I agree.” I’m filled with the confidence that this is the right move. We must be a team.
“Well, I can’t promise to be friends with Allison, but I’m down for sticking together,” Reagan concurs and we all laugh.
“I have to say Kate…” Clark begins, “What you did back there for us… I want to thank you.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, a little confused.
“With the alien… the bad one,” her voice catches.
“You protected us Kate, all of us,” April finishes for her.
“Oh! Of course. I just did what anyone would do,” I shrug it off.
“But no, you didn’t. You did what the rest of us couldn’t do. I always thought if I were in a life or death scenario I would be able to handle myself. Or at least if I were in a fight or flight scenario I would fight--but instead I just froze. You didn’t. Thank you,” April tells me and the rest of the girls echo it.
“And thanks for the clothes. It wasn’t like anyone had much, but being so exposed was the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced. Thank you for sacrificing what you had to help us,” Clark adds.
“Seriously guys, anytime,” I tell them all.
“Don’t forget she was also the guinea pig for the translation thing,” Reagan adds.
“Come on guys! You’re making me blush!” I tease, trying to lighten the mood. I’m not used to so much praise.
“Well, hopefully we can return the favor one day,” Reagan says.
“Deal, next time you get to be the guinea pig,” I tell her before Vivian pulls us all in for a hug.
After a minute I put my hand in for a team hand stack, “Team Human?” I say.
“Team Human!” We all cheer.
“Oh, oh, oh and guys! Before I forget! We really need to curb the F-bombs…”
***
Eventually all the girls head back to their rooms. I’m the last to my door… I start to go in, but I hesitate, considering my options. Just then, Vivian pops out of her room.
“Hey, what are you up to?” I ask.
“I was thinking I’d go see Allison. Try to bond or connect or something. I feel like she’s more alone than the rest of us.”
“That’s a really good idea,” I say sincerely. “Do you want any back up?”
“Let’s see if she does better one on one first. I don’t want it to feel like an intervention, you know?” She smiles sweetly.
“You are full of good ideas. Holler if you need help!” I tell her as she heads to Allison’s room. I’m glad Vivian is offering an olive branch. Allison needs it whether she realizes it yet or not. I’m also glad because I had been considering going to see Allison myself, but now... I think I’ll go see about an alien instead.