Volume 1: Alpha-03, Chapter 1.12

Doctor Gorgam brought me to the observation deck above Alpha-03’s special containment cell to introduce me to the other members of his research team before I was to see Eve again.

“Everyone, this here is Adam Samson; the only being in the known universe to command and control a Predazoan.” The doctor said proudly.

I waved awkwardly at the alien researchers. There was a dozen of them all in black and white lab coats, and none of them seemed surprised to see me, more intrigued or hopeful than anything else—from what I could tell on their alien faces. There were a couple more insect aliens, another amphibian that looked more like a newt than a frog, and a few aquatic looking aliens that seemed quite beautiful with fins and frills and translucent blue skin. There was a man who looked like a classic green alien with large black eyes, and dark green dreadlocks for hair. There was also a gorgeous woman that looked pretty much exactly like some red devil from Christian mythology, but with antenna instead of horns, with long silky black hair and maroon markings on her body like tiger stripes. There was a man who looked like a mix between a wolfman and a gorilla. Another rock alien, but this one was much smaller and clearly female. One man looked like a humanoid shark, rather muscular and tall. And lastly there was a tiny, curvy pink woman that looked like some mythical imp only about three feet tall in her black stiletto heels—a very attractive short-stack.

The red devil alien was the first to stride before me and flashed a brilliant smile; she had dark red lips and purple eyes, and a body like a supermodel with an attractive dark blue dress underneath her lab coat. She presented her hand with fancy manicured dark purple nails towards me, “It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Mr. Samson; we’ve been watching you for quite some time. I’m Doctor Tillia, welcome to the team!” She beamed, her voice silky and sultry even with the digital translator—like some kind of space succubus. I shook it awkwardly and moved onto the next alien—seeing a line had formed.

The shark man was right behind her, his skin dark blue and rough, holding out a large hand with only three fingers and a thumb. The big man wore glasses, disarming a little of his large, intimidating appearance, “Doctor Wit, sorry for the abrupt way we brought you aboard. We ran several scenarios and simulations on how best to approach you back on earth, but unfortunately your government threw a wrench in our plans.”

Next was the ape-wolfman, with a body more like a gorilla, but his head resembled a wolf, and he had a wolf tail too. He was just a little taller than me, but much bulkier, “Doctor Kretz, we’d love to hear more of how you tamed Alpha-03 with your earth chocolates.”

The cute pink short-stack woman trotted before me, her little black heels clicking away. Her body was like something you’d see in an anime, with huge boobs for her frame, wide hips and a plump ass, but a tiny waist I could probably wrap my hands around. Her skin was a pretty pink, and she had curly lavender hair. Her ears were almost comically large for her head, spreading out as far as her little arms could reach, looking like pointed bat ears. She had black lips and black nails, and her voice was high and nearly squeaked—adorable. “I am Doctor Kianna, my specialty was on the behavior of the Prednazoans, so you can imagine how interested I am in your interactions with Alpha-03.” She smirked, a playful, almost mischievous glint in her eyes.

The green man was next; it was strange how minimal his features were—like a generic little green man alien like from old sci-fi movies. The man shook my hand with both of his, wildly enthusiastic, “I can’t tell you how important your addition to the team is; we can finally move forward with searching out for the rest of the Predazoans.” He smiled awkwardly, “But I’m getting ahead of myself. My name is Doctor Zyno. I’m sure you have so many questions, and there’s so much we’ll need to teach you and so many protocols to establish with Alpha-03, but at least we finally have a proper heading.”

The rest were all doctors of course, each one more eager than the last. The newt alien seemed to be a female, Doctor Sorra. The two insect aliens were Doctors Getkin and Komlin, hard to tell their genders but I believed they were male. The female rock alien was Doctor Runa. And finally, the beautiful aquatic aliens with their classic alien faces, blue and purple translucent skin, and attractive fins and frills along with tentacles for hair were Doctor Hoz and Doctor Tok (both males), and the gorgeous Doctor Yun, a deep purple female with slender, elegant curves.

Once introductions were out of the way, the questions started from all sides, bombarding me to the point I was getting disoriented and could hardly answer. Doctor Kianna clapped her little hands together to reign in the chaos, “People, let’s not overwhelm the poor man; we’re here to see if Mr. Samson can still command Alpha-03 after she absorbed all that human biomass.”

The mood quickly turned serious, with no small amount of tension holding in the air. Doctor Gorgam walked over to a center console amidst all the holographs and computer screens and pressed a couple buttons, then the far wall opened to show Alpha-03’s containment cell.

Down below, I could see Eve’s form changed once more; now she was like a black, hairless panther all low and long, maybe 10 feet from nose to rear, with a few tails like spindly arms snapped out wildly behind her. All along her spine, sharp tentacles whipped up and around, some with simple sharp points, others with long sweeping scythes, and a few with crab claws. Her body was randomly plated with silver spikes that curled inwards and jutting out randomly. And her face was too wide for a normal earth feline, with a massive maw of razor-sharp teeth and pincers like a centipede on the sides. Eve shrieked and wailed and slammed against the walls of her cell, causing sparks to shimmer out wherever she struck.

“The room is layered in repulser forcefields that turn Alpha-03’s strength back in on itself, one of the few ways we can contain the Predazoans. She is quite secure in there.” Doctor Zyno stated.

I leaned towards the window and watched Eve, screeching and clawing after the walls, trying to break free, desperately trying to escape. I couldn’t understand it, but I still felt pity for my little alien; she was in that monstrous form, and I’d watched her kill and consume dozens of humans, but I still couldn’t shake the connection I’d made with her.

Doctor Tillia placed a hand on my shoulder, “What are you thinking?” She asked kindly.

I shook my head slowly and sighed, “My world’s been turned upside down, I’ve just discovered the existence of aliens, I can never go back to my old life, and yet I still can’t believe that…

monster

is the same little Evie I rescued—that I took care of and bonded with over the last couple months.” I chuckled to myself and looked back to the researchers, “Does it make me crazy I miss my little alien? That I still hope she might be down in there somewhere?”

Doctor Getkin crossed his four arms together, “To be perfectly blunt, we’re betting the success of our mission on the possibility your Eve is down there still—your bond is still active somehow.”

“So I can control her?” I asked flatly.

Doctor Komlin nodded beside the other insect alien, “Yes. We don’t know how or why you were able to develop a bond with the Predazoan, but that bond is the best chance we have in finding and containing the other Predazoans.”

“Are you ready to test it? You’ll be behind the repulser field—you’ll be safe.” Doctor Wit asked.

Fear and hope fought for control in my heart, and I gave a determined nod, “Let’s get it over with.”

Doctors Zyno, Kianna, Wit and Tillia took me to a small platform that lowered us down to a sublevel and brought me before a large cargo door that led to Alpha-03’s containment cell. I turned to the researchers, “What happens if she doesn’t respond to me? The mission’s a failure and you just send me back to earth?”

Doctor Tillia smiled brilliantly, “You can’t get rid of us

that

easily. Even if the bond between you and Alpha-03 has been severed, there’s still numerous research opportunities available, and we’d work to see if we could reestablish your control over the Predazoan.”

I smirked, “Then I still have a job either way? At least there’s some silver lining.” I offered, and Tillia giggled in a wildly feminine way. I turned back to the cargo bay door and nodded, turning serious once again, “Alright, let’s go.”

Thɪs chapter is updated by NoveI-Fire.ɴet

Doctor Wit nodded and pressed a couple buttons on a wall computer, and a few yellow flashing lights started up as an alarm blared. The alarm sounded three times, then the door slowly started opening. Before the door could fully open, several black tentacles slammed against the forcefield held in place before the doorway, causing us all to jump back as the forcefield flashed brilliantly. Doctor Wit stepped away quickly while I moved forward, looking into the containment cell.

“Evie? It’s me, it’s Adam.”

There was a terrible shriek that caused us all to buckle down and cover our ears as the monstrous form of Alpha-03 ran before the door, snarling and snapping mere feet in front of me, causing the forcefield to flash out almost blindingly. For a few long moments, I felt a deep dread grab the pit of my stomach as I thought Eve really was gone and only the monster Alpha-03 remained. But as quickly as she started attacking the forcefield, Eve stopped, and looked at me with those big, bright yellow eyes. Immediately there was recognition, then doubt, then fear, then confusion and I even saw a little anger, but then it all melted away—

she

melted away. Slowly, the monstrous feline form bubbled into itself, congealed together, and in mere moments, my little Evie was back—the cute little kindergarten alien. She still had the white skin, black nails and lips, the black dress and princess veil and tentacle hair, and those big, adorable yellow eyes that could make me melt. Evie rushed forward, babbling and trilling, and pressed her hands against the forcefield, trying so desperately to get to me, pounding her little fists against it.

I felt my heart in my throat, and all the fear drained away from me instantly, and all I wanted was to hold my little Evie again. I turned back to the researchers, “Let me in there.”

Four sets of eyes looked like they were all going to pop out of their skulls.

“You can’t! It’s far too dangerous, there’s still so much testing we need—” Doctor Kianna started.

I slashed a hand through the air, “I don’t care, she’s scared and alone and she

needs

me! Let me in, now!”

The researchers all looked at each other and quickly turned off their translators so they could talk without me understanding. After a few minutes, Doctor Zyno pulled away and gave me a determined nod. None of the other researchers had been convinced, clearly—the female aliens looked about sick over it. Doctor Zyno moved over to the console on the wall, and another forcefield locked down around me like a bubble, leaving me trapped between the two. He looked up at me, a grave expression on his face, “You’re sure?” He said in English again.

I just nodded, and he sighed, and with another button press, the forcefield to Eve’s containment cell opened to connect with mine, leaving nothing between us.

Instantly, Eve tackled me and wrapped her tentacles around me, squeezing me tighter than ever before—so tight it hurt, nearly crushing me.

“Evie, gentle!” I scolded, barely able to breathe.

Immediately, the pressure around me relaxed, and Evie was my gentle little alien once more. She looked up at my face with actual tears welling in her bright eyes, and she began babbling and trilling at me with a mix of sadness and anger—as though scolding me for being away from her, but also admitting how scared she’d been.

I wrapped my arms protectively around her and all her shivering stopped as she melted into my embrace, “It’s okay Evie, I’m here—I’m not going anywhere.” I insisted.

Eve kept babbling at me, and she actually started to cry now—the once big monster alien crying in my arms like a little kid. Part of me was still scared of what Evie could do—how dangerous she was—but an even bigger part of me trusted her anyway. A long while ago I’d decided to trust the little alien in the terrarium, and now it was all the same.

I knew she would never hurt me.

I looked back to the researchers behind the forcefield, seeing they were all stunned speechless—they’d probably thought Eve was going to kill me, and yet here we were on the ground hugging like a parent and child. Whatever the Predazoans were, the bond between Eve and I was something unique and powerful, and it transcended whatever normal behavior the researchers had been expecting. They talked about controlling Alpha-03, but I don’t think it was like that at all; I took care of Evie, so she listened to me sometimes—certainly had her little tantrums and disobeyed now and again, so I didn’t know what all the aliens would expect from me as Eve’s handler.

I was surprised to feel Eve was as light as she’d always been. I had no idea where she contained all the extra biomass she’d assimilated from the humans she consumed, but she looked and felt the same as she had before any of that happened. Had she somehow gotten rid of it already, or was her Predazoan cellular structure so complex she could adjust her size and weight at will?

I stood and picked Evie up with me and started pacing around the containment cell, “I imagine you have a lot of questions; where I went, where we are, what’s to happen next?”

Evie pulled back so she could look at my face, her head cocked to the side, a curious look on her face. As I paced around the room with Evie, I gave her the rundown on everything that’d happened so far. I told her I knew what she was and where she came from—told her it didn’t bother me in the slightest, though admitted she scared me a bit back on earth, and she looked away guiltily. I told her how we were going to work together on

The Radiance

to find the other Predazoans, how they were too dangerous to be left alone. I explained how we weren’t going to be allowed back on earth—couldn’t see Gramps or Gram again, and she seemed sad at that, but then I told her we’d always be together now, and she brightened back up. I even told her how I was expected to

control

Evie as her handler, and she looked like I’d said something funny, but didn’t seem to disapprove or anything. I let her out of my arms and sat back against the far wall of the containment cell, and Eve danced around between my legs holding onto my hand, giggling and trilling like it was all some game. “I take it you’re okay with this development?” I asked with a chuckle. Evie did a cartwheel in response.

There was a chiming sound from overhead, and then a voice, “Mr. Samson, we’re sending in a team; there’s some security measures we need to establish with Alpha-03.”

Before I could respond, the forcefield at the cargo door opened again, and a convoy of people marched through. There were a dozen aliens wearing black and gold power armor, with large guns that looked more sophisticated than anything I’d ever seen before. Behind the soldiers, a couple researchers—Doctor Gorgam and Doctor Kretz pushed a levitating white cart towards us.

Instantly, Evie put herself before me and snarled viciously as a dozen tentacles manifested from her back, curved up high in the air with spears and scythes all trained on the newcomers. The soldiers dropped into defensive positions and aimed their guns at us while the researchers desperately tried to keep the peace. I could see Evie’s face looked nearly feral, with her mouth wide and flashing out several rows of vicious fangs as a growl rumbled in her throat.

I knelt behind her and pulled her into another embrace and shushed her gently, calming her down, “Evie, it’s okay, they’re not going to hurt us. Please, just behave, for me, okay?”

Eve looked back at me, and her expression softened immediately. She nodded once, and the tentacles all returned to her body. Collectively, everyone unclenched their buttholes at the same time.

Doctor Gorgam shook his head, a look of amazement in his eyes, “Absolutely unbelievable.” He chuckled.

Doctor Kretz wasn’t so amazed, instead he looked quite nervous, “Mr. Samson, we’re going to need you to keep Alpha-03 compliant now, this is very important.”

I picked Evie up as I stood and walked over to them—a wary look in Eve’s eyes all the while, “What’s going on?”

Doctor Gorgam looked a little uneasy, “Unfortunately, we can’t rely

only

on your control of Alpha-03. We must establish a failsafe protocol for security purposes.”

I stopped before them, looking at the strange hover-cart, “And we need to do this

now

?”

Doctor Gorgam nodded grimly, “The sooner the better just in case…anything happens.” He said apologetically.

I wasn’t sure if he was implying something could happen to me, or anything Eve might do, but let it go with a quick sigh, “Alright, what do we need to do?”

Doctor Kretz pulled something out of the cart, it looked like a small silver egg with a little window that showed some yellow liquid inside, “You need to command Alpha-03 to allow us to secure this device within her biomass core.”

I quirked up an eyebrow, “I assume that’s some sort of bomb?”

“Yes, it houses the destabilizing acid, the only way to kill a Predazoan; we’ll implant this in her core as a failsafe in case she ever becomes a threat.”

Evie looked back and forth between the researchers and me, seeing how I would respond—I was sure she understood what we were talking about now.

“On one condition.” I insisted, and they gestured for me to continue, “I’m the one who controls it.”

The alien doctors looked at each other, then to me, “You would control the failsafe?”

I nodded, “More like I don’t want anyone

else

to control it. I don’t want one of you doctors to jump the gun and kill her when I could maybe still talk her down. I trust Evie and I believe she’ll listen to us, so I’ll only take this failsafe knowing I’ll never have to use it.”

The doctors turned off their translators again to talk amongst themselves, and I could see it was a quick, heated argument, but I knew what the gist of it would be; I was untrained, it was too much responsibility, it would be too dangerous, etcetera. But I refused to yield, and when they turned back to me, Doctor Gorgam nodded, “Our condition is we’ll allow you to control the failsafe, but we must place a cardiac monitor on you; in the event you’re killed, the failsafe will go off. This will give Alpha-03 even more motivation to follow your commands and keep you safe.”

I smirked at that, knowing damn well Eve was going to do everything in her power to protect me—like she already had. I placed Evie on the cart and turned her face to look at me, “Alright Evie, the doctors are going to need to implant something in your core, a security failsafe to make sure you won’t be out of their control.” She opened her mouth to protest, but I put a finger on her lips, “But

I’m

going to be in charge of it, and I trust you completely, so I know we’ll never need to use it, okay?” Then I gestured to myself, “And it’s going to be locked on me, so if I die, it’ll kill you too. I know, pretty fucked up, but I think these are the rules we’re gonna have to run with if they’re going to let us out and about on their mission.” I smiled, “It just means you have to keep me safe.”

Eve eyed me flatly, as though that was never in question. She let out a little huff, then trilled a little in annoyance, then turned to the doctors. Her dress rippled into her white skin, then her chest and ribcage opened up to reveal a strange, pulsing orb about the size of my fist. It was red and black and looked like a mash of brains and hearts mixed together. Evie trilled again, as though telling the doctors to get on with it.

Doctor Gorgam secured the little egg-bomb to Eve’s core with a sophisticated netting of silver wires, then placed a small silver disk on top. When it was all secure in place, he activated something on the disk, and Eve’s core flashed brightly, then solidified, and it looked like it had a repulser forcefield around it. Eve sucked in a quick breath and screamed out in anger, turning a glare at the doctors, then at me. She closed her chest up quickly, then held her arms out to be picked up again.

I scooped her up and looked at the doctors, “That’s it, we’re all good?”

Doctor Kertz waved a hand through the air, “We’ll still need to fit you with the cardiac monitor and sync it with the failsafe, but for now it’s fine.” He handed me a small white disk with a black center that fit in the palm of my hand, “Here’s the controller. In case you ever need to activate it, press and hold the center button for three seconds, then a series of prompts will display you’ll need to follow through.”

“It’s not a quick process, definitely not something that could be activated on accident. It’s only a worst-case, last-case scenario, so we hope you really won’t ever have to use it.” Doctor Gorgam clarified.

I looked down at the little disk; Evie’s life in the palm of my hand. I chuckled to myself, knowing I’d absolutely never use it. I turned to the doctors, “So what now?”

Doctor Gorgam smiled, “Now, it’s time to settle in; your training aboard

The Radiance

starts as soon as you’re able, and once you’re clear for duty, it’s time to hunt down the other Predazoans.”