Aly in Space Ch. 03

Kat, Mark, and I sat in our small living room thinking through what we had experienced today. Yevn, a mysterious young woman, had shown up asking for help with a ridiculous tale of aliens and a super important mission, and the most ridiculous thing was that it had turned out to be true. Mark kept looking at the briefcase they had given us, as if to reaffirm that we did indeed have proof of all this.

"Are we gonna do it?" I asked abruptly. We had just been sitting here for almost an hour, processing all we had seen on their neon mushroom research ship, but I really wanted to know their thoughts.

Mark and Kat took deep breaths before leaning in to talk.

"We all know that it was real, right?" Mark asked, still half disbelieving.

"Real enough that I keep expecting our floor to bounce a little when I walk on it," Kat said.

"I mean, it's cool, right? They seem friendly, and we're getting a one in a million chance to interact with something no one else even knows about!"

"How does no one else know about this..." Mark mused. "You'd think if there were a giant spaceship sitting in the middle of town that the government--or at least someone--would know about it."

"I studied physics at college, and a little biology, and I can tell you that most of the things on that ship are much more advanced than anything we have. That whole 'dual-particle physics' thing? They called it camouflage for a reason. Do... you think anyone else should know about them? Like, are we supposed to tell someone?"

Mark shook his head, "I'm not stepping into that. If the government already knows, they clearly haven't done anything about it so they must not think they're a threat, but if they don't? We have no way of proving it, and I do NOT want to get tangled up in all that mess."

"What do you think, Kat? How'd you feel about the people we met?" I asked.

"They seem like people, at least. Conversations, emotions... I don't think what we just saw was simulated at all. That Yevn talks a mile a minute! And apparently that's just how she always is. How old do you think she was? She looked like the rest of them, but Zentylk almost talked to her like she was a kid."

"Do we even know if they age the same as us? Maybe their life stages work more like elves. Or dogs or something," I added.

"Shall we look over those contracts?" Mark asked, standing and walking to the briefcase. The little metal clips opened with a lovely snapping sound, and the three of us gathered on the couch to look it over together. I sat in the middle, with Kat and Mark leaning in next to me. I felt my face flush from the warmth of them right next to me. It was a little hard to focus while also trying not to breathe too heavily.

Mark was the lawyer, not me, but from what I could gather, it was all as Valitor had said. They would ask us to stay with them for three days (in a row) while running some simulations. Everything we experienced would be virtual, except for any time we saw each other. Some sessions would be individual, or with pairings, and some would be all three of us. I liked the part about them never putting a fake Kat or fake Mark in there. Even if we went through something weirder or more stressful than I imagined, we could always be sure of each other, in simulation or out of it.

I did a brief search online when they talked about some of the parameters they would be tracking. Most things I knew, but they put specific bounds on some of the stress markers. If we ever measured past certain levels, they would stop the simulation for us to calm down. We would also have time in between simulations to regroup, rest, and talk with each other privately if we wanted to. They offered a specific room on board their vessel where we would have strict privacy if we wanted it. Not even the kinds of broad surveillance they had apparently already been doing without our knowledge. They also included a summary of the information they already had on each of us.

"Hey look! We have labels!" I laughed, pointing. "Oo... I'm 'Subject A', you're 'B'," I gestured to Kat, "and you're 'C'!" I thumbed to Mark.

"They really did want us specifically..." Kat mused quietly. "I wonder why."

I reached my arms around each of their shoulders and squeezed firmly, pulling them in. "Because we love each other! That's what I think, at least. That whole EM Bond thing?"

"Do you think EM Bonds are only for positives? Would someone and their archenemy also have high scores?" Mark asked.

"Like, a detective who knows a master criminal's next move? Batman and the Joker?"

"Yeah. Or something."

"Well I certainly don't think any of us are archenemies," Kat said lightly, scratching my back.

We finished reading through the paperwork, and Mark took the contract over to the lamp by the couch to check a few parts more thoroughly. When he was satisfied, he set them down.

"How soon do you think they want an answer?" I asked. "I think it would be a lot of fun, and if it's only a few days, we could do it over a weekend or something."

"You wanted to do it as soon as you sat on that bouncy stool," Kat teased.

"True. But I don't think I can do it unless all three of us do it. What do you guys think?"

Mark rubbed his face in the lamplight across the room. It had gotten late already. "I think I want to get a good night's sleep and see if all of this is real tomorrow," he eventually concluded. "Are you two good to sit on it for now?"

I nodded, and soon Kat and Mark headed to their room for the night. I wasn't too far behind.

As I lay in bed for the night, I felt strange. It felt like when I was little and had stuck glow-in-the dark stars all over my ceiling, and I would stare up at them in the dark. I had always been a little scared of the dark, but it was also cool to see them high up there, and know that all that dark space was in between me down in my bed, and them up there on the ceiling. We had a vaulted ceiling in that room.

It had always felt a little weird going to bed in general, too. I don't know how much might be that I'm still a bit afraid of the dark, even in my 20's... or how much was loneliness. It was a lot better living here with Kat and Mark than my tiny apartment by myself, but there was still a little twinge of sadness with them sleeping side-by-side through the wall, and me over here by myself. They knew I adored both of them, and that I very much had the hots for Kat, but neither of them wanted to bring me in beyond a deep friendship. I was okay with that, but I also had to be okay with it or risk losing both of them.

I was excited to see what kind of simulations the Rukiens might have. Would it be something fantastical? Or an adventure? Or just normal life stuff? The thoughts and feelings swirled around in my head slower and slower, until I eventually drifted off to sleep.

***

"I am nervous, Zentylk," a quiet voice said as the two scientists shared a very late-night meal.

"I suppose that's natural, with such high stakes dependent on this experiment. I think our introduction today went far better than it could have. And I think we have a high probability of learning enough to make substantial progress, even if these specimens alone do not give us all the answers we need."

"I am nervous about the experiment. Naturally. But I also question the balance we have struck between transparency with our subjects and the inherent nondisclosure of the experiment. We have told them that we are only observing, which is in many ways true for now. But we are also hoping to effect certain necessary changes. We must, to an extent, guide those changes, or we will never be able to guide them with Yevn and the Successor. I do not like to play god with our specimens, especially ones as endearing as these."