Maybe my mistake was blinking?

Cora had every intention of getting on the bus. It was late, winter, the sun was already down. She’d been standing at the bus stop. The bus was pulling up, and then…

She was here.

“What the hell?”

It was a white room, maybe the size of a gas station bathroom, white walls and silver metal trim. Some kind of grate overhead. Her head hurt. All I did was blink! There was no way to rationalize this. As Cora began to pace, heart pounding, she muttered to herself.

“I left work. I was at the stop. The bus was coming. I-”

A loud humming interrupted her. “Oh! Hi! Hello, Miss Human- Uh, ‘Cora’!”

Cora froze, mid-pace.

“I’m- We’re-”

The voice kept cutting out, like there was a problem with the system. Maybe the one speaking was nervous.

They better be fucking nervous, Cora told herself, comforted when anger overrode her panic. There was definitely a door in front of her. Its outline was hard to see, but there was a seam in the metal. She waited for the speaker to continue.

“I’m sure you’re very excited, or, uh, nervous, but we’re just here to learn more about your kind!”

“Seriously?” Cora looked around again. “Like… aliens?” The voice did sound strange, and layered, not like a human’s. The materials surrounding her were totally unfamiliar, too.

“Oh!” There was a loud rustling noise, like static. “Yes, that’s correct. If you’ll stand there, there will be, a, sh- shower. Rain? No, shower. That is the decontamination process.”

Cora didn’t like this at all. She didn’t want to think to much about what it meant.

Out of nowhere came a drenching, miserable, downpour. Of course it was ice-cold, strange-smelling, and burned her eyes. Like someone had dumped a bucket of chemicals on her head. It’d even gotten into her ears, plugging them. She could hear a commotion, and through blurred eyes, saw the door open.

Choking ensued as she scrambled backward. Something was approaching her with outstretched hands. She’d tried to shout, swear, anything, but the downpour hadn’t stopped to let her.

All she could do was flounder until the something seized her, wiping the water out of her eyes and pulling her hair back carefully from her face.

She blinked, rubbing her eyes.

Three stood in front of her. Three what, she couldn’t even begin to guess.

They were shaped like humans, faces similar, expression recognizable, but that was where the resemblance stopped. They were a good bit taller than her, with cat-like eyes and skin the texture of suede. One, two pairs of arms apiece, some kind of green uniform with a vest. The one that came in to wipe the water out of her eyes had almost orange skin, and long ears that started out human, but continued in length like a rabbit’s. He looked irritable, too, spitting harsh words at the shortest one.

In turn, the shortest one held up a rectangular device as if he wanted to hide behind it. It was about the size of a notebook, with a glowing screen.

And when this one noticed her looking at him, he perked up.

“I’m sorry, Miss Cora! I didn’t give the signal before the officer started the decontamination process.”

The idea of this being a prank had crossed Cora’s mind earlier, and now she felt embarrassed for ever entertaining that idea.

No. She’d either been drugged, or had genuinely been abducted by aliens.

There weren’t any drugs that could do this. Cora was sure. She stared at the one who’d spoke English, frozen where she stood.

The one he’d pointed at when he said “officer” rolled his eyes, turning away with a sigh to pass towels to the one helping her.

Their legs were interesting. Cora forgot to respond to whatever he’d said, instead watching a complex arrangement of joints after a knee, not unlike a dog’s leg. Instead of paws, thankfully, they had… well, feet like a chicken. The suede texture grew rougher here, toes ending in claws.

Cora blinked, shaking her head.

Her panic subsided, replaced with the awkward feeling that came with being at someone’s house for the first time.

“Can I, uh, get y’all’s names at least?” She finally spoke up, her throat still burning a bit.

He seemed to hesitate at this.

Cora watched him think, noting how his ears seemed to have been cut short, the edges much neater than the officer’s, both of them shaped like a human’s. Normal hands, a little longer torso, and… definitely all guys. Below belts, close-fitting pants were not leaving much for her to question.

She looked back up at his face, wondering if he’d understood her.

He was looking around now.

Cora shook her head, looking down at a pair of hands pulling at her soggy sweater. She shivered.
This prompted an immediate, irritable statement from the orange one. The speaker snapped something back, making the orange one shake his head.

He muttered something that sounded like sorry, pulling up carefully at the hem of her sweater.

“Are we taking this off?”

He looked over at the other, who wasn’t paying attention, then nodded.

Cora held up her arms, letting him peel it off. It was warm in here, but there was an air current that was still chilling her. This must be what rescue animals feel like.

As he pulled up her sweater, he was looking away, his cheeks visibly darkening.

Her sudden glee at this caught Cora completely off-guard. She’d never been particularly well-behaved, but she’d been doing well. To combat this, she envisioned beating herself back with a rolled-up newspaper.

This didn’t do anything meaningful, especially as his fingers dipped below the waistband of her equally soaked jeans. His very warm fingers.

She let out a soft oh, startling him. He looked at her, concerned, but Cora was looking away, her ears reddening. Then, he knelt, inspecting the button of her jeans.

“Okay- Let me get that,” Cora said, laughing. She brushed a finger across the back of his hand. It was as soft as it looked.

Well, she hadn’t kept her eyes up.

She pretended not to have noticed anything, kicking her shoes off carefully before pulling her jeans down.

She put more focus into the mental image of whacking herself with a rolled-up newspaper as she reminded herself where she was.

“Should I take everything else off?” Taking her jeans off had left her in nothing but her underwear.

The one who’d spoke was gone now. The orange one nodded.

She obeyed. All the while, she wondered if she were being too compliant, and what he was thinking. She folded the last few pieces of damp clothing, placing them on the sweater he held in his arms. He was furiously doing his best to look calmly past her.

Suddenly, he took off at a light jog.

They were all kind of handsome, in their own way. Cora wondered if this was on purpose.

“Oh-” The shorter one had reappeared, startled at her standing there, completely nude. He looked away, holding out what looked like a set of flannel pajamas.

Cora took them. They were indeed flannel pajamas, the kind that came as a set for Christmas. They even had little polar bears printed on them.

“So…” Cora wondered how to phrase what she wanted to ask. ‘Why am I here’ seemed a little aggressive. She had nothing to go on. She settled on repeating her question. “Do you have a name?”

He paused, thinking. “Well… The sounds of our language don’t correlate easily to the English phonemes. My name should be easy enough, and you can call the other two by their job titles. The one drying you off was the Engineer and the one who tried to drown you is the Officer. You can call me Ray.”

Cora frowned. “What’s your job?”

“I’m not sure what you would call it. I lead the expedition, but I participated in a program- studying… I was assigned the human species to study, along with many others.”

Cora found this answer extremely evasive. That wasn’t a good sign at all. “So… Like a scientist?”

He shrugged and nodded.

Realizing she was fully dressed again, he turned to face her. He was much lighter than the other two, kind of a yellowish beige. His eyes were a soft pink.

“What are you guys gonna- going to do with me?”

Ray pursed his lips. “We’re just going to keep you here for a few days, orbit your planet, and do some non-invasive studies.”

Two things occurred to Cora. One, she would be fired from her job. There was no calling out in space. Two, that probably didn’t matter. He was definitely lying. She had a feeling that she wouldn’t be going home any time soon.

 

Sitting in a room of her own, Cora took stock of her situation. The Officer had brought her soggy purse from the decontamination room, and her phone was, thankfully, waterproof.

No signal.

Of course not. Cora shook her head. She had a few books downloaded on it, and a strange side-loaded version of Minesweeper that didn’t need an internet signal.

But did any of that really matter? There was plenty to pay attention to here.

Most of her room was taken up by a round bed, with a foam mattress and a scratchy, woven blanket.

Across the room was a black circle mounted in the ceiling. In another corner, in a recess on the wall, was something that synthesized food, per Ray. But as he’d pressed a button on the display, out came a banana, still sporting its blue Chiquita sticker. Cora didn’t say anything about this.

The door, like all the others, was a sliding door, seemingly without a lock. Just as she got up to check, the Engineer entered. In one hand, he held one of their tablets, in another he held a small box, and in the third he held a folded blanket. Cora recognized the type. She had one at home, pink with a tiger on it. The kind that could be found in the Korean marts, heavy and soft.

She felt a pang of jealousy. Four arms seemed so convenient.

He set the blanket down and patted the bed, inviting her to sit.

She sat.

The Engineer gathered her hair carefully in his hands, holding it up before wiping at the back of her neck with something cold. He paused, still holding her hair. Cora could hear a tapping noise, like typing on a touchscreen.

When he sat the tablet in her lap, it had a paragraph in English.

 

THIS PATCH IS TO MONITOR YOUR VITALS. WE WILL RUN SOME TESTS. THIS SHOULD NEVER HURT. PLEASE TELL US IF IT DOES. YOU WILL LATER GET SOME MEDICINE. IT MIGHT TASTE BAD. SORRY IF IT DOES. ALSO IF YOU GET HUNGRY JUST TELL US. WE HAVE A LOT OF HUMAN FOOD.

 

The interface shown on the tablet looked like some kind of translation app. While the Engineer placed the patch, she tried gently tapping the words in English. Sure enough, a cursor appeared, along with a keyboard. The layout was all wrong, the keys in a strange order, but Cora was able to hunt-and-peck out a message all the same.

The unfamiliar script at the top changed as she typed. It was fascinating, full of graceful curves and loops, and flowed from right to left in the same way Arabic did.
Cora narrowly avoided being distracted by this, and placed the tablet next to him.

 

THANK YOU FOR BEING SO KIND, it read.

 

As he stood, he looked for the tablet, and was surprised to see new words on it. He smiled warmly at her.

After a little wave, he was gone. It was a while before anyone entered again. Cora looked up from her phone, expecting Ray, but was greeted by the Officer. His uniform was the same as the others, with a different insignia embroidered on the shoulders and a belt with a lot of pouches. He was built differently from the others, not quite as lithe with much broader shoulders. He looked strong.

Cora felt as if she were Atlas holding up the world with the effort she needed to keep her eyes above his belt.

And she failed.

Well, shit. He’d seen, too.

Cora carefully, nonchalantly pulled her eyes away, her face reddening.

“Ah,” he said, fishing a much smaller tablet out of his pocket. This one was about the size of a phone. She wondered if it was something similar. He held it up, typing something on it before turning to the monitor. The opening below whirred and produced a syringe, the kind used for kid’s medication. This was larger, though, and the liquid inside was bronze. It shimmered hypnotically.

I’m not taking that.

The Officer turned to her and placed one hand under her jaw. His hand was warm, and she was touch-starved. Against her better judgment, she practically melted in his hand, relaxing against it. He noted this, pressing his thumb gently against her cheek, as if asking her to open her mouth. He had orange eyes that stared intently into hers.

Cora opened her mouth without thinking, surprised at how the cold the glass was as it pressed against her tongue.

His eyes narrowed.

It was bitter, and there was a lot of it. Cora looked up at him again just as he stroked her cheek with his thumb.

“Good little human.” His thumb now brushed against her lower lip. His voice was layered like Ray’s only deeper, pleasantly resonant. Hushed, too, with an element of embarrassment. He left, and the entire scenario registered in Cora’s mind.

The way he’d looked, what he’d done, and the expression she’d been making, without thinking.

As she flopped back on the bed, an odd tingling began in her chest.

 

After a few minutes, Cora realized that he’d left his tablet atop the wall-mounted fake-food-synthesizer. It was just within reach.

THIS IS FOR YOU, it said on the screen in small blue letters. DON’T TELL RAY.

The feeling in her chest wasn’t going away.

The overhead lights were dimming further. It would be completely dark soon. But just as it did, clusters of smaller, warm-toned lights came on, mounted in the walls. It was pleasant, and made her eyelids heavy. After discovering the button that turned the tablet off and on again, Cora tucked it away in her purse and crawled into bed. The mink blanket smelled new, like the plastic it was sold in, and was so nice.

This isn’t bad at all. She found herself falling asleep, fast.

 

Her dreams were intense. Cora woke up, heart racing, but was unable to remember any of them.

She didn’t feel right. Her blood felt hotter than normal, she was dizzy, and worst of all, she was painfully, violently horny.

Damn it. There was nothing to do about it. Cora hated not knowing who was watching her.

She was just as hungry, too. Accepting her state, Cora rolled out of bed and walked up to the dispenser. It had dropped something about an hour ago. A strawberry nutrition shake and two red apples. They’d peeled the label off the bottle, but the underside was printed with both the flavor and the expiration date.

They’d forgotten, once more, to remove the stickers from the apples. “What are they even trying to hide?” she muttered, growing mildly annoyed.

She ate the apples and sat facing the door, attempting to sip at the shake. The only time she’d ever drank these was after a tonsillectomy. It even had the same dark blue cap.

The scientist, Ray, came in.

“Good morning, Miss Cora! How are you feeling?” He clutched his tablet to his chest, seemingly expectant. His friendliness was purely professional, lacking the warmth the others had, and this irritated Cora further.

“I’m feeling, uh, okay? These drinks make me nauseous but that goes away after a couple minutes.” He frowned. This clearly wasn’t what he was expecting. Standing up a little straighter, he turned to the dispenser and tapped at it. The dispenser answered with an angry tone and displayed a diamond-shaped popup. Ray scoffed, typing in a code below the popup.

It produced another syringe of the bronze liquid.

“Time for your next dose!”

Cora made a face. “What exactly does that stuff do?” Ray turned away from her for a moment. “It is to, mm, bypass the need for a quarantine! You won’t catch anything we might have.”

He was a terrible liar, and that would have sounded like bullshit even if he weren’t. Cora kept her expression neutral. It probably wasn’t his fault. Ray was awkward in a way that was familiar. She wished the Officer or the Engineer were giving her this dose, though. They wouldn’t have knocked the syringe against her teeth.

His hands shook a bit. The flavor seemed stronger this time.

Ray seemed to be avoiding her gaze. He took the syringe and tablet, leaving the room hastily.

 

It had been a few hours and the arousal still hadn’t subsided. Cora tried not to let it embarrass her. It would probably go away if she took care of it, but there was definitely a camera in here. She wouldn’t be able to do anything about the constant dampness or the needy pulse.

She glared at the ceiling.

There was a quiet beep-beep.

It was the tablet. Keeping her back to the camera, Cora pulled it out to find that it displayed a notification. She took a picture of the screen with her own phone, referring to the picture as she keyed the script’s segments into the translation interface.

 

SUBJECT FULLY COMPATIBLE FOR REPRODUCTION

 

Cora heard running and hastily shoved her phone and the tablet under the bed. Just as she threw herself into a casual sitting position, Ray burst in, the Officer behind him.

“Hello!” He had the same expectant look. The Officer, meanwhile, looked a bit irritable.

Cora offered him a puzzled smile. “Hi?”

Ray looked around the room, shifting uncomfortably, clearly disappointed. He turned to the Officer, giving him quiet instructions before stalking out of the room. The Officer slid the door shut behind him and shook his head.

Cora fidgeted with her hands. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

He paused, thoughtful, before stepping closer. To the dispenser he gave a distasteful glare, but when he turned back to Cora, his expression was pleasant again. “I can.”

The Officer repeated what Ray had done earlier, getting yet another syringe. He then stepped closer, moving as if to sit on the bed. Cora scooted back, giving him space.

“I’m not permitted to tell you anything, but… I don’t care.” He held up the syringe and Cora opened her mouth in response. As he depressed the plunger on the syringe, he spoke.

“There is a crisis on our home planet. The population has been… reduced. There aren’t enough families, and the birth rate is nearly zero. The mission is to find other possible species, that we can supplement our population with. Ray is waiting for you to present as ready.”

“Ready for… Mgh- sorry. Hold on. Ready for what?” She spoke around the syringe, pulling back slightly.

“To… Well, reproduce.”

“Oh, sweet Jesus. Are you serious? What’s he expecting?” She pulled back completely, taking the empty syringe in her hand.

The Officer fought back an awkward laugh. “He’s watched some, mm, Earth media.”

Cora closed her eyes. “Do not tell me that he’s watched porn and called that research.”

“He has.”

She opened her eyes slowly. “No. And he comes in here… expecting… Have you watched any?”

He tilted his head back and forth. “Some. Not much. It is clearly… a human thing. Performance. You probably won’t see anything like it outside of this star system.”

Cora rubbed at her face as it heated up. “I don’t do anything like that. A lot of women don’t. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, he’s not gonna see anything like that.”

“It’s just intended to facilitate the behavior, the impulses.” He started to avoid her eyes.

“Did he not research anything else? He could have at least looked up our, uh, courting rituals or something! Hell, a lot of women would prefer you just ask!”

The Officer shifted where he sat, taking the syringe from her. “He is… Ray. He doesn’t even know that Tor and I have learned the English language or done our own research. He’s…”

“Obnoxious?” Cora offered.

“Yes. But please, Cora, don’t misunderstand the situation. No staff on this ship will be attempting to… have you. We have orders to bring you to our home planet.” He was watching her again, and looked sad as he did. That wasn’t promising.

She didn’t respond. After several moments of silence, he stood and pointed to the camera. “Only I can see the feed from this. You don’t have to worry about Ray watching you.” At that, he left.

 

Cora woke up from a short nap, sweaty and feeling violent. Violent? She wasn’t sure if she wanted to fight, or to fuck. Was there much of a difference?

The fuck are they gonna do with me on their home planet? She wanted to scream. One was already raring to go in her chest, straining just short of her vocal cords, held back only by Cora’s abject refusal to make a fool of herself. Her pulse was so loud, and every time her thighs brushed together, it set off a shuddering need that shook her entire body.

And the Officer and Engineer had been so nice to her, and she would love- Jesus. What did she want?

She squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to even entertain the idea. This resulted in her quickly becoming tense and miserable. Fuck, I hate this. The monitor bestowed on her a dented, lukewarm Dasani. It did not help. In fact, it made her mood even worse. At one point, Ray poked his head into her room and immediately left. Cora could hear him shouting. After a handful of minutes, the Officer and the Engineer came in. They were speaking to each other in their language. It was rhythmic, stilted and musical, like sung Morse code.

 

«He wants to give her another dose. But look at her levels.»

«I know. But you know we can't argue with him.»

They turned to look at Cora. She was shivering slightly, waiting for one of them to speak to her.

To get the syringe from the monitor this time, the Engineer had to plug a small device into it. After he typed that same code, the Officer had to pass three much more insistent popups.

«She's going to go insane. I don't know how she hasn’t lost it. What the fuck is Ray doing?»

«Just go ahead and do the override.»

Cora had a sinking feeling in her chest.

“Here, little human. Just one more.” She took the syringe, knee-jerk obedient at the sound of his voice. It tasted burnt and hit like a shot of espresso. That is, if espresso were a brutal aphrodisiac.

Cora whimpered. She couldn't take much more of this. Why the fuck should I?

She whimpered. Uncomfortable didn’t even begin to describe the heat, the damp, the way she couldn’t find a way to sit that didn’t draw a noise out, one that had to be covered with a cough.

The Officer reached out uncertainly, stroking her hair. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not comfortable.”

“Then help,” she whimpered.

“How?”

“Anything. Anything, please,” she gasped out, her face heating up further. Oh, she was approaching unknown territory, but at least she recognized the look in their eyes.

After a pause, the Engineer spoke.

«Hey… Do you remember the... mouth thing?»

«The mouth thing?»

«Yeah. That weird human thing where they put their-»

«I remember.»

«Do you think that would help her?»

Cora was sure she knew what they were talking about. They looked so different from humans, but she could pick out the little expressions, the eye twitch, the way their cheeks darkened. The Engineer’s long ears turning purple at the ends would have made it obvious enough, even without the way he stiffly turned away from Cora, eyeing the door.

The Officer was much broader than the Engineer, definitely stronger, but he didn’t carry it in an arrogant way. They were both confident, self-assured, and they were so nice to her. Yes, the entire situation was weird, but it’d been so long since anyone smiled at her, touched her, paid any sort of attention to her.

Cora didn’t even care what they did to her, so long as someone would just fucking touch her. The Officer stood over her, regarding her with some kind of hesitant concern.

Oh, but there was frustration in the way he looked at her. This made even more sense when she looked down. The Engineer was saying something to him, but he’d zoned out, bringing a hand up to graze his fingers over her lips. And then the Engineer turned back, looking up at the Officer, worried, his gaze sinking down to watch his thumb push gently into Cora’s mouth.

Nerves that she’d never paid any attention to were firing off then, making her moan as his thumb pressed into her tongue. He wasn’t reacting quite as viscerally as his shipmate, but when Cora saw a tendon in his neck flex, her vision blurred and she drew her lips closed, sucking.

Dear God, his eyes. She was going to get them in so much trouble. Would it be her fault? Would they hold her accountable?

Would who?

Nothing would have mattered at this point. Cora’s heart pounded in her ears. They both wanted her so badly. She hadn’t been wanted in a long time. Would they do it? Her vision blurred further as his thumb slipped out of her mouth. She whined.

For her desperation, she was rewarded. It was a different color, different texture, but a dick was a dick, and this one smelled good, too. There was no self-control left in her body. “Please, can I-”

The Officer rested a knee on the bed, bringing it closer, and before he could answer her, she already had her mouth around it. He hissed, nearly falling over her.

The Engineer watched, somewhere between panic and jealousy. Ray could come in at any moment.

Oral was nothing new to Cora, but for the first time in her recollection, she actually wanted to do it. Warm, and soft, and her mouth was sensitive enough that she didn’t even consider touching herself. There was too much to focus on. His little gasps, his groans, his furtive glances back towards the door as the Engineer swore at him but made no move to interrupt them.

Too much, too much.

There was a bit of a size difference, and it excited her more than it should have. She wasn’t getting much further than halfway down the shaft.

He didn’t seem to mind.

The Engineer was leaning over the bed now. Fingers slipped between her legs.

Cora was beyond words now. She hadn’t touched herself, hadn’t even tried to since the medication began to take effect. Sensitive was too gentle a word. Everything was too much, but, oh.

The Officer was softly gasping. He was trying to be quiet. The Engineer was out of view, but Cora could hear his heart pounding.

It was too much for the Officer. Cora wondered if it had been as long for him as it had for her. So long without attention. Without fingers in her hair, without eyes burning into hers.

He was leaning over her, his gasps growing ragged now. Cum dripped down her chin and neck.

There was a distant beep. Weakly, the Officer swore, watching Cora clean herself up, licking her fingers without even a shred of shame as she looked up at him. They both watched as she swiped a finger up her neck.

«This is… this is going to be a nightmare to explain in report, Tor.»

«Blame Ray. Go keep him busy.»

 

As soon as the door closed behind the Officer, Cora whirled around, pulling her pants off in one swift motion.

«I can’t fuck you.»

She spread her legs slowly, watching him with what seemed to the Engineer like blood-lust. Maybe he’d only seen one kind of lust before. That didn’t matter. He’d forgotten what little English he’d learned, and now she was running her hands down her body, using her fingers to spread herself further for him, and he was beginning to regret ever mocking anyone complaining about heat cycles.

«I can’t fuck you,» he repeated. Her eyes were bloodshot, pupils reflecting far too much of the low light. He watched her begin to finger herself.

Transfixed, he focused on the way she curled her fingers, which ones she used, and the rhythm.

Another distant beep sounded. The Engineer hissed a swear. He knew what was happening, but now, it was too late for him. He pulled her closer. Every muscle in his body spasmed painfully as he pinned her with a hand pressed to her sternum, preventing her from turning, aligning her body with his in the way he desperately wanted her to. «Let me,» he whispered, reaching over her body as she fought with his belt buckle. His fingers replaced hers. He unfastened his belt. Her mouth was soft, warm, but so was this. This entire scenario was his fault.

The Engineer focused on imagining his coworker catching him, catching him inside of her.

That wasn’t helping at all. He was kneeling by her head, leaning over her, focusing on copying her earlier movements, suddenly enamored by the way he could distract her. When he did something right, her tongue would stall, a moan low in her chest.

He could do this. This was fine.

This was not fine. His jaw ached from gritting his teeth as he put his dick away, keeping her pinned to the bed. Ray’s swearing was echoing from his room across the common area.

The way she looked up at him now was- they’d given her too much. He knew nothing about what was in the formula, but he was sure they’d given her too much. The skin on the back of his neck prickled. This was instinct, speaking to him now. He had to do well, or he’d-

The Engineer shook his head. He hushed her, returning his uneasy focus to his hand. The one with fingers inside of her. She quit struggling against him as he curled his fingers gently. Straightening them, he lifted his hand a bit. There was a point where his exact position was exactly what she needed. He lost track of his surroundings searching for this point again. And again. And again. Ray could have been standing over him and he wouldn’t have noticed. Her brown eyes were out of focus, her lips going slack as her hands spasmed at her sides.

She grew tight around him, her breaths turning into gasps, then shuddering little exclamations. She was relaxing now, smiling, swearing and laughing in her language.

He was in less danger now.

The Officer returned, closing the door quickly behind him.

«What did you do?»

The Engineer held up his hand in response.

«Are you sure that was the best idea?»

He stood, fishing a rag out of his pocket and wiping at his hand. «I’m fine.»

Shaking his head, the Officer knelt by the human. “Hey.”

She rolled to face him, her eyes struggling to stay open. “Hiii.”

He shook his head again, carefully wiping at a spot she’d missed. “Are you okay?”

When he pulled the cloth away, she was already asleep.

«Shit.»