Chapter 3 – Minnie
THREE
MINNIE
Dr. Trout left me to clean up the mess from our experiments.
He assured me I’d be safe with the unconscious alien.
The purple alien male’s binds were made from metal and intended to keep him to the cot.
I nodded in response to Dr. Trout’s request and agreed to my task, eager for Dr. Trout to go to another room.
Once I was alone, my hands shook and the sight of the alien’s purple blood turned my stomach. We’d harmed a living creature. At the orders of the government we’d hurt him and the best explanation that Dr. Trout could give me was that if we didn’t do this, the aliens would get to us first.
This purple man-beast’s crash landing on earth Dr. Trout and the military interpreted akin to a threat. I didn’t know if I believed that. The alien had gone willingly with the soldiers and likely hardly understood what was going on given that he hadn’t put up much of a fight.
We’d led the poor beast into our torture chambers in the name of science until the pain had been too much for him. Dr. Trout again left me to clean up the mess of the injustice we’d carried out against the creature.
I sniffled and covered up my tears and then I heard rustling of cotton against metal and the purple-skinned alien awakened…
I gasped and jolted back away from him. He raised his head and then groaned before slamming it back down. I whimpered and then kept tidying my corner of the lab, hoping I could finish quickly and leave the room.
I tossed our scalpels and tools in the biohazard waste chute and got to work scrubbing the metal surfaces with industrial strength cleaner.
After a few moments, I couldn’t bear it.
I had to take a look at the alien’s face up close.
I had to see the creature we’d tortured and look him in the eye.
I’d been complicit, and I was prepared to accept the consequences of that, but I could at least offer a word of apology…
I set down my spray bottle and cloth and approached the table. I removed my mask and then my gloves, and stared at his shining green eyes, like peridots sunk into his head.
The alien looked at me as if he knew me, as if he really did understand. This was the first whiff of recognition I’d caught from the creature since seeing him for the first time. And for a creature, he was shockingly… humanoid.
His skin looked similar to mine, but as if it were painted purple. Of course, his skin wouldn’t rub off when I touched it. He was naturally and innately…purple.
I reached my bare hand out, ignoring my own trembling fear. I had to overcome it. I had to reach out and touch him to see if it was true that he really understood. Touch can convey twenty times more than a look after all.
I’d sutured him up where we’d cut wearing my nitrile gloves and working under the most sterile conditions, but I wanted to make contact with his bare skin to remind myself that this creature we were studying was very very real.
I approached him tentatively and he only watched me without recoiling as I drew so close that I could feel warmth emanating from his skin.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, choking back my sadness at the inhumanity I’d participated in.
I made contact with the alien’s skin and felt his warm flesh beneath my finger tips for the first time.
I recoiled even as he remained motionless.
I’d expected him to feel different to my bare hands.
Touching him felt so… natural. His skin was normal, a bit tougher than mine, but not too unusual like a reptile or a fish.
He was smooth, relatively hairless and muscled.
We knew from our studies that he was mammalian, yet still unlike any mammal that existed on earth.
I touched him again and apologized.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered again.
He raised his head as if he could understand. I gasped and stepped back.
The alien whispered, “For what are you sorry?”
I yelped and stepped back, crashing into a tray of tools and sealed hypodermic needles and then falling flat on my behind in the lab.
“Careful,” he said.
“You…you understand us!”
“Yes…”
I rose to my feet and folded my arms, cocking an eyebrow.
“How can you understand us?”
“I just do.”
“B-but we cut into you.”
“Yes. You did.”
“We hurt you and you didn’t utter out in pain once.”
“I did not.”
My eyes narrowed and I took a step back, wondering if I’d need to defend myself against him. If he could understand then maybe he’d seek vengeance.
“Why are you talking to me now?”
“Because, I’ve finally met what I’m looking for,” he uttered in a deep, raspy, otherworldly voice.
A chill ran down my spine. I grasped at the table behind me, thinking that maybe I could toss a beaker at his head if push came to shove. Then, I could make a break for it and scream for help.
“Which is what precisely?”
I expected that if I were ever in this kind of situation, I would be terrified. But as I approached the creature, I was remarkably calm.
“What’s your name,” I asked.
“Vidar.”
“How are we communicating? I can’t imagine you speak English.”
“That is none of your concern.”
“I think it is!”
“Or what?,” he rasped, “You’ll attack me with another scalpel?”
I lowered my head to sheepishly avoid his gaze, my guilt rising to nearly astronomical levels.
“I was only listening to my boss.”
“Is that how humans are then? They listen to cruel orders without question?”
“No! Well, sometimes. I guess I did. But not everyone would. Maybe… I… It’s going to be hard to explain.”
“Don’t explain. Loosen the binds on my arms.”
“I-I can’t do that,” I answered firmly.
If Dr. Trout were right, if this alien had the capacity to break free from his confines and kill me, I didn’t wish to put him to the test, especially not after we’d gut him open and stuck needles into him for the past hour.
“Minerva Hsu. That is your name.”
“Yes.”
“You are more empathetic and intelligent than your coworkers.”
“Thank you. I’m still not going to let you go.”
“Fine. I don’t need you to let me go,” he rasped.
“I’m going to continue working now,” I answered.
“Do not tell Dr. Trout that I can speak.”
“I must report everything that happens in this lab.”
“No. You mustn’t.”
I decided to ignore the alien Vidar’s final comment and while it made me nervous to turn my back to him, I didn’t see how I had any other choice when I had work to do.
I picked up a beaker and sprayed acetone into it to get it clean and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I screamed and turned around.
Vidar clamped his hand around my mouth. He’d broken out of the restraints and crossed the room so quickly and so quietly that it was… impossible.
“The rooms are sound proof, but it will be easier if you don’t scream.”
“LETGOOFME!” I screamed through his hand.
“Promise not to make a sound. I will not hurt you.”
“MMMGGMHMHHMMM!!”
“Promise me,” he insisted, his eyes glowed hauntingly like a cat’s eyes when it’s caught unawares by headlights.
I nodded. He let go of me and I exhaled.
“I don’t believe you won’t hurt me. Please… there are soldiers right outside and I don’t want anything bad to happen,” I whispered.
“You have already hurt me more than I could ever dream of hurting you, Minerva.”
“Doctor Hsu.”
“Doctor? You wish to establish your dominance over me?”
“No. That’s not it. It’s just… I am a doctor.”
“And I am Second Proconsul of the Polluxian Imperium. Yet I do not force you to address me by my formal title. I will be calling you Minerva.”
“Alright, Vidar. Now tell me why you’re pretending to be a weakling who doesn’t understand what’s happening when it’s clear, you’ve got more than a clue.”
“Do you trust me, Minerva?”
“Um… no? Why should I?”
“My ocular implant indicates you have very low levels of stress hormone coursing through your veins. You’re a little on edge but it’s curious. You don’t fear me, so I’m wondering whether you trust me.”
He’d certainly surprised me sneaking up on me like that but he was right. I wasn’t completely terrified by him.
“I’m a scientist. I believe what I can see before me. You could have hurt me, clearly, yet you haven’t.”
“Answer the question. Do you trust me?”
I bit my lip, unsure of how this tall, muscled creature could notice things about me that I hadn’t recognized myself.
He’d mentioned an ocular implant, but we hadn’t detected any technology on his person.
Perhaps this implant of his was why he’d known to demonstrate his true strength only around me.
“I suppose a part of me trusts you,” I admitted reluctantly.
“Good.”
“But I can’t help get you out of here,” I added quickly.
Vidar grinned and I couldn’t help but stare at his teeth, perfectly straight and normal except for his slightly fanged canines. He covered his teeth with his lips once he noticed me staring.
“Do you think I need your help to get out of here?”
“I guess not.”
“Good.”
Vidar was so close that I could feel the heat on his skin.
“Why are you letting us hold you captive?” I asked him.
“Because I can learn more about you that way.”
“You’re here to learn about us?”
Vidar nodded.
“I don’t have much time. Dr. Trout will be in here soon wondering why I haven’t cleaned up,” I urged, hoping that he’d back away. As he drew closer, something strange started happening. The more I noticed Vidar, the less I could get these bizarre thoughts out of my head.
“Dr. Trout is on the fourth floor having a meeting with your superiors. I don’t think you have to worry about him for at least an hour.”
“How can you know that?”
He tapped his right eye.
“My implant attaches to my brain and enables me to hear over vast distances.”
“The room’s soundproof.”
Vidar smiled, exposing his teeth again.
“I know that it’s soundproof…to you…”
Vidar stepped closer to me and his intense masculine scent became suddenly apparent. I hadn’t noticed it before. He smelled exactly like… whiskey… and bourbon… and cinnamon… intense manly smells that I hadn’t noticed while we were studying him.