✅ Project SETI 3: Eve's Advent

Part XIII: Conditions

Temet had completely shut down. Sam kept insisting that she wasn't being held prisoner, but it certainly felt that way. They'd brought in a huge king size mattress for her to sleep on, and for food, she was brought a combination of synthetic lipids and animal fat. It lacked the flair and flavourings when prepared by Daxut, and she quickly got sick of it. She didn't even have a place to wash herself properly—she had to contend with the human washroom attached to the conference room, which only had a sink and toilet. At the very least, there was direct sunlight most of the day; the room had many east and west-facing windows that she could use to charge her tablet, which used solar energy as a backup. Even though the content available to her on it was extensive, she'd grown bored of that too.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed; she closed all the blinds yesterday morning and they blocked light pretty well. All she did was lay in bed, and occasionally she'd sleep—but in general, she was waiting for her body to shut down even more and give out completely from the lack of sustenance. When that time came, she banked on the human doctors not knowing how to treat her.

Her thoughts felt distant, but the emotions attached to them consumed her to the point of complete and utter numbness. She grieved for her mother, she grieved for Novala, and she grieved the loss of her life as she knew it. Her dream of becoming a multi-discipline engineer seemed stymied at best, but realistically, it felt nothing short of impossible now. The humans couldn't teach her the same things the Daxut would have.

If they'd teach me at all, she thought to herself.

Temet was jarred back to reality when she heard Sam speaking just outside the door across from her, and she sluggishly rolled over to the edge of the bed and forced herself to sit up and when she realized she had visitors. She reached down and pulled her trousers up, but didn't bother with her shirt. This left her scaly olive-green stomach and dark teal breastplate visible, along with the smooth black feathers that surrounded them.

"Temet?" Sam called from the doorway as she and Julia entered. It was a rather large room, and Temet had pushed her bed to the furthest corner opposite the door, out of any direct sunlight. "It's me, Sam. I've brought a friend. Is it okay if we chat right now?"

"Okay," Temet half-whispered back. She stood up slowly, like she had several sopping wet towels draped over her back and arms.

"Just stay there—we'll come to you."

Temet sat back down again, and she finally looked up to see who was with Sam. She recognized Julia as she drew near, and she distantly wondered what she was doing here.

"You remember Dr. Julia Nguyen, right?" Sam said. She took a chair from the conference table, wheeled it over to Temet, and sat down in front of her.

"Yes... hello," she turned and nodded at her when she approached.

"Hey," Julia greeted her gently. She took a seat beside Temet on the bed, and she reached for her feathered hand and held it.

Temet flinched and looked down in surprise, but she let Julia hold her hand. Something about it was very comforting, and she didn't know how badly she'd needed touch until just now.

"I'm here to propose something to you," Sam continued. "I've spoken to Gabriel and Nova about your... condition. You'll have to forgive me," she apologized when Temet's crown briefly puffed in frustration, "I can see how much you're suffering, and they care about you, you know."

"And so do I," Julia added. "You saved my best friend's life."

Temet was quiet for a long time. She didn't quite understand what was going on. "Um... okay..."