Chapter 4: The Ship

I woke up alone on a firm bed in a white room. I could hear a mechanical beeping sound all around me. I looked around, saw all kinds of machines, and thought I must be in a hospital, except there was nothing touching me. 'How did I get here?' I thought back, 'Agent Fleck and Wyman in my house, the verbal banter, the physical assault, my head hitting the island, my blindness, the near miss on the rape.' I shuddered at that last thought. Then I remember Oliver coming to my rescue. I looked down and realized I wasn't wearing my clothes, but I did have some form of a hospital gown on. 'Where are my clothes and what kind of hospital is this?'

I began to sit up and suddenly alarms all around me started buzzing, ringing, and clanging. I jumped out of the bed frightened, pushed what I was hoping were buttons to make the noise stop, when a creature with blue skin entered the room. It was tall, with four arms, three tentacle-like legs, and what looked like long black hair. It was wearing a white gown that stopped at what I would call its knees. I screamed and grabbed a rod looking item, held it like a sword, and stood my ground. It was then I saw the bandages around my hands. Another creature entered, this one was shorter than the blue one and had green skin, no hair, two arms, two legs, and was wearing what appeared to be pants and a jacket. I screamed again as I continued to back up until my back was flush against a wall. Tears fell from my eyes as I was sure that I had been abducted by aliens. 'Was I here to be experimented on?' I looked around for another weapon, besides the rod in my hands so I could escape when a third creature entered the room.

"ALEXIS!"

It took me a moment to stop screaming. "O-O-Oliver?" I asked.

"Hi," he said with a grimace. "I'll bet you've got a lot of questions right about now."

The blue creature touched the machines and the alarms ceased. "We will not hurt you Alexis Perry," it spoke in what sounded like a female voice.

"Please, let us make sure you are well," said green skin in a masculine voice.

I looked at the two of them. "Oliver?" I asked again as I looked at him.

"It's okay, Alexis," he said in a reassuring tone. "They won't hurt you. I promise."

I didn't know why, but I felt I could trust Oliver. Maybe it was because he had come to my rescue and saved me from a sexual assault and certain death. I lowered the rod as the blue female creature approached and took the rod from my hands. She gently took my arm and escorted me back to the bed. It was then I noticed that the floor below my bare feet was cool, but not cold. She made some strange clicking sound to Oliver, who nodded and left the room.

"Oliver!" I cried as he left.

"Fear not, Alexis Perry," said the blue creature as she gently placed her hand on my chest. As scared as I was, I found her voice soothing. "He will see you again soon. I am called Iman. I am what you would call a doctor in your world. This is Rashad, my aide. We will not hurt you. We are going to make sure you are well. We did not mean to frighten you, but I fear our appearance is so foreign to you that we did."

Rashad stepped up, took my hand gently, and seemed to smile at me as he and Iman helped me back onto the bed and said, "Alexis Perry, we had the alarms set to notify us if you were being moved or harmed in anyway."

"Moved?" I asked.

"All will be explained shortly by the one you called... 'Ol-lee-ver'," said Iman. "Now, please, Alexis Perry, do as we ask, lie back and let us make sure you are well."

"Why do you keep calling me Alexis Perry?" I asked.

"Is that not your name?" asked Rashad.

"Yes," I said.

"Then please, Alexis Perry, let us do our job," said Iman, her voice was very soothing.

I laid back on the bed and allowed Iman and Rashad to wave strange devices over my body. The rod I had grabbed seemed to be some kind of medical instrument. They clicked back and forth at each other and nodded. They seemed pleased with the results and Rashad left the room. Iman extended one of her hands to me to help me sit up as she said, "Rashad is bringing you fresh clothes. Once you are dressed, we will take you to see... 'Ol-lee-ver'."

"Thanks," I said. "May I ask you a quick question?"

"Yes, Alexis Perry, you may," she said.

"The man I called Oliver, is that not his real name?"

It seemed I asked a million dollar question by the look on her face and suddenly things started to make more sense. She smiled (well that's what it looked like to me) and said, "Alexis Perry, you have suffered a serious head injury that cracked your skull and caused damage to your optic nerve. You had broken blood vessels in your throat, your esophagus and windpipe were crushed, the bones and blood vessels of your face were broken and damaged, and you had foreign objects in your hands. We worked hard to repair your injuries, but your throat and face will have marks for some time. You are quite lucky to be alive and no, it is not his real name. Please do not ask me anything more about him. I really can only speak with you about your injuries."

"Would I have died if you hadn't helped me?" I asked, even though I was sure I already knew the answer.

Iman's gentle eyes looked at me as if she was thinking about my question. Then she said, "Yes, Alexis Perry, it is possible you would have expired without our help, or at least not fully recovered."

Rashad entered the room with clothing in his hands. I looked at them both and said, "Thank you for saving my life."

They looked at each other, then at me. It seemed my words confused them. "Alexis Perry, why are you thanking us?" asked Rashad.

"Because you saved my life," I said.

"That is our job, Alexis Perry," said Iman. "Would you not do the same for a creature in need?"

I thought for a moment at this odd statement, and then said, "Yes, I would."

Rashad smiled and left the room, leaving the clothes on my bed. Iman helped me dress, as my body was still quite stiff and sore. The cloth felt light and airy, it was silvery, and shimmered in the light as I moved. I slipped on what appeared to be a top, bra, underwear, and pants. Iman then took her fingers, or what looked like fingers to me, and ran them through my blonde hair, until it hung loosely over my shoulders, down my back, and over my breasts. She moved me to what seemed to be a mirror and I looked at myself for the first time since I woke. My hair seemed to shine and it looked brushed. I saw the lines on my throat from where Fleck's hand had been, and bruises on my cheeks from his brutal hits. I reached up and touched my throat as memories of Fleck's attack flashed in my memory. His striking my face, choking me, the pinning me down on the island, caused me to shudder.

Iman's words echoed in my mind, 'you have suffered a serious head injury that caused damage to your optic nerve. You had broken blood vessels in your throat, your esophagus and windpipe were crushed, the bones of your face were broken, and you had foreign objects in your hands. We worked hard to repair your injuries, but your throat and face will have marks for some time. You are quite lucky to be alive.' Yet, here I stood, alive, healed, with just the faint bruises from Fleck's hand still in my throat and on my cheeks. The real question was why. 'Why am I still alive and where am I? Well, time to go talk to Oliver, or whatever his name is, and get some answers.'

Iman and Rashad escorted me down a long white metallic looking hallway past many closed doors that all looked the same, until they stopped. How they could tell one door from another was beyond me. They made that same odd clicking sound and the door slid open. "This is where we leave you, Alexis Perry," said Iman. "I will come and check on you later to make sure you are healing."

"Thank you," I said.

They motioned that I enter the room, so I did. The door closed behind me and I looked around. The room seemed to be a bit sterile, white walls, no windows, and no one present. Then, I saw something glowing in the corner. I looked around and decided to investigate. As I got closer, the glowing object appeared to be a computer monitor. On the screen was a picture of me and some strange characters I'd never seen before. "I guess you're wondering what all that says about you," said a voice from behind me.

I quickly spun around and saw Oliver standing behind me. He was wearing the same silvery material shirt, but his pants were a darker color than mine were. "That not all I've been wondering about."

"I'm sure you're hungry, too," he said.

I hadn't even realized how hungry I was until this moment. With everything that had been going on, hunger was the last thing on my mind. "Yeah, I ... um ... I guess I am."

He smiled for the first time since his return and motioned for me to join him. I walked over to him and I noticed a small table with two chairs in the room. I paused, 'They weren't there a moment ago, I'm sure of it.'

"Please don't be alarmed Alexis," Oliver said. "There is so much to tell you that it may overwhelm you. I will try to answer all of your questions, but I must ask one thing of you?"

"What?" I asked.

"That you hear me out completely, even if it takes me a day or two."

I smiled and thought, 'There is no way he's got that much to tell me, but then again, I'm on summer break, I have no family to report to, and I'm probably safer here with him than I was in my apartment.' "Okay," I said, "I promise."

His smile grew brighter than before as he held out my chair for me to sit. I sat down and watched him move around the room, grabbing a tray from a shelf I was sure wasn't there when I came in and placed it on our table. There were two plates; each had a steak with a baked potato and corn, and two glasses of a clear liquid next to them. Oliver sat in the seat next to me and said, "I hope steak is all right with you."

"It's fine," I said.

He moved a plate in front of me, then a one in front of him. He then moved the glasses and set the tray on the floor, and handed me a fork and knife. "My people don't understand how you Earthlings use forks and knives without hurting yourselves. But I realized that it's not that difficult once you learn how."

"Wait ... your... 'people'?" I asked.

"Right, your explanation, I guess it's long overdue."

"I've waited over three and a half years for you to return. And when you do, well, I don't want to think about that right now."

He shook his head seriously and said, "I can't even begin to apologize enough about what happened. But I also can't thank you enough for how you protected me, even when he did what he did to you, you kept my secret."

I paused. "How do you know what he did to me?"

Oliver sighed, "Eat Alexis, and I will try to explain."

I picked up my fork and knife and began to cut my steak. It was so tender and tasty. I couldn't remember when I had eaten a better steak. "Mmmm, this is good."

Oliver smiled, "I'm glad you like it. I hope white wine is acceptable as well."

"It is," I smiled and took a sip. 'White Zinfandel, my favorite. The same from that night in the restaurant.'

"Now, let me begin at the beginning. About six Earth years ago, I arrived on your planet."

I froze, a piece of steak on my fork hovered near my mouth. I blinked a few times and looked at Oliver. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that. Because I think you just said-"

"That I arrived on your planet six years ago," continued Oliver. "I did."

"But that would mean-"

"I'm not from your world. Yes Alexis, I'm not an Earthling like you."

I dropped my fork onto my plate and it clattered loudly. My head started to spin. "But we ... we..."

"Yes, Alexis. We did. Now please eat."

I rested my head on my hands and breathed. "Give me a sec, will ya?"

When my head stopped spinning, I slowly grabbed my fork and began to eat. Oliver continued, "Six years ago, I came to your planet to explore your world. I wanted to know more about your planet and its creatures. I had to learn your languages, your customs, and how your world functioned. I took on the role of a business executive as I found this allowed me to move around easiest and people were willing to share information with me without too many questions.

"Then one day, I was walking by your school and I saw you talking to a smaller member of your kind. I believe you call it a child, a male child. He seemed upset, crying, I believe you call it, and you were so gentle to him. I watch as you eased his suffering with your gentle touch, your soft words, and your beautiful blue eyes. Soon the boy was smiling, no longer crying and ran off to be with other small people like him. I had been observing your world's schools and you were the first one of your kind I had seen act this way. Suddenly, I found myself drawn to you, wanting to know more about you. I observed you daily, learned your routines, heard others call you 'Ms. Perry, ' and so much more.

"I gained access to your school by following what you called 'parents' in during the morning and found I could wander about without much interruption before school, and after. I was almost never stopped during these times, and if I was, I just asked about you, claiming that my child was either in your class, or going to be in your class. Your colleagues were more than eager to share what they knew and thought about you. So many spoke highly of you, and your love for your students, that was when I knew I needed to meet you. I had even entered your classroom when you went home and looked at the walls. I knew how you decorated it, and learned more about you. Sometimes I'd follow you home, watch you sit and read, watch television, and sleep.

"Then, my opportunity arose. I had gone into your school with some others for a parent meeting when I heard the phone call."

"Mrs. Stone," I whispered as I slowly ate and listened.

"Yes," he continued. "She had to fly away because her father had become quite ill and she felt bad about canceling your meeting. This was my opportunity to finally meet you. So, I stole the message that was in your mailbox, and waited. When I was sure no one else was coming to see you, I made my move. I must have watched you for several minutes, hanging those papers on the wall and singing softly. You have such a beautiful voice and I found myself entranced. Finally, I had to talk to you so I touched your back-"