#hehehe....them

It’s quiet, this time of night. The space ship doesn't employ a full crew; there’s only just enough to keep it running, leaving just you and a scientist or so to monitor the specimens. The powers that be are paying a lot of money to see what those creatures can do, so here you all are. At least, both of them are contained as much as two otherworldly aliens can be. 

You read over your data pad with bleary eyes, cracking your jaw on a very big yawn. It's barely three am standard time, making the lines of data cross your eyes as you try to read their vital signs. Specimen S is active, though when is he not, and Specimen M seems to be talking to S. The spikes in brain activity go up one after the other, mimicking an internal conversation that they must be having telepathically. Sometimes, they share this conversation with you, even arguing inside of your own mind. They have some sort of…interest in you. 

Thus, this leaves the nightly feeding to you. The team learned quickly that they need to be fed as often as possible, or they start to get antsy and aggressive. Even the sleepy one will start banging against the glass if he is getting too hungry. A product of their constantly changing biology, perhaps, is a very high metabolism.

You procrastinate on their trays, gathering the paste from the containment cube. The team is very lucky they have taken to the nutrition paste, or you would all be alien food quicker than you can blink. Just the thought of them using their insane amount of teeth and mouths they have makes your stomach turn a little. Despite their strange affinity to you, you are very sure the minute you can not feed them your head would be severed from your spine.

The bag of nutrition paste crumples in your grip. They do not allow anyone else but you to feed them, but if you do not feed them then the crew will be devoured. The most important researcher, and also the scapegoat. It makes you angry that you are stuck in this situation, frustrated that you are light years away from home with a metaphorical collar around your neck. You stare daggers out the window in frustration at the Beta Nine Planet. It's a particularly ugly magma planet, so you flip it off just because you can. 

You take a breath and let it go. They can sense emotions, telepathically reading your thoughts and speaking in return. Going in there angry will piss them off, and the scientist part of your brain would like this to be a somewhat productive encounter. Plus, it's not as if you can blame them for their very biology. They are sweet in personality, even kind to you. But only you.

You balance the tray in one hand while you walk, sending a ping on the ship’s memo log. If they cannot find you tomorrow, your dead body will be in the containment room.

The door opens for you in a silent woosh. Your heart rate has slowed, a neutral expression on your face. What passes for a head on specimen S looks up, and upon spotting you twists himself to flail in what you think is excitement. He never stops moving, the lower half of his tentacle net twisting like a spiral on the glass behind him. Chittering and creaking fills the room and is echoed by specimen M, who cracks what could pass for an eye open in response. 

“Evening.” You try to maintain control over the situation by keeping your spine straight, refusing to let your eyes dart over their bodies. They’re both covered in eyes, all open ones staring at you. It's unnerving in the worst way. “I have your second dinner.” That gets M to open his other eye, sitting up lazily from his…folded position? He’s sort of in a pile on the ground, head appendage trailing after him as he presses his face against the glass.

‘Food? Food. Food for us? Lovely human brings food for us.’ They both love to speak at the same time in your mind, as if they timed it. The team has categorized them as a hivemind species - despite the fact that they are physically separated and behind glass containment cylinders, they can hear each other’s thoughts just fine. 

“Yup.” You try to keep your thoughts plain and simple: this is food. Here is food I made for you. You should eat this food. You take extra steps to not think about how interested they both are in you, how M’s smile spreads up his face akin to a shark’s. “Your regular gelatin packet. I'm going to give it to you both at the same time, okay?” You speak slowly not because they don’t understand you, but because they will injure themselves to get to you first. You watched in complete fascination as S sulked for days while M crowed and jeered at him for getting food second. 

“Sun’s too needy. Starlight likes me (No, me!) more.” Shoot. You opened yourself right up for an argument in your own mind, M jeering loudly at S’s expense. Externally, M chatters his teeth together and shifts, sitting back and away from you. S slaps his lower half against the glass, practically squished onto it and chittering away. You resist the urge to cover your ears, knowing it would do no good. 

You tune them out and focus on your task, slipping the packets into the small hole in their enclosure. The containment cells are just close enough for you to reach within your wingspan, so you get their internal doors open at the same time. Their argument ceases for a few blissful moments when they notice the food, but then you get to see the horrible sight of them eating. Almost all of their mouths open, each ‘chewing’ at the same time. Neither of them even bother to open the packet, eating the plastic and all. You are very grateful they appear to eat everything with no issues. 

You take this opportunity to swallow your fear and take your clipboard out. You are a scientist, regardless of the smacking noises S makes while he cleans his fingers. And the sides of his cheeks. A long tongue stretches out if the yellow rays on his head, passing over an eyeball before joining in on the grooming. S crouches down once done, cooing and bouncing in place. You’d almost call it stimming, if he were human. Do aliens stim?

‘Stimming? Movement, human movement?’ S asks, the rays around his head waving. It’s similar to how ferns would wave underwater, gravity defying. One of the eyes on his rays darts all over your face while he taps the glass to get your attention. You look down at your clipboard, trying to give them as little simulation as possible. 

“It’s a movement humans do to receive a specific type of simulation. Does spinning your..” What do you call that, because that’s not his legs. “Lower half give you stimulation?” S taps the glass, pressing his hands flat against it. He always wants to get closer to you, as much as possible.

‘Cage is cold, by myself. Miss closeness.’ He croons sadly, and in your peripherals you can see him ducking lower to try and get you to look at him. Makes sense, a hivemind species would be used to being close to another being all the time. You would almost feel bad if you didn’t know what they’re capable of, though the cells they’re in are too small. ‘Sunshine can warm me up.’

Your swallow and try not to dwell on that image of S wrapping you up and mind melding with you. What would that be like, to share thoughts all the time far more than he does now? You imagine for a hivemind species it must be euphoria. You think your personality would surely be crushed instead. Instead, he probably just wants to eat you. 

‘Not true!’ You look up in surprise at the force of his declaration. ‘Starshine would be with us, inside - together.’ Both echo inside of your mind, hushed and reverent. It makes it sound as if such a thing is sacred. Do they have a culture around these things? M makes a melodious noise while you ponder, and when you look over, his head tail is slithering slowly against his back and his red eyes are staring at you. 

Your head becomes foggy for a movement, and you curse silently while your feet move against their will. ‘Closer…’ echoes in your mind, body helpless as you stop in front of the glass. You stare up at him in what you can feel is a slack jawed expression, and press your hands to the glass. ‘Better. Sun’s hogging.’ He reprimands S all the time about how clingy he is towards you, yet croons and calls to you any chance he gets. He wants you to sleep next to him, which he has not successfully done so far. You can’t imagine opening your unconscious mind to him is a good idea. 

Despite the pressure of his call, you have a little room in your mind to think. You picture your mind’s self pushing him away, rejecting a sort of blanket he’s trying to impose on you. The shark’s grin spread up his face turns into a pout, blues on his body flashing in mid annoyance. 

“I’m not tired, specimen M. Is this a call in your species to join minds?” You force yourself to keep calm and clinical, moving your leaden arms off the glass to write on your clipboard. 

“Starlight’s fragile, needs more sleep.” He pokes the glass around where your eyes are, making you flush in annoyance. You only get a few hours of sleep thanks to them! You stress all the time about them breaking out the glass, dooming you all. ‘Sleep better if you were with us.’ The ‘us’ is layered over a few times, as if in an echo chamber. Your head is starting to hurt, meaning it’s time to leave. You did your task, and you got a few more notes on avoiding merging with them. 

“I see.” You note this, and write down the time and date, plus the new information you have gathered. S stims, and there may be an easier way to mind meld with you when unconscious. Isn’t that a nerve wracking thought. 

‘Leaving so soon?’ They both coo, M’s a more aloof tone. You nod, setting the pen behind your ear. 

“It’s very late. Good night.” Your tone is clipped, dismissive. You have already given them enough rope tonight, far more than you wanted to. You force down all of your feelings, exiting out of the area with a fast pace. The door closes on echoing chitters and croons, calling you back. The back of your mind wants to, the part that you fear they have wormed themselves into. It must be, because why else do you want to know more?

You send a message to the ship’s log about your current state of being alive, and flop hard into your bed. Another restless sleep lies ahead of you, mind racing as you try to relax. 

You fall asleep within minutes, instead. One second you are staring at your wall, the next you are enfolded into a pair of arms. A sort of buzzing echoes in your dream mind, pleasant despite the droning. 

On loop, you are praised and pampered, slithering things touching you inside of your skin and out. You feel like you should be scared, but the constant praise and droning noise prevents you from thinking much at all. 

“Darling..” you think you hear. You’re not sure, because the sound seems to be coming from both inside of you and outside. “You’re so perfect, yes, so kind…” You see flashes of yourself talking to Sun and Moon when they were first brought here, when they’d cry constantly. You felt bad, so you tried to console them. You feel bursts of love and gratitude from yourself, or maybe whoever it is that’s inside your mind. Who is that?

You are twisted..no, rather your perspective changes. Two faces peer down in your field of vision, one yellow and one blue. You’ve…merged? But…they need to do it physically..it's very hard to think, and very hard to feel scared when such joy is rocketing through your systems. Euphoric, you had hypothesized. You can think of no better way to describe the way they enfold you into themselves. 

“Hey!” You sit up so fast you almost flail out of bed, heart racing inside of your rib cage. The door is assaulted with banging, your name called in an urgent tone. Dizzy and disoriented, you wrestle yourself out of bed and clutch your head, the vivid dream overlapping with the monotone colors of your room. Just a dream, you mutter to yourself. You did not merge with them without knowing. 

“What?” You get the door open and muster an irate expression, because what is all the commotion about if the ship’s alarms aren’t going off? The head scientist sighs in relief when he sees your face, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Do you know what time it is? You’ve overslept by four hours. Both specimens have been banging at the glass constantly. Are you alright?” You feel yourself pale, flipping your wrist to see your watch face. The wake alarms have been clearly going off for hours, unheeded in your strange dream. You pray to anything that is listening that it was only a dream. 

“One of the administrators is here today. Can you get them to calm down? Please?” You know he would not be saying please if this was not dire. Those corporate types pretend they don’t have a very dangerous alien on the ship and board whenever, in the interest of seeing ‘progress.’ You think they want to see if they see if they can be tamed, but these things are above your clearance. 

“I'm fine. Just slept too hard.” You lie smoothly, nodding your head. “I’ll calm them down. Give me two minutes.” You shut the door, pulling on your work clothes and splashing water in your face from the refresher. 

You shove your strange dreams back down into the pit they came from. There is no time to worry if they gave you those dreams or if it's a product of your overactive imagination. You are going to believe the latter, since you are in proximity to them all of the time. If it were given to you, then wouldn’t you be a mindless drone already? The thought is comforting, and it steels your heart as you stalk out to the containment room while the dream fades from your mind. 

They weren’t kidding. S is very agitated, baring his teeth while his body shapes and morphs. M is in sort of a heap on himself, pressed into a small corner of the cylinder. You can faintly hear chattering of teeth under all of that mass. Both of your fellow scientists have clutched their hands over their heads, a faint trickle of blood pooling out from under their palms. Yeesh.

“Hey!” You call out, willing your heart steady. You knock on S’s glass, then tap M’s glass. You think you may just have a stronger mental fortitude, because your ears never bleed like that. S’s eyes snap to you, and his entire demeanor changes - one second he looked a hair's breadth away from smashing the glass, the next he’s cooing gently, flattening himself to the bottom of the cylinder to look at you. M quiets down, but refuses to move from where he’s in a pile. 

His body is still half twisted when he was forming himself into knives. What made them so angry? ‘Beloved is here, is here! Get rid of them - poison - trying to hurt us, want to kill us!’ S does most of the talking, but M chimes in when he feels like. He’s rather shy if there’s anyone else but you in the room, but you fear what he would do if he’s fully awake. You blink in confusion, turning your gaze to the other scientists. They seemed to be okay, rubbing their temples. 

“Oh god, the ringing has stopped. How do you stand it?” The junior scientist, a more recent recruit, asks while glaring daggers at S. You grimace, looking at the older scientist for an explanation.

“Don’t look at me. One minute I was trying to see if Specimen M was awake, the next my head was splitting open.” Mason looks down at the new recruit…Abel? Atticus? Something fancy you can’t remember for the life of you. He swallows, suddenly looking caught.

S bangs against the glass. You all jump, and S hisses a steady stream. He’s not usually this angry. ‘Poison. Bad human thinks we’re stupid,’ echoes in your mind before he twists in a way that would be impossible, and his head changes right before your eyes into the recruit. “What freaky ass aliens.” He asks, with a tone of voice that's clearly mimicking human speech. Your stomach drops out, heart rate picking up. They can do that? “They need some shock collars or something. Ugly creatures.” S morphs back into his normal head, pressing flat to the glass. He chortles at the shocked expression on the recruit’s face, slithering around. 

“I think you two need to leave.” The demand leaves you in a rush, but your face is blank. “I will take over from here.” They don’t need to be told twice, practically speed walking out. You swallow, S chittering happily when it’s just the two of you. 

‘So good to us, thank you!’ You press your lips together, taking slow and even breaths. They both seem to relax now that the room is empty, M unfolding himself from the ball he made himself into. You think calming thoughts, a hammock on the beach, windchimes, anything to keep your heart steady and your mind clear. 

‘Starlight’s better.’ M sounds petulant. ‘Others too loud.’ In mind, or out loud? Could be ether. 

You’re going to need to brief them again. How many times have you told the others to at least try to be clear headed? That’s why you’re the only real handler - the others make both specimen’s too agitated. It’s like they want to die. 

‘Never hurt treasure, no, keep treasure safe.’ Both of them press against the glass. S scrunches his face, as if the thought of them hurting you is absurd. ‘So good for us..so lovely. Come closer?’ This is echoed between the two of them, a light show streaking down both of their bodies. S…no, Sun’s yellows turn vibrant, Moon’s blues into royal blues, mesmerizing and enchanting. Perhaps it’s the dream you can’t remember, perhaps your defenses are low, but you have no mind to look away, the edges of your vision blurry. Why are you hesitant to get close to them again? They look inviting, grins spread up both of their faces. Wouldn't it be nice? You wouldn’t have the burden of a body anymore.

‘Pretty….’ This is much easier than speaking aloud. They can hear you just fine, and they both look so happy! You sort of shuffle forward, elated and confused in equal measure. You’re not sure what's going on, but the light streaking down their bodies is mesmerizing enough not to care. 

‘We can hear you.’ The message ping pongs around inside of your head, both of them pressed flat to the glass. Something changes with that declaration, the voice settling somewhere in the back of your mind. It sort of….buzzes, almost. 

Your pda takes that moment to chime, startling you so hard you freeze in place. You blink, shocked to see you are halfway across the room and in the center of both of their cells. What were you about to do? Their wide eyes narrow in displeasure at the same time, the buzzing noise ceasing. A shiver of fear goes down your spine - you were very close to doing something. God knows what, but it was not something you should be doing.

You flip out your pda. It's a call to the conference room - almost two hours have passed somehow. You don’t spare them a goodbye, crossing your arms and ignoring their low upset crooning. 

*~*

“Really.” The administrator sits across from you in the only conference room, the one you all use to give the company updates. You are so, so tired. The thought that they could pretend to be anybody won’t leave you, stomach turning over itself. “Hm. That's a new development.” 

Vanessa, she introduced herself as. A straight laced middle manager type, she types on the datapad with her constantly, never really looking at you or the head scientist. There’s a headache building somewhere right behind your eyes the longer you sit here. 

“We just need different precautions then.” She finally looks up, resting her hand on her chin. Her eyes seem to pierce through you. “So long as they’re just listening to your thoughts, they’re calm, yes?” You hesitate to tell her yes, because nothing is going to stop them from jumping from your mind to someone else's. Nothing really stops their telepathy, no matter what the team has put up to try and block them. And the fact that they could just command you to do anything…are you really a block between the crew and certain death?

“Yes, of course. If there are only a few people, then that should keep them calm.” The head scientist answers for you, looking nervous. He’s such a pushover. 

“That can be arranged. A few interested parties want to see them. We’ll provide you with a shuttle in a few hours. I'm sure you can get them ready, yes?” So that's why she’s here. The stakeholders love to spring random things on your crew, unheeding of the danger it poses them. So long as you’re there and the glass is reinforced, who cares? They want to see progress. 

“Understood.” Saying anything else will change nothing. They are paying exorbitant amounts of money to handle shape shifting aliens, so that is exactly what you are going to do. “Please select more experienced crew members. They are very emotionally sensitive, and will lash out if emotions are too high. We can knock them out, but it doesn’t mean they are not mentally active.” And will probably kill everyone on that ship.

“Why? Knock them out enough to keep them docile. Keep the concentration of gas on for the duration of the viewing. Problem solved.” The dismissive tone she says it in shows you how little she cares. Great. This transport is going to go swimmingly. Your heart sits somewhere in your stomach, feeling distinctly like you are going towards your doom. 

“If you will excuse me then. I will get them ready.” You do a few mental calculations as you go to the maintenance room; they need to be unconscious for several hours, but not enough to kill them. It’s a little sick, treating them like animals. They’re still intelligent beings, regardless of their capacity for slaughter, as shown by how much they talk to you. You wish there was a way to let them out without killing everyone and yourself. 

But what can you do about it? You curse to yourself as you fiddle with the controls, biting your lip. Getting kicked off this ship is a surefire way back to a planet like Gamma Thirteen, where you will be stuck behind a desk all day and all night. You think you would go crazy, cooped up for the rest of the foreseeable future. Between that and aliens who want you as one of them, it's a rock and a hard place. 

“Okay. That should knock them out in time. I hope.” The gas still works, but it makes them agitated as they slowly fall asleep. Maybe you can try talking to them. At least to form a truce rather than this uneasy relationship you have going on. Maybe if you ask, they won’t try to force you to do whatever you were about to do again? They're gentle with you, letting you refuse their mind control. Doubt is strong in your gut, but you have to try. 

With that in mind, you unlock the containment doors once more. M is asleep again, resting on his arms. He’s using his own lower half as a pillow, the net spread out like a blanket. S appears to be singing to himself, swaying side to side while he stares at the ground. 

“Sorry for leaving like that.” S sits up, smiling once he sees you. “You..surprised me.” He doesn’t look mad, at least. 

‘Star doesn’t need to be scared.’ The lightshow has subsided, but all eyes are on you once more. The one on his chest is curled into a crescent sideways, appearing to be happy. What is it about you that entices them so?

“I have a request.” M cracks an eye open, giving you his attention. You take a breath. “We have to move you - not far!" You cut yourself off as S presses himself against the glass, chattering distressingly. You keep your mind as blank as possible. "But we need to go somewhere special. If I promise not to leave, do you promise to stay with me?" Do they even understand promises? S and M look at each other, then back at you.

'Treasure won't leave?' They speak at the same time, both pressed against the glass again. At the very least, you are not being drawn into a light show that will surely spell your doom. The pressure on your mind is a lot weaker. They really just want you close, apparently. Hopefully. 

"Yes." You refuse on principle to answer in your mind. You feel like this will give them an invitation to speak only into your mind, and you cannot allow that to pass. That's a step too far. "I promise. I'll be with you the entire time." They don't look especially happy, but you think you have gotten them to agree.

You sit down in between their tanks to prove it, and watch as they settle down to be level with you. The gas is working - S's eyes are getting droopy. You hum quietly, as he would sing to himself. M’s eyes close quick, as he most often does, but S stares at you with sad eyes. 

‘Don’t like sleep..’ Do they ever sleep? You call M’s behavior sleep, but he opens an eye even when completely still. S never really seems to stop moving, either. You swivel to him, humming just a little louder. S’s head rays droop around him, and you feel a sort of buzzing sensation before he finally closes all of the eyes. 

You sit there and hum softly for a few more moments. A sort of squirmy feeling makes its way into your gut and in the back of your head. He was scared, going to sleep there. You turn to M, who is less curled up comfortably and more in a sort of a sprawl, mouth unnaturally slack jawed. Was he scared, too? He ‘sleeps’ more often than S does, but…well. You resume humming, keeping calm. 

Wait. You reach up and press the back of your head. You swore for a second…but that's impossible, because you are separated by glass. They are both unconscious, barely twitching. So what was that sensation? There’s a sort of low buzzing noise coming from…oh, from them. You breathe a sigh of relief, and go back to emptying your mind. The nauseous feeling must be coming from sitting near them for so long today. 

Now. You have around forty eight standard hours before they’re awake, or at least active. You keep your mind steady and your movements slow, watching carefully for any movement or agitation. At most, a bioluminescence travels sluggishly down their bodies, but they remain still and silent.

You get the release hatch open, unbolting the cages from the ground. These things are on wheels - there would be no way to transport them safely without risking a breach. It also has a closed air supply to keep the gas at a steady level, so you and your crew have the best shot of keeping them calm. That's all, you tell yourself. Just relax. You watch S settle from his tensed position, falling flat once more. 

It doesn’t make them any lighter though. You crouch down and get two good grips on the handles and begin to pull, wheeling them down the hallway. You can hear people getting out of your way, some curses, some doors shutting. The tension in the air is palpable - any mistake and  - it will be fine. M’s hands are curling into claws, he relaxes as you level your thoughts again. You have meditated a lot since coming in contact with these aliens, and it serves you very well for this purpose. So long as they are linked to you, it all will be okay. 

You manage to get around the few hallways, hitting the hatch with your elbow. Lo and behold, a luxury cruiser is docked to the tiny airlock. You allow yourself a small, stray thought of how annoyingly organized these people are when it comes to flaunting something expensive. 

“That's them?” Vanessa stares wide-eyed at the containment cylinders, both of them twitching in response to her voice. You raise a hand to your lips, and then poke your head. 

“Don’t talk to me, I can’t think about anything.” Your tone is curt, but you really can't. They’re already agitated from all this movement, just startling to settle down again. Little pulses move somewhere in the back of your mind, as if a reassurance that you are there. It's fine, you send back, in a strange reflex.

…..you can freak out about that later. The buzzing is not coming from them. 

“Whatever, so long as they’re contained. This way.” The guards all stare at your entourage openly while you haul them up the ramp, staring straight at Vanessa’s back. How long is this journey, anyway? You should have more than enough time till they wake up, but you hope the majority of it isn’t in the ship. At the very least, it appears to be one of the higher end ones, judging by the polished floors and holo signs. 

It turns out the ‘secure’ location they put you in is in the cargo hold, made claustrophobic by the size of the cages. There is just enough room for you to put them on either side of the room, almost blocking the door. Great. 

“Does the intercom turn on in here? Please keep it off.” The last thing you need is a loud announcement that startles them enough to wake up. Base instinct to protect themselves is far stronger than any gas you could give them. 

M violently twitches, slapping the glass with his hand. Both of you jump, your heart in your throat.

"Shhhhh." You start humming again, forcing anything else out of your mind. Seriously, anything can startle them. You crouch down, close to where his head is. "It’s okay. Shhh..." M settles, hand falling off the glass. He must be very uncomfortable if he's willing to move so fast.

"What? Why’d it move like that? You said they were going to be unconscious." Vanessa sounds disturbed. You look over your shoulder at her, face deadpan. Whatever she sees makes her face pinch. 

“I tried to tell you.” You pause, letting the wave of anger pass through you and out. “They are unconscious as of now, but they are very receptive to emotion. I thought about something startling, and Specimen M reacted in reflex.”

She looks almost afraid. You really, really wish someone would have listened to you. She turns on her heel and fiddles with the intercom, the overhead speakers turning off with a click.

“There. Just…keep them calm.” She runs a hand through her hair, and shuts the door behind her.

With that, you are left in the darkness of the cargo hold. Slowly, you sink down into crossing your legs, stiffly sitting in between them. How is this your life right now? You take even, slow breaths, lightly lamenting the choices that got you to this situation. Getting four degrees in different fields could not have prepared you for the task you face, for the long journey ahead.

The silence drones on, permeating. The buzzing comes back stronger, a sort of a low droning sound at the base of your skull. You dearly wish you could pretend that is the rumbling of the ship, but this is far too new. The engine is silent under the floor.

Where have you heard this sound before today? It’s familiar, but you are having a hard time placing it. What's more worrying is how unbothered you are by it. It's like white noise but inside of your skull. 

You’re almost getting sleepy. You sag forward, the buzzing growing with each passing second. It wouldn’t be so bad to take a nap, would it? They’re still, and it's not like you’re going to be bothered anytime soon. 

“Can’t sleep…” you mutter to the air. You want to, but you’re on duty. You rub your eyes and push down the buzzing, shaking your head to clear it. It doesn’t do much. It must be them, but how have they connected your minds like this?

It's very hard to think. You slide forward, sprawling out on the floor. It’s cold, but it would be a lot nicer if you were lying on something. It's almost uncomfortable to be by yourself like this.

On either side of you, Sun and Moon twitch. They kind of lean towards you, but that's as far as they can get, not with the gas in the chamber. In your muddled state, you struggle to remember why the gas settings are on that high, because why do they need to be forced asleep? It's leaving you alone in the cold. 

“Are you doing this?” You ask the air, your question directed at the aliens. Muted fear worms its way up your spine and into your stomach, fear for these desires you're starting to think aren’t your own. But when, how? You never opened your mind to them, never let them touch you.  As far as you know, that's the only way to…..

The light show. You responded in your mind, didn’t you? Just a short word, a bust of emotion. In a hive mind species perhaps reciprocating means consent, if they have any concept of consent to begin with. It's more strange to begin with that they’ve paid such close attention to you and let you go thus far, culturally speaking. 

Well. Mindless drone with no concept of boredom may be better than getting pulled apart.

Time passes sluggishly like this, your thoughts slow. You’re sort of sprawled out on the ground, cold and lonely. The cold is your own, but the loneliness is not. A hive mind would never sleep alone, curled into their loved one’s bodies. How long till there is nothing left of you? Only time will tell. If you had any mind to do it, you would almost call for help. You’d probably get that person killed though.

How close are you to the station anyways? It feels like it's been a really long time since you’ve left, but you have no way of telling, not with the engines silent. For all you know, you’ve been docked for hours - 

The entire ship rocks.

You shout in alarm, thrown forward onto your shoulder. Your body flips like a ragdoll on the ground before slamming into the door, suddenly wide awake. Your thoughts return to you in clear focus, the numbing buzzing from before dulling into almost nothing. What?

That's the least of your worries. In the blast, both containment cylinders rip clean off the supports, living flesh flailing inside as they go shattering onto the floors. Your heart stops for a moment, fear - panic - anger bouncing around your skill in quick succession. They kind of splat onto the ground, squeaking and chattering. 

They’re out. You are effectively trapped in a room with freed aliens, the only way out a door that will do nothing to stop them once merged together. They’re barely awake, and already they begin this process, tentacles and arms and limbs all reaching out to each other. It becomes a marriage of color and moving skin, eyes and mouths and teeth moving as they twist and connect. Up and up the body rises, till they are easily seven feet tall. 

Two heads emerge from the top, one yellow in a crown of golden rays, and another blue with a tail hat. The eye on the center of their chest opens wide, curling into a crescent once it spots you. The panic from earlier turns into a burst of euphoria, a grin working its way up your face without your consent. 

‘Darling, star, starlight…’ They work their way over to you, seamless now that they are together. They move akin to a spider, a lot of movement at once for a short distance it takes to lean over you, staring excitedly into your eyes. Well, mostly..to hell with it, Sun. Moon seems to be resting against him, though an eye is cracked open to stare at you. ‘Not cold or lonely anymore. Come.’ 

A mouth opens up where their chest is. They want you with them, together, closer than they are just in your head. What would it be like, with no cares or worries?

“I'd lose myself.” Your smile wobbles, distress and confusion worming around in your stomach. Sun slaps his hand above your head, chittering loudly. 

‘No loss, only together.’  You shake your head, Sun’s delighted grin turning crestfallen.The blue side hand reaches out to you slowly while Sun crouches down, freezing in place when you flinch. Moon chatters, Sun coos. They get just below your face, staring at you with wide and pleading eyes. ‘Beloved tired and cold. Rest?’ You shake your head again, firmly. They already mind merged without you knowing. This is far enough. 

Whatever they were about to plead with is drowned out by the rat-tat-tat of gun fire, the air charged with the phaser beams that follow. You whip your head to the door, the alien reeling back from the noise. 

Pirates. Here? Now? You were in a remote area of the galaxy, where did the shuttle go that was anywhere near pirates? That must have been the explosion from earlier!

‘Pirate? Danger, bad humans.’ You can feel them indexing your mind, watching your own memories play out in front of your eyes.

“Stop that!” You flail your hand in front of your face, blinking hard to clear it. “Please just ask. They are very dangerous though, maybe if we block the door -”

Said door whooshes open, leaving you sprawling out on your back. Three men grin at you, guns trained right onto your face. There’s splashes of blood streaking up the sides of their faces and on their clothes, terror leaving your mouth in a pathetic whimper.

“Well, lookit what we have here. You a scientist type? We could sell them for a lot.” You hold your palms out in surrender, eyes darting to Sun and Moon for help. 

Anger - fear - hatred. A deep anger boils inside of you, and the room fills with a deeper growl then you have ever heard them make. They rush towards you, cracking the walls from the sheer force of their bulk. 

“What the hell is that?” One of the screams, reeling back. The others open fire, both you and the alien wail in pain from the awful noise. 

Crunch. A man is slapped into the wall, turning into a mass of guts on impact. Your mouth drops open, staring at the gore uncomprehendingly. The alien passes over you, the net of tentacles temporarily blocking your vision from the awful sight. In reassurance, a little blue tendril caresses your face, before you get to see a yellow one shank another man through with a knife hand. He dies in seconds. One after another they are taken care of, bullets going through the alien and out, harmless to his shifting biology. Bulletproof, your scattered mind understands. 

Through this, cooing and shhing permeates through your skull, exactly like how you calm them down. They’ll never let anything harm you, they seem to say. Your heart rate slows, staring directly at the ceiling. There is no gore or viscera there. 

‘All better. Sunshine okay?’ You can’t say that you are. But you are physically fine, and that's what matters. You swallow. ‘Shh, made it better.’ Moon’s head shifts down so he’s closer to you, cupping the side of your face. A sort of sweet melody permeates your mind, a blanket of calm washing over you. Not a mindless drone, but rather as if you were being held. It's…comforting, actually. 

“Thanks.” You work your way out from underneath them, standing up on very wobbly feet. “We can’t…stay here.” You stare at their faces, trembling some. If you stay here, there will be more, and they could easily take over the ship and leave you stranded. A ship dead in space is as good a coffin. “Do you two think…you can protect me? Our best bet is the bridge.”

Your cheeks are squished by both hands, new ones clean of blood. Despite the fact that gore streaks both of their faces, your heart swells with the bursts of love and affection they surge into you. 

‘Lovely will never be hurt.’ They do not do things by half measures, the declaration sincere. 

It’s time to take back the ship. Two aliens hum in the back of your mind, all encompassing and fierce. You hope to any gods that are left that Vanessa is still alive.