Drip

The faint sound of water droplets hitting a stone surface woke me up to a semi conscious state. Feeling unable to open my eyes I was left unsure of my surroundings, I was however certain that something was not right, everything felt numb and weightless like I was floating on a cloud.

Drip

My head continued to get clearer with every drip that echoed through my head. Now being conscious enough to hear the gentle synthetic winds created by the cells ventilation system, I knew my hearing was returning… My head was clearing from the mental fog and I wanted to recall what exactly lead to my current predicament… but my mind was blank, I couldn't remember exactly what had happened before this.

Drip

As I continued to wake up I started to notice a strong iron like smell in the air… like a rusty pipe, or a battle ground stained with blood.

The feeling of disorientation was slowly ending as I started regaining the feeling of my limbs. I could feel the majority of my blood designing to my head... most likely I was upside down, this also caused a splitting headache to start forming, but on the upside it completely knocked any drowsiness I had right out of me.

Drip

Now fully awake I forced my eyes, it took a few seconds but once they were open I became fully aware of my surroundings… I was hanging upside down by my legs, confirming my suspicion on why blood was rushing to my head.

A smooth cable was wrapped around my ankles, and wrists causing my arms to be held together near my waist… Although I was tied up and forced to hang upside down I felt no pain or pressure spots anywhere, which is very odd when your in any hanging scenario… There are always spots of pressure, always.

Drip

Looking around more I found I was hanging near a tree, it was a large one but this one was near the outer edge of the cage, not in the center where I now recall encountering the creature. Being able to see a faint glimpse of concrete wall not a 100 ft away confirmed my suspicions.

Drip

'Where is this dripping coming from?' I thought impatiently looking around to see where the water droplet sounds were coming from.

Finally my sights landed on a small rock, right below me… it had little red splash marks on it… it was blood, my own bleeding woke me up, but luckily it feels like it's stopping.

Drip

'Alright… If I got jumped, and taken here by let's assume the creature… Then why am I still here? Why am I still alive? let alone tied up and hanging… Am I bait? Or am I just being saved for later consumption?... Or maybe its something else? Maybe someone else is in here...' My thoughts jumped all over the place, but I made sure to remain calm and think things through rationally… Freaking out has never helped anyone.

Taking a deep breath, I craned my neck in a spine cracking way as to get a glimpse of what exactly was keeping me suspended in the air, to my surprise it looked like the tail of the creature.

It was long, seemingly going on forever, as it dangled down a few good meters from out of the impossibly thick leaves of the tree. The colouring of It was a light matte grey, with some glowing pink detailing scattered along the length of it.

It hung there motionless no twitching, no swinging, nothing… It was like it was completely detached from the creature altogether and was left to hang me…

Maybe it is detached? Maybe I'm alone and this tail is just that, a tail, acting as nothing more than a stand in rope. That's certainly a possibility, but given that I know nothing about this thing it very well could still be around, heck it might not even need to be connected to the creature for it to still be of use to it.

The thought of a dismembered alien tail still being connected and controlled by its host made me physically shudder, that sudden movement caused the thin section of the tail that was currently holding my hands in place fall free.

With my hands now free from that section of tail I first ran through my hair and found the cut had mostly clotted, then I worked on rocking my body back and forth until I managed to swing my torso to a position where I was able to grab the fabric of my pants. With my body now in an upright-ish position I reached up to grab and undo the tail.

Just as I was a few centimetres away from grabbing hold, it loosened every so slightly causing me to drop a just a tiny bit, putting it just out of my reach, then it tightened back to what it originally was.

"WHAT?.. WTF?.. why?" I said angrily jerking my legs and body violently in hopes that I would be able to wiggle free.

Nothing.

Reaching up, I came close again… Mere millimeters, but then it loosened dropping me slightly lower than I could reach.

With a new idea, I tried reaching up again with a goal not of grabbing hold, but allowing it to keep dropping me lower and lower, with my goal being that it would eventually run out of ankle to hold onto and thus drop me completely to the ground.

But that idea was short lived as it stopped loosening, and it was all because I had reached my limit, I couldn't stretch any further, my body was maxing out… so much for that idea.

Giving up with a huff I let myself torso drop back to a hanging position, this was not going anywhere. Closing my eyes, I gave myself a second to think… How am I going to get ou…

Poke-Poke

Something warm and squishy gently poked my cheek, interrupting my thought process and causing me to completely lock up.

Opening my eyes with a snap I immediately saw the creature right in front of me, paralyzed with fear and surprise I just hung there staring back, it was also especially confusing because not only was it not there a second ago but to me it didn't look upside down, meaning that it was also hanging from the tree, oddly enough t's long loose white hair remained hanging along its back, as if it were standing normally.

It hung there calmly with its big red eyes fixated on mine, it had its mouth open just wide enough for its long, thin, pink tongue to snake out and lightly graze my cheek.

The creature was not close, it must have been hanging at least 3 ft away from me, but yet it's tongue was still able to touch my cheek with ease.

It continued to stare me right in the eye… When suddenly it brought its tongue back into its mouth with one fluid motion… Never breaking eye contact.

It waited a moment, then started studying my face slowly and carefully, it's eyes were making tiny movements indicating what I suspected. I would have studied the creature to but the blood rushing back to my head made it hard to focus, however not wanting to make any sudden movements I just sucked it up.

After a few seconds of facial studying it's eyes transitioned from its a hostile red to a bright pink, it's tongue came out again but stopped a few inches outside of the creatures mouth… like a dog who keeps it tongue out when panting.

"What... are you?" I asked suddenly to the creature, which in turn reacted quite violently to my sudden speech, turning its eyes back to a bright red, dilating it's pupils, and tightening its grip drastically.

After a few seconds, it relaxed and returned back to normal with its eyes going back to pink.

"What are you?" I asked again, this time in a much more soothing and quiet voice.

It's eyes dilated in recognition but stayed a cheerful pink… Alright i'm getting somewhere, sort of.

Receiving no answer I quietly asked, "can you speak?" It stared at me, giving me no indication that it heard me, except of course for its pupil dilating slightly.

"Are you from space?" I asked again quietly, but this time I got a slight head tilt as my answer, but no facial changes were made.

"Shake your head up and down if the answer is yes, and side to side if it's no." I explained slowly, demonstrating it as I said it in hopes that it would get me somewhere in communicating.

Again it only tilted its head in confusion.

"I don't know what I was expecting… communication? Not likely..." I spoke quietly to myself looking away into the distance.

'No' the creature motioned shaking its head left and right.

Catching it out of the corner of my eye I stared at it confused.

"No… you said no, or motioned it anyway." I said looking it in the eye.

'Yes' it motioned with a head nod, that went on for much longer than it needed to be.

"You, said yes… you can understand me?" I asked completely awestruck.

'Yes' it responded after waiting a second.

"This is incredible, I can converse with it… okay, um… are you going to eat me?" I asked now releasing that all of Jonas's taunts we're starting to get to me.

It stared at me, like it was trying to figure out itself. 'No' it finally answered.

Exhaling sharply in relief, I noticed the sudden noise caused the creatures pink eyes to turn red for a split second…

Taking a second silent deep breath I spoke. "What can I ask that you can answer with yes or no, what gender are you?... Does your species even use genders?" I wondered out loud as put a hand to my chin.

'Yes' it motioned, the answer surprised me a little because I thought this thing was a robot.

"Are you a girl, or female… are you female?" I asked first noting the long hair.

It looked away again for a moment, like it was trying to think, then it brought its attention back to me and shook its head in a 'Yes'... Alright we're getting somewhere.

"Okay, umm… what are you going to do with me." It or rather she just stared, I assume trying to think.

"Oh, sorry how are you going to answer that one… Umm, let's see, can you let me down?.. The bloods starting to rush to my head again."

She looked back at me, and motioned 'No'.

"Well if your not going to let me go, what are you planning to do with me?" I asked confused on her motives.

She again looked away trying to think, but slowly brought her eyes back to mine and motioned 'No'.

'No? What does that mean?.. I'm happy I've got some progress but what does no mean...' I was about to ask when the tail loosened completely from around my ankle dropping me 10 ft down to the floor.

I had barely enough time to react, only being able to put my arms up slightly so that my head would not directly hit the rock that was already stained with my blood.

THUD

I took most of the impact with my arms, as indicated by the incredible pain in the forearm area and the bruises that were starting to form.

Rolling off the rock onto the soft soil I cursed it for being in the one place I had to drop.

Lying there in pain I closed my eyes and gently laid the areas of impact of the cool rock… after what felt like a few minutes I finally got the pain under control, enough to open my eyes anyway and look up at the tree.

The creature, she was gone... Damn...

Sighing in disappointment, I closed my eyes and rolled my head to the side, thinking of how I missed my chance to learn more about this new being… I guess I should be grateful for what I did learn and that I'm still alive… But the feeling of disappointment just wouldn't go away.

BOOF

The sound of a second object hitting the squishy dirt brought my attention back to reality, reopening my eyes and looking over I saw my backpack was now on the dirt laying beside me.

Sighing I closed my eyes again and turned my head away, I got my hopes up… I didn't think I would become that attached in the short time with it, but I needed to know more, I'm so close to a breakthrough... at least I think I am...

Poke-Poke

I felt something sharp lightly tap my forehead, opening my eyes I saw that same grey, and fluorescent pink tail that was once holding me hostage, now right above my face.

Leaning my head back with a small smile I saw the creature squatting with her hands on her knee, her body slouched forward and her long tail snaking out from behind her and resting along the ground around my body, boxing me in within the confines of her tail.

Now that I was not upside down and my blood was flowing properly again, I noticed that her skin wasn't as grey as what I originally thought, it was now a really light grey, like a white that metallic particles tossed onto the surface for effect, and it had almost no reflection to it.

Her eyes were still the same bright pink, but from the angle I was at it looked as if they were made of… pixels, and lenses like a digital optic.

"Your eyes are pretty." I said looking up at her as she continued to lightly tap the center if my forehead with the tip of her tail.

'No'.

"No? What's no… that I find your eyes pretty?" I asked puzzled as she stared at me with a black expression.

'No'.

"Hmmm, so is it that I called them eyes?.. They do look like digit optics so, maybe your species has different names for your body parts." I asked as she leaned a closer putting her face right in front of mine.

'Yes'.

"Well, what do you want me to call them… Optics?.. Seems fitting, but a high possibility people will mix it up." I spoke as I looked into her eyes or optics seeing what I could have sworn to be bits of code.

She stared for a second and nodded 'Yes'.

"Alright, I'm getting up." I said as I started adjusting my body position to best stand up.

However this creature had other plans, as she moved her tail in a way were the length was resting on my forehead. Feeling her skin for the first time I was surprised to feel that it was warm, and flexible like polymer.

I tried to lift my head using force but the weight of her tail kept it planted firmly on the ground. Reaching up I grabbed her tail and moved it off my head, it wasn't heavy, it was light like she was allowing me to move her tail.

Putting her tail gently back on the ground I sat up and turned around to face her.

'No' she shook her head at me, while she moved her tail once again to form a circle around my cross legged form.

"What's, no?" I asked as she continued to stare at me.

Confused I went to stand up, but as soon as I was fully upright she swung her tail with one quick motion knocking my legs out from underneath me, causing me to go tumbling to the ground only for her to catch me with her tail.

"I guess you don't want me to leave?" I asked as I sat on her tail coils in awe at what just happened.

'No'

"Alright I'll stay, but I should message my team and tell them I'm okay." I said reaching towards my backpack.

'No' she motioned baring her large shark like teeth at me, which were caked with dried blood.

"Ok, I'll sit here… no messaging, since I'm here can I take a look at you? I won't hurt you… but I don't think I'm the dangerous one here." I said leaning forward very slowly.

She followed my example and slowly leaned in until we were mere inches apart.

"Do you have a name? I do, my name is Zack." I said looking into her now pink digital optics.

'Yes' she said pointing at her chest and there appeared the words…

Unit: 004

"004, that's your name?"

'Yes'

"Sounds like a serial number, Generic and not unique." I said looking back at her face.

"How about Zero Four as a nickname, at least until I give you a proper name later on." I said and she nodded an affirmative 'Yes'.

She then pointed at me and tilted her head to the side.

"My name is Zack..." I said pointing to my chest as I said my name.

"Za…..Zaa…...ckkk….Za..Zaa…" Zero Four stuttered as she opened her mouth and started speaking.

I sat there looking stunned not only have I been able to communicate with her, using yes and no responses, I've gotten a name, and now a basic verbal response.

Zero Four kept trying to pronounce my name but kept getting stuck on 'Za'.

"Zaaa...zaaa…..ZAZA!" Zero Four exclaimed suddenly interrupting my musings.

"Zaza?" I repeated confused.

'Yes'

"Well it's a start." I said with a laugh as this all reminded me of WALLE and how he couldn't say EVEs name properly.

"Are you from space?" I asked again, now with a streak of answers from Zero Four it would be my best chance to get an answer.

'Yes'. She said her optics turning a slightly lighter pink… maybe indicating a difference I'm emotion?

"Are you trying to go back to space?" I asked wondering if we were keeping her on earth unintentionally.

Her expression didn't change but it seemed like she was looking at me like that was the dumbest question I could have asked. 'No'.

"Well alright then, I think I just thought of the perfect name for you." I said pausing for dramatic effect.

Zero Four leaning in slightly during the pause. "Emmi." I said quietly as to not spook her.

She stared at me for a second. 'Yes' The newly named Emmi answered with what even looked like a smile, well the best she could do with her large teeth.

Emmi stood up and slowly started walking closer to me, but froze when she heard a branch snap off in the distance, her eyes going bright red again, and her tongue shooting out of her mouth with a snap.

"Hey don't worry, it's probably just my team." I said standing up and taking a step toward the noise.

"He has to be this way, there's nowhere else he could be." I heard a female drill sergeant like voice call out as the bushes got pushed away, revealing Robbie, Jonas, and Veronica all running towards me.

Upon seeing me, Veronica raised her rifle on reflex, put upon seeing that it was just me she dropped it and ran over.

"What's wrong with you? Why didn't you answer your com? We searched the entire cage for you? What happened?" She asked going full on mother on me, checking me all over for injuries.

"I…. found the creature." I said looking behind me to look at Emmi, only to find that she wasn't there.

"No you didn't, the fact that your still alive shows you didn't." She corrected me as she began looking at my arms, as I was frantically looking around for Emmi.

"No i'm telling you I did." I argued back as Robbie and Jonas both walked over.

"No I'm telling you, you didn't, the last person to come in here had an encounter and ended up in the hospital… Never to walk again because that thing destroyed his leg, now I don't know what I was thinking letting you come in here alone, but i'm glad your okay." She admitted as she looked me up and down.

"Well I didn't dream up what happened." I said a little unsure kept what happened had actually happened.

"Can you walk?" She asked grabbing my backpack and then taking a glance at my legs.

"Yes, but I'm not sure how fast." I answered taking a step forward wincing a little bit when I put pressure on one of my legs.

"Alright, tell us on the way… we're not safe in here… God why did I ever let you come in here." She said grabbing my arm and guiding me to where they came running in from.

"Well when I woke up, I found that I hanging from that tree, suspended by the creatures tail which was wrapped around my legs… The sound of my blood hitting the rock woke me up… When I regained all my senses I attempted to get the tail off from around my legs, but with no luck… then the creature dangled it self down from the tree and then I established a system of communication using Yes or no head nods… after that she let me down out of the tree and we were communicated more until you guys showed up."

"She?" Robbie asked as we walked briskly towards the living area.

"Yes I learned that this creatures species uses genders and that she is a female, that she refers to her eyes as optics, that she is like a living machine, also her unit number 004… I named her Emmi." I spoke as Veronica kept a firm arm on me as we power walked away.

"Don't worry, Hallucinations are natural when the body is under high stress." She said as she kept facing forward determined to get back.

"You don't believe me?"

"Not one bit, I'm happy your still alive… but what your saying is simply just not possible." She answered.

"Robbie, you believe me right?" I asked as he walked ahead.

"I know your not a lier, never have been… but I think Ill have to agree with Veronica on this one." He said not turning around.

"Of course I'm right, when I was in the military I learned what stress does to one's mind… we need to you back into a safe environment."

Hearing a rustle off to the side I glanced over and saw a tiny portion Emmi pink optics staring at through the thick bushes.

"GUYS LOOK!" I said pointing over to the side.

"At what?" Veronica quickly responded.

Looking again, I saw that Emmi was not there anymore, my yelling must have startled her.

"She was right there, I saw her pink optics." I admitted all confused.

"It's alright, I know it won't be easy for you to understand but this is all in your head." Veronica calmly said as we finally got to out of the forest area and onto the large work area right beside the pod.

The door opened with a heavy chunk and Ana was there to greet us. "It took you long enough, you know how worried I've been?" She said clearly agitated.

"Get in line." Veronica deadpanned as she forced me through the door.

Lifting my leg over the ledge I stepped into the living area, but as soon I put my weight in it I collapsed to the floor with a painful groan.

"Ana, go get the scissors and the med kit… Robbie clear a table for us, Jonas with me." Veronica ordered as I was picked up by Jonas and Veronica.

With there help I got over to the now clear metal table. "Ok, you can do your check up, but your not cutting my clothing." I said as I took off my shirt while myself on the cold metal table.

"Pants too." Veronica said with an emotionless tone that left no room for arguing.

Sighing in defeat I took off my pants and laid on the table with only a pair of boxers on.

Veronica went to work checking everywhere for any injury, bruising or abnormality of any kind, Ana joined to help to after grabbing a stool to stand on, as soon as she saw me she blushed a bright red that would have put Emmi's optics to shame.

When they got to my upper area, they both gasped in shock… making me jump in place as it was rather sudden.

"You have marks all of your chest, like someone wrapped a rope around you and pulled you along the ground, maybe you weren't all crazy… but I still don't think you had an encounter."

"What do you want, a stamp or a little note? I saw the creature and it wasn't hostile, In fact she was rather sweet." I spoke as Veronica was touching the area wher the marks were.

"Ok, let's say for a second that I decided to believe you… Which I don't by the way, but let's just say for argument's sake that I don't think you were hallucinating, how would we even believe you? Do you have any proof?"

"Yes, look at my body… and if that doesn't prove it to you, I'll go back in an show you… she didn't hurt me, or at least not intentionally… and she's really smart to."

"I want to believe you, I really do but I just can't… not without some proof." Veronica said with a sigh as she layer a hand on my muscular stomach.

"If I can just go back in I ca- No, your not going back in, not yet anyway… your going to wait a few days, maybe even a week… as long as it takes before your all better." Veronica spoke with a whip like tone interrupted me mid sentence.

"Your overreacting, this isn't that bad… I've had worse." I said looking up at the two who were doin there check up.

"It true, you wouldn't believe all the stupid stuff he's done over the years." Robbie cut in.

"Ok you, shut it." Veronica said pointing a finger at Robbie without looking at him.

"So muscular." Ana said as she started poking my abdominal muscles.

"I'll be fine in a day." I spoke up interrupting there checkup, making both of them look at me.

"No, this is going to be a long recovery." Veronica said turning away.

"No, I'm serious I'm a fast healer." I argued back.

"I wouldn't, your going to lose this argument… just accept it." I heard Ana whisper towards me as she pretended to check out my forearm.

"Alright fine, if you feel your fine I can't stop you… but, does it hurt if I push here?" She asked as she pushed with decent force into my ribs.

Suppressing the pain, I mustered up a wimpy looking smirk and replied. "Nope, no pain at all."

"Uh huh, I see… Ana show me his forearms." She responded with a serious face, Ana moved my arm to face her and she looked at how the entire forearm was black and blue from bruising.

"And if I touch here?" She said pushing two fingers to the bruise.

"Never better." I said closing my eyes and gritting my teeth in pain, throwing my head back onto the pillow Ana put there earlier in the process.

"That's what I thought, your staying put and taking it easy even if I have to belt you down to your bed to do so." She said pulling her rubber gloves and walking away.

"You good?" Ana asked leaning over the table.

"Never better." I responded with my head still on the table, paralyzed with pain.

"How are you so strong?" Ana asked again looking at my upper torso.

"I don't know… exercise, I think." I answered a little unsure, still scrambled from the pain.

"Do you think you could train Jonas? He wants to get stronger… and seeing how he gets embarrassed when he's around Veronica he won't let her train him, also Robbie isn't that athletic… I was wondering if you could?" She asked leaning over putting her hands on my chest for balance.

Not realizing what she was doing, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to suppress and painful groans that came out, she must have realized eventually because of the deep rumble coursing through my body.

"Sorry." She apologized quietly as she stood back up straight.

"Here cowboy, just take it easy." Veronica spoke up as she walked back over with my sweater in hand, as well as a cold beer.

Helping me up, I threw my pants back on and tossed the loose sweater over my torso, with no shirt… then I limped over to the couch and just sat and drank my slow poison in silence.

It was awkward for everyone else, but at the moment I just needed a second to think about had happened. I actually talked with it, no her… This creature that no one else had clue about, I had actually met and communicated with.

Eventually Jonas and Ana came over started watching their show again, they tried to ignore it but the fact was that I looked like I had just come out of a war.

Eventually they finished there tv watching and went to bed, Veronica and Robbie did the same leaving me to sit and ponder everything in an eerily silent, pitch black room.

It was clear that none of my teammates were able to sleep with them knowing what I was going, every 5 minutes they would open their door with a silent click to check on me. And every time they did all they saw was the back of slumped over hoodie wearer.

After an hour they all joined together in Robbie's and Veronica's room for a little chat, they were in there for 10 or so minutes… during there little meeting I dozed off a little.

"Zack….. wake up." I heard Ana say as I opened my eyes, was it morning already.

"You have to go to sleep." I heard the muffled voice of Veronica say.

"Just let him sleep here, it's not like we could move him… dudes like the hulk." I heard a male voice joke, not sure however if it was Jonas or Robbie.

I felt a series of hands push me over onto my side, then what felt like a blanket get placed on me.

"Well leave him be, if he wakes up he'll probably just go to his bed." Was the last thing I heard before everything blended together into darkness...except for one thing, two pink orbs of light…

Clang

Shooting up to the sudden sound of a glass bottle ringing, I woke from the best sleep I had ever had.

Looking around in confusion I found myself lying on the couch, in a mess of pillows and blankets. Wearing nothing but a pair of barely done up slacks, an overly large hoodie, and a pair of boxers.

Wondering why I didn't go to my own bed I sat there and looked around the ghostly quiet room waiting for the drowsy feeling to completely leave me.

The cages artificial sun was shining brightly through the observatory window as it rose to the sky, hitting an angle where the light reflected off the table landing straight in my eye, it gave the illusion like I was outside.

Getting up I folded up the blanket and put the pillows back to where they originally were. Then I picked up the empty beer bottle and stared at it wondering why I was the one who has it, shrugging it off as one beer I limped over to the kitchen area.

The pain was still present but much better than it was last night, grabbing an apple I silently walked around the place checking on the two rooms, sure enough they were all asleep, but they looked like they all had rough nights… weird.

Pulling my boots over my sockless feet I took my small snack of a breakfast and ate out on concrete work area of the cage, the birds were singing and it took a lot of active thinking to remember that this whole place was artificial, and most likely somewhere deep underneath a mountain.

The air was crisp and clean, making it refreshing to sit and eat… Eventually however my apple was gone, so begrudgingly I went in and made myself a proper breakfast, being extra sure to not make a sound.

After a few minutes of ingredient preparation, cooking, and clean up I walked out of there small but well equipped kitchen with a tray full of eggs, bacon, fryer potatoes, toast, an assortment of fruit, and a can of non-carbonated orange juice.

Reemerging to the cages patio of sorts I started eating, in the back of my mind I hoped to see Emmi again, but at the same time I had the suspicion that I wouldn't seeing how large the cage was, she could be anywhere.

The air was now slightly misty indicating that it would start raining soon, the weather system in here although random changed so often that it would hit every major weather cycle at least once per day.

I decided I would stay out until the rain started pouring, finishing up the main part of my food I placed the tray next to where I was sitting and cracked open the can of orange juice.

A few sips in I heard rustling of the leaves a few yards away, having the suspicion of who it was I decided to stay out and see what would happen.

Sure enough a minute later I heard another rustle, this time right in front of me, waiting again I finally saw a metallic head pop through the foliage.

"Zaa...zaa…" She slowly called out as she cautiously stepped through the plant wall which kept the work area and the cage ecosystem separate.

She took a few slow steps, slowly putting her foot down on the concrete like it was the first time ever walking on such a surface.

Eventually she got used to this new floor, and slightly skipped over to where I was sitting her long tail being dragged along the concrete.

"You got me in a lot of trouble, why'd you run off like that… And now they all think I'm crazy." I spoke as she sat down on a section of her tail letting the rest of the length snake around I around me.

"Hello, your not even listening are you?" I asked as I saw her attention was fixated on the empty orange juice can in my hand.

"You want this?" I asked shaking it a little in the air, her optics firmly locked on the bright orange can.

She nervously reached forward and grabbed the can snatching out of my grasp when she had it firmly in her hand.

"What are you going to do with that? Eat it?" I asked sarcastically as I saw Emmi was looking at the can with interest.

She glanced at me and then back at the can… pausing a second she opened her mouth up wide and popped the whole thing into her razor sharp mouth.

Closing her mouth, she started chewing the can with ease, with the faint sounds of metal being crushed coming from her closed mouth.

All I could do was stare at her in shock.

When her little appetizer was over she began eyeing the metal tray as well as the silverware that was sitting on it.

Leaning to the side I grabbed the fork and offered it to her, she leaned in on my hand and stared at the fork which was mere millimeters from her face.

She eventually opened her mouth and brought It down on the fork, and MY HAND!..

I closed my eyes and braced myself to feel my hand get pulverized by her massive teeth and pulled off, but it never happened.

Instead I felt her tongue pull the fork out of my grasp then she let my hand fall free out of her mouth.

"I thought you were going to take my hand for a second." I spoke with relief, as I moved my hand around, Emmi in turn just sat there eating her fork, completely oblivious to what she just did to me.

"Zaza..." I heard her cute voice speak up, bringing my attention back to Emmi she was looking at me, expectantly.

"I'm not giving you anymore metal… I think you've had enough." I spoke as she narrowed her optics at me, and stood up… she took a few small steps toward me and sat right back down.

She was now at least half a foot away from me, and her leaning in only brought her face closer.

"Za….. Za…" She said slowly putting as much emphasis on each Z.

"Yes... I don't know what you want?" I asked completely confused at what she wanted and and why she was so close.

"Za… Za….." Emmi grumbled again, this time sounding impatient.

"I'm sorry Emmi, I don't know what it is your asking for." I admitted looking away briefly.

She furrowed her optic ridges into a frown, and continued staring at me.

Hesitantly I reached my hand out and placed it on the top of her head, closing her optics in response to my touch she started… Purring...

Petting her surprisingly soft hair she sat there purring heavily causing the reverberations to course through my arm, swinging her long tail back and forth along the concrete floor, causing deep scrape marks to appear.

"Emmi, your tail…" I stated in shock as I wondered what was happening to her tail, opening her optics she lifted her tail and showed me the underside of it, taking my hand off her head I reached out and grabbed her tail to see for myself.

Her tail showed no sign of abrasion or wear.

Putting her tail down I focused my attention back to the impatient looking alien.

"Incredible, your skin sustained no damage, despite the scratches that you created in the concrete." I spoke as I went to rubbing her head.

A few minutes in her tail started curling around my lower torso, and the longer I rubbed her hair the tighter it got.

"I'm not allowed to leave, am I?" I asked with a smile, already knowing the answer.

'No' she shook her head without opening her optics.

"Yeah, I figured as much… you know soon or later I'll have to show you to my team, there good people." I spoke as I closed my eyes and sat happily in her tail like hug, stroking her hair.

'Yes' I felt her head nod slightly with my hand.

o0o

"That was a rough night." Veronica groggily spoke as she and Robbie exited there room with a yawn.

"Did you guys sleep at all?" Ana asked walking out of her room with Jonas dawned with a black robe over top her pajamas.

"No, I slept light in case he needed anything." Veronica said stumbling to the kitchen in search of coffee. "Who put this pot on?… Was it you guys?" Veronica groggily questioned as she walked of the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee.

"No we just woke up, like you guys… I too slept very light." Ana admitted while reaching her arms up and stretching with a yawn.

"I wonder where he is?" Robbie asked looking at the couch to see the blanket neatly folded up and the pillows properly arranged.

"He's not in his room." Jonas added taking a peek into the third room.

"Then where?..." Veronica pondered as she looked around slowly, her vision immediately landing on the sliver of a light coming through the edge of the cages bulkhead door.

"No, I swore I told him to not… When I find I'm going to cut his legs off, then belt him to chair." She spoke with heavy anger present in her voice as she began marching toward the door but a hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks.

"Honey, just wait a second." Robbie calmly spoke to his girlfriend putting a gentle hand on her shoulder, halting her pursuit to the door.

"WHAT? NO, you know just as well as I do on where your friend went off to… despite what I deliberately told him." Veronica spoke with a whip like tone, as she spun around and started directing her anger at her boyfriend.

"I'm, sorry… I just don't want to see him get hurt, well anymore than he already is." She responded her attitude hitting a 180 going all wide eyed, realizing that she just yelled.

"It's alright, and I have a feeling that Zack is doing just fine." He spoke putting his arms out for a hug.

"We still need to look for him though, remember he's still injured." She admitted in a calm relaxed tone, leaning in for the hug.

"Whoever put this pot on knows how to make coffee." Jonas spoke as he walked back into the main room with two cups, one for him and one for Ana.

"Why is the cell door open? Did you guys just open it for some fresh air or… WHOA GUYS LOOK." Jonas explained pointing out the observation window.

The ledge was to high to see anything that wasn't at least a good meter away, but regardless a clear patch of brown hair was visible just over the edge.

Letting go of the hug Veronica turned and walked to the window and saw him sitting cross legged along the wall, with the creature sitting beside him.

"What? So he wasn't crazy… it's there, and he's alright… it's sitting with him… WHAT?..." Veronica stood talking to herself as she looked out the window and observed her coworker and the creature conversing.

"Who is this person, is he a demi? Like a telekinetic?...I've heard they look just like humans." Veronica desperately asked as she turned with a snap to Robbie.

"No he's full human… but I believe his sister might be half mermaid." Robbie responded back with no hesitation, despite the rather scary personality his girlfriend just took on.

"I'm going out there." She concluded by turning towards the door and grabbing the submarine like turn handle.

"I recommend waiting, this seems to be going well for him… Our presence will only disturb them." Ana voiced in between her coffee sips.

"Fine… I'll give him 5 minutes, but that's it." She impatiently huffed as she grabbed her cup once again and sat down at the table pushed right up against the viewing window.

o0o

"O...Ora...nn..ggg...eeee."

"Yes, you got it!... But I wonder whether you took more away from my teachings, or from the words on the can you just ate." I asked ecstatically as Emmi stared blankly at me.

"Alright maybe I should teach you some more gestures… it'll make it easier to communicate." I finished by putting my hand to my chin, which Emmi immediately copied.

"Well, that one is like a thinking position, it shows everyone your in thought and thinking of an. answer." I told her as she began nodding up and down.

"Ok, this one is for when your unsure…" I said shrugging my shoulder and putting my arms up, which Emmi copied once again.

"Awesome you got it, ok… This one isn't really a gesture but pointing at objects is a good way to show what you want, or what your trying to point out." I said pointing at Emmi who didn't copy this time, but simply nodded in acknowledgment.

Leaning back smiling at the unexpected progress we were making, I noticed that Emmi was now pointing at my face.

"What?" I asked unsure.

She brought her clawed hand closer and was pointing directly at my mouth, "What about my mouth… Oh a smile?... A smile is what you do when your happy." I spoke as she tried smiling, but given her large it was a little difficult for her, after a few tries she successfully smiled in a rather cute way. "A frown, or a scowl is the opposite to a smile." I added demonstrating a frown.

"Your a really fast learner, okay the last one I'm going to teach is thumbs up and thumbs down." I spoke gesturing each one to her which she tried in turn.

"Thumbs up is for showing a good job to someone, or if your happy, or if you just want to say thank you… thumbs down is disapproving, and is if you want to show that someone did something you did not like… they normally go with smiles and frowns." I told her what they each meant as she repeated the action getting the hand motion down to memory.

We were both staring intently at her hands as she moved her thumbs about to get the thumbs up motion, it was clear that this was not natural to her despite her opposable thumbs.

Eventually she looked at me and gave me a double thumbs up, with a wide, closed optic, toothy smile, the whole thing was so cute that it made me blush immediately, it was like something right out of an anime.

Sadly the moment ended as she reopened her optics and went back to staring at me with wide optics.

"I've got an idea, since your such a fast learner… I think you would really benefit from like a rush of information, more than these small lessons I can give you… " I recommend as she looked at me.

She brought a hand to her chin, waited a moment then gave me a thumbs up.

"Alright, I'll go get my laptop." I spoke as I attempted to stand up, but Emmi wasn't happy with my decision as she reached out with both hands and grabbed a hold of my forearms in an attempt to keep me from leaving.

My arms were still black and blue from last night, but were hidden from view underneath the sweaters fabric, and true I did have some time to heal overnight, but that didn't mean I had healed fully. My arms were still raw and throbbing, they were just pushed out of my mind from the amazing process Emmi was making.

Emmi's subsequent grabbing of my injured arms especially with her strong, sharp-clawed hands caused me to recoil in pain pulling my arms out of her grasp in the process. Stunned, because I forgot about my injuries I stood there for a moment gritting my teeth in pain.

Emmi must have sensed that something was wrong because she stood up and skipped over to where I was standing doubled over in pain.

"Zaza?" She asked looking up to me from her 4 ft stature, as she grabbed the loose fabric of my pants, gently tugging.

"I'm fine, I just need to get some ice." I said with clenched teeth as I stood back up to full height and walked through the door back to the living area, pulling out of her grasp in the process.

"Man that hurt, she didn't mean it… she didn't know... She didn't mean anything by it." I spoke to myself as soon as I was inside the room, with closed eyes and began carefully rubbing the area to dissipate the pain.

"She seemed nice." I heard Ana speak up.

Opening my eyes I saw the team before me sitting at the table that was pushed up against the viewing window, each of them drinking from their respective coffee mugs.

"Oh, haha… When did you guys get up?" I asked nervously.

"A little while ago…" Veronica answered with her voice trailing off towards the end as she stood up to refill her cup.

"How much of that did you see?" I asked as she walked right towards me, and not towards the kitchen.

"Enough…" she answered again in the same tone less way, as she continued staring at me.

"I can't tell if your mad, or not."

"Me neither…" she responded moving herself closer, rapidly closing the distance between.

Veronica was about the same height as I was, maybe an inch shorter at best, she, Robbie, Jonas, and I were all about the same height… although Jonas was definitely the tallest.

"Look I know I went against what you said…" I started to say as an apology, only to be cut off with a "Yes you did." From Veronica.

"But I'm ok… sort of."

"No your not, I saw the creature which you've named Emmi hurt you with just a light touch… purposely or not your still injured, and you need time to rest."

"I'm not going to tell you to not go back in there, because I know you'll do so anyways and I don't want to waste my time… I'm just want you to wait before you go back in with your laptop." She spoke with a sigh of defeat as she put a hand on my shoulder.

"How did you know I was coming here to get my laptop?"

"The door was open, and you weren't very quiet." She answered with a smirk as she began walking to the kitchen, Robbie getting up and hoping her in the small room.

"Ok, why do you want me to wait?..." I asked as I walked over to the table to take a seat.

"We just wanted to ask a few questions… none of us can believe what you've done… and if it seems by our reactions that this is common occurrence to us, it's not… we're seriously confused, so we just want to talk." Ana answered as she turned to face me.

"But what about Emmi?" I asked glancing out the window to see her sitting by the door, expectantly.

"Don't worry about her, she's not going anywhere… and plus she can wait just 15 minutes, can't she?" Ana asked, putting her hand on my shoulder this time.

"I guess…" I responded in a pathetic way, trailing off at the end.

"Ok, fill us in on everything." Veronica spoke sitting down with Robbie, notebook in hand.

"Ok, first off… Her skin is a white metallic, very durable as her tail made those large gashes in the concrete." I started by pointing at the area through the window.

"Her skin is made out of soft polymers and her hands have 5 fingers, and each of them have sharp claws attached to the tips, her feet are like ours, with five toes but she walks on the ball of her foot, her heel never really touching the ground… like a raptor." I spoke as Veronica wrote.

"She seems to be a mechanical creature, with her eyes being colour changing optics, and bright pink detailing spread out all throughout her body, her white hair also doesn't seem to affected by gravity because as when she was upside down her hair remained normal… Her unit number is 004, and at the time I called her Zero Four."

"like Darling in the franxx!" Robbie spoke up.

"2018 just called they want there easy target back… OH, She also eats metal, I gave her my orange juice can and a fork early this morning, and she ate it with no problems." I continued as Veronica eyes widened slightly at my mention of eating metal.

"I wonder is it can eat organic food?" Veronica questioned as she peered up from her notebook.

"Maybe, we can try later… and she is also crazy intelligent, learning how to speak and communicate with me in the span of barely a day."

"But she can't speak…" Jonas brought up as he sat in the couch a few feet away from the rest of us.

"Having the ability to speak does not make a creature intelligent, you of all people should know that." I said sarcastically as we all looked at Jonas.

"Jonas dear, maybe if you join us you'll learn something." Veronica spoke up, again as the mom of the group.

"I don't think she's a Demi thats already here on earth, but she seems to be an advanced form of automaton, maybe we can just class her under automaton Demi's?" Robbie brought up.

"No I don't think so, maybe when we learn more but for now she'll just be classless… maybe I can ask for her species name, or if not I'll just make one up."

"That might work, the asking part… making up the species name sounds dumb." Ana piped up.

"Technically I discovered her, so I can name her what ever I wish... She is also very strong, that's all I know so far… but I would like to go and learn more."

"Well, That is actually really helpful… I'm sorry for not believing you last night."

"It's fine, I'm just happy with the progress I'm making."

"We all are." Veronica spoke with a proud mother tone in her voice.

"Ok, I'm gonna grab my laptop and th-" BOOF

A muffled glass sound interrupted my line of thought as we all slowly turned and looked out the observation window.

Emmi was standing there, just tall enough to peer over the concrete lip and stick her long tongue out to tap on the glass.

"She's awfully cute." Ana spoke up, ending the silence among us.

After a few seconds Emmi moved and lifted herself up using her tail as support.

BOOF

Another muffled glass sound was created as Emmi hit the glass with her open palm and kept it there for a few seconds.

Having the urge I put my hand up as well and pressed it up against the glass... Why do I suddenly feel like a character in an alien movie that's about to die?

"I don't think she's dangerous… I think we should let her in the living quarters." I said turning to the group.

"Are you crazy? I'm happy with the progress your making and how Emmi's behaving, but I cannot allow for you to bring her in here." Veronica asked in disbelief, throwing her notebook onto the table top.

"Why not, if we keep her on a tight leash then what could go wrong… and we could get a lot of work done if she's in here." Robbie reasoned as he leaned in and put a hand on his girlfriend.

"What? No we're not bringing that thing in here, for all we know this is exactly what this hyper intelligent creature wants, maybe it wants to get in here to kill us." Robbie piped up from the background.

"I think if she wanted to, she already would have done so, given her strength… and even if she didn't have enough strength don't you think she would have taken advantage of the open door, and our lack of awareness toward it?" Ana spoke gesturing toward the door in the process.

"She's right, it's stupid but at the same time it makes sense… I think this would be our best way to get answers." Veronica agreed.

"Ok, I'm going to let her in." I said as I stood up.

"If she tries anything we're putting her back in the cage." Veronica added as I was up just about to push the hatch open.

"That's fair." I spoke in agreement as I opened the door.

"God I hope this doesn't go badly, don't make me regret this Zack." Veronica spoke gettin up and walking towards the kitchen.

"Emmi! Come here I want to show you something." I called out as I stepped back into the cage.

Emmi in turn skipping over to me, and standing right before me. "Come on, I'm taking you into our living area… I want you to behave, because I told my team that you could be trusted, and if your good my hope is that you won't have to stay in the cage any more."

Emmi tilted her head in confusion, and waited a moment before she leaned forward and hugged my legs with her arms and tail alike.

"Ok, I think you understand… now let's go." I said gesturing through the door, which compared to the cell was rather dark.

Emmi approached the door opening, and took a moment to look inside it… she then lifted her leg over the concrete lip and took a cautious step onto the floor, upon contact to the tile she flinched and slightly brought her foot back, but after a second she brought her foot back down and stepped into through the door.

"There you go, I'll leave the door open if you want to leave." I spoke calmly causing her to jump slightly, bringing her attention to me she looked out the door and gestured 'Yes'.

"Well come on, no one here is going to hurt you." I said walking past her, as she was studying her new surroundings thoroughly, her sights landing on my teammates but only lingering for a second before moving on.

"Like we could even put a dent in that thing." Jonas piped up from the background.

"Oh hush, just watch… She's beautiful." Ana quickly followed up, mesmerized by her.

Emmi spent around a minute looking around, but oddly seemed to freeze up when she landed her sight on Veronica

"Emmi?" I asked breaking the silence, and snapping her out of daze and directing her attention towards me.

She walked slowly and cautiously toward me, dragging her long tail over the lip of the door and along the tiled floor, but this time she held her tail in a way that the tiles weren't being destroyed or damaged.

"Ok, let's get to work." I spoke up as Emmi stood right in front of me.

"What's first?" Veronica asked as she approached the two of us, Emmi slowly moved for everyday step she took and ended up hiding behind my legs.

"We could get some physical measurements down, then will see from there." I answered as the team went off to get the required gear for our tests, leaving me standing there with a terrified Emmi behind me, her shaking was an indication.

Upon them returning with all sorts of measuring tapes, scales, and weights they moved to start, but Emmi was not moving.

"Um, why don't you guys give us a minute." I spoke as I placed a gentle hand on the top of her head.

"Inside your rooms, I meant." I spoke again as I noticed that they did nothing but take a step back, this time they nodded and all went to there rooms.

Click

"You sure are a timid one." I spoke looking down at Emmi when we were alone, she looked up and loosened her grip slightly on my legs.

"Hey." I said turning around and kneeling down to her level, "it's gonna be ok, if you want I could be the only one who'll do the measurements, but I will need at least one another to help write stuff down."

'Yes' she nodded, then pointed at Ana and Jonas's room.

"You want Ana to help?" I asked assuming it to be the case over Jonas.

'Yes'.

Standing up I walked over to the door and knocked on it, "Ana, I need your help with data logging, Emmi is only ok if I'm doing the measurements and if you log it." I explained as she opened the door.

"Sure… That's fine with me." She hesitantly answered as she stepped out and closed the door behind her.

"Ok I want to do the basic measurements first, then we can just take a break… I don't want to bore my test subject, especially since I told her I wanted to show her some stuff on my laptop." I explained as I grabbed a tape measure and took down Emmi's height and tail length.

The whole process was rather boring and time consuming , eating up the majority of our day, so I'll save you the trouble of having to read every detail and just tell the juicy bits. The only really noteworthy things that happened with the measurements were that we learned Emmi was 4 ft tall, weighed 150 pounds not counting her tail, and 300 counting it. Her tail could also extend to a max length of 14 ft or to a minimal of 3, her tongue also could extend to a max length of 3 ft… Emmi had also become a lot more comfortable around Ana, even to the point where when Ana asked to touch her tail she allowed her… After 30 minutes I called out the rest of the team to help, and although Emmi was a little jumpy at the beginning she eventually calmed down and warmed up to teams presence.

Around lunchtime Robbie and Veronica came out of the kitchen with a platter of sandwiches, with all of us being starving we ate and learned soon after that Emmi could eat organic foods, but doesn't really like the taste of pickles.

At the end Veronica came over to congratulate me for the progress I made, thank me for helping out her team so much in the little time I was here, and apologize for not believing me the other time. She hugged me and it caused Emmi to go full battle mode.

While doing the measurements Ana accidentally dropped a beaker causing Emmi to turn her optics to a fire red, as well as causing part of her tail to ignite into a white burning fire, and the part that wasn't ablaze was protectively wrapped around my torso… luckily she calmed down after a few seconds and let me go, but we all silently agreed to never test out her 'battle mode' as we called from that point onward it.

Anyway, when Veronica hugged me we got the exact same reaction from Emmi, even the part were she wrapped her tail around me and pulled me away from Veronica's embrace.

From that we learned that her tail could easily move around 200 pounds as evident with how easily she was able to move me, we must test her full strength later on, perhaps by lifting a vehicle of some sort.

The evening ended on a positive note, regardless of what happened with Veronica's hug, and we all ended up watching tv… Emmi made sure to sit on my lap despite my efforts to move her, with her tail completely strangling me as all 14 ft wrapped me head to toe, Robbie of course couldn't help but compare my current predicament to the scene with Miia the Lamia strangling her host in bed, from an old tv show that had Demi girls in it.

Her affections have been increasing exponentially towards me, I think it's just she's known me for the longest but maybe it's more than that… I'll say that more studying will be required to know for sure.

All in all it was a good day we learned a lot about Emmi and her still unnamed species, her intelligence has been clearly demonstrated by her cooperation and her behaviour, our mistakes are that we keep thinking of Emmi as a creature rather than an intelligent being. Although her inability to speak fluently is a a bit of a hindrance she has proven that she might even be smarter than humans by the speed of her learning, and the unique and clever ways she overcomes the language barrier.

"That went well." Ana spoke up as we all sat in a comfortable silence as we watched a family friendly comedy show, we didn't want to show her anything that's she could pick up some bad habits from.

"Your telling me, I can't believe the progress we've made, but it seems almost too easy..." Veronica responded as she looked over at me who had Emmi sitting on my lap, watching the screen intently.

"Yup, Zack you did us proud, you did what would have taken us probably weeks in the span of just 2 days… I still can't think of a way to thank you." Robbie added looking my way.

"It was a fun, I would do it again… wait is that a subtle hint you want me off the team?" I asked as I wrestled to get the tip of Emmi's tail away from around my mouth.

"What? No, your a part of this team until the day we're shutdown…" Robbie quickly explained.

"This all feels surreal, I agree with Veronica this all feels a little to easy." Ana spoke up over the relatively quiet tv.

"We don't even know why she came to earth… Accident, or maybe something bigger." Jonas piped up.

"Guys, just be happy for what was accomplished and stop trying to build suspense for the reader… Just relax and watch tv, we did good for today." I spoke up with a sigh, giving up on trying to wrestle Emmi's tail away from my face.

We all watched for a little while longer, but eventually exhaustion took over us, causing us to start to fall asleep on the couch, well all except Emmi, who kept keenly watching the show that was playing, comfortably seated on my lap.

Getting up I moved Emmi so that she was now sitting on the couch still watching the show, and I started heading for my room, but not before Ana and Veronica told me they had to do there daily check up to see if my injuries, and how I was healing up.

"Wait, before you head off we need to check to see how your healing is going." Veronica called out just as I was about to enter my room.

"Fine, do your thing but make it quick… or else your going to have to carry my unconscious body to my room." I wittily replied as I took off my shirt and lay on the cold metal table.

"Pants to…" Ana spoke up with a face red from embarrassment as I lay face up on the table.

"Not this time, the major injuries are primarily in his upper half." Veronica said correcting her friend, I myself resisting the urge to make a joke about Ana wanting to get my pants off, instead I just lying there in silence, Veronica seemed to be waiting for such a joke to be cracked but it never came.

They went ahead and did there checkup, in my eyes it was pointless as the worst that I had were some nasty bruising… after a few minutes I heard Emmi stand up on the couch, diverting her attention to the my two nurses, and their 'patient'.

She got up and walked over to the table, now completely ignoring her tv show.

"Hey Emmi." I spoke as I had my head craned over the edge of the table watching her, looking intently at me… Following a few seconds on intense staring she promptly collected the length of her tail under her and used it as support as she lifted her body to the point where she was looking down at me on the table top.

At this point it was clear to me that neither Ana nor Veronica were doing there job, instead they were keenly staring at what was happening before them.

Her tongue snaked out of her mouth slowly and rested gently on my cheek.

"Do you like the taste of human flesh?" I joked as I stared up at her, getting a small chuckle from Veronica.

Emmi snapped her attention to the two others at the sound of Veronica's suppressed laugh, immediately her eyes went red and she opened her mouth and started hissing at them… both Veronica and Ana flinched when this happened, as it was very unexpected and out of the blue.

"Emmi chill, there just seeing how I'm healing up, from my incident with you." I spoke as my voice calmed her down and brought her attention back to me.

She lowered herself marginally, and brought her tongue back into her mouth with one smooth motion. Her face was now an inch away from mine, and she seemed to be staring into my eyes with the intent to stare into my sole.

"Emmi, what are you doing?" I asked as she continued to close the gap between our faces.

Bonk!

Emmi's forehead was now firmly pressed against mine, keep in mind I was holding my head up as it was dangling over the edge, so holding it there was very difficult, especially for the duration and now the added weight.

"Emmi, that's enough." Veronica spoke up practically reading my mind.

"Jesus, get a room, just don't do that out here." Jonas spoke up from the couch area looking over.

Emmi seemed to perk up at what Jonas just said, like she just got an idea because almost immediately after that she wrapped her tail around me, picked me up, and walked over to my room.

"Emmi wait, put me down." I said frantically as my being held high in air by her tail, with no problem whatsoever from Emmi.

She listened and put me gently put me down.

"Is she staying in my room?" Ana asked peering in.

"It makes the most sense, since she's the most comfortable around you… or if you don't want her to be with you she can always stay the night in the cage." Robbie answered.

"No, it's ok she can stay with me." I answered.

Sleeping was certainly an Issue, figuring out were Emmi would stay… I offered to sleep on the couch and let Emmi use my bed, but her intelligence proved greater than we all thought as she grabbed me with her tail once again, and dragged me inside my room… I expected her to move to the bed but instead she just yawned, then promptly laid down and immediately started sleeping right in the middle of the door frame, her tail curled up around her sleeping body.

It was such a strange and sudden thing to witness leaving me and the rest of the team to just stare in wonder, I knelt down and tried to wake her up to tell her to move to the bed, but with no success.

"Well, she certainly fell asleep fast." Robbie spoke as we all were staring.

"Should we try and move her?" I heard Ana speak up.

"No, she's two heavy… I think if she wanted to sleep in the bed she would have." I answered her with a sigh.

"I'll just let her sleep there… she'll keep the door from closing but in other words it won't affect me." I said walking to my nightstand stretching and yawning in the process.

"G'night guys." I said as they parted to there own respected bedrooms.

"So odd." I repeated to myself as I stripped down to just a pair of boxers and put on a fresh change of clothes.

Entering my bed I took one last glance at the sleeping form of Emmi who had the main room behind her, the light from the cages artificial moon leaked into the room illuminating parts of it, giving the whole place an eerie feel to it…

Closing my eyes I could hear the low rumble of the cages simulated thunder through my bed, barely vibrating my bedding… The feeling of sleep washed over me, as I felt content with the progress I made this day, wondering what tomorrow would bring made my mind wander until eventually…

BLACK

Chapter 2 is out! Been writing like crazy to get this one finished, and it's what 12k words? Phew don't expect another update for at least 3 weeks.

If parts of this chapter seemed like they took an odd step, especially Emmi's ever advancing awareness and intelligence... its because writing her progression from beast to Demi is a bit of slippery slope, it happens really suddenly... it's not because of my writing it's the character I wanted her to be... I designed Emmi to be the cute and innocent one, and thus day one upon meeting him she's pretty much done her character development.

Anyway, next chapter will be relaxing... Mainly just filling you in on any details I feel are important, bits of Emmi's appearance, her ablilties, and Zacks extremely vague family... but because it won't be a major arc don't except it to be another 10k it'll be what it'll be.

Chapter 4 will properly introduce her species as a whole, and it all has to do with another pod crashing to earth, this time with a non corrupted drive.

So remember to like, love, follow, and review... if you enjoyed and want me to feel loved... :)

Stay tuned.

Tuned...

...ned...

Pink…. Orbs….. Pink…..Pink… Optics….Neon…..Pink….Bright…..Optics…..

Bright…. Pink... Lights…. Shining…. In…. my…. Eyes

"Emmi, what are you doing?" I asked still asleep as I sat up and to see large pink eyes at the foot of my bed.

"S...Sle...eeep… wiffffff….. Zaa…...Zaaa?" I heard a ghostly quiet voice speak, as the bright orbs changed shape slightly, and dimmed considerably.

"Uh, yeah sure... " I said unsure of what I just agreed to.

The two pink orbs bobbed up and down as they made there way to the side of my bed. Glancing at the clock I saw it was an hour past midnight.

"Why are you waking me up this early?" I asked as Emmi stood at my bedside, dimming her optics further when she saw that I was still straining to look at them.

"Emmiii…..lonelyyy…" She stuttered as I motioned for her to hop in as I lifted the blankets.

"Sure, but in the future you can just come sleep, you don't need to ask." I assured her as she climbed into bed, but not in the way I was expecting… Instead she pushed my pillow out of the way and plopped down in its place, then using her arms she grabbed my head and gently laid it down on her stomach.

"Your warm." I spoke barely awake, as I started to feel low rumbling purr emanating from her.

The last thing I remembered was her tail wrapping snuggly around my legs and torso before and her arms reaching down to hold the sides of my head, then…

BLACK...