*Mae*
"Mabel? Mabel, where are you, my love?"
Mama.
I could hear her now.
Her voice calling out to me.
Her arms ready to embrace me at a moment's notice.
Her bright smile that could light up a room and power a whole town if given the right opportunity.
I swear I could still feel her warmth even miles away now, her voice sounding like it was in a tunnel yet the strength inside her tone radiating outwards towards me.
As if she was talking to me through a dream.
As if she was determined to grasp ahold of me even now.
We were separated by time and space, lengths of light travel and timespan that nobody could ever predict that could or would happen in the nearby future.
And yet, I could still feel her presence, could still feel her hands reaching out to grasp ahold of mine through the darkened haze that overpowered my senses and just when I thought all hope was lost, just when I thought I had truly gone mad after all like little Alice in Wonderland, my body was pulled through the thickened haze and I was launched into the warm embrace of my mother's arms.
Gasping as her soft skin made contact with mine for the first time in so long, tears swelled in my eyes that I tried so hard to keep at bay as Mama held me within her arms.
"Mom…"
My voice was nearly inaudible through the heavy static in my ears that was so loud, I could almost see it through my eyes.
It was the strangest sensation to encounter but these dreams were strange to begin with.
They were so vivid, so realistic that I could have sworn that they were actually happening.
A small part of me wondered if the planet and the atmosphere, the oxygen rich scenery that I was taking in visually, was at the cause for these odd, almost hallucinogenic phenomenons.
Something was very different about this planet and I wasn't just talking about the native aliens that inhabited the planet; There was a weird phenomenon that was occuring during these times of restful periods rather frequently, it was almost as if time and space were warping together and creating a unique physical place that was neither on Earth, this new planet or anywhere else that I've ever seen before.
It was almost as if we were on another dimensional sentinel plane altogether.
Almost.
But nothing ever felt quite as familiar as when Mama's arms held me close to her body like she did when I was a young girl and she needed to protect me from the big, bad world, and I sighed when I felt her arms hold me in a powerful, maternal grip that could only be from her.
"Oh, my love. You're alright! God, I feared the worst when I thought of where you and little Lettie would be by now."
Mama exclaimed as she finally pulled back from our prolonged embrace, her blue eyes widening as she held me by the shoulders whilst her gaze flickered around our stationary position in search of my younger sister.
"Where is she, little Lettie? I thought she would be here by now…"
Mama trailed off and I was quick to grab her averting attention by reaching up and squeezing her hands on my shoulders, I didn't know how much time this phenomenon would allow me to have in general, let alone how much time I could spend with my mother and I wasn't going to waste a second of it.
"Mama….I don't know how much time I have to see you but you have to tell me where you are so I can find you, okay? Just tell me where you are."
My voice was pleading as I tried to get some answers out of my mother about her current location but Mama was not listening to me, the glazed over look in her eyes confirming my deepest fears and worst suspicions yet.
Her smile turned from happiness to an almost dazed-like expression, her gaze drifting from my own as she smiled at something unknown beyond me.
Even though she was staring into my eyes, it was like she couldn't see me anymore.
And I just knew, somehow, that she was gone mentally now.
She was somewhere else where I couldn't reach her, physically, mentally or emotionally, and that pained me almost as much as her next spoken words drove a knife deeper into my heart.
"Pretty….It is so beautiful here, mon amour, isn't it? So pretty…."
She trailed off as her voice grew distant just like she was growing distant from me and I could feel my heart break in two just like my voice was breaking as tears clogged my throat and my vision,
"Mama, please. Please, tell me where you are. I can't get to you here, this isn't real. This place isn't real, Mom."
I tried to convince her to give away her location but she wasn't budging, not in the least bit.
She only smiled dazedly as she reached out and smoothed her hands down the sides of my head, smoothing out the flyaway red hairs that were sticking out of place much like she used to do when I was younger and my hair was unruly in my earlier youthful days.
"My lovely Mabel….This place is as real as you and I are. Can you not see it?"
She gestured around us as if to show me something amazing but all I saw was the smoke and haze, my eyes squinted as a blinding headache that resembled a faint migraine overpowered my senses.
What was she referring to?
What could Mama see that I was apparently oblivious to?
"Mom….There's nothing here…."
I told her but she shook her head, tuning me out just like she tuned out the rest of the world and her hands wrapped around mine once, squeezing with the faintest bit of reassurance as her body began to glow brighter than the white clothes she was wearing.
My eyes widened with shock, what was happening to her now?
"Ma chérie, don't be afraid of what you cannot see, yes? I must go now, my sweet Mabel. Take care of Lettie for me."
She said to me abruptly before she leaned forward and pressed a loving kiss against my forehead, my eyes blinking once and before I knew it, she was gone for good.
My heart sank as I fought to keep the sudden overwhelming tears at bay but then, something even stranger happened.
The light that was glowing from almost inside of Mama burst outwards even after she was gone and the force of power sent my body tumbling backwards through the darkened haze, sudden pain blasting through my bones like the strangest heat source that burned brightest at its core.
The blast was so strong that when I opened my mouth to scream out in pain, I could feel my skin melting away, evaporating as my blood boiled and burst through the surface of my liquidized flesh until there was nothing left to hold back the transformation of my body from skin and bones to melted acid.
Jolting awake with a startled gasp as phantom pain flared up in my bones before disappearing without another notice, my chest heaved as I lifted a shaky tied up hand to wipe the sweat off my forehead, my eyes glancing around my surroundings as I took in the familiar scenery once again.
I was back at the makeshift campsite that belonged to these aliens, the sun was slowly creating over the surface of the treeline which meant that daybreak was only a few minutes away, if Earth minutes were broken down and reconstructed on this planet in a similar time fashion.
I couldn't exactly remember how I ended up back here and my only memory before everything went dark again was when the alien captured me just as I was about to break through the forest and I was dragged back like a sack of potatoes thrown over a hardened shoulder.
That memory was a bit new to me, and to be quite honest, the roughened feeling of that male's shoulder digging into my abdomen, his hands that scratched like sandpaper against my skin bracing down on the backs of my thighs to keep me in place and from falling off his shoulders, those sensations shouldn't have done something to me but they did.
Those feelings caused something deep inside of me to awaken that has been dormant for so long and now here I was, blushing to myself whilst thinking about those hard muscles on that alien's body.
Surely, I have suffered some demoralizing brain damage to be thinking about such needless things like body structure when I should be thinking about how to get out of here.
That other alien from earlier who had helped me escape was busy distancing himself from me, his weary eyes apparently taking the first watch of the day as he sat across from the small but budding fire that I hadn't noticed was suddenly situated only a few mere feet away from my captive position.
Perhaps that's why I haven't frozen to death, who knows how drastic these temperatures get when they drop and or when they skyrocket out of nowhere on this planet.
And since I deemed the male who helped me before as useless now that he seems terrified to be around me, I couldn't exactly blame him either for that, my eyes scanned the forest ground for anything that could help me out of my bindings and maybe help me navigate to the nearest town that boarded this forest.
I knew this planet wasn't all vegetation and wildlife, because where else would these things have come from?
The beach beyond the forest treeline was proof that there was some civilization somewhere on this planet and I was going to be the one to find it even if it killed me, goddamn it.
But first, I had to undo these knotted bindings around my wrists and ankles which, under any other circumstance, I would've applauded their handiwork.
The bindings were almost to the point of constricting my body and cutting off all blood flow to my extremities so I did have to give it to them.
After all, these things were much smarter than I initially gave them credit for but that was perhaps because of their earlier attire.
Speaking of which, my eyes glanced downwards to examine if the other male was dressed in a similar fashion to the more aggressive one earlier and I could breathe the barest sigh of relief when I saw that he was the only one wearing drawing pants of sorts.
Thank God!
I never thought I'd be one to be thanking the eternal beings out there for someone wearing pants but hey, you can experience a new thing everyday, in case you didn't already know that by now.
But then, a glimmer of shiny metal caught the corner of my eye and I squinted as my vision focused onto the pinpoint destination.
There was a small metal box sitting next to the male, a box that seemed all too familiar and I could feel a bubble of hope start to build in the center of my chest.
It was a translating device, old in time and fashion as they were more commonly used back on Earth then on the Celestial but in my frantic state of mind, I must've managed to save it when the Calypso crash landed and the aliens must've picked it up thinking it was important to me.
Almost nearly as important as my other belongings, such as my clothes and my old photographs but it's a start, I suppose.
"Mmphff? Mphff!"
I made a few noises of distress, loud enough to catch the attention of the male at the fire as his head perked up and his sharp ears twitched, his head cocking to the side as if he was trying to understand me.
Yeah, you and me both, buddy.
"Mmphff?"
I made the same noise as I twisted in my bindings, my attention on the device that lay dormant like the other predatory male sleeping half a football field away from my position or so.
Because if I could get my hands on that device, I had a better chance of communicating with these aliens and maybe they might be able to help me get off this planet.
It was a better shot then just letting them keep me prisoner, for fuck's sake.
I wasn't a criminal, I was just acting like one so I could get the hell out of here.
The male frowned as his eyes glanced over my appearance, emotions that seemed quite human in nature like indecisiveness seeming to transcend species as he mentally debated on whether or not to free me.
But even if I couldn't verbally communicate with him the greatest, as the cloth was back to being shoved in my mouth, my eyes told a story of pain and suffering.
Of needing and wanting help but never getting the chance to receive it.
Perhaps he felt sorry for me, or maybe he just wanted some company so he didn't have to deal with that other asshole of an alien, but for whatever the reason, I was immensely grateful when the alien stood up and walked over to untie my bindings.
I was so grateful that I managed to pull together a smile, even as my lips were chapped and bleeding, teeth and gums were hurting from being rubbed raw with the rough fabric of the cloth, and I could finally take in the first deep breath that I've been deprived of for so long now as the alien untied my bound wrists and ankles.
"Thank you so much for that. I…um…"
Starting to stutter as I knew that he couldn't understand me, and I certainly didn't want a repeat of what happened earlier, my numb legs helped to shuffle my body towards the translating device before my shaky fingers managed to grab onto the box as it threatened to slip out of my grip twice now.
Jesus, Mae.
Get a grip, they're just aliens, not the Commander and her fleet or anything terrifying like that.
Turning the box over in my hands, I was quick to locate the switch to power up the device, my dirt covered fingertips flipping open the top casing as I turned on several switches with high hopes that one of the many artificial intelligence wave streams would be able to locate and identify their primal language that my human ears have been unable to put a name to.
"Come on, buddy, work for me…"
Speaking under my breath, I let out an exclamation of surprise when the device powered up with no delay and I thanked the stars that it hadn't been too damaged with the abrupt crash landing.
"Alright then, so…"
Straightening my spine as I finally regained some normal sensations back in my lower half, my feet shifted side to side nervously as the alien looked me over with a glance of indifference.
Could facial expressions transcend the barriers of species as well?
Possibly, if I really think hard enough about it.
"So, um…."
By holding the device between us as we stood a good three or four feet apart, I was able to speak into it with ease while maintaining eye contact with the semi friendly alien.
Or at least, he was friendlier than the other one from earlier on.
"I guess I should start by introducing myself. I'm Mabel, by the way. Mabel Minerva, a low level engineer and mechanic on the Celestial."
I started by saying as if I was interviewing for a job back on the Celestial before I mentally kicked myself for acting like an idiot.
Of course, they didn't need to know everything about me right away.
They needed to assess if I was a threat or not and they certainly wouldn't find that out by me blabbering my mouth on my full amount of personal information and identification.
"Uh…I have no idea if you can understand me or not but I hadn't meant to come to your planet. It was an honest mistake, the trajectories aboard my ship placed me well above your atmosphere but my ship had suffered severe damage so miscalculations have to be taken into evaluation."
The more I spoke, the more confused the alien seemed to be and just when he started to open his mouth to speak, the other aggressive male had just arose from his peaceful slumber with a startle before he jumped to his feet and I swear, the planet shook at the sudden impact of his body.
Hell, my whole body shook and I gulped as I nearly stumbled whilst standing still in place.
But then, something incredible happened, the angered male who I inadvertently pissed off some more opened his mouth and when he spoke, the translating device buzzed within my hands, the language that left his lips being translated back to English for my ears.
"You….You now speak our language?"
He asked with a strange accent, one that couldn't be detected by dialogue alone unlike many of the languages back on Earth, and I hesitated to give an indifferent shrug, unsure of how to answer his blunt question.
"Yes…Sort of? For now, that is. I'm not sure how long the translator will hold up or if it will need adjustments in the future–"
He cut me off with a sharp motion of his hand, his eyes widening as something clicked inside his head, the wheels and cogs visibly turning inside his mind before his mouth opened once more and I could almost feel my heart still in my chest at his next words.
"Your vocal tone sounds delicate and light, not at all as if you are in the late stages of growing youthfulness–"
Uh….Say what now? Growing stages?
His bronze face seemed to pale and my eyebrows raised up with surprise when he spoke next, his finger pointing at me in a commanding tone, as if he was accusing me of something terrible.
But little did I know, something miniscule about my body, my personality, about my whole being in general meant something bigger then I could've imagined, something that I never even considered to be that big of a deal before was going to determine if they helped me or not.
"You….You are female."
He said confidently as if he was so convinced that I was female, which I was so don't get me wrong here about that, and I gulped when both of their eyes turned to me as my fingers twisted around each other repeatedly.
I almost didn't want to answer him but I had no choice, if I didn't speak the truth, who knows what they might do to me.
"Yes, I am female."
Feel free to comment, like and share, y'all!
-Ro♥️