Volume 2: Gamma-17, Chapter 2.19

I wasn’t sure what I was going to face once I awoke—a fight, another argument, maybe a missing Eve even—but what I found was twice as surprising. Bundled up in blankets at the foot of my bed was little Evie in her childlike form—the little squid princess dress and crown, missing a finger on each hand, yellow eyes so big they almost took up too much of her face, staring up at me with wide-eyed, innocent wonder.

I sighed and shook my head, “Okay Eve, very funny.” I said.

Little Eve cocked her head to the side, then glared at me and trilled in that angry musical way she used to.

I rolled my eyes, “I know you can understand me, you might as well talk.”

In response, she crossed her arms and turned away in a huff.

“What, you want an apology?”

Eve turned even further away, looking in the exact opposite direction.

I patted her head, and her hair tentacles wrapped around my wrist as she leaned into my touch, “I’m sorry about last night, okay? I know I was a little harsh, but you can’t try and control my life and not expect me to fight back, right?”

Little Evie didn’t seem concerned; she turned back to face me and trilled again and gestured at her mouth—she was hungry.

I quirked up an eyebrow, “Are we seriously going to pretend like nothing happened?”

In response, little Eve did a somersault off the bed. She walked over to my clothes and started throwing them at me—wanting to get out for the day.

“Alright alright, we can go down for breakfast.”

Eve was already set for the day, her black flesh-dress of veils covering her body like normal in the child-form. I got dressed and took her downstairs to the hotel restaurant. I picked a corner booth, hoping it wouldn’t be weird I was alone with a child I’d never been seen with before. The waitress scanned us and unlocked the menus, and we both ordered the equivalent of alien pancakes. Eve had a difficult time using the utensils, so I had to help cut her meal for her.

“She’s adorable, I didn’t know you had a daughter with you.” The waitress said as she filled our drinks.

I smiled awkwardly, “Just visiting, normally she stays with her mother.”

“Well, it’s nice she gets to spend some time with you on your vacation.”

Oh right, I’m just a tourist on Entana. Weird I’d suddenly have a daughter with me in the middle of a vacation.

I looked over at Eve who appeared as innocent as ever, but I knew

she

knew

she was causing trouble. We finished eating in a hurry and I tried to rush Eve along back upstairs, but she made grabby arms at me to pick her up like I used to. I sighed and picked her up and headed back to the room. In the elevator, I glared at Eve, “Okay, you made your point; the mature version of you is better to deal with. Can you please change back now?”

Eve shook her head and smiled and then nuzzled into my neck—acting like the spoiled brat she was back on earth.

I returned to my room and decided this was just going to be something I had to deal with. I messaged Doctor Wit and told him I had some work with Eve today and I would need to take a break from the investigation. He messaged back eagerly asking if she had a lead on Gamma-17, and I told him it was a more personal issue I had to deal with as her handler. He asked if I’d need an escort for the day, and I told him I wasn’t sure if we’d be leaving the hotel, but I’d keep him informed.

I tossed the communicator on the bed and fixed a flat glare on Eve—who was currently doing cartwheels. “Alright, we’re taking a break from the investigation until we can figure this out.” I took in a deep breath and sighed it out through my nose, “What is it you’re hoping to accomplish?”

In response, Eve jumped on my lap and started nibbling lightly on my arm. Despite how irritating the situation was, I missed this adorable little Evie. However, for the sake of the mission it was imperative Eve return to her true form so we could properly communicate.

“I apologized. Did you need more than that?” I asked, and Eve just shook her head, “I asked you to return to your true form, won’t you do that for me?” Eve looked at me, cocked her head to the side, then shook her head again. I let out a weary sigh, “Alright, you want to just hang out here until you get bored and finally decide to talk again?”

In response, Eve skipped over to the window and pointed outside, trilling in her gibberish like she wanted to do something.

“You want to go out—in the child-form?” I asked, and she nodded and trilled eagerly.

I collected the communicator, “Alright, let me just get an escort for us—” One of Eve’s tentacles snaked out and snatched up the communicator. I looked up to see her shaking her head and gesturing at the communicator, trilling angrily at it.

Great, she wanted to hang around Tantalltera just the two of us. I wasn’t really concerned for our safety—I was sure Eve would transform again if we did come across Gamma-17. I was more concerned with breaking protocol and getting chewed out. But these were extenuating circumstances.

“Alright fine, let’s head out into the city.” I submitted, and Eve bounded over to me as she trilled happily, “Anywhere in particular you want to go?”

In response, little Evie trilled at me a mile a minute, saying in gibberish all the dozens of things she wanted to do today, and I understood none of it.

***

First place we visited was a park; a bit on the nose, taking a child to the park, but hey, the classics are classic for a reason. There were other children around, but Eve wasn’t interested in playing with them. Instead, she insisted I spend all my time with her—chasing her around, pushing her on a swing, jumping on some weird gravity-bounce machine. The other parents around thought we were adorable. I thought it was just annoying. Eve laughed and trilled away, having the time of her life.

Next, she dragged me along to some candy stores; I wasn’t sure if it was her advanced, Predazoan intelligence, but she seemed to have like a built-in GPS and knew how to get around everywhere in Tantalltera. We visited an alien pet shop, some girly clothes stores, and even a toy store. Everyone around thought I looked like a super dedicated parent. Instead, I secretly wanted to murder the little monster.

Eve pulled me along to some outdoor stadium with some improv actors on stage—a mix of comedy and drama improvisation, which was surprisingly entertaining. I turned to Eve to talk about some improv show I’d seen back on earth, but she just trilled at me noisily as though to shush me.

From there, I started to get the game she was playing. She took me to a museum with some cool science exhibit about chemical reactions, and when I tried to talk to Eve about it she just ran off doing cartwheels. She took us to get lunch at a diner that definitely reminded me of earth and we ate alien sandwiches that were almost like burgers, and when I tried to tell Eve that she trilled at me in gibberish.

Of course, I figured out what she was trying to say; I had been saying constantly how much I missed the little Evie, but now that she was in her childlike form again, I found I missed the true form of Eve—someone I could have a meaningful conversation with. I really had enjoyed my time with little Evie back on earth, but as my relationship with Eve evolved and matured, I found it to be more meaningful. Forget sex and mates and whatever scheme Eve was trying to employ, I had come to really enjoy my time with the mature Eve, and I valued our new relationship.

Little Evie was dragging me towards the monorail when I stopped and pulled my hand away from hers. She turned to me and cocked her head to the side, a confused expression on her face as she muttered a quiet little trill. I knelt down before her, “Okay, you got me and you proved your point. It was fun hanging out with little Evie again, but I miss the real you—your true form.”

Eve tilted her head to the other side but didn’t respond.

I sighed, “I miss having meaningful conversations with you, I miss having a mature friendship—I miss being able to understand each other.”

Eve quirked up an eyebrow and crossed her arms, eyeing me expectantly. She was waiting for more.

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, “I’m sorry I said those hurtful things last night, they were cruel and unnecessary.” I held up a finger, “I’m still not okay with the way you’re trying to control my life, however, we could’ve discussed things like mature adults.” I waved towards her childlike form, “Instead of just acting like kids arguing and fighting and accomplishing nothing.”

Evie nodded along but still didn’t relent.

It seemed like I really had to go for broke, “I’m still not going to relent and submit with the whole mate thing, but I absolutely do care about you—you, little Evie, and the real you, all parts that make up who you are, separate parts of the same whole.” I paused, realizing as I admitted all this, it really was true, “And I love you Eve, forget whatever else is going on between us, we’re family and I really do love you.” I half-smiled, “Me and you against the universe.”

Little Evie smiled, and I saw tears shimmer in the corner of her eyes, she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, “I love you too, Adam.” She said in elegant Common.

I picked her up and pulled her into a tight embrace, and the stress and tension I’d felt just moments ago all melted away like it had never been there, “Now, what are we going to do about your child-form? Do we need to head back to the hotel so you can make the transformation?”

Eve pulled her head back and looked around; it was a little busy on the monorail station, quite a few people nearby. She looked off to the other side and saw a public restroom, “Just give me a moment.” She said, then hopped out of my arms and trotted away.

Less than a minute later, Eve in her true form with the latex-princess gown came skipping back towards me. She reached for my hands and grabbed them in hers, then pulled me down to give me a quick kiss on the cheek, “I’m sorry about the little tantrum too.” She pulled back, eyes wide and innocent, “Time for another truce?” She asked, batting her long eyelashes at me.

I smiled, happy we could finally put this fight behind us, “Fine with me.”

***

The second half of the day was spent in similar leisure as the first half, but now with Eve in her true form, we could have real adult conversations while enjoying the city. I decided to relax a little and just enjoy the time with Eve for now, pushing aside all the more complex thoughts for the time being.

Yes, she was a monster, and yes she was trying to steal my freedom, but Eve was still my family—as plain as Gramps and Gram had said it back on earth, we needed to take care of the little alien. I wasn’t sure if it really was wrong of me to admit to Eve I still had feelings for Tillia, but there was no reason for me to be cruel about it—we could’ve discussed things like adults. Actually, if it ever came up again, I’d want to address it all right away—like, even back when Eve was being nasty to Tillia during the investigation, that was something I should’ve confronted right then and there. I was Eve’s handler after all; I should’ve handled it better.

I decided to take Eve to the same art museum I took Tillia on our date, just to see how Eve would react to the alien art. I enjoyed the date with Tillia, but I felt like there was a bit of a disconnect with her in how different we were since I was raised outside the Empire, and I just wanted to see if it would be the same with Eve—if I would be the odd human out. Instead, it turned out Eve and I shared pretty much the same opinions on the alien art; Eve even pointed out the stupid purple gas that was some commentary on an Imperial war and made a surprisingly funny fart joke about it. We ended up laughing so hard about the whole thing, a museum attendant came and scolded us.

From there we decided to have some real fun and found a really cool alien arcade. Most futuristic video games were all based on VR or holograms or simulations, but the general idea was the same as earth video games—and being a master of earth video games, my skills transferred over quite well. Eve with her perfect Predazoan reflexes was a formidable opponent, but she just didn’t have the same skillset as someone who grew up frequenting earth arcades back in the 90s. She could be quite the sore loser, but it was honestly adorable how she’d pout in frustration. She even tried to cheat sometimes and distract or disrupt me; sometimes it would be with a sly tentacle grabbing at my leg or arm, other times she would use her feminine charms to try and distract me—use those boobs as the dangerous weapon they were. After going back and forth on a couple games, we decided to team up on some space-jet combat racing sim. We worked so well together we ended up attracting a small crowd, and when the game was over we ended up with the top high-score. Aside from being a sore loser, Eve also got wildly excited when she won, and she leapt up into my arms as she trilled musically in excitement.

It was later in the evening after we left the arcade, so we decided to grab dinner while we were out. Some fancy steak house, Eve and I bantered away about video games the whole time we were eating, and we ended up staying far later than we realized, the last to leave the place as they closed up.

We rode the monorail back to the hotel, Eve seeming quite worn out, resting her head on my shoulder, holding my hand in her lap, trailing her delicate nails along my skin. We made it back to the hotel and Eve held my hand all the while on our way to the room. Once we were inside, Eve let out a big yawn and almost fell into me, but I grabbed her up quick and she turned it into a gentle embrace.

“Thank you for today Adam, I had a wonderful time.” She said sleepily.

I let out a content sigh, “I did too, it was honestly really fun.”

Eve pulled away and looked into my eyes, her gaze questioning. She was silent for a few moments while she looked at me, she opened her mouth once, paused, then decided to push forward, “Do you still prefer Tillia?”

I felt like a shot of ice gripped my chest, and I wasn’t sure why. Was it guilt I’d hurt Eve so badly yesterday? Was it the fact she seemed so vulnerable now? Was it because I suddenly realized the answer wasn’t so simple?

“No…” I shook my head slowly, “I don’t know exactly what’s going on between you and I, but I can’t say I would choose Tillia over you.”

Eve looked down, drawing a circle on my chest with her nail, “When you said you loved me, was that romantically or familiarly?”

“I don’t know Eve. You

are

my family—the only family I have now out in the Empire. But obviously there’s a strong attraction between us—you made this body specifically to attract me, and you did a damn good job at it.” I sighed, “But I don’t think I can trust you with any kind of romantic bond at this point.” I put a finger under her chin to lift her eyes to mine, “I trust you as family, but opening my heart up to more is just something I can’t do right now, not with what’s happened between us.”

Eve leaned forward to press her head into my chest, “Remember back on earth when you and Gramps warned me about the dangers of going outside, you told me you weren’t trying to be mean or cruel, you were keeping me inside to keep me safe—it was all for my own protection.”

I was pretty sure I already knew where she was going with this, but I was set to wait and hear what all she had to say.

Eve looked up into my eyes again, her expression serious, “You took away my freedom back then because you understood something I didn’t; I allowed you to keep me prisoner in that cozy country home because I trusted you.” She placed her hand on my cheek, “Can’t you trust me now, even if you don’t fully understand why I need to take away your freedom?”

I shook my head, “This is completely different; back then I was worried for your safety, trying to keep you secret from the government who probably wanted to dissect you.”

“And you think I’m not worried for your safety, the lone human out here in the middle of space with only a couple cycles of training before he was thrown into a completely different world from everything he knows?”

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“Eve, I—”

“I love you Adam, I love you more than you can even comprehend—as a human and as a Predazoan. I promise you I’ll make you happier than you can ever imagine. I’ll love you and please you and take care of you. We could go on endless adventures and live across the universe for eons—we could live outside and

beyond

the universe.” She paused, her words quiet and careful, “Can’t you at least trust me enough to know I’m not trying to be cruel to you—that I

know

what’s best for us?”

“Eve, you can’t just expect me to forget how

dangerous

you are, and you’ve threatened to kill

anyone

who tries to get between us. Don’t you see how terrifying that would be for me?”

Eve smirked a little, “I seem to remember an adorable human boy, bleeding out on the ground, pull out a pocketknife and brandish it before dozens of armed government agents. Weren’t you willing to kill for me back then?”

I chuckled, but it turned into a sigh, “Obviously that situation was

massively

different from what we’ve got going on now—plus I was delirious from blood loss.”

Eve let out a weary sigh and pressed herself against me in a tender embrace, and I could tell her desire to argue was exhausted, “I’ll wait for you Adam, I can be patient for you. I won’t let anyone else have you, but I won’t rush you at all; I’ll earn your trust, I’ll earn your love, I’ll make you forget about every other female in the universe, but I’ll be fine to give you all the time you need to make the decision yourself—to freely choose me.”

Eve seemed to fundamentally misunderstand the meaning of freedom. If I couldn’t have anyone else, she was making it so I could

only

choose her—not a choice at all then. But while I fought against her scheming, there was a small part of me that wondered

why

I resisted so fiercely. Was it because I wanted actual freedom to choose? Was it because Eve was still somewhat a monster and I should be frightened of her? Was it because I worried her personality was somehow fabricated, put together from the minds of dead humans like some alien Frankenstein? It felt like as the days passed, it was getting harder to remember why I was so adamant in refusing her in the first place.

Forgetting everything else, Eve was my family, and I truly loved her.

I wrapped my arms around Eve and reciprocated her hug, “I’m not going to choose someone else over you Eve. I don’t want to talk about romance or dating anyone right now, let’s just you and I be together just as we are, okay?”

Eve melted into my touch, wrapping her arms and even her tentacles around me like she used to in her child-form, “I love you Adam.” She said softly.

“I love you too Evie.”