Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 52: Abducted

 Alexander stared at the test subjects in the large tubes in front of him, lost in his scheming. The alien experiments had come far in the years he'd been working on them, and surprisingly, he was almost proud of himself. They had learned so much about the alien race, and their home planet, Sixam... although to this day, they still didn't know the location of it.

It took him a while to grow numb to the sounds of their screams, to convince himself that the torment was for the greater good. For a long time, he questioned the morality of it all. He wondered if aliens were really the monsters he was told they were -- maybe he would never know for sure. After being promoted to a lead researcher, after discovering more and more about them... what he did know was that they had dangerous capabilities, and they had to be controlled.

 FutureSim Labs was so close to uncovering all of the answers. And it was all thanks to him...

---

Alexander walked up to the doorstep of a small, cozy house. He and Brynn had been saving for a long time, and recently, finally had enough to purchase a home. He turned the key in the door and opened it gingerly, hoping not to wake her up as he entered. Since he'd worked really late tonight, he was sure she must be asleep by now...

He noticed a lamp was still on as he stepped inside of the living room, and heard soft footsteps moving across the floor.

"Welcome home, Alexander." Brynn placed her hands on his chest as she spoke. "How was work?"

Alexander placed his hands on her waist with a sigh. "You shouldn't have stayed up so late waiting for me." Regardless of his complaints, he couldn't resist smiling at the sight of her. "But, to answer your question, it was... good." 

He hadn't ever told her about aliens, or the secret research and experiments. He had no idea how she would react, and maybe deep down, he was afraid she would see him as a terrible person for the awful things he did in the name of science... 

"I'm glad you had a good day at work. It's really late, so why don't you grab a shower and come to bed with me?" Brynn smiled up at him, crinkling the faint laugh lines and the wrinkles beginning to form around her eyes.

Alexander snapped his focus to anywhere but her face. Sometimes when he looked at her, he realized she was getting older so fast... and he could only think of losing her. "Of course." He planted a quick kiss on her lips and smiled, then walked to their bathroom. While he was in the shower, his mind wandered to the thought of her getting older. He considered asking her to become a vampire again, but he had already bothered her about that so many times... and he was convinced by now that the answer really was no. He returned to their bedroom to find Brynn already sound asleep, but before he could get into bed with her, something caught his attention.

Through the window curtains, he saw a strange, bright light near their house. 'What the heck is that?' He thought, slowly walking out of the bedroom. Somehow, he couldn't resist going outside to investigate. Curiosity was in his nature...

He froze in place when he looked up into the sky and saw a giant, flying spacecraft of some sort moving rapidly toward him. His muscles tensed and he took a step back -- but before he could run away, the light was over him, and then everything was a haze.

---

Alexander groaned quietly as his eyes slowly began to open. Everything was blurry and out of focus, his entire body was filled with a dull ache. The terror set in when he realized he was staring up at an alien woman, who was hovering over him with a frown. His ears could hardly hear her voice, faint and distorted. "Crap, he's waking up... I need to give him more..."

He was even more confused as he understood her words. None of the other aliens he'd encountered ever spoke his language. All at once, his senses returned.

He sat up quickly, his eyes widening as his vision focused and took in his surroundings. The woman stumbled back with a startled gasp, her hand quickly moving to cover her mouth.

"W-Who are you?" Alexander stammered, feeling the dull ache in his body intensify. 

The alien woman panicked and approached him. "You're not supposed to be awake! H-Hold on..." 

His eyes widened as she reached for a syringe from a nearby table. "W-What are you going to do to me?" 

She paused. Why did she feel sympathetic when she heard the fear in his voice? She never had dealt with someone waking up during experiments. It had always been a simple process: abduct them, get them to the table and inject them with something to knock them out. "I'm going to sedate you again. That's all."

"No you're not!" Alexander started to get up. "Whatever it is you plan to do to me, I--"

"Lie back down! You're not going anywhere!"

Alexander yelped in surprise as she shoved him back onto the table. He squirmed desperately, but that only made his situation worse.

His entire body tensed as she climbed on top of him and pinned him down, holding both wrists securely in her hands. 

"That's better." Her voice was strangely soothing. "See? It isn't so bad if you just stay still. Now..."

"G-Get off of me!" Alexander squirmed again. "Please..."

Then woman frowned. "I have to do my job. Stop struggling!"

"Do your job on someone else!" He growled, baring his fangs. "I'm warning you!"

She froze. Another supernatural? Not quite human... but close enough, so it didn't matter, did it? "You're warning me? Ooh, so scary..."

"I am scary!" Alexander snapped. 

She couldn't help her smirk. "Actually, I think you're pretty cute."

He blushed and his growling fell silent. "I'm a married man, you--"

"Sorry," she interrupted. "What did you expect me to say? It's not often I abduct a cute, shirtless guy."

"I'm not cute! You're the cute one!"

She grinned. "I'm cute? You're a married man, remember?"

He froze. "Wait, no, that's not what I--"

"No, no, you're right. I'm very cute," she laughed and her grip loosened on his wrists, yet he made no effort to escape. Why was she even talking to him? Being friendly was not part of the job.

He cracked a smile and their eyes met. "Hey, uh... what's your name?"

She paused. Her test subjects didn't typically ask for her name. "I'm... Aurora. Aurora Galaxy." 

"Aurora Galaxy," he repeated. "That's a beautiful name."

Aurora blushed. "Thank you... what's yours?"

"Alexander Wesley."

She smiled warmly. "Alexander. I like that."

"Thanks," he replied. "Hey... if you let me go... I'll tell you anything you want to know about the human world. That's more helpful than whatever you were going to poke and probe me with, right?"

'He's willing to talk to me?' Aurora thought. 'He's certainly... different...' 

"Well?"

She nodded and hesitantly got off of him. "Alright, you have yourself a deal. But I dare you to try any funny business. You might be a vampire, but I--"

"You know about vampires?" Alexander seemed intrigued as he sat up again. 

She nodded. "Yeah, why?"

He was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "Nothing. Don't worry, though. I don't bite... hard," he said with a laugh.

Aurora rolled her eyes playfully and sat beside of him.

Aurora felt the silence between them growing awkward. "So..."

"You speak English," Alexander said. "I've never met an alien who does."

"Yeah, aliens have a power that enables them to translate and speak other languages, actually. Maybe that alien just didn't want to talk to you. ...wait, you've met other aliens?" Aurora questioned.

 "Yeah, I'm a scientist. We've been doing... research about aliens."

"Of course you have," she muttered, "because you want to get rid of us..." 

"You're the ones that wanted to get rid of us first, right?" 

"What are you talking about?"

"According to our government, Sixam wants to destroy our planet and the human life on it," Alexander said, hesitantly. "They're insisting aliens are evil and want to kill us all."

Aurora met his gaze. "Do you think I'm evil?"

For a long time, he would have answered to anyone that aliens certainly must have been. Yet, as he looked into her eyes... he didn't know the answer. "I... um..."

She frowned and looked away. "According to our government, you're the ones that want to destroy us, and our world... I've lived my whole life believing humans are evil."

There was a long silence between them.

"I know you're not entirely human, but you were at one time, right?" Aurora asked.

Alexander's gaze fell to the floor. "...yeah, why do you ask?"

"...I don't think that you're evil." 

Why did it make him so happy to hear that? Without even thinking, he responded. "I don't think you're evil, either," he grinned. "Even though you, uh... abducted me and knocked me unconscious and did weird stuff..."

Aurora turned to him and laughed, a playful smile spreading across her face. "Hey, I could have done worse! Not everyone makes it out of these experiments alive..."

He really hoped she was joking. "What's so special about me, then?"

"...I don't know," she said as her smiled widened, "but I really like you, Alexander."

"Of course you do. Everyone likes me. I'm pretty popular on my planet, you know?"

Aurora raised an eyebrow. "That's some ego you have."

"I'm just confident."

"No, you're cocky."

Both of them laughed, but Aurora quickly fell silent and stood up from the experiment table they were sitting on.

"...I suppose I have to take you home, don't I?" She sighed.

He stood too, and she turned to face him. "Yeah. Sorry you can't hold me hostage forever, but I really need to get home."

She smiled as she looked up to meet his gaze. "Okay, I'll take you back. But... um... can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Alexander replied. "What is it?"

Aurora blushed and looked away. "Can I come abduct you again? I really enjoyed this..."

He laughed, but nodded. "Yeah, sure, why not? I enjoyed it, too."

She lit up. "Alright, then... I'll see you soon."

It wasn't long until she dropped him off back home, as promised. As he watched the UFO disappear back into the night sky, he found himself lost in thought. He couldn't believe he was befriending her...

And he definitely couldn't tell Brynn that aliens existed, he got abducted by one, and volunteered to let her do it again.