Out of This World

Andy

She was drowning.

At least, that was her first thought as she became conscious, surrounded by some sort of fluid. Her eyes snapped open, staring straight up and having trouble comprehending what she was seeing. It was orange and glowing, everything was blurry.

She floundered for a minute before getting her bearings and pushing her head up. When it broke the surface of the orange glowy space, she understood. She had been in a stasis pod. The viscous orange fluid, almost gel-like, flowed off of her completely, leaving her hair dry. Her vision seemed just a little bit different; she couldn't quite put her finger on it but colors seemed just a bit different. It was the blue, it was just a little bit deeper and more vibrant.

She suddenly realized she couldn't breathe, despite being outside of the stasis pod. Her chest clenched and she retched, coughing up some stasis fluid. It was bitter, and felt like half solid jello. Kind of squishy, kind of slippery, and not super tasty. It was pretty gross, honestly. She gasped and winced, her chest felt sore.

"Andy?"

She looked up, and her eyes immediately locked onto her beautiful boyfriend, Krel Tarron.

"What... where..." Andy stammered, head swimming. She was faintly aware of the other people in the room, Aja and Vex were standing a little more off to the side. She began to climb out of the pod, but was unsteady on her feet.

Krel took two steps forward and reached out to steady her. "It was not... until I thought I lost you that I realized... It was not until I was sure I'd never see you again that I... I..." he stammered, trying to say something.

She cocked her head.

Krel took a deep breath. "Andy, I love you."

She smiled weakly, reaching up and putting her hand on his cheek. Her other hand floated to his shoulder, and her bottom two steadied herself against the pod. "I love you too."

The moment was broken by the sudden, shattering realization of how many places she was touching. Krel's cheek. Krel's shoulder. The pod. All with her hands. Her... hands. She only had two of those. But... how...? How? Her eyes widened and gasped, stumbling backwards and looking at all four of her hands.

"That's the other thing," Krel said slowly and steadily, in a soothing and reassuring manner. "You may need to sit down... and look in the mirror."

They made their way slowly and steadily through the Mothership as Andy continued to get her bearings, leaning heavily on Krel. She kept stumbling, her balance felt off for some reason.

Soon they had made it all the way to Aja's bedroom, where there was a full length mirror. Andy had wanted Krel to tell her everything, but he had insisted she see for herself.

Andy stood in front of the mirror, Krel standing behind her to catch her in case she passed out. She felt completely numb.

She did not recognize the face she saw in the mirror, it was not hers. At least... it was not hers in a way she knew.

Her right hand floated up to the right side of her face. Almost evenly down the middle, (but avoiding her nose) was a blue line. The right half of her face looked like Krel's. There was half a face plate, with the glowing blue border. Her skin was a dark navy underneath it, but she still had an ear on that side. She realized why her vision had seemed off, her right eye was Akiridion black and blue. Her eyebrow was a blue line and a completely different shape than the one on the left. It was flat, but arched towards the inner corner, much like Krel's. That half of her face felt different too, it felt like Krel's skin. If you could call it skin. Andy wasn't actually sure if Akiridions had skin.