'Sacmis' (formerly 'Alien Abduction')

Chapter 59: Night Games

Gemma couldn’t sleep.

All of them had returned to their rooms late following Kate’s revelations, a little overwhelmed thanks to too much Chablis and too much information.

Normally the alcohol and the lateness of the hour would have sent her out like a light, but her brain was working overtime on so many levels and she just lay staring at the faint glow of the ceiling trying to sort through the jumble of her thoughts. 

Chief among these was sheer astonishment at the events of the last two weeks, all the more so since she realised that nobody back home would ever believe her. Even if she were foolish enough to tell, the best reaction she could hope for would be a concerned smile and a gentle ‘perhaps you should talk to someone…professional…about this sweetie.’ 

And then there was the joyful discovery of the other three women: she realised how much she had come to like them, to enjoy the sense of sisterhood, the way they had become a team, even though they were all from very different walks of life. She was honest enough with herself to realise that any strangers thrown together in adverse circumstances tended to bond, but to have a relationship with three such exceptional women and, despite the terrors, such emotional support, was new territory for her. At home, her women friends tended also to be teachers, so the talk inevitably revolved around the job and, with it, an unavoidable undercurrent of rivalry.

Gemma realised that life was very unlikely to throw at her another adventure as all-consuming as this had been and, despite a desire to be safely back on Earth, she was forced to acknowledge a sense of disappointment that it would soon be over. But she also felt disappointed for reasons she couldn’t immediately pinpoint and set herself to work out why. 

Like most such feelings, deep-down she knew full well what the issue was, but had avoided staring at it directly and bringing it out into the light - and it was this: exciting and terrifying as the last two weeks had been, she felt as if she had somehow been more on the sidelines, a spectator rather than a player. She realised at once how ridiculous that thought was, since being abducted by aliens could hardly be counted as an everyday experience, but compared to the others, she had done little but provide moral support. 

Kate had landed on Mars, been captured, interrogated and escaped. Not to mention having sex with Matias. Laura and Amisha had been part of the rescue party, boarding the alien ship and bringing Kate and Matias to safety. Sure, if the coin toss - or Irvn’s substitute algorithm - had gone the other way, it could just as easily have been her in place of Laura - and she had been more than willing to go - but it didn’t alter the fact that she had mostly stood back and watched. 

Thinking about Irvn’s computer coin-toss triggered an entirely new thought: had he rigged it? Had he decided to keep her back, with him, rather than risk her capture?

She realised that she needed to know the answer to that - and not in the morning but now, or at least that was the excuse she gave herself as she swung her legs off the bed and dressed quickly. But not so quickly as to dress without thought or neglect fixing her hair.

A few moments later, in a flatteringly-waisted, long white shirt over black leggings (noting once again how good an eye Irvn had for what suited her), she slipped quietly out into the corridor. Amisha’s quarters were next to hers and the door was shut, but even so Gemma tiptoed past, feeling a little melodramatic, heading for the ship’s central core.

The ship felt and sounded quite different in its night-time cycle, although she realised that was probably just in her imagination. There was still the never-ending hum of its systems and the faint vibration that communicated itself from the floorplates through the soles of her feet and up into her body, but it somehow seemed more restful than during the artificial day. Lighting everywhere was dimmed but still sufficient for her to see where she was going. She realised that they still had no idea where the aliens slept.