"No, but I noticed you have not slept well."
"What do you expect? You said the tests would not hurt and I believed you. Now I am angry at myself for believing you."
"I am sorry you were hurt. In most cases, there are no complaints."
"Most cases, but not all? So some of your test subjects are being hurt. I should have known. I just thought that since your race was so advanced, and we are so primitive, you would do better."
"I'm sorry." The alien seemed to be upset. "I brought the last missing page for your binder."
"The binder is over there," she pointed "Go ahead and put it in yourself." She didn't feel like helping.
He inserted the page carefully and placed the binder just as he had found it. "It has important information you should read."
"And you give it to me now? Does it tell me how to get off this planet?"
Ickcy shook. His whole body shook.
"What is wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing is wrong. The page has no instruction on how to get off the planet."
So that was how way they expressed a negative, she thought. It made sense, the swaying meant the same as a nod, so the shaking must have been no. "Was there any other point to your visit?"
"No." He turned to leave and glanced back. "The name of this planet is Humex. I think you asked me that before."
She nodded. She knew he was trying to appease her by answering one of her questions.
As soon as he disappeared into the forest, she ran to the canoe and pushed off. She probably had a bit over an hour.
She arrived to the spot where she had seen the lights and landed the canoe. She made her way through the forest and that is when she came upon a house. She was so astounded to find it she stared for a moment.
"I can't believe my hair frizzes out so much here," said a female voice. "And my skin is so dry."
Suki had meant to greet who ever it was, but instead she hid behind a tree.
A young woman and the man she had seen before came out from behind the house. "The frizzy hair is the least of our problems," said the man.
"We don't really have other problems, Enrico. This is the most concerning problem I have," said the woman.
"I don't know about you, but I don't want to be here on this planet. I want to go back to Earth."
"Earth was not that great for me."
"How can you say that? What about your family?"
"I don't really have family."
"What about your friends?"
"They were losers. Don't look at me that way. Most of them were, what can I say? They were always in trouble either with the law or with their other criminal friends. The last guy I dated dragged me into a huge mess. I didn't do anything, but I was scheduled to be in court the day I was brought here."
"You have not been in the village long. Is this the first place you came to from Earth?"
"Yep, three days ago."
"You have only been here three days, so I'll wait to see how you feel after a few months."
A look of concern crossed her face but she continued sounding positive. "It shouldn't make a difference. Look at all the friends I have made so far, in just three days. I do make friends easily."
"I guess you do, Jenna."
"Come on Enrico, don't rock the boat. We have a good thing here," the woman took the man's waist and swung in front of him.
He smiled down at her.
Suki felt she was intruding and glanced at her watch. She only had ten minutes left to get back to the cabin. She crept quietly away.
Once she was back she analyzed what had happened. Her logical mind was good for this. She had noticed that since the alien experiment on her, the logical side of her mind had become more vocal.
She had found two humans, and she had done it without the aliens' knowledge, both good points. But why did she hide from them? Was it shyness or was it she didn't trust other humans in this planet? What if they told the aliens she was there and then the aliens made her life worse?
That was it. She agreed with the girl that things were not so bad on Planet Humex and she didn't want them to get bad. But, but unlike her, Suki did want to go back to Earth.
If Enrico had a way, she wanted to know what it was.
Before sleeping she decided to read the new page that had been added to the binder. She shouldn't have.
It warned her not to venture further than two miles from the cabin. There it was, in bold letters. Two miles? The village was further away than that.
Why hadn't they warned her before? This was an important bit of information to have it hidden on page 23. They wanted her alone, isolated. What kind of sick experiment was this?
Well, she had made it to the village and she had had no repercussions. She had to go back and talk to Enrico and it didn't hurt that he was handsome. Of course, said her logical mind, as far as she knew, he was the only human male on the planet. Even an ugly human male might look appealing.
Chapter 12
Suki was finishing her shower when she saw the white suit through the glass door. He was waiting in her bedroom.
The cabin had only two main rooms and the tiny bathroom was right off the bedroom. She had no complaints about this. It was nice to have a bathroom nearby and the shower had an endless supply of water at the perfect temperature.
Of course if someone was in her bedroom, they could see inside the bathroom. She quickly grabbed a towel and covered herself. She stepped out of the shower. "Ickcy what are you doing here?"
"I brought you some carbs."
He obviously didn't realize what he had done, said her logical mind. "That is very nice, but you should not come into a human's bedroom when they are in the bathroom."
"Oh. I whistled at the door, but you didn't answer. Anyway, I think you know I have seen you naked before."
"Yeah," she sighed. "I just realized that, just as I said it." They monitored her continuously, but it seemed an invasion of privacy for him to be physically there, didn't it? Her logical mind started to laugh at her.
"Why do you wash yourself in water anyways?" asked Ickcy.
"Most humans enjoy the shower and our bodies need to be cleaned. Dead skin cells have to be removed."
He shook a bit. "I'll go wait in the other room." He sounded disgusted.
She dressed quickly and joined him. "Oh my goodness, it that fresh bread?"
"For you."
"Thank you Ickcy."
"There is a human who makes the bread and she wants you to give her something in exchange, a barter."
She was quite sure the young woman she had seen was not the baker. So in addition to the young girl and the man there was someone else, she thought. "Barter? What can I give her? Shall I talk to her to find out what she wants?"
"No. There will be no communication between you. She will take anything you can give. You seem to have plenty of vegetables."
She nodded. "Yes. I could make a souffl? with the vegetables, oh," she stopped. "I would need cheese and eggs for that. Let me think, there is something else I could make."
"I will leave you to decide. Tomorrow I will come to collect it."
He left her as she thought out her plan. It was the first time he had told her when he was coming ahead of time. It would give her another chance to return to the house she had found.
Next she came up with an idea for a nice tomato and eggplant terrine. She wanted the baker to enjoy it so that her bread supply would be ensured.
"Did she like it?" asked Mckcy when he returned to the ship.
"Yes. Thank you Mckcy. It was a good idea to give her the bread from the Forest Village baker."
"I noticed the humans in the village enjoy eating the bread and most give the baker other products in return. I hope it doesn't corrupt the Alone Project."
"It shouldn't. She is not meeting any humans and actually she needs to eat carbs."
"Carbs?"
"It's all part of a human's balanced diet," He explained the same things Suki h
ad told him.
"Oh. So with a balanced diet the humans live longer?"
"Apparently yes."
"You are so smart Ickcy. Even without a High degree in Humanity, I think you know more about humans than most Experimenters.'
Ickcy smiled and thanked Mckcy for the complement. She was a very pretty Neubulissky, he thought as he went back to his station.
Chapter 13
She was getting better with the canoe and since she knew exactly where to go, she got there quickly. As soon as Ickcy had left with the vegetable terrine she was out the door.
She almost ran through the forest, knowing the time was ticking away. She came up to the house and continued beyond. That is when she noticed the other houses. There was a whole group of them!
Why did they get to live together while she was alone? She felt cheated. Then she saw a middle aged woman and the girl from the other day walking towards her. She couldn't help it and hid again.
She was such a scared-y cat, she scolded herself, go out there and say hello, but she stayed hidden.
"I am sure you can help me," said the woman.
"But, do I have to?"
"Everyone in the village has to work on something."
"I could do makeup, or maybe hair styling? I like that."
The woman looked at her and didn't answer for a bit. "Jenna, I don't think that many women here would ask for those services. We are so busy just making enough food to keep us alive. Anyways where would you get the makeup and hair products?"
"I would ask the aliens for them. They want us to be happy right?"
"Right," the woman sighed. "Well I need some help, if you are interested."
They parted ways and luckily neither came her way.
"Why are you sneaking around?"
She turned and saw the guy from the other day standing in front of her. For all the talking she had been doing, words failed her now in front of another human.
"Can you speak?" he asked.
"Yes I can," she finally blurted out. The alarm on her watch went off at that moment. "I have to go."
She went past him, but he grabbed her wrist. "Wait. What are you doing here?"
"I came to see if there were other humans."
"Oh. I recognize you from the other day. You were across the lake."
"Yeah, I saw you too." He was much handsomer closer, she thought, gazing at him.
"You probably shouldn't be here," he said.
"You're right, I have to go. The Overseers will come looking for me." She pulled away from him and started through the forest.
He followed. "How do you know how much time you have?"
"I did an experiment. Call them and see how long they take to get here. You'll have to do it a few times to get their schedules, but once you do, they follow them pretty consistently."
"How much time did you have?"
"About an hour and fifteen minutes for my Overseer, but it could be different for yours. Hey, don't follow me anymore, I am not supposed to be with other humans."
He stopped. "What is your name?" He almost had to shout as she came to the canoe.
She didn't answer as she quickly pushed the canoe out into the lake. She paddled furiously to get out in the middle and looked at her watch again. She didn't think she had gotten away in time, luckily she was wrong.
Ickcy watched Suki as she paddled back to the cabin. She was on the lake a lot lately. Maybe it was her way to deal with what was happening to her.
"Ickcy?" Mckcy was standing behind him.
"Yes."
"Do you have the barter item? I'm going down to the Forest Village."
"Yes. I brought it with me. It is a 'tomato, eggplant terrine'." He presented it to her.
"I don't think I can pronounce all that, but it looks interesting."
"It's probably not necessary you say it, just give it to the baker. Suki says she hopes she likes it."
"Ickcy, I think it is best you refer to her as Subject #78."
"Does it matter?"
"It makes it sound like you are talking about a friend and not a test Subject."
"Oh. I wouldn't want anyone to think that. Subject #78 wants to please Subject #22 so she gets a steady supply of bread, for her carb requirement. Is that better?"
"Yes it is. I'll take the ? the thing to Subject #22 now."
Chapter 14
She could hardly wait for Ickcy to visit again so that she could be assured of having an hour to go to the village. She was more positive about things and had started to sing again. She caught herself singing to the fish as she fed them bits of bread. She loved the bread, but so did the fish, so they shared.
As far as she knew, no more tests had been done on her. She should have known that was going to change.
Ickcy arrived and as she greeted him she noticed that he seemed to walk slower than usual.
"What is wrong Ickcy?"
"Why do you think something is wrong?"
"You seem sad or worried?"
"You are right. The Experimenter wants to see you again."
"Oh." It was Suki's turn to be worried.
"I made a complaint about what happened last time, but nothing came of it. The Experimenters are a level above me so there was no reprimand."
"You made a complaint?"
"Of course, I am the Overseer."
"Well I will not drink the chemical unless you are allowed to come with the Experimenter."
"I don't think they will allow me to come with her."
"Fine. I will not drink any water."
"But you will die if you don't have water."
"Yes I will."
He stood for a long time without saying anything.
"You are the Overseer and you care for my well being," she said. "The Experimenter does not. I don't trust her."
When he arrived to the ship he reported it exactly like Subject #78 had said. He thought The Manager would be angry, but he wasn't. He was intrigued.
"That is amazing," he said. "I have read about some captives relating to their captors, but we had never had any such cases. I thought it was because we are such different life forms. Subject #78 may be trying to become your friend."
"What should I tell the Experimenter?"
"Who is it?"
"Dr. Lctch."
"Oh," he winced. "That is too bad. She can be quite unreasonable."
Ickcy swayed in agreement.
"Well, I'll talk to her. She will just have to accept. This is an interesting scientific break through."
After Ickcy left, Suki debated whether she should take a chance and go to the village. Ickcy would report that she refused to drink the water and who knows if they would monitor her right away. Maybe she would not have the hour she normally had; it was risky. She decided to go for a paddle on the canoe.
The next thing she knew was that she was heading to the village. Maybe secretly she had a death wish, her logical mind told her.
Once there she hid again and this time she saw different people. There was an old man and woman walking hand in hand just as if they were teens. Then a couple of men in their forties passed by arguing about something. She couldn't believe there were so many humans, but there was no sign of the man she wanted to see.
"Your explanation was not too clear," a voice said near her.
"Hi," she smiled seeing it was the guy. "What explanation?"
"The explanation on how to measure how much time we have between the monitoring. I always seem to find you hiding behind trees. Why do you hide?"
"I am afraid one of you will tell the aliens I have been here and they will make my life harder."
"Okay. That is a valid reason."
"I have to go again."
"It seems we don't have much time to talk, but I get it," he turned towards the lake.
She started to walk in that direction and he went with her.
"Do you know a way off this planet?" she asked.
"No. Not yet."
"Too ba
d, they are going to run tests on me again."
"I'm pretty sure they do that all the time."
"They have only done it once with me."
"Really? That does not sound right."
"Really, only once. I drank the chemical in the water and I slept very deeply. They ran some tests then and it hurt when I awoke."
"They put a chemical in the water?"
"In my pitcher of water. I saw him do it."
"And you drank it? Why would you?"
"It is better than being forced. Of course I thought the Overseer would protect me."
"Why would they? They are all aliens."
"But they are not all the same." They had reached the spot where she had asked him to stay the last time. He stopped.
"I guess it's time to say good-bye?"
"Yeah. By the way, my name is Suki. Good-bye Enrico."
"You know my name?"
"I overheard it the first time I came."
"When will I see you again?"
"I don't know," she said as she continued walking towards her canoe.
"Hey," he shouted through the forest. "I live in the house facing the lake. The first one you come to."
She got back to the cabin and waited. There was bound to be some repercussion and she wondered what could they do to her. After an hour she started to relax. It didn't seem the repercussions would come today.
She relaxed and started to sing. Her mood was quite buoyant.
Chapter 15
Suki was back on the lake again. Having met Enrico and seen other humans so close to her, it was impossible to keep away. And the best part was that no one had noticed her little trips.
She arrived to the other side of the lake and swiftly ran through the forest. She was now familiar with every bump and branch along the way. Once she reached Enrico's house she paused.
Was it too forward to knock on his door she wondered briefly; she quickly overcame her modesty. Planet Humex was not Earth and proprieties probably did not apply.
She knocked and waited a few seconds. No one replied and she couldn't wait any longer. She could almost hear the time ticking away.
She made her way to the main part of town and walked down the street. It wasn't really a street, more like a dirt pathway, but she felt very brave and proud she could do it, instead of hiding.
After a few moments she started to wonder where the people were. Then she heard voices and went towards them. The voices were coming from a structure that looked like a barn.